Student impressions - Spain

Our Comenius trip to Spain/Santiago was so amazing that I can hardly put it in words. Everywhere we went was gorgeous and mind-blowing. Not to mention that our host teachers and students were so kind and their generous behavior made my trip so easy and made me feel comfortable. When I first came to the house of my host family, I felt nervous. However after meeting with them I really felt at home. Fatima's parents were the best people I could've asked for, even though we couldn't communicate much. I really want to say that I love them and I am very grateful for their hospitality. I can't wait to be a guest at your house again, I hope you will welcome me :)
The only bad part about this trip was saying goodbye. I can't tell how much I miss my friends even though we are still talking. Fatima, Luisa, Julio, Marta, Alex... and many other lovely people from Spain and from other countries. When you guys left Turkey we thought we will never going to see each other again but we did... I believe that, this trip wasn't the last time I saw you, we will see you again in person! You are always welcomed in our homes, I hope you know that. I really really love you, see you soon!

Ya�?mur Caymaz İstanbul-Turkey

We went to places that were so amazing. The places we went was historical and beautiful nature places. My host family was lovely and I am very greatful. I was nervous about going to another country and living in a house that I have never been but they were so nice to me and I love them so much. I believe that those memories and the friends that I gained will never be forgotten.
I love the friends that I gained from different countries. I gained friends from the places that I never been, like Cyprus and Reunion Island. When I look at the pictures it always makes me smile and always will make. Unfortunately the hardest part of the trip was leaving. I miss them so much and I can't wait for we'll see each other again.

Melek Öyküm Yalç�?n, İstanbul-Turkey

I am very happy that I was few days in Santiago where I felt very good with colleagues from six countries . We had a very good weather to go on trips, at Fragas do Eume and at the sand dunes from Corrubedo Natural Park.
With Diego, my host I got well and also with his very fat cat, Maxim which was always next to me. He showed me the town and I was impressed by the old city's history and by the cathedral.
I must thank to his mother for her hospitality.
I don't want to forget to thank the Romanian student which now lives in Spain, Alexandra, who made us feel like at home in Santiago.
I thank you all because we spent together beautiful days and these memories will stays forever in my mind.

Ionel Cu??itoi, Romania

I am very happy that I was in Santiago and enough sad because it was for only a few days. I had the opportunity to meet other young people and to find out marvellous places. Also the food was new for me. It was a beautiful experience and i remained with pleasant memories. We participated at different activities and learned about biodiversity of Eume river and lagoons from Corrubedo Natural Park. I was very impressed about the care for the preservation of the nature, there are rules in the parks for the visitors and everybody respect them.
I thank Julio for his kindness and for the beautiful photos that he gave to me. Also I thank his father because they were a very good host.
I thank you all because we spent together unforgetable days. Gracias por los dias maravillosos que pasamos juntos.

Robert Lolea, Romania

It was an exceptional and interesting trip.
Firts of all, in this meeting, I discovered the works of the other countries and I was able to learn more about different river's biodiversity. Moreover this information exchange was in english so we could understand us and improve. English was a means to share our experience and thoughts. The visits in the woods: In Fragas do Eume and Corrudebo were very interesting. The landscapes were beautiful. Even if we did not visit the Saint Cruz castle, the sunset with it was wonderful!
As we were in Spain, in spanish families, we had to speak in spanish to be understand of the families. So I spoke in spanish with my fantastic host family. They were really kind and thoughtful. I really appreciated my stay with them and was sad to leave them. They took me to some awesome places, like the Island of the Toja. Furthermore, the mother gave me delicious traditional food like paella!
The day was so sunny and beautiful! I'm really grateful to the Figueiras' family to have welcomed me, to my correspondent, Alejandro, to have been so kind with me and of course to my teacher, Mr Vandecasteele to have organize this travel and take me.
I met extraordinary people, it was an incredible and unforgettable experience! One day, I hope I can see again the people.

Olivia, Reunion

I did a trip with my teacher and two friends to Santiago de Compostella. The travel was in the Comenius project that has the aim of studying biodiversity of rivers in Europe.
During my travel, I improved two languages: English and Spanish. I was speaking Spanish with the family that welcomed me, and with Spanish student, and I was speaking English at school, with the other students and during trips. When it was difficult to speak or to be understood in Spanish, I was ending my sentence in English. But in English it was easy to talk with people. So it was easy to understand and to be understood by the others because there were different ways to say what I needed or what I wanted to say.
The culture of Galicia is very rich. I discovered traditional Galician song, accompanied by traditional percussion and a Celtic instrument that looks like a bagpipes. The food was good and tasty, generally composed by fish or seafood. The city of Santiago is amazing in term of monuments. The old town is very beautiful and charming with it paved-stone streets. The cathedral of Santiago is huge and amazing too, inside and outside of it there were beautiful statues. We saw the Saint Cruz and the tour of Hercule castle that was fine too. I learnt things about river in Spain and in other countries of Europe during the meeting where everybody has to presents his work. The biodiversity of those countries is rich, but there are a lot of species that are menaced of extinction. We did trips to the Forest of Fragas do Eume and to Corrubedo National Park. In both places there were interesting things to learn and beautiful landscapes to see. I really enjoyed my trip, activities were good organized and interesting. The family and Spanish student that welcomed were very sympathy. All was very fun and I got friends from another country that is a gorgeous experience!

Talie Gouled, Reunion

Lastly, we have spent 6 days in Galicia and it was absolutely amazing. First of all, despite Santiago’s location and the season, every day was sunny and it was really hot. The weather made it even better because the excursions we made, in Corrubedo’s Natural Park for example, would have been less interesting I think because we wouldn’t have enjoyed the same way we did. From a scientific point of view, we have walked through forests mostly so we focused on trees species and bird species too : I think it was more enriching for Talïé, Olivia and I because we live in tropical areas where chestnuts, for example, almost don’t exist and where it’s impossible to meet magpies in the middle of the school. However, Galicia doesn’t only own the best preserved Atlantic woods of Europe and the rare fauna that goes with them, it has also this Spanish way of life. It consists in waking up at 7:30am, starting school at 8:30am and leaving at 1pm to eat, and then the students are free the rest of the day. Spain is, to my mind, a very relax place compared to others like Paris. Moreover, Galician people looked hospitable and so were my host family and the Spanish students: generous and kind. In my host family, I used to speak Spanish with the parents and English with their daughters so this meeting gave me the opportunity to improve both my English and Spanish level. From a cultural point of view, Santiago is a place of pilgrimage and quite an old city so we saw the cathedral, the Hercules tower, a part of the Path of Santiago, and a castle too. Castles and cathedrals are actually everywhere in Spain but Santiago de Compostela is an emblematic place for catholic people which added something to my common interest in catholic monuments. I was about to forget Spanish wonderful food! Saying that we ate tortillas and chorizo can sound a bit cliché but we did, and I also tasted their tarta de queso -which could be traduced by “cheesecake” but has nothing to do with the British dessert- and octopus with olive oil and paprika. They also make delicious types of cheese, specific to their region. To sum it all up, I have been really lucky to go to Galicia even if I was at first afraid of feeling lonely in Carla’s house. Her parents and her sister made me feel like I was part of their family and they even introduced me to their relatives. In my opinion, Olivia, Talïé and I have won everything with this unforgettable journey.

Vaniah, Reunion

Our trip to Santiago de Compostela in Spain with Comenius program was another experience that not all the people have the chance to experience it. It was unique experience because we learned lots of things from our researches and the presentations of all the countries that participated in the project about biodiversity. But we didn’t enrich our knowledge about the biodiversities but also about other countries’ cultures, we experienced a different civilization and we meet new people and this is the most important from all because I think that these friendships are stronger and they can remain in the years. At first, we were all shy and we didn’t speak much but as the days passed we got closer and closer and we felt like a big family. We didn’t want the program to finish. I think that these are unforgettable memories and if someone has the chance to go to an exchange program like Comenius, he must go.

NIkoleta Charalambous and Melani Gavriilidou from Cyprus

It was very nice to spend time in Santiago. The old city is very beaulifull and of course the catedrial is amazing. We saw a incredible landscape. Our host families were very nice to us and we are very greatful for their hospitality. We had a opportunity to meet iteresting people from other coutries. We are happy that the weather was very good. The time we spent with the host families from other countries and teachers are unforgetfull. Thank for being on this project and that we can met you.
Martyna and Kasia from Poland