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A trip to Romania

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From 17th to 23rd February I took part in the Erasmus plus project which was an unforgettable experience. Together with my teacher and three schoolmates I went to Romania, to the town of Sibiu.

At the beginning I was a litlle bit afraid of going so far from home, but by the time I got there I felt comfortable and was happy to be there. My host was Iustin, 18, and was happy to host me.

The whole concept of the project was what does it mean to be a digital citizen. We talked about it in the town hall and school library the first day of our stay. We also visited Sibiu and had a tour of the city centre. The second day we visited the famous castle of Dracula which turns out not to be his. We also visited another castle and a town nearby Sibiu, Brasov.

Every day we followed almost the same schedule. In the morning we had a workshop about the project and the rest of the day we visited some place or had some time off.. The best part of the project was that we had really a lot of free time. Other days we went bowling in the sport centre, which surprised me because I thought we would be busy the whole time. Last day we made the Internet page about our school and Croatia. We were working on the same things together with our collegueas; hosts from Romania and students from Spain, Portugal, Poland and Turkey. Thaks to that I've meet a lot of new people which is one of the targets of the project, besides its focus - learning about being a digital citizen and learning about other countries. We didn't spend lots of time with our host families, we only spent nights and had breakfast, while lunches and dinners were at a different restaurant each day. Another good thing was that the weather was really nice although it was very cold. Inspite the trip to Romania is over, I know that my participation in the project hasn' t come to an end. In less than a year's time we are going to host students from Turkey and I'm looking forward to it.

Having taken part in this project was a really nice experience because I met a lot of new interesting people and learned about their countries. I also like the fact that I had to speak English every day so I could practice it . I really hope to participate in another similar project  because this experience deepened my desire for travelling.

Goran Neven Paleari

 

 

Romania

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The first day we arrived to our hosts  and had a dinner. The second day we went to their school and had presentation about out country, city and school. The third day we had to do avatars and websites on computers. After that we went on bowling. The fourth day we visited Drakula's castle which was pretty small but awesome. Also we visited Brasov. The fifth day we went to a gym. We had lots of fun together. The sixth day we introduced our avatars and websites. After that we had some free time and spent it all together. Last day we went home.

Each day was full of activities and we would come to our hosts' homes exhausted. I can say that was one of the best experiences in my life.

 

Lara Rađenović

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Erasmus+ /LOAD-Life of a Digi Sibiu, 18-22 February 2019

 

The trip to Romania was such a beautiful experience that I will never forget it. I did a lot of things for the first time like flying by plane. I love travelling, but this trip was different because I have never been so far away from home. In Romania we've met a lot of different, smart and lovely people. We've also learned a lot of things about technology and digital citizenship.

The first day we flew from Zagreb to Vienna and from Vienna to Sibiu. When we arrived we had some free time so our hosts showed us the town and we went to eat out.After that we went to our hosts families' houses. The second day we had a welcome meeting with all teachers and students and we showed the video that we made. We also had a workshop on the topic what does it mean to be a Europen citizen and after that we had lunch and another city tour. Next day we had two workshops - what does it mean to be a Europen citizen, what is digital Citizenships and which are nine criteria as well as the  introduction of web 2.0 and ITC tools.The afternoon we went bowling and in the evening we had dinner with teachers. Wednesday we went to a thematic trip to Fagaras fortress,  Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle), Brasov (Black Church and downtown). Thursday we had a workshop in the morning and in the afternoon we ate out. We had some free time and went to Aria Sport Centre and I went to the gym. After sports activities we went to a snooker place and had some free time. Friday was last day of our trip. We had  Traditional Trinkets. After that we presented to teachers and other students what has been done on workshops.

When all countries finished presentations Romanian students sang. After all that we went to a restaurant to eat and enjoyed free time. We stayed in Romania one more night and then headed to Zagreb.

This trip was a fantastic trip. I've practiced my English, met new friends, new culture and had a very nice time. I am really proud of my schoolmates, me and our teacher because we presented Croatia in a really good way.

 

Noa Rettig

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Sibiu, Romania (18-22.02.2019.)

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"Hello, My name is Zuzanna. I visited Romania a week ago. It was an incredible experience. I learned a lot. What was the best? Definitely people. They were so outgoing. I could asked them about anything and they would always answer me. Everyone was so nice which is a very important thing to make people feel confident and comfortable in a foreign country. I am also very glad that I was living with my host family. The atmosphere at home was amazing. I felt like that was my home. I am beyond grateful for them. Parents and sisters of my host girl were very nice to me. Once, they even cooked a traditional dinner with traditional meals for me. We were eating and talking and that was great. Speaking about food... I really liked it. At first, I was shocked that for example the soups were served with spicy pepper but I tasted it and it was fine. The Romanian food was spicy in general and really fatty but tasted really good. It was worth tasting. This trip was a phenomenal opportunity to get to know other people, culture, Sibiu and Romania. Thank you!"

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Zuzanna Niemczyk

 

"Every journey is an adventure. The same was with my visit in Romania, because of Erasmus+ project. We went there by plane. Fun fact: they lost my luggage. Of course they finally found it, but it was still stressful. As you may know, we, the guests, lived with the natives. My host was Ioana. Everyday, we had to get to school about 20 km, because her house wasn't in Sibiu. Beside doing project activities, like creating a website or making speaking avatars, we also had trips to some of the most beautiful places in Transylvania. We were in Fagaras, Brasov and ...in Dracula's Castle, also known as the Bran Castle. It was really an amazing experience! The possibility to see this place, which I knew from Bram Stoker's book... Apart from the Bran Castle, my second favourite place was the art gallery- Brukenthal. We could see eg. Breugel, Van Eyck and Rubens. I was really impressed by ''Massacre of the Innocents''. We can't forget about other students from different countries. They were all very friendly and kind. I will miss Romania, but I'm also happy that I'm back!"

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Weronika Kłopotek Główczewska

 

"I have been a student of Catholic School in Chojnice for eleven years. Thanks to the school I got many opportunities to take part in education projects like for example Erasmus+. The theme of the current project is „LOAD – Life Of A Digi”. The first students’ meeting took place in Sibiu, Romania from 16th to 23rd of February. We arrived on Saturday at night and then on Sunday we had an opportunity to get to know the students from partner countries. We spent a lot of time with our hosts, we went to the zoo, for lunch and after that, we went for a walk. On Monday our workshops has started. First task was to break ice among us, however it should be mentioned that people who came to Romania were really kind from the beginning. Next day our task was to create our own school website with our ID cards, avatars, general information about school and country. Our hosts teachers took care of presenting Romanian tradition – they organised dinner where we had a chance to see a performance of a traditional, dance group. Our schedule included also some trips. We went to Bran, to visit a beautiful, gothic Dracula’s Castle. We also tried some Romanian dishes like sarmale, covrigi and zacusca. It was one of the best project meetings in my life, the atmosphere was really friendly, our hosts were doing everything for us to feel like home and teachers took care of the education."     

       

Zuzanna Bielecka

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OUR ROMANIAN EXPERIENCE

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Getting to Sibiu was a true odyssey. We were supposed to leave our country at 07:40 and to get there at about 15:20. However, the plane took off an hour later, so we missed our connection flight from Wien to Sibiu. Instead of going from Wien to Sibiu, we had to fly to Frankfurt first and only then to Sibiu. We ended up arriving in Sibiu at 1 a.m., so already on Monday. Despite the late hour, Romanian teachers and families were waiting for us with a smiling face. Amazing people!

 

The week we’ve spent in Sibiu was full of amazing experiences that we will never forget. On the first day, first there was a lovely welcoming ceremony in which the school head teacher made a speech, Romanian students performed a few musical moments and all partner schools presented their countries, towns and schools. After that we went to the town hall, where its representative welcomed us to his town and region, having stressed the importance of Erasmus+ projects in students’ personal development and their contribution to a more united and developed Europe. Afterwards we went on tour around Sibiu. What a beautiful town!

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The next days were devoted to the development of our digital skills. Actually, we attended workshops which fostered our knowledge of the definition of digital citizenship and its 9 criteria as well as of ICT tools, namely Web 2.0 tools.

 

We also had the opportunity to go on a cultural trip to get to know a little bit of the Transylvanian History. We visited Romanian landmarks such as the Fagaras Fortress, the Bran Castle and the town of Brasov. We have to confess that visiting the Bran Castle was a dream that came true even though we didn’t manage to meet Dracula face-to-face. It was daytime, so he was probably sleeping in his coffin.

 

 

The host school also organised other activities for all of us to have fun together while strengthening bonds that will definitely last for a lifetime, namely several  sports activities, a school party and a workshop on traditional trinkets, among others.

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Well, coming back to our country was another odyssey. Our first flight was cancelled due to weather conditions; therefore, instead of leaving Sibiu at 06:05 and arriving in our country at 14:55 on Saturday, we only left at 19:15 and arrived at about 09:00 on Sunday! We even had to spend the night in Munich. The good thing is that Lufthansa provided us with a four-star hotel. Besides, we got to see snow falling down in Sibiu!

In short, we were not lucky with our flights, but we were definitely lucky with our Romanian hosts and families, who have always made us feel at home and provided us with the best week of our lives so far. Thanks a million for everything you’ve done for us.

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Ilona Nacu, Isabel Cruz,Lúcia Gaspar and Sofia Pinto

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Romania Sibiu Diary TIAL RİZE TURKEY

 

We started our long and adventurous journey to Romania on the 17th February in the morning.There were eight of us (four teachers and for students)and we were all really excited as we were going to meet new friends from different cultures.It would be great.At around midnight we arrived at our nice hotel Imparatul Romanilor in Sibiu. The in the mornig we went to the our partner school Gheorghe Lazăr National College At school library we had different workshops with students and teachers as well in several days . One of the best things about our visit to Sibiu was meeting Carmen Iohannis, the first lady of the country.It was honour for us to meet such an elegant and modest woman. After the workshops we had lunches at a rstaurant in the city centre. They were all delicious. Also we had the chace to taste different meals and desserts that we have never eaten before.

We discovered the city with its all historical buildings,churches and architecture.They were all very fascinating for us.Especially the old houses and buildings with ‘eyes’ were so interesting…

We continued to discover the city at night too The city itself was so beautiful at night as well. One day, we went to Brasov ,another nice city of Romania,to visit the Bran Castle which is konw as the ‘Dracul’s castle’… Besides,we visited The Black Church in Brasov.We were lucy as we could get into it because it was almost 4 pm it was about to closed for that day.It was named as the Black church as it got darkened due to a fire in the past.But it was so huge and fascinating building… And ,the last day we got our certificates of participation at the school’s festive hall.And we had last dinner in Sibiu while it was storming outside. Time flies so fast…Finally,we came to the end of our visit to Romania.We had so nice days there that we will never forget anyone and anything …We were so happy and gratefull to everyone that spent a lot of effort to host us well and for their hospitality. We are really gratefull. Our students were happy with both thier friends and thier host families.So we are looking forward to seeing and hosting them in our coun try in October.

We loved you all…

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Turkey team

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TEAM SPAIN IN SIBIU

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The Spanish team really enjoyed their first mobility to Sibiu, Romania, from 18th to 22nd February 2019.  Stela, along with the rest of the Romanian team really made us feel welcome and we all learned so much about Romanian History and culture.  Our students really enjoyed their workshops and they have shown their avatar to their classmates in subsequent lessons on returning. 

Our favourite moments were making new Romanina friends, walking around Sibiu city, trying the fantastic cheeses, watching the Romanian dancing and our trip to Brasov. 

Thank you so much for these amazing experiences.  We have all made memories which will last a lifetime and Romania will hold a special place in our hearts. 

 

We were so impressed by the beauty of the main square in Sibiu.

 

We also thought that Brasov was a stunning destination with beautiful mountains.