European_Week_in_Vigo_diary

1. European Week in Vigo
Diary
Saturday 17 September 2022
The first to arrive were the Greeks, at Vigo airport at 4pm. Our students picked up their
respective partners, took them home to settle in, get cleaned up, see their rooms... Then the
host students stayed with their partners and went to the centre of Vigo to show them around a
bit and have a walk. As they were hungry, most of them
went for a drink at the 100 montaditos restaurant and
others went for
an ice cream.
As it was
already late,
they went home, had dinner and some of them still
had enough energy to watch a movie.
Sunday 18 September 2022
The Poles arrived at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning and went to rest after the long journey. During
the day the Polish students with their host families went to the beach of Samil where they spent
the afternoon on a hot day. In the evening they went to Rodrigo's house to watch the Spain-
France basketball match and had a tasty dinner.
Another group of students went to Samil for a picnic and stayed
in the area to enjoy the sunset.
A third group went to the castle of Soutomaior after a swim in
the river Verdugo. To finish the day, they went up to the
viewpoint of A Peneda to watch the sunset. Some of them still felt like going
to Vialia for dinner.
The Germans arrived at a
more prudent time: 19.55
in Vigo.
Little was left of the day.
With the accumulated
tiredness of the trip, but
with an immense desire to
see each other, they went to Vialia, to Mac Donald's to have a
hamburger and to go home to sleep and get strength for the
next day.

2. Monday 19 September 2022
The activities of the European Week in Vigo begin with
the presentations of the work done during the
previous months.
We started with an
ice-breaker activity in
which the students
had to construct sentences in the languages of the project and
read them in public, as well as naming each group in English and
sign language.
This was followed by presentations on the
central theme of the project, including an
exhibition of timelines in which the different
historical periods in the countries of the
participating schools could be compared.
We visited, in groups, each of the classes to present the European project to the whole school.
We also made a tour of Vigo. We started at the archaeological remains at the foot of O Castro
mountain. We continued through the city centre with a visit to the Sireno among other
monuments and we finished in the nautical area with the statue of Jules Verne.
As the guided tour finished at 19.00, we went to the city centre for chocolate with churros,
waffles and then most of us went home for dinner.

3. Tuesday 20 September 2022
Second day of work. This day we had to get
up a bit early. First of all, we went to visit the
cetáreas in the port of Vigo, one of the main
economic activities of the area where they
could see all kinds of seafood, how it is
preserved and its sale to all parts of the
Spanish territory.
From there, we went to Campo Lameiro to see and
identify petroglyphs, throw spears with propellers, as
well as witnessing a demonstration of how to make fire using Palaeolithic techniques.
After lunch we took advantage of the magnificent natural environment to swim in the nearby
river Lérez and enjoy a good time in its recreational area.
At 19.00 we left for Vigo where we would arrive around 20.00. It was not the end of the day for
most of us as we went for dinner at the Gran Vía shopping centre and a walk afterwards.

4. Wednesday 21 September 2022
This day was dedicated to the capital of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela. We had to get up early
as the bus left the school at 8.00 am. We arrived at the
Cidade da Cultura at around 9.30 where we had
arranged to meet David Barreiro, manager of INCIPIT
(Institute of Science and Heritage). He spoke to us
about the work of this institute, which is part of the CSI.
The
institute's
activities include theoretical, empirical and applied
research into the processes of formation and origin
of cultural heritage, its significance and meaning,
and its management and conservation problems.
Afterwards, we walked around this large
architectural complex where all kinds of meetings,
conferences and other cultural activities are held.
We went down to the city. Barreiro accompanied
us and continued with us explaining various
landmarks of the city until he left us in the
Obradoiro square itself, the place where pilgrims
arrive on the Camino de Santiago.
After the explanations, free time to eat, buy some gifts
and take a look at the rest of the city.
At 17.00 it is time to leave for O Grove, a fishing port in
the Arousa estuary, where a boat awaits us to take us on
a tour of the calm sea and see how oysters, scallops and
mussels are cultivated. We were able to enjoy a
succulent tasting of the latter.
Once we arrived on land, after an hour's walk along the
seafront, we returned to Vigo. Today we all had a family
dinner, we were introduced to some more members of the
families, we were given a taste of omelette,...

5. Thursday 22nd September 2022
Today it was also time to get up
early as we headed to another
archaeological site: San Cibrao
de Las. This site is known
because it has castrexos
remains coexisting with Roman
remains
In this place, the archaeologist and populariser
José Carlos Carrasco explained everything about
the castrexa culture with such expressiveness and
emotion that it was difficult not to be attentive
and interested in what he wanted to transmit to
us.
After the explanations we became
archaeologists and started to excavate and
then organise all the remains we had found.
After the explanations and our experience as
archaeologists we climbed the small hill
overlooking the interpretation centre to see
with our own eyes all the different
constructions and their arrangement in
height.
Lunch time is approaching and we are
still in San Cibrao de Las with an
expected suffocating heat. As our plan
for the day had it, we went to the river
beach of Leiro. Those who wanted to
took a dip in the river, then we had
lunch and some ice-creams in a
nearby bar.
At about six o'clock we left for Vigo where we would arrive
around 20.00. Many of us went to the A Laxe swing to watch the
sunset, others went to the shops in the city centre to do the last
shopping and once again most of us had dinner with our
families.

6. Friday 23rd September 2022
Today was a bit of a sad day as it was the last one. we
were all going to be together but we enjoyed it to the full.
We met at school for sports: basketball, brilé, badminton,
and we prepared everything we needed for the farewell
party in the afternoon. We were there the whole morning
until lunchtime. In the afternoon, some went to the beach
before going to the farewell party and some went straight to the beach.
We brought food and refreshments for the
farewell party. The party started with a video
summary of the European week. Afterwards, a
cake with the logo of the European week was cut
and handed out. Later on, we had an improvised
mini disco where Manuel (piano) and Lucas Antón
sang a song. When everything was coming to an end, one of the Greek teachers gave us a
demonstration of a traditional dance that we all
accompanied together with hand clapping. We stayed
dancing for a while when the parents left. When the
party was over, we went out with the Greeks, the Poles
and some
Germans to
dinner at the Vialia to say goodbye to the Greeks and
Dimitrios. We had a great time, but everyone ended
up crying. At 10 o'clock we went home because,
especially the Greeks, had to get up early.
Saturday 24 September 2022
The families hosting the
Greeks got up very early
because they had to go to
the airport as the Greeks
were leaving at 8:40 but we
had to be there at 6. We said
goodbye, it was very sad as
we had had a great time
together and we were going
to miss them a lot, but we
were left with the fact that it was an incredible experience and one that we will never forget.

7. Those who welcomed the
Germans, got up a little later, at
9:00 in the morning to be at the
airport at 10:00 and say goodbye
to this week full of emotions
.
Those who had Polish students still had one more day to enjoy. Some of them slept all morning
after a tiring week full of emotions and others took advantage of the day and went for a walk in
the Castrelos park and visited their Pazo. Others went to the Celta shop and others had lunch
out with their families. In the afternoon some students with their Poles went to watch the
football match in which Celta de Vigo played against Deportivo de la Coruña (1-1). And of course,
the last dinner in the Vialia to say goodbye to the Poles, but this time not all of them, some of
them couldn't stand up!
Sunday 25 September 2022
On Sunday morning we had to go to the Avenida da
Hispanidade because they had to leave and that was where
they were being picked up. We were taking pictures and
talking until they left, there were tears, hugs and sadness.
After a while everyone went home and we felt a bit strange.