Comenius Meeting "BIH" in Trieste (2nd Day)

The next day, Wednesday 16th

...The second day of our trip to Trieste, when we left the hotel, we realised that we had to carry our luggage again, because we had to change it for a cheaper one. We called a taxi, and again something happened. The taxi driver made a mistake with the address we gave him and left us in the wrong place. The Italian secondary school "Liceo Scientifico Statale France Preseren" was not there. Then, we phoned our colleague and she told us that we were not very far away. Just at the top of the street. With our suitcases, hand luggage, laptops and other stuff, we started to walk up the hill. At the school we left our things in a secure place and finally we met everybody.

First, the Italian colleagues showed us around the school. It was wonderful and quite old, with large classrooms and not many students per class. Then, we went to the meeting room and the working session began. All of us were there: our host Italian colleagues, the Germans, the Czech, the Turkish, the Swedish and us, the Spanish. Then, we proceeded to officially inaugurate the "Believing in Humanity" project. The Italian principal, Loredana G. made a presentation of the history of Trieste and the characteristics of the city. Melita V. told us about the host centre, a bilingual Italian-Slovene school, and then a group of students came to tell us about their centre and learning experiences followed by a discussion with the guest teachers. At the end of the host school intervention, they explained the cooexistence in Trieste between Italian and Slovene, two languages, two worlds. Later, there was an exchange of dossiers and gifts among the partners.

Then, it was the turn of the Spanish delegation. Antonio Parra, project coordinator, presented the "Believing in Humanity" project and the "Solidarity Forever" project in which it is inspired. After that, it was me, Paloma Pérez-Crespo, who explained the activities for this school year, and in more detail those of the first term; teachers´ students´ surveys to identify situations of inequality, childrens rights, gender violence... Then, Jose Angel Moreno explained things about the web and blog for the project.

Before finishing, we voted for the logo that will represent our project -the Spanish one was in the end the winner- and agreed on holding a solidarity festival - as we do every year - in every country in May 2012, and to hold the European Solidarity Festival, in June 2013, when all our partners will bring some students to Spain and participate in it with us, coinciding with the closure of our Comenius Project.

After that, we established the work to be done for the following months, the tasks to complete by the next meeting in the Czech Republic, in March, and some assessment aspects. Our colleagues made questions and suggestions and after then we, the Spanish delegation, as coordinator country, did an interview for an Italian TV channel. We finished this working session very late, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, with a well deserved, fantastic cold meal at the Italian school.

To be continued...

Comenius Meeting "Believing in Humanity" in Trieste

Tuesday 15th of November.

The first day of our trip.

That was the date in which we, the teachers from IES Mediterraneo school, Cartagena, Spain - Antonio Parra, Jose Angel Moreno and I, Paloma Perez-Crespo - started our trip to Trieste. It was the first time we were going to meet our European partner colleagues in the Comenius Project, our school coordinates about education in values. A beautiful work, we hope it will go far in achieving our aims.

At 5:30 in the morning, we took the train to Madrid. There, at Chamartin station we went for a walk, because we had enough time before going to Barajas airport. Our flight was at 2:30 in the afternoon, and we changed at Milan to fly to Trieste. Everything went perfect. We had time to look over our notes, and even visit Milan town cente in the time we had to wait for the next flight.

When we arrived in Trieste at 9:30, Barbara, the Italian coordinator teacher, kindly came to meet us. All the other teachers were already at a restaurant having dinner and waiting for us. But first we had to drop off our luggage. Barbara had told us that we could book a very cheap hostel in a beautiful village near Trieste. On arrival we realised there was no receptionist and, after pulling our suitcases up 4 flights of stairs, there was no lift either. Besides, the door of my room was made of glass which made it embarrassing for me. We were very tired and we preferred to look for another hotel, like the Swedish colleagues, in Trieste. But it was too late, and we had to meet the other people. Then, we got in the car again, but it was very small. Only 2 suitcases fitted in the boot, so the third one had to sit on Antonio´s lap, in the back. He called it "his little daughter", referring to the times he had to carry her. In fact it was not so little. It weighed about 23kg. Anyway, jokes apart, I have to mention the totally good disposition of Barabara, the Italian coordinator.

We arrived at the restaurant at about 10:30, very late for a European dinner. All of them had almost finished, but they had kindly waited for us. There were some brief introductions and friendly conversation, but everyone was tired and soon we said goodnight. Then we had to look for a hotel. It was not easy but eventually we found the absolute opposite to the other one. For that night we were able to rest very comfortably.

To be continued...