Icelandic Magic

It was like walking through a scene from The Lord of the Rings. I half-expected to see Bilbo Baggins hopping his way across the jagged rocks. Magical.

Last week, our Nordplus project students headed towards Reykjavik and the Westman islands in Iceland. Four countries are taking part in the project, including: Finland, Iceland, Latvia and Sweden. The theme is tourism.

Now let me guide you through one of the greatest project weeks EVER…                                                                                                                                                              

Saturday:

After a four hour flight, we arrived in Reykjavik. We quickly decided that we deserved some pizza and a wander around...

Sunday: 

Team Finland (along with a fabulous Finnish flag) roamed around Reykjavik for the day. Check out the beautiful scenery:

We also couldn't resist posing with the famous Sun Voyager sculpture:

Finally, we caught the ferry to the Westman islands (Heimaey in particular). The journey was a little rocky because of the wind which made for a fun ride! We were also treated to some incredible sights.

                                       

Monday:

The students started to work on their project. They had to choose an aspect of the island that they could sell to tourists. We visited the Eldheimer museum for some inspiration and more information about Heimaey. In 1973, the island was changed forever after a volcanic eruption in the town of Vestmannaeyjar. Everyone (over 5000 people) in Heimaey was evacuated and the eruption lasted for five months! The island rebuilt itself but the museum serves as a strong reminder of what happened.

That evening, we also had the "Bring a Dish" night where participants from each country provided food for those involved in the project and the local community to try.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was another busy day again though one big highlight was seeing a real-life puffin at the aquarium!

This is Toti and he is cared for by the aquarium after breaking his leg. Don't be fooled by his cuteness though - he can be very sassy when he wants to be.

Wednesday:

We started the day by enjoying an Icelandic language class before the students shared myths and legends from their native countries. Afterwards, we visited the local fish factory (which is extremely important business on the island). It was soon time for more project work to be done for the big presentation day looming around the corner...

Thursday: 

PROJECT PRESENTATION DAY!

All of the groups presented their work to the teachers and the manager of the Eldheimer Museum, who selected her two favourites. Needless to say, we were all hugely impressed with the results.

Friday: 

Our last full day in Iceland ended on the mainland. Our wonderful hosts provided all of the project participants a bus tour around Southern Iceland. We gasped at the waterfalls:



We squealed in excitement at the hot springs:

Thank you for the photo, Suvi!

And we said some very heartfelt goodbyes.

Saturday:

Up at 3:30am, we braced ourselves for the long journey home. The early start was definitely worth it though because we all agreed that it had been one SPECTACULAR week...

From Ireland to Iceland!

The moment that the International Studies 2 (IS2) group had all been waiting for finally arrived! Last Monday at 6am (!!!) we all gathered around the school carpark to catch a bus to Helsinki before taking a plane to DUBLIN.

Dublin has a special buzz about the place. It's busy, lively and full of laughter. The city is also very green and home to some beautiful architecture as well as Oscar Wilde (of course)...

We saw many different, famous sights including the Ha'penny Bridge. It's called this because in the past, people had to pay half a penny to cross it.

We also visited Trinity College. The library is simply breathtaking (especially if you're a big fan of books like me). I half-wanted to climb the ladders and slide across the shelves like Belle out of Beauty and the Beast.

Instead, I settled for taking some pictures...

On the Tuesday, we got to walk around Malahide Castle which was very fancy indeed. The gardens in particular were stunning. They were filled with blooming plants, butterflies and even a peacock!

Later in the week, we had a wonder around the Natural History Museum. I'm afraid of bears so I definitely kept away from that section.

Of course, the trip wouldn't have been complete if we hadn't taken a tour. Better yet, we had a special kind of tour: a VIKING one. We all wore our viking hats and were driven along winding roads and taken across the river to get a thorough look at the city. I should add that we were also encouraged to yell and cheer in order to surprise unsuspecting passers-by. MWAHAHAHA.

Overall, it was an AMAZING five days. The students were given the opportunity to explore the city for themselves and I think that we all fell in love with the place. Before we knew it, we were back on a plane heading towards Helsinki. We arrived at around half past eleven and so everybody was definitely ready for some sleep.

However, while the rest of the group began their loooooooong bus journey back to Kokkola, I headed towards a hotel. This was because I needed to fly out of Helsinki the next day for...ICELAND! We'll save that story for the next blog post though...

- Chloe