Monday 19th February 2018
By Lisa Guarino
Dear diary,
Today we met at Merenoja school in Kalajoki at 8.30a.m. We sat in the school auditorium. Then a teacher divided us into 5 groups to play a game.
The aim of the game was to prevent the breaking of an egg while throwing it down a flight of stairs. Each group had to come up with a plan to prevent the egg from breaking. So we used garbage bags, adhesive tape and some paper cups. After the game our Finnish friends took us on a tour around the school.
Later on, we went back to the aditorium and all the schools presented the best technological product of their country and then we put our publicity drawings in their library.
We went out of school at 2.30 p.m. and we were all free. At 5.00 p.m. we all met in a cottage by the sea. First we had dinner and then we spent some nice time together.
After dinner we played outdoors. Then we pretended it was Christmas. There was Santa Claus who gave out presents for every one! It was great fun and a moment of joy for everyone.
Having Christmas again in a unique atmosphere was an unforgettable experience!
Tuesday 20th February 2018
By Eleonora Gesualdi
Dear diary,
Today we went to visit Kalajoki by coach and we visited a pottery factory. A lady who works there showed us how to make a vase of clay and after we went to the shop. About eleven o’clock we had lunch by the sea and we played with snow and sleds, it was the first time for me and I enjoyed very much. Then we went to the sea museum and visited the SPA. To swim and to see the snow outside is a unique experience! After the SPA, we were divided into groups and our group with Italian and Finnish went to eat at the Mc Donald and in the evening we all met on the ski slope. Ah! It’s very difficult to skate on ice! Finally we went back home and at 8.00 p.m. we had dinner with all the family and it was a very beautiful moment, we laughed a lot and talked about everything and finally we went to sleep tired.
Dear diary, the snow was a such impressive experience! The Finnish environment is completely different from ours, and living here me feel free and it also makes me feel much more self-confident in English!
Wednesday 21st February 2018
By Pedro Marenghi
Dear diary,
This morning I woke up at seven o’ clock and after that I had a shower, I had breakfast with cereals and yogurt. Then I went to see Oulu by coach with my Erasmus friends. We were divided into 2 groups, and when we arrived, we visited the most famous Art Museum of Oulu. Here, there are a lot colourful urban graffiti. It was so interesting: I had never seen anything like that! Then we visited Ludocraft company , that is very important for the production of videogames, furthermore it is specialised in the design and the development of some multiplayer games.
In the afternoon all the people bought some gifts for their family and their friends in a shopping centre in Oulu. Finally I came back Taru’s home and there, with the family all together, we talked about the trip. We enjoyed the day together with my Erasmus friends and we learnt many things at the same time.
I will never forget this trip to Oulu!
Thursday 22nd February 2018
By Vincenzo De Blasi
Dear diary,
Today we met at school at 8.30 a.m. and a teacher introduced five workshops made by Finnish students: microbit, macrobit, a virtual book, editing, and school exercises done by a PC program. In Finland students have 30 hour lessons per week but , at the beginning of the school year, they can choose classes for 13 hours of their schedule. Then, in turns, we went to work in the computer laboratory and to visit the primary school. At the primary school we saw children programming a Lego robot. It was amazing! We built our robot too and we had a lot of fun.
After lunch, we attended classes at school. In the English class Lisa, Carmen (a Spanish girl) and I did a reading comprehension exercise, with Finnish students. It was nice to share an English lesson!
Then we went to the gym to play volleyball.
After that, we were divided into ten groups of three or four students, and we had the task to make a stop-motion movie on a particular topic. Our topic was ‘petrol’ and we made a very good movie.
We went back home and in the afternoon we went skiing. It was the first time for the Italians and we had a lot of fun! Then we had dinner and we went to Julia’s place to have nice time together until 9.00 p.m.
It was an interesting day because we learned a lot of new things and we had the opportunity to experience a day in a Finnish school, so different from ours!
Friday 23rd February 2018
By Lisa Guarino
Dear diary,
today we met at Merenoja school at 8.30 a.m. Then a teacher divided us into 2 groups.
One group went to the ‘Escape room’ where an English guide explained the history of Finland to us. The other group stayed at school and a teacher made us do some exercises about art expression. Both groups did the same things in turns. Then they took us to visit another school. We had lunch and after that we had a workshop: we drew essential things of our life on canvas and we hung the paintings at school. After that we went to the school kitchen we made our own slice of pizza. The dough was already made and we had just to put the toppings, like tomatoes or mozzarella. Then we cooked it and we ate it all together.
After pizza we all went to the cafeteria of the school, where some girls sang and danced some traditional tunes. The performance was so fascinating!
Later we played treasure hunt. I think that it was very amusing and exciting since we had to collaborate and, therefore, to give the best of us.
We finally went to the teachers’ room and we danced all together and we took some photos before greeting.
In the end we were very sad because we had to say good-bye but, at the same time, we were happy to have new friends in Europe!
Keep on shining 