6. - 15. May 2006 we made a journey to Palermo, Sicily. It was the Comenius
Project of our school, the EYOLICU project to be precise which this was all
about. Our history teacher Riitta Roininen and English teacher Ulla
Keskitalo came also with us to the trip. First we flew to Helsinki, where we
spent one night. Next morning we woke up at about 5.00 am, because our plane
to Catania took off quite early. There in Catania we were at around noon local
time. The first thing we did was to try to search a bus, which would
take us to Palermo. This appeared to be more difficult than we thought it
would be, but with the help of Finnish patience we managed to get bus
tickets to Palermo. The journey to Palermo by bus took about 2,5 hours but
the time passed pleasantly when we admired the beautiful landscapes of
Sicily.

We met our host families when we arrived in Palermo at the bus station and
they welcomed us with the Italian hospitality. We both had a different
family, and our host students Cecilia and Simona were about the same age
as we were and very nice. The rest of the day we spent getting to know each
other in the families and giving the souvenirs we had brought for them.
Next day we first went to school, "Regina Margherita", where we met the
students from other countries (Turkey, Spain and Germany) and their host
students. We walked around the school and we participated in a couple of
lessons and we all played volleyball together. The students gave also some
talks on the European Union or on their own country. We gave a talk on
Finland and we were given some admiring feedback on the landscapes of
Lapland (or Lapponia like they say in Italy). On top of this, we discussed
European symbols and we heard an interesting lecture about it. We
Finns had also brought with us our own symbol - none other than Nokia cell
phone! The rest of the day we walked around the city and admired numerous
cathedrals and other historical sights.

On the third day the city of Palermo had arranged European Day festivities
sponsored and organized by local regional and country councils. We spent the
morning there and in the evening the teachers went to a concert at Palermo
Cathedral. We students spent some time in the city, where we actually saw a real Italian demonstration!

On Wednesday we started the real work at school. Our subject was European
Awareness and Being European Citizens and we discussed those things in
workshops with the other students. In the afternoon we visited a natural
reserve, Capo Gallo, with the teachers.

Next day we continued with the workshops and that day we also reported our
results to the teachers. After that we headed to Mondello beach where we
played some beach volley. In the evening we and the other students gathered
to a local pizzeria and ate real Italian pizza - which was really good by
the way!

Friday was a sort of final day for us. We did some shopping in the city and
then we saw the Germans off to the railway station.
Saturday, unfortunately, was the leaving day for us. Our host students
brought us to the bus station, where we hugged each other and gave cheek
kisses to everyone before we left. As the bus left we looked back wistfully
and waved our hands. The journey back to Catania went quite quick and after
we had found our hotel we walked around the city and tried to see Etna
veiled by mist. We were at home in Ivalo on Monday, because we had to spend a night in Helsinki.

All in all, the week in Sicily was very memorable. The language we used
mostly was English, but we learnt some Italian words, too. We Finns also
had a chance to speak Swedish and German.


Tiia and Mira 3ab, August 14th 2006




Monday morning, starting the Comenius meeting in Istituto Statale Regina Margherita.



Tiia and Mira giving their presentation about Finland.




Capo Gallo by the sea.



Mondello and the beautiful Mediterranean Sea