Text: Tuuli Hakkarainen
Pictures and picture texts: Virva Eskelinen
Finland-Germany -exchange 2013
In the 21st October on Saturday morning we left from the Minna Canth School with 25 eigth graders and ten ninth graders and the teachers, Virva Eskelinen and Anna-Leena Poutanen. The journey to the airport of Tampere took about four hours including one break. At eight o´clock we arrived to Tampere Pirkkala airport, where our flight was going to leave at ten. It was very foggy when we all came throug the security check. But when the flight leaved, there was no fogg at all.
When we drived from Bremen to the school, there were many german students with their parents waiting for us. As soon as everyone found their partners, we ate some food at the school and then we were ready to go to the homes of our host families. For me, talking with my partner was at first a little bit slow and difficult, but when I learned the way that my partner speaks, talking was soon easier.
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| Our teachers: Dagmar Reinhardt, Anna-Leena Poutanen, Constanze May and Virva Eskelinen. |
On Sunday we met in a chapel near the church. We told each other about our first day in Germany. We were staying in very different families. In some families everyone spoke good English, and in some families not so good. But more or less, it was enough to communicate.
The rest of the day we were with our host families, and many of them went to Bremen. My partner had a handball game, so I was there watching the game.
Monday was the first ”school day”. We had a tour around the school. After the school tour the programme said “GEO-gaching”. The german teacher told us how to use the gps-device. After that we left from the school in small groups. During the trip we saw lots of sightseeing of Osterholz-Scharmbeck. Almost every group found the gache. The gps of one group was somehow broken, so they waited for else groups in a cafe.
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| Geo-gaching goes on. |
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| We needed pauses during geo-gaching. |
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| The happy end of geo-gaching. |
After all groups were ready, we had a lunch at the school. In Germany you must pay for the school food, so many german students didn´t eat. After eating we went home.
In the evening we all had bowling together. We had big groups, 6-7 people, but still we had enough time to play. After that everyone went home.
On Tuesday morning we met on a small local museum. The museum wasn´t open yet, so we went for a walk to the moors of Osterholz-Scharmbeck. We heard a lot of history. We also went to a tiny church which was over 800 years old. A clercyman(pappi) told us about the history of the church. There were many buildings in the church area. The place had been a monastery before. Hundreds of years ago a five-year-old girl was old enough to become a nun.
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| We were very interested in the history of the church. |
After the church visit we went back to the church, which was open for about half an hour. On the main building there were many birds. The rest of the buildings had furnitures like every house had before. And in one building there was a large boat for taking turf from OHZ to Bremen.
After this museum we went to the school where we met our partners. After lunch we had a PE lesson together. We played floorball.
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| Turf is an old traditional product of OHZ. |
On Wednesday we met at school again. At first we had 20 minutes to think about what we would like to tell to German 7th graders about Finland. After that we walked to the train station and went to Bremen. In Bremen we took a tram to a science center called Universum. Universum was a very singular building. It looks like a shell or a U.F.O. There you can do many things yourself. For me, the most memorable thing was a dark “labyrinth” , where it was really impossible to see even your hand. Then we came back to OHZ and the rest of the day we had free time.
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| We are waiting for going to Universum. |
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| There was a possibility to listen all kind of languages in Universum. |
On Thursday we went again to train station. We were late only for a few seconds. Last of us were just climbing the stairs, when our train left. So, we had to wait for next one.
When we got to Bremen, we had to walk throug Bremen in small groups. We had the written instructions in English and no map. At first everything was fine, but when we were nearly in the end of the instructions, the street that we were supposed to go was blokced by the police. We called to the teachers and took all of the groups to same place. Soon the german teacher came and said that she had heard (only heard) that something dangerous was leaking from a school by that street. We followed the instructions to the end and then we went to a football stadium called Weser. The train which our german partners would arrive was late. So we had a guided tour without them. We saw the VIP-rooms and went to the edge of the game field, for example. When our partners finally finished their tour we went together back to OHZ. The rest of the day was free again.
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| Eetu in Bremen. |
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| Tuomas and his "football team". |
On Friday we had the whole day time to make our presentation for the 7th graders in the school’s computer class. In the evening we all, including host families, met in the school. Nothing special happened. Later in the evening I heard that it was –1 degree in Finland and I was outside wearing only a t-shirt in OHZ.
Weekend was free time with host family. For me that was a visit to Bremenhaven, a zoo and another handball game.
On Monday we went all together to Heidepark which is an amusement park in about 1,5 hours journey from OHZ. There we were allowed to move in small groups. Heidepark has for example many different roller coasters and a river adventure and of course many other machines. There is also the deepest wooden roller coaster in the world in Heidepark. That is called Colossos.
The time we spent in the amusement park felt very short. We went to school with bus and then we went home.
On Tuesday morning we gave our presentations to 7th graders. In Germany the students who will come to Finland were not chosen yet, so we had to give the presentation to four classes.
After lunch we had a floorball tournament. There were three teams of finns and over ten teams of germans. Two of finnish teams went to second round. Everybody were really exited in the final, when we had the finnish team against the german team. Finland won! When the german teacher gave the throphy to us, she was perhaps a little bit disappointed. She said that the trophy had been in the school only for one day – and now it was going to Finland.
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| We are the winners! |
We gave our presentations also to our host families and our partners. So, all together, we gave the same presentation for six times.
For a moment after that the celebration of the 20th birthday of the school began. That was all in German, so most of us understod nothing. The finnish 9th graders sang a song and we heard many other music shows. Our head master’s greetings were read in German by Karoliina Tuomainen. After the celebration we ate a little bit food and then we went home to spend the last evening with our host families.
At four o’clock on wednesday morning we said goodbye to our host families and drove to the Bremen airport. On the security check many of us had to abdicate some things which went through the security check in Finland. When we went to the plane , it was already going to the runway when it suddenly turned and we were on the ground for over half an hour. That time was long enough that we saw the sun rising.
In Tampere when we collected our luggage and went outside, we realized that our bus wasn’t there. The teachers called and asked for the bus. It was coming to Tampere at two o’clock, and that was the time when we were supposed to arrive to Kuopio! Well, we went to a nearby ABC (it’s a small grocery store and gas station and a very little restaurant) and we bought some food. In one hour the bus came and we were finally going to Kuopio. We had one break and at six we arrived to Minna Canth school, where our parents were waiting for us and we were allowed to go home.
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| The only bad thing on the trip: there were no bus waiting for us in Tampere! |