The game of art / the art of game

Mobility C1: Exchange students in Greece

From 6 to 12 March 2022, mobility C1 to Greece took place at the framework of the project. The host school was the "11^th Gymnasium of Thessaloniki" at the city of Thessaloniki.

This first meeting put emphasis on storytelling, role play activities and interactive games. And, of course, to have a first live acquaintance with the culture of the other countries, especially of the host country.

All schools of the program participated, with a group of students and teachers. This was the first live mobility of the project and all the participants were very anxious, enthusiastic and eager to contribute to the targets of the project.

The first day, all the participants had an excursion at the archaeological place of Vergina, where professional guides made a tour at the unique Macedonian tombs. Thus, the visitors had a first acquaintance with the history and culture of Greece.

Subsequently, the whole group had a lunch at the beautiful forest of Agios Nikolaos (St Nickolas).

The excursion was concluded with a visit at the historic at beautiful town of Naoussa. At that place there was a guide at the Museum of Industrial Heritage, a former textile factory.

The following day, Tuesday 12^th March, the visitors were welcomed at the host school, with a lot of activities:

Shadow theater presentation, with the participation of Greek students. Both students and teachers had a chance to acquaintance with this traditional, yet still vivid kind of art.

Music and dance performances also took place.

On Wednesday 9^th March there was a visit to the Archaeological Museum of the city, where wonderful pieces of art are exhibited from all the ancient period of Macedonia. Moreover, students took part at the role play game: “Thessaloniki in the period of the pandemic”.

Subsequently, there was a visit to the City Hall of Thessaloniki, where the visitors had the chance to meet the mayor of the city, and tour at the rooms of the City Hall.

Finally, on the same day, they visited the most characteristic monument of Thessaloniki, the White Tower.

On Thursday 10^th March the visiting schools presented videos with theatrical acts that were filmed in their towns, having to do with the tradition and stories of each country. Thus, it was a chance for Greek students to have an acquaintance with the culture of the other countries.

On the same day there was a lunch and an organized tour guide at the upper part of the town (Ano Poli), which is the most traditional and best reserved part of it.

On the last day of the meeting, Friday 11^th March, there was a visit to the Olympic Museum, where all the kids had a tour guide and played interactive games.

At noon, a farewell lunch was offered to the visitors, with the promise to meet again and continue the exchange of good practices.

On Friday 11^th May at night, optionally, some students and teachers attended a performance of Circo Vertigo, dedicated to the great Italian stage director Federico Fellini.

During the preparation of the meeting, and the meeting itself, all the children interacted with people from different cultures and were active in different sections (acting, storytelling, role gaming). Thus, the developed self-action, inspired their imagination and creativity and cooperated with students speaking different languages. They realized practice that art is people ‘s common language.

Above all, all the students, no matter their socio-economic and school rate level, found the school a pleasant place of communication and socialization.

A resume video of the activities is presented below