ERASMUS PLUS; TOGETHER WE LEARN, UNITED WE STAND, meeting in Slovenia, Ljubljana, DAY 6

DAY 6, 18. 03. 2017

Bled, the pearl of Slovenian Julian Alps

And here we are. The very last day of this beautiful week! We left the hotel at 7.45am and first drove to the Jože Pučnik airport, to drop off our Turkish friends, because that was when their plane left. It really was hard to say good bye to all the new friends we made.

We than continued to drive to Bled. One of Slovenia most visited attractions. The weather was a bit cloudy, but it cleared out around 12. First, the bus drove us to the Castle, where we got our tickets and looked around by ourselves. 

The castle was incredible, and it had some breath taking viewing points. We got a nice view of the little Bled  island. After the tour we walked down the castle and went to the city. Here, we had to say good bye to Italy. It was really sad and difficult, but we promised to stay in touch and that will keep us going! The rest of the group got the chance to try yet another Slovenian dish; the Kremšnita or cream cake. It was really good! After that, the Erasmus+ project meeting in Slovenia was officialy over. When we drove back and arrived to the hotel, we said good bye to all the other coutnries.

This was one of the best experinces for me, and I can safely say for the other students and teachers as well! 

It was filled with so many interesting tours, history and modern facts and good food. And what is most imporant is that we all became friends. After all, as one of the coordinators mentioned, we are a big family! 

ERASMUS PLUS; TOGETHER WE LEARN, UNITED WE STAND, meeting in Slovenia, Ljubljana, DAY 5

DAY 5, 17. 03. 107

Petovia, the oldest city in Slovenia

Friday! Usually, we would be happy that we are close to the weekend but in this case we were not too happy, since we only have 1 day left. But that did not stop us from having a great Friday!

We started the day at 7:45am with a drive to Šempeter, where we had a small guided tour of the Roman necropolis. The tour was short and brief but we heard and learned about the main things. After that we head back to our bus and drove to Ptuj. Ptuj is Slovenias oldest city. In Ptuj the bus dropped us off right below the castle and then we walked up to the Ptuj castle. 

We got split in two groups and started the tour. First we went to the Regional Museum Ptuj Ormož, where we got a close look at the history of Ptuj's carneval masks. Ptuj is one of Slovenia's most famous cities and has the biggest history. We even got a chance to try on a Kurent's mask. Kurent is our most known mask for the carneval season. When the tour of the museum was over, we head over the the castle and got a guided tour arund it. It was really interesting to see the inside of it, because all of the furniture was original, historical. The inside was beautiful. 

When this tour was over, we walked from the castle to the city, where we got about 40 minutes of free time for shopping or a quick coffee break. Then the bus came to pick us up and dropped us off at a nearby restaurant where we had lunch.

After the lunch we drove off to Celje, a beautiful city. 

We walked around the city and visited Celje's castle. The castle stands on three hills to the southeast of Celje, where river Savinja manders into the Laško valley. 
After that we head back to Ljubljana. But on the way there, we stopped at Trojane. Trojane has Slovenias most famous donuts. After the donut stop, we hit the road back to Ljubljana, where we had free time to nap, shop and get ready for the dinner.

ERASMUS PLUS; TOGETHER WE LEARN, UNITED WE STAND, meeting in Slovenia, Ljubljana, DAY 4

DAY 4, 16. 03. 2017

Join the party and tell us about yourself

Thursday started at 8:00am. Every country arrived to the Španski Borci Cultural centre to see and be a part of our school's event. Each country had a chance to show a talent, or just present their city but also they were there to enjoy what our students had prepared for them. 

When the show started we all sat in the audience, and when each country was called to go on stage they went up and showed us what they prepared. The program was really interesting and showed us various talents and little ideas each country had. 

Italian students sang a song. 

Check Republic made a quiz about their language and city and gave out small rewards. 

Turkey showed and taught us one of their traditional dances, and towards the end we all got a chance to join them and dance with them. 

Polish students taught us the Polonaise. That was really fun!

Of course, we also had some of our own performance;  one group of students that go to our school break danced on stage, two of our students sang and played the guitar and much more. We all left the centre happy!

After the performances we went to lunch and than head back to our school. There, the coordinators had a meeting, and for the students we prepared some fun workshops. 

While all of that was going on on the third floor of our school, me and a couple of more students we're preparing our school's studio for the interviews! 

We prepared a couple of questions for our guests; students and teachers and interviewed them. This was a really different, but fun and positive experience for everyone!

When we wrapped up the shooting of the interviews we went back to the hotel, to get ready for the farewell dinner.

The dinner started at 7pm. The restaurant was filled with Erasmus+ students and teachers, coordinators and it was wonderful! We had live music playing, good food to keep give us energy and a lot of laughs. 

ERASMUS PLUS; TOGETHER WE LEARN, UNITED WE STAND, meeting in Slovenia, Ljubljana, DAY 3

DAY 3, 15. 03. 2017

The Caves and Military History

We started this pleasant, sunny Wednesday at 8:30. The bus was waiting for us in front of the hotel, so as soon as all the countries were there, we found empty seats on the bus and the journey had started. We had a fun, history filled day ahead of us. Our first stop was the Postojna cave. Upon arriving, we all got our tickets, took some group pictures in front of the cave and then went inside.

When we entered the cave, the guide told us to take sits on the train, because the train will first take us for a short ride into the cave. The train ride was very interesting and exciting. At one point we got off the train and started with the guided tour around the cave. We saw the oldest stalactite in the cave, the beautiful interior of the cave and at the end the famous Human Fish(Človeška ribica). 

At the end of the tour we took the train again to exit the cave. After that we had lunch at the Brilijant restaurant next to the Postojna cave.

Since our tickets included a tour around the Predjama Castle, that was our next stop. Predjama castle(Predjamski grad) is a Renaissance castle build within a cave. When we started with the guided tour, the guide first showed us 4 coat of arms; they were all from different families, different owners of the castle. 

He briefly explained the history of each family. He also mentioned the story about Erazem of Predjama, which was appropriate since we were there thanks to an Erasmus+ project. We all enjoyed the legend. Than we walked around the castle, saw the different rooms and heard many interesting things. When the tour was over, there was a performance waiting for us. The Medieval reenactment group Order of the Royal Eagle prepared a very interesting and fun performance for us. 

They first showed us the weapons used back in the time, and after that we experience a couple small, inspired by the medieval times battles. The reenactment group did a great job, they were dressed appropriately and we even saw a little blood in one of the battles, but it wasn't anything serious!

When the battles were over, they prepared a little contest for us aswell! We got split into different groups; every country was a group, so there were 5 groups. Our job was to choose one student and put the medieval fixture on him. 

The first country to put all the accesories on the student first in the right order would win. And the game started. 

This was really funny and fun for all of us. Portugal won.

When that was over, we returned the accesories and head back to our bus. Our next and final stop was the guided tour of the Park of Military History in Pivka. The tour was really interesting, and what was exciting is, that the guide used to be a student at our school. We saw many things imporant for the formation of Slovenia. When that was over he hit the road and drove back to Ljubljana.

DAY 2, TUESDAY 14. 03. 2017

Feel the pulse on Ljubljana

Feel the pulse of Ljubljana

We started this Tuesday at 9:30am. We all meet at the Prešern's square(Prešernov trg). Each country came by foot with their guide; a student from our school. When our tour guide had arrived, the Erasmus plus family started the Ljubljana city sightseeing tour. Each student also got a worksheet that had questions about Slovenia on it. 

The first stop/explanation was the at the Prešern square. We heard a little something about France Prešeren and the history behind the statue. We than crossed the Butcher' bridge, walked past the food market and stopped at the Ljubljana cathedral. We than proceded the sight seeing tour on the streets of our beautiful capital city, Ljubljana and to our luck, good and sunny weather followed us the whole day. We also made stops at the town hall, the Cobbler's bridge and many more.

After the tour was over, our guide walked with us to the Union Brewery museum. First, we all sat down and watched a short introductional movie about the brewery and it's history. After the intereting film, we split in two groups and we were showed the more detailed history of the brewery and also visited the museum. The tour lasted about an hour, and after that the Erasmus plus team enjoyed a lunch at Union brewery's own restaurant. We all enjoyed it!

Next stop was the Cekin Mansion- National Museum of Contemporary History. The museum was very interesting for all of us, since the guide was very interesting in what she was telling us. When the tour was over, we all met at Tivoli's (a park in Ljubljana) 

Bowling center and participated in a bowling tournament. 

We all had a lot of fun! When the tournament was over, the guests headed over to their hotel, relax for a little while and then finished off the day with a dinner at Vodnikov's hram.