STUDENTS OF THE DOCTOR ARRUGA DOCTOR TRAVEL TO EUROPE COUNTRIES
Last year, the teachers of Doctor Arruga School adhered to a European school exchange project called Erasmus +. It is an association of several schools, institutes or universities of different countries, that share the same objective of work. It arises from the need for the members of the European Union, especially young people, to establish links that make them feel that they are part of a social community, not only of a political or economic union. It is awarded by the EU and is totally free for the participants.
For the Doctor Arruga School, this is the third time that they participate in a European project. The two previous ones were about traditional festivals (98-2000) and games and sports (2010-12).
In our case, the title of the project is "Eat Healthy. Act Responsibly ". There participate Upper Cycle children from six different countries: Panevezys (Lithuania), Tarsus (Turkey), Czeladzi (Poland), Skopje (Macedonia), Târgu Jiu (Romania) and us.
This course there are three trips from Begur, and next year only one, but students and teachers from the different countries involved will come to our place.
The first trip has been to Lithuania. For the budget we received, we were able to travel to five students and three teachers, and we have carried out three projects done among all students: the presentation of our country, our town and our school; the exhibition of the places of the town where we can buy foods or consume it; a families survey about healthy eating habits, and the analysis of the results of this survey.
The teachers have been all housed in the same hotel, and the students in families. Although one of the objectives was for students to practice English, curiously at the Panevezys school there was a Basque family and a Catalan one who were very excited to welcome four of our students, who were lucky enough to have Spanish Omelette or "pa amb tomàquet" for dinner, instead of the traditional beetroot soup!
While we have been at Panevezys School, we have attended two Enblish classes, a play specially prepared for the visitor students, a concert, a lot of presentations about the other participating schools, a magnificent healthy breakfast prepared by the student' parents, we have made a fun game about the food pyramid, we have created authentic artwork painting real fruit and vegetables ... and we've sang a totally improvised song!
We have also had lunch two days at school, we have taken a trip to a traditional farm where we have made a wholegrain Lithuanian bread baked in a traditional oven and we have experienced many traditional jobs.
As an icing of the cake, as the nearest airport to Panevezys is Riga, the capital of Latvia, we have had the opportunity of spending the last day by visiting this beautiful city. We can say, then, that we have visited two countries in a single trip.
Already back home, the memories can not be more positive. Both teachers and students have learned a lot of things and have spent a nice time together. We all feel very lucky to have obtained this scholarship!
