Category: Määratlemata

Our trip started early; we gathered at Tallinn airport at 4 am, all of us very excited to see our friends from France again, despite the limited sleep. The trip went surprisingly smoothly for us; the flight from Tallinn to Frankfurt was 30 minutes shorter than planned. When flying from Frankfurt to Geneva, it might have felt like we were on a private plane, because most of the plane was empty. From the window of the plane, we already had a chance to admire the beautiful views of the Alps, having no clue how big the mountains actually were that awaited us.

After receiving our suitcases, we waited for Jaan, whose suitcase, in addition to all the other accidents along the way, had gotten a bit damaged. While waiting for Jaan, Kaisa joined us. She had already spent the previous few days in Switzerland exploring the CERN complex. We all quickly climbed onto the bus and started the journey towards Cluses. The journey was joyful and full of anticipation. From the bus window, we were amazed to see the first mountains that appeared to us through the clouds.

When we got off the bus, we were greeted first by Louis, who had come to help us unload our suitcases. After a few anxious moments, the rest of the French people arrived, and everyone was very happy to see the French people who had been separated from us for so long. After the reunion, we all started walking together towards the school building.
Author: Valter

On the last day of school before the spring break, we had a short event with a theme of “democracy”. Firstly, we were given an interesting lecture about young people’s role in today’s society by Estonia’s well-known politician Jüri Ratas. After that, the ten students who took part in the project talked about it to all of our classmates (about 90 people). We introduced the project overall and talked about our activities and all of the things we had done in the 6 days the French were here. We then talked about the main project (introducing the topic related to democracy) and also did a quick overview of all the presentations. Finally, we shared our and the French students’ emotions and thoughts about the project and the trip overall. Our classmates enjoyed the presentation, and even though we were at first a little nervous about talking to so many people, everything went well, and we were happy to share our experiences and feelings.
Author: Inger

After those adventurous and fun five days, we sadly had to say goodbye to our French students. After we visited Riigikogu, we took the bus to the airport and got all their luggage together. We had an emotional goodbye with everyone, we hugged and shook hands, cried tears of sadness and said our final goodbyes. Even though we were all sad, we had a piece of joy and hope in all of us because we are going to see them again in October, but this time in France. This whole journey with them was such an amazing opportunity, and we loved every bit of it. Till next time.
Author: Johanna

On our last day, we visited Riigikogu, the parliament of Estonia. There, we were given a speech about Estonia’s position in today’s world and how history has affected us. We also had a tour of the building, for example, we saw the White Hall, the Session Hall of the Riigikogu and a model of the Toompea castle and the Riigikogu building. We also had the chance to climb to the top of the Pikk Hermann tower. It was very windy up there, but we had a magnificent view of the city from up there! It was a very interesting visit for both, French and us Estonians too!
Author: Astrid

In addition to the activities that were organised for us, we did a lot of other things in our free time too. We mostly had free time in the evenings, on Saturday afternoon and on Sunday. Everyone spent their time a bit differently, but everyone did a lot of things, for example, many people went shopping, to museums, to the cinema, to eat out at cafes or restaurants, etc. Many people also spent a day in nature, at their grandparents’ place, or just went on a walk by the seaside. We did our best to show French students our daily lives and Estonian culture, and everybody had so much fun!
Author: Astrid

On Saturday afternoon, we presented the project outcomes, our presentations to fellow students. We were divided into groups of four, and each group were given a specific topic to focus on and make a presentation or video of. The topics were “The role of media”, “Immigration”, “Freedom of speech”, “Equal opportunities” and “Civic engagement”. Four presentations and one video were made in total. It was fascinating to hear about others’ presentations, and I’m sure we all learned a lot of new things about the topics and the differences between France and Estonia. Some topics were a bit trickier than others, but everybody did a great job explaining the subject!
Author: Astrid

On the 5th of April, we visited the European Experience Center. There, we played a simulation game and had the chance to act as a member of the European Parliament.
Author: Marit

On Friday evening, we had a cultural cooking class where we made a total of four dishes. Both the Estonians and the French selected one savory dish and one dessert. We were divided into groups of five, and each group was assigned one dish. The dishes we made were potato salad, biscuit cake, croziflette and chocolate mousse. For the croziflette, the French teachers brought special cheese and macaroni from France to make it taste as good as possible.

We had a lot of fun in the cooking class because we tasted everyone’s food and taught the French people the egg test. This test involves mixing eggs so well that you can flip the bowl upside down over your head without the eggs falling out. Our teacher also played some great Estonian music, acting as a DJ. When everyone was done, we all tasted the food, and it tasted so good!

We had some leftovers, so some people took the food home to enjoy later. We cleaned the classroom and left with our stomachs full. What a wonderful night that was!
Author: Rebecca

On Friday, 04.04, we had a tour of the Old Town. We started in front of our school and went on to the church of Niguliste. On Toompea, we talked about the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and enjoyed listening to the guide talk about history in the warm sun in the garden of the Governor. Our last destination was the viewing platform of Patkuli, from where we had fantastic views. We all learned something new and were really glad that we had this tour.
Author: Emma

On Thursday, the 3rd of April, we had a cultural event. This was to get to know each other and to present Estonian culture. We brought food related to Estonian culture, had many performances, for example, we had folk dancers performing, five Estonians sang different songs, and some people played kannel and karmoška. And what is an Estonian party without Piret Otsa’s traditional dances? Of course, we all danced and played her games. The event was interesting and everybody had fun!
Author: Kristin