‘How it is to live, study and work in a foreign EU country’ Erasmus+ KA2 experience in IES Santa Maria La Real, Aguilar de Campoo, .

From 21st through 26th February 2016, we, Xinyi Shu, Ainhize Aldazabal and Miren Etxeberria, students of the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education of Ikastola Azkoitia- BHI, the Basque Country, travelled to IES Santa Maria La Real in Palencia, north of Castille, to spend six marvellous days with our project partners within the Erasmus + KA2 “How it is to live, study and work in a foreign EU country”, in which our school is participating. In IES Santa Maria La Real, we met our Spanish partners from Aguilar de Campoo and neighbouring villages, and all the other partners from England, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. We had a great time together but we also worked hard on several aspects of our Erasmus project. We attended lectures by experts in apprenticeship and entrepreneurship, visited local companies where we saw how they work, were welcome by authorities and were hosted by our partners’ families in Aguilar and Barruelo. They were most nice to us and we learnt a lot.

The school building of IES Santa Maria La Real is a piece of art. It is outside the town centre of Aguilar De Campoo. We thought it a perfect place. Quiet and very accessible for students to walk or cycle or, also for the students who come to school by bus. The building is awesome. It happens to be an old medieval monastery that was restored and turned into the Secondary and Vocational Training School and, next to it also the National Distance Education University (UNED). Everything was tidy and very beautiful. Although in a Romanesque surrounding the school is modern with e-boards, IT facilities, a very nice assembly room, which used to be the monks’ refectory or dining room, and a hostel and restaurant next to the school. Everything in these surroundings oozes culture, either because is part of the school curriculum or has to do with the Romanesque art, which is one of the most important aspects of the cultural background and industry of Aguilar de Campoo.

It was unexpectedly beautiful to find that a stream flows throughout the school premises. You walk along the corridors and can see the river murmuring under your feet. It used to propel a mill, which doesn’t work nowadays. There is a museum of Romanesque art. In the museum we were told about the monastery and the history of the area. Then we walked into the church and shown a film which pictures of the bad ruinous conditions of the church and the work done for the last few years to restore it and turn into a cultural and tourist attraction for the area. The classrooms were quite small in comparison to ours. But enough for the number of students. In fact there were not so many students in them, about 15. In our classrooms there are over 20. It struck us to see how many students stood smoking outside the school premises. Smoking is banned inside and it was surprising to see how many students rush out of the fence for a smoke during the breaks; teachers too. As well as Compulsory Secondary Education, they call ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) and we call DBH (Derrigorrezko Bigarren Hezkuntza), in which we and our partners from Aguilar de Campoo all aged 16 study our last year, IES Santa Maria La Real also offers High School or Sixth Form, or Baccalaureate as you want to call it, and also Vocational Training. We somehow understood that many students opt for getting a job or going somewhere else instead of taking on High School or Vocational Training. We think it quite surprising because in our school is just the opposite and there are about 25 students in each classroom whereas in IES Santa Maria La Real it seems there are about 10 people.

As a matter of fact, that is precisely the main theme of our Erasmus +KA ‘How it is to live, study and work in a foreign EU country’. We intend to explore the possibility of making conscious choices of learning and going for apprenticeship paths at school and after it and give an international dimension to the career guidance that each school offers. Each education system and geographical area has different peculiarities and school transition to work may also be very different. Citizens of the Union, particularly in this time of crisis should be able to profit from the opportunity to work in another EU country and that is what we try to learn from our project partners. During the project meetings, with the participation of teachers and students from the different countries involved, each host school is expected to show how school-to- work training and apprenticeships work by visiting schools, businesses and public authorities operating in the field of apprenticeship or school-to-work alternation. That is why also during our stay in Aguilar we visited newspapers, business and the main company in the area. The company where many students seem that would like to work: the biscuit company Gullón, an international referent in the biscuit industry. W e also talked to experts in education and apprenticeship and entrepreneurship or employment policies. We visited Valladolid and Burgos and made good friends among our project partners from all over Europe while we practised our English and had a wonderful time.

Miren Etxeberria, Ainhize Aldazabal and Xinyi Shu. Students of IES Urola Ikastola Azkoitia-Azpeitia BHI