Our Trip to Portugal October 30th to November 4th 2012

WELCOME TO PORTUGAL !

Wednesday, October 31st

As soon as we arrived, we discovered that our arrival was an important event for everyone !

In fact, our Portuguese friends had prepared some posters about the previous trips, some dances and songs. Quite amazing as Yasmine and myself were the only girls from Comenius to join in !

Notre arrivée avec danses et chansons

 

 

 

 

 

To introduce Portuguese culture they showed us some videos about different cities … After all the speeches, we had a breakfast … At that's the moment we understood they loved eating !

 Après des vidéos sur notre projet et le Portugal , gros buffet d'accueil !

 

 

 

 

 

The moment to express ourselves had come so we created our own tiles as the Portugues are masters at Azuleros and it was a good experience.  Atelier de faience et visite de classes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we went to visit theMuseum of Celtic culture and that's how we learned how rich Portuguese history was because of its romans origins !   Visite du Musée de culture celtique de Briteiros et visite guidée du site

To finish the day we went for a « little walk » with a bottle of water for each of us … why some water ? … because the little walk became a walk in the mountains … some of us thought it looked like the Amazonian forest, for others it was Vietnam ! Yet we were not too tired and fortunately we visited the Citania de Briteiros !

It was a busy, interesting and pleasant day !

Alixe AUBRY 1ère

Thursday, November, 1st

Today, as usual, we had breakfast with the family, nothing very different compared to France. We were glad to see that we could understand more Portuguese than yesterday, maybe because we got used to the accent and the « sh » which are everywhere in the Portuguese language.

Then, we met at school to go to Geres, a National Park . Unfortunately, the weather was too cloudy, and we couldn't climb at the very top to see these wondeful landscapes because we wouldn't be able to see anything because of the fog.

excursion dans le Parc National de Geres

After doing a short tour of the city, we went to another place where we were taught how to make traditional bread, made with mais flour. It was awesome, and so good to eat ! So good that everybody ate too much and couldn't eat the lunch which was just after !

The bread was accompanied with chorizo or with olive oil, sweet orange and sugar.

atelier de pain de mais

After having lunch, we went to two beautiful cities. The first one, Ponte de Lima is one of the oldest village in the whole country. I found the village very peaceful, with very nice people who tried to talk with us even if the language barrier was still there.

 

 

 visite de Ponte de Lima

 

 

 

 

Yasmine REKIK TS1

 

Friday , November 2nd

Friday was a rainy day. Hopefully, we found the sunlight we needed in the prevailing good mood of the entire group. Indeed, we started the day by a short lesson on our ancestors who lived in prehistoric times. The lecture took place amid an incredible diversity within the room. The teacher juggled with some Portuguese, English, French and even lost herself in speaking Italian, even though there weren’t any Italians. And at the end of her speech, we had to copycat the rupestrian art of the cavemen. Anyhow, the mix of all these nationalities created an amazing atmosphere and we spent a jolly good time.      

 

After having fun dirtying our hands for art, a football match was organized by the Portuguese sport teacher. All of the kids wanted to play against us. Thus, two teams were quickly sorted out. One, mixed with all the European countries, and the other with Portuguese pupils. It is hard to admit it for us, but the facts are undeniable. We got beaten by teams of 12 year-old toddlers, while we were an average of 17 years-olds on our side. Anyhow, it was great fun sharing this moment with everybody.

Match entre collégiens de tous pays

The shameful defeat over, we attended a sacred moment of our journey as members of the Comenius project. Each of the coordinators of Comenius participated in planting a chestnut tree, symbol of the project. We sure hope it will grow strong and sturdy.

 

 

 Plantion d'un marronnier  symbole de notre action Comenius

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visite de Braga , de la cathédral Dom Jesus

Once on the bus, we discovered some beautiful landscapes that I wouldn’t have imagined seeing here. The countryside is really hilly with slopes everywhere. Moreover, there isn’t really any countryside, in the way that you can find houses scattered everywhere. And when you expect it the least, you find the sea at the top of a hill. Actually, we often went on the top of hills, since it was usually the location of churches and basilica. We visited two of them this day, and I must say they blended perfectly a gorgeous Baroque architecture with an outstanding view of the valley.

Eventually, we ended the day visiting the city of Braga, a lovely town which apparently is even older than Portugal itself. It is fair to say that everybody was exhausted after this particularly grueling day. Yet, as I said earlier, we didn’t even notice the bad weather thanks to the amazing time we spent visiting, chatting and sharing this unique moment of our life with our European fellow-citizen. And as the year will flow, I can honestly say that we will remember this day as a bright and sunny day.

Mathieu BRUN TS1

                                                                                              The stadium of Braga

Saturday, November 3rd 2012
Visite de Guimaraes First of all, we went to Guimarães, a city close to Briteiros, which is the city where we lived. So Guimarães was elected “European Capital of Culture” this year.

Furthermore, Guimarães is the place where was born the first king of Portugal, so it's a city which is very important in the history of Portugal.

Then we visited some churches, and especially one which was build in 1500, and which have the best architecture. It's a baroque church, but a little exaggerated because there are many things, in gold, and the architecture is symmetric with much decoration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we visited the international arts centre of José de Guimarães. He was inspired by African art, so he collected European Asian and African culture.

After that, we went to Porto and we visited the replica of a ship which went to India in 16th century.

I was amazed to be on a real ship, and stupefied to see how 150 persons could live on that boat.

Last but least, we visited the city of Porto and went shopping. We could see the rest of the city of Porto and it was very beautiful

Visite d'un ancien bateau du XVIth siècle


Mahé BULOT 1S1

At School ( Mahé , Yasmine , Mathieu et Alix )

OUR TRIP TO LUDVIKA, SWEDEN

OUR TRIP TO LUDVIKA, SWEDEN
Déplacement à Ludvika ,en Suède

Wednesday ,September 12th 2012 - Sunday, September 16th 2012

We were arrived in Ludvika on Wednesday ,September 12th 2012
 

Thursday, September 13th

The next morning we had breakfast at ABB school and we were welcomed by the headmaster who gave information on Sweden and its development inside Europe thanks to business exchanges.

 Petit Déjeuner à l'école et bienvenue du directeur , la place de la Suède au sin de l'Europe 

 

For lunch we went to the school cafeteria. The food was good although it was very different. in the afternoon we played "floorball" which is a sort of ice-hockey without ice or ice-skating. it was fun.

Repas au lycée , atelier de travail, conférence sur l'environnement et match de hochey en salle

Eventually we met an engineer who told us about the link between man and nature and the different easy ways of reducing pollution.

Corentin Bescond T S4

Friday, September 14th

Today we left to visit Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Ludvika is 3 hours away from there by bus.

We visited the Wasa Museum . It is a big war ship which sank in 1628 . We had lunch at the Museum's restaurant. We had potatoes and beef , no dessert , just coffee.

Journée à Stockholm, visite du Musée retraçant l'histoire du vaisseau de guerre Wasa ( coulé en 1628)

Repas frugal au restaurant du musée

Then we visited the old town , the House of Parliament, the Royal Palace. I was very different from Paris. I think it looked like London or Berlin.

Then we went shopping.

Visite de la vieille ville, de la résidence royale et du parlement  et shopping

When I went back home at 7.00pm Laura, my host had cooked chicken with potatoes. It was delicious.

I enjoyed the day. Personnally I loved my stay in Sweden and the Swedes were very nice and welcoming ! but staying there 5 days was much too short !   5 jours , c'est trop court !

Thank you Comenius  !

Sophie Brechet T ES2

Paul Gabaut TES no report yet !!!

 

Sunday, September 16th

Time to leave.

Personally I found this trip very rewarding as I saw a different lifestyle and culture. My host family was very nice, I will keep in touch with them and I hope we can meet again.

Séjour  très agréable et enrichissant, un accueil chaleureux

Alix Aubry 1S4

Everyone was sad to leave Sweden but we had a good time and we have plenty of memories . We took a glimpse at the landscape with the green grass, the lakes . I admired the sunset through the portholes of the plane . It was wonderful.

De bons souvenirs , de merveilleux paysages

Manon Lemoine 1ereSTMG2

                                     

Paul Gabaut TES2 Paul was in charge of taking the photos .

le photographe

European Days of Languages 
From Wednesday, September 26  to Friday, September 28 2012
Exhibition at the school library . Come and listen to the recording of  the 8 Comenius partners in 8 different languagues ( Bulgarian, French, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish )

Bientôt !
Coming up soon !
Photos , compte-rendus et impressions sur le  déplacement en Suède

Présentation du lycée video

Introducing Lycée Pierre d'Ailly
click on the link
http://youtu.be/a_xg9WH0Trw

Dates Suède et Portugal

Départ Suède le mercredi 12 septembre retour le 16 septembre 2012
Départ Portugal le 30 octobre et retour le 4 novembre ( vacances Toussaint)

Déplacement en Slovénie / Mobility to Slovenia

SLOVENIA 2012

Tuesday, May 22nd -Sunday, May 27th 2012

On Tuesday, May 22nd

Visite guidée de Ljubljana

The school was only 35 minutes from the center of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Here is the miniature reproduction of Ljubljana.

We saw several monuments such as the Town Hall, various churches with the cathedral of Ljubljana and the university, we climbed to the top of the hill . Today it can accommodate cultural events.

  On the way down to the city center we had the chance to meet Jacov Brdar, a sculptor who makes several clay statues that are exhibited in the capital; the artist explained how he created most of his works.

After having lunch in the city center we were treated to a free time in the pedestrian streets before returning by city bus to school and our families.

Written by Robin Soncourt

On Wednesday, May 23^rd, we went for the first time to the school in the morning and we had a guided tour in Maribor, the second largest town of Slovenia after Ljubljana.

Ateliers à l'école et visite de Maribor

At school, we were given a badge with our names and the flag of our country. We listened first to two speeches : the headteacher's and Ljubljana major's.

Pupils of the school sang Slovenian songs and then we saw a play also made by school pupils. It was the tale of the Slovenian king who needed help from every other country participating in Comenius to treat his queen who was ill.

Then everyone was offered a pen, a spatula with their names, a map of Slovenia and a magnet.

Then we either took part in a lesson with young pupils around 9. We sang an English song about the environment and we did some workshop activities.

The others made bags from old T-shirts by cutting the sleeves and sewing the bottom. Then, we could painted whatever we wanted on it with many colours.

For lunch we had soup, salad, meat with mashed potatoes and a special cake.

We then took a coach to Maribor.

The weather was better and better. Maribor is 150km far away from Ljubljana. It is the second largest city in Slovenia after Ljubljana. There are 150,000 inhabitants. It is also the capital of culture.

We saw Maribor's river : the Drame. There is also a beautiful cathedral

and city hall. Then, suddenly it began to rain and finally we went to the wine cellar which is very famous in Slovenia. Most of the wines we found there were French.

Finally, we went back to Ljubljana at 8 and we went back to our host family after quite a long day, but a very good one! It was interesting to share the activities with other Europeans and visit places.

written by Fabrice Thomas

On Thursday, May 24th ,
Conférence , danses et ateliers
we met at school at eight o' clock because all the activities were inside or near the school. To begin with, the teachers and pupils from each country watched a video about the environment. Then Nina, the Slovenian teacher and an environmentalist spoke about the project « Let's clean Slovenia » and how the school was involved in it. It is a way of involving a lot of people to clean a place together and make it known.

Then we went to a dance workshop where we learned a choreography,There was a dance teacher and two pupils who showed us the steps, It was hard but we managed to do it! It was fun to share this activiy with all the Europeans.

Then we had lunch and we started to paint a wall in the school with an art teacher.We painted the Comenius symbol and something to represent each country taking part in the project. When we were finished, we went outside to plant some trees and flowers.

Then we went back to our host family to have a special Slovenian meal.

Written by Gauvain Soursas

Friday, May 25th 2012

Visite de Potojna et Bled
On the last day, we took the bus in the morning to go to Potojna. This place is located in the South-west of Slovenia. There are caves which are about twenty kilometers long.

We took a little train and we crossed two kilometers of caves. It was a bit cold and wet but the rocks were so incredible and strange that we didn't really pay attention to the temperature. Some were like drapes, they seemed so delicate. There were large and empty rooms, stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. We walked a bit after taking the train. We saw some other rooms, stalagmites like spaghettis falling from the ceiling, or very sharp peaks (and someone asked if they could fall down and they couldn't). We crossed a bridge (with a very deep and dark hole under), we tried to play music on the rocks (the noise we could make was very funny, like on a xylophone), we saw a stalagmite which was like a big cauliflower, and then we looked at a strange animals. Those ones only exist in these caves, in Slovenia. They are about twenty centimeters long, a bit pink, do not have eyes, have legs and gills.

We went back on the bus to go to the lake of Bled , in the North of the country. We had lunch there, in a restaurant on the lake's bank. After lunch, we immediatly took a boat. It was really great, as the weather was very nice. We arrived on an island in the middle of the lake with only a church in the middle. We thought it would be a great place to spend a few days during the summer holiday! It was so sunny, the view so nice (a turquoise lake and mountains covered by a very green forest). We ate some cherries in front of the water and we visited the island. After, we took the boat one more time. During one hour, a boy from Bulgaria tried to row (but it was not very effective!).

                    

We had some free time and some of us rent a little boat for thirty minutes. We stayed on the bank but it was also funny to see them trying to control their boats. After, we bought some ice cream. At the meeting point, there were some ducks and swans. We threw them the rest of the ice cream cones, and some boys caught a swan behind its neck! After, we came back to the school.

Later, we went with our penfriend to a concert in Ljubljana. There, we saw the pupils from the other countries one last time. Then, we left the city center and came back home for our last night in Slovenia.

written by Pauline Cogérino

Link to Comenius Partners in Compiegne,France Video

Comenius Partners in Compiègne , France  in December, 2011

http://youtu.be/7a-AgclD2Vs

Gorzyce, Poland Compte-Rendu

GORZYCE POLAND February , 2012

D.Burian E.Queval A.Boukraa J.Dewasch S.Firon V.Daveaux

February, 1st 2012 (written by Valentin Daveaux)

We went to the airport « Charles de Gaulle » at 8 o’clock

After a 2 hours flight we arrived in Cracow, the temperature was very cold, it was amazing. We took a bus with Polish and Bulgarian students. After three long hours of bus, we arrived in the high school of Gorzyce . We spoke with our penpals and after that, the head of the high school introduced his school and we ate some speciality of Poland, (bread with cheese) and we drank hot drinks.
Nos correspondants nous ont offerts des spécialités polonaises ( pain et fromage) et des boissons chaudes à notre arrivée .

After that we did Origamis, it was very interesting but it was very difficult

Nous avons réalisé des origamis , c'était intéressant , mais difficile !

After this workshop we went home to speak with our host families. After that the Polish students had to prepare a welcome dinner.

February 2nd Evan's story will soon be finished !

February 3rd 2012 (written by Damien Burien)

Two days after our arrival in Poland, Polish teachers and students had prepared a special day for us. Friday morning was for me the most significant part of our travel with Comenius.

Firstly, after our coming at the school at the beginning of the day, every country was represented with flags and national anthems. At that moment when the Marseillaise was broadcast all around the gymnasium where we were, we felt a sort of pride of being French, and it was the same for the other countries I think… After this short “introduction”, Polish pupils presented us different types of recyled clothes, for example a dress composed of recycled paper. It was really interesting to see how we can make clothes with “nothing”, and this is good for our planet!
Une journée spéciale et émouvante, avec des défilés d'élèves portant des vêtements recyclés  , nos hymnes nationaux

Secondly, we went to a Polish lesson, in a mathematics lesson in fact. The teacher informed us about how the students were marked and it is really different from what is done in France... For example, in Poland, students are marked from 1 to 5 (1 is the worst mark, 5 is the best).

Nous avons assité à un cours de mathémathiques en polonais et appris quelques mots. la notation des devoirs va de 1 à 5.

And at the end of the morning, we learned a typical Polish dance, in group, and French guys were the best at this exercise as well! I think that this morning was a cultural time, we learned a lot about Polish traditions, I really liked this day for this special morning which was for me a real success.

Nous avons dansé des danses polonaises en costumes

During the afternoon, we stayed at home with our hosts. But later, at about six o’clock, we went to a concert with the Polish host families. There, we ate typical Polish food and we took a ride in a sleigh. It was very cold outside but it was interesting even if going to the concert was our first objective… This day was special, because it was the last day with our Polish friends, and sadness followed the feeling of happiness to be there, with them. All the French students will keep a good memory of this exchange, which was as interesting as amazing.

Our teachers attended work sessions.
Pendant ce temps nos professeurs travaillaient

February 4 th in Poland with Comenius (written by Anthony Boukraa)

In the morning we had a visit to a salt mine in the program, so we left from the school to the mine with the bus. We spent all the morning in the mine, it was the first time that I had been to this kind of place, it was a really new experience for me. We had a guide to show us the mine, a woman, who answered nicely to our questions. The mine was a really beautiful place, of course it's only under the ground but it's impossible to imagine the things that we can see inside when we enter for the first time. The Poles who built the mine (many years ago) were very strong and inventive: the mine isn't a dirty mine, just with corridors.No, this mine is wonderful, with chapels, statues, reproductions of scenes from the life in a mine, reproductions of a ballroom (all these things have been cut directly in the stones of the mine). Then we went to a restaurant for lunch.

Nous avons visité une mine de sel retraçant l'exploitation du sel

Lunch

It was in a restaurant, a little pretty restaurant in fact. We ate a traditionnal meal: a pea soup. After the pea soup they gave us a piece of fried chicken and some potatoes. They brought us coffee and tea to finish the lunch. After this lunch we went to Krakow university to listen to a conference from two students of the university about the environment and ecology.

The Conference at The University

So we went to the university (I must precise that the university was really beautiful and more modern than French universities). In this place, two students made us a conference about ecology, they told us about the issues of the humans to take care of the Earth, to preserve it. They also did a kind of little game , it was really cool. After this conference we went downtown Krakow beacause a guide was waiting to show us the town.
Nous avons assisté à une conférence sur l'environnement à l'université de Cracovie

Our Visit Downtown

The guide explained some things about this town, about the traditions and the culture of Krakow. She showed us a castle (she explained us a little part of the history of this castle) and after she took us for a walk in the little streets downtown.So during the walk she showed us a lot of statues, explained us the different architectural styles of the town, showed us the churches, etc...And we arrived at the restaurant.

Nous avons eu une visite guidée de Cracovie et de ses petites rues

The Dinner

The restaurant was in a kind of cellar, it was really pretty. In this restaurant we ate a traditionnal polish meal which is named :”Pierogi”. This meal is composed of two kinds of stuffed pasta: one with spicy meat and the other with a mix of cheese and potatoe (this meal was really tasty). But we had to eat quickly beacause we were late for the bus: the bus was waiting for us to bring us back to the hotel because the foreign students came back to their countries the next day.

The Hotel

It was a little hotel near from the airport and we didn't do a lot of things in there , beacause we were tired and the next day we had to get up at 4.00 am to go to the airport to take the aircraft to go back Paris.

My Impressions About This Experience (Anthony Boukhra)

Just one word in fact: magic. It was a wonderful and a single experience, we met a lot of incredible people, a lot of generous people. Seriously I will never forget this travel, and I recommend it to everybody who has the possibility to participate to a Comenius Project. It brings us another way of thinking, really. We discover cultures and ways of life that we had never imagined before. The only negative point is: when it is time to leave it is too much painful because of the magic of the days spent there .

Nous avons découvert une autre culture et je recommande cette expérience unique et magique

Thanks a lot to all the Polish students especially our correspondents for welcoming us.

Thanks a lot to Mrs Coree for initiating Comenius.

Thanks a lot to the two professors M.Dewasch and Mme. Firon.

Thank you very much Renata for the program in Gorzyce.