Erasmus+ in Germany, 4 - 10 October 2022

Tuesday 4th

The time for the first Erasmus+-meeting for the new project came really quick. We just had our A-levers and had only little time to do all the preparations even though we had more time than the Spanish. I was so happy that I didn’t have to wake up too early, around 7 am since I wanted to be early at the train station to meet the students. I arrived 35 minutes before the students arrived so pretty early. Smooth ride on a train from Tampere to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Our timetable was perfect and we had time for a burger meal, that is our Erasmus+ tradition since this was my 10th time, I think. Our first flight was delayed and we had only an hour to change planes in München so I was a bit worried if we would arrive on time to the gate. THe second flight was delayed as well so we had no problems on being on time. Anyway, we had a really good timing for the whole day. We didn’t have long waiting times or didn’t need to rush, except in Münich. 

When we arrived in Stuttgart, we got our bags quickly and our German hosts were at the airport greeting us. Students went to their host families and us teachers had a lovely dinner together.

Wednesday 5th

I had an early morning but that is usual when you are the coordinator or hosted by a coordinator. When the day started it was time for proper project work. Students presented their preliminary tasks and we saw that they had put an effort to their work. For me as a teacher, it was interesting to hear different fake news from Finland, Germany and Spain. During the first day students played some games to get to know each other. After the games we had workshops where a journalist presented different aspects of fake news. During the day I had a little bit of time to start my travel journal and organize some personal work related things. I thought that perfect, for once, I have time to do work things that I need to do while our students are working. So little I knew at that point. The first day was a long working day. 

In the evening us teachers went to the Esslingen wine region to have a little walk beside vineyards. I enjoyed the walk a lot and the sunshine just made the moment perfect. I hesitated on my dinner choice because there were so many good options. I ended up choosing a schnitzel made from veal and it was a perfect choice. I mean that it truly was the best schnitzel I have ever eaten.

Thursday 6th

Thursday students had workshops by a photographer. I was once again amazed how quickly they learned and they had great fake news by making fake photos. While students were working they were trying to get to know each other. Some of my students had some communication problems with their host. It seems that corona and isolation have affected students' ability to interact with new people and communications need more guidance. Day went fast and in the evening students had their cooking session at school. When students headed to the supermarket to buy all the essentials for cooking I went with them to buy some food for me. I learned last time that I need to be prepared or otherwise I might not get any food and I’m happy I did. There were a lot of spätzle and some salad but the success of dishes was varying. I was happy I had my own food and was catering myself. After all the hassle of cooking and cleaning one of my students called me that she is not getting along with her host. So me and the German coordinator took one of my and one German student back to their house and tried to sort out their communication issues. In the end I thought that the best solution was to move her to another family. For this night my student came to Katharinas place to sleep since it was so late already. Finding another host was on the to do -list for tomorrow but now I needed to sleep because it was early morning tomorrow as well.

Friday 7th

Waking up at 6 am, I always need a good breakfast and a cup of coffee. I was feeling the trip in my eyes already… At school students had some time to do the project work. Since students were so effective we had time to see the Stuttgart TV tower. The weather was great so we could see the whole city from the top of the tower. Last time I was in Stuttgart TV tower, it was really cold and windy, this time I could really enjoy the views.

Finnish teachers at the top of the TV tower.

After the tower we had lunch and a little bit of free time. Students could do their own things and teachers their own. Luckily I did some shopping: mainly chocolate, because I didn’t have time to shopping later on. After free time we all went to Museum of Illusions and we had a blast. I believe that us teachers enjoyed the illusions at least as much as the students if not even more. The illusion was tricks for the eyes. On the way from TV tower to the museum one of my students lost her wallet and broke her pack bag. We tried to look for the wallet but decided the she needs to search from all bags, jackets and so on before doing anything radical.

In the evening when we arrived home after moving my student to a new family and after dinner I decided to call my husband since I hadn’t had any time to call him. I had talked to him for 4 minutes and I got a message from one of my students that she had tested positive for covid. Oh no, not again! We had the same situation in Italy last spring. Something to sort out tomorrow again.

Saturday 8th

Saturday morning we had a nice brunch at school and then students started to work on the project assignments. Since one of Finnish students tested positive for coronavirus, we tested all Finnish students and most of the others did a test as well. Luckily all our students tested negative, but one felt a bit sick. Immediately we isolated sick students from the others and they stayed the rest of the trip in trier beds getting better. When this was sorted we tried to search for the missing wallet without any luck. Wallet was still missing. 

In the afternoon we had a little bit of free time and us Finnish teachers decided to go to Esslingen. Weather was perfect and we had a little stroll in Medieval city. We all were quite hungry already and started searching for a place to have lunch. None of us remembered that restaurants are open only during lunch and dinner. Since it was almost 3 pm only cafes were open. We had to have something to eat and we had salads in a cafe. 

Esslingen is so pretty!

I was definitely not full, Leeni either, Veera was ok. After a quick assessment of time left we decided to head into the center of Stuttgart. Veera wanted to change clothes before the opera so she headed to Florians place. Leeni and I went to have dinner. For me it was a really good solution, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to watch the opera without eating a proper dinner. The rest of the evening we spent watching and listening to the opera called Figaro's wedding. I thought it was a wonderful experience and I was positively surprised that there were also subtitles in english. 

Sunday 9th

Once again I had only a few hours of sleep since I needed to wake up early. On Sunday we all took a train to Karlsruhe. Students had workshops and they had a chance of a lifetime. The leaders of the workshops came from Switzerland just for us! In the meanwhile I had to call the Finnish ministry of foreign affairs to figure out how we could exit Germany when the wallet was still missing and her only identity certificate was in the wallet. Also I had to call Lufthansa and so on. It took me basically the whole day and every available minute to sort out different issues so we could all go back to Finland the next day. Also I was sorting out how our sick students are doing and how they can get back home. 

After the workshops we had about half an hour to stroll around the city. Karlsruhe had some kind of event and there were a lot of people in the city center. Students loved the city and would have wanted to stay longer. There were a lot of beautiful buildings and the weather was just perfect.

After a lovely dinner, Katharina and I went to the airport and the airport's police department to figure out what we need to do and how we can get needed documents. We arrived back home around midnight and I hadn’t had any time to pack. Also I needed to do the check in and a certificate for identification to school administration to stamp for one student who lost her wallet. What a hassle and what a day. When I finally got to lay my head on the pillow to sleep, it was already 2.30 am. 

Monday 10th

It is time to go home and I really do need a lot of sleep. My alarm clock rang at 6.00 o’clock, quick coffee and let's go to school. Katharina, the German coordinator whose house I was staying at, needed to go school early since the Spanish team had an early flight. I had time to make some arrangements and by that I mean I tried to make sure we will all be able to go home. When students and Veera arrived at school, it was time to say goodbye to our lovely hosts. Then we headed to a local supermarket to buy some candy to bring home and some snacks for the flight. We took a train to the airport and I thought that we would have plenty of time to have lunch after bag drop and security check but boy I was wrong. First we had to wait some time before the check-in/bag drop counters opened and when they did, all passengers heading to several different flights ran to the counters, luckily we were almost at the beginning of the queue. Not all that but the queue to security was crazy, it took us more than an hour to get through the security control, we had about 15 minutes to boarding. At that point I decided to buy something to take away for all of us. Sadly not a relaxing lunch. The most important thing was that we all managed to enter the plane in time and a bonus that we all got something to eat. Rest of the journey went rushing because of delays. Both flights were delayed so we needed to grab some food quickly from the restaurants at Tikkurila train station, once again. Most of the students headed to Burger king, not so surprising, but I guess we can consider that food as well. Our train ride back home was quite tired but we had a lot of fun. A bit too much fun if we would have asked from other passengers.

Even though we had a lovely time during the meeting in Germany, for me this trip was really stressful and a huge amount of work. Still at the same time these trips are important and gives us life long memories. Can’t wait to travel to Spain in March for our next Erasmus+ meeting.