My Comenius-experience:
Our journey started at Hanau’s main train station, where I met the other members of the Comenius project who were going to Italy. We were five girls and three teachers and really nervous. After all, we would be in a foreign country soon!
When we were at the airport, we flew to Milan, stopped over there and then continued on to Reggio di Calabria. It was about 20°C all the time we were there.
We met our host families. Most of us knew our partners, because we had chatted on MSN Messenger with them before. Then we had to leave each other – it was time to go.
First it was not so easy to communicate with my host partner, Antonino, and his family. His brother and his mother did not speak English very well. But Antonino was very nice and soon we managed to talk to each other well. In the evening, we met the other German girls and their Italian host partners. We walked through the city, just for fun, and talked and laughed to get to know each other better. Reggio di Calabria is big, with big buildings containing many apartments and narrow streets.
The second day Antonino's mother drove us to the school which was very big, too. In the assembly hall there was a welcoming program. After that, the students from each country – Germany, Hungary, Spain, Denmark, France, Poland and Italy – had to present their project work. Some of them also had a movie to show.
After that, we went to a restaurant in which all of the 50 Comenius participants ate. Regrettably it was too much ... It is definitely a fact that the Italians eat a lot!
Then the different countries arranged their info points and everybody had time to go around and look at them. There was the most going on at the info point of the Italians, who had music there. In the evening, we first went to the Planetarium of Reggio and after that we ate in a Pizzeria without the teachers. It was very funny with all the different countries represented, and there was a lot of talking. Sometimes it was really confusing – I had to speak German with the other Germans, I spoke French to the French boys – I guess trying to understand their English is kind of hopeless –, then I tried speaking Italian with the Italians a bit and spoke in English with most of the other students. We really were an international group and it was a lot of fun.
The mentality of the Italians about the time is interesting. When an Italian person says „we will meet at 9 o'clock“, then this means „we’ll meet around 9:15 or later“! I often observed that we left home five minutes after we actually had to be somewhere! This is one of the main differences between Italy and Germany, I think.
The third day began with watching a film and this was followed by project work. In the evening, some of us went through the city again and I was very surprised to find some German books translated into Italian. But I barely understood them.
There was an excursion the fourth day. We drove to Tropea in two buses where we listened to a tour guide. After that we had some time to spend alone and we went to the beach. I could not believe this was real – it was the first of December and I stood on the beach, with my feet in the water, and it was warm!
When we arrived back in Reggio after two other stops, I was already very tired. But there was a farewell party at about midnight and everybody went there, including me. It was hard to think that this wonderful journey to Italy would be over so soon, but it was. I wasn't very happy. I would have loved to spend more time there.
Saying good-bye the next day was not so easy. I hope to keep in touch with my host partner and I think the others do too. We had to leave, and after stopping over in Rome for about five hours, we landed in Frankfurt and our holiday was really over.
Alexandra Vormberg
Our journey started at Hanau’s main train station, where I met the other members of the Comenius project who were going to Italy. We were five girls and three teachers and really nervous. After all, we would be in a foreign country soon!
When we were at the airport, we flew to Milan, stopped over there and then continued on to Reggio di Calabria. It was about 20°C all the time we were there.
We met our host families. Most of us knew our partners, because we had chatted on MSN Messenger with them before. Then we had to leave each other – it was time to go.
First it was not so easy to communicate with my host partner, Antonino, and his family. His brother and his mother did not speak English very well. But Antonino was very nice and soon we managed to talk to each other well. In the evening, we met the other German girls and their Italian host partners. We walked through the city, just for fun, and talked and laughed to get to know each other better. Reggio di Calabria is big, with big buildings containing many apartments and narrow streets.
The second day Antonino's mother drove us to the school which was very big, too. In the assembly hall there was a welcoming program. After that, the students from each country – Germany, Hungary, Spain, Denmark, France, Poland and Italy – had to present their project work. Some of them also had a movie to show.
After that, we went to a restaurant in which all of the 50 Comenius participants ate. Regrettably it was too much ... It is definitely a fact that the Italians eat a lot!
Then the different countries arranged their info points and everybody had time to go around and look at them. There was the most going on at the info point of the Italians, who had music there. In the evening, we first went to the Planetarium of Reggio and after that we ate in a Pizzeria without the teachers. It was very funny with all the different countries represented, and there was a lot of talking. Sometimes it was really confusing – I had to speak German with the other Germans, I spoke French to the French boys – I guess trying to understand their English is kind of hopeless –, then I tried speaking Italian with the Italians a bit and spoke in English with most of the other students. We really were an international group and it was a lot of fun.
The mentality of the Italians about the time is interesting. When an Italian person says „we will meet at 9 o'clock“, then this means „we’ll meet around 9:15 or later“! I often observed that we left home five minutes after we actually had to be somewhere! This is one of the main differences between Italy and Germany, I think.
The third day began with watching a film and this was followed by project work. In the evening, some of us went through the city again and I was very surprised to find some German books translated into Italian. But I barely understood them.
There was an excursion the fourth day. We drove to Tropea in two buses where we listened to a tour guide. After that we had some time to spend alone and we went to the beach. I could not believe this was real – it was the first of December and I stood on the beach, with my feet in the water, and it was warm!
When we arrived back in Reggio after two other stops, I was already very tired. But there was a farewell party at about midnight and everybody went there, including me. It was hard to think that this wonderful journey to Italy would be over so soon, but it was. I wasn't very happy. I would have loved to spend more time there.
Saying good-bye the next day was not so easy. I hope to keep in touch with my host partner and I think the others do too. We had to leave, and after stopping over in Rome for about five hours, we landed in Frankfurt and our holiday was really over.
Alexandra Vormberg
posted by holahanau at 2:05 pm
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