School trip to Finland in April

A group of four students represented our school at the international meeting of the Erasmus+ Sustainable Development: Possible Solutions project from April 22 to 30. A rich program focused on renewable energy sources was prepared by a school from the city of Paimio. Other participants were pupils from Portugal, France and Greece. Our students began and ended their stay with a sightseeing tour of Helsinki. They visited the famous Sea Fortress Suomenlinna, the Evangelical Tuomiokirkko Cathedral, the Uspenskin Orthodox Cathedral, the Temppeliaukion church, the modern Sibeliuspuisto monument, and the Olympic Stadium. Traditionally, the students were accommodated in families from Sunday, where they could communicate in English, get to know the way of life and taste local specialties, for example home-smoked salmon. The program prepared by the host school started with a tour of the school, presentations of the countries and the city of Paimio. Students cooperated in mixed international teams, created environmental posters, visited an elementary school. On Tuesday, the students visited the city of Turku and at the University of Applied Physics, they tried experiments with solar panels and measured the efficiency of various light sources, they saw the solar power station on the roof. On Wednesday, the pupils took part in regular lessons, for example chemical and physical experiments, in the afternoon they worked with recycled material. On Thursday, students visited to the High School of Forestry and saw a demonstration of machinery used for cutting lumber. After a barbecue we visited the thermal power plant which uses wood as fuel. Next we went to the small town of Naantali which home of the popular Finnish cartoon about the Moomin family. The project meeting ended with an excursion in the former sanatorium which is famous for its functionalist architecture. This was followed by a typical Finnish sport, cross-country skiing, in a covered tunnel. A gala dinner with traditional Greek dances and Finnish sauna ended the unforgettable week and also the entire project.