Cyprus? As a destination for an English class language trip? Yeah, we were confused too \u2013 but also kind of excited. Sunny landscapes, warm temperatures, the seaside, and\u2026 speaking English? Seemed a bit random at first. But hey, we went with it. Turns out, it was surprisingly useful! Here’s what we actually did there \u2013 and how it helped us with using our English skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the school cafeteria and started to meet the students there. We introduced ourselves and talked about the differences of the school system in Austria and Cyprus. Later that morning, we went to a pottery workshop, where we had the chance to make our own sculptures from clay. Also, with the help of the owner of the shop, everyone made a cup, bowl or a vase on the spinning wheel. In the end, everyone was proud of their creations and we had the chance to paint them on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We carried on with the programme by visiting the city \u2013 Paralimni. Unlike usual guides, ours gave us a few tasks to learn more about the town in an engaging way. For instance, we had to find the museum of art and take a selfie, to later send a photo as proof to our teacher. My absolute favourite was the recording of a TikTok video of a short dance to Greek music, and you can imagine how it turned out 😊 This was the first time many of us made their own TikTok, so we had loads of fun. All in all, a very creative way to learn about a new town! 😉<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wednesday was probably the most exciting day of the week. At the Xenion highschool, we took part in the school assembly and watched many presentations by upper grade students. For one, they were about the history of Cyprus in Greek – which of course we couldn\u2019t understand, but being a bilingual environment, thankfully there were subtitles translating the content to English. For the other, there was also a very informative presentation about the topic of Genetics. After the local students\u2018 presentations, finally it was our turn. We had to talk about Austria in front the whole school in English. Sounds really crazy, right? And we were so nervous, but fortunately, we did great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After our presentation, the principal had an important announcement to make\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery action has a reaction! You\u2019ve already learned it in physics!\u201c<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Apparently, because of some grave incident, the Year 7 students weren\u2019t allowed to perform on the show the following day. Some commotion ensued, but luckily, he only meant it jokingly and it was kind of a \u201cteaser\u201c for the said show.Later that afternoon, we went to a local flour mill and baking workshop where we prepared \u201cPita tis satzis\u201c a really tasty typically Cypriot pie with cinnamon and honey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p> Thursday was an interesting day! First of all, it was a special day, the Greek festival called Tsiknopempti<\/em><\/strong>. In Greek culture, Tsiknopempti is the Thursday before the start of the fasting period before Easter. Every year, there is a big party at school and all students are allowed to wear casual clothes or even costumes, while usually, they wear their school uniforms. There were many pupils doing their thing like DJ-ing, barbecuing, playing or just hanging out together. Our boys\u2019 group decided to join other students playing tug of war, and of course we won! In the afternoon, we went to Ayia Napa, a sea-side city nearby. There were many cats and also Orange-trees. Nikola from our class also tried one (it was very sour\u2026). After taking a LOT of pictures (thank you Mrs. W\u00e4chter-Raulic 😊), we finally went back to the boarding house and decided to play board games with a few students from Xenion highschool, one of them being the son of Mr. George, the Principal😬). Also, Pavle decided to eat 6 bananas in one sitting🍌 which led to the quote below\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p> \u201dAlright \u2013 enough bananas already for today, Pavle!\u201d Mrs. W\u00e4chter-Raulic<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Friday, a school excursion was scheduled for the upper forms and we were able to join the Year 4 group. The goal was to get a lot of input about the religious history of Cyprus. After a tour of several churches and historical sites we drove to the mall \u201dMetropolis\u201d in Larnaka and had our lunchbreak there because of the bad weather. After that, we had our second part of the pottery workshop where we painted our self-made bowls and vases. We ended the day by playing board games with some students from the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Saturday we had a long day ahead of us because we were travelling to the other side of the island, a city called Paphos. On the bus trip to our final destination we stopped three times to see some famous archaeological and historical sites, but also ones of Cyprus\u2019 nature\u2019s beauty. In Limassol we had our lunch break and before we headed back home, we explored the Tombs of Kings where we also had a great view of the beach with its huge winter waves. After a long bus ride back home and a good dinner at the boarding house we enjoyed our last evening together, playing billiard and ping pong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, our trip to Cyprus was a new experience for us. The week in Cyprus has introduced us to a different school system and gave us the opportunity to connect with local students. Although we were skeptical at first, spending our English language trip in Cyprus, it turned out to be a great way to improve our English-speaking skills and learn more about another European culture that we wouldn\u2019t have been able to experience in this close and personal way without this trip. We are very thankful for the support from Erasmus+!<\/p>\n\n\n