Our first webpage!

For the new task we have been asked to do, we are trying a new method to do it: we've done a webpage!

We're going to be uploading all the information there and we'll also try to find a film that fits the topic.

You can visit it by clicking here.

By: Sara Insausti and me

Does the EU do something for me?

The European Union does various things for us such as making the mobile phone companies produce the same chargers, protect children from sexual abuses... Today, we are going to focus on the new translation services.

It is always disconcerting to find yourself face to face with the law. However, it's even more disconcerting if you don't understand the language they use for them.

Therefore, the EU has reacted and has decided to do something about it: EU will help foreign people by giving them a translator for free. So, from now on each member state is required to provide with this service.

In our opinion, this new legislation is a great idea and also very useful because more and more Europeans travel, work and study abroad.

Made by: Sara and Ainhoa

English mania

Hey!

I'm posting a really interesting talk about the English mania, which I consider we suffer from.

TED talks is a website where you can watch and listen to any different "speeches" that are given by professional or ordinary people.
We have used this website many times in Lacunza and I think it's useful as you'll always find a talk that really interests you.

For more talks: Ideas worth spreading

MUST watch this!

Well hello to you and thanks for reading this post. Let me introduce you to Miranda Hart, an actress who plays the lead role as Miranda Hart as it is a semi-autobiographical comedy tv programme.

I have recently started to watch this sitcom as I was recommended to do so; I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a funny thing to watch. I honestly couldn't stop laughing, laughing out loud, something that hasn't ever happened to me even if I watch Aquí no hay quien viva or La que se avecina.

What's the plot? what's it about? It's just the amount of funny things that happen to Miranda, as she is definetely not an ordinary woman. She has always been judged for her physical appearence and she has always had to deal with her mum's pressure. Miranda is in love with her prince charming, Gary though he seems not to feel the same about her.

She reminds me of Mr Bean and her perfomance is really good.

Apart from having fun, it is a perfect way to improve your English skills: vocabulary and listening, mainly.
I watch it online, as I don't obviously have the BBC channel; it's really easy and simple: you just have to google Miranda and you'll find it.

I must add that Daniel (the language assistant) also loves it!

I'm leaving you a video to get an idea of how Miranda and the programme are: (However, I think it's much more funny  to watch an episode)

Watch it and let me know what you think!

Remember the world café?

With regard to the world cafe some of us did on the 26th September, Xabi had the task to do a presentation about it as it was Luberri's turn. He wanted to do something original and so he asked us to take photos of things which we found were related to the European Union and its features.

The world cafe is a kind of event in where there are different tables where people discuss about different issues. Anything can be discussed in the world cafe. I personally think it's worth it and nice to try, as it is a unique way of getting to know different points of view: Zenbat buru, hainbat aburu. ( A Basque idiom that means that if there's a lot of people, so will be the numer of opinions).

The photos that had to do with education and that I had chosen were these ones:

All the students from Luberri

Us with Italians. 

Luberri students with the mayor of Lucca

• A letter for a student by the Erasmus programme

As the last photo isn't really good, I'm posting a nice video where we can appreciate that there are lots of different lagunages spoken in Europe, more than the ones we think of!

• The exchange we did with Italy last year

The other side of the EU

Not everything related to the European Union is "hapiness", help, economical improvement... What I mean is that as everything else, it has got its down sides, challenges and problems; and that's what today's post is about.

The European Union's main challenges are:

→ Citizen's rights & racism
→ The economic crisis
→ Enlargement and Constitution
→ The European regional differences
→ Globalization vs. Diversity
→ The international role

As you can see, there are many but I will be just broadening the economic crisis as it affects us directly.

The origin of the crisis (explained briefly) comes, in economists opinion, from the US because of people buying expensive houses even though they did not have enough money. This created a housing bubble which made the houses prices rise more and also loan companies made it easier to get a loan, even if the borrower did not have a good credit history. In addition, the housing companies built too many houses. This caused the decreasement of house prices and as a result many people were paying more money than their house adequate value.

The most popular crisises are the one in Greece and the one in Spain.
The crisis in Spain has created a great amount of unemployment and misery in some cases, and a huge chaos in the whole country.

There are lots of points of view regarding to this issue and people think that the answer is in leaving the EU and in some cases, they think the most appropiate thing to do is to end up with the union.
The simple solution to this problem is, the way I see it, to stop making amendments in laws in order to fix this and focusing more on not stealing and not messing around with us, the citizens and our rights. 

For more information, click here: The crisis

Wert vs. Erasmus, is he addicted to cuts?

Lately, the minister of health, education and sport, José Ignacio Wert, has stood out again in a negative way.

This time, he and his political colleagues have decided to cut the grants for Erasmus students who are already abroad. His aim is to cut them in order to provide grants to people with more difficulties.

This way, the Comission of the European Union has drawn the Spanish Parliament attention warning them not to proceed with this cut when students are already doing Erasmus as they should have been informed way earlier. Owing to this warning, Wert has rectified and has said he would apply it next year.

This controversial new decision has received lots of complaints from students in social networkings and students who are in this programme are ashamed and are dealing with nothing but anger.

The way I see it, this is not a fair decision as it's a facility for EVERYONE and grants should also be for EVERYONE. I think this decision above is another sign of his poor work quality and also a sign of his already shown incoherence (e.g. LOMCE).

For more information click here: Bruselas pide a Wert y a España que atienda a los Erasmus que ya han iniciado curso

Ich heiße Ainhoa und Sie?

Guten Tag !

Wie geht's?Today's post as you can see is about German. We started learning it in school with the already known Eleanitza project.

When I was a child, my mum used to talk to my sister and me in German, as she spoke it well and she was a teacher in the Deutsche Schule in Donostia that's why I did knew some of the expressions when we started with it.

We started a few weeks ago with an English boy, Daniel who studied German at school and who has also been to Germany.

German lessons are fun, I mean, I think it's something positive to start learning at least basic things about a new language, which is achieving more and more power. Of course, it's a radical change because until now, I've only studied French and English, and German has nothing to do with them; it's more difficult for us owing to all the changes: different pronutiation, different grammar, numbers...

We have been studying basic things like numbers, family members, self presentations,... And we'll carry on to get enough level to communicate.

Tschüs!

Trip to Reykjavik! Such fun!

Sara Insausti and me have organised a little trip to the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik! 

We've chosen this different destination as we think it's worth seeing and visiting. There are different activities to do, and we've tried to make the most of our time while staying there.

If you want to know more about it, click in the next link: Let's go to Reykjavik!

Watch out Iceland's beauty!

Want to know what's Erasmus like? Read the post!

Hey!

Today, I'm posting an interview that I did to Lorea, my 19 year-old sister who is experiencing Erasmus in England. Although she wants to work with Basque, she wanted to try this experience to be more open-minded.

Here's the interview:

A: Hi Lorea ! I've got ten questions for you about your life there to get to know more about this programme called Erasmus. Let's start: What are you studying? How much time will you spend abroad?

L: Hey Ainhoa. I'll be glad to answer your questions. I'm studying translation and interpretation at the University of Sheffield , where I'm staying in the hall residence sharing a kind of flat with people from different countries . I'll be in Sheffield for 10 months.

A: Why did you decide to ask for an Erasmus?

L: Well, ,mainly because English will be one of the most used tools in my job and with this opportunity I wanted and want to improve as much as possible my English level. That's why I chose an English speaking country and also because I wanted to live and get to know cultural diversity.

A: Are you enjoying it?

L: Of course I'm. It's the most enriching experience I've lived. Although it involves leaving home and having to change drastically some of your customs, you realize that other people's customs and lifestyle are also good, as we tend to think ours are the best and you can learn from it.

A: What drawbacks do you find to this experience?

L: Well, I guess when you choose a university, you risk finding one with a completely different educational system from your home one; also, all the subjects are in English, of course, something that demands a bigger effort. In my case, I've got 7 hours of class per week, but I have to work lots more by myself to adapt to the pace.

A: Do you often feel homesick? What do you miss the most?

L: Sometimes. Sometimes it's hard when you need to hug a family member or a friend and you realise that's not possible until a long period of time, but that's got its positive side: you appreaciate more what you've in the Basque Country.I also miss someone who will cook for me, I always have to cook, myself. I'd also say I miss understanding everything in class.

A: What could you tell us about customs and people?

L: Mmm... You should know that EVERYTHING is different. They "have lunch" at noon and they kind of have dinner at five, and after having dinner they go to the gym or they do different spare time activities.

A: What about the language? Do you find it easy or difficult to adapt?

L: That depends on your intention when you come here. For example, I want to speak English as good as Basque or at least I want to try it but I definetely think anyone can adapt; of course, it'll be difficult at first but the difficulty goes down and you get used to it and if not, then you'll have people from your country to help you.

A: Do you think staying and being in a EU country helps you?

L: Yes it does, unhesitatingly. Even if we have different customs, the difference is not as big as going to another place, I mean, way further. The target university also provides us with more facilities and it helps making things easier for us, you feel accepted and the passport things and so are also easier at the time of coming here.

A: How do you benefit from Erasmus?

L: Everything or almost everything is good. Of course there are disadvantages and you can feel sad, impotent,... but you always find something positive and you gain maturity in a really wide way.

A: Finally, would you recommend the experience or not?

L: Absolutely! Even if you don't intend to work abroad or live away or... It's always good to know how's life in other places or just to learn to appreciate what you've. With Erasmus you have the opportunity to get to know different cultures, languages, different outlooks on life and it helps you getting independent and autonomous.

               ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Lorea for answering the questions!

Now we can have a closer idea of how it's like to live abroad!

Visit to the university library!

On Friday morning, our teacher surprised us telling that we were doing a visit to the huge library near Luberri which is modern and brand new.

I found it interesting and fun, as in two years' time we'll probably be visiting it and this way, we had the chance to get to know it better and see how it works. It has every sort of facilities and it turns your work into an easy thing to do.

After the short visit, we stayed outside, in the campus looking for foreigners or students who had experienced ERASMUS or were about to do it. We only found a girl from the US that was here because a different programme but as she wasn't really interested in answering us we didn't get many information. However, we had fun!

Next post coming: Interview to an ERASMUS student!

European Day of Languages

Last 26th of September, as you might know it was the European Day of Languages. For celebrating it , four students (including us), had the chance to participate in the World Cafe organized in Vitoria Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country while our classmates stayed at school doing different presentations about European languages.

To be honest, we were quite nervous at first because none of us was used to an event of this kind. However, once we got there and we sat down in our corresponding tables, we gained confidence and we didn't have any problems at the time of speaking. We all think it was an interesting experience owing to the discussion of current issues or even each of our futures. We learnt about the European Union and also we got to know people's different point of views.

Here we'll post a picture and a video that appeared on the local TV:

 

European Day of Languages in Euskal Herria Zuzenean (min.8:14)


Written by: Ainhoa Azpeitia and Sara Insausti

About me

My name is Ainhoa Azpeitia and I'm 16 . I was born in San Sebastian and I actually live in Antiguo. I live with my parents. I have a sister of 19 and she's doing ERASMUS in Sheffield.
I study in Antigua-Luberri school and I'm doing the Eleanitza project. I like playing basketball, music and hanging out with my friends.