from 6th of March to 12th of March 2023
at Kurun Yhtenäiskoulu Comprehensive School in Kuru, Finland
On the 6th of March 2023 the international teams arrived to Tampere, Finland to spend the night and start the official program in the next morning.
The Spanish and Romanian teams arrived in the afternoon in Tampere and met with representants of the Finnish team for a joint dinner at Restaurant Telakka in the centre of Tampere.
Tuesday 7.7.23
After the international teams had breakfast at their hotels, the Finnish coordinator met them at the bus pick-up in the morning .
The welcoming of the teams to Finland was followed by a sightseeing trip around the city of Tampere.
We covered the city centre and Särkänniemi-area by bus and had stopovers at historical Pyynikki observation tower as well as at Pispala city area.
Next we were having lunch at the town hall of Ylöjärvi, followed by an official reception by Ylöjärvi’s Head of local education and culture department Mr. Matti Hursti and Head of school development Mrs. Tarja Suhonen with an introduction to the town of Ylöjärvi in general and the department of education more specifically.
The programme at the town hall was followed by a bus ride to Kuru.
The official welcome event at the school premises took place after arrival conducted by principal Mari Liukonsuo, Erasmus+ coordinator Alois Weimer and members of the school’s international team.
After the welcome event there were organized a variety of ice-breaking activities followed by a healthy probiotic afternoon snack. Then the international guests moved their luggage to their accommodations and got to know the host families.
At 7 pm the whole group gathered at Kurn Yhtenäiskoulu School’s home economics class for a joint cooking workshop in cooperation with Kuru’s parents association KIVA ry.
The participants prepared healthy dinner together in mixed international groups learning about healthy food ingredients as well as about food preparation and developing cooperative, language and social skills.
After food was ready and enjoying dinner together, the classroom was cleaned up and the participants left to their accommodations to spend the night.
Wednesday 8.3.23
After breakfast, the day’s program started at Kurun Yhtenäiskoulu with student’s presentations about school systems from each country, a presentation about school meals in Finland (a Finnish speciality) and a presentation about Kuru and Pirkanmaa region.
These were followed by social time for students and a teacher’s meeting dealing with ongoing practical issues about the week.
Then it was lunch time, after which the group walked on foot through the wintery scenery to nearby located home economics class of Kurun Yhtenäiskoulu.
There, a presentation about gluten-free diet took place, followed by a training workshop on the preparation of probiotic products yoghurt, Finnish viili and dairy fermentation processes conducted by our school’s biology teacher.
The simultaneously planned workshop on the cultivation of bacteria had unfortunately to be cancelled due to technical issues connected to the fact that our school’s actual premises including its science class and its equipment had to be closed at the end of December 2022 due to critical indoor air pollution caused by deteriorated state of the school building. The attempt to transfer the planned workshop to our school’s temporary relocation failed.
After having a healthy afternoon snack, students had some free time to discover Kuru village before meeting to spend the evening at Hirsilinna log cabin in Kuru for a Finnish social evening with traditional Nordic food, sauna bathing and optional ice-swimming.
Thursday 9.3.
At 9.15 am we began the day with a short welcome to the school.
We continued with presentations by the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese teams about the connection of diseases and healthy diet from different point of views.
Each team had prepared a Kahoot online quiz about their own presentation, which were played by whole the group after the presentations.
In the following, we had lunch at school, before transferring by bus to Seitsemisen National Park.
There we had a guided tour through a typical Finnish forest area and a visit to Seitseminen Nature Centre as well as healthy dinner.
In the evening, students visited our school’s temporary relocation, the village school Parkkuu, where they spent the evening having a disco event.
Teachers spent the evening at a get-together at Merjas Garden Kuru home stay.
Friday 10.3.
We started the day again at our school’s temporary relocation Tredu premises.
On this day, presentations about the connection of diseases and healthy diet from different point of views were given by the Romanian, Turkish and Finnish teams.
The presentations were followed up by related Kahoot-quizzes done by whole the group.
These activities were succeeded by a teacher’s meeting at Tredu. Topic was a first assessment of the mobility so far as well as solving ongoing issues (organization of paying bills, etc.).
We had lunch at Tredu premises before moving to the house of the Finnish host family Jaana & Tero Tiura in Kuru by the side of a frozen lake.
There the group spent time with typical Finnish winter activities organized in cooperation with Kuru’s parents association KIVA ry: snow mobile riding, ice-shoe hiking, ice skating, sledge riding, cross-country skiing and grilling food by the campfire were tried out by international and local participants alike.
During the course of the winter activities, teachers gathered for another meeting discussing issues about the upcoming final mobility in Spain as well as regarding the overall finishing of the project.
In the afternoon, the mobility’s participants transferred to Mutala, Ylöjärvi. There we spent a Farewell Dinner at restaurant Mutalan Helmi. Erasmus+ certificates of participation were handed out at the dinner event to the teams of the mobility.
Saturday 11.3.
The group came together at Tredu premises in Kuru.
There the host families farewelled their hosts before bus departure to Hämeenkyrö.
In Hämeenkyrö we visited Frantsila Herb farm. At the farm we got an introduction to the Herb farm’s operation and about principles of healthy diets from the point of view of organic herbal farming.
We enjoyed lunch at Frantsila restaurant in Hämeenkyrö.
After that we transferred to Tampere centre, where the groups checked in for their accommodation for the night, except for the Romanian team, which farewelled us at that point transferring to Helsinki already, from where their return flight left early next morning.
The remaining teams attended a local ice-hockey match at Nokia Arena in Tampere together.
After that the group visited shortly Ratina shopping centre and Torni Hotel skybar for a view over nightly Tampere before having dinner together at Restaurant Tillikka.
Sunday 12.3.
In the course of the day, the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish teams departed to Helsinki Vantaa airport and from there to their home countries.
