Italy Meeting by Thomas

Erasmus +: Meeting Italy

            With my English teacher, Mrs Elbouh, we took part in the second meeting in Italy in the frame of the Erasmus + project  FLwICT. This project is funded by the European Commission  as other projects for the benefit of all Europeen children, like us. There were a lot of different cultures such as Italian, French, Polish, Latvian, Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Turkish. Our names were drawn to travel to Italy, Keïna, Tim and I as well as  Chloe, Zoe and Latitia ( from literature class) were the lucky ones to be  chosen from our classes to travel in this beautiful country, Italy! We were chaproned by Mrs El Bouh and Mrs Lavant.

            Before we arrived we were all stressed by the difficulty to speak in another language! We were in the shuttle and all of us had expressed  this concern. e were talking in French, joking, laughing for the last time in French for one week!  Everyone was scared to feel awkward or to seem weird, not to be like what our guests were expecting! But in just one day it was like we had known each other for 20 years! That was amazing!

            The Italian team organized a lot of activities, interesting activities, like writing a song for the project, our project anthem, all of the countries had to write four lines about the project, this beautiful project, the French part is:

«We are from different cultures

And now !stop being vultures

Erasmus +, the new union

Is a good way to communion»

We were in a European group; in my group, there were a Latvian, a Lithuanian, an Italian, Lorenzo the funniest Italian boy ever and a Turkish and a Portuguese; the first ten minutes were difficult because no one wanted to speak, we were too shy! And then we became friends, that was really easy! I will never forget this team, they were perfect! We had a lot of laughter because we were  teaching words from our  native languages to the others and that was very funny to hear their pronunciations! We voted for the best logo of our project, and Italy won, the Italian logo was the best!We also tackled the issue of cyberbullying, prepared presentations in multinational groups.



                           

                                                               

All the activities were enriching and gave us the opportunity to know each other and share a lot.

        
  Italian students finish school earlier than the French. So, in the afternoon we were would go a to the commercial center to do the «saldi» and to meet some other friends like Greta, or Asia and their funny guest like Dawid, a Polish guy who was Asia's guest; he was very funny. Some nights we went to parties and we met a lot of other Italian like Lorenzo, Gaïa, Greta, Alessandra , and I forget a lot of others! With Lorenzo, the funniest Italian guy we danced, and we took other people to dance with us and at the end all were dancing! That was a magical moment! All the families took us to the Lake of Garda in Bardolina, or in Italian lago di Garda, the sun was beautiful,  the light was stunning! The last night, all the  Erasmus + participants had dinner in an Italian restaurant! At the end of the evening, I called it «The Madeleine Time», because in France we have an expression, cry like a Madeleine, a madeleine is a cake, but this means to cry a lot! I called this moment like that because that was the time where everyone was crying because , a lot of hugs were done! The Italian teacher give a diploma to all participants to prove that we had participated in this unbelievable project! We didn't say «farewell» but only good bye or see you soon, because we hope to come back in this beautiful country!

            We had awesome visits of  beautiful cities  like Mantova, Verona or Sabbioneta. The city of  Verona is very beautiful with its  roman arena and Juliet's balcony! Mantova with its canal.

 In Sabbioneta, we drank Italian hot chocolate, but it's not like in France, this is real chocolate! as the other French students didn't like theirs,  I bravely drank all of the mugs, six cups of hot chocolate! That was a little bit too much! But that was excellent! The Italian culture is really outstanding with its richness, every wall, every brick tells you a story! theaters, arenas, old homes; it is really beautiful! We took a lot of photos, like normal tourists!



                                                                  

            What I like in this project? I can say everything, but it's too easy to say that then, I like all Italians; they were always happy, funny, this is magic, all of participants of the Erasmus+ project were polite, always cheerful.We discovered a new part of our teachers and other teachers from the other countries, they were always happy to talk  with all and that was awesome! With this project, with this meeting in Italy it was easy to talk with others without being scared about our language skills, you just have to light up your face with a big smile and they will speak to you. When we were in the classroom with our pals, we were able to exchange with students and the teacher about our country, our culture,... 

  

 can say what this travel brought me, it gave me my life, my Italian life.  It is my preferred trip ever, I found my second family, my second surname is now Indaco! They were just perfect. Thanks a lot for all the extraordinary work behind this project, all the teachers, thank you isn't enough to say what I feel! My pen friend, Deborah has become my friend, I trust you will come in France, and I will host you like you hosted me like perfect, like all of her friends Asia, Lorenzo, Gaïa, Sofia, Anna; all of you, you have become my friends! I forgot a lot of friends but I can't say all of the names otherwise my page will be filled with names! My  advice for students, if you can participate in this magical adventure, you have to do it!
Grazie mille  from me and all my French mates: Zoe, Chloe, Laetitia, Tim and Keina!

 

HAPPY FACES!!

            I