Barcelona's experience

The Comenius trip in Barcelona began on 23rd April in the morning. We were so excited when Celia and Mari, our Catalan friends, came to our hotel to take us and the Polish partners to go to Lavinia School. That was a special day for our catalan friends: Saint George's day, the patron of Barcelona and everything commemorated this Saint. First there was a rehersal made by the pupils about the legend of St. George killing the dragon to save the Princess, then we had a breakfast with some special cakes for St. George's day and finally we went to the Rambla Catalunya where there were stalls selling roses (symbol of St. George) and books about St. George. This celebration, in Catalunya, replaces St. Valentine's day and boys give roses to the girls. After lunch in the school canteen we went to visit the Town Hall of Les Corts, the district where Lavinia school is situated. The building was ancient and magnificent and the mayor of Les Corts, who is also the Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, welcomed us and was very kind and warm with us. After a break in a Liberty Style cafeteria, we came back to school to watch some typical catalan dances and the show with the human tower. On Tuesday we had the tour of Barcelona: we saw the Sagrada Familia, the Pedrera and Casa Batllò by Gaudì and we walked Passeig De Gratia, a residential and elegant route. At least we visited the stunning Parc Guell designed by Gaudì. On Wednesday we went to school to take part in some English and Music lessons, then we visited a High School located in an ancient hospital nearby and we went to see the stadium of Barcelona. In the afternoon we visited the ancient gothic district with the help of a guide and finally we had “tapas” in a typical restaurant in the city centre. On Thursday it was sunny, we visited the kindergarten school and we had the Comenius meeting. After in the morning we walked on “la Rambla”, we visited a typical market of fresh food and we reached the harbour, then Barceloneta, the beech of Barcelona. There we had a good lunch and enjoyed it very much. What a pity!!! our trip was finishing, we had to come back to the hotel to get ready for the last party. In the evening we had appointment at school to see a show of typical catalan dances and fireworks. Then the dinner in a beautiful restaurant in Plaza de Espana. We were happy to be there together and to have met special people, such “friends”, but we were also sad to leave and finish this Comenius meeting. I have no words to say how I was touched. I can only thank my Comenius friends that have given me the opportunity to know and enter the culture and history of their countries, to exchange work experiences and mainly to love them, to appreciate all they did for us and make me feel part of an important, special, unique project. I think the goal of union by UE has been reached: we weren't Italians, Catalans, Hungarians and Polish but we were European citizens speaking, well or not, English. Thank you Rosy from Istituto Comprensivo di Vietri di Potenza