I.E.S. Huelin
My trip to Palermo Young People, European Futures By Lola Garrido
2012-2014
My trip to Palermo by Lola Garrido
On November 7th, the day that I met my students at the airport on our way to Palermo, I couldn’t imagine what a lovely experience it was going to be. It always happens when you go on a trip that you get a bit nervous and excited about what is going to happen. Watching my students Livia, Migue and Riki, who, on our arrival at Palermo airport, confessed to be a little bit nervous, reminded me of the first time I went abroad, many years back in time but, sharing with them the same feelings I had one day. I must have been my students’ age the very first time I set off to England with the same purpose as theirs, to improve the language and get to know a new culture and a new world. While we were waiting for our suitcases to be delivered, we knew that behind that big door, the host families would be waiting for us, how exciting! will I make myself understood? What will they be like? Shall I get on well with my twin? What about if I don’t like the food? The same questions I made myself once, back in time. But finally the door opened, the ice broke, the first look, first greetings, and that’s it! The hardest part of the trip is over. From now on, those families will be their families and their twin friends for the rest of the trip, and it happens that you seem to know them forever. The same feeling comes back at the end of the trip, when you don’t want to leave your new friends behind. We lived intense days that we will never forget as far as our memories go. They will always stay there; the people we talked to, the people we lived with, the places we visited, and the conversations we had. Everything will remain in our memories as part of the heritage of life. Apart from the personal level, it is the professional one. Being able to share your teaching experiences with other colleagues from such different places as Poland, Finland, Germany, Italy and England, has been very enriching and rewarding. We had talks that dealt with different aspects of our educational systems, our similarities, our differences. In short, a very enjoyable and interesting way to share ideas on the educational issue with people from so many countries; an experience that benefits you both, at a personal and at a professional level and that every teacher in our community should have the chance to have.