Speyer, fourth project meeting - Francesca's report

Report about the Comenius Project HiP 

Meeting in Speyer

During the school years 2012-2014 my school “Guglielmo Marconi” has been involved in the Comenius project HiP (History in the Present).

From 1th to 6th December 2013 my schoolmates and I, accompanied by Ms Rossella Cianci and Ms Cantoro, went to Speyer, a little city in Germany, for our fourth meeting project. As regards our first meeting, it was in our city, Pescara, when we host Polish, French and Turkish guys. Other Italian students went to king's Lynn in January 2013 and another group went to Cornellà, Barcelona in November 2013.

We travelled by bus, so we left on 30th November at 6.00 p.m. from the Central Train Station of Pescara and we arrived in Speyer at 3.30 p.m. yhe following day. The trip was awesome but a bit exhausting because we travelled for about 12 hours!

I was put up by a beautiful family with one of my schoolmates, Maria Cristina. During our first day in Speyer we visited the German school and the local Cathedral. Their school is very big and perfectly organized. There we met the other people who also partecipated to this project: they came from France, England and Poland.

The Cathedral is really interesting but we are young and, as everybody knows, we like artistic spots but also leisure time and entertainment!!! For this reason we enjoyed so much Tuesday and Thursday. During the second day in Speyer, we went by train to Heidelberg and we stayed there all day until about 4.00 p.m. In the evening my schoolmate Maria Cristina and I went, with the family that host us, in a Mexican restaurant in the centre of Speyer. The food was delicious, just a bit  spicy for me!

The 4^th of December we stayed in Speyer, in the German school, and we showed our works related to the project. For this visit we prepared a package tour in the province of Pescara, one of the four provinces in Abruzzo, our region. I felt so excited and a bit embarrassed too to speak before all those people! After that, all who heard our work said that our English pronunciation was beautiful and the work was good. I felt so proud of myself!

In the afternoon we went to see the Speyer Museum Exhibition about ancient and modern history and in the evening we went to a pub with all the German students.

The last day we stayed all the time in Mannheim: we had shopping, so much shopping, and we ice-skated all together. At 6.00 p.m. we went to the Quartiermensa near the school to eat together for the last time. We enjoyed to dance and sing with all the other students and teachers. After so many, many tears, hugs and kisses we returned to our host families.

The 6th of December early in the morning it was time to say goodbye: we took a minibus to reach Frankfurt Hahn airport to get the flight back to Pescara.

This experience was both very funny and full of new precious teachings, because thanks to this project we learnt to stay in touch with cultures and customs completely different from ours, learnt many things about my region, improved my  English and IT skills.    

Than you everybody, hoping to see you in a very close future!

Francesca Sollazzo

Speyer: fourth project meeting - Eleonora's report

This is what Elenora wrote for this meeting:

Comenius Project: One of the best experiences in my life!!!!

It was the 30th of November when we started our trip to Speyer, Germany. 

I was really excited but also a bit worried because it was the first time I had a long coach trip like that although it wasn't my first time out of Italy. At 18:00 we met at the central station in Pescara where we took the bus, and at about 18:30 our 'adventure' began. The first thing the teachers Cianci and Cantoro told me, Maria Cristina, Elisabetta, Mauro and Francesca was to enjoy the week but also to be serious and respectful. The trip lasted about 20 hours, during which I tried to sleep but it was impossible because the bus was very noisy and when I fell asleep we arrived at the German border where the police stopped us to control our ID cards. It was a very long break because there were a lot of migrants on the bus with us and not all their passports where in order. 

At about 13.30 we arrived in Karlsruhe where we had lunch with a kebab and took the train to Speyer. We were all talking on the train when Ms Cantoro, our German teacher, listened that the last coaches of the train would be separated from the rest of the others and come back in Karlsruhe. Guess what? We were in one of the last coaches, so at the following station we got off the train and ran to try to get on an other coach, but we arrived a second later. The train was gone....

So we had to wait for the following train to Speyer, where we arrived safe and sound at 15:30.

Once in Speyer I met my German partner, Julius, and his family. They have been so sweet with me!!

I immediately liked Speyer, it's a wonderful town especially during Christmas time when there are the typical German ''Weihnachtsmarkt"'' which are Christmas markets.

The second day, in the morning I went to school with Julius where I met my friends and a lot of foreign students from France, Poland and, of course, Germany. In the afternoon we visited the Speyer cathedral and the historical center, at 18:00 we came back to school where some German students prepared a party for us, where we met the English students who were just arrived.

During the other days we had a lot of funny activities such as ice skating which was my favourite. We also presented our work, a ''week tour in the Province of Pescara'' and listened to the other students presentations. The last night the German students organized a party in the Quartiersmensa, it was very very funny but also sad because I had to say goodbye to all the people I met there. It was very hard especially when arrived the moment to wave off the ones with whom I've particularly bonded, I cried a lot!!

The trip back (by plane, this time!) was strange, we were happy to come back home and see our families and friends but we were also sad because the ''adventure'' was over.

Now I can say that I will never forget this experience because it was funny, of course, but also very interesting and full of important things I've learned keeping in touch with so many foreign friends.

Thanks a lot to all the German teachers, students and families for their warm hospitality!

I'm also grateful to my teachers who allowed me to take part to this amazing experience and to all the people I met during this two-year project!

All the best and lots of hugs, you'll be always in my heart!

Eleonora Del Mastro