We have spent one incredible week in Belgium. We are looking forward to having you back in Spain! Thanks to everybody for all and also for receveing us to your country. Waiting for you will be worth it. A lot of kisses and hugs. We will have an amazing time in Barcelona and remember this is not the end it is just the beginning!!

What a nice week with all of you! This exchange has been wonderful but very short.

We'll miss you a lot and we are looking forward to see you in April. Six months are a long period of time but we don't have to worry because waiting for you will be worth it.

We will do a lot of things in Barcelona and you'll enjoy a lot your stay.

A lot of hugs and see you!

EXCHANGE IN BELGIUM AGAIN!! 2015-2016

Dear all, We have just had a wonderful experience in Brussels. Today is the last day of the exchange and we're going to Tervuren, to have a walk in the park, have lunch with our Belgian friends and say goodbye to them :( As always, it's been a great experience for students, families and teachers. We have shared really nice moments and Catalan students have felt really at home with Belgian students and families. We want to thank Mater Dei school for the organisation of all the activities, and specially to Sandra, Karla, Trees and Kati, who we have shared good laughs with. See you soon in April in Barcelona! Anna

Camille and Marta have had an amazing experience. They have visited Leuven, Bruges, Brussels and a lot of shops. Marta has learnt how to cook a quiche and Camille has learnt a lot of Spanish and Catalan words. Marta has met amazing Camille´s family and her little brother with 6 weeks (Que mono!!). Today is the last day and we are really sad, Marta doesn`t want to leave Brussels. We are already waiting for April.

OUR LAST DAY IN BELGIUM

We are Pauline et Claire,
Today we come back to Catalonia after one week in Brussels and we really don`t want to go. We've had such an amazing time but sadly it has finished. Maybe we have some trouble with the luggage because of the weight, as we have bought a lot of clothes and souvenirs. We will miss Belgium but we will come back for sure! We will also miss all the belgium people and our exchange students, but luckily we'll see them on April, when they come to Terrassa!

#caprisun #loga

Paola and Clara

BELGIAN EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN TERRASSA!!

One more year, we have are Belgian exchange students with us in Terrassa. They arrived on Monday, at about 9 in the evening and their Catalans mates and their families welcomed them at the airport (and the teachers were also very glad to hug each other again!). On Tuesday, they visited Palau de la Música Catalana and all the gothic quarter, Las Ramblas, Mercat de la Boqueria....Today, we have seen all the most beautiful art-nouveau buildings in Barcelona (Fundació Tàpies, Casa Batlló, Casa Amatller, Casa Lleó Morera, La Pedrera i la Sagrada Família). We'll soon upload some photos and more comments on their stay here! We really want them to have a good time here, as we had when we were in Belgium in October!

Watching a documentary about Belgium

Our teacher Anna suggested that I uploaded the composition I made for school about a documentary which explained the political and economical situation of Belgium. 

Here it is:

The documentary Això no funciona, o potser sí? (This does not work, or maybe it does?), broadcasted on February 2012 by the Catalan public television, TV3, and directed by M. Dolors Genovès aims to show its audience different points of view about the political-economical situation of Belgium and how can it be compared to Catalonia’s own case.

This documental explains how the state of Belgium is organized. In present days it is divided into three federal states which are Wallonia, Flanders and the metropolitan area of the capital, Brussels. People of different cultures live in the country. The Walloons, the Flemish and the German-speaking minority plus the many immigrants of outside Belgium (as much as 50% of the population) inhabit there.
Because of their differences in language and culture, Flemish (the majority) and Walloons have had many discrepancies, some of which worryingly violent.
Some regions have more economical problems than others. After the people of Wallonia lost their Walloon culture in favor of the French, their industry developed but in 1960 they lost a lot of money and the factories had to close. One of the reasons was the independence of Congo, which had been given to the king of the Belgians during the division of Africa into colonies. Since then, the richest part of Belgium has been Flanders, the federal state which offers more facilities and subsidies in studies, medicine, lack of employment, maternity or old age. Many Flemish people want to change the present situation in order to organize more of their own government and infrastructures themselves.  Others claim that they should completely part from Belgium and be an independent state instead.
The German-speaking people affirm that they are the only ones who feel Belgians. They are a very catholic and monarchy-supportive community and they aim for the right to have a federal state such as the other two cultures of Belgium, which both have a federal state of their own and share the metropolitan area of Brussels.

 Això no funciona, o potser sí?, mentions a really curious happening which illustrates perfectly that the Walloons disregard the Flemish (also vice versa). What happened was that the Walloon TV broadcasted a fake news program where they announced that Flanders had declared its independence and they did not belong to Belgium anymore. People believed the story and felt really worried about it, that part of the country fell into chaos for two days. But, if they had only turn on their TVs to check the Flemish channel they would have realized that they had been fooled. This fact was really surprising for me and I believe Belgians made some meditation about it even though the situation is still quite the same, as the documentary shows. 

About the documentary, I have to say it has some interesting points, as I have explained above but I think it is too long for the information it gives. It is very difficult to pay attention from start to end.
In conclusion, I would recommend watching a selection of scenes from Això no funciona, o potser sí? if you are interested in the topic.