First Day- SATURDAY -14.05.2016
On the morning of our flight, we gathered at the airport at 12:30. Our group consisted of 12 students and 3 teachers. After an hour of waiting, all of us were there and ready to go. At 14:55, our journey started when our plane took off from Istanbul, Atatürk Airport.
It took 3 hours and 45 minutes to arrive there.
We got our luggages and saw the Italian students and our bus driver who were waiting for us. So we got in the bus and our 4 hours of road to Karstula started at 7 o’clock. Our transfer ;the bus had to stop several times due to some technical problems,we Turkish group and the Italians were very worried and unfortunately because of the bus's technical problems we had to transfer into another bus and arrived to Karstula at 1.am. Even it was middle of the night, Finnish people greeted us really nicely. However, we had a lot of time to observe the surroundings, nature and country. Later I did a little research and learned that the most common trees in Finland are Scots pine, birch and Norway spruce but willows, alders and aspens are also common. Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. So all the signs were written in these two languages. Also you could see a lots of English on the signs too.
Second Day- SUNDAY -15.05.2016
We woke up to a rainy Sunday. Actually we were going to go to a hiking trip to Julmat Lammit Nature Park but because of the weather, we couldn’t go(both students and teachers) and stayed in until 2 o’clock. At 2:00, students went to a football field in Karstula. They played football and different children games from their countries. Later they went to an ice hockey rink next to the football field. Ice hokey is a pretty big thing in Finland. Finnish people really love watching and playing ice hockey.Teachers enjoyed some local guitarists' concert.
After these activities we all went to a restaurant of a Turkish person, Firat. Their pizzas were huge and really delicious. We were suprised because they said that they live in Finland for almost 12 years now. We had a chance to communicate with this family a little and also learned that because Karstula is a small place almost all people know each other. During our visit in Finland, we also met more Turkish people who live there so it was quite suprising and exciting at the same time.
Third Day- MONDAY -16.05.2016
On our third day, we went to the Karstula high school for the first time. Of course, we’ve seen the building from outside before but it was our first time to see inside of it. The first and most important rule of the school was that you had to take off your shoes when you are entered the building. Also you would not walk with your shoes in classrooms. The school started at 8:00 and ended at 14:00. Our students arrived to school with their partners easily though some Finnish students lived almost one hour away,I think that was the only negative thing.
We had a nice short welcome programme. The school had a band which consisted of teachers and they sang a song from each country. After that, students sang some songs too and there were other performances. Both Turkish and Italian students showed a video about their country. Then two students and headmaster made a presentation about Finnish education system.
When it’s time for a tour around the school, all students became groups. They showed their school to us and explained everything. All teachers had their own classroom. The most noticeable thing was the couches in the classrooms. Almost every class had them. They also had a fitness center which they could use whenever they wanted for free, a gym, a shooting range (they need permission to use it), a dance studio, a baseball field and special classes for arts, music, technical and textile work and home economics. They learn Swedish, German, Spanish, French and Russian as foreign languages but Swedish is compulsory. We ate our lunches at school. There was a kitchen at their school which served lunch everyday for free. While we were eating, we got a chance to chat with the Turkish exchange student who lived in Kartsula for almost 10 months now. She said that she chose this school because Karstula high school was choosen as the best high school in Finland three years ago.
After we finished our lunches, students all gathered in gym then chose random cards and separeted into groups for orienteering.The rules were simple, every group had to go to the marked places on the map and complete all the missions. There were 8 missions they had to do and the first one arrived to the 8th place won. Some of the missions were guessing some Finnish words’ meanings, taking a selfie with funny hats, playing frisbee golf (which also another game people love in Karstula), trying to write a Finnish tongue twister correctly, playing with children etc. They completed the orienteering in 3 hours There was a construction on the bridge they walked so we had to be careful but the lake was really beautiful. It was a sunny day so after walking one hour, we were tired but the view on the sightseeing tower was breathtaking. We could see all of the Karstula and surroundings clearly. So we spent half an hour there taking photos.
Fourth Day- TUESDAY -17.05.2016
At 8:00 the bus left from the school yard and our trip to Jyväskylä started. It took one and half an hour to arrive the city. At 9:30 we started a sightseeing tour by bus. A guide talked about the city and its history and we visited 3 churchs when we were there. More specificly a Lutheran church. You could understand it in the lack of art and sculptures in it. The name of it was Taulumäki. Finland is mainly a Protestant country so you could see a lots of Protestant churches there. The second church we went was an Orthodox church. There was a lot of art in it and it was more glamorous even it was smaller. The third one was the most interesting one. It was a modern church and the inside of it was all wooden. The church was in Jyväskylä’s Kuokkala district.
When the sightseeing ended, students and teachers had a chance for 3 hours to explore the city on their own.At 15:00 we left Jyväskylä and came back to Karstula at 16:30.
At 19:00 everybody gathered at Youth House. Students danced and sang songs from Finland, Italy and Turkey, played table tennis and billard, watched Finland’s ice hokey match etc.
Fifth Day- WEDNESDAY-18.05.2016
The fifth day was a sunny day for nice activities. First, they separeted the students into groups, the people who wanted to go to whitewater rafting and the people who did not want to. The second group went to bowling and the first group went to whitewater rafting in Heijostenkoski. A professional explained everything they needed to know about whitewater rafting and helped them while they were rowing.All students had so much fun. The view was amazing. It was definitely an unforgettable experience for them.
When the first group finished whitewater rafting, they went to bowling at 13:00. While they were playing bowling and billard, the second group went to the Car Museum in Wanhat Wehkeet. Then the second group joined them. The Car Museum had a nice collection of classsic cars which were donated from people. But the museum did not only consist of cars. There were also motorcycles, bikes, radios, clothes, photographs, coins, clocks etc. from 20th century. Also there was a little part about HONKA which is an international log houses brand founded in Finland. Same day at 19.00 7 that evening there was a disco for the secondary and upper secondary school students at the Sports Hall of Karstulan lukio.
Sixth Day- THURSDAY-19.05.2016
Our bus left from the school at 8 o’clock and we arrived to Ähtäri Zoo and Flow Park in an hour. Students got separeted into groups again. Italians went to Flow Park first and with their partners, Turkish students went to the zoo. There wasn’t many species in it. Mostly animals from North but we had a chance to see some animals we had never seen before. For example wolves, red pandas, wolverines, bears, otters and beavers.. In the zoo, they provided natural habitats for all the animals and we didn’t feel like we were in a zoo. It made us feel more like we were walking in a forest.
When we finished touring the zoo, we went to Flow Park. A professional gave all students a training course.All of the students said it was exciting and fun.
At 2 o’clock we left Flow Park and went to Keskinen, the biggest village shop in Finland.It was nice for all of us,buying typical Finnish items.
Seventh Day- FRIDAY -20.05.2016
On friday,they went to school and participated lessons. They participated the arts, music, technical and textile work, sports and home economics classes. So they were able to see what kind of opportunities they had and how their education system really worked.
After participating lessons, we all walked to town hall to get our certificates and sharing our project works. The theme of our Erasmus+ project this year is mental health so Finnish,Turkish and Italian students made presentations about depression and anxiety and how to overcome with them. When all presentations were done, our certificates were given one by one. So, we turned back to school and had lunch. At 13:00, we all gathered at sports hall for the Farewell party. Finnish students made a dance performance first. The dances were from their traditional gradution party and some of their names were Salty Dog Rag, Cicapo and Avaustanssi. Then Italian students showed a video they made from the photos they took in Finland. Later the Turkish group also made a dance performance as well. There were two folk dances of ours and in the last dance, they asked their partners to join them. They happily accepted it and they danced together. After the Farewell party ended, they were free with their partners but the teachers went to Juha Topio’s (a famous Finnish singer)concert that evening.
Eighth Day- SATURDAY -21.05.2016
It was our last morning in Karstula so everyone was really sad when we gathered in front of Karstula High school. We didn’t have much time because we needed to be in Helsinki earlier if we wanted to explore the city more. So everyone hugged and thanked their partner, host family and friends.
Around noon, we all arrived to Helsinki.Italian,Turkish students and teachers had a chance to explore this beautiful town for a few hours before their departure. At 7:30, our plane took off from Helsinki and landed in Istanbul at half past ten.
We all can say that our Finland mobility was a successful one that each of us will never forget.
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