Weekend

I lived in family of five. In my family there were three brothers and parents. We lived in detached house close to the school named Versatile Lycee Les Bourdonnieres. Matthieu, my exchange student pair is studying in that school.

Saturday 27.4

In the morning we were just chilling and eating. I woke up about 10 o’clock and I ate my breakfast. For the breakfast I had croissant and French chocolate bread (in French: “pain au chocolat”) and a banana. After that I played guitar and Matthieu played piano. Then we ate our lunch with whole family. About 2 o’clock we left to the center of Nantes. We walked to the bus stop, which was located close to our school. There we met Jaakko and Tuomas with their exchange student friends. We went to the shopping center named Beaulieu. There we bought drinks and we were just spending time. Later we met Anton and his exchange student at shopping center. About 4 o’clock we went to eat to Kentucky Fried Chicken (Also known as KFC) to eat. Then we took a bus to the laser war game hall. We met Salla and her exchange student friend front of the game hall. At the game hall we first played air hockey and billiards before we began to play the laser game. Then it was time to start a laser war. First game we played Finland against France. France was dominating us the whole game and we had no chance to win. It was a humiliating defeat. After 20 minutes of play we had a little break before next match. We also decided to balance the teams. Second match was better, although we still lost it. After laser games we went to eat to KFC again. Then everyone left to their own homes about 11 o’clock.

Sunday 28.4

The Sunday morning was like Saturday morning, except that I had a baguette for breakfast. After lunch we left to the beach. The beach was located 45 minutes’ drive from my host family’s home. On the way to the beach my exchange student taught me how to solve a Rubik’s cube. At first, we went to the smallish beach and we tried to fly a kite, but it wasn’t windy enough, so it wasn’t possible. Then we moved to another beach, which was more like a harbor. The harbor area was old, beautiful and impressed. There was elderly boats and sailboats. We bought ice cream from a cafeteria. My host family told me that they always tend to buy ice cream from that specific harbor. We made about 45 minutes’ walk in the harbor. After that we left to third beach, which was a larger beach than the previous ones. There we were able to fly a kite. It was my first time flying a kite and I really enjoyed it. My exchange student also taught me, how to do cool tricks with a kite. We were there about an hour and then we left back to the home. Then we ate the lunch and were chilling before we went to sleep.

Joose

Friday 26.4.

Friday was the day that we got to know the city of Nantes better. In the morning we went to the city center and later on visited the Jules Verne Museum. After the museum, we saw the Slavery Memorial, the Hangar à Bananes and the Elephant. After the sightseeing tour, we settled into a nice park where we ate lunch. After lunch, we had some free time before we went to the Museum of Art of Nantes. The museum had a broad collection of art through the Middle Ages to contemporary art. At the evening we had a reception at the City Hall of Nantes.

Anton

Thursday 25.4.

On Thursday morning we visited a Kindergarten.

At noon we ate lunch at the high school canteen. The lunch break lasted two hours which was extremely long compared to our 30-minute lunch break in Finland.


Next we had a tour of the high school and we attended the French students' language lessons. In the afternoon we had a welcoming event presented by the Headmaster.

Milja

Travelling to Nantes 24.4.2019

Early Wednesday morning we left on train to Helsinki Airport. Everyone got through airport security fine and before we knew it we were on the plane to France. The plane left at 9.25. The flight was quick and we got the luggage easily from the luggage hold.

Once we found our way to the train station the long train ride to Nantes at 1 pm could begin. At first there was a problem with the fitting all the luggage, but at the end everything turned out okay. 

After we finally got to Nantes, and found our correspondants, we each went our own way. I and my correspondant family went by car to their house which was 40 minutes out of Nantes. We spent the rest of the evening getting to know each other and eating while watching a movie. 

Alisa

French guests in Hyvinkää in March 2019

The French students visited Finland from March 8th to 15th. As they arrived on Friday, we had the weekend to spend freely before the following week’s scheduled activities. On Saturday we met up for pizza with a smaller group of students and on Friday we went bowling with the whole group. The rest of the weekend was spent simply relaxing at home and getting to know each other.

On Monday the French students got to know our school and attended our lessons. They also visited the neighboring school Laurea for a class on “Survival Finnish”. In the afternoon we traveled by bus to the beautiful Rytkö camping site, where we went to sauna and enjoyed some traditional Finnish foods.

On Tuesday the French students were taken on a walking tour around Hyvinkää to get to know the city and its history. There was no other activity scheduled for the day, so we spent the afternoon freely. I took my French student along to my singing lesson and then we went to eat at a restaurant.

On Wednesday we spent the whole day in Helsinki, where we visited the Natural History Museum, library “Oodi” and the Senate Square. Then we had 4 hours of free time, which was mostly spent shopping. After the trip we were exhausted and spent the evening just resting at home.

On Thursday the French students visited the Puolimatka school and learned about the differences between the Finnish and the French education systems. In the evening most people went out to eat to celebrate the last day in Finland.

On Friday morning the French students and teachers left for the airport to return to France. See you in Nantes! 

Leena

Kuvapäiväkirja Ranskan matkasta keväällä 2018