Loviisa’s blog

9th of December: Soon it’s departure time!

Soon we are leaving! We are all very excited and eager to start the trip. The suitcases are full! Passports have been checked and re-checked. The sandwiches have been packed. Now there would be time to get some rest and sleep, but I doubt that it will happen. Maybe I’ll take a nap in the bus on the way to Helsinki.

There was an exciting turn of events already before the trip. We were supposed to fly from Helsinki to Amsterdam and from there to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Due to bad weather, our plans and route was changed. There was a snow blizzard in Amsterdam, which cancelled several flights, including ours. So now we are flying to Munich and from there to Zagreb. We are leaving at midnight from Alavus.

9th of December: Where are we going?

So we are on our way to Croatia, to a town called Slavonski Brod. We will be there on Sunday. We share a ride with the other travellers from the Zagreb airport to Slavonski Brod. It is bigger than Alavus, but a bit smaller than Seinäjoki.

The town is located near the border of Bosnia Herzegovina in the north of Croatia. According to Wikipedia, there are 50 000 inhabitants.

10th of December: Layover in Munich

We are making some progress!

Our ride on the minibus was nice and fast. We arrived at the airport well in time before the departure. We did the check-in ourselves and got the bags in the plane. Everyone passed the security check on the first try. While waiting for the plane to depart, we had something to eat, exchanged currencies and did some shopping.

The flight from Helsinki to Munich went well, most of us were sleeping a while. Now we are here at Munich airport in front of our gate and updating our blogs.

10th of December: The traveling day goes on and on and on…

When writing this, we have been traveling almost 24 hours. We are a brave bunch, that’s all I can say!

The journey continued from Munich to Zagreb, right on schedule. A minor surprise was the small plane by Croatian Airlines. The flight was not long, but the ride was bumpy. There was some turbulence but the scenery was awesome.

We made it to Zagreb. From the airport we took a taxi to the city centre, it took about 30 minutes. In the city, we searched for a place to keep out bags in. We started from the railway station, but the lockers were a mess. ”Out of order” were the words of the day. We took two bags to the bus station.

We had our personal guide in Zagreb: Lauri Setälä, a former student of Kirkkomännikkö school. He studies business in Zagreb. And we had a nice tour around the city!

The old town in Zagreb is a lot like Riga or Tallinn.

At times we walked in tunnels under the city, that’s where these nice pieces of art were in. Then we had a look at the city from high up on the roofs.

The city was very busy with people celebrating the first advent.

It wasn’t until ten o’clock in the evening when we started the journey to Slavonski Brod. The drive took a couple of hours, so we truly travelled for 24 hours!

The 11th of December: Visiting a school in Podcrkavlje

The first whole school day we spent in a school in Podcrkavlje. Our partnerschool in Croatia consists of two parts. Tomorrow we will visit the other place. This school is located about 15 kilometres from the centre of Slavonski Brod.

The building was fairly new, light and roomy. There was a football field next to the school, as well as great scenery.

We had various types of activity at the school. We saw a presentation by a local folklore society, with Croatian christmas traditions, music, dance, national costumes and games. The people at the school were extremely friendly and hospitable. We got to taste different delicious treats.

We also had a chance to introduce Finland to some 6th graders. They were very eager to ask questions.

We prepared some ornaments for a Christmas tree. While crafting, it was nice to get to know the other teachers and students. I had some local kids in my table. We made bears out of nuts. In another workshop we made small boxes which were decorated with traditional Croatian ornaments.

At the end of the day we decorated the Christmas tree with the self-made ornaments. We also added some wooden Finnish flags and straw ornaments. There were also loads of cones in the tree! The tree was a top of another, bigger tree. In the end, they had taken it to the local church.

The 12th of December: A day in Slavonski Brod and at a school in Podvinje

Our day started with a city tour in Slavonski Brod. It is a city with 60 000 inhabitants in the county of Slavonia in Croatia. It is the 6th biggest city in Croatia. It is located right on the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The river Sava is a border river between the two countries.

We started the tour from the statue of Franjo Tudman, the first president of Croatia (1990-1999). He was a key person in the process when Croatia became independent. The airport in Zagreb is also named after him. From the statue we walked to the fortress of Slavonski Brod, which is a major attraction in the city. It was built in the 18th century by Austrians.

We also visited the world’s only tambura museum. Tambura is a stringed instrument that looks like a guitar but sounds like a banjo. A tambura-orchestra consists of various tamburas: soloists, accompanists and those who play the bass line. The tour around the museum was held by a maths teacher who was also a talented tambura player.

We visited an art gallery located in the area around the fortress. The gallery was dedicated to a local artist called Branco Ruzic. He was a sculptor and a painter.

After lunch we went to a school in Podvinje. We got to know the school and saw a Christmas party prepared for us by the students and the teachers.

14th of December: A day in Zagreb

We visited the capital Zagreb for a second time. As we went sightseeing, we took partly the same paths as on Sunday, when we were in Zagreb for the first time. Therefore we had some idea of where to go. This time we also saw the market square, where only a part of it is visible on the ground. We went to the fruit and vegetable market, but we didn’t see flower,  meat and fish market. They were located in their own building and on several floors under the ground.

We took pictures of several architectural gems: the gothic cathedral, the buildings surrounding the market square, statues and art on the buildings’ walls.

14th of December: School day in Podvinje

Our journey is coming to and end, but we still have a few days before heading home. Today we visited a school in Podvinje. We spent the whole day with the Erasmus+ people. We had two workshops: we made angels out of corn peels and danced traditional Slavic folk dances.

Today we also watched videos and powerpoint presentations that showed us the pupils’ everyday life in the partner countries.

The 15th of December: The last day

Today was the last day in Slavonski Brod. Tomorrow, early in the morning,  we will leave for Zagreb, and from there to Amsterdam and finally to Helsinki. The last bit of the journey we’ll travel by train from Helsinki to Seinäjoki.

Today the teachers had a meeting where we gave feedback and discussed our plans for the project’s future and upcoming trips. We went to decorate the place ahead with Finnish candies and Christmas cards to every country.

We had lunch in a hotel restaurant on the highest floor. From the windows we saw an outstanding view over Slavonski Brod.