Our German guests

Last week 6th October to 10th October some German students visited our high school. They came from Germany from Torgau, where we have our friendship school. The German students stayed that week in host families. Most of the senior high school German readers and some of the junior high school German readers the were hosts. We senior high school German readers had a similar trip to Germany last spring and we also stayed there in host families. Now it was the Germans' turn to travel and speak a new language and our time to be the hosts. It was also our time to use our language skills in both German and English and maybe learn some more and also teach some Finnish for the Germans.

               On Monday we left for Helsinki to fetch the Germans from the airport. After that we made a little sightseeing tour in Helsinki. We visited for example the Sibelius monument, Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki´s market hall, the port and the Temppeliaukio church. After sightseeing we headed back to Hämeenkyrö and the Germans were divided in their own host families.

On Tuesday morning our school's headmaster gave a little welcoming speech and showed our school to the Germans. After that we had a little coffee moment in our school canteen. The Germans weren´t so excited about salty liquorice but Finnish chocolate they liked. Then we Finns had a normal school day, but the Germans made a little sightseeing tour in Hämeenkyrö. They visited inter alia Maisemakahvila, Timi´s pine and Mannanmäki.   

On Wednesday we were in the school for just a couple of lessons and then we left for Tampere. It was a bit rainy weather, but that didn´t disturb us much. We went to Tampere´s art museum to watch the Moominvalley. There we saw some Tove Jansson´s drawings and Moomin books and the miniature of the Moominhouse. After the museum we visited Tampere´s library Metso quickly and then we headed to the center. Then we visited the factory Finlayson area and we went there in the museum too. The rest of the day we had some free time in Tampere and the Germans could for example do some shopping there.

On Thursday the Germans were just in our school and visited different lessons. Thursday was their last day in Finland, so we had a little social evening in Särkijärvi. We ate there and the Germans had an opportunity to try the sauna and swimming. Those who didn´t come to the sauna, played some ball games outside. We had a very nice evening there. The Germans were excited to try the sauna and thought it was nice. The swimming they liked too, even though they thought that the water was very cold.

On Friday morning we needed to say goodbye to our German guests.  But before our guests left for the airport we took a group picture in front of the F.E Sillanpää statue. Then there was some hugging and thanking and then they had to leave back for Germany. I hope our guests had a nice week here and that they could someday travel back to Finland to see even more.





written by Miranda 2B

Trip to Germany

Five girls from our senior high school and one girl from ninth grade German readers and two teachers made a trip to Germany in April 7^th -11^th.  I was also one of the girls who travelled to Germany.  F.E. Sillanpää´s senior high school has a partner school in Torgau and we were heading there. Our trip lasted only five days, but in those five days we saw a lot and experienced even more. We were staying in host families, which made the trip even more exciting. I´m going to tell you about our trip so that you can also experience a piece of that what we did.

                                           We, the Finns, by the river Elbe in Torgau

Monday Monday was the day when we left. Our bus left at nine o´clock in the morning from Tampere to Helsinki. Me, Sanni, Anna, Roosa, Karoliina, Petunia and our two teacher,s Terhi and Johanna, met at the bus station, bought the tickets and jumped into the bus. We were all very excited, but also very nervous about how can we speak German. Many flipped through their German dictionaries, revised useful words and went throw their luggage in their mind. Do I have the passport, money, camera…

Our airplane left at about two o´clock so after the security things we had a little time to eat something or just walk around the airport. The flight was very short and before we even noticed we were in Berlin. We had a little time in Berlin so we took our luggage into storage and took a subway to Unter den Linden street where we saw the Brandenburg Tor. The weather was amazing and the Brandenburg Tor was enormous and very impressive. But after seeing that we noticed we had to go back and pick up our luggage and head to Torgau. We arrived in Torgau a little after eight in the evening and were quite exhausted. But it was amazing to meet our host families who were waiting for us in the station. We were divided up and everyone left the station with their own host families.

                                                               The Brandenburg Tor


Tuesday
We met in school in Torgau. We were happy to see each other because it was nice to speak some Finnish after speaking German with host families. Everyone told about their host families and it was really clear that everyone had a nice family and was excited about that. There was a small tour around the school and after that we had some breakfast in school. We Finns talked together about how things were so different there than in Finland. For example the breakfast included only white bread and some honey, Nutella or marmalade. That was quite new for us.

We also visited the school´s little Zoo and ate some lunch in school. Then we left for a little tour in Torgau. We saw for example Torgau`s castle Hartenfels and church St. Marin. Torgau was a really beautiful and old city, which had a lot of beautiful buildings. It was also very green and springlike in Germany. Nature was very beautiful, because flowers and apple trees were blooming. After walking around Torgau we spent the evening in our host families.

Wednesday On Wednesday we visited Leipzig. First we went to Leipzig Zoo and after that we just walked around the city and had a bit time to shop in there. Leipzig Zoo was amazing. It was huge and there were a lot of different kinds of exotic animals. Leipzig itself was a very beautiful city and we had an opportunity to visit a couple of churches there. The churches were both very ornamental and massive. After Leipzig we returned to Torgau to our host families. The rest of the evening we spent in our host families.

Thursday We visited again another town. This time it was Dresden. The weather was a bit rainy and cold and windy, but the town was very beautiful despite the weather. Dresden was destroyed almost completely during the war, but it was rebuilt and looks very beautiful nowadays. When we arrived in Dresden first we visited this building which was like a Parliament house. We listened there to some kind of session. Unfortunately we Finns didn´t understand a lot, so it was a bit boring for us, but still an experience, too. After that we had some time to walk around the Dresden and take some pictures and just adore everything.
In the evening we all went bowling and had some dinner together. That was our last evening in Germany.

Friday It was time to pack our luggage and say goodbyes to Germany and the host families. We left Torgau behind us and hoped that we will return there some day. Before we had to go to the airport we had a little time in Berlin. Perfect time for a sightseeing tour. We drove around Berlin and saw the most important sights, for example Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall and Berlin cathedral.
After that we had to say the last goodbyes to our German friends and leave for the airport. We arrived in rainy Finland with cameras full of pictures, German words spinning in our heads, luggage full of souvenirs and head stuffed with amazing experiences and memories. 

                                                                  Checkpoint Charlie

Written by Miranda 1B