Estonians in Denmark in October 2014

 

 

Vändra Gymnasium students in Odense in October 2014

 

 

During October 27th to 31st Vändra Gymnasium’s students  from forms 8 and 9 Carmen Pari, Sille Sempelson, Marti  Orav, Madis Steinberg. Martin Kaljuste, Helen Tilk, Sander Sõmer, Aleks Nugis, Eliise Päärnamets, Pille-Riin Pertel, Triin Toom, Hanna Miina Kivisäk and teachers Silja Enok and project`s coordinator Irina Lõõbas visited Denmark, Odense, within the Nordplus Junior ‘’Teenagers Being Innovators’ project.

This was already the second international project with Hunderupskolen school and the fifth  Nordplus Junior project for Vända Gymnasium involving basic school students.  The current project spans over 2 years, with Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Lihtuania being its partners. There are 21 students from classes 7-9 and 3 teachers in the project from our school.

In Denmark we also met our partner school students from Finland and enjoyed working in various workshops in the groups formed of students of 3 countries.We had interesting possiblities to learn  each others languages in language workshops and play sport together in international teams. 

During the 5 days in Denmark we acquired much knowledge about the lives of Danes: how much they waste food in Denmark, Denmark’s cuisine, and their natural environment. On the first day Martin Kaljuste and Marti Orav presented a slideshow called ‘’Food waste at home and my  school’’ telling others about food waste in Estonia.

Madis Steinberg and Sander Sõmer also presented a slideshow called ‘’Estonia, Vändra and Vändra Gymnasium’’ introducing our school and Estonia to others.

We got to know that the Danes are the world’s biggest wasters of food. We also visited supermarkets and cafes to ask people about how much food they buy and consume. 

 As our project was focused on  food waste in Denmark, we asked the permission to go dumpster diving, although many supermarkets refused, giving the explanation that it is bad for our health, which we really  did not believe.

Later in our really international groups of students from Finland, Denmark and Estonia, we put it all together into a movies, which we showed to Danish families on our last night`s party . Danish families were very friendly and kind, always helping us. We went out to eat a lot. Although we did not get chance to explore the city as we ran out of time and energy due to long school days, we all enjoyed our stay in Odense and our visit to the zoo.

Their school house was nice, equipped with new technology, while also showing a part of the older days,  which had been rebuilt. Everyone in the school was very pleasant, friendly, and kind.

On the day before leaving Denmark we had a big party with teachers, students and the Danish families. We introduced them Estonian food and sweets, which they liked a lot. Everything we put on the table was gone by the minute. Danish students and their families brought warm dishes and Finnish students brought cookies and sweets typical to their country. 

 At the end of the night, we were given letters of thank you by Odense school and we sang the Estonian song of the year called ‘’Kauges Külas’’. After all the parents had left, we ran downstairs, put the music on and danced till late at night.

Although we didn’t spend much time in Denmark, we really got to know each other and going home was hard. Once home, we were all very tired, but happy for this awesome trip to Denmark.

We are looking forward to see our Danish and Lithuanian partners in Estonia in April 2015 and hoping to meet Finnish friends again in Lithuania in April 2016.

 

Sille Sempelson, Triin Toom, Marti Orav and teachers Silja and Irina