From 25th November 2018 to 1st December 2018 (1 first meeting in Greece)

From 25th November 2018 to 1st December 2018 (1 first meeting in Greece) At the 19th Primary School of Katerini was held the first meeting of 5 corporate schools participating in the European program "Modern Odysseus in the arms of Europe" under the code 2018-1-EL01-KA229-047725- Erasmus + 2018 "- Erasmus + Action KA2 E.N.S.(Establishment for National Scholarships) (Modern Ulysses in the Embrace of Europe) from 25/11/2018 to 1/12/2018 with the participation of 13 teachers from the countries of Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Latvia and Greece. A unique experience was communicated with teachers from the corporate schools of Spain (Catalonia region), Portugal, Latvia, and Croatia with coordinating school the 19th Primary School of Katerini. The opportunity for a comparison with different multicultural environments and different educational processes enriched each one of us thus enhancing our educational profile so that we can design, collaborate and implement actions, share ideas for achieving a common goal: the integration of European ideal and educational experience for the benefit of our students. The overall aim of the Erasmus + program is to achievecooperation and networking of schools in Europe, interactionamong pupils and teachers, to practice a learning experience in another European country, and to exchange good practices. In particular, this project concerns school partnerships with a view to exchanging good practices and promoting the respect and understanding of the other, through simple activities, so that the practices of the program become an integral part of everyday life of as many children and adults as possible. In Europe of fable and today's reality, we are looking for our distinctive and discreet role having as a supportive implement: ”Contemporary Ulysses in the Arms of Europe”. Our goal is to delimit and strengthen our European identity by keeping each one of us our historical consciousness. Through doubt, questions, suggestions, positions and a scale of moral values, we create the European Odysseus, a puzzle, a persona equipped with elements from 5 European countries Greece, Spain, Latvia, Portugal, Croatia. Mythical Odysseus, the hero of Homer, is an attractive hero, the symbol of perpetual traveller and adventure, of the immigrant who sailson his boat from one country to another reaching up to America and who is beingovertaken with yearning for his own home. His journey, our journey, is an internal search and a journey towards adulthood and is therefore a lesson of life for all of us and especially for our young students. By participating in the program, we aim to offer students and teachers the opportunity to acquire basic skills and competences that will help them develop their personal growth as well as cultivate their criticism. By communicating with their peers, they improve their reading practices, language skills as well as their electronic literacy through the use of ICT.They understand that we are all likely to become "Odysseus" At some stage of our lives and therefore they get prepared for their social role and the increased demands of the modern world. They gather information about other European countries, their lifestyle, their education system and their culture. They develop social skills to help them integrate better into a multicultural and Globalized EU, without losing their Greek identity. At our first meeting, we developed our awareness of the cultural values of different countries and cultivated respect, tolerance and understanding of the other, the foreign one by consolidating the views of different cultural communities through projects, experiential seminars and educational activities. An important dimension of such a program, based on intercultural education, enables teachers to have contact with teachings on people with different linguistic or cultural backgrounds. Experience plays an important role in the process of altering perceptions and beliefs on the part ofeducators, because it contributes greatly to the development of empathic capacity that is their ability to view the situation of the refugee, the foreigner, the immigrant from the angle ofanother person and experience feelings beyond the dominant culture. In conclusion, today, when modern Odysseus travels in the embrace of Europe, where its societies are characterized by national, cultural and linguistic diversity, the modern Odysseus' cross-cultural capability forms the basic dimension of educators’ competence for their journey to the embrace of Europe. Students and teachers in a climate of loyal cooperation, warm relationship and courtesy, through the inclusion of a critical intercultural research that combined the theoretical knowledge with the empirical dimension for the development of an intercultural consciousness, defined the face of modern Odysseus by the individual “Odysseus’s” of each country to understand their role in the united Europe. The schedule was strictly followed and our program was accompanied by Untitled # 10 by Dr. Dimitris Bakas We have lived unique experiences which can only be offered through ERASMUS + programs. We look forward to continuing our educational activities in Spain on our second meeting We thank all those who havehelped in every possible way, the Municipal Authority, institutional sectors, individuals, parents, teachers and have contributed to the outcome of the program. The ship of modern Odysseusis going to "sail" to the city of Gerona in Spain-in the Catalonian region-from 17-03-2019 to 23-03-2019 continuing the journey of Odysseus ... For the pedagogical team The Director Eleni Pataridou