Project meeting in Suceava, Romania

 ~23^rd to 29^th of April, 2012~

The last visit of our multilateral Comenius project named ‘Life is a scene, let’s create our play’ was held in Suceava, the north-east part of Romania between 23rd and 29 th of April, 2012.

First of all, the coordinator of Romanian team, Rotaru Daniela, met all the teachers and students coming from Turkey, Spain, Poland and Greece in a very hospitable and polite way. As all the groups, we met with the nice families who were going to host our students. They were so kind and hospitable and they did their best to make our students to feel like at home.

In Romania, a very-well prepared and organized program was waiting for us. In the first day, we met at the conference room and got information about our visit plan in detail with very nice materials. We were introduced to the school community and visited all part of the school with the school staff. Then we visited the City Hall and Observatory.  In observatory, we all got information about our universe.

In the second day of our meeting in Romania, we had a trip to amazing Bucovina, very famous for its historical monasteries like Voronet, Gura Humorului, Sucevita, Moldovita and Putna. The monasteries have been built in Bukovina during the 15th-16th centuries at a time marked by the personalities of the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great (1457-1504), and of his son, Petru Rares (1530-1538; 1541-1546). They were fantastic and we were very happy to have such an experience. We visited a private museum about painted Easter eggs. It was so exciting that we could see many eggs painted in different styles by the famous artists from all over the world. We also had chance to find some authentic hand-made clothes and rugs reflecting Romanian style and some other souvenirs.

The third day in Romania, we had an official meeting with English teachers of Suceava County. We exchanged our experience in methodology, classroom management and the profile of European students as the teachers of English from different countries and experiences on European Funded Programmes like Lifelong Learning Programmes and Youth Programmes.  

 We shared some information about our educational systems as well. We also exchanged our connections for future collaborations. As dinner, we came together to have such delicious Romanian traditional food prepared by the families and drinks at the school canteen.

 On Thursday, we visited Dracula Castle, Vatra Dornei, Bistrita Valley, Cheile Bicazului, Cetatea Neamtului and Bicaz Red Lake and had chance to see such an amazing  natural sceneries with full of fresh air. At night, we had a traditional night. Romanian students presented a variety of folk dances and we listened to the traditional live music. Other groups also presented their own traditional music and dances. Music and folk dances were the perfect way of getting ideas about a culture and all the students and teachers were a part of Romanian culture during the night.

Romanian students dancing

On Friday, the last day in Romania, the students were free to spend time with the families and the coordinators had a meeting for the final products at school. Besides, all the groups were certified at the meeting. All teachers and students visited the Suceava Fortress and did some shopping for souvenirs from unforgettable Romania.

In Romania, every single person we have met was very kind, the students, the teachers, the families. They did their best to make us feel comfortable. Especially the ones who have come to Romania first outgrew the prejudices thanks to this project visit. In my view, all the teachers and students had a great time in Romania and would love to visit this beautiful country again.

The whole group that took part in the project meeting