Comenius Meeting in Bulgaria

From April 25th to 2nd of May,a  group of our students took part in the second  international meeting of schools involved in ‘Comenius’ project. This time we went to Vidin, which is located in Bulgaria near the borderline with Romania.

Our school was represented by 7 students ( girls from the first and second grade of Junior High school) and 2 teachers:  Mrs. Basia Kowalik and Mr. Adam Grabus, who also was our excellent, reliable driver. 

When we reached our destination, after two-day journey, we were welcomed by host families and the headmaster of Ivan Vazow school in Vidin.

The first day of our meeting we spent with our new Bulgarian friends in their school. We had great opportunity to meet new friends from Bulgaria and also other partners from Turkey, Spain, Italy and Greece.  We could also take part in English lessons and experience  the way teaching is done  in Bulgaria.  After lunch we went to the Ancient Roman watchtower “Baba Vida”  which is the 10th century fortress. The building of Baba Vida is tied to a legend, according to which a Bulgarian king had three daughters: Vida, Kula and Gamza. Before his death, he divided his kingdom among the three. Vida, the eldest, was given Vidin and the lands north to the Carpathians, Kula was awarded Zaječar and the Timok Valley, and Gamza was to rule the lands west up to the Morava. Although Gamza and Kula  were married to drunkard and warlike nobles, Vida remained unmarried and built the fortress in her city. The name of the castle means "Granny Vida". At the end of the day we were invited to the pupils’  performance. They presented some well known fairy tells. Unfortunately, we couldn’t understand anything, however the show was very colorful and we enjoyed it.

On the second day of our visit, we pulled out of  Vidin and set off to discover other  Bulgarian attractions. Our coordinators took us to the Klisura Monastery and Belograchik Rocks and Fortress, which was the most exciting part of  the whole visit to Bulgaria. Klisura Monastery of "St. Cyril and St. Methodius” is a monastery of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. It is the fourth largest monastery in Bulgaria. The complex includes two churches and three residential buildings. The Monastery was founded in the 1240 during the Second Bulgarian Empire. That day was exhausting , but we had great fun.

The penultimate day was intended for work in the ‘Comenius’ project. We were supposed to make posters connected with saving energy.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out with our hosts and learning some more things about Bulgarian culture. At the end of that day a concert in which students were representing their talents took place. 
On the last day of our visit in Vidin  the school organized sport games. We had a lot of fun during competitions. We scored the 5th place, the  1st place was taken by the  Bulgarian team. This was the   time for the  last photos  and exchanging email addresses with new friends. And this was the end of our visit to Vidin. 

Zuzanna Wysoczynska III B