Our Comenius team going to this meeting consists of four people: students Kristina Marcinonyte (form 10a), Eimante Arbutaviciute (form 9) and English teachers Jurgita Arbutaviciene and Lilija Mikalauskaite – Dziumajeva. Our trip starts at 5.00 a.m. We are going to Vilnius bus terminal where we take a coach to Riga airport in Latvia. Here we meet our Latvian partners from Lubana Secondary School and then we travel to Dusseldorf/Weeze together. Germany welcomes us with very warm weather, trees and fields dressed in green, blooming tulips and pansies… From Weeze airport it takes us one more hour to get to Bocholt, the town where the last project meeting is going to take place…

Bocholt is a beautiful city of North Rhine – Westphalia, the most populated state of Germany. It is located on the river Aa just 4 km away from Netherlands territorial border. Chartered in 1222 by the bishop of Munster, Bocholt derived its name from Buchenholz, “the beech wood” of its surroundings. It has 75 000 inhabitants and is a centre of textile industry, it also has iron foundries and machine works.

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In the morning we all come to school – Mariengymnasium. We are welcomed by Mr. Wilfried Fluchter, the headmaster, students and teachers. We’ve learned that for a long time the gymnasium functioned as a Catholic school for girls only, and it started its work as a common school for girls and boys only in 1980’s. 60 teachers are teaching at the gymnasium and a thousand of 10 – 18 – year – old students are attending the gymnasium. We see that the most popular means of transport to reach the school is a bicycle.  We also learn that Bocholt is a designated bicycle city, and almost every citizen has one or more bikes, the bicycle network is vast and convenient. The lessons at Mariengymnasium start at 8.00 a.m. and guest students together with their host students are offered to attend some lessons. Meanwhile teachers go to the open town market in front of the historical town hall to do some shopping for the evening’s “Europe cooking”.  Later in the school hall we all prepare the exhibition of the project meetings, our discoveries, workshops, activities and outcomes. In the afternoon at the new Town Hall, located on the island in the Aa river, we have a voyage through European history and art history by presenting and advertising the magic places we’ve visited during the seven project meetings.  We  are also welcomed by mayor of the city, Mr. Peter Nebelo. After the presentations students return to their host families and teachers together with German home economics teacher have an evening of Europe cooking: in the school kitchen they prepare food typical for their countries…

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In the morning we all meet at Bocholt Textile Museum and walk to Spinnerei, the main building, where we are welcomed by Dr. Martin Schmidt. Here we are going to have a workshop: Practical textile design – young Europeans in search of their identity. But first we visit some expositions of the textile museum and have the introduction into the fashion world. Later multinational groups of students and teachers use Styrofoam boards as “mood boards” to express their ideas on a fashion which represents their feelings and identity. Later we have a historical fashion show. Dr. Schmidt guides us through pleasant review of European history through fashion. We watch the defile of volunteer models from our delegations dressed in the historical costumes from the 17^th century to the 80s of the 20^th century, the historical costumes students are wearing come from the funds of the Textile Museum. After lunch at the rooftop restaurant Textile Museum we move to school gym where we have a dancing lesson. In the evening members of Bocholt Parliament – Committee on international contacts and twinning are visiting our exhibition in the school hall…

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A wonderful day spent in Amsterdam… Our aim is to visit Rijksmuseum, in English the State Museum, existing for more than two hundred years, belonging to the most breathtaking museums in the world and hosting an impressive collection of paintings from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century. At the start of our visit to the museum we learn that in April, 2013 it has been reopened after a 10 – year renovation, later we start our voyage through the collection of the Netherlands 17^th century art. We enjoy watching the works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals and more. Most famous is Rembrandt’s masterpiece “The Night Watch”. In the afternoon students and teachers explore the historical part of Amsterdam in multinational groups, and in the evening we return to Bocholt…

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The morning is sunny but cool and windy… We are going to Dusseldorf, the capital city of the German state of North Rhine – Westphalia. On the way we learn that Dusseldorf is one of the economic centres of Western Germany located along the river Rhine. It is one of the wealthiest cities in Germany and is home to plenty of fashion, art and fascinating new architecture. Our destination is Media Harbour, the newest landmark of Dusseldorf. We have the excursion here and learn that the former harbor was transformed in a quarter with restaurants, bars, coffee shops, discotheques and hotels. Its flair is based on the mixture of old and new. Protected buildings, depots, quay walls and industrial surroundings stand side by side with modern architecture. There are buildings constructed by Frank Gehry, Helmut Jahn, David Chippefield. The 240 m high Rhine Tower, located right on the river Rhine near the Media Harbour, offers an amazing view from the restaurant at 172 m…

Our next destination is Cologne, but on the way there we get stuck in a traffic jam, so we have some time only for a visit to a magnificent Cologne Cathedral… In the evening we have a farewell party at “Buena Vista” pub…

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Sunny and windy morning, but this time we are in Munster which is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. This is a cosmopolitan city, youthful, laid – back and proud of a history going back more than 1200 years. Is this Germany’s most beautiful city? Many people would certainly say yes. What’s more, the city has won an award for having the best quality of life in the world. Munster is a place that keeps its history very much alive – and its houses, churches and squares can tell plenty of stories about the past. This is particularly true in the historical city centre, for example Prinzipalmarkt. There are lots of places around this square that one can explore: the baroque Erbdrostenhof Palace, the Dominican Church and the Church of St. Clement’s, the cathedral square with the Cathedral of St. Paul’s, the Church across the Water and the most historical part of Munster – the district around the Church across the Water. The favourite mode of transport in Munster is the bicycle. As many as 100 000 people cycle in the city every day, and there are two bicycles for every resident. So everyone who wants to discover the real Munster should get on their bike!

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Our trip home starts early in the morning – at 4.00 a.m. together with our partners from Latvia we leave the hotel and head for Weeze airport. Three hours by plane to Riga airport where we say good – bye to our Latvian partners and change for the coach going to Vilnius bus terminal. In four hours we are already in Vilnius. It takes an hour and a half more to reach our hometown Alytus… It’s very warm in Lithuania – a real summer, we see that the leaves on the trees are much larger than they had been when we left a week ago…