A TRIP THAT CHANGED MY MIND!

By Jonathan Varela Fernández.

A few weeks ago, the long-awaited trip to Palermo (Sicily) was eventually carried out; we had been waiting for two really long years. The trip lasted seven days in total. 

                 
During the first five days, we stayed in Palermo (in the north of the island) and, for the last two days of our visit, we moved to Catania, which lies on a broad plain at the bottom of Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe and is located in the south-east of the island.

 

To start telling you about the experiences I lived there and the impressions I got from the trip, I must begin highlighting what is most important to me, that's to say, the changes both mentally and personally that you undergo after living experiences like this one. It changes your mind!. On the other hand, this trip has made me aware of aspects of myself and of my partners unknown to me until then. Maybe living together for a few days or just changing the scene helped getting to know each other better and improving our relationship.

                

The first days of our stay on the island were a mixture of enthusiasm and tiredness as we used to arrive at the flat we had rented at about eleven o'clock at night and the worst was that, next day, we had to get up between 6:30 and 7:00 almost every day in order to carry out the tourist visits and the activities that had been planned by the Italian school.

 

 

The first place we went to was the Palermitan school we are working with: IISS Francesco Ferrara, where they welcomed us with open arms. The fact that the school was located just in the city centre, in a building which looks like a block of flats and which is five floors high caught my attention the most. After the welcome ceremony, we were doing some activities there: we showed and explained the Power Point presentation we had prepared beforehand. We detailed how the front-page of journals is organized in each participating country in front of the audience (the students and teachers from all the schools involved) and, after that, we were working on a text we had written in Ferrol in order to present our secondary school to the others. The finished articles depicting each school have just been published in the 'Ferrarino', the Italian school magazine. I was amazed that the school was located in the city centre and that its rules were very different to ours.

 

The main monuments and places we visited during our stay were the following: Palermo and its monuments, Monreale, Cefalú, Mondello, Agrigento and the Scala dei Turchi. Mondello (a very beautiful beach), Cefalú (another nice beach) and the Scala dei Turchi (an incredible white cliff, which is outlined against a bright blue sea) were the most beautiful places in my opinion. 

In Palermo, we investigated the buildings which make the city stand out because of their unusual architecture which, in July 2015, worked for its recognition as Patrimony of Humanity under the name: Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral churches of Monreale and Cefalú. They are monuments like The Zisa Castle, the Cathedrals in Palermo, Monreale and Cefalù and some churches in Palermo: Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, San Cataldo, etc., which show how the different cultures that have lived on the island throug.h the centuries, have left their inheritance in the city mingling and influencing one on the other. 

The people in Italy are friendly and nice, although the traffic is terrible. The food, on the other hand, is very tasteful; we could even compare it to the Galician one!

Our two last days in Catania were relaxing because the bed&breakfast where we stayed was very central and convenient. Both the city and the rooms were very beautiful and comfortable. The city of Catania, which has been destroyed by the volcano several times, was very interesting to me.

My personal opinion about the trip is that it was extraordinary because, thanks to it, I see things in a different way. I'd love if I could repeat the experience.