Erasmus in Germany, 19 - 25 November 2023

Sunday 19th

Ah, the luxury of later departure - made possible by the fact that our flight was to depart from Tampere-Pirkkala airport instead of the usual Helsinki-Vantaa.  We arrived at the airport around 3:30 PM, in good time before our 5 PM flight as the airport is anything but busy and bustling (there are only four daily flights from there during autumn and winter)... 

We had a layover at Schiphol and arrived late (last, but not the least of all the Erasmus+ teams) at Stuttgart around 10:30 PM. Germany students, their parents and the Germany coordinator Ms Katharina Einhoff were there to pick us up and take us to our lodgings. In my and Sakari's case, that was Hotel Zum Herzog Karl. The room was small but clean & tidy as such - and nonetheless, having done military service in Finland, being in close quarters with other men was not a strange thing to either of us. In fact, as it was only two of us instead of ten others, you could consider that luxury (the lessons Finnish army teaches you)...

Monday 20th

Today was the first full day in Germany and thus the familiar "welcome to OHG - let's get to know one another & the project task" day. We met our Czech colleagues Hana and Paula at breakfast (they were staying at the same hotel) and the Italian teachers, Ennilio and Andrea, at OHG. 

The lovely German coordinator, Ms Einhoff, the headmaster Mario Lietzau and another English teacher and a newcomer into the Erasmus+ world, Ms Amelie X, welcomed us teachers and students to OHG. During the morning, we got an overview of the programme, did some icebreaker activities and had a coffee break. For us visiting teachers, the coffee break turned into a longer teambuilding session as Katharina & other German staff took the students into their care and started preparing & planning the project task. For six groups, this involved founding political parties centered around one single team; two other groups were to document a) the forum on Friday 24th where the "parties" were to exhibit their programme, hold short speeches for the audience, present promotional material etc. and b) document the entire visit.

In the evening, we all gathered at Erich Kästner Schule for the famous (well, at least in our circles) Great OHG Cook Off . Katharina's co-coordinator, Mr Florian Huber, led the students into the wonderful world of Spätzle, the Schwabian noodle. They were divided into groups who went shopping for ingredients, set & cleaned the tables and did the cooking. The kitchen quickly filled up with the smell of cooking onions, sight of students peeling carrots, slicing cucumbers etc. and ... well, talking/shouting quite loudly. The end result? Hopefully, enough salad & Spätzle with cheese for everyone. 

We teachers didn't want to eat the students' labour of love & hard work, so we retired to the nearby Cafe Pause for some flammkücher. Strictly out of politeness, nothing personal against the students' Spätzle, of course.

Tuesday 21st

On Tuesday, we took the U-Bahn to Stuttgart for a visit to Haus der Geschichte in Stuttgart, where we had a guided tour of the history of Baden-Württemberg from the times of Napoleon to present day. A tip to the city of Stuttgart and the decision-makers: please, do provide English translations for the exhibition! As a history enthusiast whose German skills are limited, I personal would appreciate this very much!

After a business lunch at Restaurant PLENUM in Schlossgarten we visited Landtag von Baden-Württemberg, the State Parliament of B-W), where our guide, Theresa I-forgot-her-surname, led us into the great hall for a simulated session where we got to elect the Präsident (the Speaker) and other key players. This was a fun and hands-on approach to local democracy. 

After this, we had the afternoon off for miscellaneous shopping etc. before gathering at Wirtshaus Garbe for dinner, joined by a few more German colleagues. Good fun!

Wednesday 22nd

Today the students worked on their projects while we teachers had a meeting to settle issues related to the project visit to Finland. After working for good three hours, the students had a sports lesson, courtesy of two PE teachers (including our ol' friend, Mr Stefan Huber). 

In the afternoon, we teachers had a short guided tour at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart to experience some 600 years of art history from the Medieval times til near present day. As I had been there before, I knew what to expect from the museum and was able to sneak slightly away to have a peek at my favourite Dixes, Picassos etc.

The evening meal took place at Hotel Köhler in Stuttgart, a fourth generation family-owned restaurant where we had maultaschen and schnitzel … that were completely vegan. My schnitzel was a convincing and tasty reproduction.

Thursday 23rd

This was the day for a visit to the European parliament in Strasbourg. Strasbourg being some 160 km away (and it being quite a busy place), this meant an early morning: wake up at 5:45 - shower etc. - breakfast at 6:15 - at school at 7:00 for the coach to our destination. Despite the very early morning, the kind owner of our hotel provided us with the usual breakfast (which I finished more carefully than usual, stocking up on calories for the day).

The coach ride to Strasbourg went well, with just a little bit of congestion on the highway - so well in fact that we were able to have a bathroom/coffee break of 30 mins. We arrived in the vicinity of the European Parliament well in time. This being a central spot for European decision-making, we went through an airport-level security check with screening and all.

After the security check, we convened at the courtyard for a group photo and then proceeded into the visitor's center. The first stop was a meeting with a  Bulgarian staff member who walked us through the basic ideas and hierarchy of the Parliament (including the important information that the most important people in the building were in fact us, the voters in the future EU Parliamentary elections in 2024). After that, we were led to the Plenary Hall where we - unfortunately - barely missed the session. As the session was to continue only after two hours, there was no other option but to press on and meet with Mr Rainer Wieland, a long-time German MEP and Vice-President of the Parliament. He was kind enough to dedicate quite a sizable portion (a good hour) of his busy day answering the students' questions, which were delightfully plentiful and smart - not that anyone doubted this.

We had about two+ hours to walk to the centre of the city to Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg which was certainly an impressive piece of Gothic architecture. This was our meeting point and after establishing this fact as well as the time when to be there, we let the students go their ways. I, Sakari, the Czech colleagues and our new German Erasmus+ "prospect", Pia, went with Katharina to Flam's, a local spot for Flammkuchen. I impressed some of the company and our waiter by ordering a large green salad with my Flammkuchen (a bowl that's usually to be shared among 3-4 people) - my 15 mins of fame & messy eating.

Friday 24th

The day of presentations! The students had a couple of hours in the morning to finish their work, set the stands & print the brochures and leaflets (if they had any) while we teachers had a meeting to settle a few more issues concerning this visit and the final one in Italy (March 3 - 9). After a coffee break, the fair commenced. Two classes of 10th graders from OHG were present when the parties introduced themselves, their agendas and why they should be the ones worthy of the votes of the young. Then the audience had time to circle the different stands and ask questions from the teams before taking a vote on which of the parties had the most promising angle.

We wrapped up the official part of the visit at around 12:30 PM: the winners of the vote were announced (it was a tie between three teams) and all the Erasmus+ students were presented with certificates pronouncing them true Europeans who had worked together in the spirit of cooperation. The students had the evening off for the Christmas market in Esslingen while we teachers either went there too or, as in the case of your truly, decided to continue working in the privacy of the hotel room. Don't get me wrong, I think that the market is absolutely fantastic and worth seeing, but as the weather was far from ideal (really dark clouds were looming in the horizon at around 3 PM when we finished in the staff room) and as I had been to the market several times before, I decided to skip this and ease up on the work by finishing some parts of planning for the visit to Finland.

The teachers' evening program involved a visit to a beautiful lookout point at the Bankplatz Schlossberg for a relaxing view over the city before going to our restaurant for the evening, Rotenberger Weingärtle. There we feasted on yet another Swabian meal and had a jolly good time.

Saturday 25th

Ah, the luxury of late departure - made possible by the fact that our flight was to arrive at Tampere-Pirkkala airport instead of the usual Helsinki-Vantaa (deja vu here, anyone?)... We arrived at Stuttgart airport at 12:30 and had two hours before boarding commenced. That gave the students plenty of time to say their goodbyes - not that many tears, this time, though?

After that, it was business as usual: a long layover at Schiphol and a late arrival (around 11 PM) at Tampere -Pirkkala airport. 

A very big thank you to our hosts! The visit to Ostfildern was, once again,