Autor: iruntallinn

Our trip to the Basque country began on the 3rd of May. It wasn’t just a regular saturday for us, it was the day we left our families for a week. When we arrived at the airport, we traded our health insurance for our boarding passes, gave away our luggage, took some photos with the group and said our goodbyes. Shortly after that we were already on our flight to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt we studied, ate and shopped a bit since we had a 4 hour layover. After the break between flights, we went to the next one which arrived in Bilbao. From Bilbao we took a bus to Irun and straight to the school, Txinghudi Bhi. We were given a warm welcome from our exchange families and after that headed straight to our home for the week

At 10.30 in the morning we all met in the school parking lot to take a bus ride to the Bilbao airport. This was a very emotional moment, because we had to say goodbye to our wonderful exchange students, their families and also their teachers. Before leaving, we also had time to take some group photos together to remember the exchange week. A lot of us cried when we left and we promised our Basque partners to keep in touch even after the trip. Then it was time to go and we drove one hour by bus to Bilbao airport. There we checked in our luggage and luckily everything went smoothly.  In the airport we bought some souvenirs for our families and then we took the flight to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt we had to wait for four hours until the flight to Tallinn so we ate lunch, did some shopping and studied. Our flight to Tallinn departed at 20.30. We arrived around one AM, our parents were already waiting there for us, we said goodbye to our classmates and went home. To summarise it was quite a tiring day but we still enjoyed it.

In the morning, we had a lesson (in the school) depending on our exchange partner’s class. I went to the english lesson where they were practising reported speech. We got to solve excercises on the worksheet and in my opinion, they weren’t so hard. I think that other Estonian students who were with me, can also say that Estonians have quite a high English level.

Then we had a workshop about little languages in Europe. Some Basque students had been working on the project where they sorted different languages based on how big danger the language is in.

Then, we walked to the bus stop and went to Pasaia. We went to a special museum where they talked about the project they have been working on for a very long time. Regarding to a 3-month long trip between Basque country and Canada, some people got the idea to build a ship, using only the techniques and materials from 15th century. They have been working with the ship for more than 10 years and if nothing will go wrong then the ship will be ready in two years.

After the museum Estonian students went back to their exchange homes, but I went with a little boat across the river and bought some souvenirs.

After school, we all went our separate ways with our Basque partners. I went with Jon to his grandmother’s house. There, we had lunch, and the best part was the dessert. We couldn’t stay long at the grandmother’s place because we had to go kayaking.

Kayaking was very fun  we enjoyed the beautiful nature and splashed each other with water. After we finished kayaking, we headed to a candy store together. The candy store had a huge selection, and everyone found something they liked.

When we got home, we quickly ate dinner. After dinner, we watched a football match between Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United with the family.

Viktoria, Hardi, Saioa, Jon

Our day began at the Txingudi Bhi school at 8 o’clock. At first we learned a little bit about Basque mythology and their gods. Then we made posters about them and also played kahoot. Around 10 o’clock we started our hike to Jaizkibel mountain. At first, climbing the mountain was difficult because the ground was wet and muddy and the mountain was quite steep.  After reaching the top we took group pictures and continued our hike, we even saw some horses! The hike was quite long, but the views were stunning. We finished our hike on the beach in the city Hondarribia. We went swimming,  sunbathed and totally lost track of time. Four hours flew by. We finished the day eating pizzas while watching the sunset.  (Lenna, Ott)

Our day started with a short school tour and a lesson in euskera (basque language). We learned how to say our names, where we’re from and how old we are. For example: Ni Raul naiz, Estoniakoa naiz and hamahiru urte ditut. Then we taught the same thing in Estonian for the students.

After all the hard work and studying we played some Basque rural games. We were devided in to two groups. For the first game two of us had to collect wooden sticks from little boxes and the other student had to put them back. Then we played some other activities that contained running, weightlifting, and pulling a rope.

After that we ate sandwiches for lunch while being watched by local students like we were zoo animals.

At 12:00 we started moving towards the townhall of Irun to hear the mayor speak and we even made it to the news!

The speech was followed by an orientation game, where we had to answer questions and do different challenges. Once we finished all 4 checkpoints we gathered infront of the townhall again, because it started raining.

The after school activities were going to the mall, shopping and eating.

Lilli and Raul

On Monday we started our day strong with going to Hendaye and taking a quick look through a museum. Then we moved outside to see beautiful buildings and nature. After that we walked for a while to a local radio station. Eight of the exchange students, including Sara and Ott from Estonia, gave a brief interview about our program in the Basque Country and our experience so far. From there we walked back to the coast and went on a half-hour break and souvenir shopping. Some went to eat waffels and some got dragged to tourist shops. But when the break ended, we put on our wetsuits and listened to an instructor talk about basic surfing. Everyone had such a great time in the water and most tried to stand up on a surf board for the first ever. After everyone got out of the water, we went our separate ways and spent the evening with our exchange family!

Hey!

Sunday, the fourth of may, was our first full day in Irun. The day before, we had arrived late so the day started later than usual.

Coincidentally, it was also Mother’s day for them so the day kind of revolved around that. I woke up, had breakfast and then met with Anna and her Basque, whom we went on a walk with. I also met my Basque’s grandma and grandpa, who were really delightful. Next I and Anna with our Basque’s families walked by the beach. By that time we all were really hungry so we went to eat, where we got some really delicious food. We also suprised our Basque exchange mothers with flowers, which was a really touching moment. While we were in the city we met some other our project’s students like Nele, Mare, Viktoria and Saioa and chatted with them for a while. After that I and Anna went to the mountains, saw the amazing view and took some pictures, while there we also saw Frida and Anne, where we all went to a sport’s bar and played biliard and dart throwing, after that some went home, some to the store and that was it!

Some of our other students spent their day meeting with their Basque’s  extented family, others went sighseeing, basically everone went to the mountains, two even made it to France. Most of us also went to see the school’s basketball team, where even some of our Basques played;) Afterwards all of us, who had gone to the basketball match, went to a group hangout. It was a really nice day all along.

Bye!

The Basque people started the day with a few lessons. Then, they ate, and the fun part began—we went to Chocolala. We walked to Chocolala from school and were greeted by Chocolala’s friendly founder. First, she talked about the history of Estonian chocolate and Chocolala’s own history. Afterward, we went downstairs to make our own chocolate lollipops. We even got to decorate our chocolates! Once the chocolates were decorated and ready to cool down, we had the chance to walk around Chocolala. The founder explained how they make chocolate, where they get cocoa beans from, and how the beans turn into chocolate. After the little tour, the chocolates had cooled down, and we could either eat them or take them with us. And with that, our trip to Chocolala was over. Everybody liked the time there!

After chocolala, we had final conclusions – in groups of 4-5, we had to make a presentation about our week. But we could only use photos. We had to choose the best photos of each day from the moment our Basque friends arrived here until the final conclusions lesson. It was quite fun, teachers gave us cards that decided teams so we could interact with different people. We had to present our work and it turned out to be funny. Many groups had the same photos, but there were also unique ones.

After the final conclusions lesson, we went to the airport to say goodbye to our Basque friends. We went by bus and the ride to the airport was fun. We could talk to great people and the long time we had to wait passed by so quickly. Some people danced Kaerajaan while we were waiting and it was super funny. The goodbye was very emotional, all the students who participated in the project took a picture together right before Basque students left.

Written by Anna-Rebecca & Viktoria

The Basque people started the day with a few lessons. Then, they ate lunch, and the fun part began—we went to Chocolala. We walked to Chocolala from school and were greeted by Chocolala’s friendly founder. First, she talked about the history of Estonian chocolate and Chocolala’s own history. Afterward, we went downstairs to make our own chocolate lollipops. We even got to decorate our chocolates! Once the chocolates were decorated and ready to cool down, we had the chance to walk around Chocolala. The founder explained how they make chocolate, where they get cocoa beans from, and how the beans turn into chocolate. After the little tour, the chocolates had cooled down, and we could either eat them or take them with us. And with that, our trip to Chocolala was over. Everybody liked the time there!

Arter chocolala, we had final conclusions – in groups of 4-5, we had to make a presentation about our week. But we could only use photos. We had to choose the best photos of each day from the moment our Basque friends arrived here until the final conlusion lesson. It was quite fun, teachers gave us cards that decided teams so we could interact with different people. We had to present our work and it turned out to be funny. Many groups had the sake photos, but there were also unique ones.

After the final conculsions lesson, we went to the airport to say goodbye to our Basque friends. We went by bus, and the ride, walking and time we had to wait turned out so fun. I could talk to great people and the long time we had to wait passed by so quicky. Some guys (me also) danced Kaerajaan while we were waiting and it was super funny. The goodbye was very emotional, all the students who participated in the project took a picture together right before Basque students left.

Viktoria, Anna, Saioa & Irune