Some thoughts about latest exchange - written by Angela

Another students’ exchange has passed by and all participants are full of different emotions and experiences.  Also this time, as it has become a tradition already, I hosted 2 foreign guys. They were from Italy and their names are Joel Canina and Alex Varino. It was the second exchange with Italy in our school and I was glad to take part in it again.

Nice selfie with snow

I must say, I was very satisfied with my guests. Every day we spent together was filled with laughter and joy. In comparison to Estonias, they definitely had a lot more energy than regular Estonian. For some people, it might have been exhausting but I really enjoyed it. There was always something to do or talk, and I never had to worry about awkward moment of silence.

Even the iPhone couldn’t save the quality of the picture

In my opinion, Italians are more free. They don’t worry about little unimportant things and do whatever they like to do. For example, when they feel like singing out loud or talking to strangers, they don’t think twice. This is something I admire because Estonians are almost about everything too conservative and reserved.

The other reason I loved spending time with them, was their courage to speak in English. To be honest, their English wasn’t the best one, but at least they did their best. They weren’t afraid to ask again if they either misunderstood something or didn’t give up explaining their thoughts and questions.

While these 5 super awesome days we did many different things. With school we had an Estonian theme party, visited the highest mountain in Estonia and Institute of Physics in Tartu. In free time we attended birthday party, Science Centre AHHAA and Trampoline Park. In the evenings we spent time with some other students who took part in exchange.

The most famous attraction in AHHAA - ✓

I seriously hope they enjoyed the time they spent in Estonia and want to visit us again in the future. Even though, only one week has passed by since they left, I really miss them. I can’t wait to visit them in Italy to learn about their traditions and see their lifestyle.

Last night selfie

Students' exchange written by Laura

Hello! I am going to write about the students’ exchange which took place in my school on 19^th-24^th January. Sad part about it is that I was sick at the time so I couldn’t be part of many activities.

Italians arrived in the evening on Thursday. I couldn’t host anybody so my girl Elisabetta was staying at Merit’s place. It was actually great because mine and Merit’s guest Monica were best friends.

For the first time I saw all the Italians on Friday night. We met at the party for Italian and Estonian students so we could get to know each other. My first impression of Elisabetta was that she was absolutely stunning. Also when we started talking then turned out she was friendly and kind, too. The night went well. I had fun in my own little company. The game where we had to teach foreign people the “Põdral maja metsa sees” song was very fun which they learned pretty fast by the way. The party ended at 10 o’clock with a huge disco.

On Saturday Italians got to see different snakes and presentation about Estonian National Defence Forces. Later they went to Haanja and visited Suur Munamägi, then went hiking. In the evening me, Merit and Jakob brought our Italians to play bowling. It was a lot of fun and we got to know each other better. After we spent couple of hours at Merit’s place.

On Sunday morning my father took me and Merit’s “household” to Värska’s waterpark, where we showed Italians the real Estonian sauna. I hope we didn’t cause them any traumas. When we were done enjoying South-Estonia’s beauty we brought them to Pizza Olive and had a wonderful lunch. After a heavy meal Jakob picked us up and we went to Ahhaa’s science centre. The guests were pretty pleased with that experience.

As the leaving day got closer we started to appreciate the time with Elisabetta and Monica more and more. On Monday visited our school Estonian singer Gerli Padar. Later that day we visited University of Tartu Institute of Physics.

Unfortunately had arrived the day when the Italian students went back home. I was really sad to see them go but luckily I’ll see them again in May in Italy!

Mari-Liis - Interesting facts and differences between Estonians and Italians behavior and culture

I found out interesting facts and noticed some differences between Estonians and Italians behavior and culture when exchange students from Saluzzo were in Kanepi. I am going to bring up some of these.

• In Italy there is totally different school system.
• Italians go to school even on Saturday, but they also have shorter school days than we do. Their lessons start at 8 o’clock.
• In Italy they have 10-point scale assessment, while we are evaluated on scale from 1 to 5.
• In Italy, it is illegal to teach your children or other relatives when you are a teacher at the same school.
• They do not wear inside shoes at school in Italy.
• They do not have canteen.

• They do not have saunas like we do in Estonia. They only have a chance to go to sauna in Spas.

• Our eating culture is different.

• I was surprised that my exchange was so impressed in our classic oatmeal. He ate it every morning with some frozen berries and he wanted to prepare it also to his parents.
• Italians eat a lot of pasta. Also, in the mornings they eat big and sweet biscuits with milk.
• In Italy there is a sort of celebration at every meal (lunch and dinner)
• In my student’s family they only start eating dinner when their father is ready to eat.
• Behavior
• Italians are so energetic and cheerful all the time.
• They speak very loud and they are quite noisy.
• They go to a party every Saturday night.

Written by Keitlin

Students' exchange with Italy

On 19th January 2017 at 19:50 some of our school students were waiting in Kanepi bus station for their Italian exchange students who came from Saluzzo and among the other waiters was also me. My exchange student's name is Michela and when the bus arrived then I was nervously looking for her but then I finally found her and we got home by car. That evening we just had dinner, talked and then went to sleep.

On 20th January, Friday, all Italians visited our school and went to some of our lessons, we had much fun in Estonian lesson where they did some puzzles and listened some presentations, I think they liked it. There was also the basketball match at 14:15 and it was also fun. When the day was over then we had to prepare for the Estonian-Italian party which started at 17 o'clock. The party was very awesome and I liked it very much, all the games and the disco at the end.

Picture taken before the party

On Saturday we started our day in the school where we listened to a presentation about Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion where we couldn't go unfortunately and the most exicting thing for me that day were the snakes, I had never seen or touched a snake before and now I want to do it again, it was very awesome experience after that we went to Haanja where we visited Suur Munamägi and also went on a little hike with snowshoes, it was and exhausting day but we still likd it.

Me and python 

Sunday was the day when we needed to do something fun ourselves. I decided to go to Science Centre AHHAA in Tartu with Michela and also Kaarel and Federico came with us. My mother drove us there and it was very, very interesting and not only for me but for them too, they loved to see different things and how they work. After the AHHAA we went to eat something and then also visited the shopping centre. When we got back home then we had some tea, watched TV and had some nice gossips.

Federico and Michela

We had another trip to Tartu on Monday but it was a bit different one. We visited the University of Tartu where our science teacher Kristel works. There were some students who did different experiments for us and after that we were separeted into two groups and the groups went to a different workshops. The workshop where I was, we needed to build a strong spagetti bridge and my team got the second place. After thet we had some shopping time and then we went back home.

Tuesday 24th was they day when they left at 7:30. It was sad to see her go, because I had such a great time, it was great to talk with someone and I'm glad that I got a new friend.

:)

I think the student's exchange is a very cool experience for everyone and I'm so happy that it's in our school, many schools don't have it. I really hope this project never ''dies'' in this school.

Written by Kristen Kalev

Students’ exchange with Italy

I took apart in a students’ exchange with Italian students from Saluzzo. They arrived at Kanepi  on Thursday evening with Lux Express. Mine Italian pal – Tommaso was the first one who stepped out from the bus. Surprisingly, he was also the tallest one of the Italians, at least it seemed so. 

Tommaso is a very chill guy who takes everything with ease and doesn’t let himself to be disturbed of anything. He is a motocross fan like me so we had a lot of things to talk about.

The busiest day of our week was Sunday. We didn’t wake up that early, but still there was a lot of things to do. After having breakfast we headed to Adrenalin Arena in Sõmerpalu, which is the biggest motocross hall in Europe. When we arrived, we saw many riders practicing there with quadracers and some solo motorbikes. We visited the hall’s museum and watched some bikes. 

After half hours chilling in the hall we headed to Tartu to see sidecars and the trucks which are the homes of the riders for a motocross season starting in April and ending in September. We also had a look over the engine that had broke in the last season. 

We got hungry and luckily we had a good fast-food place nearby – the home of Tartu’s finest Chicken Wrap - Sirius. We loved it, unfortunately the time was passing by fast and we had to leave Tartu. 

Back in Kanepi we pulled on some clothes for an ATV ride and went to Tauno’s place. Tauno was heating the sauna and while it was heating up we went to a ride to Jõksi. Sauna was ready to use in 2 hours and when we got there, it was 102 degrees of Celsius in there. Italians didn’t like the heat so much so my Italian friend went closer to the floor. 

After sauna we went to the studio, where I and Tauno were getting ready for the EDM show for Kanepi youth center’s birthday party. The Italians tried to also mix something up with the DJ mixer, surprisingly they were better than usual rookies. Then we watched a movie called Deadpool, when the movie ended it was quite late already and I went home with Tommaso.

I liked the exchange very much and I hope sincerely that these projects will keep on going.

Written by Tauno

Italian students’ exchange programme

I took part in student exchange programme when Italian students came to Estonia for a week. They arrived at Thursday and my Italian student name was Gabriele. He was a good person to host. 

Friday there was a basketball match between Estonia and Italian students. The Italian students played quite good. Unfortunately Estonia lost and I don’t know the reason why. But we only lost by 7 points so not much. After the match there was some free time and then started a party in Kanepi culture house. There were all sorts of food and drinks. After when the EDM show started Italian students went crazy they took off their clothes and started dancing. This was a great experience because we all saw how Italian youngsters party. Of course they wanted to smoke anywhere and anytime but in Estonia as everybody know nobody smokes inside. I think they also liked the Estonian food what was offered there because my Italian always ate something when I saw him he again came from the table something in his hand but so was other students too. It lasted until 10 o’clock and then the day was over. 

In general Italian students are a lot lauder then we are as we saw when they had lunch in schools canteen and they just can’t shut up they always have something to say. But they are nice people and I hope to see them all again in May when we go to Italy.