• Agenda
• Evaluation of the meeting

From 4 to 11 March Greek and Portuguese students participating in the project Erasmus + "Hungry for Health, Fit for Future" travelled to Thessaloniki (Greece) to meet the Greek partners we are working with.

On Saturday 4th we left to Athens (Greece), and then took another plane to Thessaloniki (Greece), which is a fairly large city in northern Greece. We spent our first night in a hotel, where we rested after a long journey.

The next morning we met the Greek students and families who were going to host us for the next days. First we went home, met the rest of the family and had lunch together. In the afternoon we went for a walk around Thessaloniki with our Greeks and Portuguese fellows.

On Monday 6th in the morning each delegation introduced its city and showed a video presenting the school. Later we had our first workshop on nutrition and health, taught by one of the Greek teachers at school, which specializes in vocational training in the health sector.

In the afternoon, we visited a food fair where we could see, smell and taste many different Greek specialties and locally produced food. We enjoyed that a lot.

That day we had a very long walk across the city to keep up with the minimum number of steps we aimed to do every day but it was worth it since after that many of us tried moussaka (a type of eggplant lasagna) for the first time. Delicious!

In the evening, many of us together with the hosting partners went for walk in the city centre, did some shopping and other simply returned home. Our first day was exhausting but fun, and we tasted many foods!

On Tuesday we started activities at 8:30. First, we got to school and there we waited for a bus to go to Dion, a town located next to Mount Olympus. Once we arrived there, we went to the Archaeological Museum of Dion, where one of the Greek teachers explained to us the history behind many of the pieces at the museum. After such an interesting tour, we walked to the base of Mount Olympus where we started a hiking excursion following the course of the river up to a waterfall. It was extremely beautiful!

That day we got to try souflaki (a grilled brochette) accompanied by a tasty Greek salad with tomatoes and feta cheese.

On Wednesday, 8th we met we did a workshop on emotional intelligence. We learnt a lot of interesting things about ourselves and the way our brain works. After that we needed some physical activity... and participated on two further workshops which allowed us to learn how to dance hip-hop and break dance. We had a great time!

After all this we all left school and headed for a gym specialized in taekwondo where we learned a lot thanks to the explanations of a master on this martial art and two stunningly young pupils who had won important championships.

After such a powerful activity we had developed further energy to go for the next workshop: learning to dance a traditional Greek dance called Sirtaki. We happened to be quite ok dancers!

In the afternoon we did a tour around the city of Thessaloniki by bus.

That day it was one of the Portuguese girls’ birthday so many of us went to celebrate it and and also to watch the Barça match! Greek and Portuguese were so nice as to support Spanish Barça fans and share their enthusiasm. That was a great day and we all ended very tired, but we definitely had a great time.

On Thursday we went to a feta cheese factory located in Loutraki, where we could visit its facilities and they explained to us the whole process to make cheese from milk (pasteurization, fermentation, etc.).

Next, we went to a village in the mountains where we could taste other local produces made of honey, nuts and other typical products. From there we went to a spa of thermal waters where we had the opportunity of swimming in a natural pool near a hot-watered river which flowed down the mountain.

On Friday 10th, it was the anniversary of a Spanish student and teachers surprised him with a cake with candles for him to blow.

That morning we had a meeting to learn how to properly stretch before and after your workout, de-stress and correct postures. Later we did another workshop on traditional Greek cuisine. Helped by two Greek teachers Spanish and Portuguese students and teachers learned to make small croissants stuffed with feta cheese and also spinach pie. Cooking was great fun but eating them was even better!

In the afternoon we had a farewell lunch and tea party. We all got our diplomas and a nice model of the White Tower, a typical monument of Thessaloniki we all had turned up to know very well. Finally, everyone went home since Spanish partners had to pack their suitcases and get ready to get up very soon… In fact, it was Saturday at 3:30 am local time when we met at the hotel where we had spent our first night in Greece to go to the airport of Thessaloniki. The flight departed from Thessaloniki at 6.30 but we didn’t arrive to Barcelona until 1 pm. Portuguese still had a longer journey before them…

When we got home we really became aware of the experiences we had shared during those days and of how many things our three European countries had in common, but also of their differences. We had travelled to Thessaloniki to find out about Greek teenagers lifestyle and how Thessaloniki’s geography, climate and culture can influence on the way they approach healthy lifestyle. We learnt about their food, sports but also about their traditions but eventually we took much more back home: many words and phrases in Greek and Portuguese, the opportunity to practice English, a lot of experiences and many new friends.