LoVeLi=Lovable values of life 

 

Monday 24.10 

Monday was a travelling day. We left school by bus at seven. We were at the airport at nine o'clock. Our flight departed at 11.10 so we had a little bit of free time at the airport. During our free time most of us went to the café or shopping at the airport shops. Flight went well and we were safely at Germany 13.10 local time 12.10. We had to wait the Latvian students at the Hamburg airport two hours. Most of us went to McDonald's. When the Latvian students came, we started our bus drive to Satrup. The bus drive took two hours and after that we met our host families. We went home with the families and got to know them over dinner and family time before going to bed. It was really exciting to sleep in a house with a family you just met. 

 

Tuesday 25.10 

On Tuesday we went to visit the school in Satrup. There we went over the whole day in a classroom and got our LoVaLi- beanies. After that the Germans showed us around their school which was massive and had multiple different buildings. It was huge compared to our own school. We had a chance to try wall climbing in the school gym. After that we went to follow our hosts' lessons. Some of us presented things about our school and country but others were told that we didn't have enough time for it. The lessons and especially classrooms were different to the ones we have in Finland. In Finland we have smartboards and do almost every assignment on our computers. However, in German the students were mainly using tablets and they had chalk and whiteboards. After visiting lessons, we were offered lunch in the cafeteria. There were multiple choices for lunch such as pasta bolognese and chicken wraps. 

After the school day we headed to Flensburg where we visited a science museum called Phänomenta. It was similar to Heureka. When we were done touring the museum, we had free time and a chance to visit different shops in Flensburg. There was a really cute teashop and a small chocolate boutique that some of us visited. Everyone got back with their hosts at different times that evening. 

 

 

Wednesday 26.10 

On Wednesday our day started at Satrup at 8:30. We headed straight to the bus. The bus took us to Tönning/North Sea Coast. There we got on a tourist cruiser that was supposed to get us to a place where we could observe seals. Unluckily there were no seals that day. The only sea life we observed on that cruise were shrimps, crabs, jellyfishes and fishes the ship's crew caught on that trip. We were told that we needed a lot of warm clothing, but it was really warm there. After the cruise the German people led us to wrong place, but after all we got to our destination. Our destination was a “Multimar Wadden Sea Forum”. There were a lot of different kinds of fishes and animals that live under the water. The collection in the aquarium represents the local sea life. It was really nice after the disappointing lack of seals at the sea. After the forum we returned to Satrup by bus. After the trip the time was already 5:30 p.m. When the bus arrived to Satrup we went back to our host families.  

 

Thursday 27.10 

On Thursday morning our bus took us to Gottorf Castle. At the castle we had some free time to look at the many amazing things. There were multiple paintings, old objects and even dead bodies. We got to see the Gottorf Globe which was at some point the biggest manmade globe that spun like our planet. We got to go inside of the globe to see the stars and how they move. Later our bus took us to the Viking museum Haithabu. In the village there were many hairy cows and bulls, many old-looking houses which you could enter to feel the Viking atmosphere. There were interesting Viking objects inside, such as shields, furniture, animal skins and even clothing. After the Viking Museum we went to Flensburg to a nightclub, and we had a very loud pizza party there. We ate pizza, drank soft drinks and danced. The night was exciting and amazing (and very loud). People left the club at different times during the evening and the last ones to leave left at 10pm. We all went back to our host families. 

 

Friday 28.10 

On Friday morning we left for Hamburg by train from Flensburg. The trip to Hamburg took about 2 hours. At Hamburg we first went to the hotel Ibis and left our luggage there. Then we walked to the Miniature Wonderland we would be visiting later that day, so that everyone would know where it's located. We had about 3 hours of free time for eating and shopping with our international friends. Then we visited the Miniature Wonderland, which had many miniature landscapes and scenes from all around the world. There were also funny tiny little details such as cows scuba diving with all the appropriate diving gear. After that we said goodbye to our hosts, and we had some free time before we went back to the hotel. We Finns did some grocery shopping. Some of us visited a local clothing store and Lego shop. In the Lego shop you could create your own Lego character and a bunch of us did. They were absolutely adorable! We went back to the hotel around 8pm to get a good night's sleep before our travel back home. 

 

Saturday 29.10 

On Saturday our day started with breakfast at 8 o'clock. The hotel's breakfast was similar to what we have in Finnish hotels except there were pretzels and a waffel frier. After eating we finished packing and headed to the train station. There was some confusion over which platform we were supposed to leave from, but we found our way there in time. We got to the airport on time and after baggage drop and security check, we had a bit over an hour before boarding. We spent time together while waiting, some hanging out in a cafe. After a while it was time for boarding. We boarded the plane and the flight left at 12:55. The flight went well and took about two hours. We arrived at Finland before four o'clock. After landing, our plane was further away from the airport, so we went by bus to the airport. There we claimed our baggage and left by bus towards Forssa. We arrived at our school at 6 o'clock and met our principal who thanked us.