Erasmus experience: Aventura en España!

We started our trip late at night at the Venice Airport and landed in Madrid in the morning, where we spent the entire day exploring the capital city of Spain. In the evening, a bus came to pick us up and we drove three hours to Almadén, a small town in the region Castilla La Mancha with an important background in mercury mining. After arriving, we were warmly welcomed by our host families. It seemed like the whole town was waiting in front of the school when we arrived.

We spent the Sunday with our host families participating in a traditional procession to honour the “Virgin”, the protectress of the town and we even got to watch a bull fight in the afternoon!

On Monday, it was time to start work at the youth conference on the subject of Mercury. Each country presented the topic of mercury in their home towns. On Tuesday, after a presentation about the environmental aspects, a professor from the University of Almadén informed us about the health risks that come with mercury. Afterwards, we visited the mercury mine and learned some interesting facts about mercury mining in the past and in the present, and how the town of Almaden has been dealing with the- environmental issue after centuries of mercury mining.

On Wednesday, we went on a bus trip to the nearby picturesque city of Almagro and learned about the impact the Fugger family had in Spain. On our last day, we went back to Madrid, visited the Reina Sofia, a famous art museum, and flew back to Italy.

During the time we spent together we danced traditional Spanish flamenco dances, made music, tried all types of Spanish food, learned each other’s favourite card games (and swear words…) and had an amazing time!
We did not only learn a lot about mercury and its dangers, but also how to communicate with simple words (I like?), gestures and how it’s possible to have lots of fun while not necessarily understanding each other’s languages!

Nora and Johanna, 3r