Hello everyone,

My name is Lionel Valley, and I am an aquaculture teacher at Louis Pasteur Aquaculture High School in La Canourgue. This year, I am accompanying the first-year students of the European section to Romania.

I have various roles: ensuring the smooth running of the internship and promoting our institution through Erasmus projects with my colleague.

The journey to Romania

On Friday night, a part of the group stayed with Mr. VALLEY at the internat institute.

Saturday, we woke up at 5:30 to go to the Clermont-Ferrand bus station.
Our internship began with a very long day because we had to catch a plane at Lyon airport. The journey started with the school bus, and the Flix Bus, followed by the plane, and finally a rental car. With Miss PAYNE, our English teacher, the beginning of our stay in BUCHAREST was easier. She helped us translate some words and find the "famous" taxi hostel.

Sunday, we visited BUCHAREST quickly because we still had two hundred kilometers to Brasov and then thirty more kilometers to Prejmer. We made a quick stop at the Palace of the Parliament, the former Ceausescu palace.
We arrived at the Prejmer institute at 7:00 PM. I think it’s a small school and it looks lovely.

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The first week in Romania

Monday,

we went to the first fish farm near the school. It’s a trout farm, but the entire group couldn’t stay there. They produce 60 tons of rainbow trout using recirculated water systems, and they need a recirculating system during the summer. In the mountains, they have twelve cages to produce the rest of their output, around 1000 tons.

Tuesday, the rest of the group went to the other company. DORIPESCO is a very large fish processing company. They produce a variety of different products made from locally farmed "Carpati" trout and carp

Do you know the name of these fishes in romanian language ? Trout is păstrăv and Carp is Crap.

Wednesday afternoon,

we went to visit Brasov. The teachers organized a treasure hunt. Our mission was to find the buildings or monuments and take a selfie for our blog.
This is the list of the buildings :

• Catherine's gate
• The Black tower
• Brasow "hollywood" sign
• The White tower
• The Hopscotch a statue of the famous prostestan
• The black Church

Thursday morning,

the teachers found a spot to fish for carp near Brasov.

It’s a huge pond owned by the DORIPESCO company near Halchiu.

They also hold fishing competitions there.

Thursday afternoon, we went to two fish markets, but the kids didn’t find the special pike fishing material for Sunday’s fishing day.

No worries, because DORIPESCO rented us some rods!!!

Friday morning,
Tara and Lionel (the teachers) hiked up Tâmpa Mountain in Brasov. It was very quick; it took only two minutes to reach the top. We took some pictures, but the weather was too cloudy to have a good view.

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Week-end

Saturday morning, we visited the Bear Sanctuary. I enjoyed seeing the brown bears. They are so huge and look friendly, but they are always dangerous for us. The bears are kept behind a high electric fence for our safety. We saw about a quarter of the bears because the sanctuary covers 690,000 square meters.

Do you know the common point between Brigitte BARDOT, Alain DELON and Jacques PERRIN ? Everyone came to the bear sanctuary.

Before lunchtime, we visited the famous Dracula Castle 🏰.
Everyone knows the legend, and we toured it. Don’t worry, Dracula never attacks during the day! Originally, this castle served as a royal residence for many years

Sunday
The fishing day at the DORIPESCO pond was difficult because we didn't have the materials for catching the big carps.
They finished the day at the DORIPESCO restaurant.

We work DORIPESCO, we eat DORIPESCO and also we dream DORIPESCO.😅

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The second week in Romania

Monday,It's time to write the blog. In the morning, the Doripesco group worked, and we switched to the afternoon when the Salmontana group began their internships. In the afternoon, there was free time for the kids to do their laundry and take a walk in Prejmer.

Tuesday
The teachers drove the kids to Halchiu. Before having coffee, we discussed activities for Tuesday afternoon because the weather had become very warm (31°C). After lunch, the children continued working on the blog (less than 150 words; they didn't have free time). 😱😱😱😱

Do you think teachers are so strict ?

Wednesday
This morning, we met with the teachers from Tara Barsei High School in Prejmer and presented our high school in Lozère. We took the opportunity to discuss future Erasmus mobility projects and even a project involving various partners. This high school is a very interesting partner because it has extensive and diverse experience with Erasmus projects.
As soon as I entered the building's hall, I could see the numerous testimonies and traces of past and ongoing projects. Carmen, the French and Romanian teacher, acted as an intermediary between the companies and the people at the high school.

Thursday
Today, after their work, the students met some students from Prejmer High School. After a brief introduction of the school by the English teacher, the students discussed what they had enjoyed the most since their arrival in Romania and then, more specifically, about their internship experience.

Aidan explained his surprise during the trout processing, noting that in Romania, professionals do not perform bleeding same in France. We also mentioned the great variety of products made from carp we see in DORIPESCO.
Then, we visited the school's educational workshops, starting with the veterinary section, followed by the farm and greenhouse, and finally the bakery and the butcher's shop.

This afternoon, we went up to Tâmpa mountain by cable car. It was very hot, and fortunately, a light breeze was blowing at the top.

To finish, we visited the museum that traces the period of Romanian history during the reign of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Friday
We spent this last day of our stay in Romania staying cool. Once again, it was over 30 degrees. There's nothing like an immersion ... in the depths of a mine in Slãlic.
This isn’t just any mine; a lot of salt has been extracted here since the Roman era.

After a bus ride down into the depths of the earth, exactly 208 meters, the temperature is now 13 degrees, and the humidity level is close to 60%.

Behind a door that opens to limit drafts, a majestic cavity unfolds before our eyes. The walls are straight and so high that it's better to look towards the horizon.
Despite the presence of visitors, the sound of voices is muffled, or perhaps people are as speechless as I am at the sheer volume of work required to extract this salt.

Like the frescoes of the Lascaux cave, the years have left traces, lines revealed by the hand of man on the walls that surround me.

saturday
My stay in Romania ends in a few hours; this night, I'm heading back to Lozère.

How can I share something original and sincere about this time spent with my students? All so different in their lives as high school students, I have appreciated their commitment during internships with companies and their discovery of the Erasmus experience. I got to know each of them better because living together for these two weeks has been intense, as reflected in the blog created for the occasion.

Finally, I want to thank my colleague Tara, who teamed up with me for all the activities from morning till night.

Thanks to the colleagues (Cerise and Nathalie) who stayed in France and greatly contributed to the preparations for this mobility.

Thanks to the Occitanie Vocational Education and Training consortium and the Erasmus program.

La revedere Brasov (Au revoir Brasov)

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Blogs at the rest of the group

Our kids
Blog Aidan BURDY
Blog Evann MIQUEL
Blog Victor MAZARS
Blog Mathis ISCHARD
Blog Bastien CLAVERIE
Blog Gabriel PONS
Blog Benoît PINET
Blog Soren AUGEIX

Our teachers
Blog English Teacher Miss PAYNE