A fairy tale of friendship

Excited, enjoying the beautiful memories and a bit sad – these were the feelings storming us during our flight from Milan to Sofia – on our way back from the amazing experience, called “Comenius”. Just for the record – our school has been taking part in the “Comenius” project for 2 years along with seven other countries – Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Lithuania and France – and has participated in all the five meetings. From May 6th to May 10th the last stage of the program took place in the beautiful suburb of Milan – Sesto San Giovanni. My classmate, Peter, and I, Stanimir, were chosen by our classmates and teacher, Mrs Stoilova, to represent our school, “Bertolt Breht” Language School, in that final meeting.
This was the concluding stage and the topic was “Hopes and fears for the future of the European Union”, with a couple of subtopics, such as Migration, Politics, Education… Our bit was Education. And we had quite a lot of work to do, including a questionnaire addressed to the other delegations containing questions about their countries’ educational systems, school life, teachers’ job and parent involvement . We also sought help from our classmates who created a video material describing what they wanted to be changed in the educational system of Bulgaria and answering questions which were sent from the other delegations. Throughout the whole process of work – even though sometimes it was hard – we didn’t give up only because we were eager to seize the unique opportunity – taking part in the “Comenius” project.
Finally the big day came. The plane took off and everything we were thinking about was Italy and the event we were getting involved in. We landed safe and sound at Malpensa Airport after a one-hour-and-forty-five-minute flight and were really keen to find our way and get to the city. We took the train to Milan Central Station – a magnificent, enormous building which was built around 1930 for a fair. There we were met by Ornella and Olga, teachers from “Erasmo da Rotterdam” school, which was our host school. The experience had already begun. The friendly Olga showed us to the meeting point, where we left our luggage, and then we set off on a trip around Milan, organized by the students from the host school. The first thing we did, of course, was to buy a pizza. That’s Italy – we mustn’t forget. Then we visited two skyscrapers, overlooking the whole wide city, which serve as administrative buildings and then our guides took us to the famous Milan Cathedral – Duomo. We had the chance to take a close look at that awesome temple and immerse ourselves in its beauty and magnificence. We went to La Galleria, Sforza Castle, Teatro alla Scala, Ferrari store which added more astonishment to the whole picture of Milan. Of course, the day couldn’t finish without shopping in the streets of the Fashion Capital of the world. In the evening we were excited because we had to meet our host friends we would spend the next five days with. They turned out to be brilliant people who catered for every single need of ours. Of course, they treated us to different kinds of pasta and traditional Italian dishes every day, so that we got to know Italian cuisine very well.
On the second day we gathered in the school and started our work. We noticed that the school building itself was not much different from our own school but yet it was interesting to explore it. A greater part of our work was done in a spacious room in the basement. Every delegation showed their presentations and the teachers helped us know each other better by involving us into energetic and fun games. We immediately made new friends who made our stay even more wonderful. Another part of the project work was to create a play on each of the subtopics and a “New European Anthem” which consisted of parts of the anthems of every country. The Italian and French students were responsible for the anthem and the rest – for the play. We had a great time working and at the same time having fun. We didn’t notice the day was over when our host friends were at school to pick us up and take us to their homes. Again we had a wonderful dinner and a relaxing walk around Milan, exploring it at night admiring its beauty even more.

The third day was a trip day! A field trip to Venice had been organized for us. The weather on that day was sunny and really nice for a walk around a town which has so much to offer. Again we had perfect guides – our Italian friends! They had prepared a schedule of what we were going to see, so that we could visit as many sights as possible and have free time too. We traveled by bus for around three hours and then got a boat to the town itself. We visited the famous Dogès Palace, the Bridge of Sighs, St Mark’s Clocktower , St Mark’s Basilica and, of course, we had long walks around the countless narrow streets which are home to some of the world’s top designer labels. We also tried the delicious Italian ice cream – gelato. On our way back to Milan we had great time with our foreign friends, we shared moments of the day, looked through the pictures we had taken and laughed a lot! In the end, we were really worn out and it was a relief when our host friends came to pick us up, we had dinner together and finally went to bed.
The fourth day was the most special day because it was the Comenius evening day. The Comenius evening is an event like a closing ceremony which gathers all participants and teachers to present the products of the team work. It was held in a building called Spazio Mil which serves as a concert and theater building. The international performance came first in the programme and was followed by different performances of the Italian students including songs, Irish dances, musical theater, review of old Italian clothes etc. The end of the program was put by the group who had made up the New European anthem. Then everybody could try out the traditional dishes prepared by our hosts. We also took a lot of pictures to take back with us and said goodbye to our foreign friends. It was sad but at the same time satisfying and relaxing.
Imperceptibly the last day came. The weather – cold and humid – matched our feelings. We were filled with sadness and nostalgia. Early in the morning our host friends saw us off at the meeting point with some of the other delegations. We said goodbye to some of our foreign friends again and went to the city center. We had a nice walk in spite of the bad weather, bought some souvenirs for our relatives, friends and classmates and enjoyed the beauty of Milan once more. Then we set off for the airport and departed for Bulgaria. Our country greeted us with extremely hot weather. The Comenius event was over. All the good memories went on and on in our minds and, in fact, they still do. We hope that the project will be continued and we’ll be very happy if all the delegations come to Bulgaria – so that we can play the role of host friends and tour guides. No doubt it will be a wonderful experience. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of the people without whom our stay wouldn’t be the same – the staff of our host school and especially Silvia, Ornella, Olga and the headmaster, the Italian students, the host families, the other delegations and their teachers! We strongly believe that we will meet each other again and will keep in touch.

Stanimir Stoilov 9d