Presentation by Laura, Johanna, Ave-Ly, Olari-Jaanus

Comenius meeting in Viljandi

The meeting of the Norwegian, German and Estonian partners of the Comenius Project took place in Viljandi on March 11 -  March 15. We had very busy days.

Our Norwegian guests arrived in Viljandi on March 11 and on Saturday they spent time with their host families. Our German guests spent the day in Tallinn where they had a guided tour of the town.

On Sunday we went skating and after lunch our guests had a sigtseeing tour of Viljandi. After that we went to the concert in St Paul’s Church where two orchestras, from Viljandi Music School and Lasnamäe Music School, performed. After the concert we went to Olustevere to visit the local observatory. We could watch the stars and the Moon and follow physics experiments, some of which were very amusing.

On Monday we had a long trip to Keila-Joa and Tallinn. At Keila-Joa we visited a small hydropower plant where we were told about the use of alternative energy sources in Estonia. In Tallinn we visited the Tallinn Science Centre of Energy. First we listened to a talk on sustainable energy sources including nuclear power. Then evrybody could look round in the centre and make experiments on their own. The most popular attractions were those of  sound and  soap bubbles.

On Tuesday  everybody was at school. Our guests could visit the lessons together with their hosts. The teachers had a meeting where they discussed how to continue the Comenius project. Then students’  presentations and the performance of  the science theatre followed. After lunch students tested different samples of water to find out how clean the water sample was.

Our guests left on Wednesday morning. We all met new friends and now everybody is looking forward to the next meeting in Norway in May. 

Presentation by Lina, Paul and Celine

Presentation by Marko, Jonas and Tanja

A trip to Estonia - Celine

My Comenius trip to Estonia in March 2011

Before I started my trip to Estonia, I had many questions in my head and some mixed feelings. Is my guest family nice? How do the people in Estonia live? Are there a lot of differences? How much will I miss my family and friends? But I was happy that I was allowed to go to Estonia and I knew it would be a good experience for me and my future. I hoped that we will all have fun together.

First I want to say that the trip to Estonia was a great experience in my life and I learned so many things. It was a lot of fun to do things like shopping, talking or visiting special buildings with Estonian and Norwegian kids. All the kids were open-minded and very friendly, but for me, it was a little bit difficult to use English as the language for communication, however we understood each other very well. Now I can speak English a bit better.

For me, the best event was the trip to Tallinn on Monday. It was a little bit exhausting, but very nice. All in all, I liked all the trips and all the kids knew each other better and better.

I learned so much about Estonia. I learned something about history at school, I got to know special Estonian food, for example the chocolate“ Kalev”, I learned a lot about water energy, I noticed that food and sweets are cheaper than in Germany and so on. I learned a lot, but it’s too much to write this down, but I can say that I was very shocked I as I saw all the snow! I hadn’t seen so much snow before .It was so cold, colder than in Germany. This was a big difference! The school in Estonia is different, too. I think the teachers are stricter and I noticed that a lot of Estonian people are very intelligent.

My guest family was very lovely. They helped me all the time with everything and were very open-minded and friendly. They gave me some gifts and cooked yummy food for me. Often we compared Germany and Estonia and they showed or told me, what is traditional for Estonia. I keep in contact with my exchange student Ave-Ly and her sister, too. Now, my student is a friend to me, not “a girl from Estonia”. She and some other kids from Estonia and Norway started crying at the departure. I will never forget this. It was so sad.

All in all, this was a great exchange between Germany, Estonia and Norway. I gained so much experience and learned many expressions from Estonia. I found a lot of new friends, and we are in contact now. All the people there were absolutely lovely and I was sad to leave Estonia, but I missed my family and friends a lot. I think more than the other kids! I advised people do to this, because now I have become a more independent person. To conclude, you can say that Estonia is often similar to Germany and often very different! I want to say thank you to all the people from Comenius 2011!

Celine Maaß

A trip to Estonia - March 2011 - Lina

I liked our trip to Estonia. It was very funny and interesting because I came to a country which I really didn’t know. It was very exciting because you didn`t know which family you were going to stay with??? How are the people there?? What does it look like there?? Will I miss my family?? These were the questions I asked myself very often before we started our trip.

But when we arrived in Tallinn, I was very impressed by the city and our hotel. Tallinn is very pretty and there are lots of interesting things to see and a very big shopping centre to go to. I loved it. Our Hotel Barons was great, too. The bed was so soft and everything was so…noble. The food was very good, too...and, all in all, I liked our short time in Tallinn.

When we arrived in Viljandi, I was very excited. I knew my host student, but I didn`t know the family!! And I didn`t know in which kind of house they live. But when I arrived and Getter and her father fetched me from the bus station, I was lucky…her father was very nice. After Getter had showed me their apartment and after I had got to know her mother and her little brother, everything was ok. All of them were very nice to me and I could ask for everything! That was great. I enjoyed my time in their family.

All the Norwegian students and the other Estonian students were very nice, too. I liked all of them. It was no problem to speak English and I think now my English is a bit better than before the trip. The programme we did all together was ok, too, but sometimes it was a bit much. I liked the trip to Tallinn most, because the museum was very interesting and there were the big shopping centres.

All in all, I really enjoyed the trip and now I know Estonia and I like it because there`s so much nature and there aren’t many people. It was soooooooooooooooo sad when we had to go! Lots of the Estonian and Norwegian people are some kind of friends now. I want to go to Estonia again...and I want to see all these people again..!!! I hope we`ll meet sometime, somewhere!!

Lina Schardey

A trip to Estonia - March 2011 - Paul

On our trip to Estonia I experienced a lot of nice things. There were interesting and funny events during our trips.

The day we visited the old town of Tallinn with our tour guide was very interesting, because I learned lots of things about the history of Tallinn. On the trip to Viljandi I got many impressions of the landscape. And it was a lot of fun to go shopping in one of the big shopping centers with the others. We had the chance to talk to each other.

For me, it wasn´t hard to use English for communication with the others. Sometimes I didn´t know a word. Then I looked it up in my dictionary. So it was easy and fun and I learned to use many new words.

During the time in Estonia I connected with many new people and I think, we´ll keep in touch (for example on Facebook) .In my opinion an exchange between students is always good for connecting with new people.

I´ll visit Estonia in summer again. I´m on holiday in Tallinn for 12 days. I really look forward to discovering Tallinn and other cities in Estonia a little bit longer. Maybe I´ll go to Viljandi, too.

All in all, this exchange was a great experience. Everyone who likes to speak English should apply for an exchange.

Paul Maluck

A trip to Estonia - March 2011 - Tanja

My experiences: Estonia 2011

It was cold and started to snow. And we quickly realized that Estonia was completely different from Germany when we jumped out of the plane. We were thrown into a new culture - the Estonian culture. Exploring Tallinn on our own showed us how impressive the capital was. A nice event on that trip was visiting the ,,Güümnasium” in Viljandi. It was nice to compare everything. The school is smaller than ours in Neukirchen-Vluyn, but that’s what makes it so interesting. Thanks to the film we watched during the history lesson, I know much more about the Estonian history than before. It was really nice to watch the film, but it felt quite strange to sit next to Estonians while watching a history film about their terrible past with Adolf Hitler, even though I always felt very welcome among the Estonians. I am glad I learned so much about this new culture, history and way of life. Staying with the host family had always been something I was looking forward to. I really felt well and everyone got along with the others. Of course it was hard for them to share their house with a strange person. But the host family was so nice all the time and we couldn’t even imagine having trouble with each other. The food was really enjoyable. There were some things I already knew from Poland, but it’s best to be open for everything. When I looked out of the window at night, I always felt like in deep winter although it was spring, because the house was surrounded by snow. I was surprised we had no problems becoming friends. It didn’t take long until we found some really friendly people who accepted us the way we are. The atmosphere among our whole group was really nice. We got along very well. Using English for communication didn’t pose any problems. We understood each other and it was a good practice and much fun. Now back in Germany I feel that I have improved my speaking skills a bit. But I’m sure I will miss everything in Estonia. I can’t stop thinking about this wonderful time. Everything was so exciting every day. That’s what I will always remember: Visiting hydro plant Keila Joa, talking about regenerative sources, trying to understand the Norwegian and Estonian’s perspectives and enjoying the long bus rides together in a magical country, where I was able to make many new friends. Of course I want to stay in touch with the others. There are so many heart-warming memories that we share. I’m happy someone invented the Internet, but I’m even happier I had the chance to be part of this phenomenal project.

Tanja Berg