Με την τσάντα στους ώμους

Balbagadi Chrisa

After the second stage of our participation in the Erasmus+ project, we decided to write this article for our newspaper, in which we are going to share our feelings, impressions and experiences with you.

On Sunday April 3^rd we welcomed the kids from the schools participating in the project (schools from Germany, Italy, Portugal and Sweden). Each one of us was very shy at first. We took our guest home, so they could rest from their long flight. The following day, activities started and from that time we were never apart.

On Monday morning the kids were given a tour of our city, Thessaloniki (unfortunately without us), but in the evening we were all at the welcome party which the Greek students had organized and which took place inside the school. First, each country made a brief presentation which was about a great personality or a certain area in each country.  That was followed by dinner which had been prepared by the Greek families and teachers. We enjoyed a buffet variety of traditional foods and sweets. And that was the part when we started to have fun and get to know each other.

On Tuesday we visited the Centre for Environmental Education at the Municipality of Kordelio. There we discussed water sustainability and participated in group workshops. In the evening of the same day we engaged in similar activities in the school on another topic, biodiversity. At the time, we had a lot of help form Antonia Dardioti, a consultant for environmental education for Secondary Education Schools.

On Wednesday we went to Diavata to visit HEL.PE. (HELLENIC PETROLEUM). From the presentation we learned about the measures that the company takes to protect the environment from its activities, and more specifically for the surrounding area which includes the wetlands of the Axios Delta, about how the company manages the water consuming facilities and about their waste management.

On Thursday morning we made a trip to Chalastra, Kalohori and Agathoupoli, where we went to the Bird Watching Tower. We also visited the Axios Delta national park. Early in the evening we visited the A.U.TH. (ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI) and met professor Alexandros Georgopoulos. He helped us relax after our tiring day. We played some trust and communication games with him and his students.

Our last day was exciting and funny. We planted trees and flowers in a green park located near our school. In these activities we had the help and participation of officials from the Municipality of Thessaloniki.

In the end we experienced feelings of happiness and excitement. Noone had expected that we would have such a good time. The experiences of this visit were varied and all of them beautiful. All of us gained something from this visit, we exchanged information with each kid and we now have something special to remember about each visitor from each country. The kids’ teachers were friendly and kind too. Of course we have kept contact with our friends thanks to modern technology. Parting with them was really difficult. We had been so close the whole week and we couldn’t say goodbye. Tight hugs and tears was what we experienced on the last moments. Naturally, we all agreed that we will meet again for sure, sometime in the future. It was a wonderful experience which all of us are going to remember forever.