Trip to Frosinone 9.12.-15.12.2018 – a diary of a teacher
Monday
The first day at Frosinone started with good breakfast and an amazing view from the hotel balcony. We met all the others at the school and we took a bus to Anagni. There we had a guided tour in a museum and a cathedral. After that some local high school students offered us a guided tour through the beautiful city of Anangni. Then the bus took us to a farmhouse where we had very good Italian food. At first we had some antipasti and then some traditional pasta with tomato sauce. The food was local and very fresh. Pasta with tomato sauce was tasteful to everybody. Then we left back to Frosinone and the students went home with their families.
Tuesday
Our morning started at nine o’clock as the teachers left the hotel and went to the secondary school. It was a very warm welcome for us as they played all our national hymns as we arrived to the gym hall. The students of the school had prepared us some amazing shows for example a cheerleading show followed by a great dance performance. They gave us gifts to remember this community and region. Then we got the chance to enjoy their puppet theatre show and after that we heard the school orchestra. There was lots of traditional Italian stories and music throughout the day.
We had a meeting with the teachers of this project, where we voted the project’s logo. The winner country was Italy. We continued our meeting after lunch in the primary school where we went by cars. The Finns offered some Finnish sweets, chocolate and salmiakki for dessert. The primary school building was quite new and modern. The students were friendly and spontaneous as they performed us their own song at the hallway. The welcome was very warm and friendly.
Wednesday
Wednesday was full of action and many trips to different places. Today we took a bus and visited a small town called Amaseno. The bus trip was exciting, because we climbed very high up to the hill. There was an old church and a monument of an epic character “Camilla”. She represents freedom as she escaped from her captures with her child.
Our journey continued to a small old town in Amaseno. There was an old Saint Mary’s church. There was a cup of blood from Saint Lawrence. This place is theatre of miraculous event: a roman cruet contains the blood of Saint Lawrence. This blood has been loosening him for centuries, precisely between 8th and 9th of August. After 10th of August the blood returns to coagulate. We saw the bottle of blood there. Then we visited a museum, where were artefacts on display about Saint Lawrence and the church of Saint Mary.
We had a lunch at a buffalo farm. The lunch contained meat slices of a buffalo, fresh mozzarella and other cheeses made from buffalo’s milk. We got to see how mozzarella cheese is made.
Then we travelled few kilometers with the bus to Priverno and Fossanova village. There we visited an abbey, where monks live. The guide told us historical events of the place. We had a coffee break at a small coffeehouse and began our trip back to Frosinone.
In the evening we had the honor to be the guests of the mayor of Frosinone. He wanted to hear our experiences through the week from the students.
Thursday
On Thursday we had a trip to Rome, the capital of Italy and the home of the most beautiful ancient architecture. We started our day on a sight-seeing bus and drove around the Colosseum. Then we visited Saint Peter’s square and continued our way by foot through Rome to the Pantheon. Pantheon was built nearly two thousand years ago and it’s still standing solidly in its place in the middle of Rome. Pantheon has over 43 meters wide dome, which has a big hole in the middle. It’s hard to imagine how they have managed to build such an amazing structure at that time and with those tools they had back then. After cultural tour we had some Italian food and went shopping before we had to go back to Frosinone by train.
Friday
On Friday we had project meetings the whole day. Students were at school in their own classes and the teacher planned the future and shared the experiences we had this week.
Saturday
Leaving Italy, Frosinone back to our home countries!
Check out a video from our week!
Do! Learn! Be sustainable! 