For the first week in December 2019, 5 students and two professors went to a mathematical exchange in the town of Gheorgheni, located in the north of Romania. We started the journey very early. On Sunday, December 1st, we started our journey at 3 am in the morning, we went with bus from Sempeter, which took us to Treviso Airport in Italy. After an hour and a half to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, we were still waiting for a 4-hour van ride to Gherogheni. After a long day, we arrived in the evening to our hosts who welcomed us and they were very hospitable.
The first difference we noticed was in the temperature, since the temperatures also reached below -10 degrees Celsius. On Monday, the snow fell, which we all enjoyed, as it rarely falls in the Vipava Valley. We spent the afternoon during the week at the school participating in the program. This one consisted of activities in English.
We were in groups together with students from Romania, Portugal and Poland. Together we solved tasks in mathematics, English, biology and robotics.
On Wednesday, however, we set off on a field trip to Bran, where we took a look at the castle where the notorious Dracula himself was supposed to reside, although there is no evidence for this. A few of us gathered courage and went to the house of fear beside the castle, leaving it much less courageous. In the evening we also visited the city of Braslov with a Christmas fair. The city was decorated with many lights. There was a tall decorated tree on the main square, and around it were stalls with hot drinks, decorations, souvenirs… Known, but different.
We spent the afternoons and evenings outside of school. We had a great time catching up with the hosts in many different ways. We even went on bovling one afternoon. We were fortunate to arrive in Gheorgheni just in the week of Saint Nicholas. The city is even named after this saint (Hungarian). Every day, therefore, there were numerous activities, events and concerts on the town square. So we took a look at the fireworks on Thursday, then went to one of the hosts who has a pool at home. Although we were very much looking forward to the start of the snow week, we were quite pleased with the transition from icy 12 degrees to warm + 20.
On Friday, which was the last day of the exchange, we made Christmas decorations at school, and in the afternoon we attended the final event. After that we had dinner with a taste of traditional dishes from Romania, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.
… and then the time came when we had to say goodbye. Although we were only together for a week, we made good friendships and the farewell had a bitter aftertaste. We started our journey home very early on Sunday night and returned to Slovenia in the afternoon.
(Written by student Zala Gruntar, photo: Katarina B. Gerželj)