Bulgaria… For some of us this word reminds of Bulgarian roses, while for others it is associated with summer resorts. For five students from Lithuania and their teachers Ieva Ivanauskaitė and Gintarė Daubarienė this from now on will always remind them of their adventurous trip and amazing experience. This is how we could describe Erasmus+ “Smart classrooms, smart students” project.
It was a long trip to get to the small Bulgaria’s town Berkovitsa, but we weren’t bored. On Sunday, in the afternoon, we were already in Bulgaria, but it took us a few hours to reach Berkovitsa and the families that had welcomed us. All the way to our final destination we were surrounded by mountains, forests, rocks and a fog – it was beautiful and magical scenery.
On the first day the opening ceremony was hold, we have also visited the school and met students from other countries. In the early morning students from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lithuania and Italy gathered to the cafe. We enjoyed listening to traditional Bulgarian songs and students orchestra’s pieces. Later on, we went to the Berkovitsa’s forestry professional school. School Principal presented us some historical facts about the country and education program. Each of five countries introduced themselves. Our evening was spent in Bulgarian families.
During the third day we made the most of the work. Students from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lithuania and Italy presented their themes based on literature lessons. Firstly, Turkish delegation came. They introduced us to Turkish epics and told the most famous ones. Students from Lithuania compared two writers – Vincas Krėvė and William Shakespeare. They also presented the difference between their books. Bulgarian group told about the play-writer Ivan Vazov and a story of “Gramada”. Italian delegation made a cheerful video film called “Chichibio and the crane”. Students from Macedonia made a presentation by ther chosen theme, which was “Patched life”. All students had the opportunity to choose the program, which fits for them the most. This time students were using “Powtoon” or “Moovly”. After very interesting presentations we were divided into groups and had to make posters. Before that, we had to read the stories and then paint some scenes according to the fairy-tales. This is how we had reached one of the main aims of the project – we were generating ideas with students from different countries, working together and helping each other. These posters were presented on the fourth day of the project.
In the second and fourth days we had excursions to get to know Bulgaria better. We had visited “Ledenika’s cave” in Vratsa and also unforgettable impression was made by “Klisurski” monastery.
In the fifth day we said goodbye to the students and their families, which have accepted us during this project. It was hard to leave them – that tiny city was very cozyand also hospitable Bulgarians made our trip even more wonderful. We moved to the capital city of Bulgaria – Sofia and it impressed us with the amazing architecture, museum and the Cathedral. We had spent there only one day, but we managed to see lots of things. However, we would like to visit Sofia again. The week in Bulgaria, during the project Erasmus+ “Smart classrooms, smart students” passed really fast. We had met lots of interesting people from different countries, we got some new experience. We promised to each other to keep in touch, no matter if there is a big distance between us. However, we shouldn’t be upset as we are going to meet each other in Italy in just a few months!
Julija Dikčiūtė ir Ieva Pocytė 3E
