Sunday 3 March

We started our trip with a bit of a hassle provided by the Finnish National Railways (VR) whose trains are notoriously (or reliably, depending on the outlook one has on life) late - as was the case this time, too. Being more than half an hour late meant that we didn't really have any extra time to spare at the airport, only about 10 mins after clearing the secutiry check before the boarding for out flight from Helsinki-Vantaa to Milan commenced. Luckily we are seasoned travellers ...

The flight was a direct one so no need to worry about luggage or anything else: ca. three hours later we arrived at Linate airport and were met by Italian students, their families and Mr Claudio Bottalo, one of the two Erasmus+ coordinators who was kind enough to take myself, my colleague and co-coordinator Sakari and our headmistress Leeni to our hotel in Rho. After 30 minutes or so he was there again to pick us up, together with is coordinating partner Ms Augusta Orlandi and colleague Mr Bruno Picasso. We then drove to Pizzeria Exo at Piazza Visconti and joined the other Erasmus+ teams as well as other Italian teachers for a nice evening - and great pizza!

Monday 4 March

Today was the day of ice-breaking activities for the students and a tour of the school & meeting with the headmistress for us teachers. The students were supervised by two of our Italian colleagues, Lorenza and Viviana, as well as two drama pedagogists at MAST (a local community centre in Rho) where they engaged in some get-to-know-one-another activities and prepared miniature plays consisting of a single, silent scene. For instance, one group performed a scene of a surgery in the style of a horror film - nice!

At around 1:30 PM the activities at MAT were over, the students were excused and told to have a nice evening and we teachers had a nice lunch at Trattoria Zantini. After that, we had plenty of time in our hands before having the dinner at our Italian colleague Ennio's place. Just us Finns, though: all four countries had been "allocated" for different Italian teachers. That way we could all enjoy a home-cooked meal and some nice downtime. For us, having a big dinner (antipasti, primi, secondi, dolci) cooked by Ennio's wonderful girlfriend Flavia was a real treat!

Tuesday 5 March

Tuesday was the day of the Robotics challenge, organized and hosted by our our chums, Ennio and Andrea (we had met them in Germany in November 2023). Even though this kind of task with programming & technical aspects was new and perhaps a bit intimidating for e.g. our Finnish students, each team had one of Andrea's IT students with them - and they were veterans, having done the same challenge earlier. 

While the students were busy working, we teachers had a meeting to wrap up the final visit during project year 2023-24 and plan for the future year. After this, we had a nice long coffee break and the rejoined the students for the presentation of the robotic challenge tasks. The teams had managed to complete all the three different tasks, some more easily than others though, and they had also prepared presentations of these tasks.

We teachers took the S-traim to Milan after the end of the robotics challenge. The Czech and Spanish teams opted to go shopping & sightseeing while we Finnish teachers joined Katharina for a visit to Pinacoteca di Brera, an art museum displaying the works of - for the most part - Italian paintings from Middle Ages and Renaissanceas well as some more modern options, Flemish artists etc.  It was an outstanding collection, yet manageable within a couple of hours. After that, we dispersed and went our separate ways, some for a walk around the centre and around Castello Sforzesco, others for (window) shopping and cafes. 

Joining the Czechs, we finished the evening with an yearly dinner at La Corona D'Oro, a rustic local place back in Rho. As it was a chilly and rainy night, we pretty much had the luxury of having the restaurant (nearly) for ourselves - I think there was only one another party there in addition to us. 

Wednesday 6 March

Lake Como - most certainly a beautiful and inviting place to visit. And visit it we did, taking the train from Rho at around 7:45 AM. Unfortunately, the weather was somewhat rainy and cloudy in the morning, so the guided tour around the center of Como wasn't quite as enjoyable as it would've been a few hours later when the sun appeared in the sky. Nonetheless, it was interesting to hear about the long history of the city, stretching all the way to the Roman times (Julius Caesar himself had originally moved the town center to its current location after having a swamp near the tip of the lake drained). 

We finished our tour at the Tempio Voltiano, a museum dedicated to the well-known inventor and scientist, Alessandro Volta.  After a visit to the museum, there was about 1,5 hours for lunch (for us teachers, Riva Café was the location of choice) after which we boarded a ferry that cruised along the shores of the south-western part of the lake. If wasn't merely a sight-seeing vessel as it did stop at different locations along the route to let in / off passengers.  

Thursday 7 March

Thursday started with a workshop on fast fashion and sustainability (two terms not interchangeable). We had two instructors telling us about Italy's different regions and their roles in international textile industry. For example, Lombardy where Milan is located in, is responsible for nearly 40% of the output of all of Italy's textile and fashion industry with Milan being a key player. The amount of resources consumed and waste produced by fast fashion is indeed staggering, and after a lengthy introduction with breaks for e.g. a survey of the clothing worn by students and teachers present (focus being on where it was produced), the students got to the actual workshop part. They were given certain scenarios of the year 2040 and told to imagine what it would be like if the humankind wouldn't be able / willing to "curb its enthusiasm" on spending natural resources at current rate (e.g. the amount of textile waste alone had more than doubled between 2000 and 2020).

The students did as instructed and presented their findings. Even some of the "not-the-worst-case" scenarios included issues that I personally would like to avoid in the future. Grim, but then again, there's no way - nor reason - to shift the blame. 

As the afternoon was free and the weather was certainly more than permitting, I decided to go to Arese and visit the Alfa Rome museum. Augusta was - once again - too kind and offered to drive me there - and wouldn't take no for an answer. So drive we did and I ended up spending jolly good 1,5 hours at the museum, which I pretty much had for myself (I was the only visitor). The exhibition was well curated and extensive as well as informative: I for one didn't know that Alfa Romeo had engineered and manufactured planes too in the 1930s.  After a leisurely stroll and several well-aimed kicks at the tires (no, not really ...), I walked back to Rho. 

... just in time for some aperitivo at the Bakery in Rho. Great!

Friday 8 March

Milan, here we go! With some minor difficulties, though, as both the underground and railways were on strike. Luckily, Claudio has secured a coach for us already on Monday and so our trip to Milan could commence at 7:30. We Finns, Spaniards and Czechs were the lucky ones: the coach departed from the parking lot of our hotel.

The traffic on the way to Milan was no busier than usually, perhaps due to the fact that the strike lasted only between 9:00 - 18:00. The coach dropped us off at the center, close to the Fontana di Piazza Castello from where we walked to the Duomo. We got the tickets to the rooftop terrace which allowed for great views over the city and some impressive photo opportunities, too. It was certainly great to get to witness the beautiful and elaborate Gothic architecture up close and visiting the church itself after we descended from the terrace was - at least for a history teacher such as yours truly - a blast. The weight and grandeur of the Duomo was breathtaking.

After the visit, we had a couple of hours of free time. I strolled through the nearby Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, checked out the facace of La Scala and had a macchiato nearby. 

In the evening, the families of the hosting Italian students had organized a potluck at MAST (the site of Monday's ice-breaking activities). It was great: lots of great food, company and a chance to bid a proper farewell to our Italian hosts!

Saturday 9 March

... and so the visit was over, time to go home.  We arrived at Linate airport at around 9:30 and had two hours before boarding commenced. That gave the students plenty of time to say their goodbyes - with tears, of course. 

Many thanks to the Italian team for welcoming us & be seeing you again - some of you in November 2024 in Spain already!