7th of December: Waiting for the trip

Now it’s the 7th of December and only three nights to the trip! We haven’t been to Croatia before and we are really excited. We are staying in families and that’s probably the most exciting thing. We will visit schools and see how and what the kids study there. We will also spend a day in Zagreb and see the sights. There are two kids in the family: Leona and Mihael. And the parents of course. They have eight fish and one cat. This was written by Maisa.

10th of December: Travelling

Today we took a mini bus from Alavus to Helsinki. It took four hours, and we slept for the most part. Our original flight was cancelled due to bad weather. The new flight took off at 6.05 from Helsinki and we arrived in Munich at around eight. There we had two hours time to wait for the next flight. That was a quite bumpy ride, so our drawings came out a bit out of focus :) Instead we saw some amazing mountain views!

As we got to Zagreb we had to wait for our partners, so we walked around Zagreb and went to eat. After that we returned to the airport and headed to Slavonski Brod to meet our families.

11th of December: The second day

After a good nights sleep we woke up at eight. We had a good breakfast and headed to school. First we heard some welcoming speeches and a couple of shows. Then we got to taste some local delicacies, which were super yummy. Then we visited a class with the Greek. We showed a video about Finland, as did the Greek about Greece. After the videos we answered some questions. Then we went to make some Christmas decorations, which turned out great.

After the workshops we went to eat some amazingly delicious food! There was plenty of it and it was really good. Finally we decorated the tree. After that we went home and gave our gifts for the family. They liked them a lot. At around five o’clock we went to a nearby mall. We had some ice cream and had a look at some shops. Everything is cheaper in Croatia. In the evening we played some games with the family, took a shower and went to bed.

12th of December

Today we had a tour around Slavonski Brod. We saw for example: the main street called Korzo with a statue called Franjo Tudman, a tambura museum and a monastery museum. Then we went to a restaurant to have some noodle soup and bread with meat in them. The portions were really big so we couldn’t eat it all!

After lunch we went to a school in Podvinje. It was decorated beautifully and there was a lot of people there. The pupils had a play about European history and also showed us some Croatian way of living.

After that we went to the church to see Christmas plays and listed to some choirs. Then we returned to home and met a couple of Leona’s friends.

13th of December

Today we woke up at six. We had some misunderstandings about the schedule and had to race to the bus, but now we are on our way to Zagreb. We have a tour around the city, kind of the one we had yesterday. We started from Ban Jelacic square. After that we went around Zagreb and saw some sights.

Then we went to eat. We had some bacon-mushroom soup and soft bread. The soup was wonderful and it was nice to dip the bread into it. The main course was chicken with ham and cheese, and something that looked like nuggets with potato in them. For dessert we had some kind of apple pie. This was the best meal in Croatia - in our opinion. Then we spread out in smaller groups to shop some souvenirs.

The weather today was nothing like yesterday, when it was sunny with 17 degrees. Today it’s raining and only three degrees.

14th of December

Today it’s Sonja’s birthday! After having washed our teeth and changed our clothes, we went to breakfast. Leona’s granny gave Sonja a present: a box of chocolate, earmuffs, a pocket mirror and a chocolate bar.

Today we were at Leona’s school and had some workshops and shows. We made angels out of corn peels: first we made the head out of tin foil and wrapped it into a wet corn leaf. Then we tied slices of wet leaf around the neck to make hands, and put on a dress. Finally we added wings and a hanging loop.

The second workshop was about Croatian folk dances. After that we had lunch with pizza. They were good. After eating every partner country sang Happy Birthday to Sonja in their own language. After school we walked to Leona’s house. On the way we bought some chocolate doughnuts from a bakery. When we got home, mum asked us to sit on the sofa. Then they gave a birthday cake to Sonja and sang her a song. At around five we went to swim, it was really fun.

15th of December

Today we got to woke up whenever we wanted, as we didn’t have to be at school until 12.20. We woke up with a bit sad feelings, because today is our last day here. For lunch we had some delicious spaghetti bolognese.

School started at 13.00. The first lesson was music. The teacher spoke only in Croatian, and we didn’t understand almost anything. They gave us instruments with different coloured bells. The notes had different coloured balls that indicated the bell colours. Then the teacher started to play the piano so fast that nobody could keep up. After a while we learned the song by heart but it was difficult.

Then we had PE. We didn’t know that so we didn’t have any extra clothes. Maisa played some hand ball, Sonja didn’t. Then we had Croatian lesson. There we made a Christmas tree and we got to write poems in the ornaments. Sonja just wrote Merry Christmas but Maisa came up with a poem. After lunch we had maths. When school was finished, we went home.

16th of December

Yesterday we had to get up at 2.45. We had packed everything ready and gone to bed with our travelling clothes on, so that we would be ready in the morning. We got up when the alarm went off, but after getting ready we realized that it was only 3 o’clock and nobody else was up yet!

Soon mum came and brought us some bread for the trip. She brought lots of it, so we had plenty to eat. We left for Zagreb airport at 3.30 and slept for the most part of the ride.

Our first flight left Zagreb at 8.25 and arrived in Amsterdam at 10.30. We had plenty of time to spend in Amsterdam to we went to McDonalds and to change our remaining kunas to euros

The flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki was supposed to take off at 14.00 but it was about 20 minutes late, so we were nervous that would we make it in time to the train in Helsinki. By the time we arrived in Helsinki the flight was 40 minutes late and we ran to get our luggage. Luckily they came pretty quickly. We ran with the luggage to the stairs and hallways.

I, Maisa and Atte were the first ones at the train. We didn’t know if it was the right train so we shouted to Inka that what should we do. Inka shouted that keep the doors open but don’t go in. Our ears were blocked still after the flight so we couldn't hear her properly. Things got pretty exciting but and the result was finally that us three were in the train without the tickets and everyone else. Luckily there were trains every ten minutes. There were some nerve racking moments before we all were in the same train heading to Seinäjoki, but all's well that ends well.