An intercultural experience - A study school-trip to Canterbury and a reflection in class

At the beginning of April 2014 two thirds of the class II°E went on a school trip to Canterbury, UK, with prof. Carla Langella; they stayed in families and attended lessons at a language school in the center of the town.
Back home, we had a lesson with our lecturer, Miss Silvia Balossi, who didn't come to England with us. It was the perfect opportunity to have students reflect upon the nature of an intercultural experience. I and Miss Balossi wanted it to become a learning activity, so we asked the students who couldn't go on the trip to write down the questions they would like to ask their classmates, and the others to write down 5-8 lines about an event/fact/impression of the visit which they consider important. We told them that the game would work only if everybody were sincere and did not discuss his/her task with others, and the timing was important, too: we gave them 10-15 minutes. Then we dedicated 45 minutes to discussing. You will find their writings in the following posts. At the end, we explained the student one of the most important features of an intercultural experience: what you want to tell the others rarely matches what they would ask you about.
When you go abroad not just as a tourist, but try to get in contact with real people and real life, to understand how public transport function and what people expect you to do, the experience does change you. People who did not go through the same experience have difficulties in understanding how you feel.