Así, la 1ª visita de trabajo e intercambio tuvo lugar del 16 al 20 de febrero de 2007 en Thuin, Bélgica. Cundi López y yo, Begoña Toro fuimos allí con dos alumnas de 4º de ESO: Laura Olmos y Ana Sánchez. Allí asistimos a las presentaciones que hicieron los alumnos asistentes acerca  de las diferentes escuelas, regiones y países. También votamos entre todos el logo que mejor podría representar  al proyecto. Podéis ver el ganador en el encabezamiento de este artículo. Después de la jornada escolar y durante el fin de semana disfrutamos de la gastronomía, y de la cultura belgas. Dos alumnas del Institute Notre Dame  nos enseñaron los rincones más emblemáticos de la ciudad, fuimos a Namur y visitamos la Ciudadela, vimos el castillo de Seneffe – con un interior grandioso y unos jardines envidiables--, y también recorrimos antiguos y modernos “locks” o sistemas para elevar y bajar los barcos en ríos o canales haciéndolos  más navegables.

                          Diary of Belgium: 

We arrived on Saturday morning (16 February) at Charleroi airport, and Cleménce’s mother picked us up and we went to their house. I carried my suitcase to Cleménce’s bedroom and she showed me her house. In the afternoon we went to the school of her little sister and after to the forest with the scouts and they made some activities for a lot children. In the evening, we went to a volley match where Cleménce and her team played, and after the match we bought some chisps and we went to bed.  

On Sunday morning, I went by train with Cleménce, Laura, Julien, Tolga, etc to Brussels, and we watched the most important places and we had lunch in a kebap restaurant. In the afternoon, we went to the cinema and we watched the film “ Sweeney Todd “, and afterwards we came back home and we went to bed. 

On Monday, we went to school and the presentations of the differents countries began and they showed us the school. We were in a class of P.E. and some English classes. In the afternoon, in Cleménce’s house, we were playing  Pictionary with a French-Spanish dictionary, and it was very funny.  

On Tuesday, we went to school and we did our presentation. We also went to some English lessons and in the afternoon Laura, Cleménce and I went to buy chocolate for our families and I packed my suitcase.  

And on Wednesday morning, we took the plane to Alicante and we arrived there and we took the bus to go to Murcia. 

The experience has been very good, it has changed my mind towards languages and travelling. I have met a lot of people from other countries and I have learned new vocabulary, pronunciation, culture and different customs.

I liked knowing people from other places and new countries a lot, but sometimes I disliked the organization in the Belgium school. 

                                                                           Ana Sánchez Fuentes

Before going on the exchange I thought that I was going to have a very good time because I was going to meet new people from other countries while I practised other languages.

 The day before going to Thuin I was excited and nervous at the same time but when I was in  Charleroi airport I only thought that the experience was going to be fantastic and it was true because during the days I spent in Thuin with Margot, her family and the other students it was really incredible.

 On Saturday and Sunday we were each one with our “family” and I spent good days because I visited Brussels and I did a lot of things with her. I was tired but that isn’t important when you are doing funny things.

 On Monday and Tuesday we went to school and we did lots of things like meeting the other students, present our countries, schools and cities. During these days we went to some classes and we met many people, It was a good experience.

We will never forget that.

                                                                       Laura Olmos