Atte and Henri’s blog:

Introductions

Henri: I am 12 years old. I’m on the 6th grade. Atte is my best friend. We live in the same neighbourhood. I have a cat. My favourite school subject is English. My hobby is skiing. I have never visited Croatia, but I have been to other countries. I’m really looking forward to going to Croatia.

Day one, the 10th of December

Our flight was cancelled due to bad weather, so our stop-over wasn’t in Amsterdam but in Munich. We left Alavus at midnight by a minibus. From Helsinki we flew to Germany, and spent two hours in Munich. After arriving at Croatia, we took a minibus to the center of Zagreb. There we met Lauri, who was our guide. We spent five hours in the city centre. Then we took the bus back to the airport and waited a couple of hours for everyone else to arrive. We reached Slavonski Brod at midnight and went to sleep in the families after a strenuous day.

Day two, the 12th of December

We woke up at our families after a good night’s sleep at eight o’clock. We had a great breakfast with bread, salami, three types of cheese, yoghurt, mayonnaise and butter. Then we went to the school in Podcrkavlji with our family’s son called Marko. At the school they had a presentation called Christmas Eve with traditional dancing, songs, costumes and food. After that we had some workshops. In the first one we made Christmas tree decorations out of paper and pearls. Then we had lunch, after which in the second workshop we made boxes out of cardboard and gold paper. We decorated the three with these ornaments. After all this we returned to the family’s house. There we played PS4 for the rest of the evening.

Day three, the 13th of December

We woke up at eight o’clock like yesterday. For breakfast we had cereal, bread and yoghurt. The family’s mom drove us to the center of Slavonski Brod, where we met the others and attended a tour about the history of Slavonski Brod, as well as a museum of Croatian traditional instruments. We also saw the Slavonski Brod fortress. After the tour we ate some tasty food. Then we visited a school that we hadn’t seen before. There were plenty of Croatian pupils. We saw presentations about Romanian folk dances, Croatian free time activities and Greek history. The Croatians had also prepared a presentation about how Europe got together. After that we spent some time at the school, then we went to a church to see a Christmas play. Then we walked to Marko’s house with him and his friends. We ate some salty liquorice and chocolate. For dinner we had spaghetti.

Day four, the 14th of December

We woke up in the morning and we were in a rush. We had the breakfast as a take-away on our way to Zagreb. The bus ride took 2,5 hours. In Zagreb we had a guide who showed us various historical places. After the tour we went around the city with our own teachers. We visited the market and some shops around Zagreb. We left the city at 17.45, when we got back we played the whole evening.

Day five, the 15th of December

We woke up at a quarter to eight. We walked to school from Marko’s home, it was only a kilometre. We arrived a bit late but it didn’t matter because we weren't the last ones. We made some angels out of corn peels, they were Christmas tree decorations. Then we had a small break. After that we saw a presentation made by students amd a video of Croatian folk dances. Then we went to the gymnasium where we danced a Croatian dance. Then we ate some pizza, after which each country gave us an idea about what a pupil’s average school day is like. Then we walked back to Marko’s home. We played and had fish and potatoes for dinner. In the evening we went to the cinema to see Murder on the Orient Express. The film was really good but the voices were louder than in Finland. After the film we went to sleep because it was late.

Day six, the 16th of December

We didn’t get very much sleep because the bus left for the airport already at 3.30am. We continued sleeping in the bus. At the airport everything went smoothly. We had a stopover at Amsterdam, where we changed the plane. We had 3 hours to eat and buy the last souvenirs. Our flight from Amsterdam was late, and by the time we landed in Helsinki, we had to hurry to the train. When we got to the railway station at the airport, half of us made it to the train and the other half was left at the station. Luckily the next train arrived in time and we all made it to the train to Seinäjoki. There was no time to catch a breath! Our families came to pick us up from Seinäjoki. It was good to be back in Finland. We will keep in touch with Marko’s family. Finland is the next host in the Erasmus+ -project, so Marko is most likely coming to Alavus then. The trip left us with good memories and loads of new experiences. Thanks for following our blog.