On Thursday my day started early in the morning, I went to school with my host brother where I met his classmates and his History teacher.

After that, we met the rest of the group in the school parking lot and we all got on the bus heading to Putna.

During the journey, we listened to music from our home countries and had a lot of fun singing and vibing to songs.

After an hour (that felt like 10 minutes because we were having a lot of fun) we arrived at a pottery factory and saw two men who were creating pots of different shapes and sizes. It was so interesting to see them being so focused on what they were doing: wheel throwing and modeling clay. Just next to it, there was also a lovely shop where we could appreciate the results of their work and eventually buy both traditional and modern-looking pots.

After this brief stop, we got back on the bus and headed to Putna Monastery. When we arrived there, we had been nicely greeted by a monk having a long and magnificent beard; he showed us around the place with great kindness. And thanks to him we appreciated this enchanting place even more. First, we visited the Monastery museum, where we had the opportunity to learn about its history and what happened to it through the centuries, later we visited an Orthodox church (for many of us it was the first time visiting one!).

After the visit, we had lunch in a nearby canteen where the monks served us chorba, sarmale, and parjoale.

After lunch, we got on the bus and went back to Suceava and lots of us took a little “siesta”.

We got back home, rested for a bit, and then we went to the “Continental Hotel” for our farewell night. We were gifted some cute mugs, and we listened to speeches delivered by both teachers and students from all countries. After the ceremony, some parents and teachers left and we started dancing for hours and hours.

Sadly, after all that fun, it was time to say goodbye to each other and that was a very emotional moment. Almost everyone was crying and we were all so sad to leave that fantastic group, made up of students coming from all over Europe who became close friends in just one week.

After saying goodbye, everyone got back home and started packing. We all tried to be happy with what we experienced rather than being sad because it was over. It wasn’t that easy but we are still in touch and the time spent together will never fade away but last forever and ever in our memories!