"Young people on the global stage: their education and influence" is an EU-funded project that involves teachers and students from three European countries (Britain, Germany and Spain) and teachers from several African countries with a focus on The Gambia and Kenya. The main aim of the project is to promote an understanding of some of the Millennium Development Goals, namely poverty and hunger (MDG 1), environmental sustainability (MDG 7) and the encouragement of a global partnership for development (MDG 8). In relation to the teachers the project organises national CPDs (continuing professional developments) as well as collaborative study visits to the main African partner countries. When conceptualizing these study trips, it was assumed that teachers in a nationally mixed group may help each other to see things from a different perspective. Whether this can be empirically proven is the focus of a research project that is conducted alongside the project. This paper takes a step back and analyses the intercultural communication in the European group before the first study trip took place. It thus not only provides an understanding of the workings of European collaborations, but also some of the necessary background to understand the experiences of the study visit courses.