This week, we welcomed 26 high school students from Les Sables d’Olonne, a small town in France. The students, who study in their local high school’s Finland project, came here for two weeks to learn about Finnish culture, the education system, and Finnishness in general. Their program included a trip to Lapland, in addition to visits to Mercuria and other schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area, which was a delightful experience for many! The snowy nature of Lapland, dog sledding, snowshoeing, and building snow castles added an exotic touch to the trip.
Visiting Lapland
One student group was tasked with learning about Sámi culture even before their trip to Finland. The group’s students, Olivia and Enola, knew that the Sámi were the first inhabitants of Finland and that they moved northward away from settlers. They could explain the Sámi livelihood and reindeer herding. They also got to visit the Sámi Parliament when they visited Inari in Lapland. All of this seemed very interesting to them, and they hoped to visit Finland again with their families.
It feels like in Finland people eat all the time
Students Eve and Rose, on the other hand, noticed the different eating habits between Finns and French people. They felt that in Finland, people eat all the time. After breakfast, lunch is already eaten around 11:00-12:00, and dinner is very early compared to their own culture. There might even be a snack in between. They also noticed that there is more vegetarian food in Finland than in France. Our school serves vegetarian food every day as an alternative to the regular lunch.
The students work diligently throughout their trip: they interview other students and teachers, make presentations, and write reports about their trip. One notable difference between Finnish and French studies is our shorter school days in Finland. In France, students are used to long school days, starting at 8:00 in the morning and often lasting until 17:00 in the afternoon. On the other hand, French students can enjoy longer holiday periods.
Thank you for visiting our school, and we hope you left with pleasant memories. It was nice to get to know your students and teacher, and maybe we will see each other again sometime!
