Waking up about 8:30 in the morning, having a shower, have a little toast with chocolate, get a coat, and go to the train station, with the temperature below 0. A 20 minute trip to Forchheim, then take a little bus for 10 more minutes and finally meet everybody in the school. That was my morning routine during the 4 days I lived in Ebermanstand, a small town in Franconia.

After passing an English text in my school, I could make this trip, and I’m not ashamed, even they temperatures are the lowest I’ve never lived with, the people in Forchheim is warm and cozy, specially in their underground pubs.

Every morning all the participant countries presented their works, and we watched all of them and we did some activities proposed by the project, but when they were over we just lived in a young-German lifestyle, an experience that I recommend to everybody

Während ihr alle in der Schule gesessen habt, waren wir acht Mädels mit Herrn Küspert und Frau Schweinzer in Catalonien auf dem 3. Comenius-Meeting und hier könnt ihr lesen, was wir alles erlebt haben:

Monday

At 4 o’clock am we met at the trainstation in Nuremberg and travelled 3 hours by train to Munich. Our flight from Munich to Barcelona took 2 hours so we arrived in Barcelona at 12 o’clock. Poor Catalans have to stay at school very long, so we had hours to discover Barcelona by ourselves until the hosts could pick us up.

So our cameras could never rest because there was a lot to see in that city. One of the best sights was Mont juic, a museum of arts with great architecture, standing on a hill. Yes, we had to get over lots of stairs… and the olypic gardens with great view over the beautiful city.

After the trip (and a Hot Dog looking like a finger) we took a train to Matorell to meet our exchangepartners. All of us were very nervous and excited to the first meeting with them.

The first evening with the Spanish family was for everybody a bit strainge but also interesting.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we had our first day at the school in Martorell. There we were welcomed by the second principal and the teachers from the Spanish comenius group. Three boys played a typical Spanish song with their guitars - impressive! After that we had a Spanish and Catalan lesson and in the end we could start a conversation in Spanish:

Hola! Que tal? (Hello! How are you?)
Muy bien! Y tu? (Very good ! And you?)
…
Afterwards some Spanish students had some presentations about the highlights in Martorell. At 11am we went to Barcelona by train. We were divided in three groups and each had a student to guide us. We went to Las Ramblas (very big shopping streets), Mercat de la Boqueria (where you couldn´t move because it was so narrow), impressive churches, little streets and other buildings. And after the tour (be jealous now) we had lunch at the beach! Thinking “poor classmates sitting in the lesson”, we ran to the sea – and immidiatly jumped back again, because the water was very cold!

But brave Mr. Küspert and some boys couln´t be stopped to jump into the water. (They cried like little girls when they noticed the cold :D)
Even though we were annoyed by people who wanted to sell us unuseful things it was a great time. Afterwards we went to the port and the Columbus statue and then to a mall & had some freetime for shopping...

Wednesday

Near Martorell there is a mountain, called Montserrat. We travelled there by bus and noticed the strange shape of the Mountains which is difficult to discribe (Bild Montserrat) so everybody can imagine by himself J

There´s also a church of the famous “Black Madonna” which also has it´s own boys` choir. You might be confused now, because after that we travelled to Barcelona again, but if you knew the city you would understand it. You need some days to see everything! This day it was time for Antoni Gaudí. He is the most famous Catalan artist. You can see one of his monuments nearly everywhere in the town! The wonderful “Parque Güell” we visited at first was created by him, too! There we had lunch between palm trees with a great view. We already had been very happy but the best had to happen after that: The visit of “La Sagrada Familia” – THE church of Barcelona. But no- it was not a boring church, it was a great buildung which´s architecture shows well planned the Bible story on the outer facade! Nearly wowed by the outside we were guided into the church and I can only tell you that you HAVE to see this church because nobody can discribe it and no picture can show the beautiness of that building which was, by the way, constructed by Gaudí, too!

The evening then was free.

Thursday

Well, I have to admit that we had one boring morning, too, because the Thursday was full of presentations by the guests (also by us :s).– some were difficult to follow (not ours :-).

After that we were shown the town Martorell with museums and a meeting with the second mayor who looked like Michael “Bully” Herbig, as I think...

The lunch was the typical Spanish “Paella” for everybody at school. A very very big pan of rice and seafood and for desert cake and all sorts of nice things. Well, it needs getting used to eating seafood with plastic cuttlery... ;)

A big surprise was the festival in the evening where everybody from the Spanish school could show what they can. The dinner later on was cold plates in a beautiful garden which was followed by a visit to the disco, where it was great fun to watch all the teachers dancing! That evening you could feel the friendship between everybody and the fun and happyness was just clouded by the knowledge that we had to leave the next morning and that we would maybe never meet our new friends again...

Friday

Tired and sad we met in the morning at the train station. The farewell lasted so long that we missed two trains. In the train then, we caught at last, we gave up fighting against our tears.

One last visit to Barcelona dried the tears again, where we could buy presents and visit the “Casa Bàtllo”, by Gaudí.

Then the odyssey to Forchheim started and it really was one. We lost three of us at the bus to the airport and nearly missed the flight, then Mr. Küspert left his backpack in the train while getting us all of us up and out, then the next train was almost one our late and we had to wait with a thousand people in the heat. But late at night we arrived finally, exhausted, in Nuremberg with the memory of a great week and new friends in our hearts we will never forget.

So nobody can disagree with us that COMENIUS is simply great and more then useful and everybody should get a chance to join our wor

Artikel vom Comenius-Team: Vanessa Schuler, Melanie Schobert, Selin Aydinli, MaLu Hagitte, Hannah Rubner (9a) und Annika Schobert, Viktoria Löw, Maria Schleicher (10a)

In Martorell we had an unforgettable experience. With the Comenius project we could meet nice, polite and friendly paople. Living in their homes for a week we learned about Spanish costoms and they made us feel very welcome giving us a lot of attentions.

During that week we had the opportunity to see fantastic places with our new friends and we could practice English, too.

Naturally, we had a lot of fun and we hope that in October our Comenius friends will experience a great time with us here in Pescara.

Chiaretti Giulia II H Pescara/Italia

The last day

We got up at 7:30 (more or less) and we went to the school as we did all the time. We had a little meeting in front of the school and then went inside to show each other our presentations on different topics. The presentations are always amusing cause everybody is nervous and we all do some stupid but funny mistakes. Besides that, all the presentations were great and made with a lot of effort. After, we had a short break for a snack and got ready for a little walk to visit the museum of Martorell and the town hall with Mayor´s speech. We visited two museums. The second one was dedicated to Jaume Muxard and his art. It was full of nice pictures and paintings. The mayor´s speech was not exactly “mayor´s”. It was a representative speech given by his deputy. It was good experience in Martorell. Also, we had lunch- Paella. It was with some seafood (shrimps,mussels ...), rice and sauce. All the food was made in a giant frying pan and it was really nice to taste some food typical for this country. And then, we had a long break to get ready for the show in the house of culture peformed by some people from the Spanish Comenius and some other students from Pompeu Fabra. We heard some excellent piano compositions, saw great acts which were really funny, Spanish national dances and then we all together sang a song, it was called “Puff The Magic Dragon”. After the show finished, went to have dinner. Again we had a little walk together with dawn. Then the main part of the day started. We headed to the disco. It was really important for us because it was the last day we could see each other and be with each other. It was really a great and funny evening. A lot of things happened that we will never forget and always be grateful for them. The morning was difficult because we slept only 2 or 3 hours, but it was worth it. The travel back to the Czech Republic was exhausting but we made it in one piece. Thank you everybody for this great week. It was so great that we find it impossible to come up with any superlatives to describe it.

The Comenius team from Czech Republic

After hours of boring and exhausting traveling by plane and train we reached the small Franconian town Forchheim where our host students were waiting for us. After a very short time in the country, we started noticing the differences: The french students were wondering about the fact that young people don't greet each other with kisses on the cheeks, the Spanish about the cold and rainy weather. The Czechs were the only ones positively surprised by the cleanness and beauty of Germany. At our families we had our first dinner together, they were asking us a lot of questions about traveling, our country and so on...After that we went to bed because we were very tired and exhausted.

The other days we went to different places such as Nuremberg, Franconian Switzerland where we experienced really nice nature and landscape. We also danced and sang a song in school and we took part in class. We also agreed that it is a pity that we can't stay at each country longer because we don't really have enough time to get to know each other well. But still, it is a great experience and opportunity.

In the morning, we were divided into 4 groups and the German students showed us the school.After that, German student showed us presentations about Frankonia and Bavaria and traditional costumes. Then we visited Forchheim and we saw the mayor in the town hall. He welcomed us,made a speech and offered us brezels. We took a group picture in front of the town hall. We learnt that the city is represented by two trouts because in Forchheim we can see a lot of rivers. Then we had lunch at the school canteen- Klos (ball made of potatoes and roll) with meat and cabbage. Then walked to the bus station and we left to Pottenstein where we visited the cave called The Devil´s cave and after that we walked to the top of the hill where the festivals are held every year. It wasdifficult to manage to go up there, hill was very high, steep and in addition, Herr Kuspert left his rucksack on top of it. So he had to go back to get it and he didn´t seem very happy about it :) Then we went back to Forchheim, which we were very happy about. Then, one part of students went to the pizzeria,another part went to the party organized by Mattias at his home and some people went back home because the bowling area was closed.

-When does school start and when does it end ?

In France it starts at 08:40 and ends at 17:05

In Italy, it’s from 08:15 to 13:00

In Germany, it’s from 08:10 to 13:10 or 15:40

-How long is a lesson ?

In France 55 minutes

In Italy 60 minutes

In Germany 45 minutes

-How many breaks do you have?

In France there are 3 breaks (1 in the morning, 1 for lunch and 1 in the afternoon)

In Italy there is one break only for 10 minutes!

In Germany there are usually 2 breaks for 15 minutes but some days we have a lunch break for an hour

-What about school subjects ?

In France we have: French, Spanish, English, Maths, Physical education, History and Geography, Music, Arts, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Latin & Greek & German (= optional)

In Italy: Italian, English, Maths, Physical education, Latin, History and Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Religion, Art

In Germany: German, English, Latin, Italian, French, Greek and Spanish (= optional) , Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Art, Religion, Physical education, History, Geography, Music

-What's your favorite subject ?

Judith: Music, Physical education and Spanish

Giulia: Italian, Art and Biology

Ayse: Biology and French

-Do you play a musical instrument?

Ayse: I can play the guitar

Judith and Giulia don't play any musical instrument

-How many days do you go to school ?

In France 5 days

In Italy 6 days

In Germany 5 days

-When does school year start and when does it finish?

In France it starts in September and ends in June

In Italy it starts in September and ends in June, too

In Germany it starts in September and ends in August

-When do you have holidays ?

In Italy we have Christmas holidays (two weeks), Easter holiday(one week) and summer holidays(3 months)

In Germany we have Christmas holidays (2 weeks), Winter holidays ( 1 week), Easter holiday (2 weeks), Pfingsten (2 weeks), summer holiday ( 6 weeks )

In France we have Toussaint (= All Saint’s Day, 10 days), Christmas holidays (2 weeks), February (2 weeks), Easter holidays (2 weeks) and summer holidays (2 months)

These are the results of our short survey.

We met each other at 8.30 in the hall. We got to know each other with games. Then we sang popular songs from Germany like “schwarzer Peter” and then we danced a traditional dance. After that we saw some presentations about Germany (songs, feasts, costumes...). We had lunch in the school canteen, and we ate spaghetti and salad. Then we had to go quickly to the train station to go to Nuremberg. There was the Documentation Centre which was about World War II. We had a very interesting guided tour. We visited the church and Nuremberg. After that long day we went back to the school to see a classical concert. It was a very beautiful and interesting day, and tiring too.

A citizen of Europe

Europe is by convention one of the world’s seven continents. Its 27 independent states are united by an economic and political union formally established only 18 years ago with the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. However what does, behind economical affairs and political alliances, make us feel part of this mixture of different cultures that are apparently very different one from another? First of all, to people how ask me if I feel Italian or European I would turn the question around and ask them the reason why I should feel to be a citizen of Pescara, of Italy and not an European one. In my opinion, the starting point is knowing at least the main foreign languages like English, French and German. As for me I think that in this way you have the opportunity to take part, through television, radio or internet in the other countries’ life. To have a wider idea of events, I generally like watching the news on channels of different nations comparing its opinions. Doing this you can also understand the typical mentality of the place, the way of thinking and the values of people which don’t depend on its political institutions. I really like consulting internet pages of different languages because each country, highlighting particular aspects, has its own way to explain topics. A further fundamental way to feel European is travelling and learning directly about other societies. I think that the more an environment is closed towards cultural exchanges the poorer and more infertile it is. Unfortunately, thinking often the opposite, we make the mistake to close ourselves with the wrong fear towards differences which are actually important sources that permit us to improve.

Ettore Kiefer IV. D

On Tuesday, March the 6^th 2012, the COMENIUS-Team went to Nuremberg, the city which is not only known for the beautiful Christmas market and the famous sausages, but also for its outstanding historical events which took place there.

The Documentation Centre which was visited by the whole group deals with the past of the 2^nd World War and the totalitarian system of Hitler and the Nazis.

We walked across the place of the Nuremberg Rally and had audioguides which told as of the past of Hitler's beginnings, his success and how it all ended. At this place, Hitler held speeches and great demonstrations to show his political power took place.

After walking around the building of the Documentation Centre, we had a guided tour around the Dutzendeich, which is a small lake, where we took a walk around in the lovely sunshine. We all enjoyed this promenade very much.

Afterwards we spend our time at the Zeppelinfeld, which looks like a great arena and remembers you of the Colloseum in Rome.

The trip ended with the visit of the Lorenz church and at half past 6 pm., we took the train back to Forchheim and spend the rest of the evening in the host families or did something with the other partners.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day and the other partners could get to know an important part of german history.

Elena, Jan, Sophie, Maxime

Basic information on the European Union

I must admit, that I’ve never had the opportunity to reflect on the value or the influence of the term Europe in my everyday life.

It is not a simple issue of words, but I realize, I am completely absent and uncaring of my individual Euro­pean condition.

Premising that, this does not represent any kind of justification, because I cannot have excuses in front of my serious suspicion.

I became aware of my blissful ignorance, regarding my European condition as an individual, when facing the question, I had not the slightest idea, what to say, and what to think.

The good thing is that, at least, at the moment, I’m trying to understand why I have never exhibited any kind of praise to Europe, or appreciated being a part of it.

And at this point I have to look for reasons of this huge mistake.

So, I thought that usually there isn’t anyone around me (for example when I go to school, when I cross the streets) who uses the word Europe or citizen of this big populated core; in fact there have been so few pulses to argue, that a few minutes ago, I clicked on the web the term EUROPE and I entered the current European Union’s portal looking for some illumination.

Hey, we’re Cansu (15) and Vanessa (14) from the Herder-Gymnasuim-Forchheim, where many extracurricular activities take place. For example drama club, instrumental lessons, language courses, art, sports, choir, photo course, student coaches, big band, orchestra and of course Comenius. Our drama club presents every year one or two productions. We have two drama clubs, one for the younger and one for the older. When you join a sport association like basketball, soccer, handball, swimming or track an field athletics, you can take part in competitions. We are a musical Gymnasium that’s why you can play many different instruments. Our school organizes a concerts regulary where you can show what you have learned. You can do that alone or in groups. Or you can join the big band and play with many other students. When the concert isn’t in the school, it’s often in the ‘Jahnhalle’. This is a big hall near the school with a stage. The choir also performs there. The photo course and art is headed by our artteachers and the pictures, which orginaze there, are issued in our school. Because we are also a linguistic Gymnasium you can learn many languages, too. For example French or Spanish.

Klára Pucholdtová – She is intelligent, helpful, nice and reliable. She has a twin. She likes reading, especially Harry Potter, Twilight. She loves music (She plays the flute.)She is good at Chemistry, Biology and languages. She likes fashion. She wants to be a surgeon. She loves polar bears and vampire diaries

Pavel Colledani – He is original, funny, thin. He loves metal music and he plays the guitar. He has his own band. He likes photography, wolves, dogs and mystery. He spent 6 months in France so he can use French well.

Petra Schmauderová – Petra is really a good friend. We have known her for only 2 years, but she is one of us now. She is friendly and kind. She likes to meet new people. She can party really hard and I must say, that she is funny (but of course in a good way of meaning). And she likes Germany, so he can speak German well.

Lukáš Bank – Lukáš is really a great guy. He’s talkative, very sociable and friendly. It’s impossible to be bored with him. He’s interested in fashion and Japanese culture – he likes languages, history and martial arts, he also speaks English very well because he’s talented in languages. He plays football and goes to the gym. He loves disco, dancing and meeting friends. I´ve known him for 6 years and so far I have had no fight with him.

Karolína Veselá (Kája) - Kája is a quiet kind of person. She loves jokes and she is most of the time laughing. Her favourite colour is violet and blue. She likes disco and she plays the piano. She likes football. Her favourites football club is FC Barcelona. She hates spiders and she is a little bit shy. She speaks Czech, English and French. She often goes out with her friends.

Tereza Adámková – She is friendly, helpful, sympathetic, clever, reliable, sports type. She likes reading, volleyball, zumba, swimming, photography and fashion. She has got a sister. She would like to be a journalist. She is afraid of heighst. She likes Bruno Mars and Coldplay. She loves dogs.

Ráchel Kalvachová – She is clever, nice helpful, friendly, kind, reliable, sympathetic and sociable. She likes reading, photography, history and animals. She has got a brother. She plays the piano very well. She is good at Biology and Geography.

Written by Karolína, Kája, Tereza, Ráchel, Petra, Martin, Lukáš , Andrea, Eva and Ondra

Dear friends,

this is my first year that I write to foreign friends for the Merry Christmas wishes.

I don’t know what I have to tell you because I don’t know your tastes.

Therefore I would leave you a solidarity message.

Anywhere you will stay and you will pass your Christmas, if you can, you make an offer to poor and needy people; you give alms and please, try to avoid expensive shopping and try to save money.

In fact the financial difficulties and the economic recession are taking many people to ask banks for loans that they can’t give back.

Save the world and save the peace on our fantastic earth.

The world needs us, we are the future and we try to make our planet the best.

Merry Christmas to: French, German, Spanish, Czech and Italian students, to all teachers, to the earth and to all the world…….

Hi: Emanuele Mazzocca

At the beginning, we did not mind the worries. We were really looking forward but then, we realized that it is a huge responsibility. It all began on Monday. After the school ended, we must have done all the preparations at home so we could welcome our “guests”. At the evening we went to Brno to pick up all the people from Comenius. We were confused because all the responsibility was on us and we were the first country. Some buses came late so we were really worried. But we managed to find each other and then we headed to the bus station. But we did not realized that there could be problem with all the suitcases and people so we almost did not fit in the bus. After all this, it was a relief to be home and we started to get know each other. On Tuesday we had a program in Klobouky. The morning was quite difficult and we were a little bit late. Then we preformed our folk dances, sang a songs and taught them to do the same. It went very well and I think everybody liked it a lot. Then we headed to the town. First, we visited town hall where we listened to Majors speech and after, we went to see the church and chapel and the museum. So the adventure after the history ended and the last on program was the Night game . It was really cool I think because we scared most of the people. We finished the day by visiting the Pizzeria. Wednesday was both nice and cold. Well not the whole day, we spent the afternoon in a school because we had to prepare our national food. It was really fun except the cleaning. Then we went to Brno where we visited Petrov and then played Bowling. It was sooo funny. On Thursday we watched the presentations about Velvet revolution and then went to Slavkov. We saw Mohyla míru (Monument of peace) and the castle. It was great day because we had a lot of fun. Overall I should say that this project was simply amazing because despite all the worries it all was great. We all are grateful for this experience and we are glad that we met all the people, because they are all awesome.

Wrote by Lukas, made and based on the opinions of the whole Czech Republic team. Thank you all, we wont forget those four days.

TUESDAY MORNING

For the first time we have visited this school having a little walk through the building by a few of Czech students we met before. It was a familiar atmosphere and we felt very comfortable – especially after the presentation of folk dances and festivals of South Moravia. Even some teachers tried to parcipitate at the two folk dances and songs called upon the students what was a lot of fun to us students as well as the fascinating traditional dresses worn by the czech students called „kroje“.

We splited in groups for going to join different lessons like history, chemistry, biology and more getting some new impressions from school life in Czech Republic. Afterwards we went to the school canteen eating fish with potatoes and lasagna.

Camilla(Italy)

The first day we met our partners, and we were so excited about that. Then, we caught a bus and we went to Klobouky u Brno. It was a very long trip. Then, we went to our partners home.

The next day we went for the first time to their high school and czech students show us some traditions of Czech Republic, and also dance their typical dances which were fantastic and very funny. In the afternoon, we visited a museum and we went to the town hall and met the mayor. It was so interesting. In the night we had supper together at bar. We ate pizza.

Yesterday at the morning we cooked typical food of every country, and the we ate them for lunch. And in the afternoon we went to Brno, and visited a big church. Then, we went bowling all together and had a lot of fun.

Federico (Italy)

Tuesday afternoon

We started our afternoon with visiting the townhall, where the mayor spoke to us and gave us some informations about Klobouky. We went on to one of the two churches in town. It was quite impressive and we could marvel at the ornaments in the small building. Afterwards, we had the unique oportunity to visit the chapel called St. Barbara which usually is not open to the public. Although we were freezing, we enjoyed seeing some culture in Klobouky.

After a little break, the city tour went on with a visit of the museum of Klobouky, where we could see a lot of objects concerning the past of the town. The czech students lead us to a small supermarket, so we could buy some snacks or drinks. They also prepared a „night game“ that was quite scary and cold.

The best part of the day was the dinner in the pizzeria, where we could finally warm up and having a talk to all the other students. In our opinion that´s really important because the whole trip has the aim of communicating with other people from different cultures.

The second day

After a wonderful international meal at the Czech Gymnazium, we headed towards the Klobouky bus station in two separate groups to catch our bus to Brno. The first group was composed mostly by the foreign students, whereas the second group were mainly the Czech exchange partners, who stayed at school to clean up the mess we had left behind after our cooking experiment. Having done a lot not only in the morning, most of us fell asleep in the bus.
While waiting for the second group at Brno, we enjoyed half an hour of shopping at the Brno mall. After their arrival, we headed to the inner city to do some marvellous sightseeing. The programm was not too long, we visited the Brno cathedral, which is placed at the highest point of Brno. I didnt count the steps, but judging by my hurting feet it must have been many. The church‘s insides are stunning. Not only the beautiful ornaments, statues and paintings, but most of all the tall colourful glass of the windows struck me.
Luckily, we were even allowed to climb up into the high church tower, from where we were able to look over the entire city of Brno. The experience was both breathtaking and frightening, so most of us were happy to be back on solid ground afterwards. There also was a small church museum in the tower, which some of us chose to visit. It displayed ornaments, crowns and other treasures.
After that excursion, our small group split up. We were free to spend the rest of the day according to our wishes. The teachers went to drink coffe or beer, which they claimed to be very good at, then took a walk around town and finally ended up in a restaurant. Some of them were clained to have gone back to the hotel to correct student papers. Most of the students went bowling together. It can‘t be said for sure which country was best at bowling, so I would say that we were all equally talented. After the game, most students headed towards a place for fast dinner. It‘s funny how well we all know the famous food chains, though we live in perfectly different places. Lastly, a few students decided to go watching a hockey game in Hodonin, as Hockey is an important sport in Czech culture.
In conlusion, our Wednesday afternoon was a wonderful mix of culture and fun and a lot of communication. There was something in it for everyone, no matter if Italian, German, Czech, French or Spanish.

On 21 of November we, the Germans started of from our trainstation in Forchheim to get to our first stop, which was in Nuremberg, afterwards we were supposed to take the Expressbus to Prague and then go on to Klobouky u Brno.. We had to take the train at 7:30 am. But me, Elena, thought that it would start on Tuesday, so I missed it and had to take the Expressbus directly from Nuremberg 2 hours later on my own. But as I reached the others in Prague on time, it was not such a big problem ;)

In Prague the others had a bit of free time and could take a look around. I arrived at 2:30 pm and met the others and at 3 pm we also met the Spanish teachers and students and we all took the train to Brno. There we were warmly welcomed on the trainstation by the Czech students. Afterwards we took the bus to the different places where we are staying.

Although the teachers stay in a motel, the students have a host family.

Me, Elena, and Valentina stay at Terezia. The evening was very relaxed and we had a nice dinner, which we all enjoyed very much. During the meal we all got to know each other and we talked a lot about our families, hobbies and so on.

After dinner we just watched „Big Bang Theory“ in English and then went to bed because the trip was quite exhausting.

So that was our first evening in Czech Republic and we already had the feeling of being welcome and that our family enjoys having us at their place :D

Elena, one of the german girls

COMENIUS

With this article we are going to pay honour to both the great scholar and teacher and to his birthplace that we are visiting soon.

Johan Amos Komensky, also known with the Latin name of Comenius, was born in Moravia – today’s Czech Republic – in 1599. He was a theologian and a pedagogue.

He began to write still at school and later dedicated his energies to the protestant cause: for this he was sent to exile.

He travelled all over Europe, continuing preaching. In Poland he was appointed bishop. At that time he wrote a lot of his pedagogic works.

Comenius’ name and ideas started to spread in protestant Europe and he was invited to many countries to give lectures and expose his pedagogic opinions. He thought that the aim of education was the formation of man in civil and spiritual life. When he was in Sweden, he wrote an important essay about foreign language learning.

He is considered one of the most significant pedagogues of the modern age. That’s why today programmes, cultural exchanges between teachers and students of European secondary schools are entitled to his name.

For us his heritage is very important because we want to be connected through culture and languages with other students of our age all over Europe.

We would like to give a stronger meaning to the concept of “European” creating a community of fellow citizens who – in spite of diversities – share interests, relationships, aims and future expectations, reaching finally a common identity.

Marco Renzetti and Alessandro Cicoria

Liceo daVinci - Pescara (Italy)

I really couldn’t figure out about what I should write. But then I realized that everyone from all the countries in the world loves music. Be it rock, pop, metal, alternative, hip-hop or dance. I really don’t know what I would do, if the music didn’t exist! So I’ll try to write something about “our” Czech music.

Before the Velvet revolution there was a communistic regime and people couldn’t listen music from “western bloc” or from groups, who protested against the regime like Rolling Stones, Pražský výběr (it’s a rock group from Prague), Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd etc. … and people had to listen just country, folk, bluegrass or something like that, where singers sing about how happy they are.

So people (who were in love with good music) bought the vinyl illegal and then they were sitting in the living room, drinking wine (or of course beer) and listening.

I must admit, that I’m really not into Czech music, especially the old one. The “best” singer here should be Karel Gott. He was one of a few singers in the red regime, who was allowed to sing. I think he was something like a sex-symbol in his best ages. But our generation just laughs, when we see his videos (I recommend “Trezor”, by the way in English it means safe).

Right now he is in his seventies and still wins music competitions, but he doesn’t record CDs. It’s just strange.

To be honest, these days we have country singers too, especially brass bands. They usually play at feasts or celebrations. At that here is a radio, which plays only this type of music all day! I don’t get, who can listen this because it’s really horrible, trust me!

My generation love dance music and there exist plenty of rather good DJs, but you should ask other people about them because I don’t know anything about this music, I’m sorry.

However, we’ve got great groups too (in my opinion). So, I´ll tell you some of my favourite. The best group ever in our country is Charlie Straight (really, they’re amazing). Their songs and music resemble The Kooks or Coldplay and they got three Czech Grammy Awards (Anděl 2009) for the Newcomer of the Year, Best Music Video (Platonic Johny) and Best Album. I love songs Upside down, School beauty queen or Try Some Stuff You Don't Think You Should. I like Toxique (Britpop), Nightwork (this boy group is composed mainly of actors and they’re a little bit crazy), Airfare…

Famous singers and groups are Verona (pop), Eddie Stoilow , Vypsana Fixa (rock), Chinaski (pop rock), Monkey Business (funk, pop), Tomáš Klus, Mandrage (pop rock) PSH (rap, hip hop), Arakain (I think that it’s the most best-known metal group) and lots of others, but as I said, I prefer foreign groups and singers. But if are you interested you can listen some of them! J

xoxo Tereza.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: „The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean”. And I think this is the biggest problem for all of us, especially when we can’t write in our native language. So, don’t take this too seriously. Because for example me; I can think about everything, but when I sit and try to write something normal, all of my thoughts are gone. Poof. Ok, so let’s start with something easy. Why did you join the project?

What can I say about me in the project? I love travelling, so this was the first impulse, because who wouldn’t want to visit such exciting places? Of course I joined because I want to be better at English. On the other hand, it’s a little bit scary for me because you’ll meet so many new people and you have to talk to them in English because they won’t understand you if you speak Czech (ok, Czech is a language with no benefits). But I hope it will be good life experience and I can’t wait for our first meeting. Tereza

I joined the project because I like English and I think this is a good way of improving it. I have never been a part of an international project and I am looking forward to working in a team and seeing how our teams will work together. I am also looking forward to meeting new people, visiting other countries and learning about their culture and history. Klára

Because I like English itself like a language and I can't waste an opportunity to practise my English. I am really looking forward to meeingt everybody and making new friends. I’d like to meet people from countries with different culture and that is why I am going to enjoy this really a lot ! Well, I’d like to go to the country where I have never been before. But it does not matter that much. The country is not that important, it all depends on the people. Lukáš

I’m in our English project team because I like meeting new people, mainly from other countries and I hope my English will get better. I’d like to visit Spain, because I’ve never been there, but it’s not so important for me, where I will go. Karolína

I joined the project because I want to learn sth. about other countries and their cultures and I am looking forward to meeting some new people and hopefully future friends. Lucie

Hi, my name is Pavel. I am in, because I like sharing cultures end experiences. I study French and English at school. I would like to visit Spain: I have never been there, and France: once more time. But it all depends on where and when the meetings are going to be. Ialso like the north of Germany, big cities like Hamburg etc. I also like Italy, but my roots are from there, so I have been there million times though. I am looking forward to our guests from other countries.

I wanted be in this project, because I love travelling and I’d like to know new and interesting things. I love to meet new friends and think that meeting people in other countries is great. And I think that we should know something about different cultures because it’s very important for our “adult” life. I hope I and my English will benefit from this project. I think that it will be amazing! Andrea

Tereza Adámková

I went to BRETAGNE , to see my brothers , my father and some friends .

I went fishing and I played football on the beach.

It was funny . It was sunny . The temperature was 25°C .

Thomas (France)

When we joined this Comenius Project we had a lot of expectations.

We think that it will be a very beautiful experience because when we go to the other countries we can meet a lot of new people.

Moreover we will be able to learn about new cultures, new languages and new religions.

We also would like to visit the best typical places and monuments of the countries.

We hope that we will become friends of our partners, as well as we want to taste typical foods and learn about the local life style.

When our partners come to our towns we want them to be at ease and teach them our traditions and bring them to the coolest places of our city.

We would also like to show them Pescara by night because there are a lot of pubs restaurants and discos where you can meet our friends and take a good “aperitivo”.

We hope that this cultural project will be an interesting and funny experience.

What about all these motorcycles?

All teenagers like us use motorcycles to move everywhere. This is our “trademark”.

Motorcycles are our pencils and the roads are our papers: with them we will write our history.

In our school there are a lot of parking areas where students meet before and after the lessons.

Another special place is the “Bar” and in it students and teachers can buy their breakfast. In front of the bar, there is a little “Pizza Shop” where people rush for a pizza.

We are about 1.400 students and we have only 10 minutes of break...It’s very dangerous for us! In this time we have to go to the bathroom, buy and eat something, meet our friends and come back to the classroom on time!

In our school there are other places in which we can have fun working on projects with our friends, following our common interests. We’ll tell you another time about them!