European Culture and History Outlines

 

ARTICLE 1

In this Erasmus+ meeting, that took place in Greece, teachers and students from Greece, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Italy got together for one week. In this week we had a great experience meeting people from other European countries and getting to know their cultures and habits. Most importantly, we learnt interesting things about each country’s history while improving our communicating abilities using English. We also created strong friendships and relations that will stay permanent for all our lives. Lastly we are very proud to be part of this experience.

Erasmus+ is a program that unites people, creates relationships and makes us feel unique emotions like equality, respect and love for other different people. We get to know new people from other countries and share with them experiences, interests by spending time together, exploring every different culture. In Greece, for example, a very beautiful characteristic is the hospitality of people. Also a lot of traditional foods were delicious and we enjoyed them like feta cheese, souvlaki and many others. Greek culture is very interesting and unique like all the other cultures and is worth get to know it through a very beautiful programme  like Erasmus+.

These five days we had a lot of fun doing all these activities together. Firstly, we had visit the Parthenon. Everyone was very excited for visiting one of the most famous buildings in the world. Then, in the museum of the Acropolis we learnt many things about ancient times and sculptures. Although many of us found it very interesting, some people included some teachers got so bored that they fell asleep. We enjoyed the morning walk in the old Plaka where our guide explained so many things and gave us a lot of information about the area. After that, we went to the Byzantine Museum of Athens. We saw about the early Christian times and thanks to the museum collection we were able to understand how people lives were in the past. To be honest, the best parts of the meeting were the free times where we could hang out together. During the first night, we went to play bowling. The next nights we had parties because two kids had their birthday so we wanted to celebrate. We danced and sang a lot. The last night we all went to a traditional Greek restaurant, where we ate and laughed a lot.

We really liked the fact that we were hosted by families and weren’t kept in hotel. Visiting museums were something interesting and refreshing, getting to know several ancient aspects of civilization once existed and to see common aspects with our mother country. Seeing with our own eyes the differences between us and the similarities when it comes to food, culture, habits and specially the city life. Improving our English, the main language we communicated with, helping others and also teaching the basic on all of the languages among us.

 

• Eva Karatza

• Loukas Kolovos

• Alex Chasapoglou

• Andreas Antoniades

• Sofia Gkouma

• Celia Nuňez Prieto

• Panagiotis Evaggelou

• Tiago Coito

• Eleni Mastrogiannakou

• Pedro del Rio Gonzãlez

• Georgina Evaggelou

• Leonardo Rodrigues

• Maria Lianea

• Beatriz Rodrigues

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ARTICLE 2

First of all, this experience was full of happiness, funny moments and excitement. We were over the moon, feeling loved and full of food, because of all the beautiful activities that we did.

Speaking of which, our activities were various:

• We went to the Acropolis and the Acropolis museum

• to the Byzantine Museum

• to various monuments suchas the Parthenon or the Daphni Monastery

• we met the mayor and visited the library of Chaidari.

As for activities for fun

• We went to the bowling center

• to the centre of Athens for ‘souvenir’ shopping

• various taverns and coffee shops

• we consumed a tremendous amount of souvlaki.

 

The differences in our cultures though are many. At first, our schedules differ a lot. The school hours are different and so are the eating hours. The Greeks proved to have more freedom in their weekend activities and exits. We also live very close to each other so we don’t need our parents and their cars. The music is quite different mainly due to the different languages but they think that Greeks like rock music the most. The food in Greece is Mediterranean and is quite healthy than in Italy that has carbon in spaghetti. Though we ate many souvlakia.

Finally, we learned so many things in this Erasmus+. The Erasmus+ programme is an amazing opportunity for students that have the financial ability to travel. Thus, as it bonds people together, it also reduces racism and broadens our spiritual horizons. We made new friends and truly understood the various cultures of Europe, and gained new knowledge. We are truly happy to be a part of this amazing experience.

 

• Evelina Panta

• Giorgia Bartoccini

• Marios Hondrogiannis

• Michalis Bekos

• Sylvia Voutsa

• Elena Fernadez

• Maya Gklezakou

• Luca Fabrizi

• Dafni Polemi

• Giorgia Pispola

• Ioanna Koultouki

• Barbara Ribeiro

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ARTICLE 3

These days we felt numerous of emotions. At first we were both excited and anxious but shy as well. We were afraid to meet our correspondents. All the activities made us feel tired but in the meantime satisfied with our new friendships. We learned to love others and ourselves as well. We now feel unified. In the end we are all sad because the week has now ended.

Except of the numerous feelings, this week we attended a lot of activities as well. In the start we played games to meet each other. We presented our work to each other. We had various of tours and guides and saw a fair share of monuments like Parthenon and the monastery of Dafni. We did a debate and met the mayor. While in   our free time we visited a variety of shops and stores. We went to different gathering places like squares and Karaiskaki stadium.

Here in Greece our guests love our traditional food, especially souvlaki and also spanakopita, crepes, pastitsio, chocolate cake and milfeigh. Furthermore, they like our music, our interests and other types of Greek activities, similar to theirs, like shopping in the centre of Athens, Monastiraki and Ermou. In addition it is worth to mention the enthusiasm that our guests felt when they visited the public library and the city of Chaidari.

Overall, this is a programme we recommend to teenagers from all Europe, because it makes it possible to meet new people and their cultures and learn how people from other countries live, think and spend their skills and practice speaking and even learn new languages. Moreover, it offers students the chance to have a more active social life as well as opening their mind towards other cultures. However, we support that it would be beneficial if the exchange lasted longer, since that would give the students the opportunity to form stronger bonds and unite.

 

• Babis Lakiotis

• Gioele Antonielli

• Nick Stavrakakis

• Cristiano Caetano

• Iphigeneia Alevizou

• Maria Valencia

• Alex Bozatzidis

• Moreno Cristopher Hidalgo

• Giorgos Loizos

• Mikel Jordan Imaicela Narváez

• Haraa Mitsakou

• Aurora Pucci