On February 4, 2023 we – the 10th grade Erasmus students – were finally on the plane to Finland to get to know our European partner students from Finland, Spain, Italy and Greece in real life. We all looked forward to getting in touch with all these new cultures but of course also to working on our Erasmus Project “Water4Life“. The main focus in Finland was „Water & Ecology“, and we were really excited about how we would deal with the question of how to protect our threatened aquatic ecosystems which is, in our opinion, one of the most important questions of our time.

When we arrived in Rauma, a town in southwestern Finland about three hours from Helsinki, we were enthusiastic: We were going to get a lot of snow this winter after all! To stay warm despite these unusual temperatures, we were given weatherproof winter clothing at a really warm welcome by the Finnish students and teachers at the Hj. Nortamo comprehensive school. As you can see, the Finns really thought of everything right from the start. So, it was not surprising that we all immediately felt at home, regardless of whether we were staying with a host family or in the lovely little hotel in downtown Rauma.

On Sunday, our crash course in Finnish culture started at a huge frozen lake, at or rather on which we met the students from the other countries for the first time. Ice-breaking games on a 20cm thick layer of ice were a completely new but really funny experience for all of the international guests. Afterwards there was a delicious cake buffet in the cozy sauna hut on the lake shore, and we were divided into international groups consisting of about 6-8 students. We stayed in the same international group for the whole week and passed many challenges together. The first of these challenges already took place on Sunday evening, namely going to the sauna first and then doing ice bathing in the lake. Of course, we weren't used to that, but once you got through it, it was a great experience and everyone was proud. We spent the rest of the evening having dinner in the sauna hut, and when students from all over Europe meet, there is a lot to talk about, so it never gets boring!

On the next day we went to school to start working on our ecological project. In Germany it is unusual to put off your shoes in class but not in Finland! We loved the friendly atmosphere in Hj. Nortamo school and came together in our international groups again to present the measures taken in our region to protect the aquatic ecosystems at home. Finland is a very digitalized country so we could also work on a lot of tasks digitally which was very practical. In the afternoon we had the possibility to make some more real-life experiences by visiting the wastewater treatment plant which provides whole Rauma with energy.

On Tuesday we had another active day, and it was great how much fun the Finns had teaching us Nordic skiing and showing us the beautiful and untouched Finnish nature on a hike. We spent the whole day outside, and also downhill sliding and ice skating made it a big fun.

The next day was again dedicated to our project. The visit of a waste management site and the experiments on different waters allowed us to take another view on the issue of sustainability and water again and after a productive school day we enjoyed the afternoon with many new international friends in the city centre of Rauma.

Thursday was the big final of our stay because the „amazing race“ gave us the opportunity to get active ourselves and to collect donations for the protection of the Baltic Sea in local shops. It was a great feeling to contribute to such an important mission. Our Erasmus Meeting ended up with an unforgettable farewell party where we reveled in the best memories of the week again.

The last day of the week was the travel day. Saying goodbye to our new friends was hard, but the prospect to our next meeting in Germany in April where we will finish our „Water 4 Life“ project completely made it easier. From our project week in Finland we took home many unforgettable memories but also a little more clarity about what needs to be done in the future to deal with the resource water in a more sustainable way which is an important step for everyone to rescue our threatened earth.

 

(Hannah)