Calatayud, Spain

Calatayud, Spain. 12 – 16 February 2018

Finally, the third meeting of the project took place, according to the prepared program.

On Saturday, 10th february, delegations started to arrive. The first one to arrive was the Italian delegation. On Sunday, students and teachers from the other countries arrived. Finally, all the seventeen students and the eleven teachers were guided to their hosting places.

On monday, the work started. First of all, we had some ice breaking activities, and after the welcome from the headmistress and a brief presentation about Calatayud, we started to share the activities prepared. First of them, about language problems.

After the role play, we learnt to fold a Mudejar star with paper, one of the symbols the Spanish delegation told us to be one of their signs of identity.

Nearly at the end of the morning, we visited the school, which has developed a Medieval City for the meeting. We could visit the cathedral, several exhibitions about Mudejar art, about the presence of Mudejar Art close to Calatayud, about the Way of Saint James…, but also the line of time in the Middle Ages in Spain, place in one of the stairs.

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to visit Calatayud, with a guided tour prepared by teachers and students from there. The day ended with a reception at the Townhall, with the Mayor, and one of the town councillors, who welcomed all the foreign students and teachers, and wished them a nice stay in their town. The school’s Headmistress recognised the contribution of these cultural exchange’s projects to the education of our teenagers.

We continued reproducing the Medieval Life at Emilio Jimeno School. On Tuesday, 13th February, after learning how to link tourist posters and videos with HP Reveal, creating Augmented reallity posters, and sharing the activity Decorative Element, a Medieval Market took place. With coins created at school, we had the opportunity to buy bracelets, jam, honey, soap and cookies made by students.

At the same time, medieval dances were performed by students of Compulsary Scondary Studies and their music teacher, and the sports teacher also prepared a joust at the gym. Finally, a medieval writing workshop took place in the “Cathedral”.

In the afternoon, we visit UNED, the Distance National University, who has a centre placed in Calatayud. There, we learnt how is possible to distance study, and at the “Gracian Hall”, our students could present a Mudejar Art, World Heritage by UNESCO, its characteristics, materials and peculiarities.

On Wednesday, we started the morning with a workshop about Navigation and Astronomy, and we presented some tourist brochures about the different Medieval Routes presented last year. The end of the morning was a talk by José Luis Cortés, expert on Art History, about Mudejar Art and the guided visit to the church of Torralba de Ribota, one of the most symbolic fortress-churches of this period close to Calatayud.

In the afternoon, a Escape Room was prepared, and students had to find the lost medieval pilgrim. We ended the afternoon taking some hot chocolate with “churros”.

Thursday was a whole day trip to Monasterio de Piedra. We started by visiting the gardens, where monks had the orchard, and later we visited the old Monastry. We had lunch there, and unfortunately, we could visit the falconry exhibition, because it’s not possible on winter.

In the evening, we had the closing dinner with all the people involved in the preparation of the meeting: teachers, students, families, and associations from Calatayud. We had the visit of King Alfonso I, The Fighter and his troops, who explained us the history of Alfonsadas, a local festival tooking place every year at Calatayud and the performance of the Augusta Bilibilis choir, where some of the students from the school use to sing.

Friday, represented the end of the meeting. After presenting the last activities, teachers had a meeting while students could visit some classes. After all that, teachers could also visit some classes, and learn about Spanish Educational System.

At the end of the morning, we had the Closing Ceremony, a ceremony full of symbols the Spanish team created to say goodbye to all of the visitors: With the video and sound of Botafumeiro, representing the end of the Way for Pilgrims, and the smell of incense, we could write over stones all the things we wanted to leave back with our “pilgrimage” in this project, and place the stones in the cross of the intersection placed at school. Finally, the Headmistress closed the Holy Door, to represent the end of a period.

Students went back home, they had a party in the evening with people from Calatayud. Teachers had lunch at School, because in the afternoon, we had a visit to Zaragoza, a city close to Calatayud, where we could visit Aljafería, a Muslim Castle, and even we could visit the Cathedral, La Seo, we had the opportunity to see the Tower of San Pablo, one of the mudejar towers in the city, and El Pilar, Basilica Cathedral of Zaragoza. After a walk, and dinner there, we went back to Calatayud.