Diary of the Comenius visit in Burgos

Meeting in Burgos, Spain

From the 23^rd April till the 27^th, Liceo Castilla Maristas school had the privilege to host the sixth meeting of this project. It has been the first time that this school has taken part in any Comenius project and we were not complete sure how well we could organize it.

We started in March with all the preparations. Finding the families to host the students was the most difficult things, though it is fair to say, that at the end, all of our students and families love their partners students and had a lot of fun with them. Organizing a tour around the school by our 13 year old students and the decorations took part during the English lessons. Then we arranged the visits of the monuments, places to eat and so on, and the funniest part was organizing the karaoke party. WE LOVED IT!!!

The meeting started on Wednesday 23^rd when someone sent a text message, “We’ve just landed!! Come to pick us up!!” By that time, there was a bus going from Burgos to Madrid airport to take all the Comenius party home. It was a sunny and beautiful day in Madrid, and the way back to Burgos did not last more than three hours. At six o’clock in the evening, we were in front of the school, matching foreign students with our correspondent families. The meeting has just started.

Thursday was an intense day. In the morning our 2º ESO students took all the teachers around the school, showing them all the facilities. Foreign students were working in the computer room, doing a Comenius blog for their schools.  Afterwards, teachers and students will have a Spanish language lesson, where all of them finished with a Spanish surviving kit, which was very helpful for the rest of the days. Then, we had our project meeting and the presentation of the tasks for the meeting, our healthy sayings glossary, which everyone presented very well.

Thursday afternoon, after having lunch in the school, was a bit of time off, so everyone could relax recharge our batteries for the karaoke party that took place in the music room. Everyone enjoyed a lot, Ciprian let us sing just a few of songs and we had all the students dancing Macarena. A big success!!!

Friday morning, students came to school to finish their work. Apart from the blogs that they finished, they also had a lesson on SketchUp which was very interesting. Then we went to collect the teachers and visit all together the MEH, Museum of Human Evolution.  There we could see our ancestors, as the first human being found in Europe was from Atapuerca, just 10 km from Burgos city centre. Afterwards, we had a walk around city centre, going up to the castle where we enjoyed beautiful sights of all of Burgos. After lunch, we visited the Cathedral, one the best gothic monuments of the world. Simply, we loved it as well.

Saturday was our trip day, and we went to Salamanca. In Salamanca we had the chance to visit all the most important monuments of the city, cathedrals, different churches and the main square, which people say that it is the most beautiful in Spain. After having lunch all together, we had some time to walk around the city and enjoy the smells of this beautiful town.

At the end of the day, although we were exhausted, some of the Spanish students organized a party for the Comenius students. We do not exactly know how it was that, though it seems to me that they had a wonderful time.

COMENIUS MEETING, LICEO CASTILLA, BURGOS, APRIL 23^RD – 27^TH, an experience we will not forgive ever!!!