Romania

Sunday 22.5: Travelling day

We left our home city Pieksämäki in Finland at 6 am. First we rode a bus to Helsinki, the capital

city of Finland, for four hours. From Helsinki we flew to Istanbul, Turkey, where we had a layover.

Our second flight was from Istanbul to our destination country, Romania. We arrived at Bucharest

at about 9 pm. Then we rode a bus for almost four hours to Craiova. It was a long and exhausting

day of travelling. When we finally got to our hotel, we went straight to bed.

Monday 23.5: The first day

In the morning we had breakfast at our hotel before heading to the Nicolae Romanescu School.

There we had opening festivities for example performances including singing and dancing. We

played volleyball and basketball with the local students when we had a break. In the first

workshop we made posters of our previous trips as a part of this project. Next, we had a short

lesson about writing an article. We went back to our hotel for lunch. In the afternoon we visited

Romanescu Park where we saw different animals and beautiful nature. On our way back we

stopped at a grocery store to buy some snacks and water. When we got back to the hotel, we had

dinner. For the rest of the night we had free time (yay), which we spent in down town.

Tuesday 24.6: The second day

Our second day started with breakfast, as usual. At nine o’clock we needed to be ready to leave

the hotel. A bus was waiting for us outside and our trip to Cazanele Dunarii was able to begin. We

were really excited about the trip and ready to take a big dose of sun. Unfortunately, right after

departure it started to rain. We travelled three hours from Craiova to Orsova, where a boat was

waiting. The Cazanele Dunarii is the rock sculpture what can be seen from the river Tonava. The

trip on boat took three hours which included lunch. After the trip we had the same journey back

to the hotel. At seven o’clock we had dinner. For food was given french fries and chicken. In the

evening we still watched The World Championship when Finland played. To our delight Finland

won. After a long day we were so ready to go to bed.

Wednesday 25.6: The third day

In the morning after the breakfast we left to the “Nicolae Romanescu“ School. There we had a

workshop about “Strategies of critical reading related to news/using social media in a smart ways.

We were separated for two groups and doing the workshop went great. After the school day we

had a lunch at our hotel. After the lunch we had free time. the next activity was visiting Botanical

Garden. There was really beautiful and the weather was wonderful. In the park were swans, lots of

flowers and it was green everywhere. There we got some group photos also. Then we had free

time and we went to eat with our own group. The rest of the day we were just chilling in the

downtown.

Thursday 26.5: The fourth day

The day began with a visit to a radio studio. It was pretty near our hotel and we had a little tour at

the radio building. We also got a chance to sit in the studio and speak into the mic, although not in

a live broadcast. Next on the program we had a museum which was about Oltenian history, which

is a region in Romania. In Nunta Zamfirei, a local steak house we enjoyed good food and company.

Then we had free time until seven o’clock when we had the last meal together. First in the

ceremony we had a speech from the Romanian coordinator and the attendance certificates were

handed out. Then we had food and a great speech from Vesa, our headmaster. After eating we

spent time by dancing with the other students or watching the quarter-finals of the ice hockey

world championship.

Lithuania

 Our amazing week in Lithuania

During the week from the 3th to the 8th of April we participated in the erasmus project

“Against online slavery” in Lithuania, Skuodas. There were students from Lithuania, Italy,

Romania, Portugal, Turkey and Finland. During the week we took part in many activities,

which made us learn about the Lithuanian culture.

On Monday we liked the welcome event that Lithuanians prepared for us. We enjoyed

listening to the music played by the students of Ylakiai Gymnasium and we got to know each

other through the warm-up activities, which were so cool. We learned Photo manipulation

from the workshop, which was so funny and interesting.

On Tuesday we did a wool workshop. There we had the opportunity to do scrubbing sponge

with soap inside and we decorated them in the style that we liked. In the evening we spent

time in the youth center of Skuodas and we played board games and danced. We had so

much fun and we discovered how teenagers have fun here.

On Wednesday we visited many museums and the Amber museum was our favorite. The

Amber museum was in a very beautiful palace and we were able to buy some souvenirs

made of amber. Then we did a walk in a park and we saw the Baltic sea.

On Thursday we met the local folk group members and they taught us some traditional

dances. They were so kind and friendly and they helped us to understand their culture better.

During the farewell evening we got our certificate of participation and we really felt ourselves

a part of this Erasmus project. We danced to music from different countries and there was a

mix of cultures and we understood that we are different but similar.

On Friday we’re going to do the last activities and we hope that our last day here is going to

be amazing.

During the week we ate a lot of soup and meat and it was similar to Finnish food but very

different from Italian and Portuguese food.

Lithuanians are so kind, simple people and they are connected with nature which is

amazing. We will remember this trip, which made us grow as people and understand that we

are the future of Europe.

Elisa Valentino, Viivi Rossi and Ana Oliveira

Portugal

Monday

We woke up and had breakfast at our hotel. We went to the school by bus. After arriving we

had another morning coffee and a short welcome speech. Next we had some activities. Girls

played some games, like for example ping pong or rope pulling. Aatu and Leo played futsal

with the Italian guys against the local schools team.

Then we had lunch and tour around the school. It was very sunny outside and we had loads of ice-breaking activities in the yard and danced a lot. After some activities we made some flyers which told something about online slavery. On the way to our hotel we got to look at the beautiful landscape of portugal, which was a lot of hills and loads of houses. At the end of the day we had dinner at restaurant.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we had a day in Porto. First when we arrived we went to see The Atlantic

Ocean. The weather was sunny and warm. After that we went to the city. The first

sightseeing was a church named Ingelsia de los Clérigos. The view in the top of the church

was beautiful. Then we ate lunch in the shopping centre and had 2 hours of free time. After

freetime we went to see an old metro station which was built in 1896. Then we had free time

in the town and in the evening we had a dinner.

Wednesday

Day in Felgueiras

In the morning we went to Felgueiras. The bus stopped front of the townhall. We visited

there and we listened presentation about Felgueiras. There was lots of information what you

can do and what there is in Felgueiras. Next stop was in the next building. It was some kind

of old bakery. There was presentation about old baking machines. Before leaving we had

chance to buy pastries. Then we went to eat lunch. The restaurant was pizzeria. There had

many food alternatives. After eating polices gave us presentation about media safety. Then

we left to the bus and drove back to the hotel.

Thursday

On Thursday we arrived at the school and students had presentations about esafety which

was made at home before the trip. On Thursday we ate lunch at the school canteen. After

lunch we had some workshops about the internet. In the afternoon we had dinner in a

restaurant which was close to our hotel.

Friday

On friday we mostly had free time. The only activity of the day was a visit to an old castle

located at the highest point of Guimaraes. We finns spent the rest of the day together by

visiting a big shopping centre in Guimaraes and at the evening we ate at a small restaurant

which happened to be in the same alleyway as our hotel. We got to enjoy the sunlight at the

plaza of Guimaraes and just chilled out for a bit. We would have had to wake up really early,

because our taxi to the airport was leaving at three in the morning so Aatu and Leo decided

to stay awake for the whole night.

Italy

Saturday:

Our trip began on Saturday. We were all excited for our trip to Sicily as we left our hometown

of Pieksämäki by rail to reach the capital of Finland, Helsinki. Traveling from Pieksämäki to

Helsinki was efficient and comfortable. We had to spend a night in Helsinki, because our

flight left so early the following morning. After we checked into our hotel, we spent the rest of

the evening at the shopping center Jumbo, where we did some shopping and had dinner.

From the very first moments we realized that our group got along perfectly and this trip was

going to be one to remember.

Sunday:

After resting for the night we had to wake up early in the morning so that we wouldn’t miss

our flight. We had breakfast at the hotel, then we quickly packed our bags and began our

journey to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. After check-in and security check, we boarded our flight to

Budapest. The flights were spent sleeping and playing the card game UNO, which worked

as our entertainment during our trip’s long bus journeys. Our connection in Budapest was a

lot shorter than we expected so we didn’t have time to eat lunch at the airport. Once we

arrived in Palermo, all of us were super hungry so when we reached Palermo centrale, we

ate at the first restaurant to appear. The first we came across was McDonald’s, so we would

still have to wait a bit before we could eat some traditional Italian food. Not for long though.

Not an hour later we were welcomed to Cefalu. We met our Italian hosts as well as the

Lithuanian group which had arrived before us. Pretty much immediately after our arrival we

were seated at a restaurant ready to have a large dinner, even though our bellies were still

full from the previous meal. The food was delicious and we were quick to learn that dinners

in Italy are huge with multiple dishes served. We had a lot of fun getting to know our hosts

and even though we were super tired from our travels, one of the locals still gave us a small

tour of the extremely beautiful Cefalu.

Monday 29th. November 2021

Monday started with breakfast. In the hotel we stayed in small groups in separated

rooms. At breakfast we met, and we had a conversation about how we had slept and

what was to happen in the day to come. What comes to breakfast it was pretty much

different from what we are used to in Finland. There was no porridge and no berries,

but there were cakes and butter croissants.

In the morning we needed to be ready at 10 am. Of course, we from Finland were

ready as well as the others. The time had come, but our Italian teacher was not there.

We learned something new about Italian culture, like we had learned about the

breakfast. Few minutes later our leader arrived, and we started to walk to the old town

of Cefalu. The morning was beautiful. Sun was shining and everyone was excited. We

visited a local church, we saw the city’s historic attractions and admired the sea views.

Then unfortunately it started to rain, and we had not got prepared, we got soaked to

the bone. Luckily, we found a museum where to hide from the rain.

Then it was time for lunch. The restaurant was the same than last night. We hadn’t any

idea what we would eat because they had made the decisions for us before. We had a

lot of food, and we spent maybe three hours at lunch.

At 15.30 we started indoor activities in the sports hall of a local school. Because it was

still raining, we could not walk so we got a car ride. The ride was speedy. Roads were

narrow and winding. If I had been behind the wheel, I would not have driven that fast.

However, we got to our destination. The school’s sports hall was nice. Local young

people came also to play with us, which was so cool. Time felt like flying. It was time

to leave.

Late at night we still had a huge dinner. The dinner took maybe three hours again.

When we finally got back to the hotel, we were so ready to sleep.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday we went to school and we had for the first time all project partners in the same

place. We got name tapes and every country had a presentation of their school. After school

presentations we ate pizza at the school. Then school of Sicily had a presentation about online

slavery.

After school we had lunch in a restaurant. After lunch we went to a hotel getting ready for a

football tournament. The football tournament was inside a different school building than the

presentations. In the tournament we had three teams and we played a couple matches.

When the football tournament was over, we had a few hours of free time. We went for a walk

with students from every country. At 20.00 o’clock we had dinner at a restaurant.

Wednesday

On Wednesday morning we meet everyone in the hotel lobby. Then we took a walk to the

school. We had a tour in the school and a teacher told us about it. We started to plan our work

of the day which was made of metal. We were a bit tired and we found a coffee machine from

the school and then we took cups of coffee. Students from the school didn’t have lunchroom

so we didn’t have school meal like in Finland we would have. We had a coffee break and

after that we continued our works. We put a first letter of from our names on the piece of

metal.

When we had our works done we headed up to lunch which were in the same place than other

days.

Wednesday:

On Wednesday 1st of December we explored our host school and climbed on the Rock. One

student of Cefalu said that he had climbed to the Rock dozens of times. We were glad that it

were sunny day to climb there because the ground would otherwise have been really slippery.

We were hungry and little tired after climbing so then we had tiny free time. Glad we had

time to go take a shower because we met the Mayor of the city. We met him at the Town Hall

and he had a speech to us. After that we had a big dinner together in the same restaurant with

our Erasmus+ Project family.

Thursday:

We had to get up early on Thursday. As soon as we got dressed and had breakfast, we caught

a bus to Mount Etna and the city of Catania. The bus ride was pretty long, but the views of

the mountains were amazing.

Mount Etna was our first destination. Our time on the mountain was around 20-30 minutes,

during which we bought souvenirs and snacks from a small store located there. The weather

on Mount Etna was very windy. The temperature was around 2 degrees Celcius, and there

was snow on the ground. After the quick stop, we hopped back to the bus that took us to

Catania.

On the bus, our guide told us interesting facts about Catania.

Our visit to Catania was way shorter than expected. We had an hour to explore the town. We

Finns spend it eating Lunch at a cafe. The only attraction that stuck to mind was the Elephant

in the town square.

Following our stop in Catania, our bus took us back to our hotel.

At the hotel, we had a short break to change clothes or to rest. Next, we caught the bus again

to a nearby small village, where we had dinner. We ate a lot of meat that evening, and the

dinner took three hours.

As soon as dinner was over, it was time to go back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the

next day.

After Thursday’s trip to Etna and Catania, we were a bit exhausted. Despite this, we were

both excited and sad about our last day in Sicily. Once we became accustomed to the culture

and natural surroundings, we couldn't let them leave. Thus, we decided to make the most of

the last day.

Friday:

Our trip to Palermo began as early as nine in the morning. While on the bus ride, we once

again experienced spectacular views from the window. As for the city itself, it wasn't to be

missed. There were many old buildings. Nevertheless, they didn't lose their historical power.

Unfortunately, we only got to enjoy Palermo's sun briefly due to unexpected rain. We were

able to find rain cover at the closest pizzeria. As we couldn't resist the chance to taste Italian

pizza, we stayed a little longer to satisfy our appetites. After our small food break our next

destination was the local shopping mall. Due to our limited time there, many of us did not

manage to find something to buy. We did, however, get to taste real Italian ice cream, and it

was absolutely delicious.

In the evening we enjoyed a huge farewell dinner with a folk show. Despite having been in

Italy for a week, we were still amazed at the level of energy the Italians possess. Folk show

was one of the most memorable experiences we had during the trip. We even managed to sing

some of the played songs! Eventually, some people began dancing to the music and others

greeted them. Our dinner ended with a certificate ceremony in which everyone received a

certificate for participating in the Erasmus+ project. Once we said our goodbyes to everyone,

we went back to the hotel to pack.

Day 6 (Saturday 4th December 2021)

We have been having the time of our lives, seeing the sights, and tasting the flavors of this

beautiful place. We will miss the bright sun of this place, and we will look back on our time

in Sicily with fond memories. But it is time to say our goodbyes and head home. Our

departure date begins early in the morning with a minibus ride to the airport.

At the airport, we checked in and left our luggage in the hold. Our first flight was to Riga (it

lasted a couple of hours).

When we landed, many started to get hungry, so we decided to eat food at the airport. We had

a little time to shop at the airport, so some of us decided to look around and buy souvenirs.

On the second flight, we went by propeller plane. It was an enchanting experience.

When we arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, we took a bus and headed to our small city. In

the middle of the trip, we stopped for dinner at Jari-Pekka. While we ate, our minibus rider

told us that the bus's transmission didn't work and got stuck in second gear. Then our bus

driver called his colleague to come pick us up.

Our first minibus driver made it to Hartola where another bus driver picked us up on the bus.

It was so late in the night, like about 11 pm. Luckily we all had fun during our minibus ride

so it wasn’t that bad waiting. After we got to go like a few hundred meters in the other

minibus, the other minibus driver called that one of our luggage fell off the ride. The bus

driver drove back to get that lost luggage.

We got an idea to bet on whose suitcase fell off the ride. It was amusing. The bus ride was

such an adventure and entertaining.

Overall, we all were so tired but happy when we finally got home at 2 am. Our whole trip

was an incredible experience.

A special guest on our media course

Hello there everyone!

It’s been a long time since we posted, but now we have something to tell you about. Last Friday on the 15th of October 2021 we had a visitor in our school. Mikko Kekäläinen, who is a Finnish journalist originally from Pieksämäki, came to our school to give us a speach and answer our questions. We have a media course going on and Kekäläinen has worked in different media fields for his whole life so the visit was topical for us. Kekäläinen told us about his life, for example his studies, jobs and family. He also explained the interviewing process and the making of the show he is in, Puoli seitsemän. The name translates to half seven, which referres to the time the show is on, from Monday to Friday at 18.30. Kekäläinen is one of the two hosts of the show and they have different guests every night with whom they talk about different topics.  

Kekäläinen graduated from Pieksämäki high school in 1996. It’s the same school we are in and he had the same Finnish and media teacher Marianne Tyrväinen, who keeps the media course for us. After high school he kept a gap year before going to Jyväskylä university. He hasn’t graduated from there yet, because he started working while studying. He strated working on the radio while he was still in high school and made it his career in university. He moved to Helsinki and kept working on the radio, till he was asked to be a host on tv. He has been in the show for twelve years now and has done more than 1 500 episodes.  Kekäläinen has also recently written a book, which is Olympic wrestler Perta Olli’s biography.  

The whole visit was a great experience for us because of the media course but also because of this project. The erasmus project has been also media related because of the online slavery theme. We also got to do a little interview for Kekäläinen in English, so here are his answers. 

What kind of experience was your time in high school? What memories do you have from Pieksämäki high school? 

”Very fond memories. It was time of very specific personal growth for me. I wouldn’t say that I was all antisocial when I was in high school, but I was kind of very adamant about authority. I was questioning my teachers a lot. I would not always take their word for granted. I think that I was pretty much searching myself in high school very much. But it was good time because although I did a lot of stupid things, it was something that I have built my whole identity on afterwards. So, I was a young person that was searching for my own way of thinking and that is something that I think has pretty much to do with what I do today. That’s also something that I would recommend to young people. Don’t do all the stupid things that I did but dare to question. If someone tells you that something is like this because it is like this, well that is something to question I would say. Search for your own ideas, your own thoughts, and your own way of thinking. It will carry you a long way. And Pieksämäki high school is a very, very, very lovely place although it is a different building than it was back in my days. I have only golden memories from my high school years.” 

What made you interested in being a journalist? What was your studying path like? 

”I wanted to do the radio. I had my own radio idols. I was listening to a lot of radio. My dad used to work in the local radio station here, but I wouldn’t say that he was one of my idols. Anyway, since my dad was working there it was a possible path for me to go to the radio. I saw that it’s something that is doable. My idols were radio personalities and when I started at the local radio, I was just imitating them. And then after high school I went to university to study communications. Alongside my studies I continued working on the radio. I did radio for quite many years. I was drafted by this TV producer guy and now I have been doing television for twelve years of my life. I never graduated from university. Yet. I will, but not yet.” 

 

You have worked on the radio, the TV and recently you became an author. How did you end up working in those jobs and which one of them has been your favorite? 

”The radio was my dream when I was a high school kid. I wanted to go to radio. I really badly wanted to go radio. And I got to go to radio so I was pretty lucky. I always thought that radio was my business forever but then the TV people actually reached out to me. They had heard me doing something stupid on the radio. Then this new programme was about to start and the first producer of the TV-show, I suppose, saw or heard something that I had done. It was the same way of thinking that this TV-programme was aiming for, so they asked if I was interested. Of course, I was. And now I’ve been doing that for a long time now. I still have a dream of going back to the radio. I dream of doing something big on the radio. I don’t know what that would be, but I still hope that I will do that again someday. This author thing just kind of dropped in my lap. I was asked if I’m interested in writing a biography of this Finnish wrestler. Of course I was interested. There’s no bigger story to that. They offered me the job and I took it. And I’m really happy that I did.” 

Until next time, 

Iina Lehikoinen & Oona Romunen 

Five-star trip to Aito Media Oy

We visited Aito Media’s headquarters in Helsinki (the capital of Finland) on the 10th of February 2020. Our trip to Helsinki started from our school at 5 am. We drove there by bus. We arrived at the company at 10:30 am. Oona Mustonen, the Administrative Coordinator, welcomed us and took us to one of their conference rooms where the Founder/Producer/co-CEO of Aito Media Ilkka Hynninen gave us a presentation about the company. Ilkka Hynninen is a former student of Pieksämäen lukio and made his matriculation examinations there. Our teacher of Finnish and media Marianne Tyrväinen taught him during those years. She told us that Ilkka Hynninen was a very talented student, a very charming person and was already interested in media while in high school. Ilkka Hynninen told us that he had his first lessons and touches to media studies as Marianne’s student in Pieksämäen lukio. For example, he made multiple interviews. 

Next, we were divided into two groups. The other group went on a tour while we listened Ilkka Hynninen talking about composing ideas for TV-shows. On the tour they heard about post-production and saw TV-shows being edited and mastered. After about 45 minutes we switched groups. After this a few of us interviewed Ilkka Hynninen.

We were surprised how many popular TV-shows Aito Media has produced. A few of our childhood favorites are produced by Aito Media for example Hauskat kotivideot (Funny home videos). We still watch their shows such as Gladiaattorit (The Gladiators) and Napakymppi (The Dating game). Aito Media has rights to use the formats of those shows. One of their original series that we have followed is the Au pairit -series (The Au-pairs). Also, all of the Ville Haapasalo shows are produced by them for example Haapasalo ja kaverit (Haapasalo and friends). The Ville Haapasalo shows are their own concepts. Another name you might recognize is Sara la Fountain, a cook who had her own TV-show, also produced by Aito Media. We recognized all of their shows and counted that we have seen at least one episode of a third of their TV-shows. I think that tells a lot about how big the company is.  

They try to make fact-based TV-shows that have a real meaning, but they make them entertaining and interesting for people to watch. For example, one of their most popular TV-shows is Poliisit (The Night patrol), which has been running for over 10 years. The show follows police officers’ everyday life and work. We think that the idea behind all of their shows is amazing, and that is what media needs nowadays.

Overall, the day was interesting, and we learned a lot about the company. We are very proud that Ilkka Hynninen, who is form Pieksämäki, has made it so far in his career. We are thankful to Aito Media Oy and specially to co-CEO Ilkka Hynninen for having us and giving us a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  

Iina Lehikoinen & Nenna Voutilainen