Our Two Days in Strasbourg

THE FIRST DAY.

We arrived in Strasbourg at 12.50 pm. We went to ‘Chez Yvonne’, a famous restaurant where several celebrities came to eat like Johnny Holliday, Nicolas Sarkozy, Genevieve De Fontenay, Olivia Ruiz etc. It was delicious! The food was very refined and it looked and tasted so good! After we had a boat trip to visit Strasbourg.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.

Before going into the debating chamber, we were in a vast hall from where we could see the sky if we raised our head. It was a very original structure! After that, we had to take out our phone, keys, metal objects from our bags etc. which would ring when we passed through the scanner. It was like in an airport and very strictly controlled. We finally entered the debating chamber. We had our own place which had headphones and two buttons that we had to press to choose our language, to listen to the conference and understand what the representatives had to say with a translation. They had their own time to talk, which was limited. Sometimes two minutes, sometimes ten minutes, it depended. Then a man told us to stand up and follow him. We went into a room, for the man to tell us about how the European parliament operates. The chairs had some headphones and buttons for translation. Then Mrs. BENARAB-ATTOU came in and answered all our questions. Finally we took some photos and we went out. We finished at 8.30 pm. We had to leave so we went to our youth hostel. It was really cool; we had our own bedroom which had 3 minimum beds. I was lucky; my bedroom was on the ground floor. We took a shower; Mr. WATTS explained to us the rules of the house and then left. We talked all the night and finally went to sleep at 3.30 am. We didn’t want the night to finish, because we had so much fun!

THE SECOND DAY.

We had breakfast at 7.30 am. Then we packed our bags and got into the bus to visit the city of Strasbourg. There was a guide who told us about Strasbourg. We visited the cathedral. It was beautiful and interesting. Then we walked and visited the old structures, houses which were made with wood only and other things. After the visit, Mr. WATTS allowed us to have some free time, from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm. We did some shopping; we bought sunglasses, clothes, shoes, even food for our family! We ate at Mac Donald’s, it was delicious! Then we went to the Kronenbourg Museum. It was interesting. After the visit, we were allowed to taste a beer of our choice. I chose… Water! Then we went into the bus to come back home… It was finished. We watched two films in the bus. And then we arrived back in Chambery.

IF I COULD DO THIS ANOTHER TIME, I WOULD DO IT. ONE WORD: FANTASTIC!

Myriam Ibouroi 1ES2

Our School Trip to Strasbourg

Our Trip to Strasbourg

With students in 1ES2, we went to the city of Strasbourg to visit the European Parliament. This journey was funded by Europe and lasted two days. The first day, we left the school at 5 am and it took six hours to arrive by coach. When we arrived, we went to eat “Chez Yvonne”, a very famous restaurant frequented by famous people like Jacques Chirac and Jonny Hallyday.

After that in the afternoon, we discovered the city on a pleasure boat with an audio commentary. We then went in search of the European parliament, a very impressive building that we finally found after multiple attempts! We went inside to see a debate between Members of the European Parliament about granting and withdrawing international protection, sponsored by Sylvie Guillaume. Among the 736 MEPs, only twenty were present, and I observed that they didn’t necessarily listen to each other!

After the debate we met Malika Benarab-Attou who is the green MEP for Savoie. She talked about Libya and the organization of the European parliament, and so I learned that there are three important institutions which play an important role in decision-making that are the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council of the UE. We left about eight o’ clock and we went to eat and sleep in the youth hostel.

The second day, in the morning we visited Strasbourg on foot with a guide, who explained the history of the city very well. We also visited the cathedral which is immense; inside we could see a very old renowned astronomical clock very popular among tourists. In the afternoon, we visited the Kronenbourg brewery for about two hours and it was very interesting because it was very well explained and we could taste the beer in joy and good humor. Finally, we came back at 11 o’clock at night, pleased to go to school the next morning!

Sarah JOUTY 1ES2

Our Two Days in Strasbourg

Our Two Days in Strasbourg

Monday, April 4 we arrived at 5 pm in front of The European Parliament. It’s the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU). The present parliament, elected in June 2009, has 736 members from 27 member states of the EU. More than a third are women. The European Parliament, whose headquarters are in Strasbourg, has three locations: Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Parliament is composed of 736 MEPs, who represent 375 million voters from 27 states (in 2009), that is to say, the second largest electorate in the world, behind that of India, and the largest transnational constituency. Since 1979, the Parliament is elected every five years by direct universal suffrage, with proportional representation. Although Parliament is the "main" institution of the EU, The Council of Ministers has greater legislative powers. In Strasbourg there are the plenary sessions, commissions, and some additional plenary sessions are held at the Espace Leopold in Brussels. The General Secretariat is based in Luxembourg.

When we arrived many people were there to welcome us but also to control us and see if we did have anything dangerous about us that might be likely to injure a member. Then we went into the hemicycle of the Parliament to listen to a debate about the immigration problem. After this, we met Malika Benarab Atou and one of her assistants who explained how European institutions function.

· The Kronenbourg Museum

Hooray! Journey to the Center of beer! No need to be an “alcoholic” to enjoy visiting this brewery which is one of the symbols of the Alsace region. We discovered how to manufacture, to bottle and can beer – a drink made from hops, barley and water. To conclude this visit and these two days, we had the right to a tasting of beers recently introduced on the market.

A very very good journey, interesting, cultivating, and a lot of thanks to the European Union, the Comenius project, our teachers and our high school ! Thanks to them we discovered a city that nearly nobody knew.

Amélie Bourreau 1ère ES2

German students about the week in Cyprus

This one week in Cyprus was ... awesome.
There were so many things we did. Except from going to an other country, we were able to visit a new school, to see impressing emblems like the temple of Apollo, or walk through tiny little villages where the time seems to stand still and the world is good.
All the interesting facts we learned about Portugal, Spain, France and Poland, but especially about Cyprus, were nice, we saw beautiful pictures and listened to touching stories. As we spent the time in Cyprus we also got to know the culture of this fascinating country where the sun always seems to shine and everybody is open to strangers like us, friendly, helpful and happy. Thank you especially to the wonderful family I stayed with, who let me live with them like a family member and integrated me completely.
But the most important thing for me and for us in general were the people: We got to know many friendly and amazing people from all over Europe and without the Comenius Project we would probably never have met them. I guess this is the reason why we do this: To find new friends from other countries and to get closer together.
I hope to see you all again one day, you and the beautiful and interesting island Cyprus.
Christina Freise


Before spending a week in Cyprus, I was so excited and I couldn’t imagine what would happen. Altough I took part in another Comenius project in England I was sure that this time everything would be different. How would it be to live together with a foreign family ? How would we spend the days ? How would the weather be? How would the mentality of the Cypriots, the French … etc. be like? These were so many questions I couldn’t answer. This is why I was a little bit nervous and uptight, but in the end there was no reason to feel in this way.
Everybody was very open-minded and polite. That’s the most impressing thing I observed, so I really felt familiar and associated.
My first impression of the island was very strange. From the airplaine the countryside seemed to be very dry and unvaried, but after getting closer I was surprised that there were so many things to explore, e.g. the untouched nature, ancient villages, a huge variety of fauna and flora. So it’s such a pity that the inhabitants of the island cannot live together in harmony.
With regard to the other participants of the Comenius projects I was also surprised in a positive way. From the first time everybody was sympathetic and was interested in each other. We had lots of fun and were so sad to say goodbye after this fantastic week. Maybe we will meet again one day ?
All in all this week was unforgettable and another great experience for me. I am so grateful that my host family took care of me in such a friendly way and I wanted to say Thank You to the ones who made it possible to meet.
Julia Kirchhoff, German student


Before reaching Cyprus and meeting our Cypriot partners me and the other Germans were worrying about how it would be like. To me personally living in a family which I don't know was new and I did not know what to expect.
Since the first moment that I got to know my Cypriot family I was sure that I was going to have a good time, because everybody was so friendly and I felt so welcome and integrated into the group of friends and family.
Cyprus is a beautiful country with a huge culture and lots of traditions. I learned many new things about different people from different countries who were friendlier and more open minded than I would have expected. It was impressing to get to know how fast new friendships can develop. Most of all I liked the people around me and the mentality.
I would especially like to thank the family I stayed with that made me feel like a part of it and made me have one of the best weeks I ever had.
Haider Abdul-Wahab

Video with MEP from Germany

German students Alex Klassen, Haider Abdul-Wahab, Julia Kirchhoff and Emil Kreja interviewed Jan-Philipp Albrecht, German MEP for the Green Party. You can watch the video: http://vimeo.com/22491085

SPANISH FEEBACK

After so much work and enthusiasm put into the work that we had proposed to Comenius Project, at last the moment of truth (7th December) came as we have so long desired.

That morning, the students (Isabel, Jose Manuel y Anastasio) and teachers (Mabel, Beatriz y Juan Enrique) met happily with a big smile on our faces. Geneva (Switzerland) was waiting for us and we were all ready to fly in spite of the air controllers.

Flying as high as our hopes we arrived at our destination, very quickly, after one hour by bus, we arrived in Chambéry (French).

We were very nervous as everything was new and incredibly exciting, we finally met the wonderful families who hosted us during our stay in France.

We have to thank all the attention and kindness the families had with the three of us, in fact, they have been more than hosts for us and we still keep contact with them, and hopefully, we will in the future.

This first day was just a relaxing family day, just to get used to it and show us around .

On Wednesday, we went to school and had to do our presentation, our work on power –point. There, we could meet the other participants of Comenius. They were from Germany, Cyprus, Portugal and Poland as well as the rest of the French partners. We had our first lunch at the the High School and spent the morning doing a lot of funny activities. That morning we made a presentation about our country. This presentation was quite a big success. Then, we went to have lunch with our French correspondents and some friends of them. The food was not very good, but the company was very nice. In the afternoon, we visited "Annecy", a city with a river and a beautiful mountainous landscape. There, we could visit some churches and even an ancient prison. We will not forget the evening in the city, the mountain turned beautifully reddish . The following day, we attended a Spanish lesson in which we laughed a lot. After completing the lessons, we went to attend a lecture about the history of journalism. In our opinion, this lecture was very boring. In the afternoon, the participants of "Comenius” were splited into different groups and made the cover of a newspaper. We really enjoyed this activity. In the afternoon, all participants in the "Comenius" had dinner at "McDonald’s. " It was a perfect dinner, we got to know everybody a lot better and we laughed with each other.





On Friday morning, early in the morning everybody was ready for a beautiful morning trip.We visited the town of Chambery . Later in the afternoon, we arrived at the school, lycee du Granier, to have lunch. Then we headed to the conference room, it was time for the questions to the Member of the European Parliament. It was six o'clock, we went back home exhausted but happy.

Finally, on Saturday, it was the last day. After getting up and we sadly had to say goodbye to all our new friends. We left Chambery and spent the day in Geneva (Switzerland), We took the last flight and we flew towards Spain to meet our families.
THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY FOR THESEWONDERFUL DAYS!!!

Feedback by the German students

Our opinion about the Comenius trip to France

When our teacher told us that we’d go to France, our first impression was that we weren’t sure if this would be a great trip. The following days we got to know our exchange partners and we were pleased to write e-mails to them. We had to introduce ourselves and to strengthen the relationship before our arrival. On the 7th of December we met at Hanover Airport early in the morning and we took the plane to Zurich. There we had to wait for a while and afterwards we took the plane to Geneva. There, we rented a car and went to Chambéry. Immediately we were impressed by the idyllic environment and especially these huge mountains. We started to take a lot of photos, because there is nothing similar here in Germany. We arrived at the “Lycée du Granier” to meet our exchange partners. It was already afternoon and we were tired from the trip, so we just went home with our partners to eat dinner and go to bed.
Two of us stayed in one family and one other had to change two times so for him it was a bit chaotic. We were satisfied with our families, because they welcomed us in a very friendly way and cared for us well. The other exchange students of the foreign countries we got to know were really open minded and kind. Some others were unfortunately very shy so we hadn’t the chance to get to know them. But they seemed very friendly, too. Especially the French students were really interested in our German life, so we had a lot to talk about.
The communication was okay most of the time, but sometimes the English of some people was difficult to understand. Only few people were able to speak French. The daily school life first seemed a bit strict, but the mood of the students was almost always really good. And the relationship between students and teachers seemed relaxed. The trips we made to Geneva and Chambéry city were really interesting, but unfortunately we hadn’t enough free time to buy souvenirs.
To sum up you can say that we were really satisfied to make these new experiences and to get to know so many friendly new people. We’re sure to remember it and we can really recommend a trip like this.

Amrei Sender, Alexander Rößeling