Introduction
Après avoir reçu leurs correspondants finlandais du 26 au 29 novembre 2014, 11 élèves de 1 GA/C se sont envolé pour la Finlande du 28 au 5 mai 2015.
C’était une expérience unique à plusieurs titres : premier passage dans un aéroport, premier vol en avion… puis ce fut la première rencontre avec le lycée de Loppi, son proviseur, ses enseignants, ses élèves. Et la première soirée en famille …
Le stress et les hésitations linguistiques des premiers jours ont laissé place aux fou rires, aux moments de complicité et aux échanges.
Nous vous proposons de partager cette semaine si singulière en parcourant les articles que les élèves ont préparé.
Véronique Quéhé et Patrick Subil
Wednesday 29th April in Helsinki.
On Wednesday morning we went to Helsinki to visit the Finnish TV studios.
After this visit of 1 hour, we went to Suomenlinna Island on a ferry, we visited Suomenlinna under the rain for 1 hour. This island was used to defend the city of Helsinki against attacks. After this visit we took the boat to go back to Helsinki.
The group went to the restaurant to eat at 2 p.m and we had a little free time.
The last visit was at the National Museum.
We came back to Loppi at 7 p.m in the Finnish families to eat and sleep.
Malone Gambie 1GA/C
On Thursday 30rd April
In the morning, we were given an appointment at Loppi School for 8.30 am to go to the former capital of Finland, “TURKU”. We had about two hours to get there but in the bus, the time passed very quickly with our friends ! During the trip, we stopped in an “ABC” to take something to eat and after we continued the road to go to visit many things in Turku.
At about 11.15 am, we arrived at Turku and for to start, we went to visit “Luostarinmäki”. It’s an Artisanal Museum of the19th century and we saw many wooden houses and different artisanal crafts.
After this visit we went to “Turku Castle”. Before starting the visit of the castle we ate sandwiches and drank some drinks. At 1.00 pm it was time to go to visit the castle with a woman guide. When she explained the history of this castle, she said: “Turku Castle is a more than 700 years old historical monument. It has stood guard over the river Aura estuary since the 1280’s. Its granite stone walls hold within them the history of Finland, Sweden and the other Nordic countries.” It was very interesting because we discovered an important history of Turku which existed since the end of 13th century.
At 3.45 pm, we had lunch in “Milan Kebab Pizzeria” and it was the Finnish people who offered the meal, it was delicious !
Then we went to “Turku Cathedral”, it’s the national sanctuary of Finland. In 1300 this cathedral was consecrated to the “Vierge Marie” and the “Saint Henri”. Inside this monument bishops, great military people and even a Queen “Karin Maununtytär” are buried.
For the end of this day, we had about two hours to celebrate the Vappu in Turku. It’s the festival of the labor day but also the festival of students ! It’s a very big festival of the year. Many students wore overalls with many escutcheons and when they paraded, they sang, danced and shouted for joy !
At 6.00 pm, there was a consolidation with many people and they wore a sailor hat. It’s very wonderful to see that, it’s even awesome!
Margot Desgenétais 1 GA/C
Friday, may 1st
In the morning, we went to Loppi high school at ten o’ clock. After, we took the bus to “Syria”.
There, there were some Finnish people who waited to explain the program of this day.
Then, we visited this place: It was a beautiful home next to a lake. We could go to a sauna, go on a lake with a rowing boat, moreover we could sit down on a garden hammock-seat or under a shed where in the center there was a barbecue to put marshmallow and sausages.
Together we did the lunch, it was so friendly because we helped each other. So after we ate, it was… delicious!
And the Finnish pupils and French played and laughed around typical games.
It was sunny so the day was perfect!
After that, we were together friend and at the end nobody was shy!
Servane Raoult 1GA/C
Sunday 2 nd May : The wedding
I had the opportunity to be invited to a wedding in Finland
The wedding
Before 12 a.m
We must prepare to go to the wedding
We ate and then we all dressed in tuxedos
At 11.50 a.m we left to go to the hall in Loppi
After 12 a.m
We said hello to everyone and we were back in the reception room where the mayor would unite the bride and the bridegroom
We were invited to stand to listen to the mayor
then the newlyweds have said yes, and everyone applauded
Then we all went outside to take photos of families
There were several types of pictures with all the family, just married, married and a parent etc,,, I have 3 photos
Then we waited 2.00 p.m before going to church, we could hear the old cars horns on the roads
After 2.00 (in the church )
The bride arrived under flowers with the wedding music
As in France, during the wedding at the church, the family members speak, after
The people have spoken, and the married again say “yes” and under the applause and flowers
They left in an old car, we took full decoration on the car
The dinner
We ate in the room of the town Hall, it was a self service meal
The Game
After the meal we did, married games, each of the married couple was back to back, each had the shoes of the other, a guest was asking questions and they removed one or two shoes or sometimes two at the same time We left are 6.00 p.m.
Tanguy Daniel 1 GA/C
TAMPERE Saturday May 2nd
Tampere is a city located of the southwest,situated between two lakes of Finland.Tampere is a second largest city in Finland after Helsinki.
We had visited Iitala, a Finnish factory of design specialised in the arts of table and manufacture of glass objects.After this visit, we can buy glass, if we want.
Nasinneula tour
Näsinneula is a observation tour situated in Tampere.
This tour measures 134,5 meters it is integrated in amusement park(Sarkaniemmi).
For finish, we had a free time in a city of Tampere
Chloé Le Gargasson 1 GA/C
Sunday 3rd May
On Sunday 3rd May, we met at Loppi school and we left at 10.00 am in the direction of Hämeenlinna. On the way, we stopped at a hill where there was a castle a long time ago. We climbed the hill and we had a fantastic view with a lake!
Then, we stopped at Janakkala Church, which is the oldest church in Finland.
We arrived at Hämeenlinna for lunch and we ate at Häme Castle cafeteria. After we had a guided tour of the castle. It is in the city centre, near a lake. It was a prison too.
We left at about 3.00 pm and we went to Aulanko park.
We came back to Loppi with the bus at about 5.00 pm.
Manon Denis 1GA/C
Monday 4th May
We went to the school to take the bus at 9 am in the direction of the school Mustiala where we watched a slideshow which explained the different trainings which are taught. We visited different buildings:
- one where we find farm equipment
- one where we saw the milking automate.
After, we went to visit an agricultural company, where the director showed us a slide show which explained their work.
After we returned to the bus, we visited two farms again in Rihimaki.
Then, we took the bus to visit a first farm that belongs to the parents of a Finnish student, we had a demonstration of a machine cutting wood, here we were offered a piece of cake and a drink.
Around 6pm we came back in Loppi to find our families.
In the evening, the French pupils and the Finnish pupils joined for a party together.
This day was not the best because it did not correspond to us, but it was important for the teachers because they were searching training periods for pupils learning mechanics.
Kalvina Faucheux 1 GA/C
Tuesday 5th May 2015
We all had an appointment at 8:15 a.m. at Loppi high school. Then the headmaster invited everybody in the teachers’ room where he made a speech in which he thanked us for our presence and Mrs Quéhé also made a speech to thank the headmaster for their reception.
The high school gave us a present = it's a Moumine’s cup from Arabia factory. Before the departure we took a last family photo with everybody France-Finland and we said “bye-bye”. That was much difficult and painful for some French people. And around 9:00 a.m. we went towards the airport of Helsinki. But we arrived at the airport at about 10:00 a.m. while our airplane was at 12:55 p.m. to Munich arrival time 14:30 p.m. Then towards Paris Charles-de-Gaulle where we arrived at about 5:05 p.m.
After that we went to get our suitcases and we went out to wait for Mr Quéhé and Mrs Raoult to start again in the minibus towards Brittany. But we need to eat then we went to eat in a restaurant which was in a mall of Flin-sur-Seine. After that we continued our journey to arrive in Brittany at 1:30 a.m.
Thanks to Mrs Quéhé for this splendid and magical trip in Finland.
Kilian Guillou