Third Mobility - Finland

On 18-24.05.2025, as part of the Water Saviours project, an Erasmus+ programme, a group of students and teachers from partner schools in Poland and Turkey visited a school in Riihimaki, Finland. During the first day of their stay, the project participants had a chance to see what Europe's best education system looks like, got to know the school's well-equipped facilities, took part in handicraft workshops and a chemistry lesson in the field, where they tested the quality of the water in the local river.

On the second day, the participants made observations in the floodplains, home to some 30,000 birds. The fresh air whetted our appetites and our hosts prepared Finnish food and baked goods for us at the lake. We played traditional wooden bowling, and finally a real Finnish sauna and a swim in the icy lake awaited us.

On another day, the project participants visited the island of Kotka in the Gulf of Finland. At the Maritime Centre, they were able to see many interesting exhibitions that took them into the world of the Moomins, the history of the town of Kotka, historic sailing ships and large ships, to a very reflective exhibition relating to the war in Ukraine. After a hearty Finnish lunch, our young environmentalists went to the marine aquarium, where they listened to a lecture on all the fish species that live in the Baltic Sea, many of which they were able to see live. Finally, they took a walk at the mouth of the Kymi River, a corner so beautiful that Tsar Alexander I himself had a summer house built there, which still stands today. It was a long and eventful day.

On the fourth day, the land of a thousand lakes revealed some of its beauty to the participants. After covering a five-kilometre route along Lake Iso-Melkutin, everyone enjoyed sitting around the campfire enjoying sausages. The marshmallows were the most popular. In the afternoon, the Polish, Turkish and Finnish groups went bowling and enjoyed Finnish sweets.

On the last day of the visit, the students got to know Finland from a hunting perspective, an activity that the local museum, where they started their visit, was dedicated to. In addition, exhibitions on a completely different topic awaited them, including glass production, for which Riihimaki is famous. The day ended with a robotics workshop. The youngsters worked on coding a robot that cleans the seabed. In turn, they spent the evening with their host families. It was an eventful week with a rich and informative programme. Kiitos suomalaiset ystävät!