Alkmaar (Países Bajos) de noviembre de 2015 Staatliche Fachoberschule de Friedberg (Alemania) Osg Willemblaeu de Alkmaar (Países Bajos) Istituto Istruzione Secondaria Superiore Aldo Moro de Trani (Italia) IES Juan de Herrera de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (España)

Stand up! Europe´s youth unites against discrimination

FRIDAY 13 On Friday we met at school really early in the morning to go to the airport. When we got there we took the plane and took off to The Netherlands! We were all really excited about the trip. At Amsterdam airport we had to meet the Italians. At first we were really shy but little by little we started making friends with them. We took a train that took us to the Alkmaar train station, and we met the Dutch teachers there, they were really nice and introduced themselves straight away. After that they took us to a nice cafe where we got a really nice lunch. And when we finished they took us to the school by car where we were going to meet our partners. The school looked so cool to us, it was huge and really nice. We waited for a little while and our families started coming in and getting to know us. Meanwhile they gave us some Dutch cake and something to drink. When we were all there with our host families we left to our houses. The fun had just started! Teresa

SATURDAY 14 Saturday was one of my favorite days in Holland. This day was the second day that we were there, and at by then we were already very fond of Dutch students. The day started with our families, we had breakfast with them. After that, our families took us to the city center where we met up with the other mates. At this time, in Holland Christmas time was starting, and Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) arrived in town announcing he would bring presents to the children on 5 December. The Dutch friends took us on a tour by the city and we tried a lot of typical food, especially cheese. We loved a lot the one called Old Amsterdam. In the evening Dutch and Spanish people went to have dinner at McDonalds, so early! I think that it might have been half past six. Later, we met the others and the teachers to go bowling at 9 o’clock. It was the first time I played bowling and it was a great experience. To finish the day, my Dutch partner’s sister threw a party for the Erasmus people at her place. That night I met a lot of people and they showed me many things about their country and traditions. I will always remember this day with great affection. Victoria

SUNDAY 15 Yared and I went to Matthijs home. When we were there, we played on the playstation and later, we moved to Yared´s house. When we were there, we met up Martin, Bo, Matthijs and Toni, and Yared´s father invited everybody to have dinner in the house. His father cooked bacon pancakes, apple pancakes and cheese pancakes for dinner. That was delicious. Finally, all of us went to the cinema to watch a new 3D film called “The Martian”. It was a great way to end that fantastic weekend. Pablo & Toni

MONDAY 16 In the morning, we went to the school and showed our project works to the other students. The rest of the day, we visited Amsterdam with the students who were taking part in this project. Before leaving, the Dutch teachers divided us into two groups: a group visited Anne Frank’s house and the other one visited the National Maritime Museum (Scheepvaartmuseum). After seeing these two very nice sites, we went on a tour of Amsterdam, and we saw some places related to the Nazi occupation during the Second World War. After that, we had time to buy some souvenirs and have dinner. Finally, we took a bus back to Alkmaar and slept at the home of our hosts. It was a very tiring day and we had to walk a lot and when we got home we were exhausted. I believe that this project, the trip and the opportunity to share time with students from other European countries has been an incredible experience that many people should also enjoy. I think we learned because we had only one way to communicate to relate to people. From our point of view, it was one of the best days. Angélica & Alejandra

TUESDAY 17 On Tuesday, November 17th, in the morning at Willem Blaeu school we had 4 activities all countries together. After some free time we made two groups, one group went to a talk given by two people from the LGBT community, and the other group was in the computer area finishing an activity we had begun the previous day. When these activities ended up we had a break and then we watched a film about an experiment related to discrimination. The experiment is based on discrimination by eye colour ( Jane Elliott’s blue/brown eyes exercise We discussed about racism. After that we had an activity organized by the German students which consisted of making groups with a person from each country and discussing several questions that they had done. When this activity ended each country met separately to discuss the questions that would be asked the following day to the Mayor of Alkmaar. We prepared a question about the imminent arrival of a group of immigrants to the city. After these activities each student went with their host. In my case, I went out for dinner with her and one of her friends, and then we met up with almost all the participants of this meeting. It was a very nice day. Ana

WEDNESDAY 18 On Wednesday we were received by the mayor of Alkmaar. We were at the front door of the town hall, waiting for someone to open the door. We arrived at the room where the interview would take place, and they offered us a cup of coffee. The interview started and, the Mayor answered the questions very well. When we finished our teachers gave us free time, telling us that we had to be at the school at 13:30. In our free time we ate something and we finished our last shopping. Then we arrived at the school and then we started walking to a place we didn´t know, it was a surprise. When we arrived at the place we realized that we´re going to ice-skating. The rink was incredibly huge, it was awesome, I really liked it. At six o’clock we had a big dinner with the group, we ate, sang and exchanged presents. Unfortunately our trip was about to end. Martín

THURSDAY 19 We felt sad the last day I was in Holland, because it had been a great week. We had made a lot of new friends from different countries that maybe we would never see again. I woke up at seven o’clock, because we had to be at the train station at eight. We took a train to go to the airport and we arrived there at ten. We checked out and we had lunch. The plane took off around half past four. The trip was a little hectic, because there were some turbulences. Finally we arrived in Madrid. We were still sad but we were also happy because we were going to see our families Yael & Juan