On 11 October 2018, our school had the great pleasure to receive a group of students from the Faroe Islands, along with their tutors, Mr. Boban Ilic and Mr. Joannes Naes Petersen.
This visit was part of a “tradition” that began 9 years ago, when our - larger than life – economics tutor, Mr. Ioannis Papafiggos first came in contact with colleagues from the Faroe. It was a contact that quickly developed into a long term relation between the two school communities.
Since then, high-school students from the Faroe Islands regularly visit our school, further deepening relations between colleagues and students. Our northern friends visit Greece every now and then, spending time in Athens, Crete and Santorini, and whenever they visit our beautiful island, they always make time to honour us with their presence.
Our schools may lie on the two extremes of Europe, but our frequent contacts reveal that we may have more things in common than what someone might expect. This became crystal clear when students from both schools had their first meeting. Both groups immediately approached each other, exchanged views and made jokes to each other (though something tells us that our northern friends made a bit more fun of us regarding our recent defeats from their national football team…).
Following the initial activity between the students, we organized a tour around our school building and laboratories, with the invaluable contribution and guidance of Mr. Kryonidis, who, very quickly, became fluent again in English and Mr. Niarchos, who also assisted in the overall affair. Our students had prepared a small presentation for each laboratory, providing details about the activities and the courses that are being taught in each of them, as well as, the various sectors that exist in our vocational high-school.
Since the rest of the school was operating in full swing, our visitors had the opportunity to acquire a first-hand experience of the work that is being done in the laboratories. The latter were full of students and tutors, who were eager to provide any additional details and answer any questions that were addressed to them.
After the tour, both students and tutors had the opportunity to chat in a more relaxing atmosphere, whist drinking beverages and eating pizza that were kindly provided by the school’s director, Mr. Nikolaos Leivadaros and were prepared and delivered by Mr. Dimitris Nikolopoulos, who runs our canteen.
A photo session, under the professional guidance of the “official” (and massively popular among our students) photographer of the school, Mr. Diamantis Kryonidis, followed with a view to the breathtaking caldera…. well, no need to brag about it, but we may be the school with the best view in the world!!!
Hence, after the photos and our last smiles, jokes and laughs, our friends from the North had to go. How irresistible is this feeling of melancholy, when such a sudden and pleasant happening adds colour to the grey and monotonous routine of everyday school life…. At least, appreciation and love always stay behind and the anticipation of a future reunion can provide some comfort…. Farewell our friends, have a safe trip back home and we are looking forward to meeting up again soon!!