Activity 2
Finland
"This world is but a canvas to our imagination" Henry David Thoreau
"This world is but a canvas to our imagination" Henry David Thoreau
The following report was written by Italian student Maria Francolino
From March 4th to March 11th, the Finnish team welcomed the second activity of the Erasmus+ Art and Space in the City project.
On Sunday March 5th
We arrived at the airport in the afternoon. Then we shared with the Greek team the following 2 hours in a bus where we spent some time getting to know each other, chatting and enjoying the landscape. In the late evening we arrived at the Loimaa high school where there were all host families who waited for us.
On Monday 6th
We went the school "Novida Lukio" and the meeting started with the introduction of all the teams and a nice speed dating.
Two of the Finnish group showed us the whole school ,which from our point of view has everything you need and keep up with the times.
Then we did a very interesting and funny quiz about Finland. After a coffee break, the presentation began where each country presented their powerpoints about the chosen spaces, with a pause in the middle for lunch in the canteen where we had the opportunity to chat with the guys of other countries.
Later we walked to Loimaan keilahalli where there was a exhibition of different paints and a presentation, which we really enjoyed.
Then we went to the bowling alley, all the pupils and teachers ,where we had a lot of fun!
In the evening our hosts brought us to see hockey track and to eat together in a place where they cook kebab and spend more time together.
On Tuesday 7th
In the morning we went to the school gym to listen to the lesson about space by Osmo Pekonen and then we did the 1st workshop, it was really interesting and full of activities where the cooperation was most important.
After lunch we continued the 2nd part of the workshop session and concluded it with a small talk on math and art connections with Kristof Fenyvesi .
In the afternoon we took the bus to Mellilänjärvi to spend all the rest of the day in the cottage and to try for almost all of us the sauna and a refreshing dip in a frozen lake, it was a new exciting experience!
In the evening we ate all together sandwiches, chatted and relaxed with some music.
On Wednesday 8th
We spent all the day outside of the school. First of all we went in Vantaa to visit the Fazer's factory, were we learned the story about it and tasted various type of their chocolates. Later we went to EMMA Museum, an old building used to be a printing factory but opened as a museum in 2006. There we saw different exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Some of them were really interesting like Olafur Eliasson "Pentagonal Landscapes" or Joseph Beuys "Outside the box".
Then in the afternoon we went in the center of Helsinki to visit The Finnish National Theatre, and after those we had some free time to enjoy a little more the city, unluckily we hadn't much time to see all the capital.
On Thursday 9th
A day dedicated a very different and great activities.
All the students were divided into three groups :
environment
visual arts
performance
Later Sports event (curling, dance, ball game..) in the afternoon.
Then some of us decided to stay together to eat pizzas at a finnish girl's home.
On Friday 10th
We took a bus to Turku where we spent all the day . We visited the multi-function center Logomo, . Later we went to Turku Cathedral and started a photo scavenger hunt . It was really fun and we had the possibility to visit places in Turku in an alternative way and we more appreciate the city . Finished the tour, we went to Wäinö Aaltosen museo (WAM) where before the guided visit of the museum, we had a nice coffee break .
To celebrate the last evening together the Finnish team had organized a party for us. During the dinner each country had to do a little dance, it was real special moment where everyone had a lot of fun.
It was a beautiful experience, full of emotion!