INTERVIEWS

 THE ERASMUS EXPERIENCE 

October 2026, by Fotini Gogou

 Last week, our school hosted this year’s Erasmus project. Students from Italy, Spain, Portugal

and France traveled to Hortiatis and explore the Greek culture. With the Mediterranean diet

as the main topic, students were invited to participate in a variety of trips and workshops

and learn more about production and benefits of olives, oil, grapes, wine and other typical

local foods. Kika from Portugal, Cosmin from Spain, Marta from Italy, Lea from France and

Dimitris from Greece share their experience with us:

 

(The following answers have been slightly edited)

What is your opinion on working as a team with fellow students from different countries?

Was it easy, did you enjoy it or did you face any difficulties?

- Portugal: I think it was easy. If people come with the mind that they want to talk to

each other, they will end up talking to each other and we will connect with each

other.

- Spain: Yes, i enjoyed it, it was a really good experience. Working in another country,

speaking in English all the time is really good for practicing English and the

corporation on teams was very well too.

- Italy: I think that working with other people from other countries helps you learn

new words, new cultures, the different hobbies that people have so i think it’s a

good thing to even practice more your English.

- France: I really enjoyed it, because it was not really basic and i really liked to meet

people with different cultures and different speaking. But i didn’t find it difficult.

- Greece: I really loved it because we were all together, we were talking in English and

in the first few hours it was hard, but then we did it all together as a team and it was

very easy. The outcome was really good and i loved it.

What activity or workshop did you enjoy the most and why?

- Portugal: I liked the Macedonian tour, the museum.

- Spain: The activity that i enjoyed the most was the cooking workshop because I love

cooking and i also love to eat. Cooking is my passion!

- Italy: I think the activity I enjoyed the most was the one where we did the job all

together in groups, because we got to know each other more and it helps you gain

security with all the work you do and have during this mobility.

- France: I really liked the visit of Thessaloniki and the White Tower.

- Greece: I enjoyed the last day’s activity because we did a video and I was part of it

and i love being a part of videos. I love being part of everything.

What’s your opinion on the Greek cuisine presented to you?

- Portugal: They eat too much. It’s not my favorite but there are a lot of plates which

are good.

- Spain: I love it. It is really good to eat and it reminds me of the Romanian

gastronomy, because I am from Romania and there are a lot of plates that are

similar to Romanian and are also delicious. I loved the Greek food.

- Italy: The Greek cuisine as an Italian person (we care a lot about our cuisine) is

something you have to explore, because they use a lot of different things from Italy

and they are different cultures and I think that it’s not that bad as long as you get to

know it.

- France: It is really different from the food that we have in France and I really liked it.

What impressed you the most during your stay in Greece?

- Portugal: The tombs, the ruins. I thought they were very pretty.

- Spain: If I have to say one, I think what impressed me more was that we were going

to everywhere by bus. In Spain we use the bus very, very rare. Here we used the bus

every time. Like i wakeup, ok, we have to take the bus or something like that. And

also the school really impressed me, because in Spain it is really different from here.

There are other things too but i think these are the ones that impressed me the

most.

- Italy: I think that the thing that impressed me the most is that people can survive

this cold weather and it’s crazy, first thing. And the second thing is that people here

are very friendly and sometimes they describe them with other words like maybe

angry, but they are not like this. They are mostly friendly and warm.

- France: The different culture.

Did you enjoy being the host?

- Greece: Yes, it was really fun. I got to see how other people from different countries

work, stay at their homes. The only hard part was the sleeping, because we did not

sleep a lot.

Interviews by Fotini Gogou