From Portugal to Italy for a week between Sommariva Bosco, Sanfrè and Ceresole, the three locations of the “Arpino” Comprehensive Institute where sixteen boys and girls from the Vila Nova de Famalicao school met with their classmates, comparing experiences, making friends and discovering different ways of studying.
It is the magic of Erasmus, the cultural exchange project which, even on this occasion, has allowed many teenagers to concretely understand what it means to feel part of the European Union.
The Portuguese student delegation, led by two teachers and a school assistant, arrived on Saturday 21st March in the late afternoon, and then left on the 27th. They visited Turin, met the mayors of the area and obviously became protagonists of various activities set up by their peers in the three complexes.
“The whole institute was involved in the welcome – explain Sabina Dadone, Chiara Mitton and Francesca Pivano, the teachers coordinating the project -, from the yoga lesson in the yurt inside the courtyard of the Sommariva headquarters to the walk along the fairy tale path, from the visit to the Mubatt museum in Ceresole to the show of girls and boys from the primary school in Sanfrè, from the workshops to the simple sharing of lunch in the canteen”.
Each time it took some time for the groups to overcome their respective shyness but, in English or in the universal language of youth, Italians and Portuguese soon learned to communicate, play and laugh together.
“They are experiences that accompany the growth of our students in a profound way, opening authentic spaces of discovery, autonomy and relationship – states Anna Giordana, Director of IC Arpino –. Our Institute has been investing in Erasmus courses for some time as a concrete opportunity to open up to the world and intends to continue to do so, in the belief that only through a living network, made up of families, schools and territories, can truly significant educational opportunities be built.”