Afonso Nogueira
Sunday (7th May)
So, on our first day in Finland, we went to an airport hotel at Oulu at 1 am, then we slept and woke up 8 am. We ate breakfast, played some games, and finally, we moved on to Tyrnava.
Already in Tyrnava, we met our host and did some ice-breaking activities to socialize more, then went go to our host's house and met the family.
When I finished my dinner, at 16 pm, I socialized a lot with my host's family, and then a lot of Portuguese and Finnish students went to the centre of Tyrnava to socialize more and get to know the town. Already at the house again, I ate some food because I was hungry and played some card games with my host's family. Finally, I went to bed and slept.
Monday (8th May)
On our second day in Tyrnava, we started the day by doing some presentations about Portugal and watching one about Finland, and then we had a Sami workshop. At 10:30 am we had lunch, after that, some Finnish students showed us all the school, and finally, to end the school day, we had an amazing music workshop.
Then, me, Marta, Venla and Silja went to a small tower to watch some birds. After this, I came to my host's house for dinner and then I and my host with her siblings went to play some football with other Portuguese and Finnish guys.
Tuesday (9th May)
Today, was the third day, and we did a lot of things. We started by going to a municipal library (a beautiful one), then to the students' classes, (in my case, it was Maths).
After that, we had lunch and then we participated in an "escape room". Finally, we went to a baseball pitch and practised this sport.
In the afternoon, some of us went to Oulu. There, we visited an art museum, walked a little around the city and went shopping.
To end my day, I watched the first Eurovision semi-final with my host and her whole family.
Wednesday (10th May)
On the fourth day in Finland, we started the morning doing a smart chase challenge and then we went to a Maths class. We had lunch at 10h30 and after that we attended an International Class. Finally, we had a kitchen workshop, where I just laid the table hehe.
After school, I got home and had dinner, then I and Venla joined some of our friends on a big Frisbee pitch where we were playing it and then cooked some marshmallows and sausages in a campfire.
To end the day, I met my future guest's parents and played some football.
Now I'm going to sleep! :]
Thursday (11th May)
Thursday is a day for some farewells :'(
So, today we started by doing a few environmental activities, and then I had a Maths lesson with my host, where I did some exercises about functions. After that, we had lunch in the school canteen (a yummy one) and then, we went to a sports field nearby.
In that sports field, we could do a lot of sports, like football, basketball, etc. I played football with some Portuguese people and Finnish ones too, but we lost our two matches😢. However, they told me that I played very well (actually that’s not true), but it made my day!
Later on, we had a farewell party in an antique traditional Finnish house. The party was very fun, but I wanted so much to have been with Joel (the boy I hosted last year in Portugal). Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to come to the party! It's kind of sad.
Then I came home and took a picture with some part of my host's family and end the day watching the second semi-final of Eurovision.
Friday (12th May)
I started the last day (the goodbyes day) by saying goodbye to my host's family. It was so sad! Then, I said "Heippa" to Venla, but that wasn’t as sad as the goodbye I said to the rest of the family because I'm going to see her in one week in Portugal.
After that, I went to Oulu, where we visited the local cathedral, walked a bit around the city, visited a cultural centre and then went shopping.
Finally, we went to the hotel for our last night. There, we said goodbye to some Finnish friends who won't come to Portugal (it hurts a lot). Then, after settling in, I went to the sauna and, later on, I watched the midnight sun! While observing that beautiful scenery, I reviewed in my mind one of the best weeks of my life...