Blog+Penzberg

=Blog: Gymnasium Penzberg=

In this blog you're going to find Information about our ongoing Project - have fun reading it!

Meeting in Langon (September 2014)
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__5th April__
Jurney from Penzberg to Eisenstadt by train (8-9 hours); first evening in our host families.

__7th April__
At 8:00h all the students and teachers met at the gym of the school. We were being welcomed and got an introduction of what we should work out in groups. All students of one country built one group. We had to design a poster containing firstly our researches about what a healthy diet is and tips how to keep to this diet. Secondly we were to inform the others about alternative sportive activities which are offered at our schools and in our region. At last we had to make a list of Do’s and Don’ts related to a healthy and well-balanced life style. Finally we presented our work to the other groups. It was interesting to compare the results of each group, because they were differently but also very creatively put to practice.

While we were working on the project, our hosts prepared a little snack for us and we really enjoyed having it. Afterwards all students were split up into 4 groups, this time containing one person from each country (two from Austria). Each group ran through each station: The internet survey, the brochure, Life Kinetics and cooking (preparing a snack for the others before having dinner). Life Kinetics was very special for most of us. Everybody had fun working on coordinating one’s body and watching the others having exactly the same problems with it! After the snack prepared in four steps by the groups, we had dinner in the cafeteria. Also the Vegetarians and Vegans were not being forgotten!

Our last station for this day was McDonalds. Every group got a guided tour through the branch. We got a good overview about what it means to work for McDonalds and how the food we is being prepared. After all we have had lots of time to talk to the other students from the different countries and getting to know some of them better.

__9th April__
In the morning we worked in 4 different groups to finish our brochure, to evaluate the survey, to give feedback to the Austrian host s and most importantly to prepare a healthy snack for all of us. The work in school ended at 12:15 p.m., so we could spend a free afternoon with out host families.

At 16:40 in the afternoon we met in the city centre to visit Schloss Esterhazy, which is one of the most important sights in Eisenstadt. Personally I liked the "Haydnsaal", named after the well known composer, best, because of the amazing ceiling frescos.

__11th April__
Jurney back home to Germany!

Our trip to Borja started early so we had to meet at 5.30 a.m. at our school. Apart from forgetting the laptop in the shuttle bus and making the driver return again and a delay of one hour catching the train running from Madrid to Zaragoza, having a poor girl throwing up in the bus we managed fine to get to Borja. The welcome of our host families was more than warm which immediately showed us the differences between the cultures. In the evening the programm in each host family was very similar. We first met other Spanish teenagers in rooms which are called "peña". They rent them in their village and so they have a place where they can go whenever they want. At 10 p.m. each group went to a restaurant but this wasn't the end of the day for most of us Germans. Some of us went to a club in the neighbour village that's why for some of us the day ended at 12 p.m. and for others at 4 a.m.!

Hasta luego y muchos saludos de España!

__2nd Feburary__
Instead of refilling our low energy level of the last day we visited Tarazona. At first we watched the cathedral "Santa Maria" where we could see that many parts of the building are from different ages. After visiting another church which had been transformed from a mosque to a church we went to an abbey called "Moncayo". Our guide told us a story that we will not forget anymore: The monks weren't allowed to wear underwear or shoes. Only when they went to the village they were allowed to borrow underwear. However, there was only one in the whole monastery and it was never washed. After this day with a lot of walking and listening we all were happy when we could go to bed.

Buenas noches !

__3rd Feburary__
The first day in the Spanish highschool was very interesting because we didn´t know what to expect. In the hall we found welcome signs in each language and flags of each participating nation had been hung up, too. First, the Spanish students showed us a presentation about their school and afterwards each group did the same with their school. Each country also had to present their breakfast habits and a student who´s studying food science told us which kind of breakfast is healthy. After this we had a healthy breakfast in the cafeteria which had been made by the students. After this little break we analysed a survey about our breakfast we had also done before. In the afternoon we visited the winery Borsao and the oil press where we could taste the different types of olive oil. The evening programs in the host families were different: some of us just stayed at home an the others went to the peña with other students. We are all happy to be here and we are getting so many new impressions.

Adiós!

This day started in the high school where the pupils of each country presented their work they had done on several topics. We learnded a lot about the different nutrients of our food, for example, proteins vitamins minerals and water and we found out about different ways of nutrition in different countries, such as the Mediterranean Diet. After a break with natural juice and some snacks we continued watching a cook of the school. He and some pupils showed us how you can make a kind of pasta and a fake fried egg with the method of molecular cooking. Some of us used the following break to climb a hill with the remains of a castle on top and took some photos of the landscape. After a great lunch we returned to the entrance of the school and went to a beekeeper with our teachers. He told us a lot about his job making bees happy - that's how he actually expressed it -, and about producing honey. He also stressed the health aspect of honey: It contains many healthy ingredients. Then he showed us the machines which are used to extract the honey from the bee hives. As the bees that he showed us in the end were not sleeping as the bee keeper had excepted some of us had to leave the place rather quickly. A good time in the host families and a rich and tasty Spanish dinner will make us remember this day. What a pity the time in Spain will be over so soon.

Hasta luego en Alemaña!

__5th February __
On Wednesday we met at school and then we were split into three groups and the Spanish people walked us round their school to show us the building. It was quite interesting that they have different classrooms for the respect subjects. These rooms are really small and the equipment is not particularly modern. The seize of the classes seem to vary a lot. But they are lucky as their gym is right in the school. Then we took a bus us to Zaragoza where we had the chance of being introduced to one of the projects of the science and food department of the university of Zaragoza. By taking part in this lecture we learned quite a lot about how to produce and preserve food so it can besold decently in supermarkets. It was interesting to understand that food-production-industries also go to this university to test their new products and have a lot of research done. Thus the university is capable of working on specific needs for the industry and there is need f or them to test huge numbers of the product as they have developed special machines for better results. The students at this university have to develop their own productbefore leaving the university to finish their studies and graduation.After the presentation one of the lecturers showed us some of their machines, for example one that cuts apples into small and handy pieces.

Then we had a guided tour through the most important parts of Zaragoza. We started visiting a huge square, where we saw an impressive cathedral called, le La Seo Cathedrale, the city hall and another old church. The guide also told us that this church had Roman origins and Muslims had also built their Mosque close by. Then we walked through Zaragoza and saw very interesting things like the ruins of an old Roman amphitheatre and at the end of the tour, we also paid a visit to the cathedral, where we looked at the famous 'colegio Santa Maria del Pilar'. Last but not least we had one hour in Puerto Venecia, a very big shopping center. After that we took the bus back to Borja where we finally arrived at half past eight. It was quite a nice day.

__6th February __
Today we went to class with our host students and observed the lessons or talked about our time in Spain. After that we were split in five groups which had to answer questions on a competitive quiz on the topic “nutrition” that the Spanish pupils had prepared for us. Before we went out to play soccer we had a little break to eat something. Then we were fit to continue the quiz. At one o'clock we went home to spend time with our host families. As the most exciting event at the end of our stay, we enjoyed a great farewell party at school. It took place in the evening and all the participants of the Comenius project were there. Each of our host families contributed food to a wonderful buffet and after the Spanish students had awarded prices to various students from the different countries (the Germans won the prize for “Politest Student” and “Most popular with boys” ;-).....) Later, we left to go out in smaller groups or to return to our host families and enjoy the last evening with them. WE HAD A GREAT TIME and are truly sad about having to leave again tomorrow!!

__7th February__
Today was our last day. After saying goodbye to our host families and our new friends, we took the bus to Zaragoza at 7:20 am and arrived one hour later. Then we had to take the train to Madrid. After our arrival we put our luggage in a locker and headed off for two hours to have a look around in Madrid and buy some souvenirs. We had a great time, but when we wanted to get our luggage from the locker, it did not open anymore. We were nervously waiting for the boss to come and open it as we needed to be in time for the airport bus. He finally arrived and managed to open the locker. After that little incident everything went well so we took off on time and arrived at Munich airport two hours later. We finally returned to Penzberg at half past ten.

The Comenius project was more than worthwhile and we had a really good and exciting trip. We learned a lot about healthy food and different diets in the various participating countries, met very friendly and fascinating people and gathered a lot of experience. We really enjoyed it!