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Erasmus Meeting in Oria,Spain November 20th - 26th, 2022

Sunday

Everyone was on their way……

French, German, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian teams. Inma, the Spanish coordinator, came to Alicante with the bus 🚌 to pick us all up.

We met at the airport at 5.30 am. Our flight left at 7:55 with an extremely good view of the sunrise. I was extremely nervous, because this was my first flight in my life. But it was fantastic.

After we landed, we left our bags for storage and took the bus to Alicante.

In the old town of Alicante we enjoyed the streets and street art. We had a great view of the old castle, harbour and city.

After we had lunch at the harbour we went to the beach.

At 5.30 pm we took the bus back to the airport, picked up our suitcases and met the others from Martenique, Portugal, Romania and Poland. When everyone arrived, we took the bus for a three hour drive to Oria. From there we went home with our host families and I fell straight into my bed after this long day.--

Monday

I woke up at 8 a.m. and we had breakfast. After that Miguel, my host brother, and I got ready for school and at 9:20 we left his home.

When we arrived at school, many other exchange children were already waiting for us and after everyone was there we went into the building.

A few students gave us a tour of the school and we went into many classes and introduced ourselves. Then we went to the canteen and got cake with hot chocolate. That was very delicious :)

After everyone finished eating we went to see some nice places of Oria like the old church with an extremely good view of the mountains.

We then stopped by the courthouse to say hello to the mayor of Oria. We all got presents and were really happy because he was responsible for giving us a bus for the whole week. Muchas gracias, el señor Alcalde😄

After this tour of Oria we walked to a great art gallery, where we met an 82 year old artist from England, who has been living in this village for 20 years.

Back in school we played volleyball outside in the schoolyard while some students played a game of werewolves upstairs in a classroom.

After lunch, everyone met upstairs in a large room full of tables and chairs and we held presentations about the cultural and natural heritage of our own countries.

The cool thing was that we had interactive maps where you could click on the sights and you would see pictures, text and YouTube videos. Miguel, one of the Spanish teachers, had put all of our reports our teachers had sent him into this mutual presentation.

After these presentations the school program was already over. Miguel and I were then picked up by his mom and we drove to the supermarket where we bought lots of delicious things. When we got home I cleaned my room and we played games and watched a movie until the evening. At 7 o'clock there was dinner and then I went straight to bed because I was very tired from this long day.

Tuesday

This morning we met at the bus at 8 am to drive to „Fort Bravo“, an original film set for western movies.

The old looking houses were part of the western town and after we were shown carriages, saddles and other things used for various movies we watched a show in the saloon.

After the show we ate paella which was delicious :) After this really good meal we looked at all the old houses a bit and then we took the bus for about 1 1/2 hours to the Museo Ibañez, a beautiful art and photography museum.

Here we saw many very creative pictures and it was really fun to look at them with the other exchange students.

The head in this picture- La Mujer del Almanzora- is the largest marble sculpture in Spain designed by Antonia López and consists of 86 single blocks of white marble with an estimated weight of 180 tons. It is 6 m high.

After the museum we drove back to Oria and the bus ride was very fun because the Spanish students showed us typical Spanish music.

When we arrived in Oria, my exchange student Miguel and I were picked up by his mother and we drove to his house. When we got home to Miguel and I made dinner with his family. There were potatoes with beans and carrots. It was really good, but afterwards I was extremely full. Since I was extremely tired, I went straight to bed and slept.

Wednesday

We met at school and drove to VELEZ BLANCO, a national park with beautiful mountains , a national park and a castle.

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First we went to a museum, where we watched a movie about the area and its plants and wildlife. Then we walked around the museum and learned a bit about the power of water and that vultures are important for the environment of this region.

After a snack we went to the Botanical Gardens where we had a workshop. At this workshop, we made our own scent bags with lavender, rosemary and salt.

Then we walked through the gardens and could see and smell different plants and enjoyed the beautiful view.

From there we drove to the castle. Our guide explained to us that the balconies, furniture and even floors were taken out many years ago and sold to a rich American couple. Now some of these these things are in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The castle was sold to the government of Álmeria and now, after having been renovated in parts is opened to the public.

After visiting the castle, we drove to the restaurant Bella Vista and ate there. It was a wonderful and fancy meal. After we were all full we had a little party and we all danced together. We had a lot of fun.

Then it was time to go so my host student Marta and I drove home to take a shower and then we went out again to eat in the restaurant of Marta’s uncle.--

Thursday

Today we took the bus to the Alhambra in Grenada.

The Alhambra, built in the 9th century by the Arabs, is the most visited place in Spain, in the heart of Granada, Andalusia.

There are more than 6.000 visitors per day who want to see the palace of the sultans, but it’s not only a beautiful palace, the Alhambra has plenty of little gardens and courts in the middle of a beautiful landscape with the view of the Sierra Nevada, the river Darro and the old city of Granada.

What first was built as a fortress - Alhambra means “red fortress” -, the Sultan Yusuf I of Granada built in in a royal palace in 1333. After the reconquista in 1492 the palace was annected by the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella. There are several legends and myths about the different sultans, their wives and their lovers in the palaces and parks. Christians, Jews and Arabs lived here in peace together for a long time.

During the visit we had a competition to answer questions, take a great picture and find a slogan referring to the Alhambra. This was really fun.

After walking through the Alhambra , we walked to Grenadas city center.

We also visited the cathedral of Granada where the Catholic kings were crowned.

Then we drove to a shopping center and were able to walk around . Afterwards, we returned home .

Friday

Today we went hiking in the Velez Blanco National Park.

We walked about 6,5 km through the forest until we arrived at a campsite. There we were divided into 2 groups, one group went to archery, the other group went climbing and ziplining.

Then we changed so we all could do both sports.

When everyone had done everything we had a great lunch. After dinner we got caps that we signed. When everyone was done and the Spanish teachers got some presents from us, we went back to the bus and on the way back we all sang together, which was an incredible moment and will be a great memory . There it became clear to all of us that this was our last night.😢

Saturday

We got up really early to get the bus at 5:00 o’clock to get back to Alicante airport. Here we had to say good bye to everyone, it was a very sad moment for all of us. It was great to meet everybody, hope to see you again some day.

Leni and Jana

We learned so many things outside the classroom this week- Geography in the mountains and national parks, watching landscapes change while riding on the bus. Art in the museums and galleries, finding out that these places aren’t boring at all. Biology in the botanical gardens and in the Alhambra, experiencing the tranquility and harmony of nature and architecture. History and languages everywhere, listening to wonderful stories and beautiful accents. Enjoying fabulous food in great company. Most of all, we learned from and about so many great people from all over Europe.

Thank you Inma, Marilena, José, Carlos, Manuel and Dani and your students and their families for a wonderful week. We will miss you 😢 Sonja Irlenkäuser & Sigi Geissler

The End