Art for inclusion

In September we were told we had to host foreign students for an Erasmus project. A few days before they arrived, we had a thousand doubts about what the boys we hosted would be like, we didn't know who would come to our house. Our teachers after sent us their email and the first thing we did, was looking for them on social networks and start chatting; all of them seemed quite nice. They arrived on Sunday, November 17th, we  picked them up in front of our school, then we went home and most of us established a  great relationships immediately. In the evening we had a welcome party at our school, where all the boys of various nationalities met.

On Monday 18^th we met at school and visited all the institutes: ITE, ITT and IPIA. Then we made a tour of Alatri, we visited the exhibitions in the show rooms of the town, the boys took photos and videos. We got back home at dinner time and had them taste our typical dishes cooked by our family.

On Tuesday 19th, we went to school as usual and we divided into groups to get to know each other and to carry out activities. The topic was “First Impressions, what do you know? What have you heard” and we compared all the stereoptypes we had about our different countries. It was  really interesting but soon in the afternoon, we went to Frosinone to the Academy of Fine Arts, it was great but a bit tiring

On Wednesday 20 we went to Rome. It was amazing, we visited the Museum of Arts and popular traditions, full of traditional clothes and tools. Then we went to the Colosseum but most of us had already seen it. For our foreign friends was the first time they saw the symbol of Rome; we walk to Piazza Venezia, Piazza di Spagna , with the famous stairs and Trevi Fountain. We were so tired that we slept all the time on the journey back.

On Thursday 21, in the morning we had an activity with our teachers “The diversity month” where we defined the concept of diversity.

On Friday 22 we had a convention at school “Alatri culture, tradition and Europe” with a full agenda: our headmistress prof. ssa Annamaria Greco welcomed and introduced the speakers: a tour guide Ms Miriam Minnucci  and a student, Claudia Stan, talked about the miracle of “Ostia Incarnata”; Ms Marilinda Minnucci explained the Second World War in Alatri and the concentration camp of Fraschette. It was very interesting to listen to Mrs Sarah Buckley, teacher of English who told us about her decision to come to live in Alatri from UK. Finally two students, Emanuele Pavia and Roberta di Micco, related on their experience of  working internship abroad, in Bulgary, where they spent three months in an Erasmus+ project coordinated by our school.

After a free afternoon, we had a party for students, teachers and parents.

It was great but sad at the same time. We didn’t want that this wonderful week was going to finish and the following days was much more desolating: we felt very alone without our new friends. They left on Sunday morning 23. Now we are waiting for our mobility, we are eager to visit their country and to have fun again with them.

Hey, my name is Thao and I will tell you guys my experience about my time, when I was in Italy.

I learned a lot of new things about Italy, when I was there. Erasmus+ is one of the most interesting experiences I have ever known and I am glad to be a part of this project.

To meet new people is always nice, but to see how the culture is, is also very interesting. When we arrived in Rome and drove to Alatri to the school the teachers came outside and welcomed us. At this night we got an opening party at school. There was also a lot of traditional food and I can assure you that the Pizza was really delicious.

We visited a lot of museums about the Italian art. It was very nice to see all these works of art because they were very old. And to see how these people kept them all the time is very useful because they showed us that we should not forget our past.

The program at school was also very informative. We got five different cultures and everyone of us talked and showed something about their culture.

But on Tuesday I got sick and had a fever, so I had to stay at home. My host family cared a lot about me and I am very thankful for that.

My host family was really warm-hearted and I am very thankful for that. I felt very comfortable there.

On Wednesday we went to Rome and it was very beautiful there. We saw a lot of sights.  I will come back to Rome  one day because I really liked this city.

All in all I can tell you, that I will never forget this experience and that I really hope to see some of the people I met there in Germany again.

-Thao Pham