Diary

Monday November 4th

Today was our first day in Nemenčinė and at the school. First we had a opening ceremony, and the Lithuanian students performed some dances and music for us. We also did some team building activities, for example a name bingo. Every country presented their homeland, hometown and school with videos and Power points. We had lunch at the school, and after that we had a tour in the school.

In the afternoon we had a logo competition, where we were divided into six groups and each group designed a logo for the project. Then we all voted which one was the best.

In the evening we went bowling in Vilnius.

-Anni Nohteri-

Tuesday November 5th

Today we started our day at the forest. We learned some survival skills, such as filtering the water and lighting the fire. Local fire department happened to come to the lake same time to practice life saving. We also learned, that kirves is a same word in Finnish, Lithuanian and Latvian languages. After activity we had lunch at school and then we headed to Vilnius.

In Vilnius we went to VGTU university and the Student Councillor of the University told us about different faculties and recherches of the university. After that we divided in two groups to see laboratories. After visit in the VGTU we had a guided tour in Vilnius old town and workshop in a glass museum. We learned a lot about significant places and the history of Vilnius. In the workshop we designed a jewelry of reused glass.

Then we had free time. We went shopping and ate (at the Hesburger, hush-hush). After that we headed ”home”. We were really tired. It was a long day.

-Pinja Pitkäranta-

Wednesday November 6th

We arrived at school 7.45. It was much earlier than the other mornings so it was hard to get up.

We had a trip to Anykščia to an old horse museum. When we arrived we had a lesson about how people have lived and especially made bread before. After our guide made her example bread we made our owns. After the lesson we toured the museum area. There was much to see.

After our tour we had traditional Lithuanian lunch. We had potatoes, butter, bread, meet, cheese, honey and herbal tea.

After lunch we headed to our next location: tree top walking path. It was only 300m long but it was really beautiful. The views were a bit different than in Finland. There were hills and clean river. It was a really nice experience.

After that we headed home.

Thursday November 7th

Our school day started at 9:50. We divided to two groups: boys and girls. First my group had a workshop on renewable materials. We made new paper from used paper. The paper we used to make cards. Then we had a lunch in school canteen. After that we had robotics workshop. We made two different kinds of programmable Lego robots and we had competition against each other. After school we had free-time. At five o’clock we left to the Opera: Madama Butterfly. The Opera lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes. It was such an interesting experience.

-Inka Nummela-

Friday November 8th

On friday we had to be at school at 10 o'clock. We went to the school's ceremony hall where we worked in groups of five people. Friday's workshop was about food and how different diets affect our environment. We answered some questions about food and diets with our group members and then we went through every group's answers. After that we talked about food miles (or kilometers). We planned a three-course-meal with the same group and counted the food miles of it. After that we listed them all on a whiteboard.

After lunch we talked more about the meals, and did an evaluation of the project. We listed our favourite activities and what we have learned during this project. After that we watched a video about Lithuania and after that we did a Kahoot! quiz. The school day ended around 2 p.m. because the Latvians left, but we stayed and discussed the next night that we spent at school. After that we went home to our host families to pack our stuff. We returned to the school around 8 p.m. and spent the night at school partying and playing games. Some people went to sleep, but some stayed up the whole night.