C3 Visit
The Visit will be held during the week: 8th December 2019 - 13th December 2019. The following program will be followed:
The following were prepared as part of the dissemination process, to be used during this mobility week. These were given to all students, teachers and parents participating in this exchange visit. They were also given to members of the Austrian team.
8th December:
Tour of Graz & Schlossberg Christmas Market
Herrengasse is a street with lots of shops and holds one of the most beautiful and interesting buildings. In this street one can admire the painted house. This building is built on a baroque style. The facade is a fresco made from wet plaster and marked designs. One can see patterns and pictures of Romans painted on the left side of the fresco and painted on the right are Greek designs.
Another interesting landmark is the land house courtyard. This was used as a local parliament for Graz. It is build on a renaissance style with combination of Italian and Fenian style. One can see glass windows which are hand made panes. Another feature are wells which are found throughout Europe. Today it is used as a tourist attraction and holds important history and culture. This time of year the courtyard hosts the ice crib and other Christmas related activities such as a choir singing Christmas Carols.
Miriana Cassar
The St Giles cathedral is a building located in Graz, Austria. It is dedicated to St. Giles and it was built on the side of a church in the 15th century. The building's structure is Gothic and it is decorated in a fine and detailed baroque style. Inside a large choir is located. I like the design and the architecture.
The Murinsel is a very modern cafeteria built on a floating island. The Murinsel has a relaxing atmosphere. I prefer it at night time as the Murinsel is lit up with different coloured lights.
Luca Deguara
First we got in a cable cart that took us from Graz to Schloßberg. Then we went to visit the clock tower but unfortunately enough, it was closed for restoration. After that we listened to Miss Briffa explain some history about the clock and some interesting history about a fortification that was dismantled by Napoleon and his men. We also heard about a type of torture that was kind of gross sounding. After all that, we entered a Christmas market where we bought some things like food, hot drink and souvenirs. Finally we took a group photo and took a look at Graz from the top and headed back. But the journey didn't end here and I noticed that I had to write about the bridge as well. So...we visited the bridge that was beautifully lit with ultraviolet lights and red LEDs
Isaac Gatt
9th December:
Team-building, Open-air Museum & Ice Kurling
Today's activity was aimed at helping the two groups get to know each other. An activity was orginised by the Austrian school entitled Getting to know each other-Find someone who: Everyone was given a paper in which they had to find people who had common different things. All those present walked around the room, asking questions and getting to know each other. The atmosphere soon changed from a stiff one into a friendly one. As a group we then heard what some of us had learnt about each other. It was a very good and interesting activity which served its purpose well.
Kurt Aquilina
The Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing is among the ten largest and most impressive open-air museum in Europe.
The museum is usually closed in this time of year. One can find different kinds of buildings from the 1400's, that were used as shelter from the cold weather and wild animals. Between November and March the people used to work inside, and used to do the fireplace. It was used for warmth, light and to cook food. Meanwhile, between April and October the people used to work outside and used to do wool to make clothes, plant vegetables and take care of animals.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go and see the museum since I could now gain more knowledge about the history of the world and it was all worth it.
Elana Sammut
This sport is played on the ice were players slide "curlers" on a sheet of ice.It is mostly related to bowls, boules and shuffles.
Today (9/12/2019) , I really had fun playing this sports and also socializing with the Austrians. Basically we were divided into 2 groups and the main objective was to aim the "curler" as close as possible to the box.This box was placed in a particular spot and close to the middle.
As a first time experience, I was extremely excited and also it was satisfying to be on the ice for the first time and I also really liked the way we played the game.
Andre Sciberras
10th December:
School Workshops & Christmas Cribs Exhibition
We were split into two groups, one of which was split into a further two groups. Group B were to bake the traditional recipes, one group to bake the Maltese recipe and one to bake the Austrian recipe. The first group did the Maltese recipe, which are almond biscuits, consisting of ingredients such as ground almonds, lemon zest, icing sugar and egg whites. The Maltese and Austrian students worked together to make the biscuits and once they were done we were able to play card games to get to know each other better.
Once we were finished with the cooking, we were able to go upstairs to the art workshop, where we made candles. We had to dip the wicks into melted beeswax (which was either a natural colour or red) multiple times and then let them dry for a minute. Each candle that was made was unique, with some being twisted into different braid shapes and colours.
While this was happening, group two did similar activities. First, we took on baking , and we made traditional Vanillekipferl. These were made by making the dough, and then shaping small balls of dough into the traditional horse shoe shapes . After being baked for ten minutes, they were decorated with powdered vanilla sugar, and we were allowed to try some- we all agreed that they tasted incredible!
Next, we tackled the straw stars- these were made by weaving soaked and dried sticks of straw together into cross shapes, and then weaving two of those together. After this , different designs were cut into the edges of the straw stars, and our straw stars were finished! They were fairly easy to learn,but they required focus and patience, though the result was well worth the effort. Overall, everybody was happy with their creations and it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed this experience.
Liliana Francalanza & Olivia Snow
A variety of cribs where displayed during the Christmas season , modern , old , small, big , different styles and from different regions of the world.
Some things that I noticed were that the people that made the cribs didn't know how a camel looked like so the camels they made looked strange. It was also popular to change the statues clothing into rich clothing symbolizing God's holiness. Europe , Asia and Africa where represented as figures which metaphorically means that everyone can visit the cribs and enjoy Christmas together.
The atmosphere was very light-hearted and we got to interact with the Austrians and the exhibits.
Alishia Stone
11th December:
A day at the Tauplitz Mountain Area
Snow hiking was a very nice experience for me because we got the chance to do something new that I certainly won't do that often since it doesn't snow in Malta. First a professional snow hiker showed us the equipment that are necessary which included snowshoes which were needed in order not to sink into the snow and 2 sticks for support. He showed us how to wear the shoes and off we went to hike and climb one of the mountains situated in Tauplitz. This was very difficult for some especially for us the Maltese students who never dealt with snow. Addition to all this, some students together with teachers found themselves stuck in the snow which was very hilarious and fun to watch them trying to get out.
Ian Meilaq
On Wednesday morning we woke up at 6:00am , we had breakfast and went to the school and we got an a coach. We drove for 2 hrs to go on a mountain with a lot of snow on it. When we arrived we were split into 2 groups Group A and Group B. Group A went Sledging and Group B went Snow Shoe Hiking Both groups had someone professional to guide them what to do & how to do it . It is a board called the Rockxbob and rather than dragging it up the mountain you can carry it on your back. One can sit on the board and slide down or if there are 2 persons one sits on the back and one on the front. The person on the front controls the direction the RockXBob goes if he/she puts her legs on the left the RockXBob turns to the left and if he / she puts her/
his leg on the right the RockXBob turns to the right. We slid from 4 different positions and one scarier/faster than the other. I think in the end it was a very nice experience as in Malta we do not have anything similar to this and it was a sociable experience because we got to interact, laugh and slide together with other Austrian students.
Ahmad Zina
12th December:
Preparation of presentations, Treasure Hunt &
Parents' Evening
Our last activity at the Modelshculle was preparing presentations about the activities we participated in during the past week which we had to later present in front of the parents. We were divided into teams of four; two Maltese and two Graz students.
Each group had to present a simple PowerPoint on one of the activities. Doing this, was a great way to really interact and engage with our fellow teammates. It was interesting to see what the other students thought of the activities and their engagement with us. I enjoyed working with them and hearing their opinions.
At the end, we practiced them really quickly and it was good to see that we were at some ease considering we had just prepared them and had no time to really practice.
Overall it was a great experience, even though it seems like a boring, uninteresting activity!
Megan Abdilla
First we went to the school to meet and then we went to the beginning of where the treasure hunt started. After we split into four groups of eight we started going around the market. In our group we first went 15 Färbergasse where there was a Christmas market and we had to take pictures of four different hand made crafts. After we went to 6 Hauptpl. which is where the giant Christmas tree is. We had to find out how much a drink costed and where the tree was from. Later we went back to 4 Mehlpl. where we had to take a video of us walking through it. We also had to go through 7 Glockenspielpl. of which we also had to take a video. Then we went to Schlossergasse to find the funniest thing there. After we went to 7 Herrengasse which was where the ice crib was. We had to take a picture as a whole team. After which we went to 10 Landhausgasse to find how many Christmas stalls where there. After which we went to the meeting point were we left for lunch. I really liked today since it was so much fun and I hope to have something like this again.
Corazon Alessandro
The Hauptplaz Square is the main square of Graz, which is usually very busy, especially at night. Around Christmas time, stands decorate the plaza, filling it with life and Christmas cheer. There are food stands, traditional food and drink stands, souvenir stands, and so on.
The Plaza’s also complimented with its unique buildings, some of which are more unique than the rest. The Rathaus is one of the buildings completed in the 19th century. It has been known as the city hall ever since the previous town halls, which were replaced by the building we know today. Another building is the Luegghäuser, which was built in the early 1500’s and rebuilt in the late 1600’s.
Hailey Catania
The Glockenspielplatz clock is made up of 24 bells that play 3 different melodies. They play 3 times a day at 11am, 3pm and 6 pm. In 1905 the clock chimed for the first time and during the World War II the bells stopped chiming and were renewed in 1956. People gather around excitedly to hear the clock chime in the square. When the clock chimes two statues come out and dance around. While watching the clock the people were entranced by the dancing and the music. There was excitement and happiness in the air from tourists and Austrian people.
Nicole Caruana
While we were in Graz, we spent most of our time with the other students in the exchange program from austria, and things kicked off right away. From the first day Austrian students and Maltese students started to get along, and we found that we had many things in common. While we were in Graz, the students showed us around ,told us about Austria, and explained stories and traditions while in the open air museum. The students all integrated quite well , and by the end of the trip, many of us had gotten to know each other and had become friends. On the last day in Graz, we all did a presentation with the Austrian students, and that helped us all work closer as a team and share ideas with each other.We were all sad to leave on Saturday, but we exchanged numbers so that we could keep contact with the Austrians until they come to Malta in March.
Liliana Francalanza
13th December:
Vienna Christmas Markets
On Friday morning we packed up everything and all of us left the hotel at Graz. We grabbed a train to Vienna for approximately 3 hours. The train was a pleasant experience which is good being a first time for me. When we arrived in Vienna it was only a matter of walking for a few minutes until we arrived to our second and last hotel. There we left our baggage and left to tour around Vienna. We went to Hofburg Palace and toured the area together. In this area there were Greek and Roman mythological figures which the teacher explained that they were used to show wealth and luxury. Then we visited St. Stephen's Cathedral which is a Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral. There we visited the Christmas market around the area and bought some items to bring back home. After about an hour we went on the metro and visited another large Christmas market. We spent a few hours there and then left to go back to the hotel.
Matthew Mifsud
