Our trip to Greece

22nd – 28th January 2015

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Thursday, 22nd January 2015

Our train to Frankfurt started at 4.24 am. Nobody really slept that night and some used several alarm clocks because they feared to oversleep.

At the airport in Frankfurt, we met the French team who took the same plane to Thessaloniki. We arrived at Thessaloniki at 2.50 pm where the

Romanian team already waited at the bus for Ioannina. After a 4 hour- ride on the bus, we finally arrived at Ioannina. Of course, we were very

excited. But when we met our exchange partners and their families, we knew everything is going to be alright. They offered us a real warm

welcome.

Friday, 23rd

January 2015

After an impressive welcome ceremony in the gym, we had the possibility to talk to many other students in an icebreaking activity. Then we had

presentations about each nation. The Spanish team presented the results of the online survey about the eating habits of the students. From the

different logos, the Spanish one got the most votes. What a pity for Greece, they had only one vote less than the Spanish logo. At the end of the day,

a Greek teacher taught us how to dance the traditional dance ‘Sirtaki’.

Saturday, 24th

January 2015

After a visit to the Archaeological Museum, we took part in a city game in Ioannina. We walked to important places where some Greek students

gave us information about this site. Finally, we had to answer a question. Those students who could give the right answer, got a piece of a puzzle

which was later put together to one picture of a famous sight in Ioannina.

That day, we had a big meeting with the mayor in the town hall which was filmed and broadcasted on TV. In the afternoon, each team prepared the

salads and everybody could taste the national specialities of the different nations.

Sunday, 25th

January 2015

Originally, a bike tour was planned for that day. But because of a bad weather forecast, there was no fix program and all the students could spend

the day with their host families. Some went on a trip to the mountains, others visited the island of Ioannina and some had a lazy day or met other

students in town.

Monday, 26th

January 2015

A bus picked us up in the morning and took us to the Archaeological Site of Dodona. A guide explained the historical background and told us the

legend of the ancient Greek history. After that historical site, we were taken to a cheese producing factory where the manager explained the different

steps of the production of the famous feta cheese. Because of hygiene rules, we had to dress up with plastic coats which was very funny. In the

afternoon, we had three different workshops. One workshop was about typical herbs in Greece, another offered a sportive game in the gym and in

the third one each nation had to present its part of the rap. Oh my god, we still will have to practise a lot!!!

Tuesday, 27th

January 2015

The day began with attending a German or French lesson at school. Then, a bus picked us up for the visit of a silver manufacture. An employee

explained the process of creating jewelry from the raw material silver. In a shop, we could buy silver rings or bracelets.

The bus took us to a small village in the mountains to a museum of modern art. The artist himself presented his pieces of art and gave explanations.

Back to school, we all got a farewell present. It contained several souvenirs from Greece including typical herbs. In the evening, we went to a

theatre, where a pantomime artist presented a real funny show. Then we were all invited to a restaurant where we had a big dinner. A band played

life music and everybody (nearly everybody) danced the traditional Greek dance the ‘Sirtaki’. It was great to see how the students and teachers from

the different nations danced together and had fun together.

At 9 o’clock in the next morning, it was time to say ‘goodbye.

We had an overwhelming time with students from four different nations and we could experience Greek hospitality in real life. We returned from

our journey with plenty of new and wonderful impressions and our stay will be unforgettable. Many thanks to the organizing teachers, the host

families and to all those persons who helped to realize this exchange visit and made its success possible.