Vom Tag 5 des Schüleraustauschs mit Albaida in Spanien im Rahmen des Erasmus-Projektes berichten Mats H. and Leonhard T. (10a) /

From day 5 of the Erasmus-exchange to Albaida, Spain, report Mats H. and Leonhard T. (10a):

DAY 5

Today the German students and their exchange partners from Spain visited the beautiful town of Albaida. We met at 8 am at the high school IES Josep Segrelles in Albaida. From there, we started our trip through “La Ciutat d´Albaida” how the Valencians call this amazing municipality.

We passed the townhall and came to the Valencian Gothic artist studio “The Llogeta” where the father of one Spanish girl, the artist Rafael Amoros, creates his art objects. In the studio we saw a lot of unique Plastic and Metal sculptures. Mr. Amoros told us that he forms his creations cold and without any tools. A few years before, he created paintings, but now he thinks that they aren’t real, because they are only 2D and not 3D. Furthermore, he explained, forming sculptures is his way to express emotions. Each series of objects has their own background and none of them is only art. A lot of students were impressed by Mr. Amoros explanations and by his artworks. In fact, we asked him a lot of questions. He answered to the question why he has chosen this kind of profession: “I want that art brings humans together to be a unique community.” His art objects are shown in galleries in Paris, New York and Madrid.

After this special kind of guided tour, we walked back to the townhall and the nearby church. There, a guide welcomed us and told us something about the historical bell tower of Albaida. This is the one and only bell tower in the world where the bells must be rung by hand. Of course, you must learn how to ring a bell and so there is a “bell ringing school” nearby which we decided to visit later. Anyway, the German students and some Spaniards climbed up the tower and there we saw the 10 big bells. Moreover, we had an amazing view over Albaida and the mountains in the surrounding area.

After visiting the only “bell ringing school of the world”, we were led through the beautiful Baroque church. In it, almost every painting is from Josep Segrelles, the most famous painter from Albaida which also gave the school its name.

During a short visit of the small tourist information we were able to relax before walking to the school again where the Spanish students prepared an “art activity”.

Because of the slogan “Go green – Go Europe” and our goal to be sustainable, most activities of our exchange are connected to environmental sustainability. That is why the Spanish students have prepared bags out of recycled cotton and we were able to paint our Erasmus logo on them. This art project was fun for the whole group because it represented variety to our program. After everyone had finished their bags, we prepared the cafeteria, where we met to paint, for a party at the evening. Afterwards, someone turned the music on and most students and even some teachers started to dance together. At 2:30 pm we all went back home to have lunch and rest for a while. In the afternoon we had some free time: Some of us met at a fantastic café called “Soler”, where we drank coffee or tea and talked or laughed together.

Later that day at 8 pm, all the German and Spanish students with their families came together in the school’s cafeteria to celebrate our Erasmus program with a goodbye dinner. After that, we watched a presentation with photos from our events like arriving at the airport in Valencia or hiking up the mountain. Afterwards, the Spanish students showed again their talent and fun while dancing and all the Germans joined with them happily. Around midnight we went or drove back home with our host families.