GREEK-HUNGARIAN COMMENIOUS EXCHANGE PROGRAMM DIARY
Thirty Hungarian and Greek students and five teachers met in Thessaloniki from 14 to 21 March 2015. Students worked very well all together and they had a wonderful time during this week.
A Greek Student΄s Diary from Thessaloniki
Saturday 14th March
Today the Hungarian students
arrived in Thessaloniki. After the airport we went to our houses in order to
get the Hungarian exchange students to know to the host families and have a
rest. In the afternoon, some guys went to a nearby coffee shop, while others
attended to a dance lesson. On Saturday night, we went downtown to enjoy
Thessaloniki by night. First we had a walk on the beach and then we
“introduced” the Hungarian students to the traditional Greek food named gyros.
After that we went to Valaoritou street, where there is a variety of night
clubs and bars. We visited one of them where we spent the rest of our night.
Sunday 15th March
Although tired of the previous
night we woke up early and started the trip to the archaeological site of
Vergina. There we saw the tombs and we had a guided tour through which we learned
much information about the ancient Macedonia. At midday we went to Agios
Nikolas in Naousa where we had lunch in a traditional tavern. After that we
went to the city of Veria for coffee and then we returned back to Thessaloniki.
In the evening most of the students went down town.
Monday 16th March
Today was our first workshop! We
started working on our collages. Having finished the work for today we went to
the church of Saint Dimitrios to see the catacombs; however the catacombs were
closed so we just saw the rest of the church. Then, we went to Agia Sofia,
another famous church. Our next station was in Navarino square where we stayed
for a while to observe the picturesque houses around it not to mention the
ancient findings, and then we went to a tavern to eat lunch. After that we went
again back to the church of Agia Sofia where we could have access for that
time. In the evening we returned back to our neighbourhood, Toumba, where we
hanged out till late at night.
Tuesday 17th March
Today it was our second workshop
at school. After that we hopped on the bus and travelled to Chalkidiki, where
the “TSANTALI Vineyards and Wineries” are. Our guide told us all about the
grapes and the procedure till the final product. After finishing with the guide
tour in the wineries, we visited Nea Moudania City, also at Chalkidiki , where
we took photos of the landscape and had some beverages. At 14.00 we travelled
back to Thessaloniki, where he had our lunch. Three hours later we assembled at
the Freedom Square in the city center and visited tge Eptapyrgion walls ,
enjoying the view of the city. It was already dark and we started to feel
hungry, so we decided to have some dinner at the fast-food places downtown.
Wednesday 18th March
After finishing our workshops at
school, we watched a presentation in the chemistry lab, named “A travel into
the Universe, to know the mysteries and the beauties of it”, by “The friends of
Astronomy club of Thessaloniki”. By the end of the presentation we had an one-hour
break, and right after that we hopped on the local bus of the line 14 to get to
the city center, to visit the famous landmark of Thessaloniki, the “White
Tower”. After our guided tour in the tower, we had lunch. Our evening was
supposed to be continued with a boat trip in the city bay, but unfortunately
that was cancelled, due to the bad weather.
Thursday 19th March
Today was maybe the most
stressful, but also important, day of the week, where we should finish our
project-products and present them to the second senior students. The
presentations were held for, more or less, two hours and then we taught the
Hungarian students some traditional Greek dancing at school. We had a big break
for four hours, where we got ready for the national evening, which took place
in the city hall of Panorama city. For the national evening, every family had
to prepare a traditional meal and all these delicious dishes were served at a
buffet. Most of the students and some of the teachers got very emotional,
after watching the presentations and videos about this brilliant exchange
programme the students had made. Some students volunteered to play music as
well, and we all enjoyed it!
Friday 20th March
Today it was our trip to the “NOESIS
Thessaloniki Science Center & Technology Museum”, where we had a guided
tour about “Ancient Greek Technology”, “Classic Automobiles” and “The
Technopark hands-on Area”. Right after that we presented once again our
products to an English lesson at school. Then we had to write down the
evaluation of the whole exchange programme, which was continued by a coffee
break. Further up to our guide tour at NOESIS, we had an amazing projection
about the galaxies, stars and planets in the Digital Planetarium , named
“Miracles in the Universe” , and a second projection about insects, this time
in the 3D Giant Screen Cinema room, named “Bugs 3D: Adventure in the tropical
forest”. The whole experience was completely majestic! Right after the end of
our tour guide, at three o’clock, we returned to school and everybody went home
to have some lunch. In the afternoon we had our last visit in the city center,
where we spent the whole evening strolling around till late.
Saturday 21th March
This was the worst day of the
week, the separation day, the day when the Comenius 2014-2015 programme was
finally over. We went to Thessaloniki airport to bid farewell to the Hungarian
group.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B46esEjTu8xadWMzVWFMRnZCQlk/view?usp=sharing
Video with students interviews
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B46esEjTu8xaSEhSZkpWalh2bzQ/view?usp=sharing
Video from national evening
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