Dear Diary,

I left Ireland on 7th December 2014 after I stayed for about two month at Manageer National School. The children made my stay there unforgettable. I learned a lot of things about their school and the life in Ireland and had a great time playing hurling, learning Irish dances and many more. But I was happy to go to Romania because I knew very little about it. On the way to Sibiu, Romania we had a stop in Munich and to my surprise I met Santa Claus there.

Santa took me in his lap and asked me a lot of things about my trips around Europe, about the schools I had already visited, what I had learned there regarding culture and traditions. I promised Santa that I was going to tell him next year about the other countries I was to visit and about my experiences. Late at night I arrived at Sibiu International Airport . I was very tired and eager to go to bed because the next day I had to go to school and meet my new school for the following 3 months.

The next day I went to school in the afternoon and was warmly welcomed by all the Romanian pupils. I was given flowers and they cuddled me. I stayed in class 5A with Paola and Maria at Art lesson and helped them finish their drawings.

In Ireland all partner schools received from the others decorations for the Christmas tree at their school. I helped the pupils to decorate the tree and made it an European Christmas Tree.

I had the great pleasure to take part in the Christmas Celebration 2014 at the reception class. All the little children recited poems and sang carols. It was so exciting to feel the spirit of Christmas in a very far but friendly country.

Soon after I arrived at Sibiu the Christmas holiday started and Eveline and Izabel from class 7A invited me to spend the two-week holiday with them. So I left school on 19th December 2014. The girls took me to the city centre and showed me Sibiu Christmas market, one of the best markets in Europe and a special place to spend your Christmas holiday. The medieval architecture, the crowded stalls, the hospitable people, the lights decorating all buildings made Sibiu a fairylike town.

On Christmas Eve I went carolling with the girls and their colleagues from the same class, 7A. One of the most common Romanian traditions, on Christmas Eve, is carolling. Everywhere in villages or towns you can hear the voices of carollers who visit the houses of neighbours, wishing them health, joy and prosperity in the year to come and receiving gifts of money or food: nuts, pretzels, apples, etc.

While we were carolling Santa Claus came to Eve’s and brought presents for the whole family and for me, too.

On Christmas Day, Eveline, her mother and father and I had a Romanian traditional Christmas lunch with cabbage rolls with pork and polenta(maize polenta).

Romanian Christmas food is so special and tasty. My mouth is already watering. That's why you can find it all over the year not only at Christmas time.

I don't make a mistake when I say that on Christmas Day every Romanian family have on their Christmas table cabbage rolls(sarmale), home made sausages (carnati), sweet bread(cozonac),lots of cookies.

I was told that in Romania, Christmas has always been a great opportunity for family members to get together in order to spend some time in the warm, loving and cheerful atmosphere of their home.

After so much delicious food a little exercise was of great help to keep us fit. So we went sledding and skating. Eveline and Izabel showed me how to ice skate and looked after me while learning the real basics of ice skating.

This winter it snowed a lot in Romania and the temperature were the lowest in the history. On New Year’s Eve in Sibiu it was -26C. Very cold!!! When the temperature became milder Eveline and I went to the park and made a snowman.

Eveline Buta-Class 7A

On 5th January 2015 the children went back to school. I went to spend my time at school with class 5A.The children were happy to see me again and took me in the school garden to enjoy the snow and a snowball fight with them. There hasn’t been a real winter in Romania with snow for many years.

The children cared for me and put the woollen jacket on me not to catch a cold.

Ciprian, class 5A and his brother Florin,class 7A,took me to a basketball workout. They play for CSU Sibiu, a Romanian professional basketball club, based in Sibiu. I learned a lot about basketball and enjoyed the workout.

Florin Iftene-class 7A

The 1st semester finished on 30th January and the children in Romania had their winter holiday. Tudor,a boy in class 3A went with his parents to “Sambata”, a resort close to the Fagaras Mountains. They took me with them and so I could see the mountains , Sambata Monastry,get a breath of fresh air and recharge the batteries for the 2nd semester which was to start on 9th February.

When the 2nd semester started we had a Skype session with my school in Finland. I saw my school friends and my teacher and it was exciting but I didn’t feel homesick because I had a very good time with the children in Sibiu.

Some girls from Class 6A showed me the pictures with other teddies who visited their school: Tobias, Lea, Paddy Breen, Boribon. For most pupils it was for the first time when they met someone from Finland. Thus they learned a lot about the Finnish life and culture.

Even the pupils from Reception Class learned a lot of things about Helsinki, our capital ,our flag, language, etc.

They draw a mind map of the most important facts about Finland.

Adriana , one of the girls in class 5 A invited me and some friends to her birthday party. She turned 12 and 2 birthday cakes were made for her by her mother.

We all sang “Happy birthday “and Adriana blew out the candles and made a wish. Everyone was happy and got a piece of the delicious cakes. Then we danced and played.I enjoyed the party very much!

The time passed so fast and I got at the end of my stay in Romania. I had a lovely time at School No.13 Sibiu, the children loved me and made me feel like home.

Good-bye Romania,School No.13 Sibiu and all the ones

who loved me!

I’ll miss you all !!!