Kateryna Ivanets’, grade 10

In April we guested students from Stryi’s Gymnasium. It was great, because our school found a partner to be related with. It testifies that our school doesn’t stay in the same position but still develops cooperation and finds the best examples of school organization in Ukraine. For us it was super because we’ve found new friends. We met people who spoke English better than we, also their Ukrainian was perfect though sometimes not understandable. In general people from Stryi are very friendly and interesting interlocutors, we spent a very nice time with them. Yuriy Mykhailiuk who stayed for two days in my place is an easy-going and reliable person. We have similar points of view in many things. We have to adopt some things of their experience, their school is older than ours. I hope our contacts won’t be lost in future.

Taras Khraban, grade 10 October, 2002

On the 25^th of October a group of students from our school visited Stryi Gymnasium, that is in Lviv region. Our way there was quite long, about seven and a half hours because we traveled first by train, then by van. First we came to Lviv’s train station, it was at about 5 a.m. In twenty minutes we took “marshrutka” and arrived to Stryi at about 7 a.m. At 8 we were met by Stryi’s students and teachers and went to their homes to have breakfast. Later at 10 we had to meet with all the students in the center of Stryi. The first thoughts that appeared in my mind about Stryi were that it looked as a typical Western-Ukrainian town. I’m familiar with this very region of our country because I come from there. The town seemed to be a very old one and it looks really nice. Those old buildings were beautiful and magnificent, I felt the spirit of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. That fact impressed me greatly. I was amazed by the town’s architecture, it was made in a very good way. All the buildings are located very closely to each other and all the things that visitors can be interested in are nearby. So while we were waiting for the whole group I had already played in my head the plan of our program. For my surprise all the things I had expected came true. Our tour started with showing us the main sightseeing of Stryi. We were shown a catholic and orthodox churches, streets, squares and their monuments. Later we went to the Countryside Museum. In it we were told about all historical events that had influenced on the town’s development. Most of all I was interested in the war history and knights’ costumes, they were really impressive.

After visiting the museum and a tour around the town we were taken to the Gymnasium where we had meetings and new acquaintances. Our guides showed us their campus and told very interesting stories about it. Looking back the history of the Gymnasium we had known the building belonged to the military base. To my mind children’s voices have changed it completely. One more interesting meeting took place in the principle’s office with its owner. Mister Yaroslav Turiansky told us an amazing story about the Gymnasium’s atmosphere, its relations and friendship with schools in Ukraine and abroad, their meetings with famous graduaters. I liked the idea the principle supports some rules and the spirit of the pre-soviet Gymnasium, especially studying foreign languages. Here they are taught five of them. I consider the idea as a good one because it’s really important nowadays and could be borrowed by our school.

Yulia Kozak, grade 11

This school year we went to Stryi, because our friends from there visited us last April and invited us to see them. I was impressed with the trip greatly. The first think i liked was the program of staying in Stryi. It was perfect! The first day of our staying there was devoted to the round-the-town tour. From the very morning our friends showed us their beautiful town. It is not very big, it is almost the same size as Novohrad-Volynsky. I think Stryi is better because of its museum and monuments. The museum we have visited was so interesting and amazing! We’ve known much about flora and fauna of the region, its history from the pre-history times. The town is very clean and surprisingly full of lights at night. After the excursion we went to the gymnasium. We had known a lot of facts about it before. Some of them impressed me greatly, for example they have the lessons of Religion that are very unusual for us. We even saw a priest there and he behaved as a usual teacher. Students in Stryi gymnasium pray and sing the National Anthem of Ukraine once a week, every Monday morning. The gymnasium is the member of All-Ukrainian Association of New-Born Gymnasiums and has a lot of partner-schools in the country and abroad. All the information was told us by the principal Yaroslav Turiansky during his meeting with our group.

After that we were shown a concert with a lot of nice songs in English, German, French and Spanish. In return our teacher, Yulia and me took the floor, thanked our hosts and gave the presents.

In the evening we went around the town again and were invited to the disco club. It was a very good end of the first day of our staying in Stryi.

The second day, it was Saturday, the 25 of October was to my mind even more interesting 'co‘ we went to the village of Naguyevychy where Ivan Franko was born. It is about 40 km far from Stryi. When we came there I saw the mountains not far from the village, it was for the first time in my life and the feelings I had of the sight will be never forgotten. First we walked in the forest with a lot of sculptures made of wood. All of them were the characters of Ivan Franko’s novels, poems, stories and fairy-tails. Later we went to Ivan Franko’s Museum. It was marvelous! Then we came back to the clearing in the forest were we had a picnic. Going back through Drohobych we stayed there for half an hour, took the electric train in Stryi and arrived to Lviv at about 7.30 p.m. We walked around the center and I managed to climb to the High Castle Hill and enjoyed the beauty of Lviv at night.

I will always remember this trip to Stryi. We all hope to guest our friends from there next spring again.