12-March: ETSI

13-March: Greek school

13-March: swimming in the sea

13-March: Greenhouse with tomatoes

13-March: Delicious!

14-March: Group work

15-March: Ionian Star

15-March: On the ferry

15-March: Zakynthos

16-March: At the beach

16-March: Winery

16-March: Wine yard

17-March: old church

17-March: in the church

17-March: Relaxing at the beach

24-March: Isthmus

Diary of our stay in Greece

Monday, 12 March 2007

In the morning we departed in Ursprung at six o’clock and drove to the airport to Munich. With the Chek-In we had some difficulties. For example  Mr. Gierzinger was not allowed to take Schnaps with him or Julia’s luggage came to late to the second class check-in, so she had to “run” to the first class check-in. The biggest problem was that we nearly missed our flight (we were called three times!). At least we got 1 minute before take-off into the plane. Then, at 11 o’clock a.m. we arrived in Zurich and at half past 1 p.m. we took off and arrived at Athens at 5 o’clock p.m. (EET). Next we drove to Patras by bus and then to Kato Achaia and at least by car to our hotel “ETSI”. The last thing on this day was the dinner at half past eleven p.m. *tired*

Thursday, 13 March 2007

The day began with breakfast at 8 o’clock a.m. and then we drove to the school of our greek partners. There we met the Greek students, had a look around the school area and got a lot of information about Olive trees by Panatiotis Chatzipappas (greek teacher). But it was very difficult to communicate with the students, because their English was very bad. (Some couldn’t speak a single word). After this we made an excursion to a tomato, strawberry and olive tree plantation. We got a lot of fruits to eat and it was very interesting.
At 3 o’clock p.m. we drove back to our hotel, went swimming in the cold sea and had a little meal with “URSPRUNGER BIO BROT” and “URSPRUNGER SPECK”.  Then some of the greek boys visited us at the hotel. At half past eight p. m. we ate a very good dinner (Spaghetti Carbonara, Zatziki and Suflaki). The rest of the evening we spent with talking with the teachers, going to the beach and making presentations.

Wednesday, 14.03.2007

After our delicious breakfast we drove to school and had an „English-lesson“ with our greek partners. On the one hand it was very funny to explain agricultural English words, but on the other hand it was hard to translate different vocabularies. After this lesson we showed the greeks our presentations about black bread and bacon. We also gave them our self-produced products from home to try them and they were very fond of it.
In the afternoon we drove to a modern olive oil factory near the school. The owner of the factory explained us all steps from the fruit to the oil.
The rest of the afternoon we spent our time at our hotel with swimming in the sea and relaxing at the beach. At about 08.00 p.m. we got another very good meal. Till 11.00 p.m. we had a very nice discussion about the greek group, the project, schools and teachers.

Thursday, 15.03.2007

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Benni…” these were the first words which fell in the dining room before breakfast. What would a birthday be without a birthday cake, so some of our group organized a very delicious cake for our (now) seventeen-year old Benni. At 08.30. a.m. we were picked up by  bus to drive to the harbour of Kilini. A ferry called “Ionian Star” brought us to the island Zakynthos where we will stay for the next 3 days. There we lived in a small dormitory of a school.  After all of us checked their rooms, a few Austrians walked around in the city to search for places to take some photos. In the afternoon the different groups worked on their topics and at 05.00 p.m. we made an excursion to a research station of sea turtles. There we got a presentation about the history of Zakynthos and the animals which live here.
After dinner some of the Austrian students went to the center of the city again (and had a lot of fun there)

Friday, 16.03.2007

As usual we had breakfast at 08.00 a.m. Afterwards we drove to the beach with the greeks and two men of the research station. They explained us a lot of things, regretfully we couldn´t use the information for our project (sheep cheese and olive oil). Then we drove back to the research station where we had a look through microscopes. The next step of “our” program was to walk around to have a lookt at “typical greek buildings”. After arriving at home we tried to work on our project, but it wasn’t so easy because of the English skills of some of the greeks. The most interesting event of this day was a vinery. After the owner showed us the wine cellar and the wine yard, we were allowed to taste some traditional wine types.  Most of us bought some for our parents and friends at home.
On this evening really every pupil went out to a Café, Club or Disco. We had a lot of fun ;o)

Saturday, 17.03.2007

The time till noon was very hard because we had to walk from one museum to the next…but the afternoon was very chilly with lying on the beach and swimming in the sea. At 2.00 p.m. Mr. Gierzinger drove back to the hotel Etsi to meet our two other teachers for the second week: Mrs. Oberkofler and Mr. Klinghofer. In the evening we were allowed to stay out till 1.00 a.m. We had a lot of fun, especially Benni, Hannes and Marcus (Greek wine is dangerous!)

Sunday, 18.03.2007

After breakfast we had our last visit at the research station in Zakynthos. There we had to make a summary of the four days we stayed there. It was very funny and a few pupils made interesting drawings. Then about 2.00 p.m. we left Zakynthos by ferry. Till dinner we relaxed in our rooms, with watching fotos and sleeping.
Then we met our “new” teachers, chatted and laughed a lot. The rest of the evening we spent on watching a film called “Little Man”.

Monday, 19.03.2007

Today we learned some Greek dances. On the one side it was a little bit difficult but on the other side we liked it very much because the Greek students of the school were so friendly. They tried very hard to explain us the different steps of the dances. In the afternoon we drove to an old olive oil mill which is nowadays a museum. It was really interesting. We also could taste bread with olive oil which was extraordinarily delicious. On our way home we stopped at a Café next to sea. So we had a great view and we could enjoy our drinks. At home some of our students worked on the project or went swimming.
The time with our teachers was relaxing and interesting and we talked till 11.00 p.m.

Tuesday, 20.03.2007

Today was the first day we were allowed to work at the computers for our project the whole time till lunch. There we got different types of olives, olive oil and cheese to eat. The food tasted very delicious but the wine was disgusting. In the afternoon we drove to another old vinery which was really impressive. They had wine barrels which were older than 130 years. We also were allowed to taste a three year old Mavrodaphne which had an alcohol content of 15%. It is a very sweet wine. Till 6.00 p.m. we spent our time in Patras with shopping and drinking coffee.

Wednesday, 21.03.2007

After waking up at 07.30 a.m. we got a delicious breakfast with cake and yoghurt. The whole morning we spent with working at our presentations and writing texts about out topic. In the afternoon we drove to a feta factory. They showed us how to make feta and "hard cheese". We were also allowed to taste some cheese. It was really delicious!
At about 05.00 p.m. two girls of the greek school came to our Hotel to talk with us. It was very nice and we had a lot of fun together.
This evening also Panatiotis, his wife and Georgia and her husband came for dinner to Etsi. We gave them some presents from Austria and talked about many different things. Everyone had a gread time...

Thursday, 22.03.2007

On Thursday our first stop was a dairy sheep farm. The farmer told and showed us some interesting things. He explained us that it only takes him about forty minutes to milk 170 sheep. This really fascinated us.
After the farm we drove on to Olympia. There a guide taught us something about the greek history… Afterwards we saw the historical place outside and visited the museum. Most of us bought some presents for families and friends.
Before dinner we finished our presentations. Later in the evening we enjoyed the fresh air on the balcony and three people drove with our teachers to Kato Achaia to have a trink (or two)...

Friday, 23.03.2007

We drove to school at 8.30 a.m., watched at the celebration of the Greek students (they celebrated the independence of the Turkish) and we presented our Olive oil, feta and free-time presentations.
In the afternoon we visited Patras once again for shopping and sight seeing. The rest of the day we stayed at our hotel and looked at photos, slept, ate…

Saturday, 24.03.2007

Our time here in Greece is over........ Although not everything was perfect, we enjoyed our stay! Now we are on our way back home: Athen > Zurich > Munich > Salzburg

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Page updated 30.3.2007