Reporting by Sara Vehovar & Zala Gazvoda
On the 2nd April 2016 an adventurous crew from Franjo Malgaj Primary School set sail to Poland. We got to Vienna by a school van and from there we continued our journey by a train to Krakow. The night on the train was pretty interesting, but it was really great that we managed to sleep on it. In Krakow we spent most of our time in a café, playing a game called “Kaj bi bilo, če bi …”.
We took a bus from Krakow to Gorlice. That was our least comfortable way to travel, but still we all took a short nap on it, which gave us strength for the meeting with our hosts. It was a close cut because otherwise we wouldn’t even make it to Gorlice since our beloved teachers lost their orientation. Even when we finally got to Gorlice we didn’t go off on the correct bus stop, so we had to take a short walk around Gorlice. When our amazing hosts came to us our paths separated. Some of us went for a walk, others to the local church for a concert, and some were only eating at their host’s home.
It is the second day in Poland.
At first we came to school by cars, buses, on foot or any other way. Then we met again. We officially opened the meeting in Poland. They showed us their 110 years old school and we learned a lot of new things about Poland. Then we went for a short walk through their classrooms. Afterwards we had some free time to play volleyball, basketball and other fun activities. But the fun had to end because we were divided into groups and went to the classrooms for english lessons. There we were together with students from the third year and they were solving working sheets with us. We were also talking about ourselves.
Around 1 p.m. we went to a restaurant named “Dark pub” for lunch and we physically prepared ourselves for the game, which our hosts prepared for us. We were in different groups again and we went for a short orientation around Gorlice which lasted two hours. It was very funny and during the game we met a lot of people. After this game, they announced the winner and we were free to go home but of course nobody wanted to do that, so most of us went to a restaurant and then to the store to get some food and drinks for tomorrow. But at last we had to, although not happy with it, separate and slowly go home.
The third day of our mission has sadly already passed now. It was quite exhausting since it started at 7.30 am, and ended at about 11.00 pm. We went to Krakow with our favourite thing to travel with – the bus. This way was much more comfortable than the first one although it took us two hours. A guide showed us around Krakow and presented interesting history. We were free for almost four hours, so we took a bite of pizza and kebab. Then we bought some souvenirs for our families and took a short walk around the park. We went to a small town Niepolomice where we observed the Sun, Jupiter and its moons. We were also in a small planetarium where we all almost took a short nap. We ended our day with a ride back to Gorlice and we went totally exhausted and full of amazing adventures into our beds.
3rd day
and history of the private observatory near Gorlice. Since we were so excited about it, we
looked at the Sun, its explosions and sunspots.
We had four hours for lunch and other activities at home, then we had to go back to school
and drove towards small village Radocyna by bus. This village is only four kilometres away
from the border with Slovakia. There we were also looking at the sun and calculated its
activity. Then the teachers were so generous to leave us to do what we wanted, so we
played volleyball. Because we were cold, we roasted sausages on the fire. We were still
hungry, so we afforded ourselves Russian dumplings. We returned home pretty late, but still we had to pack our suitcases, since there will be no time on Friday.
5th day
In the morning the hosts gave us certificates for cooperation and also memory gifts. We drove to tourist place Krynica that is known for winter and spa tourism by bus. We ascended to Parkowa Mountain by drag lift and there we had lunch together in magnificent ambience. The time for our departure was approaching that is why we had to say goodbye to all participant teams. Farewell was really touching since we have spent marvellous and creative week together full of positive energy. We drove to Krakow by bus and then by train to Vienna. Our school caretaker was already waiting there for us and then he drove us home by van.