Sofia, Bulgaria, High-school no 15 "Adam Mitskevich" C2 meeting: "My student portfolio helps me learn"
On the 19th of June, me, my friends, and our teachers have started a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria for an Erasmus+ project. First days I spent with my group because the whole project started on 21st of June. Since the day one I met many new people and I’ve discovered a big part of Bulgarian culture. All guests were living in a hotel in Bankya where we were socializing with other students. The most interesting part of the trip was trips to other cities like Plovdiv and Koprivshitsa. I’m glad that I had an opportunity to take part in that project and I’m sure I won’t forget that experience for the rest of my life. That week was very inspiring, and the culture of Bulgaria was interesting for me.
Dominik Łuć
In the last week of the school year I went to Bulgaria as part of the Erasmus+ project. I had been looking forward to this trip for a long time because for me Erasmus+ is a great idea for personal development, improving my language, meeting people from all over the world and having fun learning. It was a great opportunity to learn about the culture, people and customs of the country and visit beautiful places. The wonderful cities, museums and beautiful trails we visited were very interesting and worth seeing. We also learned a lot about Sofia through lessons in mixed groups. The participants from other countries ( Romania, Turkey, Italy and of course Bulgaria) were very nice and communicative, so we had a lot of fun and worked together. The exchange helped me to broaden my horizons. In my opinion, this amazing experience taught us a lot and I will definitely remember it for life.
Jan Dmochowski
Two weeks ago, I was in Bulgaria. The weather there was really nice, so I visited many ii places e.g. Plovdiv and Koprivshitsa. These places were really inspiring to learn English more . Over there I met my friends from Turkey. I am grateful that I could participate in this project, because I met many intelligent and open-minded people. This project allowed me to get to know myself better and unlocked my barrier to speaking English.
Beata Kruk
Two weeks ago I was in Bulgaria with an Erasmus + project. The weather conditions in Bulgaria were rather favorable except maybe for one day. I lived in an Hotel in Bankya, which is a very nice town with a vibrant life all the time. I visited a lot of interesting places such as the National Museum in Sofia and the town of Plovdiv. This trip helped me a lot to open up and not be afraid to speak more English. Thanks to it I met very interesting and friendly people.
Joanna Podkańska
Two weeks ago I visited Bulgaria as part of the Erasmus + project. The weather was beautiful and perfect for sightseeing. We had the opportunity to visit interesting places, including Plovdiv and Koprivshtitza. Working in international groups and not only have I had the opportunity to meet many people from other countries. This trip allowed me to unlock my language block and unforgettable experiences.
Amelia Teleon
Travel diary: mental snapshots of the sights and historical landmarks visited within Erasmus+ project (Bulgaria, 2022)
Ștefan Tollas, VII B grade
I would like to begin by confessing the fact that these days spent far away from home, surrounded by many ethnic groups, dialects and people from different corners of the world are and will remain one of the most beautiful and special experiences in my entire life.
I decided to describe to you the places that I visited during this project, starting with the host school, HIGH SCHOOL nr.15 „Adam Miskevici”. It is a modern school, every class having the latest technology aimed to help students learn easier and also have fun. The people I met were polite, friendly and organized a great welcoming meeting, with an unforgettable music show.
The landmarks we visited in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria were: ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKI CATHEDRAL, RUSSIAN CHURCH, IVAN VAZOV NATIONAL THEATRE, NATIONAL ETHNOGRAFIC MUSEUM and THE MUNICIPALITY OF BANKYA.
Now I would like to present to you favourite places I had the opportunity to visit during my Bulgarian Erasmus+ mobility. By far my fafourite was THETHE CITY PLOVDIV ause I was impressed by its architecture and rich history. I was also impressed by the mountain village KOPRIVSHTITZA, having the vibe of a place in Italy, despite the fact thathat it located in the heart of the Balkanic Mountains.
Another interesting fact is that HIGH SCHOOL Nr.78 is considered to be the biggest school in the Balkanic Peninsula. Honestly, it represents the perfect model of a school where I and many other students would aspire to study.
This ERASMUS+ experience offered me the unique occasion to find many things about places and people from Bulgaria and to connect with incredible people from other parts of the world.
About Erasmus + hosts and my experience in Sofia
Mara Pop, V-th A grade student
I recently joined an international partnership activity, carried out through the Erasmus + program. I’m still thinking about everything that happened to me. The school that hosted this meeting was High School no. 15 “Adam Mitskevich” from Sofia, Bulgaria. The hosts prepared for us many beautiful activities, I do not even know which was my favourite one, because each of them was highly interesting.
From the very beginning, we had a special welcoming event. Just before entering the host school, there was a wonderful concert with vocal performance numbers and folk dances. At the school entrance, two of the host students, dressed in folk costumes greeted us in a traditional way with bread and honey.
We walked around the school for a while. It looked absolutely fantastic. I really loved the fact that there were a lot of plants in the school, but something I particularly appreciated was a short play performed especially for us. It was about Bulgarian students and immigrants who become friends despite ethnic differences. Their classrooms were beautifully adorned with handmade decorations made by one of the teachers who teach there. The technical equipment of the school was impressive. It was the first time I saw augmented reality labs.
Beyond artistic shows, visits and official moments, Erasmus + means didactic activities, in other words, lessons or learning workshops. My favourite activity was that in which the whole international team was divided into a mixed group according to colours: red, green, yellow and blue. Each group received different tasks. We had to do a puzzle about the places we saw during our visits to the historic centre of Sofia. Each team received a tourist landmark about which we had to write a few details. I was on the green team. Our puzzle was a bit complicated, but we managed to finish it. My teammates were very nice, even if we were the penultimate team that finished. We didn’t really care to finish it quickly, we had a lot of fun! I think what made the activity special was the fact that we were different.
This Erasmus + meeting was my first experience in this project and, to be honest, I was overwhelmed at how complex it was. The energy that people had was great. They really made you feel included. I know that for some, it’s hard to be away from home, and for me, it’s like that, but not this time. I didn’t have much time to think about it. I always talked to someone or just sang with friends while travelling. Many times we would think about what we can all do after returning to the teacher training center where we were accommodated. We formed new friendships, and now, even after the international mobility had ended, we kept in touch with each other.
I became aware that Erasmus + is a wonderful story about students and schools, about learning with other students from around Europe, demonstrating the values of the school in your country, about how beautiful it is to communicate with others, and about the special code of friendship that must thrive between people.
About Erasmus + hosts and my experience in Sofia
I recently joined an international partnership activity, carried out through the Erasmus + program. I’m still thinking about everything that happened to me. The school that hosted this meeting was High School no. 15 “Adam Mitskevich” from Sofia, Bulgaria. The hosts prepared for us many beautiful activities, I do not even know which was my favourite one, because each of them was highly interesting.
From the very beginning, we had a special welcoming event. Just before entering the host school, there was a wonderful concert with vocal performance numbers and folk dances. At the school entrance, two of the host students, dressed in folk costumes greeted us in a traditional way with bread and honey.
We walked around the school for a while. It looked absolutely fantastic. I really loved the fact that there were a lot of plants in the school, but something I particularly appreciated was a short play performed especially for us. It was about Bulgarian students and immigrants who become friends despite ethnic differences. Their classrooms were beautifully adorned with handmade decorations made by one of the teachers who teach there. The technical equipment of the school was impressive. It was the first time I saw augmented reality labs.
Beyond artistic shows, visits and official moments, Erasmus + means didactic activities, in other words, lessons or learning workshops. My favourite activity was that in which the whole international team was divided into a mixed group according to colours: red, green, yellow and blue. Each group received different tasks. We had to do a puzzle about the places we saw during our visits to the historic centre of Sofia. Each team received a tourist landmark about which we had to write a few details. I was on the green team. Our puzzle was a bit complicated, but we managed to finish it. My teammates were very nice, even if we were the penultimate team that finished. We didn’t really care to finish it quickly, we had a lot of fun! I think what made the activity special was the fact that we were different.
This Erasmus + meeting was my first experience in this project and, to be honest, I was overwhelmed at how complex it was. The energy that people had was great. They really made you feel included. I know that for some, it’s hard to be away from home, and for me, it’s like that, but not this time. I didn’t have much time to think about it. I always talked to someone or just sang with friends while travelling. Many times we would think about what we can all do after returning to the teacher training center where we were accommodated. We formed new friendships, and now, even after the international mobility had ended, we kept in touch with each other.
I became aware that Erasmus + is a wonderful story about students and schools, about learning with other students from around Europe, demonstrating the values of the school in your country, about how beautiful it is to communicate with others, and about the special code of friendship that must thrive between people.
I learned a valuable lesson through a special context. I’m sure I’ll carry it with me for the rest of my life.
Aris Mureșan, VI D grade, ”Avram Iancu” Secondary School
A MAGICAL WEEK
I was very excited to see a new country before going to Sofia. It was a very good experience for me to see different cultures, taste traditional dishes, and visit historical places. One of the biggest contributions of the erasmus + project to me is to make new friends. I have made great friends that I will never forget. I am really happy to know them. Even though our project is over, staying in touch and continuing our friendship tells me that this is not goodbye. I really enjoyed my week in Bulgaria. I was really happy to be aware of the fact that I added information to myself in the team work we did at school. Especially the fact that we did not speak our own language for a week and tried to communicate in English contributed to our knowledge of English. I must say that it connects me, who loves English very much, to English even more. Making public presentations strengthened my self-confidence and made me a more social person. When I look back, I will have memories that I will remember remember with happiness and longing.
İlke Eylul GENCER
A SPLENDID WEEK IN BULGARIA
2 weeks ago me, my friends and our teachers have visited Bulgaria. I can precisely say that it was one of my best experiences in my life. Meeting new people, visiting historical places, getting know to new cultures… These were just one of the important things I could count. The activities were very well organized and compiled that we enjoyed a lot. It was very beneficial to us to improve our English skills. We didn’t have any problems to get socialize and I personally think that this atmosphere was proper to get socialize. We were very intrigued to see new places in Bulgaria and our feelings had never changed until the last day of our trip. We all hope that we will have chance to see the quintessential places again in the future. We visited around, we had fun, we made new friends and get socialized simultaneously.
Duyguı ARKIS
Unforgetable Moments
It was a very good experience for me to see a new country and meet different people. we had a great time together. Speaking English other than our native language and trying to express ourselves really improved us. This experience is very important in our life. The erasmus+ project has given us new opportunities to express ourselves. I enjoyed visiting the historical places of Sofia. I had unforgettable times when I was in Bulgaria. And I’ve made friends that I want to keep in touch with from now on. When I remember my memories, my heart will be filled with happiness.
Essİz Bengi KUREK
My impressions of Sofia:
I really enjoyed visiting another country and it was really fun. Sofia is a really beautiful city. I really loved the school. They were very kind to all of us. My favorite part was students singing and showing us the tradition of folk dance. Also I made lots of friends and I am still in contact with them.
Oyku Gizem KUSMUS
My first impressions of Sofia
Everyting was great. It is a beautiful city and very modern. First we went to St. Alexander Cathedral. The interior design was so beautiful and ethereal. Then we visited other churches as well. Some important people greeted us and gave us our certificates, the concert was great. Our trip to Plovdiv was magical. The buildings were old but I really admired them. We visited native houses in Koprivshtitsa. Their culture, clothes and furniture are really impressive. In conclusion I really loved this trip, the food and I would love to come here again.All the teachers and students in the host school were very hospitable and congenial.
DEGNE SU CINAR
First of all,the place we stayed in Bulgaria was very nice and clean. We didn’t have any problems there. Then we visited 2 schools. We saw the classes and learned what they did at school. I think it was pretty cool. We visited important places in Sophia and Plovdiv. We learned the history of the places we visited. We gathered at the teacher’s house and did activities. We did puzzeles,introduced ourselves and had a quiz. They made us very welcome there. The teachers there were very good. They were very well prepared. We had good days together.
Hamza from Istanbul Team
We arrived in Bulgaria on Tuesday. We visited the high school in Bankya. The school was very nice. The students and the music teacher gave us a small concert. We visited the historical places of Sofia. Sofia was very beautiful. I liked the concert performed by the students very much. We visited the Bankya on Wednesday and had fun. We met students from different countries. We did a workshop with our teammates. We made a puzzle about the historical places of Bulgarista in the workshop. We had a festive dinner together on Thursday. We chatted together. We traveled on Friday and had fun. We left Bulgaria on Saturday. I would like to go to Bulgaria again. It is a very beautiful country.
Tanem from Istanbul Team
Among the places we visited, I think I liked the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral the most. The architecture of the cathedral was really beautiful. Likewise, I can say that I like the architecture of the national theater. It was rainy when we went to Plovdiv, so I didn’t look around much when we visited the old houses of Plovdiv, but the ethnography museum was really nice, I think the workshop we did was really fun and helped us socialize a lot.
Şevval from Istanbul Team
Firstly, I am so happy to be in Bulgaria. İt really pleased me to see and know my neighboring country. İ travelled around Sofia in general. And it was an advanced city. Also, some of the places I visited were similar to the places of my country. The places I remember the most were churches and schools. The performances in schools were telling about the culture of Bulgaria and it was very nice for this project. Speaking of explaining our culture, I intriouduced my country at the teachers house where I stayed. And I listened to the introduction of countries such as İtaly, Romania, Poland.
After that, we played educational games. The teachers house was a nice place, except the rooms were small.
And finally, it was a nice project. İt helped ne to know and learn about countries. And the fun activites were pretty good too. That’s all i’m goint to say. İ hope I can participate in this project again.
Ebrar Ceren Yaylı from Istanbul team
Hello, first of all, thank you for giving us such an opportunity. In this way, for the first time, we had the opportunity to spend time together with people from different countries.
We visited the historical places of Sofia. And I loved it so much. The place where we stayed was clean and comfortable. We had fun times in the workshop. We had the opportunity to meet other friends a place I would want to come and see if I have the opportunity again. Thank you again to everyone who gave us this opportunity.
Nazlı Demirel from Istanbul Team
