11-18 DECEMBER 2008
Class 4CI and 4AI

11 december

We started our journey on Thursday 11 december. We left from Milano Malpensa at 9.00 am... we all were so excited for the new experience! Besides, lot of us were travelling by plane for the first time!! We arrived at 10.30 am in Dusseldorf. After two hours by bus we arrived at the AHG, the german school and we met our german partners. We were so embarassed! We met them for the first time and we had to go to their home in the same day. Some of us stayed at school and attended lessons (which were held in german), while others went home. We spent the first afternoon in our host families and we had dinner at home. We felt very tired because of the travel, but our german partners decided to take us to a typical german bowling. There we had a competition : italians against germans, but unfortunately we lost! At about 22.00 pm we went home and went to bed.

12 december

During our breakfast we could discover how many different traditions there are in Germany! They usually have breakfast with sandwiches with cheese and meat, some muffins, and a cup of tea or cappuccino. Some people have bread with a sort of salami cream! It seemed very strange! We spent our morning at school. Someone told us that their school includs elementary, secondary and high school. It's different from ours also because in high school you can choose which subjects you want to study, so you can decided to study more music, languages or other particular subjects. Some of us spent the afternoon in the Ahaus city centre, in a sort of bar called “San Remo”, where we met the italian owner who told us about his life. After eating a strange sweet we came back home to have a shower. Our partners decided for us what to do every moment in the day, infact in the evening we went to a school party where all the students acted in different shows to celebrate the approaching Christmas holidays. Some students played instruments, sang songs and others acted. The only bad thing was that everyone spoke in german and part of us didn't understand!

13 december The trip to Amsterdam!! This day was the most longed for because none of us had ever been in Amsterdam! We left by bus to Amsterdam at about 8 am. The travel took 2 hours and a half and when we arrived, we visited museum of Van Gogh. We didn't have any guide but we were able to appreciate it the same. We could see that in Amsterdam it was colder than in Ahaus. It was a sunny day but it was so freezing that the cold “entered” into all our bones! After that, we went to the city centre and then we had a boat tour through the channel. In that occasion we took some photos. After that we had free time to go shopping until 4 pm. We hanged out in the Amsterdam's streets. We noticed that things were cheaper than in Italy so we seized the opportunity to buy a lot of souvenirs and clothes. Amsterdam is like Milan from a certain part of view, infact it's full of clothes shops, and the most popular brands are the same as in Italy Finally we arrived back in Ahaus at about 18.30 and in the evening we had a party at Gaia's partner's house. It was great fun. They played very good music.

14 dicember

Sunday was our free day and our partners proposed to spend it together. In the morning we could sleep longer because we didn't have to go to school, so we got up at about 11.30! After lunch we went ice skating in Holland until 16.30 and we had a lot of fun! After that we went to the mexican restaurant and we stayed there all the evening.

15 december

In the morning we had lessons with our partners as usual; we went back home for lunch and then we went to the city hall to talk with the Major's P.A (personal assistant). He showed us a video about the city of Ahaus and he gave us a bag as present. He also offered us some juices and coke. After this meeting we had a tour with a guide who was wearing typical clothes. He told us the story of Ahaus and he showed us the castle and the church. In the evening we went to a park called Tobit Elements, where people can simulate a fly, a travel under the sea or a safari tour in South Africa. We had a lot of fun and during the simulation a particular machine took strange photos of us, and we keep them to remember that fantastic moment..

16 december

At about 8 we left Ahaus to go to Bremen. We had a city sightseeing tour. There was the typical christmas atmosphere, the place was full of mini Santa Claus and Christmas trees... Bremen is like an medieval town with enormous churches, green pointed roofs and very big windows. It was spectacular!! A russian guide showed us the city and its main importatnt monuments. We saw the city hall, ancient villages and went sighseeing. There was a particular little shop in Bremen that sells Christmas things all around the year!! We had a bit of free time to see some shops and another shopping centre. At 19 we arrived in Ahaus and in the evening we met all together in a pub which was similar to ours.

17 december

In the morning we went to school with our partners and, as soon as we finished, we went to Munster. It was a dampy day so sometimes we had to open our umbrellas. We visited the Westfalia Treaty Room, that is a very ancient place and then we spent some time going round the shops. That was unfortunately the last evening we could spend in Germany with our new friends, by then we had become fond of them and they too. We had a Farewell party at school. Each of us took a typical italian food and we danced, sang and took a lot of photos, with our partners, among us and with our teachers too! As soon as the party has finished, we went to a pub where there were a billiard and a jukebox with italian songs! We tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible because we knew that it was the last evening and we managed to do it!

18 december

On our last day, we arrived at school at 7.45 and the lessons started, but after about two hours we went to the centre of Ahaus to “San Remo” to say goodby to the italian owner. After that we came back school to take our luggage and we waited for the bus that could take us to Dusseldorf airport. During the waiting we hugged and kissed our partners saying them goodbye... the atmosphere was so sad, infact someone cryed too:(:( We didn't want to leave because we had had such a good time but unfortunately the bus arrived and so we had to step on it and go away... We arrived in Italy at about 20.00, the travel was very fast, just as the week had passed fast!

COMMENTS Today we still keep in touch with all our partners thanks to e-mail and mobile phone. We look forward to seeing them in April, when they will come here. Some of us would be glad to host their partner during summer holidays too. We advice all the students to take part in this project because it's been very useful not only to improve our language skills but also to discover the world and the traditions around us. Overall it is also a great experience!