Multilateral School Partnership Lifelong Learning Programme

“From the History of the Nations to the History of Europe” 20

10-2

012

Com

eniu

s / 3

The project aimed at building a cross- cultural corridor in order to show two as-pects: historical and cultural aspects on our way to Europe. We presented historical events which were a long step to democracy as well as outstanding chracters that pla-yed a decisive role in the flow of history.We emphasized how different cultures influen-ced each other on such aspects like among others history, music, literature or architec-ture. It was a journey in time through his-torical events and characters, art. and even folk outfit. The final crowning stage of the project was a mock session of the European Parliament.

In the course of the two-year project we met in each partner country bringing va-

rious materials prepared for the meetings. The materials in the form of posters, video- recordings, PowerPoint presentations were put on the websites each partner school created. During the meetings students and teachers had the opportunity to take part in various events such as trips to places of historical importance, quizzes, folk dance shows and sports competitions. It made them aware of other cultures in order to to learn tolerance and to accept common values. Students and teachers enhanced language competence in the target langua-ge as well as in other languages. The could exchange experience, learn and have fun to-gether and finally make friends. Articles and reports about the project appeared on local TV channels, radio stations and newspa-pers, which contributed to its success.

Comenius Multilateral Project

“From the History of Nations to the History of Europe”

- Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych im.A. i J.Vetterów, Lublin, Poland – coordinator- Sredno obshtoobrazovatelno uchilishte “Hristo Botev“, Vratsa, Bulgaria- 4th General Lyceum of Egaleo, Egaleo, Greece- Madách Imre Szakközépiskola, Szakiskola és Kollégium , Gödöllő, Hungary- I.E.S.Reino Aftasí, Badajoz, Spain- Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara,Turkey

PARTNER SCHOOLS

Lifelong Learning Programme Comenius

Multilateral School Partnership 2010-2012

Com

eniu

s / 4

The visit to Gödöllo, Hungary was the first project meeting taking place between 28 November and 4 December 2010.

The official programme started with a meeting with the vice ma-yor at the Town Hall, and continued at Madach Imre Secondary School, where the head master welcomed the Comenius group.

Our guests visited the school, and since one part of Madach Imre Secondary School is a vocational school they could try their talents in various workshops. We also organized a fun game competition for the students and teachers in the school’s gymnasium. To express our friendship and belief in the future we planted a tree together on the school grounds, which has been growing ever since.

Events outside the school included a GPS-based fun activity in Elizabeth Park ending in a visit to the Royal Grassalkovich Palace of Gödöllo, a visit to St Stephen University and a local horse ranch es-tablished and run by the nationally and internationally famed Lázár

HUNGARY

A FLYING START

COMENIUS MULTILATERAL PROJECT

“FROM THE HISTORY OF NATIONS TO THE HISTORY OF EUROPE”

Com

eniu

s / 5

Brothers, world champions in coach-driving. We also enjoyed a folk dance show and a lesson, and visited the Basilica of Virgin Mary of Assumption in Máriabes-ny, whose shrine is a well-known Christian pilgrimage destination. We took day trips to Eger and Budapest. As the meeting took place at the time of the Advent of 2010, our guests had an excellent opportunity to enjoy the sounds, colours and smells of the Christ-mas Market in the heart of the ca-pital city. During the sightseeing trip to Budapest, the Turkish de-legation had the opportunity to visit Gül Baba’s Tomb, a famous pilgrimage place for Turkish Mus-lim believers.

It is an interesting diffe-rence in our traditions that Santa Claus or St Nicholas visits Hun-garian children much earlier than he does in other countries, there-fore he dropped in on the Come-nius Family as well, bringing pre-sents to everyone.

As for the culinary pleasu-res, our guests could taste real Hungarian goulash, special Hun-garian cakes, the wines of the famous Eger wine region as well as palinka, our strong traditio-nal brandy – to the great sorrow of many students, it was only the teachers who could try the latter two “delicacies”!

Anyone who wishes to find out more about the happy days of the visit to Hungary, you’re most welcome to visit the Hungarian website of the Comenius project at

www.comenius-hungary.netai.net

Here are a few accounts of how our students remember this unique experience – the “Co-menius Feeling”.

“Hello! My name’s Szimo-netta Jakab, and these are my best experiences of the Comenius visit: The first day when the stu-dents arrived and we met, well, it was a nice day. We organized several events for our guests with the help of the teachers, and this way we could get to know them a lot better – I loved it!

I made best friends with the Turkish delegation. All the students were really friendly and nice but the Turkish students were my favourite.

What I loved most was that we played a lot together in the school gymnasium.”

“Hi, I’m Esztella Barát, and this is how I remember the Come-nius visit.

The official opening of the meeting started with our headmaster’s speech, and then continued with the presentations of the countries.

After this we had a little time to get to know each other. I personally made better friends with the Greek girls, but on the whole, everyone was very open and friendly.

EXPERIENCES

Com

eniu

s / 6

The next event I took part in was organized in the school gymnasium, where we got several funny and not exactly easy tasks. We laughed a lot at the pairs trying to do an activity, but to tell the truth, I didn’t do too well, either. The prize we could win was one of my favourite sweets: Túró Rudi. People from the other nations made interesting faces when they tasted it, and everyone had different reactions. Then we also played a game of basketball, and during the game I had a rather bad crash with poor Ali.

In Budapest we went to see Váci utca, our famous shopping street and the big market hall

at Fovám tér. We also had a bus tour of Budapest. I guess what our guests loved most was Chain Bridge and of course the free time they got for shopping.”

“Hi, I’m Kristóf Petrás, and I also took part in the Comenius programme in Gödöllo. The best point of the foreign students’ vi-sit, I think, was the walking tour with a GPS because I could see how interesting Gödöllo was for them. I had a very good time with everyone because they were rea-lly nice and tolerant. I miss the people I met with the help of this Comenius project!”

“Hello, I’m Patrícia Stella Varga. Please read my memories of the Comenius visit in Gödöllo. I’d like to tell you about the day I enjoyed most.

First we took our guests to Elizabeth Park, where they had to find various monuments with the help of GPS devices. The first place we went to was the Calvary, where they could look around and see the whole area from it. Then we walked, talked and laughed a lot. We definitely had a great time!

The second place was a rocky area, where we took a lot of photos. The final destination was the bust of Queen Elizabeth. A little bit later we headed for the royal Grassalkovich Palace of Gödöllo. After waiting for a while we could enter. We saw a lot of in-teresting things, also talked and laughed a lot at the various ob-jects and paintings that we found funny.

After our visit to the pala-ce we went to the palace theatre and fooled around a lot on the stage pretending to be actors. After leaving the palace we went shopping and played in the snow on the way. An hour later we took the students to Queen Elizabeth restaurant, we said goodbye and left for home.

As for me, I made really good friends with the Spanish students, and they were the ones I talked the most with. I had a wonderful time, and I hope that they will come back to Hungary again and we can meet up.”

HUNGARY

Com

eniu

s / 7

The aims of the Comenius Pro-gramme “From the history of the nations to the history of Europe” is to acquaint people with the di-verse cultures that make up Euro-pe and through interaction with each other bring understanding and acceptance of such diversity. Within this framework we welco-med the fellow participants from Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Spain and Bulgaria to Athens from 20 to 26 February 2011.The theme of the visit was ste-reotypical of Greece as it is one which is interwoven into its his-tory and civilisation: the Greeks Myths. Our students participated in the preparation for our guests

with enthusiasm and made a poster during the art class which incorporated the aims of the pro-gramme.On the first day we welcomed our fellow participants to our school, 4th Senior High School in Egaleo. Several of our students presented an extract from Jean Anouilh’s play “Antigone” in order to de-monstrate the influence of an-cient Greek myths on European theatre. This proved to be a very successful exercise.The formal reception took place in Egaleo town hall, during which the rest of the countries presen-ted their myths. The meal was prepared by the students of the cooking department of the special needs school in Egaleo.In line with the theme, excursions were organised to Sounio and My-

GREECE

MEETING IN EGALEO, ATHENS, GREECE

cenae which gave all participants a chance to get to know and com-municate with each other.On the last day of the visit, presentations of the national anthems and flags took place at our school. This was followed by a typical Greek meal of eating and dancing. Traditional Greek dishes were prepared by our students’ parents and a group of students played and sang traditional folk songs. Also our school’s dancing group presented Greek dances and the Gym teacher taught our visitors some Greek dances which they danced with great enthu-siasm.On the final day all participants exchanged their impressions of the visit, and we said goodbye to our guests by giving them souve-nirs.

4TH GENERALLYCEUM OF EGALEO

Com

eniu

s / 8

The students are making the poster of Comenius project.

Reception at the town hall of Egaleo.

GREECE

Com

eniu

s / 9

Our Headmaster welcomes our partners at the School Library. The greek myths in the universal theatre: scenes from “Antigone” of Jean Anouilh.

The presentations of the Myths at the town hall.

Com

eniu

s / 1

0

GREECE

Students having lunch in the heart of Athens.

The gate of Lyons at Mycaenae.

Com

eniu

s / 1

1

A photo before the school party.

It’s time to say goodbye. Come back soon to live the myth

again In Greece

Com

eniu

s / 1

2

Katia Matsali - I had an amazing experience from my visit to Godollo, Hun-gary. I met children from 5 European countries Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Poland. In spite of our cultural differences we had a functional collaboration. In fact, I rea-lize that I HAVE MADE NEW friends who I will never forget. Especially the kids from Spain Rosa, Samu and Dani. It are an experience that I will remember in my whole life!!!!!!!!

EXPERIENCES

Elli Mpalatsoura - I’ve been asked to talk about my experience through Comenius Pro-ject, and the answer is simply that my trip to Hungary was the best se-ven days of my life!! I met people that I thought I would never meet and I came closer to nationali-ties which I knew almost nothing about! I’ll never forget their faces... Rosy (my roommate), Samu & Danni, Tuüba, Halit, Ali, Kinga, Pawel, Kostadina and many others are still stacked in my memory! Thank you for everything, I hope we will meet again some day...

Zoe Nikolatou - I think Comenius Programs are fantastic! Undoubtedly, it’s the best way to come in contact with people from other countries, and especially with peers. It was the best experience I’ve ever had because it was something really diffe-rent. In Hungary I visited new places, new people, I learnt lots of things about the civilization of the countries that took part in this program and the habits of the people I met there. I enjoyed so much this meeting that I would like to visit all the other countries of Comenius Project, as well!

Hungary

GREECE

Com

eniu

s / 1

3

Panagiotis Garavelas - I was really excited to be part of the Come-nius family and visit Badajoz in Spain. Every single kid and teacher that took part in the program was nice and kind. We visited many places and we really had a good time I will never forget. Meeting new people of our age and interests from all over Europe was an amazing expe-rience for everyone.

Antonia Mavronikola

- My visit in Spain was unforgettable spent a lot of time getting to know the Spanish culture and their habits and I have to ad-mit that I felt at home. Spanish people are very cosy and warm and my host family gave me a lot of memories to keep. I also came in touch with people from Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria and Hungary and that made me very happy as I made a lot of friends that I loved and will never forget. I want to thank Comenius for giving me the chance to travel abroad and meet different cultures and make new friends!I’m sure we’ll meet sometime in the future! Special greetings to the Po-lish people I really loved from the first time! Kasha Magda Aneta Gosia Adrianna Karol Damian Lukaz and of course Barbara! Many kisses!

Spain

Kostas Makris - Taking part in the Co-menius program, working on the project and fina-lly visiting Spain was my greatest experience which I think I will never forget. I am so excited that I met many foreign students and exchanged many ideas on different subjects. I am thrilled I was a member of the Comenius family.

Katerina Zarkou - The meeting in Spain was amazing and I am sure that we all enjoyed it! It was so exciting to make friends from other countries and learn about different cultures!! Never will I forget the experience nor the people I met! I have friends

all over Europe!! It’s great to be a Comenius member.

Com

eniu

s / 1

4

Kostas Martinos - I feel so lucky that my teacher chose to take me to Bulga-ria. I had the opportunity to meet all these kids from other countries and make so many friends. It was a great expe-rience.

Xenia Katsampoula - The trip to Bulgaria was a great experience. I had the chance to travel to another country and had a lot of fun communicating with the

other students in English. I hope schools will be taking pro-grams like this because students can meet kids from other countries, see similarities and differences and practice their English at the same time.

George Dimitriou - Turkey is a beauti-ful country with a lot of sightseeings. The students I met there were very frien-dly as well the students from other countries. Tur-kish food is very delicious. I think that Comenius is a fantastic program becau-se you can meet and keep in touch with people from other countries and you can learn about the diffe-rent cultures of Europe.

Tasos Konstantinou - My visit to Turkey is un-forgettable. My host, Mu-rat, was so friendly, kind and hospitable. The pla-ces we visited in Anka-ra and Cappadocia were awesome. Their food was delicious. It was one of the best moments in my life.

Turkey Bulgaria

Maria Ampati- I have been to Vratsa in Bulgaria with Comenius Pro-gram for almost a week. It was so exciting to meet stu-dents from other countries and learn so many things about their culture!!!

GREECE

Com

eniu

s / 1

5Ilias Makrodimitris - We had a great time in Poland... It was great because we had the opportuni-ty to meet students from other countries to make new friends and to learn many things about them and about their cultu-re... I hope I will meet everyone again!

Poland Depy Bafi - When I was told that I was going to visit Poland for the first time to take part in the Comenius Project, I couldn’t believe it! I am so grateful that I was given this opportunity and had the chance to meet people from Poland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain and Hungary and get to know their culture and their beliefs! I must admit that at first I felt a little bit homesick, but only the first day. I cannot say which part of this trip was the best, because simply everything had so-mething important to offer me! Those me-morable moments and those amazing people are now part of me!!I wish that someday I will see Comenius family all together again because I really miss everyone! Until then I will try to keep in touch with everybody.

Mary Bembelou - My trip to Poland was really amazing! I met many people that I will never forget. We learnt many things about Poland, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria and Hungary and we also saw lots of sightseeing. Furthermo-re, my host family was so friendly and we had a great time together. I hope to meet each other again and have a great time again!

Mary Gjikopouli - One month ago, I was having the time of my life !!! Really!!! I miss you all sooooooooooooooo much!!!! My body is in Greece but my mind is still in POland with all of you!!! It’s crazy... sometimes I actually feel that I’m with you again!!! I dream about you.... fortunately be-cause it’s the only way to see you even though I feel you near me!!! LOVE YOU ALL! I hope that someday we will be all together again!!!! Many many many kis-ses. Hope you are all fine at your home and have a great time!!!!! Miss you

Com

eniu

s / 1

6

TURKEY

Theme : National Heroes of the Project

Partner Countries and Turkish Stereotype

Multilateral Comenius Project

‘From the History of the Nationsto the History of Europe’

Project visit to Ankara (08-14 May 2012)

Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara,Turkey

Com

eniu

s / 1

7

This comenius project has given an op-portunity to the teachers and the students of ‘Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi’ to meet teachers and students from Bulgaria, Gree-ce, Hungary, Poland and Spain and establish friendships that will last forever. It also gave Turkish teachers and students an opportunity to visit their schools, learn their education sys-tems, their culture, traditions, folklore, history and many more. Thanks for the LLP and Come-nius projects.

Our guests arrived on 8 May, 2011 and

departed on 14 May, 2011. Our preparations started months ago. We organised the logo competition and chose the best logo. All the partners sent their logos to us before the visit. The best logo was of Bulgarian students. We printed the best logo which is now the project logo on T-shirts and on the mugs and gave all of the participants in the visit as presents. We also awarded the student in Bulgaria who draw the logo and sent him a T-shirt and a mug. We were happy to host all the participants at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi, in Ankara and in Turkey.

Before the visit:

We had a poster hung saying ‘welcome’ in our partners’ language and flags on the walls of the school before our guests arrived. We de-corated the school garden with flags, a big map of Europe showing the partner countries on and a big map of project logo all hanging on the walls of the school.

Before Turkey visit, logo competion was held in Turkey. Each partner country sent its comenius logos to Turkey. In Turkey, the tea-chers and a group of students were choosen to rank the logos. After the ranking, one of the Bulgarian logos got the highest point and the logo is our project’s logo now. The student who draw the logo was awarded with a T-shirt and a mug with the best logo printed on them.

Com

eniu

s / 1

8TURKEY

The Polish delegations arrived at the Esenboğa Airport in Ankara.

The best logo : Bulgaria was awarded with a prize.

The twins, Gizem and Didem Tetik are presenting Turkish national hero.

We printed our project’s logo on the T-shirts and gave one for each participant as a present.

We printed the logo on the mugs and gave it as presents to each participan

Com

eniu

s / 1

9

The Spanish students, Juana Martinez Flores, Irene Horrillo Gallardo and Pedro del Viejo are presenting the Spanish national hero : Don Quijote.

The Polish students, Damian Wierzchoń, Ewelina Błaziak and

Adrian Markiewicz are presenting Polish national hero: ORDYNAT

JAN ZAMOYSKI

The headmistress, Marzenna Modrzewska Michalczyk and the Project coordinator Barbara of Poland are presenting their presents to the headmaster Rızaşah Ertem of Turkish school.

We visited the Deputy Major of Altındağ at the Town Hall.The delegations presented him presents.

The students, Gizem, Irene, Pedro, Didem, Melihcan and Juana are in the garden of Anıtkabir with Turkey map and flag behind .

Com

eniu

s / 2

0TURKEY

We made famous Turkish dishes,’mantı ‘ and sarma ‘ (dolma) at school canteen. Then we ate them.

Turkish Art teacher Sinem Başer showed the delegations how to do ‘Water Marbling’, (ebru sanatı) the traditional Turkish drawing art in water.

All the teachers and the students are having lunch at the school canteen.

Visit to ‘Ankara Citadel’ where you can see the view of Old Ankara and New Ankara.

‘Tuz Gölü’( meaning Salt Late ) is the second largest lake in Turkey with its (643 sq mi) surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world.

Inside the Kocatepe Mosque. In mosques, according to Muslim religion women have to cover their heads with a headscarf and we have to take off our shoes before entering the mosques.

Com

eniu

s / 2

1A group of students in ‘Ihlara Valley’ where we climbed down more than 300 steps and up again.

The ‘Maraş Ice-cream’ is very famous ice-cream in Turkey.The ice cream seller is making tricks.

Com

eniu

s / 2

2TURKEY

EXPERIENCES

Hello! My Name is Halit Mert Erdoğdu. I’m 17 years old and I ‘m a student at Yıldirim Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi, in Ankara, Turkey.The project coordinator Mrs.Öztürk

chose me at the last minute about joining the Hungary visit.I was so happy being chosen for it.I was so excited. The excitement was increasing more and more because it was my first time flying by plane and meeting people from diffe-rent countries. On the plane, I had questions and doubts in my mind if I will be able to com-municate with the other stu-dents, if there will be harmony between us etc. However, after I had seen Hungarian’s project cooordinator Tünde who came to meet us at the airport , my questions disappeared from my mind and I realized that I will spent a wonderful week in Gödöllö. Tünde was really a wonderful per-son always smiling and patient to fulfill everyone’s wishes. Then we went to the University hostel and waited for the other delegations.All the countries arrived after one another. We met all the students. Day by day we got to know eachother more and more. I sha-

red a room with Samuelfrom Spain. He bought me a Football T-shirt with a Turkish Footballer’s (who was playing in Real Madrid in Spain) name ‘Mesut Özil’ on it. I was surprised with such a present of Samuel. How thoughtful he was! The students from Spain, Polond, Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece were all good friends. We got on very well with eachother, especia-lly with Paul and Kinga from Polond.

We presented our countries at school and I played the ‘bağlama’ a traditional Turkish musical instrument.During the day we visited some places and in the evenings we all got together and chatted. They asked us about Turkey and we asked them about their countries. They knew less about Turkey and they had prejudices about Turkey as we had about their countries. We

had the opportunity to explain the truths to them, so had they.Everyday I improved my English and could speak faster. I made a lot of friends from different countries with whom I ‘m still in contact. I won’t forget them and the experience I had in Hungary. I have wonder-ful memories which I won’t forget forever. I learnt some Polish words, too.I think this comenius project has reached its goal.

Hungary

We presented our countries at school and I played the

‘bağlama’ a traditional Turkish musical instrument.

HALİL MERT ERDOĞDU

Com

eniu

s / 2

3

EMRE ÇERÇİ

Hello! My name is Emre Çerçi. I’m 17 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi in Anka-ra. My teacher, Türkan Öztürk chose me for the Hun-gary visit because we were the last grade students. I was excited because it would be my first journey on plane. As I flew, I realized that it was like sitting on the coach and travelling. After I had learnt that I would be sharing a room with a Spanish friend Daniel, I was ha-ppy because I have known a little Spanish and I was interested in Spanish. When we arrived the hostel, I saw my and Daniel’s names and the flags of Turkey and Spain on the room door where we will stay for a week with Daniel. I was very happy to see the flags and the names together. It was a clever idea of Tünde! There was a meeting with all the coordinators and the students from different countries on the first evening.

It was the first opportunity to get to know each other. I wasn’t so active on the first days, but later I made a lot of friends .I think the most important thing on this Project is that to learn the culture of different countries, to learn their behaviour, to learn their lives and to compare them with our country. We were able discuss some issues of people from many different nationalities. I learnt a lot of things about Hungary and Hungarian traditions. We enjoyed very much on the last evening when we learnt traditional folk dances of Hungary. The dance we performed with all of the participants were won-derful. I still can’t forget the rhytm of the music. We also met the ‘Santa Claus’ which was a surprise for everyone. Thank you Tünde for everything you prepa-red for us. We enjoyed our stay in Gödöllö very much. I ‘m lucky to be a part of this project. Thank you Comenius !

ALİ AKÇİNHello! My name is Ali Akçin. I ‘m 17 years old and attending the 12th grate at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi.There was a so much excitement before going abroad, having the idea that I will meet people from different countries increased my enthusiasm for the visit.The Hungarian Project coordinator Tünde made us happy with her warm welcoming at the airport.I was eager to meet other friends from different natio-nalities. Then one by one all the countiries arrived the hostel. Day by day our friendship progressed and we all loved each other very much. During the day we visi-ted some places and in the evenings we came together and chatted.We asked eachother a lot of questions. In fact, I realized that I had prejudices about many things and countries. They had also prejudices about us and about my country. However, after some time we realized that we had silly prejudices about eachother . Although I couldn’t speak English well a few days, I started to speak better and confidently the next days.

To sum up, this visit add very nice memories to my life. I made new friendships from different countries.I learnt words in Spanish,Polish and Hungarian. Most importantly, my prejudices disappeared. In my point of view, the Comenius Project has reached its goal. Our friends from Spain, Poland, Greece and Hungary tried to teach us their own culture and we taught them ours. We also taught them Turkish. I am sure, my room mate Pawel has learnt enough Turkish to intro-duce himself well and to find his way in Turkey .When I woke up on the departure day of the visit, my room mate Pawel whose flight was very early in the morning, left me a note (not to wake me up to say good bye) on my chest desk written ‘For best room mate ever! Take care…See u later ın Poland, but fırst on facebook’. (Pawel)

I still keep this note. Thank you comenius Project for giving us such opportunities to become friends with people from far way that I haven’t known before.

Com

eniu

s / 2

4

TUĞBA ALAYGUT

Hello! My name is Tuğba Alaygut.I‘m 17 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi.Mrs.Öztürk is my English teacher and I ‘m her one of the best students in English and languages. I love English and all the languages. These kind of projects such as comenius is just for me. I like speaking English. Thank you Mrs.Öztürk for giving me this opportunity to meet wonderful people via this project.With the Comenius project, the visit to Hun-gry provided clarity to a lot of things in my head. I was going abroad fort he first time in my life. I know that there were differences among us with foreign people in many as-pects. However, after meeting the project participants, I realized that it was different what I had guessed. This visit was very very different. It was a really significant expe-rience for me. I learnt the eating and drinking styles of Hungarian people, their respect to each other, their different life styles. I met Polish, Bulgarian, Greek and Spanish students. We talked to eachother. Most of the students thought Turkish people were very different, but their thoughts changed after we explained the reality. I learnt Polish in a short time. Everyone was astonished seeing me how well I can speak Polish, especially Barbara.I was happy to see a note from Kinga who was my room mate and left earlier in the morning on the departure day. She wrote :Tuğba,Kocham lie, you’re the best room mate I’ve ever had. I will miss you ! (and don’t forget Polısh !) Kinga

In short, I feel myself lucky to be part of this Project.

TURKEY

TUNA BAYDINHello! I ‘m Tuna Baydın. I ‘m 16 years old.I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi. I ‘m attending 11th gra-de. I presented Turkish Mythology in Athens, in Greece. I really enjoyed the Greece visit in terms of Comenius project which I took part in with my friends and teachers. I absolutely think that the Project reached it’s goal. I made lots of new friends. Paula, Javier and Vanesa were perfect friends. I got on well with all of the students from Bul-garian, Greece, Hungary and Poland, too. I learnt how to speak other languages more or less. We shared our cultu-res with friends from different countries. And I can say for Greece that, it really looks like Turkey. I didn’t even feel like I was abroad, because of the similar music, food and city structure. I think that Athens is similar to Izmir. I’m lucky to be a part of the Comenius Project.

MELİH MUSTAFA FINDIKOĞLUHello! My name is Melih Mustafa Fındıkoğlu. I ‘m 15 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Li-sesi. I ‘m at 10 th grade. In terms of the Comenius project, I have benefitted a lot from the visit to Greece. It was use-ful for me both speaking a foreign language and making friends with people from different countries. This visit gai-ned me great experience about going abroad and learning different cultures of Polond, Bulgaria, Spain, Hungary and Greece. I 'm still in contact with friends I have met there. I think that the friendships I have made there will benificiery for me in every period of my life and will last whole my life. I didn't experience any negative thing about the visit. I have always thought that these kind of visits would add more things for people's lives and after the visit, I realized that I was right. Thanks to Comenius Project.

Greece

Com

eniu

s / 2

5

EGEMEN CAN GÜLER Hello! My name is Egemen Can Güler. I ‘m a stu-dent at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi. I ‘m 15 years old. I ‘m at 10th grade. I was excited when I heard I will take part in the pro-ject and go to Greece. I was worried about learning new cultures and meeting people from different countries. And the day came and we were going to Greece. We arrived Greece and settled in the ho-tel. The friends from other countries came one by one to the hotel, too. At first I was a bit afraid, but later I got used to all of the foreign friends and I liked them all very much. I appreciate this project with which I made a lot of friends. This project also helped me to improve my English. I was very shy to speak to foreigners before. Now I ‘m more cou-rages. I felt more independent and learning other cultures broadened my mind. I 'm happy to be a part of this project.

OSMAN KARSLIHello! I ‘m Osman Karslı from Ankara, Turkey. I ‘m 16 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Li-sesi. I ‘m in 12 A class.I ‘m very lucky to be chosen among 600 students for the Spanish visit at my school by the project coordina-tor Türkan Öztürk. First, I told my teacher that I couldn’t speak English very well and added that she may choose another student. She encouraged me that I could unders-tand everything said and could speak well. It was a great chance to me because I have never been abroad and flown before.For the first time, I will be abroad and it was Spain. It was like a dream. I learnt di-fferent cultures, met people from different countriesy.My host family was very hospitable and very kind. I would like to thank them again and again. Fernando was a good friend and a host. The parents of the Spanish stu-dents were also very kind and they made delicious food for all of us. All the Spanish teachers and students were perfect and warm blooded. The palace and the Parliament were beautiful. The most important moment of my life which I won’t forget is the ‘Santiago Bernabeu Stadium’ where I went with Mrs. Öztürk on the departure day. I couldn’t believe in my eyes when I entered the stadium. For me, it was a dream to see the most famous football team’s stadium (Real Madrid) in the world.

Spain

SEÇİL DUMANLIHello! I ‘m Seçil Dumanlı from Ankara. I ‘m 16 years old. My school is Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi.When we arrived Badajoz, everything was better than I expected. I hosted two friends in Turkey visit one from Poland and the other from Spain.The Spanish friend was Pedro. Now Spain visit was an opportunity to see Pedro and the Spanish friends who came to Turkey again. Pedro hosted me at his house. His house was outsite Badajoz. It took us 45 min to come to school every day. Pedro’s parents were hospitable and kind people. They tried to make me as comfortable as they could. The Spanish peo-ple were generally sincere, friendly and warm-blooded. The country is like an art museum. The other museum we visited was very interesting . Their music is fantastic. We learnt the ‘History of Flamenco’.Everything was very expensive compared to my coun-try. I took Turkish coffee and ‘cezve’(coffee pot for Tur-kish coffee) with me in order to cook Turkish coffee for Pedro‘s parents. However, their cooker didn’t perceive copper pot, so I couldn’t make Turkish coffee for them. Anyway, they thanked me a lot.

Com

eniu

s / 2

6

HAVVANUR DOMURCUK Hello! I ‘m Havvanur DOMUR-CUK. I ‘m 16 years old. I ‘m at 12th grade at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi. I will take the uni-versity entrance exams this year. I think , I ‘m lucky to be chosen for the Spain visit .I think that this comenius Project has added many things in people’s lives. For example, I had had ne-ver been on plane before. I had the opportunity to fly by plane for the first time in my life. I met so many people who are different and at the same time the same. The people I saw in Spain resembled some people in my country.I saw many museums which were extraordinary which I hadn’t seen in my life. For instance The inter-esting museum which ’Vastell’ de-signed was very different. When you touch the keys of the piano, a house gadget starts to work. There was a room filled with old TVs and cement on top, a painting made with human and animal bo-nes and more more strange things which took my attention.Everything was wonderful in Spain. I learnt that, if someone says SPAIN, it won’t remember me only of ‘Bull Fighting ‘or ‘ Football’, it will remind me much more wondeful things and people.I would like to thank my host fa-mily Saturnina and her family who were excellent host. They made me feel comfortable at their home. Thanks a lot.

ÖMER FURKAN ULAŞ

Hello! My name is Ömer Furkan Ulaş. I ‘m 16 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi. I ‘m in 10 C class.First of all, I would like to thank everybody who gave met his opportu-nity to join in the comenius project. At first I was a bit stressful, becau-se I will be in an environment which I have never been to.In Bulgaria, on the first two days I couldn’t speak very well, but I could understand everything. Later, I ‘m used to speaking English, I gained self confidence and could speak better. I learnt about different cultures and met people from different countries. Bulgaria visit was a good ex-perience for me. The touristic places visited were beautiful, but it was very cold.I learnt that some words such as hat, bottle, bag, soup, and many words were the same as Turkish words. I learnt their traditional food and dan-ce. I also learnt how to count until ten in Bulgarian. I also learnt how to say the words such as ’good –bye’, ’hello’, ’I don’t know, ect. in Bulgarian. The most striking was that I made a lot of friends from diffe-rent nationalities. I have had prejudieces before. After meeting Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Spanish and Greek friends, I realized that I can be friends with people from different religions and nationalities. I have wonderful memories which I won’t forget all my life now. Everything was wonderful. Thanks God, I joined this project. I hope to see you all in other projects in the future.Greetings to all the partners from Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and Spain.

Bulgaria

TURKEY

Com

eniu

s / 2

7

AYÇA DEMİREL Hello! My name is Ayça. I ‘m 15 years old. I ‘m a student at Yıldırım Beyazıt Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara, Turkey. I ‘m in 10 F class.Our Project coordinator Türkan Öztürk chose me for the Bul-garian visit after she had had us taken an exam, because there were supposed to be quiz about 6 countries during Bulgaria vi-sit, so we have to be good students in English. I got the best point fom the exam and I was the lucky one to go to Bulgaria.It was my first trip abroad. I was very excited to meet Kostadi-na, my host friend. Our journey started at 3.00 in the morning. Now it is 12:30 pm. and we are in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian coordinator Kamelya, the Bulgarian students and the Greek teachers and students met us at the airport. We met Kostas, Maria and Xenia and talked with them until Polish delegations arrived. Then we went to Sofia. There we visited some places and a mosque which was built by Mimar Sinan who was a very famous architect in Turkey. Then we arrived Vratsa Kostadina and her father was waiting for me. Kostadina is a beautiful and a nice person. I loved her very much. Her parents were also friendly and very nice. Every evening we did different activities or went out to meet the other friends.

At school, we learnt Bulgarian folk dance. On quiz day I was really excited. Ömer and I studied for the fact files many times. We missed only one qestion, but on the 2nd part of the quiz, where we have to collect Hungarian’s pictures, we could only get 4 points, so Turkey became the second in the quiz.Kamel-ya gave us a box of chocolate as a prize.In the evening, I cooked Kostadina and her parents Turkish co-ffee and served them Turkish delight. The next day we went to Plevne. In the past, there was Turkish-Russian War. We saw the war on panorama.On the last evening Kostadina wrote on my diary. On Friday very early in the morning we left Vratsa and arrived at the air-port. Bulgarian teachers and students also came with us. It was really difficult to say ‘good bye’ to the friends I met and knew in a week. I cried while saying good bye. Thats the project; to be able to cry for the people whom you know only for a week.

It was like a dream. Later, I found myself in Ankara. I would miss all my friends there. Again I would like to thank my tea-cher Türkan Öztürk to join me in the project.

We made famous Turkish dishes, ’mantı ‘ and sarma ‘ (dolma) at school canteen. Then we ate them.

A group photo in Cappadocia. The best histo-ric mansions and cave houses for tourist stays are in Urgup, Göreme, Güzelyurt and Uçhisar.

Com

eniu

s / 2

8

SPAINComenius Multilateral School Project: “From the History of Nations to the History of Europe”

Project visit to Badajoz (21-27 September, 2011)Theme: Spanish Stereotype and summary of the History of Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Bulga-ria and Poland.

This project has allowed students and teachers from “Rei-no Aftasí” School to explore and establish bridges with schools throughout the continent. During each visit and in the prepara-tory months before travelling to each country, we have studied the geography and history of our nations, the different stereoty-pes, our national heroes, myths, legends and folklore and taken part in a trivia quiz about the most significant aspects studied in this Project.

After the Preparatory visit in Lublin, Poland, in January 2010, the School Partners travelled to Gödöllö, Hungary, in No-vember 2010, and Egaleo, Greece, in February, 2011. Before the project visit to Vratsa, Bulgaria, in January 2012 and the closing visit to Lublin, in March 2012, our “Reino Aftasí” School received our partners at the end of September 2011. It was a great oc-casion which demonstrated how grateful we were to our friends and allowed us to perform our duties as hosts. Badajoz was at its best, ready for the Almossassa Historical Party and everybody in our school was determined to contribute to what was no doub a most successful episode.

What follows is a photograph diary of seven days full of ac-tivities in a programme that exhausted our visitors and filled us with warm feelings of friendship and wishes to share all we have. Thanks to all the teachers and students of my school! Thanks to Sol, Rocío and Carmen!

Com

eniu

s / 2

9

While Natxo Izaguirre and José Antonio Padilla remained at Barajas Airport to wait for the Turkish, Greek and Po-lish delegations, Javier Espinosa, Pedro Martínez, Pedro Pérez and Jesús Espinosa accompanied the Bulgarian and the Hungarian Teams, which had arrived first, and started the tour of Madrid.

The Hungarian team and the Alcalá Gate, iconic picture of Madrid.

All the delegations gathered at El Prado Museum. Later that day we visited Reina Sofía Museum and Atocha Railway station. It was a long, long day. We wouldn’t arrive in Bada-joz till 3 a.m.

Spanish students during the act at the Town Hall. They all did a fantas-tic job and worked really hard during the visit.

The Mayor of Badajoz received all the delegations at the Town Hall.

Com

eniu

s / 3

0

SPAIN

During the historical walk with Teresa Domínguez, the old part of Badajoz was full of tourists. We met a group of Erasmus University students. In the pho-to, the Turkish Delegation with Turkish Erasmus Students.

The evening was crowned with an extraordinary flamenco concert. María José Chacón, singer, and Joaquín Muñino, guitarrist, both former students in our school and extraordinarily talented artists, filled our project with deep feelings and music rooted in the Spanish Tradition.

Teresa Domínguez, history teacher, showed us around the historical sites of Badajoz.

Com

eniu

s / 3

1

Carlos de Bunes, Arts Teacher and extraordinary Sculptor and graphic artist, explained aspects of his work in his classroom and showed the students’ clas-sroom production.

Carmen Reca (in the picture with Türkan) and María Blázquez, Arts teachers and great collaborators of this project, organized a Printing workshop which gave our partners the opportunity to experience the activities in our school.

After the workshops and looking round the school, there was a lunch with dishes and specialties that Spanish teachers and parents had prepared. Manolo Lozano, teacher of Spanish Literature, took care of the cheese!

Com

eniu

s / 3

2

Visiting teachers and students were very interested to know how our school works. They all showed particu-lar interest in the Arts classrooms.

After a tiring walk around monuments and museums in Mérida, we had lunch in a restaurant in Mérida.

Portugal is just ten kilometres away from Badajoz and some of the teachers and students took advantage of this proximity and visited the neighbouring town of Elvas, which was celebrating its annual fair.

SPAIN

Detail of National Museum of Roman Art in Mé-rida. Our visitors were exhilarated by the huge dimensions of the building.

Back in Badajoz, our school invited our Comenius friends to dinner. Barbara, Project Coordinator, on behalf of all the visiting Comenius Delegations, was kind enough to say some words acknowledging the Spanish hospitality.

Manolo Lozano, Spanish Literature teacher, Juana Peral, French Teacher, and Carmen Torrado, English Teacher and Headmistress of “Reino Aftasí” School, during the dinner at a restaurant in Badajoz.

Group photograph just outside the Jorge Jesuit Church, right in the heart of the Medieval District.

Milen, Iohan and Nikol, Bulgarian students taking a rest at Plaza Mayor, the heart of Madrid, capital of Spain.

Com

eniu

s / 3

3

Comenius Multilateral School Project “From the History of Nations to the History of Europe”

My name is Rosa Montero Nogales. I am seven-teen years old and I study in Reino Aftasí Se-condary school. I live in Badajoz, although I am from a small village called Gevora, 5 kms away from Badajoz. I love travelling, meeting new pla-ces and knowing places and new experiences so my teachers told me about the Comenius project and I became interested in it.

Two classmates and I did a project on Hungary and carried a survey on how much Spanish people know about this country. Then the teachers chose us to travel to Hungary, the first step in the Comenius project. Before visi-ting the country I knew few things about this country; “goulash” was their typical food, and the country was a member of the European Union, the capital was Budapest, a really beau-tiful city.

When we were in Hungary we stayed at a Student Residence in Gödollö. We visi-

ted the University. They showed us their

secondary school and they organized some activities for us.

We visited Budapest and other interes-ting cities such as Eger. Budapest was ama-zing. The Hungarian hosts taught us their way of life and took us to a traditional farm, where we saw a fantastic horse show. We met other students from Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey and Hungary, and we shared great ex-per iences with them. We communicated with all of them in English, it was difficult at first but we learned to speak better. We enjoyed their typical food, especially “goulash” and they taught us their beautiful folk dan-ces, and we danced too. This was an experience I will never forget. I have learned a lot and I recommend it to all students in the world.

Our students participating in the Project Meetings in Hungary, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria talk about their experiences during these Comenius visits.

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Gödöllö (Hungary)Rosi

EXPERIENCES

SPAINC

omen

ius

/ 34

Hello! My name is Samuel Gonzalez Nuñez, I’m 18 years old and I’m from Badajoz. I’m stu-dying 2o Bachiller Social Sciences in IES Rei-no Aftasí and I participated in the Comenius project. Last year Jesús (teacher of English in my high school) told me about the Comenius Project, and I had to do some projects in or-der to travel Hungary, and I liked the idea. In November of 2010, we took a plane to travel to Hungary and start the first part of the Co-menius project, and I confirmed all I believed about Hungary, it was a very cold country and it has a lot of sights. The first day I had many problems with the English. I was scared!

When we were in Hungary, we visited a lot of places: museums, sights, schools, shows,

Budapest, etc and we did a lot of things, each of every country made a presentation with

basic information about their country, we ate Gulash ( I loved ), we saw horses in

a spectacular show, we saw typical Hungarian dances...

In Hungary I met many people, Emre, Halid, Ali, Kristoff, Tünde... but we had a spe-cial relationship with the Greek girls, Eli and Katherine, and with Millen, a special Bulgarian boy, that was my roommate. If I have to select one special activity, I select the party of the last day, it was so special.

I don’t remember anything interesting, strange or funny... because all of this week was fantastic! And during this week, I learnt that we aren’t so different from them, and the school in Gödollö. Per-sonally, I’d love to come back becau-se it was incredible and I recom-mend that people go to Hungary. It’s spectacular!

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Gödöllö (Hungary)Samu

Com

eniu

s / 3

5

Com

eniu

s / 3

6

Hi! My name is Daniel Nogales Andrade, I’m 18 years old and I’m from Badajoz, Extremadu-ra. I’m studying Social Sciences in IES Reino Aftasí and I participated in the Comenius pro-ject. When I was 17 years old, Jesús Espinosa told me about the Comenius Project, and he told me that I had to do some projects in order to travel to Hungary.

In December of 2010, we flew to Hungary and started the first part of the Comenius pro-ject, and I confirmed all I believed about Hun-gary, it was a very cold country and it has a lot of sights, and I got excited to see Danube

River.When we was in Hungary, we vi-

sited a lot of places (museums, sights,

schools, shows, Budapest...) and we did a lot of things, each of every country made a pre-sentation with basic information about their country, we ate Gulash (typical food of Hun-gary), we saw horses in a spectacular show, we learnt typical Hungarian dances... In Hungary I met many people, Emre, Halid, Ali, Kristoff, Fátima, Tünde... but we had a special relation-ship with Greeks, Eli and Katherine, and with Millen, a great Bulgarian boy. If I had to select one special activity, I would pick the party of the last day, it was so special, but I won’t forget anyone!

I don’t remember something interes-ting, strange or funny...because all of this week was fantastic! And on this week, I learnt that we aren’t so different from them, and I increased my English level, obviously! Personally, I recommend this project to other students, because you meet special people, you enjoy it so much, and you learn a lot of beauti-ful things about other cultures!

Dani Spanish students in Project Meeting to Gödöllö (Hungary)

SPAIN

Com

eniu

s / 3

7

My name is Paula Borra-llo García. I’m from Badajoz,

Spain. I am studying 2o course of high school of arts in Reino

Aftasí. Last year, I participated in Comenius Project. I went to Greece

with three students and five teachers of my school.

My English teacher told me that the students who participated would visit some countries in the Comenius Project and they would choose the students who do the best works, I was one of the four children who were chosen.

When I travelled to Greece in Fe-bruary 2011, I stayed in the capital of the country, Athens. We met Turkish, Polish, Hungarians, Bulgarians and Greeks. We visited many monuments like The Parthe-non, museums, Greek temple, the Greek Parliament...

We stayed in a hotel in the center of Athens where we ate typical Greek food like mussaka, feta chee-se, gyros... and where we slept. One day, we visited the Parthenon. It was the best day for me. I would like to repeat this experience again. Other day, we watched the presentations of the countries and we discussed our work. We saw the amphitheatre, Ka-riatids, the Aegean Sea, the Acropolis, and many more. It was a wonderful ex-perience. I had a really funny time living with other people and I will never forget all the people who I met. I recommend this experience to all the people who like to travel and to know other cultures.

Paula Spanish students in Project Meeting to Athens (Greece)

Com

eniu

s / 3

8

My name is Vanesa Curado Piris. I’m 17 years old. I study Art in Reino Aftasi secondary school in Badajoz.

Last year my English tea-cher told us about a project whe-

re we would learn about other coun-tries, other cultures, other students

... We did a project on Greek mythology and three of my classmates along with me

were chosen to go to Greece last February.After six days in Athens I learned a lot

about the culture of the people who lived the-re. I learned that they live far from us but they are very similar to us in a lot of aspects. Their culture is really interesting and if it were not for the language, it would not be so different.

The students of the school which we visited treated us very well and I discovered that we had many things in common. Gree-ce is beautiful, we saw the city of Athens

and all the wonderful monuments and

archaeological sites. The food was very similar to us, it was delicious. I really loved the moussaka and all kinds of cheese.

We stayed at a hotel in Athens. We had the opportu-nity to make many friends and share the room with them. I will not forget this wonderful experience. I have met many nice people, I have seen many new things that may never see again. I lear-ned that no matter the distance, oe where we live, we all have something in common and all cultures are wonderful and respecta-ble. We all need to see the world and share knowledge. I recommend this project to other students, if they can, they should not miss tha opportunity to take part in it. You meet new people, new places, new cultures and you will have fun.

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Athens (Greece)Vanesa

SPAIN

Hi everyone! My name is Javier Espinosa

Parra, I’m 18 years old and I from Badajoz (Spain). I’m in

the last high school year and I knew the Comenius program

a year ago.I know that Comenius in-

tended to carry out a project with young people from different Euro-

peans countries under a common lan-guage, English, and at the same time pro-

mote their citizens to be united although they have really different cultures, showing

us that borders aren’t more than lines in a map.

I was in Greece in February 2011, before my trip, I thought that the Greeks were serious and perhaps more backward than us... but just landed I realized I was wrong. Greece is an amazing country with fantastic and friendly people, so so similar to us, the Spanish. That

country is amazing, it has a long history be-cause our culture was born there.

There we did a lot of activities, Greek planning was worked and made

with love. We visited beautiful places like Nafplio, My-

cenae or the

Poseidon Temple located of the shore of Aegean sea. It was amazing!

Also we could visited the historical Athens area where we could see impor-tant monuments like “the Parhenon”.

We stayed in a hotel, in our rooms we slept with people of other countries, in my case with a Turkish and Polish friend. Different people but with a something common, our continent, Europe. That was a fun experience!

Also we could taste the famous Greek cuisine, similar to Spanish cui-sine, with the same ingredients but di-fferently cooked. I love to meet new fla-vors, discover, and pervade me of that unknown culture.

I remember the wonderful people that we met there, especially the Polish and my beautiful Turkish friend Tuna. I don’t know why but we got along really well, so maybe we will meet in Barcelona this summer. I hope it!

Probably I will never forget this experience, I learned to appreciate more my culture and feel proud of my coun-try and at the same time know that all countries and all people have something that make us special, different but with a common features, the feelings.

If you read this and haven’t participated, cheer up! You won’t regret it.

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Athens (Greece)Javier

Com

eniu

s / 3

9

Com

eniu

s / 4

0

My name is Juani Martinez. Last year I tra-velled with the Comenius project in Turkey with two friends who are very important to me.

My experience in Turkey was impres-sive, because I met a Turkish family who looked after me as if I had been in my hou-se. We visited many places in Turkey, but the most striking was the Capadoccia where we could visit very many tunnels and caves, but the place was a restaurant we visited in the evening where we had dinner while watching belly dance and the dance of the seven veils .

On that trip I met great people and great friends. But the most important people are my Turkish family who I greatly miss. I encourage all travelers to visit Turkey some time in their life because it is a dreamland and they present impressive culture.

Hi, my name is Irene Horrillo. My experien-ce in Turkey was one of the best of my life. I met wonderful people and I improved my oral English a lot.

I saw amazing places, and I was comfor-table in both Ankara and Cappadocia.

In my host family I felt like home, they were the best.

I haven’t complaints about this experien-ce, all was fantastic. In fact, a year later I’m longing for all my teammates and all te people that we met. I’ll never forget my Comenius ex-perience in Turkey.

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Ankara (Turkey)Irene, Juani

SPAIN

Com

eniu

s / 4

1

Hello, my name is Maria Teresa Cruz Obreo. I’m 16 years old. I live in Badajoz. I study art. I knew the Comenius project on the day of presentation when Jesús Espinosa spoke of it. Then Magdalena, our English teacher reminded us.

I travelled to Bulgaria from 13 of January to 20 of January. Before coming to Bulgaria I almost knew nothing about this country. I just thought people was a bit se-rious and aloof. Then I discovered that the Bulgarian people are very friendly and hos-pitable. During the trip we made trips to the mountains, we visited our city there: Vratsa, also visited the capital of Bulgaria: Sofia, which was very nice. Also knows his school, his day to day in class, its gastro-nomy, typical dances ... I stay in Monica house. Monica is the most sympathetic Bul-garian. Monica helped me a lot with all.

I had a lot of Bulgarian traditional food such as soups, yoghourt, salads, meat pie, cheese and ate some day international fast food! I met Bulgarians, Greeks, Poles, Turks and Hungarians.I will never forget one day in a karaoke singing a song of Estopa. What struck me was that everyone knew a lot about our country.

This trip has served to open my mind, to learn more ways of thinking, living ... To realize how small we are and all that remains for us to know.

I recommend this experience to all people because it is a unique opportunity to experien-ce a country, to learn English and to have fun!

Tere Spanish students in Project Meetingto Vratsa (Bulgaria)

Com

eniu

s / 4

2

Hi, I’m Jesús López Soleto, I’m 19, I live in Badajoz and I’m studying in Reino Aftasí’s High School. I knew about Co-menius project through my English tea-

cher Magdalena. I went to Vratsa (Bulga-ria) from January 13 to January 20, 2012. I

knew it’s cold, there’s snow and they don’t use our alphabet. I’ve met a lot of people of many countries, I’ve visited museums and I’ve known Bulgarian culture. I’ve been first to Sofia, then to Vratsa where we stayed and finally to Ple-ven. I’ve ate typical food of Bulgaria like cold soap and yoghurt.

I’ve known a lot of people from Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Hungry and Poland. I’ll never forget mainly some people from Bulgaria, the snow and the mountains.

It was a bit confusing the way they affirm and deny with the head but sometimes resul-ted funny. I’ve learnt we have many things on common and English is more useful that what I thought.

Yes, because it’s a unique, unforgettable and enriching experience.

Jesús Spanish students in Project Meetingto Vratsa (Bulgaria)

SPAIN

Spanish students in Project Meetingto Vratsa (Bulgaria)

Teresa, Jesus and I had heard our teacher, Magdalena, about the comenius project in Bulgaria and we got very interested. We spoke with Magdalena Feliú, our English teacher, and she informed us about the project and helped us to take part. On January 14 already it was all decided. Tere, Jesus and me were the lucky ones who would travel to Bulgaria.

We went out on Friday night of Bada-joz, by car, up to Madrid and in the airport we took off to Sophia via Frankfurt. We come with a lot of illusion for exploring that place so not known for us. We did not know what we could find there and this made it all more interesting.

I remember that we were a bit nervous. The only thing that we knew of Bulgaria is that to say they did not agree nodding with their head and to say yes when they were den-ying. In fact, we were always trying to observe this curious custom. After doing a small tou-rist visit for Sophia and to meet little by little the rest of the people of the project, we were in bus up to Vratsa to meet the boys who would receive us in their houses the following days. The girl who received me is called Marinela, she is a very nice girl. She was always worried about how to do what I wanted or needed in every moment.

When we had free time or were going out in the night we were accompanied of Robert, a boy of Bulgaria who was worrying much for us and explaining everything, the places that we were visiting, he was speaking to us about the people that we knew and was explaining to us since the things work there, in general.

We spend it brilliantly with him and with Kristy, which is also Bulgarian and we spoke a lot of with her because we had many things jointly. We were speaking with the whole world but especially with Robert, Kristy, Costas (a Greek boy) and Mathew (a Polish boy). We had to dance all together traditional dances, play the trivial, etc. I remember one evening of free time that we were Tere, Jesús and me with Ro-bert to giving a walk about Vratsa, under the mountains ... we took many photos, but the moment that I remember the most was our last night in the cafe to which we were in the habit of going, this night it had karaoke and Tere, Jesús and me dared to sing a song of Estopa “Como Camarón” and was incredible, I enjo-yed this great moment though only it lasted two minutes.

In this trip I learned to listen, to be gra-teful ... I learned to tolerate different ways of living and especially learned something that is summarized in a phrase: “The world is better than I believed, but this one is worse than I was thinking”. It would recommend this project to other students because it is the only opportu-nity to live through other customs and sharing the experience with other persons of sites and very different forms from life. Also I recommend it because it is a very healthy option to go out of the routine, umpplugging from our daily world and returning with a very objective vision of life.

Marina

Com

eniu

s / 4

3

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Lublin (Polonia)

We also know that the euro isn’t used in Poland, the zloty. (A zloty equals approximately four Euros). Through previous investigations, we discovered that it refers to their hobbies we weren’t too different, the Poland people are qui-te football fans of Real Madrid and F.C. Barce-lona.

A time in Lublin we carry out numerous activities every day. The first day, we visit the, concentration camp , we visited his Institute, which we explained how it was her day usua-lly. Also did tours by the Centre of the city and Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

These days you live at home in a partici-pating school student, they give you everything you need to make your perfect visit. Room for yourself, food, which is different from the Spa-nish food. Above all tried to give us typical meals. Poland has a very soft food compared to our Mediterranean diet. Soups are much used in meals, and meat is quite predominant before the fish, always accompanied with salads. And a curiosity with the food it that we can’t buy still water.

Carmen

SPAINC

omen

ius

/ 44

My name is Carmen Kaczmar Vilches, I’m six-teen years old and I’m studying 1st high school of Visual Arts in the Reino Aftasí of Badajoz.

In this course our teacher of English Je-sús Espinosa began to inform us of my school was involved in the Comenius project, that involved the participation of six European schools.

When we knew who students was se-lected for live this experience started a carry out all the necessary work to bring us a little in the culture of our country of destination. My fellow travelers (Sergio Molina, Ana Gomez and Felix Retamar) and I conducted several meetings with the teachers that went with us. When all are ready, Friday, March 23 we went to Lisbon to take a direct flight to Lublin.

Days ago we had investigated much about Poland. The most shocking was everything that we read about the invasion that suffered Poland by the Nazi-Germany. It was clear that it was a great suffering for all ci-tizens, as says the Polish anthem ‘Poland will not perish, while we live’.

Hi, I’m Ana, I live Badajoz (Spain), and study art at I.E.S. Reino Aftasí.

The moment I knew about this Project, I wanted to participate, and I won’t regret that

decision, ever, because it was one of the best experiences in my life. And it helped to im-prove my English.

I travel to Poland, last March, and stayed in Lublin at a student’s house. I didn’t know so much about Poland before arriving there, but I was impressed. It was so beautiful, and with an interesting history. I loved it.

We visited Lublin, the concentration camp in Majdanek, which was really amazing. Thinking about the people who suffered there… We also vi-sited Warsaw. It was awesome, seriously, I enjo-yed that visit so much, and we went to Kazimierz Dolny too.

We participated in a mock session of the European Parliament, supporting the use of te-chnology. That was a great experience too. We all were so nervous, but at the end we did it well and we had a good time.

I won’t forget all the people I met there, they’re amazing, I miss them very much. We had a lot of fun.

To sum up I’ll say that I definitely recom-mend to join this kind of projects, because you learn lots of things, you make friends, travel, have fun and get a beautiful experience.

Spanish students in Project Meeting to Lublin (Polonia)

One of the memories that most have stayed in my memory is the route we did by Lublin. It was a different route, in small groups of people from different countries; we were going to make an un-derground route. Indeed, we were walking below the streets of the center of Lublin. We got some torches which lit our way, and there we were told about the history of that city with the help of a few models that we clarified the story visually.

With the intention of defending my friends-hips made during this trip with Polish colleagues, Greek, Turkish, Bulgarian and Hungarian, orga-nize different tours to spend summers together. We agree that this experience should be repeated often.

In conclusion of this experience, I feel the need to recommend to students of institutes and to my own colleagues who dare to participate in the project. I’m writing you to tell you that not only bear souvenirs of another country as a souvenir. Experiences, places, people and even certain times will remain in your memory forever.

Ana

Com

eniu

s / 4

5

Hi, my name is Félix Retamar de Lima, I’m from Badajoz, Spain, I study in Reino Af-tasi School. My subjects are related to Arts.

I heard about the comenius project the first week when start the school in Septem-ber of 2011, Jesús Espinosa tell to us about hosting people from other countries, and I thought, wow! this is perfect for me, because I like meeting people of other countries and making friends for all my life

I travelled on 23th of March, to Poland, I think that the best country in the Comenius project

I know that the country is so beautiful, and so traditional, Lublin is a big city. About the people all my friends tell me that Polish people are fantastic people and so much frien-dly, and jackpot! it’s true, now for me Polish people are like my family.

I visited Madjadnek, Kashzimiar, and Warsaw, and at night had fun with my Co-menius friends, my country friends and me participate in a Model Parliament in the Town Hall of Lublin.

I was lucky, because the mum of my host is a cook, so she made excellent traditio-nal food, like soups, salads and chicken. She cooked for me Italian food, for example pasta and lasagna.

I will never forget, all the people that I met, and the Polish people, they are so friendly, they will help you if you need when you want, and the food of my host mom.

I have learn, that these experiences are necessary at least one time in the life, because meet people around the world, its and incredi-ble and amazing experience, and specially for meet other cultures, habits and languages.

Of course, for me I’d like to do this every year, but it’s impossible, so I recommended all the students this type of exchange, because they are big fun, you meet people and it’s an amazing experience, and if you are a friendly person, of a open mind person this type of ex-changes are for you.

Félix Spanish students in Project Meeting to Lublin (Polonia)

SPAINC

omen

ius

/ 46

BULGARIA

Project Visit to Vratsa

Hristo Botev secondary school was a host to a project mee-ting from 14th to 20th of January 2012. Our guests were from Poland, Hungary, Greece, Turkey and Spain. During their stay they presented their videos and presentations about the Bulga-rian stereotype.

Our students prepared a quiz related to history and culture of all the participating countries. There were two rounds. In the first round all the teams answered questions about the history and culture of the other countries. The second was an extre-me fun for all the participants. They had three minutes to find the contour map of one of the countries, national flag, currency, capital, photos of landmarks and typical food and drinks. The results were almost equal and all the teams received awards for participation.

All the guests showed interest in Bulgarian folk dances. There was a rehearsal organized where they learned how to dan-ce ruchenitsa and round dance.

During their stay in Bulgaria our guests visited Sofia, Ple-ven and Ledenika Cave.

Comenius Multilateral School Project: “From the History of Nations to the History of Europe”

Com

eniu

s / 4

7

Com

eniu

s / 4

8

BULGARIA

Bulgarian folk dance

Bulgarian team in Pleven

A walk in Pleven

Learning how to dance Bulgarian folk dances

Com

eniu

s / 4

9

Presenting the history of our school in the school museum

International Comenius team (a small part of it)

Calculating the quiz results

In front of Vratsata passage, near the town of Vratsa

In Vratsa, Vicky and Giorgios showed they are talented cooks.

BULGARIA

Kostadina, Hungary 2010I was extremely excited about my journey abroad and I counted the days when we had to go to the airport. Well, this day came and I prepared my luggage. It took me almost a week. I had also read things about Hungary, Gödöllő and Sándor Petőfi. But the things I saw and learnt there were so many. More than in the Internet.Let’s start from the beginning. I mean from the airport, of course! Our group met there at 4 o’clock and I was full of energy. First, because I was going to fly by a plane, (A PLANE!) and second because the experien-ce was going to start.I was taking pictures in the plane all the time. The sun was setting and I made some nice shots. The weather in Bulgaria was like in April - very pleasant, very soft. When we arrived in Budapest, it was snowy, windy and cold. But we travelled only an hour!Then we travelled to Godollo with the school bus and some friendly people told us which room is ours. Then we went to my room, I met my room mate- Zoi from

Greece and then we went to the meeting room where we met the others.On the first day we had a reception in the Town Hall. People there were very kind, too. I learnt many thigs about the town - the population is 32 000 people and for the last 20 years there are 3 000 people more, 5 high schools, 7 kindergartens, 4 500 students in the university. In the afternoon we went at school where we met the Hungarian students and then we saw the presentations and planted the Comenius tree. Before that there were some workshops at school. I made a Christmas card.On the 30th November we took a look around in the university and we had a quiz. The quiz was about the history of the university. Then we had a GPS game. No one from our group didn’t know how to use it but we tried and actually went to the Royal Palace by our-selves. Through the way I tried to speak Hungarian with a woman who was selling food. Then I realised that Hungarian language isn’t that hard! I started to learn more words. After that we had one hour free

Hungary

Milen

In December 2010 I went to Hungary with the Comenius pro-ject. There we went sightseeing, fencing and also took a trip to Eger. We visited the school to see in what ways our educational systems are different. Although there were some differences it was pretty much the same. They study a lot of subjects just like us. There we stayed in a student hostel. Although it wasn’t very luxurious it was nice and clean. There I met a lot of people from a lot of diffe-rent countries. There were students from Spain, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Poland and Bulgaria of course. I made a lot of friends in Hungary and we still keep in touch. It was a great experience that I’ll never forget and it all happened thanks to the Comenius pro-gramme…

EXPERIENCES

Com

eniu

s / 5

0

time. I saw one small book store, so I came in to take a look. I was amazed when I saw it inside. It was such a nice atmosphere, very colourful and small but it was full of books because there were shelves and the book seller gave me a step ladder. He was such a nice person. Actually he was looking a lot like Santa Claus! Then in the evening we had fencing lessons. It’s a very nice sport. We learnt the rules and some of us became very food (not me :D).On Wednesday we went to Eger. The city was bigger than Godollo. But when you are in the centre of the town you think it’s a village because the streets are so narrow - very cute!On Thursday we visited Hungarian Catholic churches and then we saw a horse show. It was extremely cold but it was also interesting to see how many things the horses can do. I hope without any force! Then we had some games in the school and then we met Santa Claus! (Tel-a-po in Hungarian, right?)Then on Friday we were in Budapest. I was amazed! The huge building in barock style were so spectacular. Then we were walking along a very long shopping street. There was a very nice bazaar, too. We had to wait there

all the others. It was full of handmade stuff. Yes, Vaci Street is very tiring. During the “Goodbye evening” we danced Hungarian national dances, which I liked a lot and I still remember the melody (tan-ta-tan-ta-tan, ta-ra-ra-ra, tan-ta-tan-ta-tan, ta-tan, if you remember) and then we took a picture, then second, then hundred, then thousand. Maybe this was the biggest and the longest photo session in my whole life!Then all the night we were talking for the last time (for this meeting of course). The groups started to say good bye. The Polish group left first at 5 in the morning, Spa-nish, Greeks and Turkish and Bulgarian groups.I didn’t talk write anything about the people I met the-re. They were so great and unique for themselves. We wanted to say so many things to each other. We were so tired but we didn’t want to sleep at night. Because it was so nice to have conversations with different people. Not just the students, with the teachers, too.Thank you very much for everything! I have a file sto-red in my brain, called Hungary and I go there very of-ten. It’s full of memories - pictures in my mind, feelings and a lot of stories from the trip. And the Godollo metal stuff is on my wall!

Kristiyan

The first time that I went to a foreign country was in Hungary. We flew there by a plane. It didn’t take too long. That was also my first travel by a plane. The weather there was cold and it was snowing. It must have been a nightmare for the Spanish students! I met a lot of people there and liked Spanish and Turkish students the most. Turkish students had the best sense of humour. We were the youngest but that wasn’t a pro-blem. The Hungarians were friendly as expected and actually I had a great time! I am looking forward to the next time that I am going to cross the border. And I hope to meet some of these people again!

Com

eniu

s / 5

1

Com

eniu

s / 5

2

Vivian

In connection with the Comenius project, me, my favorite teachers and a couple of my classmates went to Hungary last winter. For me that was a real challenge and opportunity to meet new people, to learn more about their culture and traditions. Despite that the Hungarian is one of the har-dest langueages in the world, I think the Hungarians are very kind and friendly. I was amazed of the view in the moment when the plane star-ted to land on the airport of Budapest during the night. In the beginning everything seemed strange to me until I adapt. We were settled in a nice campus in Godolo, around 30 miles away from the capital. There we’ve visited amazing places. We went to the municipality, we had a meeting with the mayor and we’ve played a GPS game, which leaded us to a beau-tiful castle downtown. In the evenings we ate in a fancy restaurant. Then we visited the local university, in which students from the whole world study. A few days later we went to Eger. The town was gorgeous.There we bought presents for our Bulgarian friends and made a lot of pho-tos. The day before we come back home, we were in Budapest. This is one of the most beautiful towns that I’ve ever visited. I saw the bridges above Danube river, museums, shops and I walked to the huge downtown whe-re I bought clothes and cosmetics. Budapest is a unique town and I would like to live there. I am greatful to my teacher which provided me with such a great opportunity to interact with people from different countries and to the Hungarian teachers for the patienceand efforts they took to make our trip so memorable!

Suzane,My week in GreeceThere is one week I’ll always remember from the winter of 2011 – that one week in Gree-ce. It was an amazing expe-rience. I saw a lot of beautiful places, including the Acropo-lis – I’ve always wanted to see it. I’ve also made a lot of new friend; actually I’m still keeping in touch with some of them. I had the chance to get to know better the Greek culture and that gave me a lot of new knowledge. This trip was educational, enriching, memorable and first of all a lot of fun!!

Greece

Polina

Last year my friend Suzi and I were in Greece with our English teacher Kameliya Hristova and Tanya Angelo-va. It was in February and It was my first time to fly by plane. I was very excited.In Greece everything was great. People were very friendly, the food was delicious, I made a lot of pictu-res of the landmarks in Athens. We visited the Acropo-lis, the temple of Poseidon which is on Cape Sounion, the castle in Nafplio.

Our hotel was in the historic center of Athens just be-low the hill of the Acropolis. The view was amazing, In my hotel room I had two roommates one from Hun-gary her name was Dora and one from Spain her name was Paula. I met many new children and we became friends. I met children from Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Spain and Greece. Everything was amazing the atmos-phere, the weather, people. Just perfect. Athens is very big and beautiful city with wonderful landmarks. For me it was a pleasure to visit it and to made so many photos and buy gifts. I hope one day to visit Athens again. The week in Greece was unforgettable.

BULGARIA

Com

eniu

s / 5

3

Monika, Turkey 2011

In May last year we travelled to Turkey with our English teacher, the headmaster of our school, a Bulgarian langua-ge and Literature teacher and one of my classmates. When we were at the Bulgarian air-port I was very excited be-cause I have never travelled by a plane before. The flight was funny and interesting for me. But everything was OK. While we were flying the view was amazing! When we arri-ved in Ankara the weather was sunny. The Turkish teachers were very friendly and our hosts, too. We spent six days there and we visited many landmarks. For example we visited Anıtkabir – the mauso-leum of Mustafa Kemal Ata-türk, Cappadocia where we were for two days. This trip was very interesting and very tiring because we travelled by bus more than six hours. In our free time we went to cafes, city centre and we had fun. During this project I made a lot of new friends from diffe-rent countries and I had a great time with them and I’ll never forget this! Thank you Come-nius!

Turkey Marinela, Turkey 2011

I was in Turkey one year ago. I stayed there five days. My host was one girl, named Sevde, she has two older sisters.It was my first time to go out of the country. We flew by a plane, it was very interesting to me to watch the ground from that high. We had to change two flights one from Sofia to Istanbul and other from Istanbul to Ankara. At the first evening the whole group went out for a coffee or maybe it was restaurant. There were some traditional dishes and we could try them.On the other day we left by a bus to Ankara city with natural sights. There were forms of rock , which were very interesting to see. Also we saw a salt lake. In the evening we went to one restaurant, where we saw traditional Turkish dances and music.When we came back to Ankara we went to a museum of Ataturk and we also saw one of the biggest mosques in Turkey. When you enter in a mosque you have to put a scarf on your head if you are a women and also no matter of that woman or men you must to put off your shoes.It was a wonderful experience for me and I always remember it and also the family in which I stayed I’m very grateful to them! ☺

Com

eniu

s / 5

4

Yohan, Spain 2011

My name is Yohan. In the end of September me, Nikola and Milen went to Madrid, Spain to our greatest adventure ever. We were part of the school project and we spend an amazing week in Spain. My English teacher – Kameliya Hristova and my Geography teacher – Yuliya Nikolova were with us. At about 3 a.m. me and my mother and Nikola with his family went to Sofia to meet with the others on the airport. At about 10 in the morning we landed in Madrid and we spend almost the whole day there. We visited Prado – an amazing museum, a very big park with a lake and later we went to Badajoz. There we visited the Spanish school, the City Hall and many other places. On the 4th day we went to Merida and spent a great time there. I bought many souvenirs. On the next day we went to Caceres. On the 6th day the group went to Madrid again where we spent another exciting day visiting the Parliament, the Royal Palace. We saw Santiago Bernabeu stadium which was the most attractive for me. In the evening we went shopping. That was our last night in Spain. I enjoyed the trip! Comenius brought me good memories that I’ll never forget!

Spain

Milen

Hello!I’m Milen and I’m 15 years old. Last year from 21 to 27 September I was in Spain, one fantastic country! For the first time I left Bulgaria and when landed at the airport in Madrid I felt that I wouldn’t want to go back. The airport was huge! It looked bigger than my town. Then we headed to downtown. We saw great mu-seums and buildings. Meanwhile, we met many people who were great! After that we went to one of the many bus stations and we left for Badajoz.I arrived very late. The mother of my friend Pedro, in which house I had to stay, was waiting for us and took us into their house which was very nice! The next day we went to their school. We found more friends. The other days we were in Merida and Caceres, also very nice cities. The last day we returned to Madrid. We saw the Parliament inside! We also saw the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. After that we went to the Royal Palace, it looked amazing and very expensive! In the evening we all said goodbye. Early in the morning we moved to the metro to the airport and later we flew back to Bulgaria. I hope someday to visit Spain again!

NikolaHi, I am Nikola and I am 15 years old. I was in Spain in Sep-tember last year. On the first day we arrived at the airport in Madrid. We walked around the airport and I have to mention that it was a huge one! On the second day we arrived in Bada-joz. Then we went to the school we supposed to go and we met a lot of new people and we made some new friends. We also visi-ted Merida and Caceres. I rea-lly liked it there and if I could I would go again. Then we went back to Madrid where we visi-ted many places like the Royal Palace and Parliament. In the evening we stayed in a hotel and on the next day we went back home. It was an unforgettable experience for me!

BULGARIA

The last of the six visits took place in Lublin, Poland and concentrated on the mock European Parliament session. Stu-dents had examined EU parliament session on the Internet to make their mock session close to real ones. They investigated the issues to be discusses at the session and searched for the infor-mation that could support the motions.

The students and teachers decorated the school and dis-played items collected during the two-year project in a case in the school corridor. Finally teachers met the welcome guests at the F. Chopin airport in Warsaw. The days we spent together were educative but also full of excitement. The students successfully implemented the most challenging point of the programme which was the mock session of the EU. The representatives of the city council and media present at the session aggravated nervous-ness and anxiety but boosted to the effort. Trips to the capital city Warsaw and Kazimierz Dolny called the town of artists were a pleasant change from ‘the life of politicians’.

What follows is a photograph diary of seven days full of activities.

POLAND

Multilateral Comenius Project ‘From the History of Nations to the History of Europe’Project visit to Lublin (24-30, March, 2012)

Zespót Szkót Ekonomicznych im. A. i J. Vetterów in Lublin, Poland

Theme: Polish Stereotype and mock session of the European Parliament in the Lublin Town Hall

Com

eniu

s / 5

5

Com

eniu

s / 5

6

Day 1 Saturday,24, March, 2012

Arrival of the delega-tions. As they arrived at nearly regular intervals some of them had to spend some time at the airport waiting for others. An opportunity to get to know and talk.

Day 2 Sunday, 25, March, 2012

The day started with a tour of some places of interest in Lublin. The guests and the hosts visited the State Mu-seum at Majdanek, the Nazi Concentration Camp. Visi-ting the museum was prece-ded by a film introducing and preparing to the theme. The next destination was the Old Town where we visited the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in the Lublin Castel and clim-bed up the Trynitar Gate to see the panorama of the city. The chapel ranks among the most precious and interes-ting monuments of Medieval architecture in Poland and the European context as two great cultural traditions of the East and West meet and min-gle. The interior of this Gothic chapel was covered with mag-nificent Russo-Byzantine mu-rals. To learn more about his-tory we took and underground route starting in the Crown Tribunal. We got a chance to see the models of the town at different periods in time. The route is 40 - minutes long and

POLAND

goes 9 and 12 meters. At the end we were invited to view a small scene with visual and sound effects, which told the story of the big fire of 1719. Torches carried by some of the visitors lit our way in the dark.

Day 3 Monday,26, March, 2012

The day of the official welcome in the school. The principal Mrs. Marzenna Mo-drzewska- Michalczyk gree-ted the guests. Then a short tour around the school ,visit to the Chamber of Tradition and photos taken in the main hall with flags of the partner countries in the background. On the stairs we met members of ‘Jawor’, a folk ensemble of University of Life Sciences in Lublin getting ready for a per-formance. After a 30-minute vivid and colourful show of folk dances and generic sce-nes from different regions of Poland we were moved on to more contemporary times. Adrianna Brzozowska showed her talent in the Tina Turner’s song ‘Simply the Best’. A won-derful performance!

After a break for coffee and cakes baked by teachers themselves it was time for presentations: ‘What we know about Poland’. Each delega-tion tried to make their pre-sentation vivid and attracti-ve so there were great sound effects and music. It came out that people in Europe don’t really know a lot about Poland and great Poles.

The next section of the programme was preparing to the mock session of the Eu-ropean Parliament. The parti-cipants- speakers and voters were made familiar with the procedures to be followed du-ring sessions.

Day 4 Tuesday, 27, March, 2012

A trip to Warsaw. We all met outsider the motel PZ-MOT where the teachers were accommodated. Warsaw is a modern, sparking city. In spi-te of its sometimes tragic his-

Com

eniu

s / 5

7

Com

eniu

s / 5

8

tory there are many historical places to see. Nearly 85 % of the city was destroyed during World War II but several were rebuilt or restored among them the Old Town and the Royal Castle. Visiting Warsaw started from the ‘azienki Park with the Chopin monument. Going along the Royal Route we passed the Presidential Pa-lace to get to the Sigismund’s Column, one of the oldest se-cular monuments in northern Europe. The column comme-morates the King who moved the capital of Poland from Cracow to Warsaw.

Everybody waited for lunch in the Old Town in ‘Po-dwale’ restaurant. Not a lot of time for refreshment, the gui-de waited for us.

The next step was the Warsaw Syrenka (mermaid), the symbol of the city. A group photo was a must. A short walk to Freta street brought us to the house in which Ma-ria Curie Sktodowska was born, a Polish scientist, the Nobel Prize Winner, the only woman to win in two fields and the only person to win in multiple sciences .

The last stage of explo-ring Warsaw was the Warsaw Uprising Monument, comme-moration of Polish bravery and despair during World War II. Closely to the monument a line marking the area of the Jewish quarter.

Free time in the Old Town was an opportunity to bye souvenirs and take more pictures.

Day 5 Wednesday, 28, March, 2012

The day of the mock ses-sion of the European Parlia-ment in the townhall. The par-

ticipants were greeted by the Chairman of the City Coun-cil who wished them fruitful discussions. Apart from ‘the members of parliament’ the-re were also representatives of the youth council in Lublin who listened to the debates. Radio and television reporters recorded the session. From the interviews given to the media one may conclude that being a politician is a difficult and stressful occupation. Special thanks to the city authorities for hosting the delegations.

A short meeting with the vice-mayor of the city Mr. Grzegorz Siemitski and off we went straight to attend work-shops in the seat of the As-sociation of Folk Artists. Two women, dressed in folk out-fit from their regions came

POLAND

Com

eniu

s / 5

9

to Lublin to especially for us to show and share with us the art of making traditional Easter decorations e.i. Easter eggs called ‘pisanki’ and bou-quets called ‘palms’, compo-sed of dry flowers, herbs and decorative grass, all painted in vivid colours. We were divided into two groups, one was ma-king ‘pisanki’, the other one ‘palemki’. Painting and deco-rating the eggs turned out to be a difficult task , especia-lly drawing patterns with hot wax. Luckily, there were the artists ready to guide and as-sist. Some real talents, hidden before were discovered.

Day 6 Thursday, 29, March, 2012

A trip to Kazimierz Dol-ny called the town of artists. It is located on the right bank of the Vistula River. Its unique urban-architectural-landsca-pe complex was granted His-toric Monument Status. The weather was changeable, rain and once again the sun but we managed to go up the Hill of Three Crosses, a beauty spot on the town and the river. Af-ter a short tour of the museum of the Art of Goldsmithery the-re was time for shopping. A few shots in the market and we went back to Lublin to get ready for the farewell party, which started with a perfor-mance of Romeo and Juliet. Then photos with the actors, gifts, music.

Day 7 Friday 30, March, 2012

Departure of the dele-gations to the F. Chopin Air-port in Warsaw at 4.30 a.m. Again saying good bye, again difficult. The Hungarian team was luckier as they were to go home by train. The Comenius visit in Lublin was over. The memories will stay.

Com

eniu

s / 6

0

Paweł DanilczukWhen I think about a Comenius visit in Lublin I have only positive recollections. Durning the visit there were a lot of attractions and our visitors enjoyed it. Many people were excited about the trip to Warsaw and they spent great time there. They were on a sightseeing tour and had an opportunity to see fabulous places in the capital of Poland. In Lublin we took part in many activities like workshops in the Associa-tion of Folk Artists where we were shown how to decorate Easter eggs and „palms”. This activity was believed to be boring but unexpectedly it turned out that it can also be fun. I will not forget about people who came to Lublin. There are many differences between us but we also have a lot in common . Every teenager likes having fun and spending time dancing, singing and chatting. I have learnt a lot of about history and habits in other countries. I am sure I will not forget about the visit because of unforgettable people that I met.

EXPERIENCESPolish Students talk about this Comenius Project

Ewelina BłaziakThe visit of our Comenius friends was unique and the time spent with them just marvelous. We were visited by people from different countries, cultu-res, speaking different mother tongues, of different religions and having diffe-rent views and attitude to life. All this was not an obstacle to establish closer relationship as according to the saying: “All men are created equal”. Each of the people I met brought something new in my life. I met with other cul-tures, learnt some phrases in other lan-guages but I also learnt how to be pa-tient and responsible. However, what is most important,the people I met will be in my heart forever and the memories- in my mind.

Magdalena ŁappoThe meeting of the Comenius Project in Lublin was one of one of the best experiences in my life. It was sometimes stressful and hard but the moments spent in the company of foreign peers were rewarding. Owing to them I learnt that different doesn’t mean worse but it often may turn out to be better. For nearly a week I gained new friends about whom I will always have warm thoughts. If not the project, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience so many joyful moments in such a short time and to find out that I have so much in common with people who apparently are com-pletely different from me.

POLAND

Com

eniu

s / 6

1

Adrian StolarskiIt was the first time that to such an extend had I the opportunity to get to know with the culture and way of life of people from other nations. I also experienced a direct contact with the Bul-garian tradition when we were greeted with bread and honey at the school entrance, took part in folk dances or while visiting museums. Participating in the project was a pleasant form of learning and surely a shift from learning only from books. I do recommend everybody to try take part in such projects if the opportunity arises.

Karol DrozdI got to know many gorgeous people. I had never seen so many people from va-rious countries in one place. I could talk with them all and get to know better. I think I had the closest relations with the Spanish. They are open, emotional and helpful. It was good to share a room with people from the other countries, we all mixed together. Other students from the Polish group also shared rooms with so-meone from another country. The trip was a splendid experience and opportunity to share views and to have fun. Surely I will not forget it to the end of my life.

Mariola KrólGetting to know students that came from another sides of Eu-rope and realizing that actually, we all are the same was an in-credible feeling. We had a chance to talk, share opinions, sing and simply have fun together until late at night. What is great as well, we had a chance, not only to brush up our English but also learn a little bit of the mother languages of the others.

Kinga JóźwikThe two basic guidelines of the Comenius Project were improving our knowledge in English and getting to know the cul-tures of other countries. It was enough to make me be incredibly curious about the trip and to take my thoughts since that day I was informed I will fly to Hungary until the day of the departure. In spite of being scared in the very beginning, I totally fell in love with this trip after landing on the our destination’s ground which was obviously Hungary. The op-portunity to meet my peers from diffe-rent countries of the Europe was fantas-tic experience that I will never forget. It’s great that although a lot of differences of ours, we could still find such many com-mons and get on with each other very well. I had also a chance to learn a litt-le bit of other European languages like Turkish, Bulgarian and Spanish as well. Emre, Tugba, Ali and Halit: miss you all so much! Turkey is the best!

Com

eniu

s / 6

2

Katarzyna PydoIn my opinion projects like Comenius are necessary. They make it possibi-le to brush up English, to make new friends. Although it’s been some time since they left Poland we are still in contact and even plan to meet again in September. I’m very glad to have been with all those people and spent time together. It was a good experience which left wonderful memories.

Paweł DanilczukWhen I think about a Come-nius visit in Lublin I have only positive recollections. Durning the visit there were a lot of at-tractions and our visitors enjo-yed it. Many people were ex-cited about the trip to Warsaw and they spent great time the-re. They were on a sightseeing tour and had an opportunity to see fabulous places in the ca-pital of Poland. In Lublin we took part in many activities like workshops in the Associa-tion of Folk Artists where we were ahown how to decorate Easter eggs and “palms”. This activity was believed to be boring but unexpectedly it tur-ned out that it can also be fun. I will not forget about people who came to Lublin. There are many differences between us but we also have a lot in common. Every teenager likes having fun and spending time dancing, singing and chatting. I have learnt a lot of about his-tory and habits in other coun-tries. I am sure I will not forget about the visit because of un-forgettable people that I met.

Adrian MarkiewiczWhile leaving Lublin our guests said a lot of nice words about Polish hospitality, mentality and development of the city. I’m glad the Comenius Pro-ject made it possibile for them to come to us and get to know about our way of life.

Ewelina Błaziak

The visit of our Comenius friends was unique and the time spent with them just marvelous. We were visited by people from different countries, cultures, speaking different mother tongues, of different religions and having different views and attitude to life. All this was not an obstacle to establish closer relationship as according to the saying: “All men are created equal”. Each of the people I met brought something new in my life. I met with other cultures, learn some phrases in other languages but I also learn how to be patient and responsible. However, what is most important, the people I met will be in my heart forever and the memories- in my mind.

Knowing is Understanding

znajomość jest zrozumienie

Conocer es

comprender

γνωρίζοντας ότι κατανόηση

b i l e r e k anlama

знае се разбиране