Monday, 3rd March

We arrived in Helsinki in the afternoon. The teachers from the partner school in picked us from the airport and we were driven to Hyvinkaa. The teachers were accommodated at the hotel and students at Finnish host families. In the evening the teachers got together for a welcoming dinner.

 

Tuesday, 4th March

On Tuesday, we had a meeting at Harkavehmankoulu school. First, there was a performance by local students. Later, each partner presented their schools and their towns. Then, we took some photos and got to know each other a bit better. After that, we went to the school canteen, where we had the opportunity to try a typical Finnish school lunch, which was bean soup. We also tasted pulla- a local bread roll. After lunch, we participated in some workshops. There, we prepared a design of a book, as the topic of our Comenius Project is „The book- your best friend!”. We also took part in some classes until 3 o’clock. In the afternoon, we went to the town’s main square, where we could watch a “dance with fire” performance. The fire tricks were really amusing. There was also another stage, on which the band MadCraft performed. We stood there for a while “helping” the singers. After the concert, we went back to our host families’ homes.

 

Wednesday, 5th March

On Wednesday, we had a trip to the capital of Finland- Helsinki. We did some sightseeing and we visited the National Museum. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. After lunch, we went to a place where newspapers are printed and which is also a Museum of Journalism. There, we had the chance to take part in really interesting workshops devoted to photography in newspapers. After the workshops we walked to the city centre, where we could spend time as we liked. We came back to Hyvinkaa in the evening and we had a disco at school.

 

Thursday, 6th March

At about 9 o’clock, we set out to Porvoo. We visited the house of a national Finnish poet- Johan Ludvig Runeberg. We walked around the old part of the town and we did some shopping. In the afternoon, we went to a “Candy Factory”, where we had the opportunity to taste some delicious local sweets and chocolates. We also bought some tasty souvenirs to take home. We came back to Hyvinkaa and in the evening we had a really nice time with our host families, who took us for dinner at Amarillo restaurant.

 

Friday, 7th March

Friday was the Winter Sports Day. Both teachers and students tried skating, skiing and playing curling. Then, we had a long walk around the town, which took us a couple of hours. After having some rest, we were given packed lunch and we walked back to school. Here, we played some games or simply had fun in the school gym. There was the evaluation meeting for teachers where we got our certificates and summed up our partnership and the visit itself. In the afternoon, we went to the town centre to buy some souvenirs. We said goodbye to the students from Harkavehmankoulu, as it was our last night in Hyvinkaa. We had a great time and we were really sorry that we had to leave the next morning.