1st student exchange in Poland

26th November : Monday

WELCOME TO POLAND

The first day of the first study visit in Poland began with a great welcome ceremony. The hosting head mistress of Siemanowice High school Katarzyna Sztyler and coordinator Anna Wrobel welcomed all students and teachers of our CHANCE project to Poland. Afterwards the project coordinator Agnes Jasso from Hungary, wished us successful work in our new project.

Students then presented their schools and hometowns. The school band was there to put us in a pleasant mood.

After lunch we visited a silver mine in Tarnowskie Gory, which has been protected by UNESCO since 2017. We were fascinated by miles of tunnels made by generations of worthy Silesia miners, thus creating rich heritage, which enables insight into hard work, perseverance, strenght and unrelenting hope for a better future.

During the last activity 'integration games' participants had the opportunity to get better acquainted. Again there was music, the universal language we all recognize and which connects us.

We are looking forward to new interesting activities.

Croatian team (Marina, Lea and Dujo)

27th November: Tuesday

In the morning, teachers and students gathered at school at 8:30.

Teachers talked about the next meeting in Italy and the meeting in Spain.

We also exchanged views and ideas about the implementation of our project in the future.

Students had an informal Polish course with exercises on how to relax before the debate.

One of the Spanish students had his birthday and we prepared a surprise birthday cake for him.

At 11:00 we visited the town of Katowice. Our first stop was at the Nikiszowiec area where the visitor can see the coal miner’s settlements. The buildings were made of red bricks in a local architectural style, which remains the same till the present day.

We visited the church where there was an impressive copper chandelier.

We had Lunch at Katowice café and we continued the tour of Katowice town

We saw the Spodek (athletic center) where the Climate Change Conference 2018 is to take place.

The building of National Polish Symphony Orchestra (with the traditional red bricks)

We visited the Silesian Museum which is in the area of a coal mine. What is impressive about the museum is that just one floor is visible whereas all the other levels are under the ground.

In the Silesian museum there was an exhibition presenting the history of Upper Silesia over the course of time, and an exhibition of Polish art.

An electronic game about the museum exhibitions got the attention of the students.

After visiting the museum, we relaxed at the Silesian mall and a very interesting day came to the end .

28th November: Wednesday

On Wedbesday morning we set out very early in order to arrive in Auschwitz on time as our tou was scheduled for 8 a.m. The weather was rather chilly but clear.

We participated in a 3.5 - hour - long trip in the Museum Auschwitz and Birkenau, where - with the help of two extremely knowledgable and well-prepared guides - we gained and insight into the sad historical events and got a first-hand experience of the terrible plight of the people who were sent to these places.

After the tour we had a delicious lunch and returned to school to continue our project activities.

At school, both teachers and students participated in an international interactive quiz about the cultural information on the partner countries. They were required to answer questions that project partners collected about their own countries, including information on Geography, History, Art, Music and Literature.

At the end of the day students took part in another debate workshop, where the members of the proposition and opposition teams could collect their arguments and prepare for the live debate.

29th November: Thursday

On Thursday 29th we went all together to Cracow for a short trip.

Cracow is a very nice city, the ancient capital of Poland. Nowadays it’s daily visited by thousands of visitors for its beautiful castles and some important places and churches.

The students took part in a workshop in order to prepare them for the live debate on Friday. They received useful tips and ideas for how to prepare for a debate and how to deliver powerful speeches.

Polish students have been good guides to make us discover ancient legends e.g. the Wavel dragon which was defeated by a humble shoemaker.

We even saw a big statue under the castle on the bank of the Vistula river.

Following stop: a good lunch all together with a delicious Polish soup.

In the afternoon we wandered through the city and we arrived to Harry Potter Pub provided by a lot of magicians’ sweets and chocolates.

Finally a coffee break in Starbucks where we enjoyed staying warm while outside it was sunny but very cold.

30th November: Friday

Last day… It seemed like we had just arrived, but it was time to say good bye. We met at school at half past eight in the morning and the students started another intense work session, preparing the final debate on the topic Our cultural heritage prevents us from united in the EU. Meanwhile, the teachers team joined in order to review the return trips preparations, to exchange the last bills and payments and to check the decisions made during the week.

At half past ten the debate began. Two teams, eight students in each, all the six countries present in both. They had worked hard and did an excellent job. The experience was highly satisfactory, and it was hard to choose the winning team and the best speaker.

After lunch at school we had free time, and teachers used it in resting, shopping or even an Esperanto lesson with Ula’s father.

From four to seven in the evening our hosts had prepared a closing party, with traditional songs and dances and “Saint Andrew’s Eve Prediction Games”. We all had a great time. Students said good bye with tears in their eyes and we teachers were most grateful and willing to share all that we have learned.

Spanish team (Pablo and María)

On Friday we have made a lot of things.

At first we had one hour to prepare our debate, which we made after. The debate theme was "Our cultural heritage prevent us from being united in the EU", the debate was made as in the British parlament. There were two teams one of opposition and other of proposition, each one had to convince the judge with their arguments were the best. There were two teams each one made of 8 people, There was at least one person from each country (the 6 countries we were.) The 8 were divided in couples, the first couple defined the theme and said a couple of arguments, the second said different arguments, the third said why it was not fair what the other team had said and the last made a summary of everything that their team had said. The opposition team won the debate, and Marton was decided as the best speaker of the debate. They then gave us some presents, a pen, a notebook, some chocolate, a bottle,etc.

We had lunch at the highschool, they prepared us some chinese soup, which was delicious though a bit spicy.

After that we had 3 hours of free time, in which we had to prepare our suitcase and pack all our things.

The next thing we did that afternoon was having the St. Andrews party,in which we danced typical Polish dances and we sang Polish songs, but also from our own countries, such us the bella ciao! or San Fermin. After that some grandmas and grandpas of the Polish students made some adivination, and told us some things of our future husbands and wives, it was really funny!!

During all this celebration we could try some typical sweets from Siemanowice.

After finishing the typical dances and the last ceremony, all the guys of the Erasmus went to have dinner to a pizzeria, there we had a very good time all together, we also played some music and dance, it was great, but all has a negative part, and it was also the time to say goodbye, which was a little bit difficult, because we all had become very good friends

Written by Laura, Iván and Adrián

Photos taken during the meeting.

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