An UNFORGETTABLE experience
25-30 September 2011
Sunday 25th:
Yes today is the day! We met each other at 11.55 a.m. in Zaventem. We were all very excited! Our plane left at 13.55 p.m. so we were in Napels at 16.15 p.m. It was very hot.
We took the bus to ‘Porto di Massa’. By boat we went to the island of Ischia. On the boat we already met some Italians and Hungarians. The view with the sun and the landscape was amazing! We passed an island ‘Procida’, which was very picturesque.
Procida
After some time we arrived in Ischia. Our families were waiting for us. Everyone went to his family and was well received. We got a lot of food and a beautiful place to stay. We went to sleep, it was a tiring day but the week cannot start soon enough!
Monday 26th:
We get up at seven o’clock. We had breakfast (this is not usual for Italy), so we were lucky :-)! After a crazy ride in the Italian traffic, we arrived at the library. A part of the group was not there yet, so we went to the sea to enjoy the beautiful view.
When everyone was there at the meeting point, the headmaster of the school of Ischia welcomed us and gave a presentation of the weeks’ programme.
Then there was a presentation by each partner school and we did ice-breaking activities with whole the comenius group to getting know each other. Finally there was a conference given by Marine Biologist Dr. Valerio and he talked about the importance of saving marine live and different things about the ‘Park of Nettuno’. The explanation of the biologist was definitively interesting. But after a while it was a bit boring, because we had to sit there and had to be quiet the whole morning ;-).
Belgium
La Spezia
Savona
Dresden
Novi Ligure
Hungary
Berlin
Norway
Then we walked to an Italian restaurant (‘Zio Peppe’) for lunch, which was offered by the headmaster (!). First there was a starter: pizza, pasta, bruschetta,... We ate a lot, because we thought it was the main dish ... But a few minutes later, they brought the real main dish: pasta with different sorts of fish and then the most important dish in Ischia, dessert :-) . The ‘lunch’ was delicious, but too much!
To recover from the meal we went to a coffee bar at the castle and drank a real Italian espresso.
Restaurant ‘Zio Peppe’
After that we had enough energy to visit the beautiful Aragonese Castle (Castello Aragonese) in Ischia Ponte. The castle is built on a rock near the island. The rock connects to the island with a stone bridge. The walls of the castle defended the inhabitants against the raids of pirates. Today the castle is the most visited monument of the island. A guide told us the most important historical things of the castle and showed us the most beautiful places overlooking the sea and the island. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy (but hot) day.
At the afternoon we had free time for shopping in Ischia Ponte (=souvenir markets) and we ate a very special yogurt with all kinds of chocolate and ice creams. It’s a specialty of Ischia.
After that, we went home, we took a shower and prepared us to go out ;-) . At 8 p.m. we met whole the Comenius group at an English pub. That was awesome to get know each other (in a little different condition ;-) ). Everyone could speak English very well, so we could talk a lot with each other. We drank a Belgian (!) or Scottish beer and ate a panini (at 10 p.m.!). Then we went for a walk with whole the Comenius crew and then we had to go home at 11.30 p.m. :-( . When we were home, we went to sleep immediately, because we had to get up very early the next day .
Tuesday 27th :
We met at school for a interesting presentation about radon. Lien (Belgian girl) also did a presentation about school and life in Belgium. After this we went to Parco Castiglione.
There was a guided tour of the thermal department. Our guide was Michele, his father is the owner of the park. After the tour we had a chance to follow aquagym lesson. Everyone participated and had to wear a bath cap, that was so funny! :-)
We made a lot of fun ! We had also free time to swim in the park’s pools and in the see. There were baths of 40 degrees and also baths of 5 degrees, these were very cold brrrr..
There was offered a delicious lunch by the park’s management, with sea view! After a lot of pasta, bruschetta’s, grilled vegetables and a fantastic dessert we need a powernap. The platform on the see was the perfect place for a little nap in the sun!
At 6 p.m. we went back to our own families. For dinner we met each other in a restaurant in Forio, a cozy village on the island. There we paid 10 euros and we could eat pizza all night! The chefs prepared pizzas and continued to make pizzas until everybody’s belly was full. After this pizzas there was a pizza with nutella, maybe you cannot believe us, but it tasted delicious!
It was a beautiful day!
Wednesday 28th:
At half past nine a guide was waiting for us at the Villa Arbusto. Villa Arbusto is an archeological museum where a lot of ancient objects, as specially pots, are collected. One hour later we went to another interesting museum which also was an archeological one. We went in a kind of basement where people found more than just pots. Here we could see little urns for dead people, very old furniture and many more.
This ended at half past 12 what meant we had an hour free to watch at the mushroom rock or to go shopping. We had a very interesting conversation with Eric (a German boy), who explained us the system of the German school.
In the noon we had some good lunch at our host family. After that, we went to the school’s gym to celebrate the European Day of Languages.
First there was a workshop from the theatre group off the Liceo Scotti-Einstein and Salvatore Ronga who performed songs and dances. Later the whole Comenius group had to perform their act, which was really funny. Then it was the guest schools their turns. Every guest school had to present a song, a poem or a short sketch in their own language. We had a great night with Norwegian poem and dance, Italian songs, German sketches, and many more!
A dance group from Ischia came to finish the European Day of Languages with an incredible dance act.
Ooh no our last day! :-( It's already over tomorrow): Today we went to Sint Angelo but first we had to sit a long time on the bus. We stopped in a little city to look at the view and we took a lot of pictures. Finely we arrived in Sint Angelo, the weather was very good. Normally we went to the city but we decided to go snorkeling. It was very nice. We touched a sea eagle, a sea star and we swum trough a school of little fishes. There were some problems with the suits but after a while everybody had one.
After the snorkeling we went with a little boat to the other side of the coast and we had lunch at the hotel of the family from Leonilda (the host of Thomas). The food was delicious; we were given a seven-course menu! A plate with fish, pasta, a fantastic dessert,... .
In the afternoon everybody went to the beach and we had a lot of fun there. The German guys had prepared a little game and it was very funny.
In the evening we did something different. It was very sad that we didn't do something with everybody 'cause it was our last evening together. But after all it was very funny (;
Friday 30th:
We don’t want to go home! :-( Why all the good things have to end? We took the boat at half past 9. We said goodbye to Ischia, to all the wonderful people, our hostfamilies and to our lovely teacher Bernadette.
With the other 2 lovely teachers we went by boat to the airport, there we talked about the great experience. We also bought a pound of real Italian mozzarella. The Norwegians took the same plane as us so we had a nice flight. In Belgium we said goodbye to them and went to our parents.
This was not the end of an unforgettable, instructive experience. We will always stay connected, we mail, write letters, maybe in summer we go back or we will meet the Germans again,...
This experience taught us to broaden our view, to look farther than our own life, village and culture. To see that there is more in life than ‘ourselves’. Now, one month after the excursion, I became another person. I see the world like one big family, we are so different and actually so the same. I don’t want to live as Belgians, but as brothers of Italians, Norwegians, Hungarians and Germans.
Thank you Ischia, Bernadette De Cat, all the teachers, Italians, Germans, Norwegians, Hungarians, for us to realize!
Bye Ischia, We will always remember you!
The Belgian delegation: Thomas Van Woensel, Sanne Bellekens, Nicky Claes, Stephanie Beckers en Lien Verbeeck
Our teachers: Peter Lambrechts, Louis Van den Meutter, Bernadette De Cat
