I had never thought in my entire life that it would be difficult for me to describe an experience. But right now that I am about to tell everyone my Erasmus+ experience, it is so difficult. I don’t even know where to start from. So, if my text is not written well, my apologies, but there are so many things that come in my mind as soon as I begin to write. With that being said, let me try to tell you how it all started.
It all started here in Ilion, Athens, Greece in my high school (1st Lyceum of Ilion).One day, I was talking with some of my teachers and they told me that we participate in the program and explained me how the program is organized. After some months teachers of five European countries came here in Athens to attend the meeting which was organized by the teachers of the greek team. I was in the hotel in case of being necessary to the Spanish/Catalan teachers because apart from English I speak Spanish too (Truth is, I felt like an amateur translator).
So after communicating with them and with teachers from other countries, I soon realized that I am interested in participating in the program. So I told my teacher, Ms Vanna Kosmatou my thoughts and then I became a member of the Greek team. Some exercises that I did -which can be found at the Internet, in our blog -, made me so happy. I found the opportunity to see how other teenagers live in their countries, their habits, their food etc.
This is actually what the Erasmus+ is all about I guess. Bringing people from different places, with different languages, habits and traditions much closer than anyone could ever think. That’s why I love the program. Well, to be honest something happened that made me love Erasmus+ even more and that is.
A trip to another country (Romania): Almost three weeks ago, me and 10 classmates of mine with 3 teachers visited Romania because of the program. And this is the main reason I am writing right now.
The trip was just great! I visited fascinating places, learned some parts of the local history and legends, tasted the local food, saw how the local people live and what they tend to do while I was able to spoke with children from other countries as well ,participated in activities, learned their habits, the way that they live, things about their schools and other educational systems than the one we have here in Greece, I was able to speak Spanish and English in a daily basis which is really useful for someone who does not want to forget the languages he knows. Plus, we had a GREAT time with the other children.
This probably was the most important and nicest thing of the trip. I made new friends there and we are still talking although we all are busy with our duties. We lived in the same hotel and were travelling in the other places of Transylvania with the Spanish, the Italian and the Turkish team which allowed us to come closer since we were spending the whole day together, not to forget the Hungarian team which although was staying in another hotel we cooperated equally well with. By sharing opinions about many issues and our beliefs I understood that despite our cultural differences we all have common expectations, ambitions, dreams and hope for a better future. It was obvious that everyone is unique. Everyone has some unique talents. Everyone is special. Everyone will be missed.
Time passes, it is true. But memories don’t. Memories are stuck in our minds. But that’s good. It is good to remember the good things in life. The only bad thing from the whole story is that I may not see many persons that I met in Romania and had a great time. However, I am sure that even if I don’t see them again, I will never forget them. My new friends’ absence still hurts me. I don’t deny that. In my country and maybe in other countries too it is said that time is the best doctor and heals everything. I guess that’s right, but in this situation time won’t heal my desire to meet my new friends again. It will make us all to look forward to seeing each other for another time instead.
It is 3 am, Sunday 11th of October, 2015. I just realized that I spend half a day on remembering every single moment of my trip and thinking what to write. Maybe I wrote a lot. Maybe not. I warned you before. I don’t know how much to write. My Erasmus+ experience was just great. There will be much more I am pretty sure about that. At this point, I WANT TO THANK FOR ONCE MORE EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED IN HAVING ARGUABLY MY BEST EXPRERIENCE in my entire life. I owe you all.
With much love, from Athens, Greece
Stavros Volirakis