Our Second Meeting in Ventspils, Latvia

The second meeting of Erasmus+ project “Green Europe” partners took place in Ventspils 2nd basic school, Latvia, on April 20- 24. The members of the meeting presented the fulfilled tasks, communicated and cooperated. We also took part in an interesting five- day programme and got acquainted with the school, teachers, pupils, also with the Latvian nature. Besides, we had a good opportunity to communicate with each other. The pupils went to lessons, took part in activities at the Youth House, also, being hosted in Latvian families they had an interesting leasure time. The teachers in the meetings discussed the coming activities within the project.
This is how Lithuanian team pupils recall their visit:


Austeja:
The first day at school in Latvia, on April 20, was full of events. The meeting of all school teams from five countries: Latvia, Poland, Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia took place at Ventspils school where the participants of the meeting watched an amazing concert. The talented students – dancers, acrobats, singers and piano-players performed in it. After the concert we together with host students went to their classes. We had a lesson of Handicrafts. Other students went to other lessons. At midday there was an event outdoors. A tree was planted in the school yard. Representatives of Venspils authorities congratulated guest teams. After that event we travelled around Ventspilis- went to the Baltic sea, visited the Livonian castle, where we heard amazing stories and saw exhibits from the ancient times. The castle was really awesome! In the evening the Latvian family which we stayed at took us for a walk at the sea, then to the lake and to the forest where we saw some wild animals- a beaver and a roe. We came back home full of impressions and waiting for the coming trips.




Ugne:
On the 21st of April we visited the Digital Center where we made a beautiful video about nature. Also, we had a chance to use a gun, which melts the plastic. It was a very interesting experience. I had never done that before. After lunch we went to the Creative House and planetarium. In the Creative house we saw students‘ art exhibitions. We also went to the premises. The Great Hall hosts different events and has a beautiful piano. The hall doesn‘t have any microphones because the acustics there is incredible. In the Tailors‘ Room boys and girl learn to sew or cook. In the Crafts Room  children make handicrafts. In the Art Room art lovers draw, model clay and fulfill their fantasy. In the Information Technology room you can learn programming, constructing robots, working at computers and other technological devices. In the Technology room boys learn to cut out of wood. We enjoyed seeing so many activities which students can be involved in and, what is more, everything is free. Later we went to the planetarium, where we sat in comfortable armchairs and the guide told us interesting facts about the planets, stars and our Earth. We could also watch the sky while listening to the guide’s explanation. At the end of that day we with our families walked around the city of Ventspils and along the Baltic seaside. The day was full of new impressions and we were glad to recall everything we had seen discussing with our hosting families.



Guste:
On April 22nd we visited Kuldiga, Riezupe and Edole. In Kuldiga we saw the widest waterfall in Europe. In Riezupe we went to sand caves and in Edole we visited a castle. Rumba is the widest waterfall in Europe: 249 metres wide and it is up to 270 metres wide during spring floods. Its height is 1.80–2.20 metres and it changes depending on the water level in the river. The total length of sand caves of Riezupe ir roughly 2 kilometres. Currently we can visit 460 metres of underground caves which have rare allurement. Caves have been constructed by four generations. The owner of the caves is Inese Fokerota - she is the heiress in the fourth generation. The sand of the caves has been used to manufacture glass – the sand is as white and clean as sugar. The temperature in the caves is constant all year long - eight degrees centigrade. Bats have been using caves as their shelter - there are eight species of bats in the caves. They spend winter here untroubled and go away in spring, letting tourists safely enjoy labyrinths of the caves. Later that day after lunch at a restaurant Kludzins we walked along the Pedestrian street, that is just for pedestrians. Edole's castle is next to a mill's lake. The castle was built in 1264- 1276. In the castle museum we can see white, red or green halls, a library, a circle room in the tower and a children’s room. There we can see many different things, such as statues, ancient clocks, handmade chests, and outside we can see other buildings of the castle. It was a very interesting tour of significant places in Latvia. We got acquainted with Latvian nature, its flora and fauna.








 Ieva:
On Sunday, the 23d of April we started our day going to the Colca Bay, known as the Colca Horn. This place is special because there meet two seas –the  Baltic Sea with the sea of the Gulf of Riga. After we had admired  the beautiful view, we went  to Roja. We were fascinated by Roja‘s Old Town. Later we went to a restaurant on the sea shore, where we made dessert from bread pastry, carrots and cheese. The restaurant educator explained to us about different types of fish, how fish was smoked in old times, what types of meals people had. We tried different kinds of fish. Everything was tasty. After lunch we came to our temporary families. We were full of joy and very happy!!!






Activities in Venspils, Latvia

Preparations for our visit to  Ventspils, Latvia involved making presentations about bright students in project partner schools, also 2 lesson plans- 1 English lesson plan and 1 Nature lesson plan. Lithuanian team prepared the following presentation and lesson plans: