The Finnish teachers started planning the last year of the project on the second week of January. We were very sorry to have to inform the colleagues in Latvia and Italy that it won't be possible for them to travel to Finland in the middle of February due to the covid-19 situation. On the 20th of January we met online with the teachers from our partner schools and planned how to continue the project. 

We decided to take the chance and prepare for the Learning, Teaching, Training activities (meaning the exchange studying for a week) in all the countries. Virtual LTTs are not an option since we want to take the students to different countries and give them the opportunity to experience a new culture, learn languages and make friendships live, not only online. All the LTTs had to be postponed, but we were determined to have them anyway.

Together we planned to organize the first Erasmus-trip to Sicily at the end of March, the second in Finland at the end of April and the last LTT will be organised in Latvia in the autumn 2022. 

When the Finnish LTT was postponed to April, we took our Finnish Erasmus-group to Kuopio on the same week we should have had our guests here. First we walked to a lean-to shelter in Pölhönsaari to cook sausages, as it is a common snack when trekking in Finland and also had our packed lunch there. After that we visited Saana (dialectal word for "sauna"), where we had a sauna and swam in warm water pools as well as in the ice cold frozen lake. We were surprised so many students dared to take a dip in the lake! To document our one-day trip with Erasmus-students, and to say hello to our international friends, we had a journalist taking photos of the day and we made a whole page news in our local newspaper Savon Sanomat (17.2.2022).

The Finnish LTT is called "On the move!" and focuses on exercising, especially in winter. Because we were obliged to postpone our LTT, we won't be able to ski, skate or go snowshoeing as we had planned. Instead, the LTT in Finland will focus on other types of exercising in the nature. 

The first students' online meet was held on the 17th of February. The Finnish 9th grade students who attend an optional course "Virtaa Luonnosta Goes International" had taken a one-day hike in Leppävirta Orinoro gorge and introduced it to the group. The Finnish students have been responsible for creating the meet links and sharing them to all the other students via e-mail during the whole project. They are very skillful at online working and have improved their technical skills thanks to the project.

During spring term the Finnish teachers continued to work with the project with at least one online meeting every two weeks. Also WhatsApp-messages and e-mails were sent in abundance between them, partner schools and other authorities. A parents' evening was organized on the 21st of March for the parents' of students who were chosen to travel to Sicily. After having prepared many documents and certifications, copying and scanning, we were able to state that we now have everything we need for travelling to Sicily. Covid-19 test packages and FFP2-masks were given to our eager group of Erasmus-students. 

Excited, many travelling for the first time abroad, the students gathered to meet the teachers at the railway station in Kuopio where the trip began on Saturday the 26th of March. Excitement and joy for meeting the people they had talked online was tangible. But still there was a more than 24 hours of travelling ahead before the exciting meeting with the host families...