The Italians came to Finland in April and stayed for one week. During the weekend the students were hosted in Finnish families. All kinds of art museums and churches were visited. The school days were also full of activities. The Italians and Finns were e.g. doing Action Track activity in Helsinki in groups and making the tasks that the Finnish students had made in beforehand. You can see the results here under.
The feedback from the Italians were collected with a questionaire. Here are examples of what the Italian students have written about their impressions:
PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
How has your journey to Finland increased your intercultural competence?How far has the school exchange given you a new and wider historical dimension ?
What was your feeling about your foreign language competence?
Have you noticed any differences in people's attitudes in public places : e.g. Museums, underground, railway station, bus, sauna, school, school canteen, shops, etc.What were they like? (SOCIAL LIFE)
How did you perceive individual responsibility during the exchange?
What was the commonest topic among your group?
How would you describe Helsinki ( ARCHITECTS)?
Which buildings do you remember more?
"Well going to Finland meant meeting a very different country and culture and it has been very challenging not only for the language but also because you were asked to see some aspects of finnish life and try to understand and respect them, so speaking of multicultural competence it has been very helpful. About historical dimension, this experience widened my view of history because we were told something about finnish history and tradition and that was really interesting.
I felt like I could handle difficult "language" situations but I also learnt a lot and my language competence is improved.
Well finnish people behave in a way that is completely different from ours. They are less noisy, and in public places they are very quiet and respectful. They also have a big respect of "personal space": if on the tram there was a free seat next to another person, the other people preferred to stand and not to seat. I found it really weird because here we don't feel like we are invading someone's space if we sit next to him or her.
Of course we had a big responsibility because we were in a foreign country and we were a big group so I perceived that I was responsible for myself in the first place so I always checked everything - maps, places and stuff like that.
I think the comminest topic was... differences between Italy and Finland, because we couldn't help but comparing almost everything, from climate to habits."
 |
| photo: Alice Gaiba |
 |
| photo: Alice Gaiba |
About people, I think finnish culture is quite different from italian one. People are very Kind and friendly but their life style looks more relaxed and they look more spontaneous than us. In our group everyone had to be responsible for his/her Self and for the other guys of the group when we went around the city so we always tried to be punctual and respectful in everything we did. Well, I agree with the other guys, I think the Most important Topic was "the difference between Italy and Finland" because it was the Most evident and funny thing. I loved this experience and I'd really like to come Back!"
"I love traveling so I did a lot of experiences in other countries. I knew other cultures, other stiles of life, but all countries that I visited aren't so different from mine... My journey in Finland is the most particular and the most interesting to compare our culture whit their... At the beginning I was worried to speak every time in family English because I wasn't sure that I understood well but at the end I experienced that it isn't so impossible and that' is important to try (this is one of some things that i learned form this journey). We had a bid responsibility because we had to be punctual and, the most important, we had to be respectful being in a foreign country especially towards people who hosted us or accompanied on the trip.. I think the most important topic could be a comparison between the two countries! This experience was useful for myself so I hope I'll come back or meet an other time the Finnish friends who I met in Finland!"
"Well, I have never had experiences of cultural exchanges. It was the first time and I was very scared. However, when I met the family who hosted me I have been feeling good, my host is so friendly and she became my sister for three fantastic days. The most important thing of this experience, it has been to live for a week far from my family and this situation helped me to grow up. Also, I met many friends and I learned to live toghether and passing my shyness.
During the journey I assumed my responsibilites and I looked after myself. I'm happy about this experience and I hope there will be other opportunity to do intercultural travel and also meet again Finnish friends!" |
| photo: Cecilia L |
 |
| Photo: Cecilia L |
"Going to Finland was a new and exciting experience for me because I have never been hosted in a family.
even though I had some difficulties with my english the trip was very funny in fact I met many nice and good people and I hope to meet them again. I noticed that fins are very different from italians in fact they are very reserved and they have a very good attitude expecially in public places. It doesn't mean that they are boring people in fact according to me they know how to enjoy themselves and they dont care about what people say about them
This experience improved our responsability because we had to stay alone in a foreign country with a new family and with people that we don't know. We had also to be punctual and to respect a different culture."
"This wasn’t my first cultural exchange as I spent half a year in Scotland as an exchange student, but this experience was completely different. This journey has been more a “group experience” rather than an individual one, and has increased my competence in teamwork. Furthermore, Finland has such a different culture from Italy and Scotland and this exchange gave me the opportunity to know and experience a new lifestyle and to get in touch with different ideas and points of view. Communication between Finnish and Italians worked very well, we could always express our ideas and opinions even if in a foreign language and this gave us the opportunity to improve our English skills. The project definitely challenged our individual responsibility, as we were depending on ourselves as well as on the other group members, and I think everyone behaved respectfully and maturely. There was a good feeling between the Finnish group and our group; we were truly interested in getting to know each other and finding out what the differences and similarities between our cultures are. We're actually keeping in touch, and we'll definitely manage to see each other again. Helsinki wasn’t as I expected at all, it proved to be quite a big and interesting city, with modern architecture and a lot of shopping malls. I actually didn’t like this shopping places (big and squared buildings), but there was some beautiful architecture as well, like the Finnish National Romanticism (e.g. the Finnish National Theatre) or the Rock church, which was really impressive."
"How has your journey to Finland increased your intercultural competence?
I must admit I did not have "intercultural competence" before leaving for Finland. Everything has started with this journey, as, before, I certainly made amazing journeys, but none of them offered me such a challenging experience.
"How has your journey to Finland increased your intercultural competence?
I must admit I did not have "intercultural competence" before leaving for Finland. Everything has started with this journey, as, before, I certainly made amazing journeys, but none of them offered me such a challenging experience.
How far has the school exchange given you a new and wider historical dimension ?
I do not know whether it can be only called "historical" dimension...maybe it is, but it is also more, it is the opportunity to discover something new enough to encourage me to increase my knowledge, actually a new dimension in every sense.
What was your feeling about your foreign language competence?
I have found myself speaking with an ease that I could scarcely have imagined before, but, at the same time, I have realized how easily one can repeat the same mistakes, those same that I would never do while writing, but are really common while speaking. Therefore, I have noticed that I still need to have a better command of the language!
How did you perceive individual responsibility during the exchange?
I think I have been given a good deal of responsibility, at least from the fact that someone else was paying(partly) for my experience; therefore, I had to demonstrate to deserve this. In order to do it, there have been many opportunities (and, of course, you were not obliged to do any of these), but I really hope I got the point!"
"
THE ACTIVITY IN HELSINKI
The students of Kallion lukio have made a city game for the Italian students. Finding key landmarks and making good tasks to the places was a challenging mission. Now it is really interesting to see how the Italians and Finnish student solve the problems.
The game started today Monday April the 18th and will continue tomorrow...
...and it continued...
 |
| The Cathedral of Helsinki |
 |
| Hotelli Torni |
 |
| The Library of Kallio |
 | |
| Stocky's clock The champion was Social reporter! |
