B.E.S.T. Derry, NI – Participant Reports
So after all, I loved the people, the place,and the idea, and the amount of work, and planning they put in it, I’m very scattered and would never be able to give this many care, and time. I told my parents about our trip, and it seems like we’re going to go back to Derry some day. I was frightened of these projects, but now I’m really looking forward to the next one.
B.E.S.T. Project 2020
The B.E.S.T Project was my first Erasmus+ experience. As a bit introvert person, I was afraid that I will have problems with communication and socializing. Even so, I had a great time in Northern Ireland, and I really enjoyed all of the programs.
My favorite was our trip to the ocean, (Giant’s Causeway) it’s a beautiful place, I’ve never seen a landscape like that.
When we were there, I felt that it’s hard to understand their accent, and I was also a bit shy to speak. But after I came home, I realized that I improved a lot with my English.
I would highly recommend this kind of project to every student. Not only because you practice the language, and make new friends abroad, but you can strength your own school relationships and community too.
Hajdu Lujza
I was already happy in the airport because I love flying! So, this started very well. I knew that I will spend 12 days with amazing people. The trip was so long and tiring but the time passed quickly. Dublin is a beautiful city, I would be happy if I would live there. Unfortunately, we travelled late afternoon to Londonderry, so we didn’t see the landscape. We laughed and talked to each other a lot on the bus. Our hotel was in the city center in a park. The environment was very good and quiet. Londonderry is a very clean and happy place. I was so excited before the meeting, but Irish students were so kind and friendly. The first two days I didn’t understand them, because they spoke so fast and they had a special accent. We had a lot of program together and we became friends quickly. The team was amazing and we laughed, talked and sang a lot. I enjoyed the Giant’s causeway mostly but skating and the Halloween party was good, too. I didn’t like the Irish food. I learnt a lot and I was so happy because they accepted me as hearing impaired. I am looking for the April because the Irish students will come to Hungary. I am thinking a lot what programs we can organize to them. I would like if it would be unforgettable for them. It would be the best if we could spend some days at the Balaton in the summer. This is our plan. What are your opinions, Edina, Rob?
Horváth Dorka
When we first met the Irish guys, they were super friendly and welcoming. Both the youngsters and the leaders were super excited to begin the project.
All the programs were greatly organized and exciting. The main reason I joined this project was history and we got plenty of that. I was and I am still surprised how the division and the bloody events that were caused by this are still very much live and affect the everyday lives of people. For example I would never have guessed that there are still walls up in Belfast just to keep the two sides from attacking each other.
Other parts which were not related to history were excellent as well. I was mesmerized by the Giant’s Causeway the whole place looked surreally green and beautiful. I didn’t know what to think at first about gardening. It is not really my thing. but it turned out super fun and it was just elevated by local guys and the super friendly staff of St. Columb’s. The other great thing where sport activities like Ice skating and bowling but the best one must be the inflatable bounce park we went to on the last night although I still have the bruise on my left elbow.
In the end thanks to the amazing leaders and youngster this turned out to be the most memorable and truly the BEST project I have participated in.
Biró Dávid
B.E.S.T. project in Derry
So I travelled to Northern Ireland with 11 other Hungarian students and with two teachers. I have never travelled this far and the long of the flight was a quite strange for me but after that we visited Dublin in a half day and it’s a beautiful city. But we still needed to travel to Derry with bus which took 4 hours. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds but really, really long.
However, we arrived to Derry at the evening and our Irish partners took us to our sleep place and we get some food. All of the Irish people were friendly but in the first days it was really hard to understand their sentences I often only understood 1 or 2 sentence from a 5 minute conversation!
We lived in St Columbs park and it was huge the garden what we had the bedrooms everything I’ve never been a place which is function as a kind of hotel and give this much of free space.
The food was good but sometimes the portions were too little for me. The travelling in the city was really easy because the Irish team always gave us a bus so it was really good. And the Irish leaders were very friendly if you ask for something they always done what you asked for and really fast!
The programmes were fantastic I were really amazed what exiting programmes were there. The Halloween parade in this city is crazy the only thing what has the same atmosphere is to sing a song with 40000 other peoples in you language.
However, anything good happened there we needed to come back to Hungary it was really sad the only thing what carried us is this: We will meet with our Irish friends in spring. The homecoming was really long and tiring we travelled 17 hours so when we came back we were really exhausted but on the other hand we earned a lot of new experience.
Illés Bali
I spent nice 10 days in Derry with the B.E.S.T. Project organized by R.E.A.C.H. Across. It was my first project and I absolutely loved it. Everyone was so welcoming here. I met some nice people in Northern Ireland and they are still missing. (Fortunately we are going to meet them again because they are going to spend a week here with us.) Before the project everybody told me “ you have to bring umbrella it will be raining all day” but there wasn’t that much rain what I thought. In the project there was an other irish and cyprus group too. The programme was interesting and colourful. I had loved when we went to an irish school because it was completely different than the Hungarian schools or Poli. If you have a chance please take part in Erasmus programmes or at least come to Derry. There are a lot of warm hearted, open-minded and energetic people….
Kenyeres Zoé
B.E.S.T. project
This was the first ever project I took part in, and it was definitely one of the most memorable (almost) two weeks of my life.
I got to know so many amazing people, and I was able to participate in amazing programs, such as the Halloween parade, learning about Derry’s history, meet with the mayor etc. The group itself is made of incredible people, and not a day goes by without me thinking about them/missing them. One of my favourite day was, when we went to the Giants Causeway. The view was not only beautiful, but the bus ride there was truly a fun time. We took so many pictures and made so many amazing memories. Another day that I absolutely loved was when me and two of my friends went on a trip to Derry on our own, to see even more of it, even the places that may not be the ’so called’ „prettiest”. We even sat in a cute café, and everything was so picture perfect, I could’ve stayed there forever. On that night we went bowling with our Irish friends, which was one of the funniest moments of the whole project. We laughed so much, and I feel like we really got close to each other, even with the people we didn’t really have a chance to talk with before. After an extremely fun time of bowling, they came over, and we just enjoyed each other’s company. Couldn’t have wished for a more perfect day to be honest. Derry and the people there were so amazing that when I came home, I felt a huge emptiness. I miss them every moment and the memories we made together, and I cannot wait to reunite with them in April. I especially loved the secret friend thing, (sadly, we didn’t have enough time to plan out something super thoughtful for them) but I am extremely stoked to do that while they are in Hungary.
Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this amazing project, and giving me a chance to meet all these incredible individuals. I’ll be back.
Madarász Dóri
I’ve really enjoyed Derry as it was. The programs were cool and the fact that the Irish made sure that we were feeling good was such an amazing thing.
Everyone was very kind and taking very good care of us. I felt like the fact that not all of us are perfect English speakers didn’t matter – we always found a way through communicating. It may have been music, joking or laughing. I think it was the best almost two weeks of my life. I couldn’t highlight a favourite moment though, I had a lot. I feel like I must mention the Derry Halloween parade since it was an amazing night. It just felt incredible to be a part of something so different from my culture. And the fact that we received such a warm welcome from the locals as well made me feel very happy.
The secret friend game was also a very fun thing to participate in. Everyone had a secret friend they could get small gifts throughout the 10 days of the trip. I got a notebook and a pretty pen and a charm from my secret friend,
To sum up what happened during this trip, I can only say that I would come back here whenever I have the chance too. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this trip. I can’t wait to meet our Irish friends again!
Lilcs0
First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you for all members of R.E.A.C.H. Across for making this project happen, and that they did it in such a perfect way.
I went there with a lot of interest of what we are going to do there. And I can easily say that it has been very interesting, however, it couldn’t have been different because it is such an amazing city with a lot of history, with a lot to learn. And indeed we did learn a lot.
When we met at the airport on Sunday everybody was excited about the trip. First we went to Dublin, spent the night there, and had a quick tour on Monday. In the afternoon we got on the bus that went to Derry. On Tuesday the week started, we met the Cypriots, and the Irish guys and gals, had a pumpkin making workshop, went to explore the city, watched the Awakening The Walls. On Wednesday we went to Belfast, had a tour in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, wrote messages on the Peace wall, and for the last activity, had some ice skating there. On Thursday we took part in the Halloween Parade, which was a great experience, and something I really liked. Friday, visiting the mayor, and had the culture evening, there were some really funny videos made there. On Saturday we went to see the Giants Causeway, and one of the filming places from the Game of Thrones. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful, and I think that was the day we really started to be friends, all of us. We went to play bowling on Sunday, and had a lot of fun there. It was Monday and I realised it was already a week we have been here. For that, we had a tour of the Murals in Derry, learnt a lot of the history of the city in the Tower Museum. Tuesday came, we all known it was the last day we could spent together. First we visited a school, it had a lot of cool things inside, the one which I liked the most was the racing section of it. They build a racing car to compete not just in Europe, but in the whole world. It was stunning to see it, and to hear how the competition works. Than the last dinner came, and I can tell, after that, we had the best farewell we could get. Watched the video of the week, and there were tears, happy because everyone loved the time we spent together, and some sad ones because it all came to an and.
But we all know that in 6 months, we are going to meet again, and have the week we will surely remember for life.
Duynstee Dániel
Derry, Northern Ireland
B.E.S.T Project 2020
If I have to summarize this trip into one sentence, it would be “it was freaking awesome.”. The organization, the programs, the hosts were superb! Tons of programs perfectly organized. Thank you Erasmus+, it was great!
On the first day we arrived to Dublin at night. The next day we had 4 hours before our coach took us to Derry . We got there quiet late, so after a nice pizza we called it a day. On our first day in Derry we met the other two teams, the Irish and the Cyprus teams. After a short introductory session the 3 teams went out to the garden of our ‘haunted house ‘ and decorated the garden with various spooky things, like spider webs, in preparation for the Halloween festival. After that we prepared some Halloween pumpkins. In the afternoon there was an info session. After dinner we went to the costume fitting, we were amazed by the whole place and all of our costumes, that was the moment when I realized I never want to leave Derry. The majority of next day we spend in Belfast sightseeing, visiting the Parliament and the yestertime shipyard of the Titanic , and in the afternoon we went to an Ice skating rink, it was really fun . On the 31st of October was the Derry Halloween festival with more than 120.000 visitors and we had the incredible luck to participate on it as part of the marchers. Incredible costumes, cheering crowd it was one of the best experiences of my life. After marching one and a half hours in a beautiful skeleton costume we enjoyed the beautiful fireworks on the riverside. In the following days we had many programs; visiting the search and rescue team, visiting the mayor, having a cultural night. Visiting the famous giants causeway and the rope bridge, was the best and nicest part of this trip, I could live there, on one of the rocks. We also had bowling, emergency life skills class, and Xtremebounce, some Irish history class/museum, and city walks with guide. The Irish team was wonderful and very sweet I’m really excited to meet them again when they come to Hungary.
Györkei Anna
The B. E. S. T. Project
I have enjoyed this project’s every single minute. I would like to tell you how it went.
First, we arrived at Ferihegy, our airport. After we landed in Dublin, we rushed to our hostel to drip off our luggage and we went out to look around at around 1 to 2 a.m. We really liked Dublin. In the morning we were able to look around freely. I think everybody enjoyed it.
After our tour in Dublin we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and went to the bus station. We got on the bus and started out journey to Derry. It was a long 4-hour trip. But we get to meet each other inside of the Hungarian group.
When we arrived in Derry, I immediately felt that the air is much better here than home. We arrived at around 8 I think at night and we went to bed as soon as we got there. We stayed in a lovely little “hotel” which was placed in a really cute little park.
The next day after we got our breakfast, we met the Irish group and the Cyprus group. Both of them were really friendly and nice. Sadly, in the first half of the project the focus was mainly on the Cypress because they were there sooner. They got to know each other before we arrived. So, we felt a little bit left out. But when the Cyprus group left we finally had the chance to “start” our part in the project. I loved the Irish. They were so nice to us about everything. We grew together pretty much.
We had such amusing programs such as bowling and visiting the Peace wall. We event went to a huge bouncy castle like park.
Of course, the saddest thing was saying goodbye… None of us wanted to go… Happily we will meet again here in Hungary but after it I don’t knew what I am going to do… I don’t think I will ever be able to forget about them. Or Derry. Or the Peace Bridge. I have made true friends. And this project means a lot to me. I can’t wait until April until I see them again.
Gyenes Bertold
