First Visit. Greece.

6th November….

After a long journey …. the students from Denmark, Poland and Spain arrived safely in Athens on Sunday 5 November. The host families picked them up on time and, although all participants were very nervous, everything went smoothly.
On the 6th November, the Athens project started to take its first steps; to begin with, the 2nd prototypo gymnasium athinon and all its members were waiting for us with gifts, decoration items in the assembly hall, hand-decorated precious stones, personalised ID cards… quite a welcome!

Afterwards, the students were divided into groups and started the first activity: the project song, dedicated to recycling. Then, the next activity consisted of learning words related to recycling, environment, sustainability or the protection of our environment in the five languages present in the project: English, Danish, Polish, Spanish and Greek.
The highlight of the morning was the choice of the logo that would identify the project. Previously, the participants had selected the winning logo for the project, which led to a final vote on the project, with the Greek logo being the winner. This logo was chosen by all those present for embodying the values of the project, such as cooperation, friendship, equality and sustainability. Once this vote was done, another surprise awaited us… the Greek families had not prepared a meal.

After the wonderful lunch provided by the host partners, the next point in the work programme of our project was the setting of some talks on recycling habits and respect for the environment, giving the participating partners the opportunity to compare their lifestyles at first hand. The differences were noticeable, and the students were able to observe and perceive how the reality around us is not as desirable as we would like to think…There were huge differences in our recycling habits!
Finally, the four schools involved in the project visited a neighbourhood building to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment. This initiative is part of a pilot project of the Athens City Council in order to encourage recycling among its neighbours. First day passed!