Pescara: second project meeting in Italy - Rossella's report

Comenius Multilateral project 'HiP History in the Present)

Pescara report (11-15^th March 2013)

By Ms. Rossella Cianci

The preparation  for this meeting began many weeks before our guest’s arrival! Mr. Bruno Garelli and I were both excited and a bit worried in deciding what activities would have best met our foreign friends’ approval and engagement. Moreover it took quite a long time to organise the work the students had to prepare for this meeting, that’s why we spent many afternoons at school! We had to share ideas, information and who was supposed to do what…. The students’ parents were involved too in order to be informed on the best way to welcome and put up the foreign teenage guests, particularly the ones with special needs.

Once the preparatory work was set, we were ready and eager to begin!

Sunday, 10 March the French and Polish delegations arrived in Pescara at 19:45 by coach from Rome. Everything went well with the Host-Guest matching and so we teachers could relax a bit waiting for the following days….

Monday, 11 March: The meeting at school started at 9:00. We all met at the school auditorium and two students welcomed the two delegations with Beethoven’s Hymn To Joy and a speech prepared by them.

All the teachers and students involved introduced themselves and after that we had a tour of our school. Ms. Elisabetta Bernabeo, the Deputy Headmaster,  and Mr. Kenneth Thomson our native English speaker,  welcomed our guests on behalf of our Principal.  At 11:00 we had a break with food and drinks prepared by the Italian host families.

Soon afterwards we saw a modern and revised version of Romeo and Juliet which was great fun.

Mr. Garelli organised a Class of Italian for our guests named 'How to survive in Pescara for a week'.

At 13:00 we left school and the students organised some activities by themselves.

19:30: The Turkish delegation arrived safe and sound in Pescara so that we were ready to officially open our days together!

Tuesday, 12 March: We met at school at 9:00 and as a first thing our Principal Mr. Angelo Lucio Rossi warmly welcomed everybody and made a speech with which underlined the importance of these projects, the chance to be in touch with people from abroad as a means to  better understand one another and to grow together beyond prejudices and stereotypes, accepting diversity as a precious opportunity to improve and look at the future with new eyes.

All the members of the  Turkish delegation introduced themselves and soon afterwards each country sang its own national anthem.

Before the break there was the presentation of the works prepared by the Italian students about our school, our city, our region and some monuments in the Chieti and Pescara provinces.

At 11:30, after eating and drinking something,  we all danced together some folk dances from Abruzzo ('saltarello' and 'quadriglia') and two dances from Apulia that have been  very fashionable all over Italy for some years,  'pizzica' and 'taranta'. We also organised a drama class and students learnt how to be more self confident and to challenge their shyness.

Bruno and I were glad because all the students took part to all the activities, always smiling and with great involvement. That was one of our first goals: to make each feel at ease, to give all the chance to make friends and to know one another.

After lunch, we all met at school once again and the Turkish, French and Polish delegations introduced their power-point presentations related to our common project and we learnt a lot about the culture, history, art and   schooling system of Poland, France and Turkey.

At the end of that very long day we tried to sing an Italian song which was the work of several artists after the terrible earthquake that stuck the city of L'Aquila in 2009. The most important and beautiful city in our region and home to the Abruzzo government underwent lots of sufferings because of this earthquake which caused many deaths, injuries and destruction. At 17:30 our day together came to an end and students organised some activities on their own for the evening.

Wednesday, 13 March

Our meeting point was Pescara Terminal Bus where we got on a private coach which led us to Ortona, la Costa dei Trabocchi, the Abbey of San Giovanni in Venere and Lanciano.

The first stop was Ortona where we saw the Aragonese Castle, the Church of Santa Lucia and the Cathedral of San Tommaso. During our walking through Ortona we entered the Museo della Battaglia, a museum about the terrible days of World War II which saw Ortona involved in a bloody battle since it was one of the strategic cities lying on one of the major front lines. Students were struck after the speech made by a lady who told us of the sufferings the civilians had to bear. The museum is full of photographs, weapons, writings, documents which date back to those days.

Our next stop was San Giovanni in Venere, but while driving there we had the chance to admire the stunning coastline with its sandy and rocky beaches and with 'trabocchi', a sort of piles where fisherman used to  and still fish nowadays.

Once arrived at the Abbey, we visited it and explained something about its history and architecture and also saw the amazing view below it, since it is located on top of a hill. We stopped for lunch there and after eating we left for Lanciano. There we visited The Cathedral, Santa Maria del Ponte, Santa Maria Maggiore, the church of San Francesco, Montanare towers.  Unfortunately it began to rain even if  not a heavy one, luckily!

At 18:30 we go back to Pescara.

Thursday, 14 March

We visited the Town Hall and the building of the Province of Pescara with the famous painting The Daughter of Iorio  by Francesco Paolo Michetti.

Then we had a walk in Pescara Vecchia, the oldest part of the city, where you can find  Gabriele d' Annunzio's home  and  the anthropological museum Museo delle Genti d'Abruzzo,  housed in the old Borbonic jail . We went also to the 'bridge of the sea' near the harbour.

In the evening teachers and students met for a farewell pizza party, since the following day the French and Turkish delegations would leave Pescara.....

Friday, 15 March

At 7:00 we met at Pescara Terminal bus station. It was time to say goodbye to the Turkish and French groups. The students did not want their  guests to go away, they told the days spent together were really few and I even saw some mums weeping when the coach with our friends left.....

The Polish group remained one more day and at ten we met in the city centre and they had some free time to do their shopping.

After that week I felt a sort of emptiness, it seemed to me  all finished at once.  My colleague Bruno and I worked so hard in organising the many things we did, to prepare the students (that were perfect in welcoming their foreign friends and in all the tasks they had to carry on during the week). A special thank to the Italian families which put up the students from abroad as if they were their own children and to my colleagues who gave a precious hand in organising and taking part to the scheduled activities.

Last but not least, my compliments and my heartfelt thanks  to the French, Turkish and Polish teachers and students with whom we worked very well and made us feel always at ease.