Impressions on Oulu, Finland, 22nd - 26th April 2013

The Belgian team’s impressions

Hi everyone !

We would like to say that stay in OULU, Finland was interesting. We learned a lot of things, like being more eco-responsible! It was a great opportunity to discover new cultures, new people, and make new friends.

We really enjoyed the visit of Santa Claus’ village and the ice swimming…

Finland is a really beautiful country with large spaces, huge woods, wonderful houses…

The education system is really advanced compared to the Belgian one.

The farewell dinner in the restaurant on Thursday was amazing and the party in the school sports hall was unforgettable!

The hosting families were perfect. We hope we’ll see all of them one day.

The activity with the birdhouses was cool because we could paint them, in Belgium there is no lesson where we can paint! It was funny to paint Dimosthenis’ face!

The food was as good as surprising, another good experience!

Thanks to our new Finnish friends we can say a few words in Finnish now, so… KIITOS!

We miss you so much!

 From left: Céline Mangione, Yann Dreze, Marco Daniele, Francoise Goorisseen, Marc Pugliese, Esther Remy and Gabrielle Atienza.

The Greek team’s impressions

Our trip to Oulu was awesome! I met new people, different personalities, new cultures but the most important was that I made new friends. .It's been an unforgettable experience that I will never  forget and live again. All the students were sociable and co-operative. I also learnt to be more eco-responsible and I discovered   easy ways to do so.

 We can remember only wonderful moments...I hope that one day we will meet again. Until then, warm

greetings !

Maria Kilinkaridou

Hello  everyone!

The whole trip in Oulu, Finland was just an unforgettable   experience. I had the chance to meet new people, make friends   and learn a lot about the Finnish mentality, culture and environment. Furthermore I want to   say a big kiitos   to the Saastamoinen's family for their great and warm hospitality. I would like to see you again in the future.

Lolita Leras

So I am so Finland-sick already. I must confess I have been so impressed that I still have a feeling of the country itself and the warm hospitality the families offered me, especially as far as the Koykka family is concerned. I made lots of friends, I got to know about new civilizations, traditions and people in general. The chemistry among us was really exceptional, and personally I am happy to say that not only did I make many friends, but   I strongly miss one of your girls. Mrs Fredriksson   knows who she is, maybe you know as well, as she left me speechless. So with all that having been said...I promise to visit you there in Oulu the first chance I get.

Much Love,

Dimosthenis Pagkakis

The meeting that took place in magical Oulu of Finland was an unforgettable one. Not only because it was the last one since now our Comenius Project has come to an end, but also because everyone there was so crazy, warm and damn funny! I made so many different friends from different countries, everyone with his unique character. The organisation was perfect and I believe that some of the landscapes I saw in Finland, I will never have the chance to see them in my life again. Although I want to come again, it came out to be an extremely hard task to get there (I hope SAS does something about it!).Generally my whole experience with Comenius Project was excellent, as I learnt new things and met new people. I will surely be the first to take part in such projects again in the future. As I hope that I'll see all of you again in the future, I'll just say SEE YOU....Who knows? Thanks for everything!!! To all of you!!!

Ippokratis Zoumpoulis

Impressions on Oulu (Portuguese delegation)

We can’t even describe the experience with the right words, because there really aren’t enough words for it.

When it was decided that we were going to Finland, we all got personal expectations. Some of them came true, others blew our minds.

Just a totally different country from Portugal, with such a different culture, that was the best for us to know, so we could enrich our personalities.

Some specific experiences, like, for example, diving into the freezing Nordic water was something we consider a great memory, an opportunity of a lifetime! The moments spent on the bus, the ice breakers, the air guitar moment, meeting Santa… All so special to us! You have no idea how much it meant to us, how much it made us grow and be thrilled after such an awesome week. We wish we had more chances like this one.

It was great to meet Finnish style, and the other teams as well. It was great to experience Finnish habits. It was great to visit Oulu, we truly loved it!

From the left: Ana Paula Pereira, Vasco Otero, Nuno Fernandez, Bárbara Mendes, Tiago Gomes, Mariana Duarte, Abílio Morais, Sara Ferreira, JoãoPalmeiro and Manuela Lima.

The Comenius week was one of the best experiences in my life so far. At first I thought that the schedule was kind of boring with Nokia and the bird watching, but some of the students liked it. The first day was just getting to know each other, checking places and sleeping. During the week we had icebreakers, birdhouse building and some lessons at school and so many other things after school. The school had organized a trip to Rovaniemi where the foreigners met Santa Claus, had a snowball fight and did many other things. The school also organized a trip to Liminka where we watched birds and a trip to Nokia and Oulu sightseeing. Almost everyday after school we did something all together like went to Megazone, played football, went for coffee or downtown. It was so nice to get to know the different kind of people and the cultures. The whole week was awesome!       Erika Fredriksson

The whole Comenius week was absolutely awesome! I didn’t expect it to be anything like that. I was happily surprised that I can speak English so well. At first I was little shy with all the people who I didn’t know, but in the end of the week I knew everyone. I was also so nervous about hosting a Greek boy who I didn’t know. But luckily Dimosthenis was so kind and funny and we came along very well! My whole family liked him and we had a great time together. It was nice that we did almost everything together with all the Comenius guests here. Everyone was so happy and excited all the time. I miss that week and everyone who were here in Finland with us. I really hope to see everyone again, we had so much fun!       Mette Köykkä
I think that the Comenius week was the best week in my school  history. The week was unforgettable and so much fun. It was nice to meet different people and make new friends. I was really nervous about how to get through the week with my English skills, but luckily the week went really well and now I miss everyone. 
I thought that the trip to Liminka would be boring and the weather was bad, but it was very nice there because everybody was together. The Comenius week was a very good experience and I learnt very much about different cultures, and especially about Romania because I was Delia's host sister. The guests spoke English very well and during the week I learned to become a better English speaker. The best thing during the week was the evenings with students when we went to the city and did all kinds of fun things together. I hope that our guests enjoyed being here and I hope we will see each other one day again!     Hanna Loukusa

My Comenius visitor for the week was Emil Baida from Romania. During the week we visited many places together, such as Oulu university animal museum, koitelinkoski- rapids and liminganlahti- bay. This was Emil’s first visit to a foreign country, and he was excited to see and experience new things. He was especially impressed by Finnish nature, which he found to be beautiful and tranquil. I found the trip to liminganlahti and koitelinkoski to be the most enjoyable, because I share Emil`s love of nature. I also learned many things about Romanian culture and history, which was very enlightening. I think that the Comenius program and similar international projects ought to continue and evolve, since they strengthen our community spirit and bring a great opportunity to exchange ideas.        Tatu Salo

The whole week was amazing and I was glad to meet people from countries where I've never been. I don't think I'll ever forget that week or the people I met. It was so fun and special that after it you have no motivation for normal school anymore! - Comenius - connecting people!     Johanna Sandberg

We were waiting for the week for a long time. And when the day came, personally, I was nerve-racking. For the Finns, the first culture shock was at the airport, namely the cheek kisses! The week was the best of my life! When you went to school, you got cheek kisses, you heard other languages and you were around new people! It was fun to host and also my parents enjoyed it. We learned more things about different cultures and countries, and I think  the food was the biggest culture shock.

Of course we made friendships which will last a lifetime! But I have to confess that I didn’t expect that the week and people were that amazing! The activities were a little bit boring at the beginning, especially the Arktikum, but it didn’t matter, because we still had fun together. One of the culture shocks was also that here in Oulu there is nothing to do compared to the cities where our guests live!

It really was connecting people, because now we all are one big international family! And we will see each other again but it could be a longer time in here…  I think I can say for all that you all have a place in our Finnish hearts! KIITOS!       Roosa Still

Comenius week with awesome guys!
First of all I was a little frightened about the whole week and about having to speak English all the time. Then I didn’t have any idea how great and glamorous one the week could be. I am so happy that I hosted Tiago that week. After that week I know that I always have a place and a brother who I can visit in Braga. The whole team and everybody who were part of the project were amazing people. From the program of the week I think the best day was Thursday and especially the evening. The most boring thing was definitely Nokia Siemens’s man who could have even been a sandman ‘cause of his voice!  We heard two amazing voices during that week, so thanks to Esther and Marco for the performance. This week taught to me a lot of things about these five countries. I am also so happy for you guys for seeing Santa Claus! I’m always going to remember this week. The reason why this week was perfect is because you all were part of it. Missing you all!            Veera Uusitalo