Author Archive: Arturo Ramírez López
Spanish students at Gorowo
Here you can read how Sofía, Quino and Dani lived their experience at Gorowo.
Quino
I shall explain you a little bit about our amazing experience in Górowo Iławeckie, a small village near the Polish border. I spent such a wonderful and enriching trip with my mates Sofía and Daniel and my teachers Angela and Eloísa.
On Tuesday, we had to travel from Malaga to London, we stayed there for a night, and on Wednesday then we had to catch a plane from London to Gdánsk, an important coastal city. Finally, we landed in Gdánsk at the lunchtime, and we had to take a two-hour bus to Gorowo. At last, we arrived to Gorowo at 6 pm, which is their dinnertime, so Daniel and I went with our twins to a pizza restaurant.
On Thursday, I met up with the whole Comenius group in the highschool early in the morning to do some sightseeing around the school, which is greatly large, and around the village. Then I could notice that there in Poland there is a lot of admiration for Pope John Paul II.
In the afternoon, we went to Bezledy, which is one of the European border points with Russia, and we had the opportunity to manage some weapons, as the sniper rifle you can see here. We also went to Bartszyce, which is like the provincial city, to visit the fire department and the local newspaper. At night, we went out with the entire Comenius group to a disco and afterwards we walked around the village.
On Friday, we met at Barka, which is like a public building for social and cultural events, and we had to show our slideshows about employing and volunteering in our cities. Thereafter, we were doing some handicraft and workshop, as the same time as some of us were playing table tennis and even dancing. We had such a wonderful and funny time there, because we could get to know among us. At last, at night, I went to Daniel’s house to spend some time and afterwards we met up with the whole Comenius group in a typical Polish restaurant, where we could even make a party.
In the last day together, on Saturday, everybody went to Olzstyn, the capital city of the district, wich was an important region in medieval times, and we visited the Olsztyn Castle, where Nicholas Copernicus lived, and the Old Town, which was impressive. Thereafter we could go shopping and do some ice-skating. In the evening, we went to a farewell party outdoors, and we had the most wonderful time of the week, listening to some music, dancing, making loads of photos and talking around the fire.
On Sunday, I was awake so early in the morning, like 4 am, to take the bus to Gdánsk. It was bitterly cold, like -4º, so in the bus everyone was sleeping and dreaming. We arrived in Gdánsk at the morning, and there we spent our last time with the Comenius people. After the farewell, we were travelling from Poland to Spain the entire day, so we landed in Malaga around 10 pm.
From my point of view, the chance of travelling to Górowo has been blissful. Even if at the beginning of the trip I was quite nervous wondering what would I do there, the mighty kindness and welcoming of the Polish people made me enjoy the days I stayed there.
Even having met many people from several cultures and languages, I could get through and get along with everyone, meeting people with many common interests. I had such a great, amazing time with the entire Comenius group, singing, dancing and doing loads of things with them.
Sofía
My travel to Poland was amazing with Quino and Dani.
We sleept a little but it was worthy. I though that Poland was different, and the difference was a great surprise for me. My twin,Ewa, is a fantastic girl. She and her family took me in so good.
I was impresed by their frozen lake and their contrast between the cold outside and the heat inside the houses.I really like these landscape.
The first night we went to their park and the supermarket. I met a lot of people from other countries.We started dancing this night,with Spanish songs,Italian songs and Polish songs.I went to bed so early because I was so tired.
The second day we went to their highschool. There we could met another people and we visited their highschool. Then we visited to the firemen station and to the local newspapper. At night,we went to ate pizza in a pub.
The third day we went to Barka to explain our presentation and made handcraft.We danced too.These night we ate pizza again and dance again.This was a exciting night.
The fourth day we went to other town. We made sightseeing. Then we spent a funny time ice-skating.
The night of the fourth day was the best night for me.We celebrated our depart with a barbecue.We danced,talked,played,made a lot of photos… and we cried because we didn’t want to say goodbye.
Last day,we had to got up early to went to the airport. We were all less Italian girls. I huged everybody but especially Ewa.I miss her so much.
I really this travel because we were together all the time. We were always dancing and laughing ,we were happy.
My sourvenirs from this travel are the experience,English, as a way of comunication, and The unforgettable time together.
Dani
When we heard we had to travel from Malaga to London, from London to Gdansk, and finally, from Gdansk to Górowo, and that we had to travel during a good many of hours, we were surprised! Why travelling during lots of hours to visit a country which is not so well-known between people in Spain?
The answer to the question “why Poland?” is the following: it’s different.
The first day, I was so confused, and asking myself “How have I finished here? Why I’m here? Why is everything so different? Why it’s not just like Malaga?”.
But I realized that being different is not a blockage, it’s not an obstacle, it’s an opportunity to say “yes, I visited an unknown country, and I’m proud of it!”, it’s an opportunity to know more things about the habits in the north of Europe, the way of behaving of the people (we thought people’s behaving will be different, but they are so nice, so greatful!), and so on.
I liked so much Górowo because it’s a smallvillage with huge houses, with lots of gardens… I believe Górowo is like a way of represent the nature.
And I think everybody will ask themselves “and, what about the cold climate?”. And I have an answer to this! You only have to take a big jacket and enjoy of having a walk around Górowo: the Town Hall (where there were burnt witches 500 years ago), the ukrainian church (it was destroyed by Nazi people, but ukrainian rebuilt it and now it forms part of Europe history), the frozen lake (so beautiful!)…
But we didn’t stay in Górowo all the time. We visited Olsztyn and Bartoszyce (I think this two towns are written in this way!), the borders between Russia and Poland, a shopping center (cheaper than in Malaga!), an ice-skating floor…
I think they were several magic days. I learnt so much about polish culture, polish habits, polish music (strange, but I love polish music!)… And if somebody say me if I want to visit it again, I will smile, and I will say “yes, I will get back there”.
Málaga mobility summary
The theme of the mobility in Málaga was “Job opportunities for young people”
Basically the activities we carried through with the students were the folowing:
- “Role playing: employers and employees”: Students experienced how an unemployment benefit affects the average salary and the companies profits.
- “Presentations about opportunities of employment”: Spanish students showed their work on the theme
- “Modelling job opportunities research process”: Students modelled how to search job opportunties back at their schools
- “Sharing fundraising experiences”: Students showed what fundraising activities had carried out to get money for Charity in their schools.
- “Spanish lunch at school”: Spanish students brought meals made at home to share Spanish recipes with their twins.
- “Sports activities at the beach”: Fun games which were planned in previous mobilities.
- “Orienteering activity”: Organised by Club Coma (http://www.clubcoma.org/) at the Morlaco Park.
Also that friday some teachers visited the “San Miguel” brewery in Málaga. The folowing day all the teachers were in a trip to Seville. All the students were with their Spanish twins during their weekend doing activities planned in advanced.
As the coordinator of this project in Málaga I have to say that I could have never expected to find such a kind and collaborative group of young people. Even in the Economics experiment (normally is something boring for them) they tried their best and the outcome was excellent. They left an indelible mark in both the Spanish families and the teachers.
Also I am really grateful to all the foreign teachers for their cooperation in every moment and their superb work throughout the days we had the privilege to share with them. The activities that needed their collaboration, as the meetings at the library or the sports activities were an absolut success. Besides I always felt their support through their actions and continuous smiles. Our Comenius staff in Malaga thanked their friendliness and their wonderful attitude towards any activity we suggested.
Four Spanish girls in Germany
Here you have the personal experiences of the four Spanish girls who were at Achim.
Paula: Hi! My name is Paula and I am going to talk about my experience in the Comenius project in Achim, Germany. I have been five days in Achim and it was an unforgettable experience. In this trip I have met a lot of people. I have been in Selin’s house, her family was good with me and I was very well in her house. The first day I arrived there at half past ten more or less I don’t remember well.. Selin was waiting me in the Airport, when I arrived we went to her high school, it was very big! In the afternoon we went to walk around the Achim city and after we went to ice-skate. On second day we had gone to the high school and we rested there all the morning, after we went to Bremen and we visited the Christmas Market, it was fantastic. On third day we went to the Mercedes-Benz plant and in the afternoon I went to Bremen with Selin and other people of Comenius projecto too. On fourth day we visited Klimahaus, it’s a museum with a temperture of the differents cities on the world, I liked it so much. The last day we went to the Airport at half past ten. I had a good time in Achim because there the people were fantastic. I want to come back one day. I miss the Comenius people!
Amparo: This comenius trips has been one of my best experiences. I got to know a lot of people and they were all really nice. I’ve liked everything about it, the family, the trip to Bremen and seeing the Christmas Market, the climate house… although I couldn’t stand the hot spots because they were suffocating. And I’ve really enjoyed selling things at our own Christmas Market in Achim. Even though sometimes when I said hello people passed by without answering because they weren’t going to buy anything, but that’s OK. In the extra-scholar hours we did lots of things and I got to see Achim, meet new people and the last night I got to try some non-alcoholic cocktails with other students and that was very nice. I also liked the fireworks and bowling because I was the third! The presentations were also good but my fellow students started passing the diagrams from mine and by the time I finished the title of my presentation, the next student’s was on screen… it was really embarrassing. The worst part of it all was saying goodbye because I had got very attached and I knew I wasn’t going to see them in a while. But it was nice seeing them for the last time before going to the plane.
Ana:
I shall talk about my great experience in Achim, a cute city of Germany where I had lots of good moments.
The leaving day, I got up at 3 o´clock, (yes, I got up, because anyway I could sleep!). I made my parents to wake up very quickly and without any breakfast and without any tranquility, I said goodbye to my asleep sister and left the house. I was talking all the way to the airport and now I´m not able to remember what, but I only know I was really nervous and I couldn´t be restless any time. I met with my friends at the check-in, we all were excited, but we had to say goodbye to our families and with an enormous hug we entered to pass the controls. When we were in the plane, my friend Amparo and I were also talking and laughing all the travel long, so we made our teachers and the rest of the passengers crazy, poor them! I think that nerves made us talk and talk and talk and talk without a break. We were almost landing and I shouted: We are in Germany!!! Yes, we were in Germany and the nerves increased, only some minutes and I would meet my twin, Sarah, and her family. She welcomed me with a smile and a hug and I thought: Well Ana, this girl is cool! Her mother was lovely with my and they brought me to their house, in which I was like in a film; I fell in love with the house! Later, we came back to the airport for Irene, the Italian girl, she was really nice and funny and both of us thought that we were quite similar. We arrived to the house and started to think something to do… so what about German monopoly? Then, we ate something and went to Devorah´s house and made cookies! At least, I tried not to disturb too much! I´m not really good at cooking but I made my very best of me. We sang some carols and somewhere over the rainbow…or we tried it! The first day had finished and I didn´t realize it until I was with my pyjama and with Irene sleeping in the other bed, next to me.
The second day was full of presentations of each country and I think we used it to make international friends. We were shown the high school and I got shocked because we went upstairs, downstairs, corridors, more corridors… it was enormous! I ate kartoffelsalat for the first time in my life there, in the high, with other guys of England, Poland and of course, Germany. In the afternoon, we went to Bremen to see the Christmas market. For me, a very beautiful city, like a fairytale, I felt like a child that only said: `Please! Let´s take a photo here, and there, and there too´ so I can say I have a little piece of that wonderful place. The Christmas market was amazing and I cannot remember how many sweets I ate that evening, I thought Sarah wanted me to gained weight to eat me! (Just joking!!)
The third day we sold all the things that each country made. It was really funny because Polish guys and we were talking German people but we didn´t know what we were saying and very bad pronounced for me. But our work functioned and some people came to buy something. We ate a kebab for lunch and then we took a bus to go to Mercedes-Benz plant in Bremen. It was really interesting because we could see how a car is made step by step. At night, we had dinner at Sarah´s house with more friends with a raclette. It was absolutely delicious, I loved it and I love it! I had never seen something like that and I have to find one here, in my city. After dinner, we sang with a piano, played by Felicity, and English girl. He played marvelously and we sang like a choir, from carols to rock songs as The eye of tiger, it was powerful! they can understand what I mean…
On Saturday, we visited the Klimahaus in Bremen. It was a sort of special museum in which we were exposed to temperatures from Alaska to Africa, we breathed the humidity of the jungle at night … it was a travel through a meridian, quite interesting and funny! We went bowling. I was really bad at that but I discovered that my English teacher, Rafa, was really good, like a professional! I finally found my wished German chocolate and I bought a lot for my family, friends, and of course, for me.
And finally, the last day, Sunday. Irene was leaving very soon that morning, so I begged her to wake up me to say goodbye to her, and she did it. I was very tired and sad, I didn´t want it to finish, I didn´t want to say bye. I came back to bed and my alarm rang mistakenly. I opened my eyes and I was alone, and it was strange because I got used to see her every morning… I disconnected my alarm and went to bed again without my Italian partner, very disconcerting. My turn arrived so I prepared my suitcase filled of presents of Sarah´s family and in my ears, beautiful earrings made by Irene, she is genial doing that. In the car, going to the airport, Sarah and I were making monkey faces with her parent´s sunglasses. And inevitably, I had to say goodbye to Sarah in the first place I said hello. I hugged her and her family, and I turned round with a family in Germany, with a sister in Italy and lots of friends all over the world. Sarah, I´m waiting for you here, I want to be your guide again!
Helena:
I think Comenius has been a amazing experience. It’s an opportunity that happens once in your lifetime. I recommend everybody to participate on it if they have the chance. I have met people of different countries with different characteristics, but all of them are unforgetable for me. Maybe, the previous moments are always very bad, because you are so nervious and you are afraid of this new experience, but then, when you meet the family and your twin, everything goes better and you get confidence. I would repeat it if somebody gave me the opportunity.
