First Videomeeting 17.11.2020

During the first videomeeting students got to meet each other. Each group had Finnish students acting as chairs. After a little rowdy start in three videomeeting groups discussion started, perhaps even a bit shyly first, and following topics were discussed for example:

• Project: Due to Corona situation, many activities have been postponed or in a planning stage. One of the schools had done a Sport Day video, and Finnish students talked about their Heart Day and art they created during that day.
• Weather varied quite a bit in different countries: when in Spain the temperature was 20 degrees, in Finland there was snow.
• To get know each other, local cuisines, hobbies, pets, TV series and movies, travelling and future were also topics of discussion. When it came to hobbies, dancing, football, basketball, swimming, gaming, drawing, and music were important ones.
• After Corona many wishes to go travelling or even move to another country.
• One on the question was: what time is it?

Second Videomeeting 17.2.2021

Second videomeeting took place 17th of February. This time six videomeeting groups were created. Each group had a Finnish student acting as a chair. The following topics were discussed for example:

• How has the project progressed in your country? What have you done and what will you do? 
• What kind of test and exams does your school provide?
• Tell us about your school and its rules
• What kind of holidays do you have? And what do you like to do when you don't have school?
• What sports is your country good at? And what are the most common sports? 

Topics were discussed among the six videomeeting groups along other topics of interest. Apparently Corona situtiation had forced many activities to be postponed still. Many exams are either pretty similar or very different in participating countries. In participating countries many holidays were based on religious holidays and so on.

Many of the students felt that the videomeeting was succesfull and left pleasent impression.

Third Videomeeting 5.5.2021

The third videomeeting took place 5th of May. Some of the topics of discussion during this videomeeting were:

• Do you have a May Day celebration? Do you have special parties during spring/summer?
•  How has distance learning been?
• Is spring busy (concerning school; exams, test and so on)?
• When will your summer vacation start? What are you going to do during summer?

In one of the groups talked about hoe Easter is a big party and during that time chocolate eggs are hidden and searched. Midsummer is not as big a celebration in some countries as it is in Finland.

Everyone has a lot of exams during spring, which keeps everyone busy. Distance learning was a subject of discussion too. There were downsides and good points; concentration for example was sometimes difficult while on distance learning. Summer holidays would be filled with swimming, outdoor activities and hanging with friends. Many had a wish to travel. Summer holidays start at the beginning of June, middle of June or at the end of June.