Exchange H4TTO in Reghin.
Tuesday April 10th Zoë, Arvid, Joelle, Rowan, Justin, Joey and Almir flew from Eindhoven to Cluj-Napoca. Two teachers from Lucian Blaga Highschool were waiting for us to take us to Reghin by bus. At the school we met our hosts and their parents who were happy to take us home for a welcoming meal.
Next day we met up at school and started with team building activities. The Englis class after that was also rather active. At noon we had a meeting with the Mayor in the town hall. We had prepared some questions which were answered in a way politicians all over the world do. The violin shop that we visited in the afternoon was owned by the host family of Rowan. It was impressive to see the with how much love the instruments are being made. The results of the sight seeing will be shown at the feedback-time on Friday.
Thursday morning we first had a crafts workshop at school where we painted our t-shirts in a traditional way. (We will have the results tomorrow.) After that we went to the Mociar forest which has the oldest oak trees in the region. The walk was long and hot. As we arrived at the Forestry High School they welcomed us in a traditional way with freshly baked bread and salt, and there also was a traditional dance group and a little orchestra which performed for us and finally invited us to take part in the dance. We had a warm lunch at the school canteen and then left for Lapusna. Here we enjoyed not only the fresh air but also the architecture and the history of the hunting lodge of the Rumanian kings. On our way back to Reghin we had a drink from a forest well-spring.
Our last school day in Rumania, Friday, started with a history lesson on communism in Rumania. The teacher had asked some of her students to prepare this subject by answering questions of the Dutch students. We learned about the hard times during the communist regime in this country. The subject during the second hour was Rumanian. We learned the different greetings, how to introduce oneself and how to count from one to ten, of course all in Rumanian. Finally we evaluated the activities of the past three days, so the teachers can improve the exchanges in the future. After a lunch in the school canteen each of us spent the afternoon with the host family.
Saturday at ten we left for the airport and after a nice flight we all returned home in the afternoon. We thank the teachers, students and their parents of Lucian Blaga who provided us with this succesful exchange.
pictures can be seen here