Travel Plus

01/08/2024

With a picture from one of our favorite landmarks, with our last group of students in June, we wish you a great summer break - we will see you back in September, ready for a new fantastic year!

24/07/2024

Today on the blog you can read about one of our favorite past projects!

Our articles on our past projects will be back on September 4th, after our summer break!

https://www.erasmustorino.it/two-mobilities-to-remember/

10/07/2024

Today on the ErasmusTorino Blog you can read about one of our past projects, involving three mobilities and eighteen students!

https://www.erasmustorino.it/one-project-three-groups-of-students-in-torino/

01/07/2024

On June 27th and 28th, we had the pleasure to attend, as gE4Torino, the Learning Garage Capacity Building of our beloved garagErasmus Foundation in Milan, with representatives of the other gE4s of the world!

Over the course of two days, we had a chance to talk and learn about the Art of Videomaking, the before and after of European Elections, and the Effective pitching and promotion of Local Events.

Our fantastic instructors - Marco Cassini, actor, director, professor at NABA and Accademia09; Maurizio Molinari, Head of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Milan; Emanuele Pilloni, PR and Media Relations Manager - gave us great classes and participated in active discussions and reflections, allowing us to learn while sharing our experiences end expertise.

We are very grateful for the opportunity, and we can’t wait to meet everyone again soon and continue to work for the wonderful world of Erasmus+!

28/06/2024

With these two wonderful group pictures at Castello di Rivoli and Basilica di Superga we want to say thank you again to the marvelous group of teachers and students from Makarios III Technical School of Nicosia, Cyprus!

The Architecture, Product Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design students finished their mobility and headed back home on Monday, after two incredible weeks together - thank you everyone again for you effort and participation! We really hope to see you again in the future, either in Torino, Cyprus, or around Europe!

22/06/2024

Our lovely group of students and teachers from Cyprus is about to go home!

The Architecture, Product Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design students from Makarios III Technical School have finished their work experience yesterday, after two weeks spent learning, adapting, discovering, and observing! On Thursday we were welcomed by IAAD Torino, with a presentation and tour of their Regio Parco location, offering the students a peak into what could be some options for their future after high school.

After some well deserved rest and free time, tomorrow we decided to bid farewell to Torino with one of its most stunning views: the one from our beloved Basilica di Superga.

The group will head back to Cyprus on Monday, and we are already sad to see them go - but we are happy to have shared this experience with these amazing people!

19/06/2024

We can’t believe it, but the mobility of our wonderful students and teachers from Cyprus is going too fast!

The Architecture, Product Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design students from Makarios III Technical School only have two more days left of work in various businesses in and around town; this week, we have spent our afternoons exploring Parco del Valentino, the marvelous Automotive Museum, and lastly the Lavazza Museum.

This morning, we visited all the students at their workplaces, and we are happy to report they are learning and discovering new aspects of the work experience, and it’s a pleasure to be able to accompany them on this journey! We still have a few activities planned before their departure next Monday - stay tuned!

15/06/2024

The mobility of our wonderful group of students and teachers from Cyprus is almost halfway!

The Architecture, Product Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design students from Makarios III Technical School completed their first week of work in various businesses in and around town; in the afternoons, after the walking tour and Royal Museums, we were able to explore the Liberty Architecture of Torino and the Urban Art Museum of Borgo Campidoglio, and the Cinema Museum with its new exhibition and its stunning view from the top of the panoramic lift!

Today, we visited the impressive Contemporary Art Museum of Rivoli, and tomorrow the group will independently head to Genova to explore the city and enjoy some sea.

The students are learning and discovering every day, and it’s a pleasure to be able to share this journey with them! Stay tuned for more updates on their activities next week!

12/06/2024

On Monday night, we were happy to welcome a new group of students and teachers from the beautiful Cyprus!

The Architecture, Product Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design students from Makarios III Technical School will be in Torino for two weeks, working in various work placements in town in the morning and visiting different institutions and landmarks in the afternoon. We kicked off the mobility yesterday with their first work day and a walking tour of the city center, and continued today with a visit to the always beautiful Royal Museums!

The group is excited and curious, and despite the intermittent rain making our tours a little more challenging, we are set to explore the city in and out over the next two weeks - stay tuned!

05/06/2024

Today on the ErasmusTorino Blog you can read about one of our past projects, that brought us all around Europe!

http://www.erasmustorino.it/improving-the-educational-process-through-international-activities/

28/05/2024

Late last night, after about 24 hours of travel, we have all safely returned home (to Italy and Lithuania) from Seoul! It was an amazing experience, enriching and stupefying, which we at Travel Plus are glad to have shared with the staff of Kupiškio Tvm Mokykla!

Last week we have talked about the school visits and the Korean Education System - now it’s time to talk about the cultural offer! Because we only had a week in Seoul, most of the cultural visits had to take place in Seoul area (already fairly vast).

We kicked off the mobility by visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace, the main royal palace of Seoul, which we visited donning the Hanbok, the traditional Korean attire. We were not alone in this: most of the Western and Asian tourists at the palace do just the same! The palace, which sprawls on a vast area of the city, has being extensively renovated, starting in 1970s, and is today almost entirely back to its original splendor, with some modern addendums - like a chapter of the Seoul Outdoor Library!

Later in the day, we were able to visit Cheongwadae, also known as the Blue House, the formal traditional residence (up until late 2022) of the South Korean president and family, today a museum and park; Gwanghwamun Square, near the palace, which is famous for the monument dedicated to Sejong the Great of Joseon, the Korean royal family from 1392 to 1910, credited to be the inventor of Hangul, the native alphabet of Korean language, and regarded as one of the greatest rulers in Korean history; and finally, Cheonggyecheon, a stream and public space that crosses the city and was renovated in 2003 after years of being filled with concrete.

On the second day, after the visit to Suwon Science College, we stopped in Suwon a little more in order to visit the Suwon Hwaseong, a fortification surrounding the centre of the city, built from 1794 to 1796 by King Jeongjo of the Joseon dynasty to house and honour the remains of his father, Prince Sado (a very interesting story that I suggest to look up!).The fortress and enclosed palace were designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1997.

The next day we spend the day in Seoul, visiting first Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a major urban development landmark in designed by Zaha Hadid and Samoo, with a distinctively neofuturistic design, and centerpiece of South Korea's fashion hub and popular tourist destination, Dongdaemun, also featuring restored parts of the Seoul fortress.
After we proceeded to Insadong, a neighborhood famous for its galleries and tea shops which historically was the largest market for antiques and artwork in Korea, and finally we finished with Gwangjang Market, a traditional street market (one of the oldest and largest markets in South Korea).

After the visits to the universities, we visited the Myeongdong districts, another famous fashion hub of the city, and Starfield Mall, famous for its acquarium and library.

Of course, an important part of the experience was the food: Korean cuisine is varied and complex, and increasingly more famous, but our wonderful Korean guide, Yumi, made sure to bring us only in local, tried-and-true small restaurants and stands, allowing us to try many different and delicious dishes (like Korean BBQ, noodles, kimchi, Bulgogi, pancakes, and Makgeolli, a wonderful and tasty rice wine).

The pictures are of course just a small part of the many things we had a chance to experience in this wonderful, full week, but we are happy to share part of our memories with all of you, hoping this is just the first of many further trips to this incredible country!

26/05/2024

Today we had to bid farewell to the wonderful students from Biržų technologijų ir verslo mokymo centras!

Their three weeks in Torino were a success, and we hope they bring back to Lithuania new experiences, new knowledge, and new skills - and good memories, of course! We were very happy to have them here - and we hope to see them again!

25/05/2024

We are very happy to share with you our latest, amazing experience, a mobility project with an unusual (and extra European!) destination: Seoul, South Korea!

Since Monday, we have been here in Seoul with a delegation from Kupiškio Tvm Mokykla, learning as much as possible about the South Korean Education System, their vocational training methods, and, of course, the rich culture of this far away country.

The program for the week has been absolutely packed, to make the most of our days here; we will share about the cultural program in a few days, but today we wanted to talk about the Korean Education System and our visits, starting with the amazing Suwon Science College, where we had the possibility to meet with a few teachers and students and discuss with them about their studies.

Located about one hour south of Seoul, in the city of Suwon, SSC is a junior college with vocational courses lasting 2, 3 or 4 years depending on the field. In the Korean Education System, students start their mandatory education at 7, with six-year primary schools, three-year middle schools, and three-year high schools, for a total of 12 years. Afterwards, many choose to pursue higher education in various fields (see table by Korean Ministry of Education in pictures for a brief summary, english.moe.go.kr). A big difference with most of the Western education systems is that the South Korean school year begins in March, not in August/September: summer break is usually less than one month, while the winter break is just longer and just short of two months.

At SSC, we had the possibility to see a few familiar ones: culinary school, with different kitchens for Western and Korean cuisine; bakery; cosmetology, comprising hair, nails, and obviously skincare; hospitality, with a fully functioning four-star hotel in which the students can practice their skills in a real professional setting; interior architecture, and more, for a total of 28 departments and about 5000 students.

Undoubtedly, the most unexpected field was “air tourism & travel”: a department that prepares and certifies flight attendants, with the help of a sectioned Boing inside the school to allow the students to practice on-site on a real airplane! South Koreans have to rely heavily on aviation to exit the country, as North Korea completely blocks their only land border, and therefore there is a high demand for flight attendants with knowledge of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English. We can’t thank the students and teachers at SSC for their enthusiasm, curiosity, and kindness!

We also had a chance to briefly visit two other renowned educational institutions, Yonsei University and Ewha Women’s University (one of the world's largest female educational institutes), both located in Seoul and founded at the end of the 19th century by American Protestant Missionaries. The South Korean Education System has many similarities with the US system, especially in higher education, for practical and historical reason, but it has maintained its own distinct and independent character, as with everything South Korean.

We still have much to learn about this wonderful country, and we hope to have more possibility to explore it more; but in the meantime, we are proud to say we believe wholeheartedly in the exchange of knowledge and experiences between different cultures that Erasmus + has made possible for so many years, and we could not be more excited of the possibility to enlarge our horizons outside of Europe, too!

We will be back at the beginning of next week to talk about the rich cultural offer of the project - stay tuned!

21/05/2024

The students from Biržų technologijų ir verslo mokymo centras started their last week of traineeship yesterday!

Our time together flew - but the last three weeks have been full and enriching, and over this last weekend we had the possibility to visit one of the timeless landmarks of the city with our mechanics and constructors: the Royal Museums.

Stay tuned for a few last updates on the group!

20/05/2024

Over the weekend, after a final trip to the Basilica of Superga, we had to bid farewell to the students from Kauno taikomosios dailės mokykla!

The last three weeks flew by - but everybody put in their best effort to achieve the most from this wonderful experience! We are thankful to the students for their hard work and wonderful company - hoping to see them again in the future!

16/05/2024

We can’t believe it, but the students of Kauno taikomosios dailės mokykla are almost at the end of their experience in Torino, Italy!

This week, their teacher Kristina is visiting the group over its last few days. The last three weeks have been intense and plagued by an unforgiving and almost continuous rain - but the students managed to keep their spirits up and continue learning, exploring, and discovering!

We still have a few days left in the mobility, and we intend to make the most of them!

14/05/2024

The mobility of the students from Biržų technologijų ir verslo mokymo centras is well underway!

Despite some bouts of illness, the students have successfully started their second week at their job, learning much more than just technical skills: as it often happens, communication, interpersonal, and adaptational skills are much needed in these wonderful, but challenging, experiences.

Over the weekend, we had to bid farewell to their teacher, Marius, who supported the group in its first Italian week. Hoping that weather and health will both improve, we continue supporting their traineeship, and we will show more of their activities later these week!

10/05/2024

The mobility of the students from Kauno taikomosios dailės mokykla continues, and it’s at the end of its second week!

The photographers and ceramists are all working hard on their workplaces, learning, discovering, overcoming cultural differences and difficulties, and eagerly exploring Torino and Italy during their free time!

Last week we were able to visit the photo exhibition “A greater wisdom” at Gallerie d’Italia, and over this weekend we will visit the always classic Royal Museums - a must see for everyone visiting Torino!

More updates on their activities and the arrival of their teacher will come next week!

06/05/2024

Yesterday night we were happy to welcome a new delegation from Biržų technologijų ir verslo mokymo centras, from Birzai, Lithuania!

The six students will be in Torino, Italy for three weeks, engaged in a traineeship mobility in three different local businesses, accompanied by their teacher for the first week.

After our traditional welcome meeting this morning, the four mechanics and two constructors started working right away, ready to start their experience! Over the course of the week we will visit everyone again, and we will start our cultural program over the weekend - stay tuned to follow them during their time in Italy!

30/04/2024

This last Sunday we were happy to welcome in Torino, Italy, a new delegation of students from Kauno taikomosios dailės mokykla, of Kaunas, Lithuania!

The six students, four photographers and two ceramists, will be in Italy for three weeks of traineeship mobility in various businesses around the city.

Everybody excitedly started working between yesterday and today, and we can’t wait to see what the next three weeks will bring us - stay tuned for more updates!

24/04/2024

Today on the ErasmusTorino Blog you can read about one of our past VET mobilities in Torino!

http://www.erasmustorino.it/an-italian-summer-for-lithuanian-students/

22/04/2024

Over this last weekend we unfortunately had to say bye to the wonderful group from Miskolci Szakképzési Centrum.

The eight IT students and their accompanying teacher, Csaba, were a pleasure to have with us for the last two weeks. Hardworking, respectful, genuinely curios, and a very fun bunch - this definitely an enriching experience for everyone involved.

The goals of the Erasmus+ mobilities are, as we all know, many, and ambitious; but arguably one the most important results is bringing together different cultures, allowing for a wider understanding of all countries in Europe, overcoming even the deeper differences and creating links within citizens of our beautiful union.

Hoping to have other chances in the future to enjoy the company of this marvellous group of young men, thank you from all of us!

18/04/2024

As we have said in previous posts, we were lucky enough to welcome two delegations from Sostinės vaikų ir jaunimo centras „Hobiverse“ at the same time, one in Torino, Italy, and one in Barcelona, Spain.

We had to bid farewell to the Spanish delegation as well this Tuesday, after a fun and enriching week. Other than the wonderful visits to the aquatic centers we have highlighted in our previous posts, we had a chance to visit some of the most beautiful Catalonian landmarks: the Rambla, Barceloneta, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Montserrat, casa Pedrera - all while reflecting, learning, observing and, of course, enjoying ourselves (like at sunset on the stairs of the Modern Art Museum, or eating a ton of paella!)

It was great to have this wonderful delegation with us, and we leave Spain with more knowledge, new friends, and an enriched heart. Let’s hope to meet again!

17/04/2024

Yesterday in Torino, Italy we had to say bye to the marvelous delegation of Sostinės vaikų ir jaunimo centras „Hobiverse“ before they departed home for Lithuania!

After the sport centers visits, the cultural offer had some more time to shine: a solo trip to the Basilica of Superga with the historical train, a full-day visit to the Reggia of Venaria and its gardens under the beautiful sun, some free time for the group to explore Torino (and Milano, even!), and lastly a visit to the always entertaining National Cinema Museum and its panoramic lift.

Lastly, we were able to bid farewell to the group, reflecting on what we have learned, observed, and explored together over the last week, with a closing aperitivo and the documents handover. It was an absolute pleasure to welcome these curios, fun, and smart professionals in Torino, and we hope we’ll have plenty more occasions to see each other and learn and have fun together!
Ačiū, and see you soon!

16/04/2024

The mobility of the wonderful students from Miskolci Szakképzési Centrum is more than halfway through! After a successful first week at work (and in Italy), the students were able to explore over the weekend.

On Saturday, we visited the Royal Museums of Torino - a classic landmark, never boring and always fascinating!
On Sunday, the students and their accompanying teacher explored on their own, spending the day in Genova, visiting the Sea Museum and the beach, taking advantage of our hot April and their free time.

Yesterday, the work week begun again at their office, always tutored and guided by the wonderful team over at Coolshop. The week ahead will be filled with learning, working, and practicing, before their flight back to Hungary - but we will tell you more in the next few days!

15/04/2024

14/04/2024

The delegation of teachers, trainers, and staff members of Sostinės vaikų ir jaunimo centras „Hobiverse“ in Barcelona, Spain, is making the most of their time.

While surviving the hot hot weather, the delegation is continuing with both cultural program and sports center visits. We had a marvelous and informative time at the Club Natació Atlètic-Barceloneta ( https://www.cnab.cat/ ), where the wonderful Diana ( https://dianaosuna.com/deporte/ ) showed us all of their activities and spaces, illustrating at length the long history of the center and all the work they do daily to provide not only state-of-art training equipment and coaching, but also provide sportive and fitness ,wellness as well social activities for kids and adults of all ages, just a few feet from the beach and easily reachable from all of Barcelona. We thank them very much for their availability and thoroughness of the visit - we learned so much, and had a blast!🤩🤩🤩

13/04/2024

The week in the Torino, Italy of the delegation from Sostinės vaikų ir jaunimo centras „Hobiverse“ has been a lively one!

Over the last few days, we have visited Flic Circus School and Reale Società Ginnastica di Torino, where we learned many things about the history of the Society, founded in 1844, and their many activities. We had a chance to observe many athletes in action and breathe in the history of the place thanks to our wonderful guide.
We have also visited Villa Glicini and Master Club in Torino, sports complex and event location, already buzzing with the organization of the summer season and summer camps for kids. Both complex offer a wide variety of sports and activities and it was interesting to get to know about legal and managerial aspects as well.

Of course, it wasn’t only work, and we had a chance to immerse ourself in the city with a big walking tour (and ice cream!) and other cultural activities - but you’ll get to know more about them in our next post!

11/04/2024

The mobility of the worderful students from Miskolci Szakképzési Centrum is almost at the end of its first week!

The eight young men are hard at work at Coolshop, where they are learning and testing their skills, knowledge and methods under the helpful and watchful eyes of the team.
In the meantime, today we had to bid farewell to their wonderful headmistress and project coordinator, who visited us for a few days - but not before exploring the city with them as much as possible, showing them our home!

It is a pleasure to have the students here and to have had their “trusted adults” with us, even if we are sad to see them go back home to Hungary, but we hope this is just a see you soon - köszönöm!

11/04/2024

Coolshop is happy to participate in Travel Plus' Erasmus project. A group of very young IT students from Miskolci Szakképzési Centrum, flew from Hungary to Turin to join our CoolPeople and enjoy an educational experience.