“What we learn becomes part of who we are”
Kathy Jeffords (2013)
People told us that our last month would fly by and well, yes… yes it has! Where have the last few weeks gone to?! How is this our penultimate week living in beautiful Innsbruck?! Time has flown; we have changed, learnt a lot and had many crazy adventures along the way. Another busy week has been and gone with our ‘Go Austria’ presentations, a day of hiking, some interesting textile classes, a couple of visitors from home and an Erasmus BBQ!
Presenting our ‘Go Austria’ e-portfolios once again showed me how much I have learnt; often without even realising. Learning whilst having fun, chatting amongst one another and going on many day visits/trips. Thankfully the presentations were to be written in English – another reason I’ve been thankful to have English as my native tongue! We were expected to talk about our favourite classes and to make links to how we could bring these thoughts and ideas to the classroom and our future teaching lives; very interesting and beneficial.
On the topic of uni; this week, we had some very interesting textile and technical classes! Never once did I consider sewing, drilling and sawing when I thought about coming to Innsbruck. As mentioned in previous blogs, we have noticed quite a difference when it comes to health and safety! Sarah and I were relying on our 3rd year/GCSE technology skills to get us by drilling, hammering and sawing wood- all without masks or goggles! Having the opportunity to experiment with these new skills alongside sewing, showed us their importance for developing co-ordination in children; especially fine motor skills (Henninger, 2009). This further mirrors what Piaget (1950) suggests, as he mentions, “that sensory and motor experiences are the basis for all intellectual functioning”.
With our sun-cream applied, lunches packed & trainers tightly tied, we made our hiking debut this week. With a love of the mountains (usually covered in snow) we decided to go back to the mountainous area we skied on in our first week! Trekking along the side of the mountain was an incredible experience, over- looking Innsbruck from very very high above the city; even stopping to see some wild life along the way. The Austrian people are very active and I appreciate this natural, healthy way of life.
The thought of saying goodbye to our Erasmus friends is sad and we’ll keep that for next week. For this week, we had the fun of being invited to a BBQ hosted by our Hungarian friends! Taking along our last two visitors from home, made for a very enjoyable night with lots of tasty food, laughter and reminiscing over the past few months. We have been/still are learning about the many different cultures and religions represented in this group and we are always interested in hearing about the different traditions celebrated in each country. Axner (1993) highlights that
“Friendship is powerful…and establishing connections with people from diverse backgrounds can be key in making significant changes in our communities”
Axner (1993)
The seven-day countdown is on until we make the journey back to the green island of Northern Ireland. Until then, we are going to try to make the most of the time we have left; experiencing life as Austrians for one more, final week.
References
Axner, D. (1993) The Community leadership project curriculum. Pomfret, CT: Topsfield Foundation
Henninger, M (2009). Teaching Young Children: An introduction: Merrill/Pearson.
LIVING IN INNSBRUCK 