This is the last time you’ll hear from us. Today has been a very sad day for us due to having to say goodbye to a lot of new friends whom we might never see again. Unfortunately, some of us couldn’t go to school on the last day because one of our friends felt sick, so her roommate and one of our teachers stayed at the hotel with her. Thankfully she feels better now. At first, we took the bus, arrived at school and had a P.E. class with the Spanish students. We were busy jumping ropes and getting to know each other, before they taught us some Spanish games that they used to play when they were little kids. During the break we met some of the students we interacted the most with and said our last goodbye which was heartbreaking, knowing that we were not going to see each other soon or maybe never again. We continued the day with our graduation papers that some of us, doing an amazing job, had already finished. I am so proud of my friends! When the break came we were invited to receive our Erasmus Participation Certificates with our teachers who also got very nice presents. There were two other Spanish teachers and the principal of the school, who told us such beautiful words about this experience, being so pleased with us, hoping to meet again soon. Our teachers were so happy and proud of us. We worked on our final papers a little more, before we had lunch at our favourite restaurant with two of the Spanish teachers who took part in the project. After we finished, we said our last goodbye to our friend Ruben who always served us delicious food and took great care of us, so saying goodbye was very sad and hard.
On our way to the hotel we stopped at some souvenir shops near our hotel, we went to a supermarket to buy some supplies and then we started packing. After we packed, we were waiting for the transfer ride to the airport, while playing cards like we used to every night before sleep.
This project helped us achieve a beautiful experience in which we have learnt so many things about Spain and the daily routine of other cultures, observing many differences between our schedules. It has also helped us see a tiny part of the world, it has helped us improve our communication skills, teaching us how to interact with foreign students by developing our social skills and our English. We have also met beautiful souls, students that made us feel so welcomed and so well taken care of, even if some of them didn’t speak English very well. It was very hard for us to say goodbye and for them as well, because we have built beautiful connections. That’s why we will keep in touch and hope to meet again. Maybe one day, they will come to Timisoara, because some of them, even Spanish teachers have told us they are very excited to visit. I offered two souvenirs, one to a Spanish girl and the other one to a girl from the Netherlands and received one back.
We have learnt so much from this experience from many points of view, we absolutely loved it! It felt heartbreaking to leave, but we are also very happy we had the chance to live moments like these. - Tania Deak, 11 U grade