Course of the meeting in Finland
The third meeting of Comenius project "Only aware can act fair. Students for sustainable food and trade" took place at Keskupuisto Ammattiopisto in Finland, 11-16 May 2014.
On the first day of our stay we had a chance to get back to the days of our childhood. How's that? We visited Fazer chocolate factory. The company set up by Karl Fazer started production in 1891. Today, all Fazer’s products are made in Finland and there are factories dotted around the country with chocolate production in Vantaa, sugar confectionery in Lappeenranta, and gum and pastilles in Karkkila. The most famous brands manufactured by Fazer are: Dumle, Geisha and series about Moomins and Angry Birds. Fazer's company has a chain of cafes, and produce baker's goods. We were impressed by its history, high quality of their products and the unique flavour of Karl Fazer milk chocolate.
Afternoon, there was time to introduce Pecha Kucha presentations. Pecha Kucha is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (six minutes and 40 seconds in total). The format keeps presentations concise and fast-paced. All of them were about different ways of recycling. The participants most enjoyed the polish presentation, which was about artistic recycling. Everyone could learn some useful and interesting things.
It became a tradition of Comenius meetings to have an international snack. Meeting participants prepared some meals which are typical for theirs country and region. The most popular were the tables with German and Lithuanian food. The International snack was also a good opportunity to taste unusual food, get to know participants from other countries and test your language skills. Later, the finnish students took us on a walk around school and showed us how their school prepares for various professions, such as: Machinist, Painter, Cook, Media Assistant, Interior Decorator, Design Assistant.
On Tuesday we visited Ämmässuo waste management facility . Finnish people are masters of energy-saving technologies. We had a great opportunity to learn about turning landfill gas to energy during our visit to Ämmässuo waste management facility. This power plant utilizes latest technology and is capable of converting almost 90 % of the total LFG generated during waste decomposition into renewable energy.
Later we visited Haltia nature centre. It is a new type of a visitor centre, bringing all of Finland’s nature under one roof and closer to the visitor through both the building’s facilities and its stunning exhibitions. Haltia has been designed to require as little energy as possible for heating, cooling and lighting. Haltia is heated and cooled by energy from the sun and the Earth. In the main exhibition we could see Finland from the Archipelago to the cold Lapland. At the core of the exhibition are Finland's 37 national parks. The exhibition follows the annual cycle of nature, utilising not only the panorama landscape but also video presentations, dioramas, interactive features, works of art and scale models, among other features. After seeing the exhibition, we had a picnic in the forest surrounding the nature centre. We had a good fun at the fireplace, grilling sausages and joking..
On Wednesday there was a design workshop. We made our memento from recycled materials. During plainting our fobs we had lots of fun. Everyone was satisfied when their fobs made of colorful fabric had been done. After the workshop in our plan was sightseeing in Helsinki. We had an opportunity to see interesting sights in historic centre and learn some facts from their history. Next we did a walking tour around Helsinki Design District, which is an area full of design and antique shops, fashion stores, museums, art galleries, restaurants and showrooms and we visited shops using recycled fashion.
During the last day in Finland we performed the flashmob. A teacher from Finland reminded us steps to Macklemore's music and we had to dance it together. After that, our friends from Finland and Turkey showed us their traditional sports. It took all the fun out of occasion when we played games together.
Leaving Finland we felt we discovered another country with its exquisite beauty and great people, another place to remember and come back to.