Polish students' impressions from Portugal

 Piotr

Our trip to Portugal was first mobillity with students in this Erasmus project named 
“Smart Waste Managers”. Zuzia, Julka, Kinga, Laura and I went there with two English
 teachers, Danuta Fuchs and Irmina Kłoss. It took place during 6 days - from 1st March
 to 6th March. We started our Journey on Saturday by taking a train from Olsztyn to 
Warsaw where we went to Chopin Airport. Zuzia, Laura and I wore surgery masks 
because of coronavirus, even though they didn’t make any difference. Our flight went 
without any difficulties and after few hours in plane we were given a really nice lunch. 
We landed in pretty cloudy and quite rainy Lisbon. We were transferred to 
Montemor-o-Novo. It was dark during most part of the drive. We stopped at our final 
destination  - teacher's hotel. From there we were taken to host families. 
My host was fifteen year old Tiago Graca.  He lived in a nice, terraced house with 
his parents and labrador named Julietta. Luckily, his home was very close to school. 
This day was very tiring so i went to bed pretty early. 

Next day was maybe even more exhausting. We visited all school buildings in 
Montemor-o-Novo. The best part of this day was Coffee Break (especially cookies 
that look like letter S). After Erasmus activities I landed in Tiago's Geometry class 
because he ended school bit later. It was pretty weird and cool experience - I didn't 
understand a thing! I spent rest of that Monday in bedroom. 

Next day was Tuesday. We had a visit in Montemor's mayor's office and a lesson 
about time waste  that was pretty much an example of it. The "lessons" part of the day 
ended pretty quick. After that, I agreed to go with Tiago and his friends to a Cafe. 
Soon after came Laura with her host, Gabi. Zuzia didn't come and stayed alone at home. 
After few hours of talking with Portuguese people and teaching each other things like 
"Hello" or "Thank you" in Portuguese and Polish I and Laura decided to go shopping. 
We went to Inter-Marche. I bought 30 cans of fish - everybody thought it was very funny 
but I just bought things for my parents. Then we went to Gabi's house so 
she could take her ballet outfit and go to her ballet lessons. They were pretty slow - 
I waited for them for  five minutes. After that Tiago and I went back home. We ate 
a delicious dinner and I saw things that Tiago's dad brought from his Erasmus in Poland
 and his books about aikido - he practised it when he was my age. 

Wednesday was the day of our visit in Lisbon - the capital city of Portugal. We went 
there by coach.  It wasn't really long but I could definitely say that it’s a beautiful city. 
I took a lots of photos. When we came back to Montemor we went with Portuguese students to
 a spot next to tennis court. 
After 2 hours  Tiago and I had to go - his dad took us to the capital of that region - Evora. 
We picked up his mom who works in school there and went to an amazing Italian restaurant. 
I’ve ordered a lasagna - it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever eaten! Then they took me 
on a tour of Evora’s old city. I saw Roman pillars from 3rd century B. C. and their monastery. 
It was very quiet and calm town. On the way  back I felt like I was going to fall asleep; I went to bed 
right after coming back. 

Thursday was practically our last day in Portugal so I started packing in the morning. We took part in 
making video clip about time management and we saw a very nice building that let students from 
Montemor develop new skills after school. Next point of that day was a city game. We walked a lot in 
5 groups, each one had five students from five countries and a guide (or guides) from this city. 
We had to take a lot of photos in different places. We had a chance to see more of that beautiful town.
Then we came back to school so we could evaluate the mobility. We had came back home because 
soon there  was a farewell dinner at school’s canteen. I almost ended packing myself. We went to 
the dinner  (shockingly, we were really early). I felt pretty blue because I thought about seeing these 
people for probably the last time. After dinner part of the hosts decided to go to the city. We found 
a sitting spot where we could dance to Just Dance, talk and take photos. We also did souvenir photo. 
We started going back to our houses at about midnight. I hugged my Portuguese friends for 
goodbye and went with Tiago.

I went to sleep at 1- something AM. I slept for over an hour. Going out of bed was one of the most 
unpleasant things that happened on the whole trip. I packed myself and prepared for the journey. 
At 3:30  I gave Tiago’s dad a gift for them sheltering me during this mobility - it consisted of
 Ptasie Mleczko box  and plums in chocolate. Then he drove me to the teachers hotel. Tiago also 
gave me a gift - a Rubik cube, he has a lot of them. Our taxi took us to Lisbon airport. The check-in
 was very fast and in 30 minutes we already were in the main part of the airport. Our airplane was 
pretty far from the airport building and the bus for passengers was driving for a while. On the plane 
we had a lunch which consisted of an omelet, croissant and a drink. I fell asleep, and when I woke up 
we were almost at our destination. At the airport Laura was picked up by her dad, so in the train
there were six of us. 
We were in Olsztyn at 6:30 PM.

The trip was truly amazing. If someone offered it to me, I wouldn’t hesitate a second.

Zuzanna

We arrived to Portugal on Sunday, 1st March and we were transferred to hotel in Montemor-o-novo
from where our host families took us home. I stayed with really nice family. They were kind and 
we spent a lot of fun time together. On Monday we visited kindergarten and school. Next days 
we spent working on our presentasions about time management, walking around the city and
 on Wednesday we went to Lisbon. I loved this city. In our free time I was going for a walk with 
new friends or I was spending time at home.
In Portugal I've met lots of friendly and funny people. I tried new food, mastered my English and I saw
really interesting places. I would love to go back to Montemor-o-novo, I wish the trip was longer. 

Kinga

We arrived to Lisbon on Sunday. Then we went to teacher’s hotel near to Montemor-o’-Novo.
Then our families collect us and took us to their homes.
On Monday and on Tuesday we were visiting school complex in Montemor-o’-Novo, getting to
know each other and working about time menagement. On Wednesday we traveled to Lisbon. On
Thursday we were touring this small town by playing outdoor game. It was very tired. In the Thursday’s
evening we had common, ceremonial dinner.
I met a lot of pleasant people. I had the option of speaking English, because I had to talk with
my host family and kids from another countries. I think that it was the best adventure in my life. I
stayed in very kind family. I would like to back to Montemor-o’-Novo, I would like to that trip was longer
than 4 days.

Julia
On 1st March we arrived to Portugal and we went by bus to hotel in Montemor-O-Novo.
 From this place host families took us. On Monday and Tuesday we visited school complex,
 ice breaking and we talked about time menagment. On Wednesday we visited Lisbon. 
I think this is one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. On Thursday we took part in the outdoor game. On the evening we had festive diner. In the free time I spent time in home 
or with the new friends.

In Portugal I met a lot of friendly people. I brushed my English and try some new food.

One day I would like to come back to Montemor.