A real taste of Finnish life
In October 2014 Rastrick High School entered into group of seven European schools called the Erasmus + project. These schools are from France, Finland, Spain, Germany, Iceland and Poland as well as England. The theme of the project was:“Tell me where you live and I’ll tell you what you eat”.
This means that the whole point of the students from these schools being in this project was so that they could learn about other European cultures, traditions and food.
Our group consisted of twenty two, Year 9 students going on their first exchange to a Finnish school in the small town of Ristijarvi. Here we will tell you about our experience:
FINNISH FOOD
Because the project was surrounding the topic of food we got lots of opportunities to try Finnish cuisine whilst we were there.
As you can imagine, one of the foods we ate quite frequently there was fish, particularly salmon.
What I found that was quite interesting about the school food is that every child attending the school would get a free school meal for the whole school year. However there was only one choice of meal, whereas at Rastrick High we have multiple choices of dishes for lunch.
Whilst we were in the school we had a go at baking some of Finland’s traditional puddings and cakes, one of which was named a ‘Karelian Pasty’ (or karjalanpiirakka in Finnish). Karelian Pasty is a well-known Finnish food made from a thin rye crust which is filled with rice pudding.
Overall I would say that the food there was quite peculiar, some of the foods were luscious like the blueberry pie(mustikkapiirakka ) and the salmon soup (lohikeitto), however other foods were not to my taste like a food named ‘Mammi.’ Mammi is an Easter pudding made from oven baked rye malt porridge. It has a very bizarre taste!
By Ella Fitt
SCHOOL IN FINLAND
The school was really small as it only had 103 pupils. At the end of each lesson they had a 10 minute break. Then they finished their school day at 2.30pm.
The pupils called their teachers by their first names (which we found a little odd), they also had to take off their shoes whenever they were in the main school building.
All the pupils also got given an iPad in their first year at the school which they kept until their last year. The school had four floors (including a basement) however there was an average of three classrooms on each floor. They didn’t need that many as there wasn’t many pupils.
By Katie Wilson
ATTRACTIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT
While in Finland, we experienced many new and exciting activities that we otherwise wouldn’t have had a chance to do.
My favourite activity was most likely sledging –it was very different from the type of sledging that we are able to do here!
The snow is very deep, almost up to our waists, which could make it quite difficult to sledge or ski in some places. However, it was extremely good fun!
On Thursday, we got to try loads of amazing attractions, including a Siberian husky ride!
Skiing was actually a little bit easier than it looked for some people, but once you had fallen down, it was extremely difficult to get up. We were just doing basic skiing on a small track, back and forth, but once you had gotten used to it, you were given a little more freedom.
We were also to attempt ice fishing, though only one of us was able to catch a fish. It seemed quite dangerous though, as we were standing on a frozen lake. However, when we were drilling the holes in the ice, we soon realised how deep the ice was.
For me, the absolute highlight of the trip was being able to see the Northern lights, an amazing display of lights dancing across the sky, and a memory that I will never forget. My family and friends were very jealous of my experiences, and how I was in such a good place to see them.
By Awen Hughes
FAMILY
When we arrived at the school, after landing in Kajaani, we were introduced to the family we would be staying with for the next few days.
They were very welcoming to us. The families made sure we all had everything and if we needed anything to eat. On some days they would take us out to the forest, and on other days they would take us to the sauna. They always asked us if we wanted to do it and didn’t make you if you didn’t want to. On one occasion the majority of people were taken out to go and witness the Northern Lights, due to them being really strong. On our final night the host family gave us small gifts to remember them by and the trip. We also gave them gifts which they might not necessarily get in Finland. The houses there were really spread out, whereas they are really close together in England. The families also gave us foods to try which are traditional to Finland.
By Charlotte Burton
To conclude, we had some of the best times of our lives, experiencing things we never thought we would do and gaining friendships and bonds that will last a life time.