postcards from

Postcard from Cadoxton Nursery We both enjoyed our project very much
and got an interesting insight into the
For my project week I went on a trip to During project week we went to Cadoxton
British Education system. The school
Berlin with a big group of students from Nursery School in Barry. The
really enjoyed participating in project
the College. I had never been before and School had
week as well and have written to the
was really excited about being in a city I
College inviting more students next year.
had heard so much about from
Kesey Sar (Cambodia) &
History class back home.
Lena Gorgen (Germany)
As we arrived at our hostel, one of
the first things we saw was a
section of the former Berlin Wall. It
was surreal to see it right there in
Postcard from the French
front of us and walk by almost as if it Exchange
were nothing, but at the same time be
This project week, eighteen of us
fully aware of what it stood for only
visited the small town of Ceret in
twenty years ago.
French Catalonia where we
On our first day in Berlin we walked
participated in the French
around the city and went to a few of the
Exchange. We stayed with host families
main sights including the Reichstag, the
for five days and personally, after only
seat of the German Parliament, where contacted our College and
having started learning French at AC it
you can go on to the roof and get an asked students to help for one week in the
was quite an experience being immersed
amazing view of Berlin. purpose of an exchange of cultures.
in a household that spoke no English, but
During the trip we also visited a number The school started at 9am for the first
it was a valuable lesson and I came out in
of the sights including the Brandenburg group of children. Our first task was to
one piece.
Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Jewish help them put their names on a board so
In the morning we went to
Museum. Every place was interesting and that the teachers knew the number of
classes
brought to life what I had learnt at school. children each day. The children were

One of the best things about the project divided into two groups which started

was getting to know everyone else from with the introduction of the day and date.

AC better. Afterwards most of the children went off

to play, outdoors and indoors so our
responsibility was to take care of their
safety and get every child involved in
the games. While they were playing,
some of them were called to be
taught by their teachers. We helped
to prepare the snack time and to
clean up. The children thereafter
were told a story or they learned
from visitors coming from organisations.
with our
The morning group finished at 11:30. We
hosts. It was a challenge
had our lunch together with other
having to wake up at around six every
teachers to get ready for the next group
morning to catch the bus to school but it
that started at 12:30. Both morning and
was a neat change of scene and another
afternoon groups did the same session
fantastic opportunity to spread the UWC
which ended at 3pm. The children were
ideals! In the afternoon we visited
then picked up and we helped to tidy the
different sites around the region such as
Nursery and prepare it for the next day.
 •
proJ we
Ie Chateau de Caladroy, Belesta, a four- International Women's Day, where
hour, 20km gruelling hike through the a woman completely veiled spoke
mountains and the enchanting seaside passionately about women's rights.
village of Collioure. On the last night This seemed hypocritical to me, as I
we had a tasty banquet that ended saw the veil as oppressive, but
late in the night with boisterous through being covered up myself, and
singing competitions, and I'm proud talking to Yemeni women about why
to say that the AC team finished first they wear what they wear, my view has
by a long shot. changed.
The entire group fell in love with the The Yemeni people were so hospitable.
people and the culture and I, think Because of the way it's portrayed, Yemen
we all now want to pursue French at spent gets hardly any tourists, so people were
university. I'd like to take this opportunity our final couple of days curious to know what brought us there.
to thank the "Conseil Regional du exploring Belfast City. A tour in a We got to talk to many people just when
Languedoc Roussillon", "La Ville de traditional 'black taxi' revealed to us the walking around the city, which was great
Ceret" and "La DARIC" for their generous evidence of the Protestant and Catholic as we got to practise our Arabic, and find
contributions, as well as Monsieur separation as well as the murals and the out about their cultures, and they could
Jerome Campos for organising such an shipyard where the Titanic was built. The ask us about where we were from.
enjoyable week. Merci mille fois! Nous trip was a really great experience and we Our programme was organised by a group
adorons la France! all learnt how to invent some rather of university students our Arabic teacher
Nikita Avdiushko (Russia/USA) interesting recipes due to limited Nidal Alcalde had met on a previous trip

••
availability of ingredients! to Yemen. They gave up their whole week
•••• to spend time with us, and made the trip
'. . Miriam Dobson (UK)
what it was. We were able to
be much

As March began, I along with three fellow

students set off for Northern Ireland. We
spent the first few days in a beautiful little
village near the Giant's Causeway in the
North and, despite what I'm told is the
typical Northern Irish weather - rain - it was
an enjoyable experience. We motivated
ourselves to go out for rather wet but
invigorating walks along the coast to see,
amongst other things, a narrow rope-bridge
that hangs high above the sea joining a
small rocky island to the mainland, and a
harbour, which due to the windy weather,
was truly amazing with great columns of
spray shooting off the rocks.
The highlight was going to see the Giant's
Causeway; it looked exactly
stacks of giant fifty-pence
although it's commonly described
honeycomb. We also found the giant's eye,
boot, organ pipes and granny! We then
I was a bit apprehensive about going
to Yemen, as if you look on the British
Embassy's website it tells you to avoid
going at all costs. But we went, and it
was 'incredible', the sort of experience
that words like incredible don't really do
justice to.
The city itself was beautiful and the food
was delicious, especially when eaten with
------~.---,"!"""._------_.--..,
your hands. The girls in our group decided
to adopt Yemeni dress for the week. This
wasn't compulsory, but we felt it would more than
help us to fit in, which it did. We still tourists, and the night we left
attracted lots of curious looks, but they told us that we could go back to our
nowhere near as many as when we first countries and be ambassadors for Yemen, .
like huge arrived at the airport in our own clothes. telling people what it's really like.
pieces, But more than to help fit in, I'm glad I Lauren Pilgrim (UK) >
as a wore it because I was able to experience
what it's like to be so covered up like that.
The group attended a big event to mark