Mit Erasmus in Athen

In December 2022 the Erasmus+ project took place in Athens, Greece. Five students from our school flew to Athens by plane on Sunday, a day before the project started. After we had arrived in Greece safely, we were warmly welcomed by our Greek host families. They showed us your new homes for the week before us students met up at Kifissia with all of our host families to spend our first evening there.

On Monday the project started. We all met at the Greek school (A‘ Arsakeio Tositseio Lykeio Ekalis) and all the students from Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece and Germany first introduced themselves, before their own school was presented in form of a presentation. This was followed by a logo contest in which the best logo for the Erasmus+ project was voted for. The logos to be chosen were previously created by the students from the different countries.
After that we all went to the schools gym to listen to a presentation by a representative of the Greek Federation of People with Hearing Disabilities. The subject of the presentation was “Giving everyone a chance: inclusion through sports”. Finally, we participated in a Greek dances workshop. On our evening, we had some free time to spend with our host families.

On Tuesday the day started again at the Greek school with the students‘ presentations on the development of democracy in their countries. After listening to each presentation, we went to the schools‘ amphitheater to see a play about responsible citizenship called “Kill the monster in your closet“. After that followed a lecture by Dr. Manolis Perakis who is a professor of European Law. Then all the students were divided into groups to discuss about the question “Should more prisons be built?“.
Then we were free for the rest of the day again.

On Wednesday we met in front of the school building at 9:00 a.m. Then we drove to the famous Oracle of Delphi by bus. After we arrived in Delphi, the Greek students told us more about the ruins. Although Delphi is located in the mountains, there is a town called Arachova where we had free time afterwards to shop or eat something. At 3:00 p.m. we went back to the school and had free time with our host families once again.

Thursday was the highlight of the week. We met again at 9:00 a.m. in front of the school to drive to the Acropolis. A tourist guide gave us a tour beginning at the Acropolis museum, where we saw ancient artefacts and we were told how the life was at that time. Afterwards we walked up to the Parthenon, the temple on top of the Acropolis at one of the highest spots in Athens. After the tour we were released in the area around the Akropolis. After some souvenir shopping, our hosts guided us to a secret spot next to the Akropolis. A hill from which we watched the beautiful sunset over Athens. We all enjoyed that moment and also realised that this incredible week will end tomorrow. Eventually, we all ate at a restaurant together and let the last evening fade away.

On Friday, we woke up early in the morning to catch our flight back home. When we arrived in Flensburg at around 4 p.m. our families picked us up at the train station. We were able to get to know the Greek culture with the help of locals and also learned a lot. This trip was an incredible experience for all of us.