Pictures from our project-meeting at Marvejols (May 2017)
Reports on the project-meeting at Marvejols
Last week, me and nine other students, from my school flew to France, to learn and do something our local economies.It was a very nice time there and now I would like to write what we have done in this week.
On Saturday at 11:15 we flew with Lufthansa from Nürnberg to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Lyon. At last we went to Marvejols by bus, where we were picked up at 23:30 by our exchange partners. After I arrived at my exchange partner's home, I ate something and went to bed, because I was very tired after this long day. On the second day I was allowed to sleep until ten o´clock, because it was Sunday and there was no school. At around 12 o´clock we went eating at friends' of my exchange family. We ate " Aligot ", which is a traditional meal that is made from potatoes and cheese.
On Monday school began again and we had a meeting with the headmistress Mrs. Bayle. Then we made an icebreaking activity to get to know the other students from other countries. At 11o´clock we went to Millau to see the " Viaduc de Millau ", the highest viaduct in the world. After we saw the viaduct, we made a picnic and then had free time in the centre of Millau. On Tuesday, we visited a big cow market, which is called
"Foirail ". Then we went to a restaurant. Afterwards we went canoeing on a river. On Wednesday, every country made a presentation, in the school of Marvejols and afterwards we prepared our stalls and gave local products from Germany to the other partners and French people at the school. In the end there was a big dinner party, for the FACE partners and their exchange families. On Friday morning, at 7 o´clock, we went by bus back to Lyon where we wanted to fly back to Frankfurt, but our plane was broken and we had to stay another night in France. On our last day, we flew back to Munich, at around nine o´clock and arrived in Germany at 10:40.
In the end our Erasmus+ project was successful and I´m happy that I had a nice and friendly exchange family. I would be glad to do this again.
Nick
Our journey to Marvejols took us a whole day and finally, after two flights, several hours of waiting and a four hour long trip by bus we, a group of ten students of eighth grade, arrived in the south of France in the region “Languedoc-Roussillon” late at night. This department of France is very mountainous with many cozy villages with old houses, so you don’t find many big cities there and that’s why their biggest economy sector is agriculture. During our journey by bus we made new friends with some students from Sweden, as we all speak enough English to understand each other. But in the French host families it is more useful to talk in French, because they are not “very talented in languages”. My family was very nice and welcoming we laughed a lot and understood each other very well and it was a perfect chance to practice my French.
On our first real day, Sunday the 28th, we had the opportunity to take part in a unique event which only exists once in France and happens only once a year: the “Transhumance”. This is a spectacle where a parade of festive decorated cows moves up a mountain to spend the summer on the green meadows. This event is visited by thousands of tourists who even travel there with camping-cars. The next day we got to know the students from the other countries better and afterwards, we visited the Viaduc of Millau which is with its 345m the tallest Viaduc in the world. After that we spent the afternoon in the city-center of Millau. On Tuesday we had the chance to see a very big market of cows and then we visited a traditional bakery in a little medieval village. We had lunch with organic products in a restaurant. In the afternoon we had a lot of fun canoeing on the river Lot. We pushed each other in the water which was very funny and laughed a lot.
The following day we had to work hard. At first each country presented itself and after that we set up stalls to introduce the visitors to our country’s local economy and specialties on the fair which was on Thursday. Afterwards my exchange partner and I visited a wolf park. On Thursday finally the Fair about healthy lifestyle and local economy took place at the “College Notre Dame”, the secondary school of the French exchange partners. Apart from our stalls there were also a cow, some sheep and a rabbit shown and a lot of local products like cheese but also snails sold. In the evening there was the F.A.C.E. dinner party where we ate “aligot”, a specialty made out of mashed potatoes and melted cheese. We needed to get used to it but in the end it was quite yummy.
Then the day of our departure arrived and I was very sad because I had to say goodbye to my wonderful and nice host family and all those new people I met and many of us cried. After an exhausting trip by bus and a very long waiting time we finally sat in the airplane ready to take off but there was a problem with the turbines so we had to stay for another night in the hotel in Lyon which we all liked very much and it was quite funny.
I loved the trip to France: it was a completely new and exciting experience, I made a lot of new friends from all over Europe and I learned a lot about the local economy of all the countries which took part in this project, especially about the local economy of Marvejols.
Tamara
Pictures from our project-meeting at Blanes (March 2017)
Hello, my name is Denisa and I was in Norway in May/June 2016 ☺ I got a lot of new memories with the friends I made there, and I would like to share them with you.
On our first day in Norway (Saturday) we stayed at a hotel in Bergen and we visited the city, which was very impressive. The day after that (Sunday) we went to Bømlo where we met our host families ☺ Even though I was a little nervous about staying at a boy’s house, the family was really nice and kind to me! They were all very open and friendly. So there was Maxi, my exchange partner, his two brothers Matteo and Florian, and his parents, Daniela and Maik. The evening I arrived there Maxi and I went around by boat with some of his friends. It’s pretty cool that 14 -year-olds are allowed to drive boats, but that’s normal in Norway.
On Monday the pupils of each country had a presentation about themselves and then we got tasks that we should get done in international groups. At 14:30 we were done and had time to be with the families, but in the evening we had a tour of Bømlo by boat. We had a pretty bad weather but that didn’t stop us from having fun 😃
On Tuesday we visited a very impressive boat called Viking Poseidon. Afterwards we went to Seashore in Bremnes. Then we had some free time at home and after that we went to the beach where we could choose between different activities (canoeing and fishing). I couldn’t stay there the whole time because Maxi had a football match which I wanted to see but it still was great. Who thought canoeing could be so much fun?
On Wednesday we had some very interesting lectures and presentations from organizations and people that taught us about ecology and each country presented the work that they have done during this project. After those things were done, we had time with the families and in the evening we went to Espevær where we were hiking and afterwards we went to an activity centre where we had dinner and danced ☺ On Thursday we visited a Hydro Power Station and afterwards we went up a mountain where we had a snow fight 😂
On our last day together we worked in international groups and prepared a dance for the goodbye-party. At the beginning of the party each group presented the videos they’ve done during that week. Then we ate and danced until it was time to say goodbye. It was all very emotional and sad, I don’t think I have seen any girl not crying. We all hugged everyone, even the ones we didn’t know. The very last goodbye was not as hard as the one at the party but it still was very sad 😔
I miss everyone and I hope I’ll be able to see them again soon!!
Greetings from Germany
Denisa
My trip to Norway was very exciting. My host family was extremely friendly and I had much fun with them. On Saturday, early in the morning, we had to get up and go by plane to Amsterdam and then we flew from Amsterdam to Bergen. Bergen is a very nice city and we had a great time there. On Sunday we went by boat to Bømlo. Bømlo is a beautiful island with a splendid landscape. The wohle week we learned much about Norway. It was very interesting to learn something about the environment. I liked the trip to the beach where we did some canoeing most. It was really fun. The party on Friday was really cool but it was also sad because we had to say "Good Bye". I miss Norway very much but I took a lot of good memories with me to Germany and I'm sure, I will visit Norway sometime again.
Greetings from Amberg
Lea
First I would like to explain what kind of project the „ Erasmus + “ is. It´s an exchange project where the chosen pupils of the Gregor-Mendel-Gymnasium can decide in which country they would like to go. The German ones are allowed to go to Sweden, Turkey, Spain, France or Norway. I chose Norway because I was interested in it, I took it because I won´t go there in my future. Normally I love going to warm countries like Spain, Italy and so on. But as I went with the other children Lea, Marie, Thao and Denisa to Norway we were surprised about it, impressed of the nature all around us and completely different to Germany and how we thought it will be.
Our teacher who flew with us to Norway was Mrs. Raub. She looked after us all the time and was very nice to us.
When we arrived at the airport in Bergen we were taken by a bus to in the city centre of Bergen. There we went to our hotel. After we checked in we were allowed to go together in one group through the second biggest city of Norway - Bergen. After our trip we were allowed to go in our rooms and then we went to sleep.
Bergen from above |
Downtown Bergen |
The next day we went through the city to take the speedboat. In a totally fantastic way we were driven about 2 hours to Boemlo, then one teacher of our exchange partners came and fetched us about 45 minutes to Langevag where our Norwegian exchange partners were expecting us.
My exchange partner was Ronja Larsen, she has two brothers and she´s 14 years old, like me. Her mother cooked something for us and then I went in my room and slept, because I was very tired after the whole stress and the wonderful impressions.
In the morning of Monday, I had to get up at 7.30, because our meeting was at 9 o´clock. There all pupils of each country showed each other their prepared presentations. The first presentation was one of the French guys - then it was our turn. The next group was Sweden, Turkey and in the end Spain. For the rest of the day we worked together in groups with pupils of each country. We made some social and environmental tasks. In the evening we made a tour de fjords/Boemlo round trip.
On Tuesday the teachers planed that we are going to visit the „Viking Poseidon “, that`s a popular ship in the harbour. Later at 11 o`clock we went by bus to the BREMNES SEASHORE where we saw how the salmon is grown up and how it works to prepare it for lunch. After the visit in the company they gave us some salmon as a present. In the evening we had a big event at the seaside. Everybody was allowed to go canoeing and fishing. We all had fun and I think that was the best of all because we had so much time to talk together or get to know better each other.
The speedboat
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Our guide told us something
about the ship
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The ship inside
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On Wednesday our first meeting was at 8 o`clock in the morning because we had a kind of conference where everybody had to show a presentation again. After lunch we got a visit of a woman who told us something about Norway and its special things like the beautiful nature. And after that the other pupils finished their presentations. At 5 o`clock in the evening we were hiking in Espevaer through the nature at the seaside. Then we went to a big place where happened some special thing in the past ...some people in this region think that there was a UFO and “extra-terrestrials”.
On Thursday we were fetched by a bus to a „HYDRO POWER STATION “at 8 o`clock in the morning. Then the bus took us through a very nice part of our region – “Norway in a nutshell “. There we could take so many beautiful photos because nobody was there with us and it was so wonderful, because the weather was nice, too. High upon the mountain there was snow so we threw snowballs to the others and made a battle - in summer- we all had so much fun there!
The “Hydro Power Station”
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On Friday, our last day with our new friends we worked at first in international groups at 9 o`clock in the morning. There we made a film about environmental challenges and a FACE dance whose choreography we made ourselves. After lunch we worked again in international groups. And then we prepared our party for our last evening with all countries. The party started at 6 o`clock pm and at the beginning we watched the films of the others. After that we were dancing our FACE dance and all teachers danced to the song „sorry “of Justin Bieber. Everything was full of fun and everybody was happy to be with the others…but then when it was 9 o´clock pm we all started to cry without the boys of course. We knew we won`t see us again ...maybe some people can visit their exchange partner but we all as a group ...that`s impossible and that made us very sad !!But we all missed our families and so we were happy, too, to fly home and we will be able to live our normal daily lifestyle again and see our friends again!!
Written by Maika
 A shop at Bergen |
Bryggen (Bergen)
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Hello, my name is Marie and I'm from Germany. I'd like to tell you about my fantastic week in Norway.
We spent one day in Bergen, the second biggest city in Norway! We had a lot of fun there. On Sunday we went by boat to our exchange partners in Bømlo. It was such a nice trip. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. Marvelous!!! I was so excited to see my exchange partner again, I've already known her, because she stayed at my house in Germany and we had a lot of fun there.
On Monday we had some presentations and we built our own little cars. In the evening we visited some fjords. This was really interesting and fun. On Tuesday we visited the Viking Poseidon, it is a huge boat. It was interesting and we learned much about the boat. After this we went to a salmon factory. We were shown how the salmon is prepared for the shops. It was very interesting.
On Wednesday there were some presentations and we presented our international house. In the evening we visited the beach and had fun there. We did canoeing and fishing. The weather was really good. On Thursday we went to a power station . We were shown how they produce electricity using water power. It was interesting to see. After this we went to a shopping mall. We had a lot of fun there. In the evening we met at the farm of a friend.
On Friday we prepared the F.A.C.E dance for the evening. To have lunch we went to the beach and had fun there. In the evening there was the farewell party. We danced a lot and had fun there. But then there was time to say goodbye. This was really sad! I miss you all and I am really thankful for this great week in Norway!!!❤❤
Marie
Hello everybody !
It was an amazing week in Norway. My exchange partner Linda and her family were so nice and funny ;). I met new people and made a lot of new experiences. On Tuesday we went to the beach where we did some canoeing, we caught some fish and played football and I had so much fun. On Wednesday we had a conference which took six hours. Later we went to Espevaer where we did many activities and in the evening we had a party. On Thursday we went to the hydropower station and before we went home we had a snowball fight. Everyone threw a snowball at me and in the end I got a slight headache. On the last day we had to make a F.A.C.E. dance, but then we decided that we would do a dance together. The party was pretty cool and we all danced the duck dance.
It was a great week with you guys and I hope we will meet again! I miss you guys so much! ❤
Thao
