ERASMUS+ BIO-CHEMICAL EXCHANGE IN NIJLEN, BELGIUM

Swimming in an aquarium among tropical fish was awsome!

The exchange with Sint-Calasanzinstituut in Nijlen, Flanders, has been in progress since 2006. This year it took place from 3rd to 8th October 2024, when a group of 10 students (years two and three) accompanied by two teachers went to Belgium. In October 2025 the same group of Belgian students will return the visit to The Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. We stayed with our host families and naturally communicated in English. On the first day we had a tour of the school and a workshop on biodiesel production. In the afternoon we went to the Diamond Museum in Antwerp. This city used to be the center of diamond sales, so we visited the diamond museum, where we could try our hand at diamond polishing. On the following day we took a train to the famous Bruges, which is also called Little Venice. The next morning, we visited the Museum of town history, in the afternoon we went to the BODYWORLDS exhibition – a demonstration of how the human body works. We mostly spent Sundays with our host families, visiting Antwerp and some of us also Brussels. Monday was particularly interesting as we spent the morning at the Tabloo Interactive Museum, where the theme discussed was nuclear energy. In the afternoon we went swimming in an aquarium among tropical fish in the town of Beringen. On the last day, we visited the small typical Flemish town of Lier in the morning and we said farewell to our hosts in the afternoon. One of the students wrapped up the entire experience saying: “It was unforgettably beautiful. I will cherish the impressions for a long time to come. I really look forward to their visit next year.” /Lily Schweiger Kotar/