These days, when a lot of our thoughts revolve around who will be the one to represent Latvia in the European Parliament, students from our school had a chance to visit Brussels and the European Parliament as a part of the Erasmus+ project “Young entrepreneuers - learning from experience”.  We learnt that the members of the parliament do not have to know English, because every single one of them has their own translator. This visit was sponsored by the Erasmus+ project which is funded by the European Parliament. 

 The aim of this LTTA was to visit Sint Romboutscollege in Mechelen, Belgium. The school has more than 1000 students and the history of this school dates back to 1863 but the building was renovated in 2012. The visit of this school left a lasting impression and thoughts. The number of students is growing, parents are queueing to get their kids in this school, students are very motivated. Usage of phones is forbidden in the school area, nobody is late - in fact - being late can result in bad consequences. The school has a swimming pool, most people use bikes as transportation even when school is 20 or 30 km away. People are very motivated and interested in volunteering in school and their free time. Mechelen is a very clean, peaceful and active city with beautiful architecture, polite and happy people. 

 The main aim of this project was to talk about social inclusion and entrepreneurship. Our students had to think about how they could help someone in need in their free time. The vision of our students was to help patients with moving difficulties go on walks, read books to them and just visit them once in a while. Also - playing and helping with homework to the kids waiting for the bus after school. We are hoping that these ideas will come to life one day. 

 In this visit we had a chance to see sights in a lot of different cities - Mechelen, Antwerpen, Brige, Brussels and more. Each city is developing, is modern but proud of their old tresures - old buildings, cathedrales, bridges and canals. Respect for the past, mutual respect for each other, the urge to learn and know more, desire to live beautifully, be healthy, friendly to the enviroment, discipline and responsibility - these are the things we saw in Belgium.