Petar Petkov’s visit to Antalya, Turkey

 

Petar Petkov’s visit to Antalya, Turkey

(Erasmus+ participant)

 My name is Petar Petkov, I’m a 12^th grade student from the Maths and Science School “Ekzarh Antim I”. I live and study in the city of Vidin, Bulgaria. I’m grateful that I took part in the Erasmus+ project in 2021/2022 firstly as a host, and then as a guest in Antalya, where I have never been before. In this essay I will let you know what was my experience in Turkey with my friends, some of whom are old ones and others – newmade.

I’ll start with our arrival in Istanbul after a long (but enjoyable) bus trip starting from Vidin. To be honest, we couldn’t see much because it was 2 am but I was really amazed by how large and wide-open was everything there. After a while we got to the airport and when the time came we took our flight to Antalya.

The first thing I noticed was that it was full of palm trees everywhere instead of the broad-leaved trees we are used to in Bulgaria. The whole greenery was completely different from what I’ve seen before and I really appreciated the atmosphere it creates. Anyways, after a few minutes some teachers from the Turkish group took us to have lunch – ‘’Turkish breakfast’’. In spite of the name, I don’t think I’m able to eat so much food as I wake up, it was amazing. Then they took us to the dorms where we were going to spend the nights. I won’t lie, I didn’t know what to expect but as we came in and saw the rooms, I knew I was in a good place. Then, in the same day, they took us to see a fascinating waterfall right next to the seaside.

In the first two days the weather wasn’t really good so we mostly stayed in the school area, where we met a lot of new people with whom we had fun around the different classrooms. I enjoyed visiting the Philosophy, Music and Art classes where we once tried a unique painting technique.

The next days the weather was getting better so we started visiting some outdoors places, including the ancient town Perge, Pamukkale, Kurshunlu Shelalesi and much others. All of them were not only amazingly beautiful but also soaked with history which makes them much more interesting to visit. I also shall acknowledge the adventure in Davraz where I went skiing for the first time – I can’t tell I’m a professional but it was fun still.

I should not miss the part when we had some work done in the schools. All of the groups had a couple of presentations connected with bees and bee products, which were all interesting to see. There were also some workshops where we were crafting, painting or trying stuff which as a whole was really enjoyable.

Also, this essay wouldn’t be full if I don’t say anything about the great food I tried in Turkey. Starting with kofte and piyas, going through ishkembe, kele paca (my favourites) and doner with some ayran and finishing with kadaif and BAKLAVA (soguk baklava is better). With surprise I found out that a lot of things from the Turkish cuisine are very similar to some from the Bulgarian one: kaymak, kofte, yogurt and so on.

In order to keep the essay from turning into a novel, I can’t really tell everything in a great detail but all in all, I should tell that seeing those fascinating places, trying the delicious Turkish food, doing some activities for the first time and most importantly – meeting a lot of kind and funny people, with whom we will stay friends for years by now, are things that I’ll be thankful for for my entire life. Firstly, thanks to the nicest hosts I’ve ever had and secondly – thanks to the Erasmus project that makes such a great experience come true.

 

The paintings are inspired by my experience in Antalya and are made by me after I returned to Bulgaria

Petar Petkov

Turkey - beautiful and unknown

                                                  My impressions of Antalya, Turkey

In the beginning of this year (2022) I was involved in the Erasmus+ “2Be or not 2BeeN” project once again in our visit in Turkey. Previously I participated in the visit in Italy, and I was a part of the student group which welcomed the Turkish and French students on their visits in Bulgaria.

My friends – Kremena and Peter, and I spent two weeks in Turkey, and we really enjoyed our stay there. We stayed in the city of Antalya, and we got to know it well. Antalya is a big, beautiful, and very well developed city, which is quite different from our small town, which made our experience there even more exciting.

We had many school activities during our stay in Antalya, so we got to meet many Turkish students and we became incredibly good friends with many of them as all of them were friendly and kind towards us. They showed us their classrooms which impressed us. They have the typical whiteboards and there are huge interactive devices used for studying purposes. We also participated in one of their philosophy classes as well as one of their art classes which were quite interesting. The schools also organized a couple of student concerts for us which were very entertaining.

We also visited many cultural monuments. Firstly, we went to the ancient city of Perge, the capital of Pamphylia. We also explored the Kursunlu waterfalls which are wonderful. We visited many amphitheaters, too as there are a lot of them near Antalya. We also had a trip to Pamukkale and an amazing voyage to Alanya. We travelled to mountain Davraz where we had the chance to try skiing or snowboarding. I chose snowboarding as I have always been interested in this winter sport. It was my first time trying it and it was thrilling. All these destinations really enriched us emotionally and we extremely enjoyed being in every single one of them. We saw the beautiful Turkish nature.

One of my favorite aspects of my stay in Turkey was the Turkish cuisine. Many of the Turkish dishes we tried were somewhat similar to some of the Bulgarian dishes due to the geographic proximity of both countries, so we were not shocked by their cuisine. However, we really liked the meals as they were very delicious. We also went to some shopping centers with some of our Turkish friends and they showed us their favorite places there. In addition to that, we went to Kaleici which is the old part of the city and has a lot of beautiful views of the sea.

In conclusion, I am really grateful that I have been involved in this project as it gave me so many opportunities to try different activities, see many interesting sights and experience many different things that I would have never experienced otherwise.

Ivaylo Andreev

Science and Maths Secondary School

                                                                                                                                          Vidin, Bulgaria

LTTM in Turkey

Honey and bee products in cosmetics and  medicine

                                        Our presentation:https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive
 

LTTM in Bulgaria

 

Usage of honey and bee products in cosmetics

Our Presentationhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1zjvFpINaGOiz5UTPFoPdSwkTUpGRWr6z/view?usp=sharing

LTTM in Bulgaria

 The most honeyed plants in our country

Bees in Bulgarian mythology

 

Learning, Training and Teaching Activities 

 VIDIN, BULGARIA - from 15^th to 27^th of November 2021

Italy through my eyes

 

Erasmus+  Project  “To Bee or not To Bee in Nature”- “2B or not 2BeeN”

Italy through my eyes

I am really happy to have been part of the Erasmus+ “2Be or not 2BeeN” project. I was very excited to be a part of this project because I love exploring unfamiliar places and getting to know new cultures.

I kept liking Italy increasingly more with every passed day. Firstly, I made a lot of friends there including people from the Greek and Turkish teams as well as many Italians of course. Getting to know all those people it was quite interesting for me as they have had more different experiences than me; for example: they live in a different country, they study at in a different type of schools, they eat distinct types of food and have a different view for many things in life. The communication was easy as almost all the people I met there had a good command of English which meant that I had many opportunities to practice my English and to be able to apply the skills that I have been taught at school.

One of my favorite parts of my stay in Italy was certainly the architecture and the beauty of the places we visited in Lombardy. Monza, the town we stayed in, is a calm and beautiful place. There are many cobblestone streets which make it very charming. We also visited Milan, which was an incredible experience. Milan is an architectural masterpiece with such unforgettable architecture. We also went to  Como lake which offered many beautiful landscapes of northern Italy. We also went on a ferry ride through the lake which was great fun. Another interesting aspect of Monza was the cuisine. Unfortunately, I was not at a host family and so I was not able to try any Italian homemade dishes. However, I was still able to try several typical Italian meals in restaurants. I tasted many types of pasta, pizza, spaghetti, seafood and other Italian dishes and I really enjoyed all of them. Throughout my stay in Italy, I was also able to learn many new Italian words and phrases which made me more familiar with the entire Italian atmosphere.

Another notable experience we had was cooking in the demonstrative laboratory kitchen in the school. We had the chance to see some of their cooking classes and even take part in the process of the preparation of some of the things they cooked. It was quite interesting for me because we do not have these types of classes in our school. I found their classes exciting and productive. We also had some lectures and practical lessons about bees, beekeeping, bees in mythologies and other types of activities involving knowing the importance of bees.

In conclusion I am glad to have been involved in this project and I am grateful for having experienced everything I did during these two weeks. I am looking forward to being a part of all the other activities of this project.

Ivaylo Andreev

Science and Maths Secondary School

Vidin, Bulgaria