On Monday 29th of January an eager group of 24 first-year students left for Amsterdam, accompanied by our teachers Mr Sebastiano Izzo and Mr Mark Tomasi, to spend a stimulating and intensive week with their Dutch counterparts of Keizer Karel College.

The Italian and the Dutch students have been working together for a while now on the international project ‘Viruskenner – Knowledge as Antivirus’, coordinated in our school by Mrs Stefania Stani, and this mobility gave the participants the precious chance to work together in person and spend some time with each other, learning, sharing and having fun.

Four classes of ITT Buonarroti are participating in the project this year, along with students from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname. The kick-off event at ITT Buonarroti was held on January 8th with the visit and masterclass held by Dr Eric van Gorp, virologist and professor at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

In Amsterdam the Dutch families welcomed the Italian students with open arms and warm smiles, and the students soon started chatting and laughing together, happy to finally meet up in person and looking forward to week ahead.

During the week the students attended lessons, workshops and educational activities along with cultural visits to Amsterdam and Utrecht, not to mention all the extra activities organised by the enthusiastic host families. The teachers, coordinators and, above all, the host families and the students themselves, were key to this unforgettable experience and a big thank you goes out to all those involved.