Memories from Varna

My memories from Varna


23rd of April was a trip to Bulgaria. Together with Lilianna and Patrycja I was among those selected from students actively participating in the Comenius project. I would say at the begining that Bulgaria was amazing.

A plane flight… not everyone had the opportunity to travel in this way. In total, we flew four times (Berlin - Vienna, Vienna - Varna and back).

First, what we thought while coming close to Varna is: "Where is the sea?" After landing and saying goodbye to each other, each of us went to the families who we were supposed to live with.

My first talks? - "I hope that you will understand me, and I will understand you." And then we exchanged general information about ourselves. After unpacking at a separate room in the house, we went to visit the Sea Garden in Varna.

The whole day passed well. Talking to foreigners intrigued me very much, finally I realized how useful English is.

The next day, together with the families where lived Liliana and Patrycja we visited the Cape Kaliakra. Beautiful views made an impression on us, and that sometimes can be seen here in a sea of dolphins. We took a joint photograph.

Then we got acquainted with our peers from other countries. At the beginning of the conversation could be heard only our peers from the school in Bulgaria, who were talking to each other. Then we all talked together.

The next day, along with our peers from other countries we visited Veliko Tarnovo - the former capital of Bulgaria. We observed even more beautiful views there - a wonderful mountainous terrain, the walls of the castle and the castle on the summit. From this place we have the most wonderful pictures.

The next day we visited the lessons of our peers from the Bulgarian school. Their excellent level of mathematics surprised us. Then presentations of partner cities was held. Then we went to the mall and visited the dolphinarium. It was great to see dolphins. On the last day we went to school, then we heard presentations by peers such as dance schools in Bulgaria. Then we walked around the city.

At the end I met Patrycja, Liliana, all of us and our host families joined Mrs. Ania Ostrowska and Mrs. Elżbieta Łuczak at the airport.

I would be so happy if I could go to another country or to Bulgaria again. An unforgettable experience. What is the most important: raised the bottomline is that it`s worth learning English.

Krzysztof, Szczecin(Poland)

TOPIC OF THE MONTH: FOOD

Hello everyone!

The topic of the month is food, and I'd like your participation to see what we discover about our customs in this regard.

We will start with breakfast:
It should be the most important meal of the day not by the amount, but because of the time when we eat it and its utility. If you have a proper breakfast, you will begin your day less tired and will be able to pay more attention in class.

The Spanish breakfast has some variants:

1) The well-made breakfast consists of juice, preferably freshly squeezed orange, toast with olive oil and tomato with or without ham and a glass of milk with cocoa or coffee for adults.
2) Another common breakfast is usually cereal with milk with or without fruit or chocolate chips.
3) Milk and biscuits (How many? 3.5, 6, ... ...?) Or pastries (how many?)
4) Some people do not have anything for breakfast because they get up late, with just the time to go to school.

Is it similar or very different in other countries?

Join us and tell us what your breakfast is like. Ask your CAYAC partners what they usually have for breakfast and tell us what you usually do. The following questionnaire can be useful to you:

BREAKFAST Everyday - 3 times per week -1 time per week - never
HOUR AND TIME
Milk
Fresh Juice
Cereal
Biscuits
Pastries
Toast
Butter
Oil
Others

Don't forget to leave your comments! Thank you!!
Querubina Albaladejo

My Trip to Varna, Bulgaria

I went to Varna from 23rd to 28th April...
My host family was special but funny...
It was very cool, great and nice...
I made some friends and I’m missing them terribly...
Bulgaria is a beautiful country!!!
I look forward to going to Bulgaria with my family...
My dream: living near the sea!!!
We were happy!!!
See the picture? He is King Thomas, the first... and the last
Big kisses from Belgium!!!

Soon!!!

Alexandra

Comenius Education Partnership - Meeting in Kiiminki, Finland 1

Comenius Education Partnership - Meeting in Kiiminki, Finland The sound of the wheels, as they touched the ground below us, could be heard from our seats, as we landed in the small airport of Kiminki, Finland. After collecting our luggage, I was met by my host family, who were to look after me for 6 days whilst we were to visit a school in Finland, in the Comenius School Links project. My friend Rhianne, who came with me, stayed with a different host family, which meant we would do different things. My host, Sofia, lived with her mum in a small yet cosy house in a big neighbourhood, which was completely surrounded by hundreds of tall, white fir trees. This change in landscape took a while to get used to, as my astonishment did not wear off for several days. Everywhere you went, including on either side of nearly every road you took, there were thousands of fir trees everywhere, towering over you. However, the landscape did not shock me as much as the weather. Everything was covered in deep, pure white snow. Temperatures the week before had been -25 to -30 degrees Celsius!! However, the weather pitied us and we never had to endure such temperatures, luckily. I had a fabulous time in Finland and the different activities which we did, have given me an insight into what the Finnish culture is like. At the weekend, I visited Oulu, the nearest town to Kiminki, and explored shops and a traditional indoor market selling lots of fish. I also went on a day trip to Lapland with the rest of the other schools who were also involved in the Comenius project. We had a photo with Father Christmas, met some reindeer and visited a beautiful and stunning snow castle. This was one of the most memorable parts of the trip, as everything was completely made from snow or ice! I ate a Finnish bun in a snow restaurant, Mr. Porter and Miss. Newton had a drink out of an ice glass and we all got to look inside the snow hotel rooms, which were expensive to stay in! I went to school with Sofia and enjoyed some interesting lessons, which I could not understand as they were spoken in Finnish. Then on the last day, I was taken to see Sofia’s Aunt and Uncle and her cousins. I had a wonderful time playing in the snow and they also took me on a magical sleigh ride through the beautiful snowy forest. It was truly amazing!
This experience has given me a wonderful understanding of the Finnish way of life and has enabled me to meet new and friendly people.
Thank you to Mr. Brooke, Miss. Newton
and Mr. Porter, who, without them, I
would not be able to have gone on, what
was, a terrific and memorable visit to
Finland!

Comenius Education Partnership - Meeting in Kiiminki, Finland

Finland in winter is essentially a giant snow Wonderland. It never failed to amaze me at seeing snow everyday as I woke up and the sky the same colour as the ground, pure white. On our visit to Finland we stayed with host families. The girl I stayed with was called Niina Huru and she lived with her mom, her dad, her 3 brothers and their dog. They also ran their own business a small shop and fast food counter. Via the family I learnt about traditional foods such as moose, reindeer and many different types of bread as well as learning parts of their language and the way they go about daily life. The snow, however, was by far the most interesting since in England we can’t seem to survive two days of Snow never mind several months.

During our weekend in Finland we did many interesting things such as check out the local shopping mall but Sunday was by far the most exciting day. We saw live reindeer in Lapland amongst other exciting sites but the best was yet to come. ‘The experience of a lifetime.’ Finland’s very own snow castle visit was a hit. An entire castle made out of snow. Inside were hotel rooms, restaurants and even a cathedral room. As the skies grew dim we played on the ice slides and wandered around the ice hotel rooms taking pictures of everything we saw.
During this day we also met other students visiting from countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland and Spain. We swapped information on our different countries and had a lot of laughs mostly from playing in the snow.

Finally on Monday and Tuesday off to school we went. While we were there we tried Finnish school lunches, saw an assembly based on Finnish culture such as Finnish dancing and drinking. We also tried Finnish sweets and sat in lessons, generally the English ones were best because they asked us questions about English culture so it was easier for us to understand.
All in all it was a very enriching experience and it definitely made the six grueling flights worth while. I hope to keep in contact with the new friends I met there and I also hope to return to Finland one day and try out many other new and exciting things such as skiing, snowboarding maybe even trying out a snow mobile.