Our Journey - All the AVITAE issues together

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 1

Three years of AVITAE created a host of memories, experiences and friendships, as well as a lot of international cooperation, cultural exchange and entrepreneurial spirit. To celebrate our project we have printed out all of our memories and stories into one, big collection.

Please enjoy, as we have enjoyed!

A.V.I.T.A.E

A Virtual Intertextual Tour Across Ancient Entrepreneurship AN INTERVIEW WITH PROJECT COORDINATOR DELIA TOCCHINI

The project coordinator Delia Tocchini is from the city of Lucca, in the region of Tuscany, in Italy. Her school is called I.S.I.N Machiavelli. As the coordinator it is her task to tell everyone how to handle different tasks and work with stakeholders.

She also gives advice, tasks and reminds everyone of the dead-

lines of the tasks. In addition, the coordinator encourages other teachers and builds their confidence. She also has to solve all kinds of problems. She is the “boss” of the group.

The teachers hope that the project will help the students gain confidence and become more open-minded, tolerant

and kind. It is important that we learn how to solve problems, be flexible and accept diversity.

Delia Tocchini also explains the concept of peer-to-peer education. It means that students teach each other new things that they themselves have learned from other students from other countries.

This way not only those students who went abroad for a meeting learn new things from other countries.

Tocchini says she herself has already learned leadership, which is an important skill for a project coordinator. “I’ve also learned patience, tolerance and perseverance.”

According to her, an ideal student for an AVITAE project meeting is curious, bold and tolerant. The most important thing, however, is to be yourself.

WHAT IS AVITAE? When the teachers first told us about the AVITAE project, we thought we would have never been chosen for such a huge challenge. On October 5th, when we discovered we were one of the seven schools taking part into it, the surprise on our face was beyond description and we couldn’t stop smiling.

AVITAE, “A Virtual Intertextual Tour across Ancient Entrepreneurship”, aims to increase our awareness of our common European roots, focusing on the birth and development of the European entrepreneurial spirit.

Thanks to the European Union that gave us this opportunity, everyone in our class is

really excited and happy to be in the program, especially because of the meeting of many other students and of all the travelling. In fact the participating schools are situated all over Europe: Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Spain. One of the best aspects of the project is that we will be sharing peer to peer our

different cultures and lifestyles, getting to learn more about our common roots. All of us will work side by side, acquiring a more direct knowledge of our partners’ enterprise culture, and we will join many activities, such as producing texts, short films, virtual maps and trying to build our own business in the final year.

Confident that’s going to be a great experience, we’re really looking forward to the first exchange, in January, which will give us the opportunity to personally introduce ourselves to each others in Denmark.

Class IB, Liceo Classico N.Machiavelli, AVITAE Coordinating School, ITALY.

The following articles are presentations of participating schools, written by students from the other schools.

Here we’ve got our presentation about the Finnish school of Pyhajoki, made on the basis of our Finnish partners’ answers.

A typical school day in Finland starts at 8:30 with a morning round-up; after, the seventyfive minutes lessons follow. During the class, after teacher’s explanation, students do exercises on their own regarding the issue which has been taught by the professor. Besides paper and books, they also use Ipads in order to take

notes and read schoolbooks in a digital version. At last, with them, they can play videogames during break (lucky them!).

Their school offers many types of other activities: newspaper making and layout, student-produced fairs once per year, studytrips abroad sponsored with the money collected with fairs, football tournaments and other kind of sport competitions and of course, last but not least, ERASMUS+.

Did you know that they

produce the only newspaper in the whole town? It is completely made by students except for printing and delivering. According to them, it isn’t just funny, but first of all is very useful: writing gives credit and trains them for a likely job career.

New “journalists” , at the beginning of their career, are helped by their expert senior partners.

A very important event that the school offers is the “school prom”. For this event, participants wear old,

traditional clothes and prepare a dance choreography (guess what? It gives credit!).

However, speaking about AVITAE project, our European friends can’t wait to get internationally, new friends and learn things from other cultures, just like we do!

We’re sure that it will be an awesome experience!

The team of the Italian School

A.V.I.T.A.E

sivu 2

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

A modern high school with choose to their compulsory a media profile. artistic subject: either visual arts, drama, media or music.

The Ørestad Gymnasi- The three-year- programme um is located in Ørestad, consists of a basic programnearby the capital of Den- me (first six months) and a mark. It specializes in study specialized study programprogrammes within natural me (the rest 2,5 years) Thesciences, social sciences and re are thirteen specialized the humanities. The biggest study programmes at the difference between the Øre- Ørestad Gymnasium. The stad Gymnasium and other Study programmes focus on high schools in Denmark is media, languages, journalism that the school is very open and physical education. Stuand the school building is dents can choose for examponly 7-8 years old. le a Natural Science study Studies are free and take programme (Biotechnology, three years. Students have Science or Health), a Langucompulsory subjects but age study programme (Methey choose their own stu- dia+, Journalism, Tv-jourdy programme too. The nalism or China) or a Social compulsory subjects are Science study programme Danish, English, 2nd foreign (Innovation, Globalisation language - French, German, Studies, Culture and ReligiSpanish or Chinese, history, on or Psychology) During math, religion etc. Students the first school year - until

If you are a Spanish teenager, you can pursue your ambitions at a public (free of charge), private or a mixed type of school. Our friends from ....... Tenerife attend the first type. Most of them continue at a university, because without a degree they would end up as cleaners, waiters, or shop assistants, which are pretty tough jobs for graduates, who have to drill their brains with Spanish, Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry, Geography, English, P.E, Technology, and some optional subjects: French/ Italian, Music/Classical Studies/ Arts, Religion/ Alternative.

Their secondary education starts when they are twelve and it lasts for 4 years, but they still can continue in the bachelor´s degree where they deal with Greek, Latin, Art History, for Humanities, Electronics, Technology, Drawing (for Technologies), Biology, Chemistry, Maths for Sciences. Students can

also opt for psychology, economics, ICT, Italian, French… They can enjoy these subjects for 2 years and if they succesfully finish this stage, the gates to a university study, vocational courses, or the first serious job opportunities are widely open.

As to the ordinary school days, the students are not allowed to use the popular technological devices and if they want to find some information, they can use just school computers with free internet access. But the computers are quite old, so you definitely need a great load of patience if you want to work on them. Perhaps, it is better when you visit the school library and check the old books. If hunger knocks on the door, they can have a snack, but they have lunches at home after finishing the classes.

There are 92 teachers who show the life-paths to their pupils, so it is not suprising

December - you can change your study programme. But after the first year it would be too difficult to change.

Students are in the same class during all three years but some subjects are taught across classes. The school’s aim is testing new ways of teaching. They use a lot of modern technology.

Students haven’t got books, they bring their own laptops to school every day. Many of the classes use iPads too. All teaching materials are digital in first-year classes.

A regular school day starts at 8am and ends at 4pm.

In one school day there are max. four different subjects.

One lesson is 100 minutes long. Between each lesson there are short breaks. The longest break is lunch break, it is 40 minutes long.

that for every subject there is a different teacher. Many of them teach languages, because the language offer is quite wide: Spanish, English (B2 level), Italian (B1), French (B1) and even Latin and Greek. They evaluate students with marks that range from 1 to 10 and if you are given a 5 and then onwards, you have passed.

Those who are fed up with learning and doing homework love the school holidays: more than two weeks

In the whole school there are 1200 students - about 20 to 32 per class. It varies how long it takes the students to get the school .

Some can get to the school in less than ten minutes, some need to use the train and other public transports and it can take 45 minutes.

During the school year students have classic vacations.

The Christmas break is three weeks long, summer vacation is six to seven weeks long, the fall break and the easter break are one week long.

Also Fridays often are free.

By Raija Piilola, Timo Suni and Riikka Kangas, Finland.

robotics contest (for more info: https://fllcuriosity.wordpress.com), exchanges to Florence, Brussels, France, and other countries (USA just for those whose parents have well paid jobs).

If you want to become a doctor, or an engineer, you really need to work hard and especially in the last year students fight for the best possible marks. If you successfully pass all those difficult, but interesting subjects (some of them taught bilingually), you have a reason to celebrate and take part in a graduation party where you can appear in your newest suite, or dress and then dance all night long.

Sounds interesting? For us definitely yes and we are looking forward to seeing this school and meeting our Spanish friends there.

at Christmas time, one week during the carnival season in February, one week at Easter and of course the long Summer holidays.

The school, founded in 1848, is a living museum, mixing the omnipresent history with the living present embodied in various activities which the students take part in: CLIL program where some subjects are taught in Slovak students Michal, English, BACHIBAC project Sara, Lenka (French and Spanish Baccalaureate), international lego

A.V.I.T.A.E

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Our task for the first edition of the AVITAE newspaper was to interview the Slovakian students about their education system and their school. Here is what they told us: To begin with, their compulsory school attendance, by law, is for 10 years.

In Slovakia, generally, the school year begins on 2nd September and ends in the end of June. But in their school the year ends in the beginning of June because then they have compulsory summer practice in different hotels or restaurants.

The school functions as follows: first lesson starts at 7:45am and every period lasts 45 minutes. In average they have seven periods per day, but sometimes less (5) or more (10).

The subjects which they have are: some special like Economy, Technology of serving, Administration and Correspondence, Hotel and Gastronomy management, Accounting, Marketing, Law, Technology of preparing dishes and of course Math, Geography, Informatics, History, PE, Ecology and lastly Slovak, English, French and German. As extra they

have a Travel and Tourism business program. Between the lessons both teachers and students change classrooms and it depends on a schedule system that their principalship makes for them. In some subjects they wear uniforms but normally not. They usually spend 1 or 2 hours per day doing homework but this is individual.

In order to pass a class, they must pass all their subjects (minimum mark 5) and they also take a final leaving exam in their last year of studies. If they don’t pass it, they won’t take a certificate. However, their school provides them with a much better chance to get a job rather than they would have without the certificate. They

N. Machiavelli High School is located in the centre of the city of Lucca, Italy. The school is named after Machiavelli who was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat and philosopher.

N. Machiavelli is the oldest school in Lucca and one of the most ancient in the whole of Italy. Its building is of the Renaissance period. In 1819, it was called ‘Real Collegio’ and it was operated both as a university and a high-school. In fact, the school hosts a museum in its premises.

At the N. Machiavelli High School there are about 300 pupils and 30 teachers.

There are also 700 students studying in a different building and following different

fields of study. The school does not participate in any regional or national sports championships, but once a year a school tournament takes place where all the classes get to compete against each other in a variety of sports.

The school year starts around the 10th of September every year and the ends round the 9th of June.

The dates vary slightly each year. There are several bank holidays such as the 1st of November, celebrating the « All Hallows Day », the Christmas Holidays lasting from the 23rd of December until the 7th of January, as well as, the Easter Holidays in March and April. However, there are also national

sivu 3

are treated as specialists skilled in a certain branch of business. If they want to study in a university after finishing their school, they should have the necessary grades on their report card, the graduation exam and then the number of points they get by the entrance exams.

Their school is equipped with 3 computer labs, a cafeteria, a gym, kitchens for the cooking lesson and specialized classes for Technology of serving. However, these facilities are not available after school. Despite having internet connection, they are not all able to have access to it as the signal is weak. There are no free meals, but they can buy their

lunches for a discounted price.

As regards transportation, most of the students get to school by public transportbuses or trams. But students who live away from Bratislava come by train.

Asking them about extra curriculum activities, they take part in Bartender, Sommelier, Coffee and Carving competitions and in Danubius Gastro which is an international competition for preparing special meals. In fact, last year they won the 1st prize. They also run a charity twice a year, fundraising campaigns and a Coffee Cup competition. Trips are organized to different regions of Slovakia, Vienna, Prague and excursions to hotels and spas. In summer, their school offers them practice abroad, usually Italy, Greece and Japan.

There aren’t any awards or scholarships for the best students.

The relationship between students and teachers depends on the teachers, but mostly they get on well.

Despite a few minorities in school, there are rare phenomena of bullying or violence.

In cases of misbehaviour, the

cooperation of parents with teachers and the help of the school psychologists usually solve the problems....If not students are sent to the headmistress.

Considering the educational system, the majority of students are not satisfied.

They would like to change the whole system as it does not take them as individuals.

They claim that they should choose subjects that they want to learn and are more interested in. Finally, if they had the chance to go to a school in a foreign country, they would choose Denmark because their school is for free and their educational system is one of the best in Europe. But for many students the USA is also an option. They have many students who study in the Czech Republic or Austria.

This school sounds very interesting. So we are really looking forward to getting there to meet the people and get our own idea of how things work.

celebrations such as April 25th, Liberation Day, May 1st, Worker’s Day, and the June 2nd, Republic Day. At N. Machiavelli a specific schedule is followed for the first two years and in the third year there is a small change. During the first two years school starts at 8 o’clock in the morning and ends at 12 o’clock or at 1, depending on the day. In year three, school ends at 1 o’clock or at 2 o’clock, again depending on the day.

A typical school day at N. Machiavelli begins at 8 o’ clock in the morning. Students are taught for four, five, or even six periods, based on the day’s schedule. At the school you will not find a canteen, but some

vending machines where snacks and drinks can be purchased the breaks. Breaks are typically very short, thus students do not really get a chance to chill out with their friend.

Italian English, Latin and Ancient Greek are the languages taught in the school.

As far as a student’s individual choice of subjects is concerned, a student gets to choose at the age of 13 which kind of career they would like to follow, so that they can attend a school which offers the relevant subjects.

There is no formal uniform at the school but the dress code requires that the students are appropriately dressed. Furthermore, the

use of any electronic devices, such as mobile phones, is prohibited, unless teachers ask for them to be used as part of a project. If a student is caught using a mobile phone during a lesson, teachers have the right to keep the device.

Apart from a project organized by the European Youth Parliament, students attending the school do not have many opportunities to interact and work with foreign students. Therefore, they are really looking forward to being a part of AVITAE and getting to know their peers from around Europe!

From the team of the Greek school, Stavros Kolios, Iliana Georgou, Alexantra Oikonomou

From the tema of Cyprus school.

A.V.I.T.A.E

sivu 4

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Laniteio Lykeo is the largest Public High School in Cyprus, with over 900 students, and 140 teachers, the second oldest on the island, established in 1819.

It hosts two special schools, the Limassol Music and the Limassol Sports Schools.

There are 6 independent buildings with laboratories, an interesting library, five well-equipped computer rooms, a huge Assembly Hall, and comfortable classes. Sports facilities include a gym, several basketball and volleyball courts, a real size stadium and 3 canteens.

The school has participated in many European and International Programmes: LLP Comenius, Young Reporters for the Environment, UNESCO, eTwinning Pro-

The Greek school system consists of three educational levels, whereof primary school (Dimotiko) and lower secondary school(Gymnasio) are compulsory. Upper secondary education is not compulsory, and the students can choose between two types of schools, the Eniaio Lykeio or a Technical school.

The third educational level is divided into the university sector and the higher technological sector. Admissions to these are based on the scores of the exams taken in the third year of Lykeio.

The 2nd Geniko Lykeio of Arta, also known as 2ο Γενικό Λύκειο Άρτας, is a high school with approx.

300 students and an average of 25 students per class.

The school is located in the city Arta in the northwestern part of Greece. The facilities include a large school yard for the students to spend their free time or eat snacks in the 6 breaks du-

jects, Bilateral Environmental Projects with Greece.

As well as school trips and visits to European countries, sports activities are abundant too. Students usually do quite well, last year the school’s boys Volleyball Team won the National Championship and came 6th in the International Championship in Portugal. Congratulations boys!

What is it like to be a student? There is a school uniform, about 25 students in each class, starting at 7:30 am and finishing at 13:35 pm, and some homework “of course”. In addition, in the afternoon most students attend English private lessons to get prepared for the GCEs, as many of them aim to attend English Universi-

ring the day. The students attend classes five days a week from 8:10-13:45. They have seven lessons a day of 45 minutes each. In their second and third year, they get to specialize more on different subjects, which will determine whether they go in a scientific or humanistic direction.

The school is quite traditional when it comes to learning methods. Most of the classes are taught through a lecture given by the teacher, whereafter discussion may follow from the students’ side. Although the students feel very close to their teachers, they are still to address the teachers in a polite plural form. This may seem old fashioned to some of us in the Nordic countries, but the students at the 2nd Geniko Lykeio of Arta stress that the studentteacher relationship is built on respectful friendship.

The students respect each other and through this they earn the respect of their te-

ties. Others also have Maths lessons, play a musical instrument or practise other hobbies. No doubt, hanging out with friends is very popular. So life is quite busy!

In grade 1 of High school students have 15 compulsory subjects including 3 different languages. In grades 2 and 3 apart from the compulsory subjects, Greek, Maths, Religion and History, they can choose 2 Foreign Languages and 3 or 4 Compulsory courses, as majors.

A school day can be quite tiring so, students have 3 breaks to relax. The first break lasts for 15 minutes, the second one for 25 and the third one for 10 minutes.

The final exams, “the PanCyprian exams” allow students to enter the Univer-

achers as well. Most of the homework is supposed to be learned by heart, as the tests during the 1st term are spread out at random, and any written assignments are graded.

The school has a computer room, since the students don’t bring computers to school or use other electronic devices like Smart Boards during their lessons. If extra things such as CD players or laptops are needed, the teachers will bring these themselves. The students have admitted that they are sometimes distracted by social media during the lessons, though, since the school offers free wifi. But they will get in trouble if they ever get caught in the act!

The students are not offered a lot of extracurricular activities, but the school does have sports teams who are doing pretty well. They participate in games against other schools in and out of town. The teams have won a lot of regional champion-

sities in Cyprus and Greece.

How about special events, festivals and holidays? There are plenty of events. Many of the Laniteio students are in the The Limassol Student Band too. The school year lasts from September to June. Both at Christmas and Easter they have 2 weeks off, and summer holidays last for 3 months! Not too bad! Well deserved holidays!

If you want to know more about this school, you can visit its webpage, http://lyklaniteio-lem.schools.ac.cy/ Written by 3º ESO A students in IES Canarias Cabrera Pinto. Tenerife

ships, in fact they even won the national championship once. Apart from sports, they also participate in national math, physics and astronomy competitions - even European ones, like Euroscola.

Exams are taken after every spring term, to determine whether or not you may advance to the next year.

The students themselves describe the school as “very difficult”, especially when it comes to the final exams, the entrance ticket to the good universities, which are taken in May/June of the final year in Lykeio. The students in the Lykeio are graded on a scale from 1-20, with 9.5 and above being the passing score.

Many of the students feel that the school system is too demanding on them, and this, along with adopting technology in their everyday lessons and modernizing the facilities at school, are some of the things the students at the 2nd Geniko Lykeio of

Arta would like to change.

From a Dane’s perspective, the 2nd Geniko Lykeio of Arta seems like a wellfunctioning and harmonious school, judging by the quality of the teaching, which for the size of the town is considered “distinguished” by the students. We especially enjoy that they express such a joy for spending time together and sharing with each other. It is in some ways very different from our own school, especially in regard to the parties, of which they only have one a year in connection to the carnival, and alcohol is absolutely out of the question. But all in all we find the school to be very interesting and we are looking forward to visiting in 2015!

By Emma Borch and Bianca Rasmussen at Ørestad Gymnasium, Denmark

Spring 2015

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 5

A.V.I.T.A.E

THE SCHOOL WITHOUT PAPER

BY BIANCA RASMUSSEN, DENMARK, WITH LEFTERIS TRAMBAS, GREECE, AND BIANCA VANNUCCI, ITALY

Bright lights. Glass walls. Flashes of Facebook on the Macbook screens. We're on the second floor of Ørestad Gymnasium in Copenhagen, attending math class with our host.

It's all still so new - the open spaces, the relaxed atmosphere, calling the teacher by her first name. Looking around the classroom, we notice that everybody is looking down at their screens. The teacher is explaining something in danish, which kind of sounds like a less brutal version of German, sprinkled with french. Apart from her voice, all that can be heard is the sound of about 300 fingers tapping on their respective keyboards, apparently listening and taking notes about linear functions.

During the break we go to the banister of the huge beautiful staircase. It really is magnifi-

cent - how you manage to drag yourself up and down those stairs every day is beyond us.

We seldom have more than two floors, since we are only about 300 students at our respective schools. Everybody gathers along the banister and conversation starts floating off into the open space above the canteen. The air is filled with the sound of funny non-rolling r’s that you somehow produce at the back of your throats.

One of the danish students tells us about Ørestad’s famous fire alarms as we watch the other classes slowly filing out of their class cages. We have come to learn that breaks are meant for your favorite hobby: people-gazing. “What is that guy doing?”, we ask our host, and point at a guy in one of the Fatboys. “I think he’s doing homework”, she says after a while. “Or sleeping, you know, whatever.” It is really amazing to us how free you are - both with all the open learning areas, but also when it comes to the choices you have and what is

expected from you at school.

It seems like Ørestad Gymnasium is like the synonym to freedom and modern teaching.

You guys have access to so many things - Laptops, media equipment, more than three bathrooms (!!) and a world full of information right at your fingertips. Even the subjects that you are bad at, you can choose at a lower level and focus on your favorite subjects instead.

Imagine that! It’s like taking a time machine into the future.

The teacher calls us back in and gives the class some math problems to solve. With the help of our host’s translations we solve most of them by the end of the lesson. Surprisingly the class is not given any homework. The rest of the students seem oddly relaxed, considering they have been working intently on solving math problems the past half hour. Or what? As perfect as Ørestad Gymnasium looks, it almost seems like your society

gives you... Too much freedom.

You guys have all the means to study, endless possibilities and wonderful, interested teachers, but somehow it seems like you don’t fully realise and appreciate how lucky you actually are.

Of course too much freedom is a luxury we wish we had. Ørestad Gymnasium is like a dream come true for us - it’s going to be hard to return back home.

Free WiFi really grows on you.

And that "flæskesteg" thing?

Delicious.

Hopefully we can learn from your ways of thinking, and you can learn a bit from ours as well.

Thank you for hosting us all it has been a wonderful experience. We think we have enough selfies to last us for some time now.

But hey, the whole “schoolwithout-paper”-thing?

Nice try. We saw it! You’re officially busted.

AVITAE – A LOT MORE THAN AN INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE BY: MEAVE BUCHIGNANI & SOFIE BRØBECH HEDAM HANSEN

Thanks to this AVITAE project we have gotten to know many different people from all over Europe and made enough me-

mories to last us a lifetime.

each other and the only thing we knew was more or less our names. On Monday though, Getting to know each otthanks to our Index group work her through group work. sessions, we have come to know not just each other, but someWhen we first got to the one from every country. In the airport we only knew about groups you needed to talk with

someone you have never met before and we had to find a way to get our heads together and fix the problems in front of us. At first it was hard. Everyone had their own opinion, their own idea, of how the problems should be fixed. But we found our way around it by discussing our different ideas, and at the end we found a solution everyone could agree with.

Thanks to the group work we have gotten more and more friends.

The very first evening we were out for dinner with the entire Italian group, both guests and hosts, but the next days we were all hanging out together. An example could be our little trip to McDonald’s on Wednesday night, after our dinner at Riz Raz. There we were people from Den-

mark, Italy, Spain, Finland and Greece, just enjoying each others company. We laughed a lot and took many great pictures.

Even on Thursday night, when there was an orientation night at school, where everyone could come and see if Ørestad Gymnasium was the school for them. All of us people from the AVITAE project stayed together and joined the fun, while all the hopeful Danes were going up and down the stairs getting the true Ørestad experience.

Learning through our new connections We do have to say though, that also getting to know each other we learned new things thanks to the Index groups. We really got to know how to solve problems and be innovative.

We also learned how to brand and how to promote ideas to our target groups. But what

we learned wasn't just school related. We learned about new cultures and countries, and off course some new words in all of the different languages.

The Italians learned danish, the Danes learned Greek and so on.

We tried learn each other some useful things to say, but they were not the things that we remembered the next day. Those were usually the swearing words and funny sentences.

Thanks to the Index sessions and all of our many new experiences from this week at Ørestad Gymnasium, everyone is now talking to everyone. The first day you wouldn't have seen a group with people from 7 different countries, but now you can easily spot a girl from Spain talking to a guy from Italy or a Slovakian sharing their food with a Dane.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 6

THIS IS A TIMELINE OF IMPORTANT DATES IN OUR PARTNER COUNTRIES. EACH COUNTRY CHOSE TWO DATES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO THEM AND EVERY COUNTRY WROTE WHAT HAPPENED IN THEIR COUNTRY THAT YEAR. FOLLOW THE ARROWS AND YOU’LL GET THE DATES IN IN THE RIGHT ORDER. UNFORTUNATELY CYPROS WAS UNABLE TO PARTICIPATE.

241 BC

699 BC Denmark

Denmark In Denmark from around 1700 BC.-700 BC, we have bronze-age.

The raw material of bronze as well as gold and other objects found in Denmark testify to long-distance trade network especially with eastern Europe, Mediterranean and Southern Germany. This change in this period regarding agriculture, trade, religion, techniques for building boats and more, even though the metal bronze is too soft for making real tools.

After the bronze-age follows the iron-age (500 BC-800 A.C.). Iron is hard enough to be use for tools and weapons, and thus changed peoples everyday life. A number of innovations occurred during this age, one of the most interesting is the bog iron.

Finland Finland got cultural influence from Russia and Sweden.

Greece The defeat of the Spartans by the people of Argos in the battle of Ysia. Also Peisistratos becomes the archon of Athens.

Italy In the VII century B.C. the Etruscan civilization developed in the centre of Italy, spreading an innovative culture that was influenced by many contacts with other Mediterranean populations, like the Hellenics, Magna Grecians and Phoenicians.

Slovakia

Slovakia began to develop extraction of iron, gold and salt.

Phoenician traders settled For the first time there was in the mining areas of what appeared a potter’s wheel apis now Almería and Granada peared. (south of Spain).

1881 Around this time the Danes was producing milk but not anything further in that category. But then they started using new methods of how the processed the milk cultures.

This started Denmark early success in export. This success happened because now the Danes could export not just milk, but dairy product such as cheese and butter.

Spain Pablo Picasso, a very important painter and sculpturer, was born on 25 October in Malaga. His family was liberal people but very poor. They moved to France.

Italy The Gotthard tunnel is opened and new trade routes are established. The first installment of C.Collodi’s “Storia di un burattino”, the nucleus of future novel “ P i n o c c h i o ”, comes out. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Pope John XXIII), and Alcide De Gasperi (Prime Minister in the aftermath of WWII and one of the founding fathers of the EU) were born.

Finland

Slovakia

Railway network grew and Finland started to be industrialized.

Slovak society Detvan in Prague was founded by Slovakian students.

The main activities were cultural and educational, later also political.

Greece Arta is liberated from the Turks. the river Aracthos forms the natural border between the free land and the part still under occupation. They had to wait until 1913 to be liberated too.

In this period of time (PreRoman iron age) in Denmark the people discovered bog iron, and they started to use the material to make stronger and better tools and weapons - thereby the name of the period. Around 500 BC, the first villages were founded in Denmark.

the First Punic War ended.

The Romans strategically defeated the Carthaginians.

Thanks to this victory they built their first fleet and started to travel and trade through the Mediterranean Sea. Slovakia

Spain

Spain

Denmark

Italy

Significant flow of Celts into Carpathian hollow

After Carthage’s defeat at the hands of Rome in the first of the Punic Wars, 265-241 BC. Carthagecompensated for its loss of Sicily by rebuilding a commercial empire in Hispania.

In Finland we learnt to make items from iron, for example weapons and

Greece Eumenides I, the ruler of Pergamum , in Asia Minor dies. He freed Pergamum and rebuilt it.

Parallelly, the 3rd Syrian war between the successors of Alexander the Great, Seleucids and Ptolemies ended.

833 AD Denmark Nothing specific happened this year, but it was the time of the Vikings in Denmark. We raided several cities in countries like Ireland, Great Britain and the Netherlands. The Vikings invented and built many different types of ships, that enabled them to travel to distant places, even as far as the USA. Spain

The Emirate of Córdoba, in Al- Andalus was ruled by Abd al-Rahman II. He was an erudite man. Between 833 and 834 he extended the Mosque of Cordoba, a masterpiece of art and splendour.

Finland

Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis is a yeast used to produce lager beer, and was discovered by the Dane Emil Christian Hansen during the time he worked at the brewery Carlsberg Bryggeri. This type of yeast was bottom-fermenting, which means that it sinks to the bottom of the beer when the fermentation is finished, and takes place at quite a low temperature, 5-15 C. Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis is now used at breweries all over the world.

Italy Lothair I, son of the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious, is king of Italy. In northern Italy and Tuscany there is evidence of organized estates, where tenants also had to work without pay on the lord’s demesne, an area whose produce went entirely to the lord. They produced a sizable agricultural surplus, which the estates’ owners often sold in the cities.

Slovakia

Vikings traveled along coast Two big Principalities were of Finland to bring for examp- connected, Moravian principale weapons wealth to Finland. lity and Nitra principality and and after that go to Russia. the Great Moravia was created. It was the first major Slavic state at all.

in Muros, on the Cantabrian Sea. Spain governed by Charles I defeated the French and after that Spain got control of the Cantabrian Sea. 1881 Pablo Picasso, a very important painter and sculpturer, was born on 25 October in Malaga. His family was liberal people but very poor. They moved to France.

Nothing specific happened in 1543, but in 1546, Tycho Brahe was born. Brahe was an astronomer, who ended up changing our perception of the universe and his discoveries about the constellations are still used today. He built a lot of groundbreaking instruments and both Newton’s and Kepler’s work was heavily Finland influenced by Brahe’s discoThe first ABC­book was pubveries. lished by Mikael Agricola. The ability to read became very common. It was the first FinSpain nish book. Lutheranism also There was a Naval battle became popular.

Finland The meeting of estates, where they decided to tie ‘the Finnish markka’ (= the currency before the euro in Finland) to gold.

Greece The Hellenic Red Cross is being founded by Queen Olga.

Italy

Greece Continuous piratical raids against the Ionian Islands.

Italy Nicolas Copernicus published his treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The Revolution ) Slovakia Territory of Slovakia in Hungarian Kingdom was occupied by the Turks. The Turks took and occupied Esztergom and the archbishop of Esztergom moved to Bratislava.

1918

1877 AD Denmark

Greece The Byzantine emperor, Theophilos , a great Christian and fervent iconoclast, declared Ioannis Grammaticus as archbishop, who lead to the resolution of the issue.

1543 AD Denmark

Finland

Denmark In 1918 an electoral system was introduced in Denmark and also this year the first women in Denmark were elected for the Danish Government. Danish women had only gotten the right to vote a few years before, in 1915.

known as the Spanish flu.

Finland The previous year Finland became independent.Civil war in Finland. The reds and the whites (the Socialists and the Right­ wing) fought. The Right­wing won.

Spain The so-called “Coppino Law” (after the name of the proposing Minister) makes education

Spain compulsory for children aged The expansion of the telepho- from six to nine all over the Itane started in Spain (between lian kingdom.

1877 and 1924), after being late with the expansion of other Slovakia inventions like the railway and the telegraph.

It was time of national movement, one of most important poets and national revivalist Janko Matúka died

Italy the “Manifesto of the Italian Futurist Party” is published.

Trade Unions (FIOM) obtain the reduction of working hours to 8 for metalworkers. The ILVA Steel Company is founded. 375,000 Italians die of Spanish Fever.

Slovakia

Greece There was a very important epidemic, known as the Spanish flu. The number of dead people in Germany, Britain France… was minimised, so that the soldiers’ morale wouldn’t be affected.

As Spain wasn’t at war, the number of dead people was announced freely, that is why it is

A truce is being signed in salonica between the Allies (Triple Entente: the UK, France, Russia) and Bulgaria. The Bulgarians are obligated to withdraw their troops from the Greek and Serbian grounds.

The establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic. The Czechoslovak declaration of independence was proclaimed on October 28 in Prague. The establishment of the Constitution of 1920 installed a parliamentary system and representative democracy.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

1185 AD ronomer and philosopher from Andalusia died in 1185. He The year 1185 the Danes led was a scholar, philosopher, astby King Knud the 6th finally ronomer and physician. conquered the Venders led by duke Bugislav after 85 years Finland of war. We soon lost the area again, but the Danish kings Swedes made crusades to kept the title “De Venders Fyrs- Finland. Finland became part te”, in latin Rex Sclavorum until of Sweden and they brought 1972 where Queen Margareth the Roman Catholic Church to the 2nd was crowned. The title Finland. was only for kings, not queens!

Denmark

peror, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, once again moved into Italy, this time joining forces with the local rural nobility to reduce the power of the Tuscan cities. His supporters became known as Ghibellines (Ghibellini) and were often those whose wealth was based on agricultural estates, while the Guelphs supported the Pope and tended to come from wealthy mercantile families.

Greece

In the medieval periode, a lot of changes took place, innoThe second fall of Salonica by vations in agriculture and the structure of society changed the Normans. Alexios Vranas Komninos defeated them in Diradically from the Viking age. mitritzi, near Amphipoli.

Spain Abu Bakr Ibn Tufayl, an important Muslim doctor, ast-

Italy Frederick I, Holy Roman Em-

Slovakia Hungarian monarch is Béla III invaded the Byzantine Empire.

After Andronikos I fell in September, Béla signed a peace treaty with the new emperor, Isaac II Angelos. Isaac married Béla’s daughter, Margaret

sivu 7

1204 AD was Jewish, he had to leave AlItaly Andalus. He died in Al-Fustat In the start of the year 1200 in 1204.

The sack of Constantinople a new important trading centmarks the end of the IV Crure starts being used – the Finland sade as well as the triumph of strait between Denmark and the Republic of Venice: from The Danes made a military now on nothing will prevent Sweden called Øresund. This trading centre gathered Tra- expedition to Estonia and Fin- Venice from dominating maridesmen from all of Northern land. The pope gave them a time trade in the MediterraEurope. This brought new permission. nean. product to Denmark and gave income to Danish King by sel- Greece Slovakia ling salted herrings and other The fall of Constantinople Ondrej II. became a king of Danish/Swedish products. by the Crusaders. Directly af- Kingdom of Hungary. He was terwards, Michael I Komnenos directly responsible for the Spain Doukas (a nobleman, relative beginning of the feudal anarMaimonides was also an im- of the emperor) founds a new chy which led to the extincportant doctor and philoso- state in the west with Arta as tion of the Árpád dynasty at pher in the Middle Age. He its capital. the end of the 13th century was born in Al-Andalus. As he

Denmark

1323

1496 AD re. The Canary Islands were and Thessaly by Konstantinos conquered by these Catholic Arianitis. The Greeks were slaughtered and the country In this period in Danish his- kings in 1496 too. was looted. tory, the first Danish university was established in Den- Finland mark, at first being run by the Italy “Viipurin pamaus” was a big church, but this was the start of educating scholars and cre- explosion, which scared Russian soldiers when they were Leonardo da Vinci unsucating innovations. trying to conquer the city of cessfully tries to make a flying Vyborg. machine work; in the same Spain year he starts his “Last Supper” The Arabs surrendered Greece Granada and handed the Alhambra to the Christians Slovakia An attempt of the Greeks Kings, Isabelle I and Ferdinand of Aragon. It was the last pos- to revolt against the Turks Jan Thurzo built copper smelsession of the Arabs in Spain, under the leadership of the ter factory for separation of and its conquest meant the Dyrrachion archbishop, An- copper from silver near Banska beginning of a great Empi- drea Palaiologo and in Epirus Stiavnica.

Denmark

Denmark Nothing specific happened in Denmark this year, but in 1340, Valdemar Atterdag was crowned king of Denmark. Valdemar is remembered for his great efforts in uniting Denmark again, as it had been split up by his father. He made some harsh but wise decisions, which in the end were very beneficial for Denmark, and his clever way of trading and selling off parts of the land ended up securing Denmark as a nation.

Spain

Greece

James II , “The Just” was The lighthouse of Alexanruling Aragón, Valencia dria, one of the seven wonand Barcelona, one of the ders of the ancient world, is powerful kingdoms at that being time. He conquered Sardinia in 1323.

Italy Finland

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and the The peace treaty of Päh- father of Medieval Scholastikinäsaari. The fighting bet- cism, is canonized by Pope ween Sweden and Novgo- John XXII rod ended 12/8/1323 and Sweden­Finland established Slovakia its borders. The border went through Pyhäjoki.

Fiscal and monetary reforms of King Charles I

1936 AD George’s II support, adjourns the Parliament and declares We didn’t really have any inno- Greece a state of emergency. vative things in 1936, but in the He held all power. It was a selfyear before, 1935, we finished coup. the bridge called, the Little Belt Bridge. Now people could tran- Italy sport themselves from Funen to Jutland.

Cinecittà (the Italian “HolIn 1970 a new Little Belt Bridge loywood”, in Rome), PUF (the was built. Today the Old Little Fascist Ministry of PropaganBelt Bridge is still used mostly da), the Rome-Berlin Axis and by light traffic, bikers and hi- the FIAT car “Topolino” were born. Mussolini proclaims the kers. birth of the Fascist Empire: King Vittorio Emanuele III beSpain comes Emperor of Ethiopia. Antisemitic campain starts off in 1936: Spain was a republic at the journal “Il regime fascista”. that time. A group of soldiers Mussolini sends troops to supdid a coup d’état and for this port Franco during the Spanish reason a Civil War began in Civil War (10,000 men). Nobel Spain. General Franco won and Prize for literature Luigi PirandSpain was under a dictatorship ello dies in Rome. and isolated from the rest of Europe for about 40 years.

Slovakia

Denmark

Finland There was an election of parliament. The Socialists and Agrarian Centre party succeeded well. Finland had co-operation between these blocks.

Greece Ioannis Metaxas, with king

The first congress of Slovak Writers expressed fidelity to the “struggle for freedom andgreat ideas of mankind”. Congress was the most serious and the most important event of Slovak writers, scientists and journalists, which had an impact not only on the Slovak literature and culture, but also supported the struggle against the growing menace of fascism.

1957 AD noon, everything deadened in Greece as a protest against the 1957, First time Denmark British about their policy in competes in the Eurovision Cyprus. song contest. Denmark was the first Scandinavian country Italy in the Eurovision. It has opened up for the cultural awareness of Scandinavia. By competing in On 25th March 1957 two trethe Eurovision song contest we aties were signed in Rome. The have made Denmark more kno- first gave birth to the European wn all over Europe.

Economic Community (EEC), also known as the ’Common Market ’; the second was an agSpain reement on the production of The last colonial war that nuclear energy for civil use. The Spain faced happened in that EEC changed the ways of trade year. The newly independent across Europe by allowing the Kingdom of Morocco wanted free circulation of goods among to control the northern part member States. of Western Sahara, which was a Spanish possession. Spain left Slovakia the area.

Antonin Novotny became a president. He was a hard-line Finland supporter of Stalinism. In the Jean Sibelius died. He was na- Czechoslovakia of Novotny, tional composer of Finland. He people continued to face strict composed the Finlandia. government regulations. A new fully Communist constitution was approved.

Greece

Denmark

1957: On 13th February, at

2003 facture of Nokia was successful. It brought wealth to Skype, created by the Finland.

Dane Janus Friis and the Greece Swede Niklas Zennström, is a telecommunication appli1st January Greece takes cation software, that enables users to make voice calls, over, for the fourth time, video chats and send instant the Presidency of the Euromessages, including pictures pean Union.(Government of and files, via the internet, Konstantinos Simitis) free of charge. It runs on Italy computers, tablets and mobile devices, and has helped Gianni Agnelli, FIAT’s main connecting the world a great deal, since it was the first shareholder, dies in Turin. software to offer video con- In Rome 3 mln people demonstrate against the war ference for free. in Iraq, but the Parliament authorizes military intervenSpain tion; so, 28 so diers are kilJosé María Aznar, the Spa- led in Nassiriya-Iraq by a car nish president supported bombing: it is the greatest the US invasion of Iraq, clai- attack to the Italian Army ming there was evidence of since the end of WWII. nuclear proliferation in Iraq.

Slovakia Most of the Spanish population were against this war.

Slovakia approves joining the European Union in a reFinland ferendum.

The mobile phone manuDenmark

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 8

A PORTRAIT OF AN EXCHANGE STUDENT THE DANISH NATIONAL NAVAL ARCHIVE

BY MARCUS AND MICHAL AVITAEARTICLE30/1/15

Copenhagen is the city, whe-

re it all started; it is the capital of Denmark and the current host for the exchange-program Erasmus Avitae; a program made by a bunch of teachers to exchange young students from the countries of Greece, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Finland and Cyprus to learn about other countries and their view on ancient entrepreneurship.

Michal was sitting on board of a plane to the Copenhagen Airport on the afternoon of the 25. January. Sitting there, he noticed things to every detail. That is to say that Michal is a blogger; he writes and takes pictures on the subjects of travel, gastronomy and architecture. Every time Michal goes to a new country, he creates ideas on how to enjoy the city as much as possible. Therefore Michal hopes for a city filled with astonishing buildings and delicious food – and of course a stable Internet access.

One hour later he landed on Danish ground and already met difficulties in the form of a cash-exchanging machine.

The currency of Denmark is not euro, although Denmark is a member of the European Union. But he managed it as best as he could. Then he was ready to enter Denmark.

As soon as he saw his host, he knew he was not going to be homeless for the week. Michal had to stay at this unknown host for 6 nights on a flat mattress. At first, it seemed to be very uncomfortable, but then it turned out to be a real adventure. In the daytime, he was out exploring Copenhagen, taking pictures as rabidly as a true tourist. With the school, he went to places that he had never seen; like Christianshavn, Roskilde or ‘The Blue Planet’: an aquarium of scale. Most of the touring were done outdoors in the January cold: “The weather is smacking my face all the time, because it’s so windy,” he said after walking in Roskilde for several hours. But even though the weather made the trips difficult to enjoy, Michael felt compelled to the beauty of the old and historic architecture of the capital. He made many posts on his blog, capturing a lot of the modern buildings, the food and (of course) the Disney Shop.

It was the teachers from Italy, who first came up with the idea for AVITAE, but after including teachers from other countries it involved into something much bigger than what the Italian teachers expected.

The project is therefore always evolving, making every plan always changing. Every day was

like a surprise to the students, because they never knew how much the scheme would change. It was stressful and chaotic, but also a sign of how many ideas, that emerged from all being together.

So when not exploring Copenhagen, Michal had a great time at school. He was amazed of the style of the school and the special kind of educating.

The program contained the main themes of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The students from all the countries had to collaborate in workshops, preparing prototypes of an innovative product.

The teamwork went through multiple stages: creating the idea, making personas and even the branding of it. Michal made a telescope with his group; the idea was to show exchangestudents an innovative product from the Renaissance. At last the product was presented to all the other classmates and teachers.

Tuesday the 27th, everyoOne of the things the student ne from the AVITAE program saw, was this remarkable half went to Christianshavn. finished ship. The Danes are good at building ships, which The students took the you can see from this model. metro from Ørestad Gym- Even Though the ship is only nasium at 2pm. They stood half finished, it’s still a great off at Christianshavn, whe- example for the Danish shipre they needed to wait for building some people, who did not get into the metro, at ØreAnother thing the student stad. Klaus then told them saw was an old map of Copenabout Christianshavn and hagen, before it was as big, as how it was a man made is- it is today. As you can see it land, by the Christian the has this big wall around it, like 4th, or rather he made the a big fortress. The walls were command to make the is- necessary back then, because land. The Students were they protected the city from taken to see two churches, the invaders. befor going to the Danish national naval archive.

There was also this really impressive map of europe, that Then the students went caught the students attention. to the Danish national na- It ’s done with val archive, where they only remarkable accuhad 30 min to look through racy, especially the museum. The students considering the walked in groups, host with time it was done. their guests. The museum It was used to held models of ships, old travel through euship parts, and other things rope back in the that had to do with the day. The map was navy, from historical time, a long process to to the present. do, because they needed to travel

The week went by quickly.

Michal went home with a baggage full of new experience and social connections. He had learned a great deal of new information on subjects such as Danish history, architecture and culture. Now he is looking forward to repeating it with the small difference of being host himself, when the AVITAE goes Even though Greece and Dento Slovakia. mark are placed on the same continent and both are members of the EU, they are two completely different countries.

The two countries, including others, met in Denmark for the Avitae project. In the following article there will be an interview with a Greek guy and his experience with the Danish school ‘Ørestad Gymnasium’.

along every coast to note how it was going.

Along the Museum there was an old cannon, which was the weapon they used for the ship, to attack other ships along the way. But this is a very old cannon, so it was only used on the wood ships, so it was long before the industrial revolution.

The museum was very interesting, and it showed Denmark in prime time, when we ruled the seas, and when we had one of the strongest naval armies in the world. How the Danish people build the ships, and how they used them, how their harbors worked, and everything they did with their ships, past and present.

GREECE-DENMARK

The first thing that popped in Stauros’ mind was “Am I in the right building? This is like a hotel!”. When he arrived at the gymnasium for the first time, he noticed the special design of the school and how the big stair combined the four floors.

He was really surprised by the many different facilities, the school is offering their stu-

dents. The cafeteria, the open classrooms and the modern way of learning with iPads and computers.

Stauros was impressed by the the school cafeterias’ capacity and its size. When the lunch bell rang, it was only in a matter of second before the cafeteria became full. Students who didn’t get a seat, had to find another place, to eat their food they bought in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was big, but it couldn’t hold all 1200 students and teachers.

Later on, when Stauros was being shown around at the school, he saw a different way of teaching. He saw how the teaching environment was designed to improve the students' concentration and group working skills. ”Oh crap” that was the first thing that flew out of

Stauros’ mouth when he saw the how the architects used glass instead of bricks to make walls. The open classrooms allow the students to work in groups and create something special and innovative,which haven’t been seen in Greece before.All the students sat with their computers and ipads,instead of the traditional book and paper. In Greece,the main way of learning is by listening to the teacher,but in Denmark the new,innovative way of learning has taken its place and the students have to learn by doing. The Avitae project gives foreign young people the opportunity to explore a different way of living, learning and of course meeting new people, from all over Europe.

Made by Elias Hirvikoski and Jeremia Toppari from Finland.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 9 Spring 2015

A.V.I.T.A.E Dream-society, Blue Ocean Strategy and Creative Man An intense, but quite successful day with branding AVITAE One of our core activities in the AVITAE-project is to work with branding.

During the meeting in Denmark the students visited ”The Blue Planet” The National Aquarium of Denmark, where they saw how this tourist attraction has branded itself and how it has succeeded in creating a story about the place and its activities, and in going from red ocean, one of many attractions, to blue ocean, a unique place one must visit.

During our recent meeting in Greece the students were given an introduction to some of the theories behind branding, Dream society, Blue Ocean Strategy and Creative Man Strategy. The students had to work with the theories themselves and apply them to the AVITAEproject.

HERMES Read to Rethink!

In their six groups they had to come up with ideas of products, of slogans, of how they could create a dream for the prosumer (an OIKONOMOU ALEXANTRA, PIETRO combination of consumer MEI, SVANDIS RAFNSDOTTIR, KATEand producer) and last but RINA TZIOMAKI, NANTIA DIMITRIOU, not least present their ideas STELIOS ECONOMIDES, VASILIS ZISIS, as unique, so they would be DAVID DEJ, NEFELI NIKOLAOU. in blue ocean. They had one We imagine creating a unique lesson to develop their idea. online magazine with visual efThereafter all groups made fects of the places we visit and a presentation of their pos- of course information about ters to the other groups and the teachers.

NTALLA, ÁNGEL NAVARRO HERNÁNDEZ, GIANNIS VAKKAS, SARA NAJAARAQ WARMING, MARIA KOTSARINI, JONNA RAUTIO, RENIA ANTONIOU, ILDA TABACU, FOTINI SOFOCLEOUS

What is entrepreneurship?

Most people don’t understand the whole meaning of the word.

We were thinking about that, when we had to create a product and that is why we chose the ”AVITAE phone-covers”.

Our dream behind the phonecover project is to open the mind for entrepreneurship to other people. We wanted them to find out that entrepreneurship can be fun and that it is not what people usually think.

“Read to rethink” because we believe that with reading we can open our minds and an open mind is the most powerful weapon and the key to succeed in life. Our magazine doesn’t belong to the red ocean because its content makes it unique due to the mixing of the diffe-

rent cultures that participate in the AVITAE program.

The dream is to get young people interested in exploring the world in order for them to become more intelligent, creative and aware of different cultures.

The last activity in the branding session was to turn their presentations of posters into articles about their work with branding. Though the students only had a very short time, we think they did an excellent job on branding.

The following articles are the outcome of a very intense and productive day in 2nd General Lykeio of Arta.

ATHENA AVITAE, our key to an entrepreneurial future ”AVITAE phone-covers” KRISTINA CSOLLEIOVA, MARGARITA

our experiences with mixing different cultures in the AVITAE program. Our magazine will include information of innovative discoveries and ideas from young students to inspire other young people, since they are the future.

We named our magazine

It is found in simple daily things and we wanted to help people discover this.

We think that it would be easy to attract people that are going to buy our product because everybody loves technology and everything connected to it.

Cell-phones are a really important part of our lives. We just cannot live without it!

Our project’s name represents the whole program in which we participate. Our slogan is ”AVITAE, our key to an entrepreneurial future”. It represents our mentality, the idea that we have to be innovative and believe in our dreams.

Phone-covers are something

usual nowadays and everybody wants one. But our product has got something unique. It has the power to share our dreams for a better future, our effort to change the world. So, we think that this is going to help us go to ”the blue ocean”.

In conclusion, the ”AVITAE phone-covers” are our way to show everyone around us that you don’t have to be a prestigious and powerful person to be a good businessman or businesswoman. The entrepreneurship is the way that a person sees the world and its opportunities. We want to say loudly to everybody to be creative and don’t be afraid of taking risks!

APOLLO Expand your horizon DAVID K, HEIDI, ELENA, STEFANO, THEODORA, EVA, VASILIKI, LEFTERIS, KATELEEN AND ΜΙΧΆΛΗΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΔΟΥΛΙΔΗΣ

Our dream about “Avitae Fly” is to both give people a cultural experience to different countries, but with a mix of courses in innovation and expanding people’s knowledge on entrepreneurship. On the flight and during the trip, we will have activities connected to innovation and entrepreneurship. The name of our product is “Avitae Fly”, we’re taking Avitae to a higher level. The slogan is ”expand your horizon” meaning to both expand your experience in other countries but also to ex-

pand your knowledge throug- people with the same interests. hout your trip.

To do this we have an idea of To make our company go from the whole group travelling to a red ocean to a more blue oce- meet before the trip, to disan we must come up with ideas cuss the outcome, purpose and and special stuff to do during destination of the trip. This will the stay to make it more uni- make every trip more unique que, and our company. Stuff and outstanding and also ”once that won’t happen on the next in a lifetime” for everyone. This trip. will make sure that everyone is going to have a trip where they The purpose of our company see and do what they actually is to be different from other want. travelling companies, and to give people who have an interest in entrepreneurship, a chance to have a vacation of their lives while doing what they love, but also of course meeting new

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 10

Spring 2015

JUPITER Mini sets are for all ages DÉBORA HERNÁNDEZ DEL CASTILLO, IOANNA KARYDI, ILARIA NENNA, FREDERIKKE AMALIE NØRAGER JOHANSEN, KORINA PAVLAKI, KATJA KESKITALO, ELENI SKAMPARDONI, CHRISTOS KAPSALAS, ΑΝΔΡΈΑΣ ΧΑΤΖΗΜΙΛΤΉΣ, LAMBROS VARELIS

We want people not only to be innovative but to learn about the past, know about the present and imagine the future.

Be innovative! It is simply to motivate people to be creative.

We are trying to be unique because we give people the

material to build the future, past and present giving them the chance to create their own things and be revolutionary at the same time ..

Mini sets are for all ages. We want for families or in general friends to bond more through this giving them the opportunity to discover more about themselves and their abilities.

ZEUS The easy way to get ahead BORIS PACHER, VASILIS SPILIOS, CARLOS GONZÁLEZ DIAZ, THOMAS KONTOS, FRIDA DE SANTIS ADANIR, TEUVO SIMONEN, CHRISTOS MPAKARAS, CHIARA BARTOLI, STAVRIANA ANTONIOU, KOSTAS SIMOS

The dream behind the project is that people can get an advantage within innovation and entrepreneurship based on a lifetime experience, where we would provide our skills from every country in a mixed combination, so our customers can learn from other religions and traditions. So with us, they can get a new perspective of

VENUS Venus a multicultural planet ILIANA GEWRGOU, JEREMIA TOPARRI, ANNA-AGAPI KYRTSIA, NIKOLETTA SKAPARDONI, STAVROS KOLIOS, MARINA ZISI, PANAYIOTIS CHRISTODOULIDIS, CHRYSIS ACHILLEOS

We are students that have participated in the AVITAE programme, and we are willing to offer our knowledge and experience to whoever wants to join the programme. We have created an online page where people can join us and expose their questions.

The name was inspire by our group name which is VENUS. Venus is an ancient greek Godess as well as a planet in our solar system and due to our team’s multicultural character

the slogan “VENUS a Multicultural Planet‘‘ occured.

Going back to January and remembering the trip in Denmark we know that anyone who came here for the first time might get a little lost. So, we are here full of experience and golden purposes willing to help newborns fit in and make themselves comfortable while meeting new people and socializing.

To conclude there is no one that knows this programme better than us and that is what makes us go from “red ocean“ to “blue ocean“.

the world and have a chance to bond with others.

With our vision for this project our name would be a combination of words and meaning.

AVITAE stands for ”A Virtual Intertextual Tour across Ancient Entrepreneurship” which describes what we are trying to accomplish. Our focus is on learning about innovation and entrepreneurship, so our customers can get ahead with their individual work back home.

Therefore we chose to give our agency the slogan ”The easy way to get ahead”. Here the

slogan will give an idea of what we can provide, and what the meaning of this project is.

The product we are offering is not just new, but unique. We are the first travelling agency, which not only provides the trip, but also offers knowledge and the chance to learn about innovation and entrepreneurship.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Introduction to success stories activity During the meeting in Arta we tried to present the students with terms, definitions and characteristics related to entrepreneurship and with the traits that would describe a successful entrepreneur. As a follow up activity, students had to relax listening to some

KATERINA

Today I’m a little bit sleepy because I just woke up but I’m sure today is going to be a great day! I have two jobs because I liked it both very much and I couldn’t choose only one.

I can combine them so I’ m quit happy with my jobs. I am a journalist – article writer on a big magazine and I also work in various art museums. I’ve studied National and European Studies and art history in a very good Art School. In both of my jobs I have to deal with people, something that I really enjoy. Communicating with other people and visiting new places is what I love the most

FRIDA ADANIR, DENMARK

In the future the most important feeling of everyday would be that I would be happy. That I would not feel sad or lonely.

That I would be glad and satisfied for what I had complied that particular day. I don’t have a particular job in mind, I just

smooth music, listen to some prompts, picture an ordinary day in their lives after 10 years, imagine what they would be like and finally write their personal success story answering to some questions we had provided them with.

Being already divided in six

groups of ten students, each group had to vote for the best personal success story among its members. And this is how we ended up with following six stories.

in both of my jobs. Although, when I’m writing articles I prefer to be alone. In my free time I ‘m painting, dancing, playing in theatricals and of course hanging out with friends and beloved persons. My whole life deals with art, creativity, places, civilizations and people all over the world and I’m very proud that I’ve managed to do exactly what I always liked. I’m really satisfied with the things I chose to do in my life. I took risks , I really worked hard and I’m still working but it really worth it!

know that I would love every morning, when I have to get up and go to work. Maybe it would be something with fashion, maybe something with numbers. The only thing I know, is that I have to love it, I have to want it. There would be people all around me, busy, but nice and friendly. It could be in an

office or in a great, big, white room.

Maybe someday I would have my own business, maybe not.

For me it doesn’t really matter anyhow. As long as I’m happy, I can work for someone or have my own business.

ELENA SIMÓ

My dream is to be an important magistrate. So, I want to study in a university. I love this job because all people (politicians or waiters, women or men) must have the same rights. I think that the day I will be a magistrate I will be so happy, really nervous and excited!

I think in this job I’ll work with people. I think all people must have justice and pay for the bad things they have done. I know being a magistrate will be difficult, but I’m going to try it. Even I would like to be an advocate in another country so as to speak various languages. When I am older I’ll live in an apartment, in the centre of a big city… In my apartment I would like to have a big room that I will use as a library. I love reading books.

I hope I will continue to practice sports, actually I play basketball, but I’m afraid in the future I will not have time for it. I would like to practice, though, some risky sports like parachuting. Even, I would like to continue practicing surfing and go to Thailand. I love trips!! I’d also like to go on a big journey on a ship.

But for all these things I have to work very hard like my mum has always said; study to have a good job and a good life. But also we should have a life we like, go to parties, meet friends, have fun! Because we have to live a life that we will remember.

sivu 11 Spring 2015

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 12

BY SARA NAJAARAQ WARMING, DENMARK

MARINA, GREECE

It’s Monday morning and I just woke up after a long and tiring day at the opera. I’m 26 years old and I work as a professional dancer 3 years now. I used to live in London for 3 years and

KORINA PAVLAKI

I felt strange ‘cause I didn’t know how to react but my colleagues made me feel very comfortable with their own way .Being near kids was always my favorite part of the day. They are all so enthusiastic and full of energy just like me and that’s why I chose this type of work.

I usually like to work alone but when it comes to something

Made by Vikke Tiirola from Finland.

simultaneously with my studies I was a student at a well-known dance academy, but now I live in Paris. Every week, every single day I have contemporary and ballet classes, but I’m doing the job that I love the most and that makes me happy. They’re

serious I cooperate with others perfectly. As long as there are kids involved I use all of my drawing, acting etc. skills or hobbies. Being part of a kinder garden isn’t always easy. Having a headmaster you need to follow some rules. On the contrary I couldn’t be more satisfied with my job and the things it can offer.

many difficulties and the salary is not good so I have to do a part time job, but this I hope that will stop and one day I’ll be a well-known dancer. Until then I have to work hard.

Spring 2015

I opened my eyes. The sun was shining and I felt very happy. Happy for the good life I had created. Happy to be me.

My husband and child were still sleeping. I walked over to my computer and tapped a button.

My nearly done book was lightning up on the screen. I smiled.

At 10.00 o’clock I left my house on my bicycle. The wind kissed my cheeks and made me smile even more. I arrived to the editorial office and my first assignment showed up. I was a photojournalist and I should cover a story about a case on a hospital. All the patients smiled when I took their picture and I clearly remembered how sweet they all were. When I arrived home my husband had prepared supper for me. My child sat on the floor playing and I joined her.

She laughed at me when I acted foolish. She kissed me and said she loved me. I slept well that night, slept of the thought of how good and exiting the next day would be.

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 13

A.V.I.T.A.E

Introducing Bratislava Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia, surprisingly dynamic and full of lovely places where you can spend your time. The city shows a great balance in keeping its old and traditional values undisturbed in a modern environment. In Bratislava we can indeed find one city part with factories, skyscrapers and shopping centres, whilst in the other, older part we can walk around in little lanes and find beautiful squares, theatres, fantastic chocolate shops and statues of funny local characters.

This is a really traditional aspect of the Slovakian culture and we can find many typical statues; one of the most renowned ones is curiously staring at people and playfully peeping under a woman's skirt. I think this is the best part of the city for

tourists to have a glimpse of fect place, where you can the citizens' actual lifestyle. spend time with friends.

There are lot of traditional Bratislava also contains restaurants like historical a great number of historic chalets with typical Slovak buildings, which mostly are style. Bratislava is known for located within the center of the delicious beer, so thethe city. Historic buildings re are lot of breweries and can be found on the outs- pubs with local beer. For kirts of the city surrounded coffee lovers there are a lot by beautiful nature as well of coffee houses too with as only a few minutes’ drive typical homemade or raw from the center of Bratisla- sweets and we can't forget va. A large part of the his- about the many chocolate toric buildings that can be factories and bakeries. Dufound in Bratislava are great ring weekends, there are a castles that make a good lot of traditional markets trip for tourists who seek a with Slovak products like good sightseeing spot, but cheese, fresh fruits or vegethese buildings are also a tables of the season, meat perfect place to learn about and other products. So BraBratislava’s history. Most tislava is the perfect place castles offer great views, art, for hanging out with friends guided tours and cafés if you or for people who like good that you need. And it is not if you like shopping. Theneed to grab a bite. cuisine. very expensive there. In the re are many shopping censhopping centers there are Bratislava is also the per- The city is a good place ters, where you can buy all a lot of well-known brands and some local little stores.

In the center of Bratislava there are many fascinating souvenir boutiques and fine streets which are surrounded by high quality shops and cozy cafeterias. And if you the have time, you can go to Vienna which is also a shopping paradise only an hour away from Bratislava.

connect till the last corner of Bratislava. Another activity that we did was go to a technology business where its boss gave us a question time to teach us how he became an entrepreneur and showed us the company. We also visited a castle outside Bratislava, a very old castle with many rooms and thanks to a guide we could see all of them and know the castle’s history, and the guide told us that a long time ago this castle was used by very important people.

This is what Carlos from Thomas: The trip to BraSpain and Thomas from tislava was the best moment Greece had to say about in my life because I had the their trip to Bratislava chance to make new friends.

I also had the chance to Carlos: The first day each improve my teamwork skills. of us was welcomed by a fa- I liked the Red Castle, the mily which showed us local UFO Tower with the best living there for a week du- view I have ever see in my life ring which which we shared and the visit to the compacustoms, talked and met ny Pixel Federation because different cultures. My trips in the future I want to work to different places like Bra- with computers and make vitislava Castle or a tour pre- deo games. I would love to pared by the city helped me visit Bratislava again. learn a little more about the place, a city that is composed of several tram lines that

sivu 14 Winter

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2015

HANDS ON COOKING in Hotelová Akadém Oriana González Hernández The Hotel Academy is situated near the historical centre of Bratislava. Here you can spend a really good time learning different subjects and preparing all sorts of events. There is always something on! In this Academy you can learn how to be a great waiter and a superb chef; students dress up in uniforms and their teachers also give them tasks like cooking in their homes and bringing the food they’ve prepared to taste it. It was a real change from our schools, with lots of written tasks and homework.We had the opportunity to know how it goes and we spent some

time cooking with the senior students.We split into 5 international groups, and each group had to prepare one typical dish from one of the countries. All dishes were based on ancient recipes, but we could introduce some changes.

Innovation was an important part of our final objectives.

Each group had to decide what type of food they were going to prepare, and who they were aiming at, food for young people, for weddings or special occasions, for people interested in being healthy, etc.

Some innovations were made, using less fat, for example, as nowadays most of us don’t have to do so much physical work as our ancestors did in ancient

times. The ingredients were Group 4: Kolokasi from instead, it wasn’t like the typibought the day before the coo- Cyprus, cooking Emily, Oona, cal soup, but it was tasty and king day. The food we prepared Stella, Juliane, Stefanos, Oria- very healthy! in the different groups was: na and Christian.

On the whole, the experience Group 1: Chestnut flour panGroup 5: Watercress soup was very positive and we manacakes from Italy, cooking Denis, from Spain, cooking Kristina ged quite well in the kitchen, of Taina, María, Ask, Chris and Jonna, Niki, Sofie, Theodora, course with a lot of help from Yolimar Valeria and Davide. the Academy.

Group 2: Whole grain yogurt pancakes (4 large size pancakes), from Greece, cooking Radovan, Emmi, María, Molly, Thomas, Carlos and Chiara.

Group 3: Toasted bread topped with olives from Italy , and traditional salmon soup from Finland, cooking Andrea, Cem, Vangelis, Amalie, Nefeli, Frida and Emma.

Not everything turned out as we had planned. We had some problems with some dishes like the salmon soup from Finland, because the sauce tasted “funny” so, the liquid was removed and the potatoes and the salmon saved. The final product wasn’t really soup, but it was nice! Besides, the watercress soup didn’t have “watercress”, we couldn’t get it in Bratislava, so we added other vegetables

At last, all the students and the teachers got together, we presented the dishes and everyone tasted them. The food was really good so, it disappeared in seconds!

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Winter 2015

sivu 15

mia

CAP RUN - running for charity

By Sofie Brøbech Hedam far as the eye could see. With in the run seemed to end very people eagerly waiting to get suddenly when we got to the Hansen

Before the CAP Run even started, everyone was meeting up just a few hundred meters from the starting point - under some sort of bridge. Everyone looked ready with their tights and running shoes, eagerly waiting to get their own number to put on their shirts. A long time went, more and more students both from primary schools and high schools, teachers and other participants were ready to run the 2,8 km for charity. Suddenly everyone was moving, as the woman in charge must have told us to in Slovak. By just following the stream of bodies we ended up at the waterfront, looking over the Danube as

started the tension seemed to end of the waterfront. At the rise. Some of the participants, end, everyone was just sipping very eager to finish first, mo- water and eating some chocoved their way to the front of late. The 2,8 km was quickly the group, so no one would lost by thoughts, breath and a be in their way. By the time of pleasing view.  the countdown, streaming out from a tiny speaker, everyone The run was organized by the was ready to run. Many had a students of the school, the Hovery quick start, others a very televå AkadÊmia, and the moslow one - but overall most ney went to a women’s organipeople seemed to enjoy their zation in Sierra Leone. That day time at their own pace. One of more than 1600 euros were the most wonderful things of collected for a good cause in the run was the view. Running good spirit and atmosphere. next to Europe’s second largest river is not something you%\ 6RILH %U¥EHFK +HGDP +DQVHQ get

to do everyday, if you, like me, don’t live anywhere near Bratislava or any of the neighbouring countries. My time

W ZhE Ͳ ĆŒĆľĹśĹśĹ?ĹśĹ? Ä¨Ĺ˝ĆŒ Ä?ĹšÄ‚ĆŒĹ?ĆšÇ‡Í˜

%HIRUH WKH &$3 5XQ HYHQ VWDUWHG HYHU\RQH ZDV PHHWLQJ XS MXVW D IHZ KXQGUHG PHWHUV IURP WKH

AVITAE

- A flood of cultural destinations

in the Bratislava On Tuesday 6th October, the whole “AVITAEcrew “ participating meeting went on a trip out of Bratislava to experience further cultural attractions.

sivu 16 Winter

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2015

By Yolimar, Irene, Denis, Chris, Taina, Maria & Ask On a foggy Tuesday the AVITAE ‘ambassadors’ who participated in the Bratislava meeting gathered in front of the school in order to leave for a trip to Cerveny Kamen castle - also known as the Red Stone Castle.

As the crew went into the castle after a long walk in the castle´s foggy gardens, an exciting guided tour started.

As the AVITAE crew was guided through the Castle, paintings and frescoes, deep wells and amazing dungeons and wine cellars (the largest in Europe) were photographed and admired.

The Thurzo family.

From 1588 until the end of WWII Red Stone Castle was owned by the Pállfy family who rebuilt the castle seve-

ral times and turned it into a comfortable dwelling. In 1949, the Castle was declared a part of the national cultural heritage and was then turned into a museum offering insights into the owners’s taste for room furniture and military collections. Through time the Castle underwent several restorations and enlargements. For this reason a new entrance and a French park are now available for the public.

Shortly after a tasty lunch in the Castle restaurant, the ‘crew’ headed for a Slovakian Traditional Ceramics Factory. Here the group was divided into two subgroups - one was guided through the Ceramics Factory, and the other took part in a workshop which consisted in decorating a small plain pot.

Then the two sub groups swapped tasks.

and toured the rooms and took lots of pictures of old furniture, frescoes, etc. Our guide had a funny accent, and it was hard to follow all his explanations. The castle had several busts of kings and lords from Slovakia.

They all looked very smart and powerful. We visited the chapel. It was very nice, the floor was decorated with stones. It seems the old kings liked foot massages, so, when they came inside that room, they took off their shoes and while they were walking they could have their massage. Well, at least, that is what the guide told us. It was beautiful!

knives, guns and suits of armour. More than four hundred weapons! While we were heading to other rooms, we saw a lot of Baroque dresses. I loved them!

A bit later we went to the wine cellar. It was underground. The ceiling was very low, so the tallest members of our group got hurt. We laughed for a while, but later, going down the narrow stairs, it got a bit scary. Inside the wine cellar there was a jail. I couldn’t possibly spend any time there. I would rather stick pins in my eyes. I would be terrified. Probably, some ghost could appear in the middle of the night.

All the rooms were decorated with frescoes, chandeliers and splendorous chimneys. Personally, I think there must have been a great place to read a book with a cup of very hot chocolate!

Later, we saw the “weapon’s First we entered the castle room”. There were lots of

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

The history of Red Stone Castle dates back to the 13th century, namely to 1240; it was built on Queen Konstanz’s properties. Originally a medieval castle, it was part of a network of frontier fortifications. Since the beginning of the 13th century and until the beginning of the 16th century the castle had several owners (all members of the Hungarian nobility, such as Matthew Csak of Trencín and Ján Zápolsky)

Winter 2015

sivu 17

sivu 18 Winter

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2015

Group 3 Funny moments during the meeting Thirty five students coming from seven different countries of Europe were gathered in Bratislava.

Before arriving in the capital of Slovakia the Finnish and the Spanish students met in Vienna. There we first learnt about the differences between cultures when the Spanish tried to kiss the Finnish. In Finland nobody kisses each other. The Spanish students felt embarrassed but when they thought about it they started laughing themselves. First funny moment of the trip!

When everybody arrived in Slovakia we met our host families. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t feel at home with their family, that’s great! But most of the students agreed on one thing: The members of the family, apart from the young Slovak host student, didn’t know any English so they were trying to communicate in Slovak. That was a problem because the boys and girls from the visiting countries obviously didn’t understand a word so we ended up in a mess of communication resulting in a lot of laughter.

Everybody was always laughing!! Soon we became a big, friendly group of people from different countries. We

were all in great spirits, really happy that we took part in the meeting. This meant that we all shared jokes, funny moments and a lot of laughs. This trip from the first day to the last was incredible. There are moments we’ll never forget…

First day in the high school.

After some months talking to people in our international group it was at last time to see each other face to face. So nervous! It’s different when you talk to someone on the internet and when you talk without a screen in front of you. But that wasn’t a problem for us! Finally!

We all got together…

We also laughed a lot in the ceramics factory when everybody showed to the others their artistic side by painting the ceramics…. This was a total artistic disaster. Or a new approach to painting cups. Who can really tell…

We had a great time during the school party. That was the best day when almost everybody danced and showed the other students typical dances from their country.

The Greek people are so passionate about their dances so the rest of the students tried to learn how to dance. That We remember that in the kit- was another mess but we had chen when we were cooking a great time together. Also the everything started okay with teachers were dancing!! group 3. We finished the starter from Italy but what hapBut we shared some sad mopened when we tried to cook ments too. This was when we the Finnish soup? Nobody had to say goodbye. knows what happened but that it was a disaster! Our soup beNobody wanted to go but we came a dish without any kind couldn’t do anything, time flies. of liquid just potatoes, carrots It’s a good thing, though, that and fish. We were stressed be- we still keep in touch. It seems cause we had to present the that we have made some good, dish but once we understood international friends. we couldn’t do anything we started to joke to each other about what we had made.

Winter 2015

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 19

The … Entrepreneurial Spirit of Christmas - Cyprus tured interview through which we would ask a number of businesses to give us inside information on how they approach this hectic season. The businesses we contacted were the ARISTON CONFECTIONERY LTD, BONSAI FLOWER SHOP, TIP TOP TOY SHOP, SELECT HOUSE Home Supplies and the These are some of the things NEW HELVETIA HOTEL. we often ask ourselves over the Christmas Holidays. The Based on what we have learnt Christmas holidays provide a through our interviews, prepagreat opportunity for a speci- rations for the Holidays typific business sector to increase cally begin in mid-November, their profit and gain new custo- and in some cases, where they mers. Our traditions are highly need to import goods from connected with the consump- aboard (for example in the case tion of unnecessarily large of the toy shop), as early as portions of food, the exchan- mid-October. What is more, it ge of gifts, the decoration of is apparent that most businesour premises, whether that is ses are open for the whole of our home or workplace, with a the Christmas period from the vast variety of ornaments and early hours until the late hours flower arrangements which are of the day. This, of course, appsometimes used excessively. lies only to the shops and not to the Hotels, as they work 24 Within the framework of hours a day, seven days a week, our Erasmus+ Programme, we 365 days a year. The flower thought of designing a struc- shop however maintains its

“Mummy, what is Santa going to bring me this year?”

“My sister has invited us for New Year’s Eve, what shall we take with us?”

“What shall we have for Christmas Day lunch?”

“Where should we spend the holidays this year?”

usual opening hours.

When asked whether or not their companies had been affected by the economic crisis, all but one responded that it had had a significant negative impact on their profits. The exception was Select House, suppliers of crockery, cutlery and ornaments. They stated that they have not been affected greatly by the economic crisis since all restaurants, hotels and many households are in need of a renovation to a greater or lesser extent. Furthermore, despite the fact that the economic crisis has had a negative impact on the majority companies, they were forced to employ extra personnel as the demands of consumers are high during this period. Hotels require more staff in order to be able to offer improved services, while shops are in need of extra personnel in order to respond to the high number of people at the tills.

The majority of the businesses interviewed have not employed an art designer to coordinate and oversee Christmas decorations due to the high costs, and lack of extra funds.

Many stated that they are using decorations and ornaments kept from previous years this year in order to decorate their premises in the hope of both attracting clients and helping them to feel the Christmas Spirit. The Bonsai Flower shop however, not unexpectedly, makes its own decorations every year.

Again within the context of the Christmas Holidays, four of the businesses participate in numerous charity fairs, and other events, either by selling their products and donating their profits or by promoting the charity fairs through their company.

as much as in previous years”, “yes, sales are up at this time of year” and “this is the time of year when we have the opportunity to promote our On reflection, the question regarding whether the company imports products for the Christmas season or not was of no value. The reason being that it is not appropriate or relevant to the hotel. Confectionaries make their own products and this, of course, is true throughout the year.

Flower shops typically import products throughout the year and so again this question was found to be of no value. Home and Business Suppliers import their products from abroad as a general rule but even more so when the Christmas period arrives, as they import a wide variety of Christmas decorations, ornaments and lighting.

When asked whether they believe that the Christmas period Summing up, Christmas is a is profitable for their business time during which businesses or not, responses included “not have an opportunity to ex-

pand on sales and to promote their goods and services in an original and seasonal spirited manner which could perhaps capture the attention of new customers. This potentially increases their profits to a greater or lesser extent and, at the same time, promotes their label. This is of utmost importance for businesses, especially in times of economic difficulties, as the one we are faced with at the moment.

Michalis Stavrou Nikolas Lambrianou Panayiotis Lambrianou Victoria Josephides

sivu 20 Winter

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2015

Christmas is the best-selling season -Finland Christmas is the best-selling season for many companies in Finland . Especially department stores, supermarkets, clothing shops, present shops and bakeries are usually very busy at the Christmas time. We interviewed three companies in Pyhäjoki to find out how Christmas affects them.

The 4H café and handicraft store Here in Pyhäjoki, our 4H organization has its own café and handicraft store. The store is located by Highway 8, which goes through Pyhäjoki. The café sells delicious snacks, cakes and many different delicious things. From the store you can buy handmade things like carpets, decorations, accessories and cards. It is open every Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm. On weekends local young 4H entrepreneurs work there.

From cafe you can buy many kind of snacks and piece of cakes.

time. There are gingerbreads and traditional Christmas plum pastries on sale, the advertising is designed for Christmas and many differences Christmas parties are also arranged there.

The prices are same as usually in Christmas season too. The Rush doesn’t change the prices.

can be seen in the number customers. Different social events gather more people than usual because everybody want to get to enjoy waiting for Christmas together. “The end of the year is in itself like a celebration because of the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve”, we are told in the restaurant. The New The advertisements are Year’s celebration is a tradition suited for Christmas and draw that makes people go out. customers to buy more Christmas things, for example preDado’s opening hours chansents and decorations. As can ge a little bit near Christmas, be expected they bake more partly because of the private Christmas cakes. The shop’s pre-Christmas parties. In the decoration is also suitable for Christmas holidays and betChristmas: there are candles, ween Christmas and New Year's lights and soft sofas to make Eve there are special opening customers feel more comfor- times, which can be checked table. out on Dado’s web site during the Christmas season. At Christmas there is no need to hire more employees, but at the busiest times there will be more Restaurant Dado of them in the restaurant at the Restaurant Dado has been same time than usually. in Pyhäjoki for nine years, and has become familiar to the loThere is a special Christmas cal people over the years. Dado athmosphere, which is also has got a lot of positive feed- seen in Dado’s decorations. back and become well-known Christmas lights are shining also in the neighbouring areas. around the restaurant's entDado contains a restaurant and rance and there are Christmas a bar.. The restaurant’s ow- flower arrangements on tables nership has changed over the - candles have been burning a years, but at this moment the lot since the autumn. owner is Vesa-Matti Toppari from Pyhäjoki.

4H doesn’t usually organize this kind of action. Usually 4H arranges work for young people. 4H is a worldwide organization and it come from the United States. Camps, courses and helping service are most important parts of 4H activiIn the Christmas season preties.

Christmas parties are usually arranged in Dado. Christmas Maire Luoto works as execu- food is also a good tradition. tive director in the 4H organi- Some companies, associations zation in Pyhäjoki. As in many and private people have booother organizations and com- ked Christmas parties in Dado. panies, Christmas is the most There is also a Christmas lunch lucrative season also in the 4H open for everyone on 8th café. Many people wants to buy and 15th of December. So, it handicrafts as Christmas pre- is possible to eat very good sents. Also Christmas snacks Christmas food there before bring customers to thestore.

Christmas! But apart from the But what differences does Christmas lunches, on the other days the same food as usual Christmas make in the 4H bu- is served.. siness? For example, there are different Christmas deco- Pre-Christmas parties are an rations on sale at Christmas important season Finland which

Supermarket Eväskontti

Tuukka Lisko is the shopkeeper of K-Market Eväskontti in Pyhäjoki. Eväskontti belongs to Kesko, which owns every K-chain shop in Finland. The shop always invests in Christmas more than in other sales.

They start to prepare for it much earlier than many people think. Orders are made already six months before Christmas.

For example Christmas hams are ordered before Midsummer and sweets are ordered in the summer. Tuukka says that the Christmas planning does not take a lot of time and Christmas preparation does not change the work in the shop.

“We fill shelves as usual”, Teemu says.

However, some products are emphasized at Christmas. Christmas makes shops to order a lot of seasonal products, for example fish and different traditional Finnish Christmas oven casseroles.

Still, the extra orders do not increase the amount food loss. The sales before Christmas make Eväskontti much profit and parrticularly the Christmas week is one of the best times of the year..

Mostly Christmas sales are similar every year, which means that there is no need for significant changes. The weekdays of Christmas change every year which makes things a little bit different every year.

“Of course. when Christmas makes its way to Eväskontti and everywhere else, we decorate the shop in a Christmas style: we bring things to the shop , that bring more Christmas spirit and we change the marketing, so it gets a Christmas look.

The competition between shops is growing, especially in Pyhäjoki, as usual. It has always been a challenge, but profit has always been made.

And because the sales grow, the shop assistants will have more work to do, when the preparation starts.

It is hard to tell, if the customers will do their shopping in bigger cities and their shops, or in Pyhäjoki.

And because of the economic downturn, the amount of profit is little lower than be-

fore, but not as much as you choice. would think.

There have been conversations about deregulating opening hours, which could affect sales, but Tuukka says that there is no need to change the opening hours, because for our shop they are already free for

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

BUSINESS AT CHRISTMAS IN “LA LAGUNA” A WORLD HERITAGE SITE TOWN We live in La Laguna, a charming town of 151,718 inhabitants. At Christmas this cosmopolitan town becomes even more beautiful and welcoming.

It is part of a campaign aimed at attracting people and increasing sales. A group of students from the Canarias Cabrera Pinto went to the Town Hall to interview the Mayor, Mr. José Alberto Díaz. He explained that preparations for Christmas start in September. Dynamic campaigns and events are organized from the Town Hall to promote the city.

Las Noches en Tinto (The Red Nights), during November, the wine month, when customers get special offers and delicious “tapas” with a glass of wine in bars and restaurants. This year, a trademark with the name, De La Laguna, distinguishes all the products harvested in this district. According to Mr. Díaz, the starting point of the Christmas campaign is The White Night. It is a specific day in November in which there are many activities on the streets, concerts, exhibitions and all the museums and shops are opened until very late at night, with special sales and promotions, the city lights are turned on, and walking along many of its pedestrian streets is even more special. Customers start shopping for Christmas then.

Another event organized by The Town Hall is The Craftwork Fair, where the artisans from the island sell their handmade products.

bited and bought as a special as “turrón”, and also some exChristmas present. quisite products to attract customers looking for quality.

We also contacted with a business association of about 150 This shop belongs to a Food stores, ALAPYME, founded in Association that organises a 1995, whose main function is raffle of a Christmas’ basket, to make the shopping area of La there is also advertising on Laguna more competitive. The radio and TV and other offers manager of the association, Ju- and discounts. Other shops lián González told us that the print catalogues and coupons. decoration is one of the most important things, because it is We also talked to a young like the window that connects entrepreneur Cristian Pérez, the customers of the street who opened a restaurant in La with the store, so it is necessary Laguna two years ago, ‘’La Tasto have the best one at Christ- ca de Cristian’’. November is a mas time. We also talked about busy time for him. He has to orhow the crisis has affected the der different products and he number of customers who buy changes the menu. things at Christmas time, and he said “there are three variabIn December there are many les that have emerged with the people who book, especially crisis, more competition, less dinners. However, Christian consume by the customer and cannot employ more people, so fewer possibilities to negotiate his waiters and cooks work all with the banks because the- days, including Christmas Day re is less money so, the crisis and New Year’s Day, and do has affected a lot, but profits extra hours on each day.Bakeexist”He sees innovations on ries also have special cakes and communications as the key to sweets for this time of the year. the future of commerce.

We talked to ‘El Aderno’ manaObviously there are a lot of ger in La Laguna. different strategies to make people buy, as he said, they Apart from their specialities, know us... they know the kind they have some “star proof music we like to hear in the ducts” for Christmas like the streets, the volume, the pro- panetone, the epiphany cake duct that we like and the type (the ring-shaped cake) and the of showcase that makes us want “gipsy arms”. to buy, even the smallest thing in this city is a business strateToy shops “Arvelo” and gy at Christmas.

“Gonay” place the trendiest toys in their window shops and Finally we interviewed diffe- they are full of new products rent shopkeepers in the town. and customers desperate to Most of them agree these are get their orders.La Laguna is the most important sales. Pro- an example of a commercial fits are bigger, they increase up area with a special seal, where to 25%. Customers also inc- The Town Hall together with rease. For coordinating peop- small business, tascas and resle, sales and activities, most of taurants have managed to keep them employ more shop assis- traditions alive and the charm tants. They want to guarantee of a historical town, becoming success, so they open all days one of the best shopping areas and extra hours. of Tenerife.

Finally, on 5th January the Town Hall organizes the “Cabalgata de Reyes” which was founded in 1912. It is one of the most beautiful “Parades” with a lot of floats, pages and cartoon characters. The Three Wise Men who are on their way to deliver their presents, throw sweets to the people, and this Wehbe is one of the most day is very exciting for children. prestigious and oldest deAll shops are opened, of cour- partment stores in town. Mr. se!

Fernando Wehbe, the manager of the shop, told us for them There is another interesting decoration is important, they activity taking place in our actually make a huge change town, the first population whe- in façades, shop windows and re a Nativity scene was shown in the stores ’interior, with garoutside a church in the islands lands, ribbons and other deco–during the seventeenth cen- rations based on the Nativity. tury. There are different nativity scenes which will be shown However, the products offethis Christmas. The Culture red only vary about 5% beCouncillor organises a compe- cause they sell products which tition. Young people are wel- are divided in collections.Mr. comed to participate in it. And Luis Rodríguez, manager of also ‘’Merkcarte’’, the Art Fair Supermarket ‘’El Parque’’ and for young people, where young his six employees order special artists’ products can be exhi- products for Christmas, such

Now that you know all about the Christmas in La Laguna, what are you waiting for to come shopping here? We are waiting for you!

Carolina Mª Torres Rodríguez Carla Andrea Rodríguez

Rodríguez

Yaiza Castro Hernández.

Winter 2015

sivu 21

sivu 22 Winter

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2015

The business of Christmas in Copenhagen We have taken a look at three very different businesses to see how they prepare for the holiday season and what the business of Christmas means to them.

By Mie Knudsen, Silja Nidløse & Bianca Rasmussen

For Foodshop no. 26 on Islandsbrygge, Christmas means less customers than in the sunny summer months. Typically, Danes will flock to the popular harbor pools on Islandsbrygge during the warmer season, bringing plenty of hungry customers to the café slash bakery’s counter. But during Christmas, the Danes disappear elsewhere, says Foodshop no. 26’s Jasmin Falk Jensen. “During the winter months we definitely lose customers to the bigger companies. Everybody goes to the city center during Christmas to shop, so we see fewer customers because of our summerlocation.”

You know the feeling – One minute it’s the 31st of October, heaps of pumpkins in every grocery store, witches and ghosts running through the streets, your neighbor has come over thrice already to ask for candy. Then the clock strikes midnight and in the blink of an eye, Christmas decorations are twinkling merrily in all the shop windows of the city. Suddenly, Mariah Carey’s version of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is blasting through the speakers of five different department stores – Justin Bieber’s (super But of course the Christmas festive!) version is playing in spirit is still evident in Foodthe rest. shop no. 26 for the customers who do come by to get at de“Why is this happening?” you licious sandwich. “We spend complain with outrage, “My some extra time decorating in goodness, it was only just Hal- the shop,” says Jasmin Falk Jenloween like yesterday!” sen, “and we make sure to some have freshly baked Christmas It is true - But the Holiday cookies for our customers as Season is just around the well.” corner and the city center is bustling with busy shoppers, Another business that doesn’t ready to spend their money. So use Christmas as a significant what does Christmas mean for selling point either is Scandinathe businesses in Copenhagen? visk Data Center. Scandinavisk On the contrary to what one might assume, Christmas doesn’t equal rocketing amounts of customers and sales for all types of businesses.

Data Center is an IT-center that provides all-round service for several financial institutions in Scandinavia. With it’s unique position as an inter-Nordic ITcenter, SDC’s vision is to create a pleasant banking experience

for their clientele at a competitive price. The Christmas festivities are not a part of the branding strategy, as the banks, SDC’s target group, are traditionally finishing their annual reports during this period.

Instead, the IT-center uses the Holiday season for something else.

“We use Christmas as an opportunity to say thank you to our customers and show them our appreciation for working with us.” says sales and account layout changes as well. During manager at SDC, Jacob Canto week 43-44 21st – 31st of Hallager.

October, the Christmas section is built up in the front of the The retail chain Bilka stands store, bulging with chocolates, in sharp contrast to both FoodSanta hats and Christmas deshop no. 26 and Scandinavisk corations.

Data Center. “We definitely use Christmas as a part of our sales The surge of customers dustrategy.” says Mia Steffensen, ring this period is also very aphead of decoration and the parent. “The second half of the textile and sports section in year is by far our busiest. ComBilka Fields. “It typically starts pared to the first half of the around Black Friday, which reyear, the increase of customers ally launches the Christmas is approx. 20% throughout sales, but the store has to be the period.” Says Mia Steffendecorated already from week sen, “Christmas is something 42, 13th – 20th of October. that sells; it’s a feeling and an So we start getting our departatmosphere that everyone can ment stores ready for the Horelate to in some way.” lidays already 10 weeks before Christmas.”

Even though Bilka starts decorating the same time every The retail store is decorated year, Mia Steffensen still exfrom the middle of October periences customers, who feel with Christmas lights, garlands, it’s too early. “They say “Wow, stars and hearts, as other exisyou guys sure started decorating themes in decoration are ting early!” or “Oh, it just starts slowly phased out. The isle-

earlier and earlier each year, doesn’t it!”, but in fact it’s always the same week we do the decorating. Actually, the decorations have even become simpler these past years, so we have a little less than previously.”

actually hired externs to come and decorate the department stores after that.”

So that is why the cities are full of twinkling Christmas lights and tinsel in the shop windows.

It’s all for you!

The early decorating of the stores is something very common in retail, and it can be fatal for retail chains if they don’t follow the pattern of other retail stores.

“Customers love that the stores are decorated. They love that there is a special kind of Christmas atmosphere.” Mia Steffensen concludes, “We would lose too many customers, if we didn’t put so much “I know of a different retail effort into decorating.” chain that peeled nearly all of their Christmas decorations We can conclude that even if from the department stores, not all our businesses make a which gave a very negative business of Christmas by earresponse from the customers.” ning more money and getting Says Mia Steffensen, “The cus- more customers, they all think tomers were of the opinion that of Christmas in doing sometthe decorations had become to hing special for their customers sparse, so store lacked the cozy in form of greetings, decorafeeling and Christmas spirit of tions or other treatments. the season. The retail chain

CHRISTMAS BUSINESS IN SLOVAKIA

It´s almost Christmas time again! But rather than give you the same thing every year, „How we do Christmas in Slovakia and more how are the companies influenced by this season? “ Apart from having all family together, eating carp and potato salad, being gifted, it´s mostly about business.

Slovak Christmas Trees are decorated with coloured lights, fruits, hand-made decorations made of wood, baked goods made with honey of different shapes like Angels and other religious symbols and sweets.

Christmas Trees are kept until January 6th, Feast of the Three Kings. Then the children are finally allowed eat the candies and other sweets from the tree.

Christmas gifts are brought on 24th December, after dinner by the Baby Jesus.

Is the Baby really presented in each of our gift? Slovaks find answer in different way.Let´s have a look for Slovaks´ companies view.

We attended a hotel, a restaurant and an insurance company and interviewed managers, Mr. Durica, Mr. Zeman and Mr. Cas-

nocha. We asked them the same questions and were sure to get more or less the equal answers, but it was a bit diverse.

We intended to know whether the companies have extra expenses connected with Christmas time as well as increased profit. In fact, all companies gain extra outlay associated with organizing Christmas parties for their clients and giving small presents to thank them all.These costs are important because they bring higher profit next year, as the partners and clients appreciate their favour. Other charges are linked with decorating, but they usually use the flourish from previous years, just with little changes.

It was quite a big surprise for us to hear that companies don´t receive extra profit and more clients are knotted with Christmas. On the contrary, hotels and restaurants have less customers. Are you interested why is it so? The hotel is a business hotel and business clients don ´t travel during that time, they prefer to stay with their families and a restaurant obtains a big competitor, Christmas markets

in our town. People prefer the atmosphere of the markets, meet their friends and enjoy special Christmas meals and drinks. Insurance company has the same amount of the customers.

We wanted to know whether there is any change in the offer. Only the owner of the restaurant declared that they add some typical Christmas products, mostly drinks and Christmas menu, others have the same proposal.

Christmas time is special time of giving, so we wished to know whether companies organize or take part in charity events.

Only insurance company connects this time with charity.

They organize golf tournaments for their business partners and during these events they raise money for various charity organizations. Besides, they buy calendars and works of art sold to support ill children. Hotels and restaurants don´t form any special events during this period, but they support these kind of events during the whole year.

It was great to hear that all companies gift their employees and the insurance company

arranges Christmas party for them and St Nicolas party for their children.

The last question made the managers think more seriously. We wanted to know what they would do for the magic of Christmas if they had unlimited budget and power. Mr. Casnocha would prepare traditional Christmas for all children who don´t have parents, and for those, whose parents don ´t have enough money. Mr. Zeman

would give money to all people in need.

Mr Durica was very clear in his message. Magic of Christmas can be created in our hearts and with our families and loved ones. It is not important how much money we have, relationships are important, respect, love and humility.

We can´t agree more, we feel the same way, but if we had the power and money, we would ensure all people, especially

children the magic of being loved, respected and treated like kings.

The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. It illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world's busy life and become more interested in people than in things.

Patrik Spusta, Boris Pacher, David Kurthy Hotelova academia, Slovakia

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Winter 2015

Winter 2015

sivu 23

“What changes in your business during Christmas?”-Greece Here in Arta, we decided to ask this question to three businesses: a books and toys shop, a pastry shop and a cosmetics and beauty store (branch of a greek chain of stores all over Greece).

To begin with, the overall impression we got is that in all three businesses Christmas is, undoubtedly, a special season when profits rise. And it may not be an exaggeration to say that this probably applies to any kind of trading activity during this period.

Specifically, the owner of the toys and books shop told us that they begin their preparation very early, compared to other shops. They have to change the layout of the shop window so as to bring in a huge Christmas tree, put away their usual stuff and alter the arrangement of their products so as to show the Christmas decorations and toys.

be easier for clients to decide to buy, but always making sure that their products are not to be found elsewhere in the town.

The lady in charge in the cosmetics shop told us that their philosophy doesn’t change dramatically during the Christmas season because it is the firm’s policy to consider every day as a festive day. They always want to make their clients feel happy and at ease. This makes them shop more not only for themselves but also for their beloved ones, especially those that are in need. And Christmas is the time that we make sure to show our care and love for others.

She added, though, that no matter how difficult things have become due to the economic Their shop window is of gre- crisis, their kind of business is at importance. They consult doing well because of the kind experts for its decoration. She of products they sell. says that it attracts people and invites them in. As early as it is They are things that ready, people start coming in to people will always need. browse or ask for prices. It’s a Preparing for Christmas, they busier period which means that also hire experts for the deif they need it, they may hire coration of the store and they some extra hands. Definitely, also give more emphasis to the the crisis has changed their at- promotion of certain products titude regarding the products (perfumes, for example). In this they sell. They try to offer lo- case they may even bring in wer cost items so that it would models to advertise them more

effectively.

Finally, in the pastry shop they told us that they change their concept of decoration every year and they believe it is an important feature of their marketing strategy. For the holidays they make special sweets associated with the celebration of Christmas (melomakarona, kourampiedes, new year cakes, diples) and their business grows during the Season as people buy sweets for home or as presents and new comers, visitors or tourists are added in their usual clientele.

They keep their prices fixed so people will be able to afford buying. Their working hours

are always long 8:00-23:00 contrary to the two other businesses that follow special extended shop hours to enable customers to do their shopping.

All three businesses offer some products to charity. They offer sweets to institutions or care homes, give presents for municipality competitions or school events, or as lottery prizes.

Christmas is a lucrative business all around the world. It’s a game of offering, taking and offering back. It’s something we all enjoy participating in as it is a great boost for our psychology.

It is a festivity made for children and one that makes everybody feel like children. For most

people there is a Santa, secret or not, who takes care of their wishes and needs. We must never forget, though, that there are people and unfortunately, many children among them, who have no one to cater for their needs. We must have our eyes and ears open to detect such cases, offer them a

little present and most importantly of all a warm smile and a feeling of security.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 24

Winter 2015

What Christmas means for small entrepreneurs in Lucca It’s a chilly November night, the air is sweet and wintery, the shops all open and everyone is walking down the lanes and peeking around at the shop windows: the atmosphere is already Christmassy. Nine of us split up to walk to the shops we have previously decided to visit for the interview. To cover all the different faces of the Christmas spirit from a business-like perspective, we decide to look for different kinds of shops selling such varied goods as flowers, chocolate, toys. Our dilemma is: how does Christmas affect each of these commercial activities? Chocolat is a typical French chocolate shop, whose name comes from the namesake film released in 2000. French design elements are blended with Tuscan pieces, since the general idea aims for internationality. The image is important for the owner because, as he observes: “The business’s image is one of the most appealing aspects for customers.”

La città del sole, “The Sunshine City” is a chain of old-school, antique-oriented shops for kids; there are about seventy, the owner tells us, scattered

Made by Elias Hirvikoski from Finland.

around Italy. The one in Lucca, he informs us, was opened in 1994: “this is not an everyday typical shop”, the owner tells us.I fiori di Paola, “Paola’s flowers” is instead a colorful and joyous florist’s, one of the most renown in our town.

In a small town like Lucca the wintery atmosphere gets frenzied and sweetly fir scented, the streets get crowded and all decked up, hectic parents and teenagers walk around with a staggering excitement and with Christmas-themed presents in their bags. Certainly more or less every commercial company gets creative on Christmas time, but we wonder what toys are in store for the time when children get more demanding than ever, what flowers can be offered and what chocolate can be tasted to get festive. “Father Christmas”, one of us murmurs with a laughter, “must trigger quite an earning.”

What kind of customers do you usually aim to?

Toyshop: Our shops sells toys for both kids and adults. All the toys and games are crafted and expected to be interactive

and non-technological, so kids are meant to use their senses and learn to handle, feel and listen. Our target depends on the period, but as for the usual percentage, I would say our customers are 60% kids, whilst a good 40% are adults. Chocolate shop: During the winter our typical customers are Lucca’s inhabitants, while during the summer foreign tourists visit us the most. We can be proud of the fact that our chocolate shop is one of the few that remain open during the summer.

However, during the winter our typical products are the cold chocolate spoon, chocolatetopped fruit and home-made cookies.

mics, but hopefully in a positive way.Chocolate shop: Our strategy is to keep the customers that we have and to draw new ones, promoting tastes of every type of chocolate. We work for quality, kindness and for the personalization of the products; our specialties are chili pepper-chocolate, truffle walnut and ginger, honey covered fried rice balls and honey-covered marron glacés. What’s more, to give a personal touch to our recipes we also use spices like pepper, aniseeds and tea, especially to make hot chocolates and chocolate candies.

Over Christmas the comHow does the flow of petition is high. How do you costumers change during face it? Do you have any par- Christmas time? ticular Toyshop: “Christmas Toyshop: We believe that kids starts in November for a are always kids, no matter what shop owner”, as I always the season or the century is, so say. Christmas is of course that’s what we base our choi- the busiest time of the year ces on. Thereby we sell mostly in our shop. Parents come classic toys, many are even the to buy presents, but also same as they were forty years young people come to find oriago, yet still unabridged and ginal gifts... you definitely notiglobally appre- ce a big difference as regards ciated.

Most the amount of customers and of our toys the income as well, as a consedon’t derive quence. from cartoons or adverts; the Chocolate shop: Of course a only thing that lot of things change. Christmas changes from is one the most important optime to time portunities for us; we focus on is the design, the biscuit decorations for the but the toy Christmas trees, gifts and preis still what it sents. We don’t really produce was back in the specific products for Christpast.

That’s mas, but we propose special why we didn’t boxes containing several goureven perceive mandises made by our chocothe obvious late lab. change of the generations: Flower shop: Of course we necessities and get busier on Christmas time. demands are I usually sell a lot of mistletoe, still the same. hollies and obviously many For us the firs. Decorations like garlands, most impor- candles and floral arrangetant thing is an ments, made mostly with artifiactive approa- cial flowers but also with fresh ch to the toy, flowers, are highly requested whichever it is, too. They’re used as centerand this falls pieces on Christmas and New outside of the Year’s Eve, so I usually sell many general 21st of these century dynaAs regards the way your

shop appears, what changes te the shop through the local for Christmas? Any make- newspapers mostly.When the over?

Advent calendar announces the beginning of the final countToyshop: We don’t actually down to Christmas, shop owdo much decoration. We are ners can keep their shops open pretty traditional on this front till midnight on Friday and Satoo, so the shop stays more or turday before Christmas Eve. It less what it is throughout the all makes the town more lively year. Of course we put some and brighter. What we got out festive stickers, like snowflakes, of these interesting interviews on the door to just fit in with is the fact that on Christmas the general spirit, but as for the time the number of customers rest we keep it simple and plain. definitely rises, but what catMaybe that’s where you see ches more buyers is not necesa difference as well, since we sarily the use of overabundant don’t opt for an eye-catching decorations: for example, a visibility, as many other shops traditional and purposely sodo. We count on our toys; usu- ber shop, like La città del sole, ally a couple decorations and doesn’t believe in decorations stickers will do, but we don’t as a means to attract custowant any distractions, for we mers, whilst I fiori di Paola told like to think that the customers’ us how important it is to make eyes are caught by the toys the atmosphere more festive only and nothing else. when Christmas is round the corner.Either way, Christmas Flower shop: I decorate the represents quite an opportuinside and the shop windows nity for any entrepreneurial with lights which intrigue pas- initiative, no matter how decoser-bies. I cannot forget things rated or “plain” it decides to be. like garlands, adorned trees, artificial snow and musk because Class IVB Liceo Classico Mathey are a Christmassy must. chiavelli - Italy Advertising is fundamental in this period, so I try to promo-

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 25

A.V.I.T.A.E

Entrepreneurship in Greek Education WŝĐƚƵƌĞƐ ĨŽƌ ĂƌƚŝĐůĞ ϭ ;ĞŶƚƌĞƉƌĞŶĞƵƌƐŚŝƉͿ

We should all agree that, nowadays, it’s really imperative for young people to have some basic knowledge on entrepreneurship. For this reason it should be taught as a school subject. This will help students to start thinking creatively, to set goals, to learn how to cooperate. In other words, such a subject can prepare them for real life.

Unfortunately, the Greek school system doesn’t offer us the right entrepreneurial stimuli as it doesn’t have the appropriate infrastructure. Students get some basic instructions on entrepreneurship very early in their school life, in Junior High School (Gymnasium) as part of the lesson of Technology. Probably, Technical schools deal more with this subject but still in a theoretical basis. As a result, students have to try on our own to get some initiatives with the help of some teachers who are not experts on the subject but are simply willing to help us with our business endeavours.

On these grounds we may visit an enterprise or venture some primitive business activity of our own. For example, this Christmas, students of our school rented one of the counters in the Municipality Christ-

The entrepreneurship Christos Kolios

mas Market to earn some extra money for a school trip we are planning. This went quite alright, only that it was an amateur effort.

As we really want to be better prepared for our next entrepreneurial attempt, we have a couple of ideas to suggest. First of all, Entrepreneurship should be introduced as a major subject in Senior High School (Lykeion), taught by qualified teachers. On top of this, experienced entrepreneurs should volunteer to offer us and share with us their expertise.

School should provide us with the right opportunities to familiarize us with the concepts of entrepreneurship and train us practically on the subject.

To make this happen they can show us videos about the real line of production, take us on field trips, attend seminars or even arrange for us to do some apprenticeship.

Anna Kossyvaki Tasos Kontos and Eirini Papadimitriou

The innovations article was written by:

Marianthi Gountza Ioanna Kaskaouti Theodora Katti Iasonas Krapsitis

WŝĐƚƵƌĞ ϭ͗ ĚƵĐĂƚŝŽŶĂů ǀŝƐŝƚ ƚŽ Ă ĐŚŽĐŽůĂƚĞ ĨĂĐƚŽƌLJ

Innovations in our everyday lives

WŝĐƚƵƌĞ Ϯ͗ KƵƌ ŚƌŝƐƚŵĂƐ ΗďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐΗ

Incorporating the subject of Entrepreneurship in the syllabus of general education will definitely be one step towards introducing more qualified stuIt is amazing how innovations dents to the demands of real have invaded our society today. society.

In just a few decades we see them to have appeared everywhere in our homes, at school, in workplaces and cafes. There is no doubt, that technology has article was written by: changed the daily life of people mainly of the young ones.

Evelina Koutsou

Vasia Dragataki

Technological innovations have had a major impact both good and bad on most of our lives.

On the one hand, there are many advantages. First of all, modern technology has blessed us with advanced communication tools. These include video conferences, electronic mail, mobile phones, text messaging and social networking applications. People can communicate with their peers easily anytime, wherever they are. For instance, when people immigrate to other countries, they can contact their relatives or friends through social networks such as Skype or Facebook.

Another good argument for technological innovations is the convenience they brought to education. Learning is a process and it is a part of our daily lives. Modern technology has made it simple for students to learn through online education from anywhere they find themselves. For example, students can use smart phones, tablets or computers in order to find some information about a school project. There are tools like interactive boards which make lessons more convenient and fun.

In addition, modern technology has played a big role in facilitating entertainment.

Home entertainment has improved with the invention of video games, high quality music and visual systems like smart televisions which can connect to the internet so that

a user can share what they are watching with friends. Easy access and storage of music are possible with services such as iTunes which allow users to purchase and download music on their iPods at a small cost.

Also, it allows people, who do not have time to go shopping, to simply log on and surf the stores that are available online.

On the other hand, there are a number of disadvantages about technological innovations. First and foremost, they increase loneliness.

Teenagers playing video games, learn how to use modern technology or they learn how to use the social networks but then, they neglect their real life.

Technology has replaced our old way of interacting. If a user can easily interact with 100 friends online, they will feel no need to go out to make real friends which at a later stage leads to loneliness. Besides this, you often see young people in cafes

not communicating with each other live but instead they are all on their cell phones. Sooner or later this can lead to more serious problems.

What is more, technological developments decrease a person’s astuteness or creativity. What we want to say is that it is hard to find a student who can solve a very simple mathematical equation without using a calculator. Last but not least, teenagers spend a lot of time in front of a screen.

As a consequence, it is possible to face health problems, especially obesity and vision problems.

In conclusion, it appears to us that innovations are very important. Technological achievements have definitely made our lives easier. However we must use them in moderation so that we only benefit from them and we should avoid to get addicted.

sivu 26 February

2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

How do students see innovations changing their everyday lives. e.g. Computers, smartphones (advantages and disadvantages) How many young can say with a straight face that the phone has stayed in the pocket during school lessons? How many youngsters can claim that lessons have always been more interesting than Whatsapp’s latest gossip? How many youngsters really think that technological development only brings good things with it?

When we were children, phones were big. Not big at the same way than now ­the keys were big, the screen was small and the thickness was just like a brick. Computers were, in turn, slow, big boxes in the corner of the room. But today everything is thin, quick and straightforward. Everything should be cost­effective and it is shown in the prices. The change that has happened in ten years can be easily seen.

But, how do particularly the students notice the change?

In schools, from primary school to high school, different kinds of technology is used.

There are smart boards which are drawn on instead of writing with pens, and there are laptops which replace notebooks.

In our high school all students

have their own iPads, and they TVs. When you watch screen can also use several computers. the whole day, do you know what is happening around you?

The biggest change is noticed in lessons. A part of the When the devices are imptextbooks have been changed roved, they arouse interest to e-books. It means that the more and more. And of course, books are in electronic format. the more interesting, the more So, books can be read on the difficult it is to put them down. internet and you are not able Young people become “slaves to make notes in the same way of their contraptions” because as before. Teachers think that the eyes are glued to the scthe developing of technology reen. As a result of this, conis good for us. You can do your centration drops in a moment ­ homework more easily than be- for example at school. Think fore and it is also easier than about the time before the debefore to correct them. The velopment of technology. How are also other good things: you many of your friends even had do not need to carry so many a mobile phone ten years ago. books in your backpack when And if they did, it was only for all you need is found in that parents’ messages and calls, electronic thing which is in your not for games and movies. hand almost all the time. All of When you wanted to meet your study costs fall when you your friends, you went to knock do not need to buy pens, era- on their doors and asked if they sers, sharpeners etc... wanted be with you. Nowadays you just send a message. And All this digitization has raised if you get the answer ‘yes’, you suspicions in many people. probably play or use social meMany young students look at dia in some way together.. screens many hours a day. And of course, in their pastime they Have you noticed that, for do it too. Is it good for them? example while walking in the Some people say that watching city people walk with eyes on TV too much turns your brains their phones and do not notice into a vegetable. And phones other people at all? and ipads could really be placed in the same category than Using technology, like mobile

phones and tablets might disturb kids’, students’ and adults’ concentration. Like when you are driving a car and someone texts or calls you. Nowadays there are handsfrees so that you do not have to hold the phone to your ear.

But most of the people do not use it.

Some people think that technology is only harmful, but we have to accept that it will be part of our lives now and in the future.

The Internet and using different apps bring people safety and joy. That way people can communicate and search information. Even if you do not have anything to do and you just sit still, you can pick up your phone and watch what is happening around you.

sivu 27 February 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Education for entrepreneurship About our school Pyhäjoki Lukio is a college which specialty is to give you education for entrepreneurship. Our school has its own student­made­newspaper and great projects that everyone is taking part in. They are also super popular, rewarding and fun.

How entrepreneurship shows in our school?

Entrepreneurship shows in our school in many different ways. The school offers everyone a chance to start your own business. The businesses are called “NY”. If you come up with an great business idea, you can start planning your business by only yourself or in a group. There are no actual classes which prepare you for starting the business, but when you tell teachers about it you’ll be

given support and information per. It teaches you responsiabout starting and running it. bility and creativity when you have to write dozens of news.

Starting your own business Some of our writings that are is not the only way how ent- we doing in Finnish lessons and repreneurships show. You can at home can also end up in the also make a newspaper that is newspaper. If you want to take distributed to people around part in making newspaper but this area. The newspaper is cal- you don’t want to only write led Pyhäjoen Kuulumiset. The then you can be designing the Kuulumiset newspaper appears layout of the newspaper. at every local resident’s door every week for free. In the paper Trade fair there are articles writTrade fair is big part of our ten mainly by students which deal with things school. Students have organihappening in Pyhäjoki. zed the trade fair 21 times. So So it’s pretty important you can almost say that trade for our community and fair is a tradition. If you conit keeps people up to sider how little our school is, date about all news. The trade fairs are a really big thing. students in the school Not even the biggest schools can take part in making can do something like this. It the Kuulumiset newspa- is something so special and it per and get money for it. is sure that our school will be If you are interested you known for trade fairs. can also apply for a sumThere are many teams like mer job making newspa-

advertisement and technology teams. You can seek a place that you interested in. To get a role in the trade fair you have to write a job application and a CV.

business. Luckily our school is very open for new suggestions, so it’s possible to even start new courses if there are enough interested students. We had a chance to take entrepreneurship as a subject in middle The trade fairs teach a lot to school but many of us didn’t students. Trade fairs are real realize how important it would projects with real money. The be in future back then. students learn how to plan, organize and accomplish. They Final thoughts are given a lot of responsibiliWe think that the educatity. In this project you learn to try different things. The money on we are receiving at school you get from the trade fair is prepares us for becoming entused on a study trip abroad for repreneurs and to be ready to entrepreneurship. The current the whole class. education is quite good but there is some little things like Suggestions courses for entrepreneurship Like we said earlier you can that need to be improved. start your own business if you Them the education could prewant to. But unfortunately the- pare us even better. The school re aren’t actually any courses gives you responsibility which is that discuss entrepreneurship. needed in future if you decide So it can be a little bit hard if to continue as an entrepreneur. you don’t know how to run a

sivu 28 February

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

Innovations have huge impact on us

By Petra Tadialova, Alexandra Novotna, Jakug Nguyen Hotel Academy, Bratislava Innovations have huge impact not only on students, but on all human-beings. They have changed everyday life in a good way; however they could be negative too. Positives are that you can find information immediately whatever, whenever and wherever you are. You can communicate with people, you can take photos, write a book, print projects, basically you have unlimited options. Negatives are that you have too many information on the internet, but some of them can be fake or fictional.

In the past kids couldn´t have found some news and things they needed. They had to ask their parents for help or find another way. They couldn´t have done such nice, interactive outcomes because they didn´t have computers.

Nowadays it´s easy to do these things when we have so many innovations which are here for us. For example mobiles-pocket computer is sometimes smarter than us. You can take it and use it everywhere you need. If you need to translate something into different language you use your phone with translator app,

mobile calculator when you forget your own. When you miss a day at school and you don´t have notes from some classes you use your mobile camera or shared documents. Some schools offer application called Edupage where you have everything, from your schedule to your grades and substitutions.

We have computers and notebooks where we can write our homework and then send it immediately to our teachers. In some classes we are allowed to use our notebook and work on it instead of paper worksheets.

Those innovations help you with communicating. For example you can Skype to your friends and ask them for help if you aren´t at school or when you are in a worldwide project you can use Skype and call people that live far away.

We have interactive boards, tablets, printers. And last but not least we have social media where students can communicate with each other; they also can share their notes and homework with each other, or ask for help. These applications like Facebook, WhatsApp,

Messenger, and Viber are very useful. If you are not able to go school, you can communicate with your classmates or teachers in a moment.

But those innovations are not always good. For example internet. People use it every day but they don´t realize that some of the information can be not true. Sad thing about internet is that people forget about library, forget how to ask for help, some of them may forget how to write because they only type into notebooks and smartphones. They are not good at communicating with people because they are all the time on devices, rolling Facebook or other social media, playing computer games, they don´t meet face to face. They don´t read books, don´t do sport…

We can say that all innovations have advantages but also disadvantages. But if compare the life and education nowadays and let´s say 70 years ago, we have to admit that innovations are really very useful, but people should learn that not everything on internet is right and they should take control of it and be responsible.

How does education prepare us for entrepreneurship?

By Kristina Markaj, Michal Kovac, Vladimir Mestan Hotel Academy, Bratislava

We think that our school gives us lots of opportunities to prepare for the successful future.

General economic education can be obtained in participating in special subjects, courses and in the projects such as AVITAE that allows us to travel to different countries where we gradually learn communication, development of our language skills in English, and mostly expanding our information about business. We have vocational subjects that prepare us to work in the hotel industry, where we develop our business skills. The school gives us practice at various hotels, restaurants and cafes. There we have to communicate with customers, which is run in different languages. Therefore, multiple

languages such ​​ as English, German, and French are taught. In our school, you may have practice abroad. The students can go to Japan, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Italy, Spain or Greece and discover their culture, habits, economy and so on. It is very useful experience where we upgrade our business skills and language skills. Who would not like to visit new country?

Some courses our school offers to us: 1. Carving (carving fruits and vegetables), 2. Barista course (preparing coffee), 3. Bartending course (serving and making drinks) 4. Sommelier course (description of wine) After you successfully finish the course, you will

get a certificate of a particular course. Thanks to this you gain better options to be employed in higher rated jobs.

Then we have there afterschool activities as: 1. “Start Business“(used for market orientation), 2.

“Entrepreneurship in tourism“(mid-level management), 3.

“More than Money“(increase financial literacy).

Students have continuous working practice during the study under control of professional teaching staff. Students provide their knowledge in selected hotel and catering establishments. The practice can be carried out on the premises

of the school at the school suitable conditions or in workplaces outside the school.

During the study the students are motivated to identify their strengths and weaknesses and work on them during the school year. Our school is known as very active one, we were “pilot school” of many entrepreneurial programmes. It is important for us to connect learning with real life.

Most of the Entrepreneurial programmes are Junior Achievement programmes - More than Money, The Travel and Tourism Business, Banks in Action, Business Ethics, Global Enterprise Project, and Think Big School. Junior Achievement is the oldest, largest and fastest-growing non-profit or-

ganization working in the field of entrepreneurship education, which operates in 108 countries of the world. Thanks to the cooperation with Junior Achievement Slovakia we have mentors for our entrepreneurial programmes who come regularly to our school and train students, discuss with them and help them with their activities and tasks. There is a special program “Travel and Tourism Business” where students set their own mini companies, travel agencies. They learn how to do business through real experience.

Our students organise charity run “CapRun” with participation of the schools of Bratislava region every year and help also

in many fundraising activities.

There is just one problem, we don’t have enough space to develop our digital skills and use modern technologies at school, which is also important. We hope that it will change soon and we will experience modern flexible learning spaces with technologies soon, as it is crucial for our future work life as well.

sivu 29 February 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Does education prepare us for entrepreneurship?

Education from high school help when they have tried all mething bigger themselves. and university prepares us for other options, because when entrepreneurship. working to be an entrepreneur Study programs you need to try new methods They teach us being creative and all ways to keep your work In Denmark we have sometindividually. going. hing called study programs that every student can chose for Byline: Zara Nawaz and Sadaf Individual work their future choice of educatiSigidi ­Ørestad Gymnasium on. Study programs are sometOur training prepares us to hing that help every student to Edited by Sara Warming become entrepreneurs by gi- study his/her favorite subjects. ving us "hands­ on" experience In Ørestad high school there Interaction between teach- and challenge us innovatively. are four different directions ers and studentsIn Ørestad A big part of the learning prog- you can choose natural science, high school the education is ress is that the students them- social science, language and arbuilt up around positive inter- selves produce innovative pro- tistic direction. Every direction actions between teachers and ducts such as short films etc. has various programs you can students. The teachers involve It forces the students to take choose, eg. Innovation is a line, and challenge the students by on different perspectives in or- where students are taught how starting a conversation bet- der to convey the subjects the to create something new. ween the parts where the stu- most optimally. Independent dents are given active feedback work and self­ devise solutions Entrepreneurship to the current topic. Teachers are something Ørestad high in Ørestad high school encou- school teaches their students Entrepreneurship is not just rage their students to work by teaching them how they can about young people having independently and only ask for create something small to so- skills and abilities to create

a new business, but also that what is created can fill a social need or add value to the cultural field; This might include projects that help to solve environmental problems or to ensure social inclusion. Innovation and entrepreneurship are closely coupled concepts. Innovation occurs when entrepreneurship acts on opportunities and ideas. Being an entrepreneur is not just about being able to start a business alone or to work yourself, but that you can work with others and together create something amazing. Cooperation in entrepreneurship is one of the most important things because then you can contribute something and incorporate others' ideas.

be entrepreneurs.

That is probably a question we have all been wondering about. Does an education from high school make a difference for becoming entrepreneurial.

We have asked a couple of questions to different people who have been in high school. ● Has high school made you become more innovative and made you aim to be entrepreneurs.

I can say that I have gotten a lot more confident after High School. But I can't say that High School is the only thing that matters. There are a lot of factors that have helped evolving me. ­23­year ­old from Odense University.

Because I wouldn’t say that High School is the only factor that matters. But again in high school you are going to change a lot, you are a teenager, who is taking your first steps into “adulthood”. You start as an awkward little kid and walk out with so much more confidence and you are so much braver after High School. You will be challenged both socially and academically in ways that are going to push your boundaries.

That is good because you will be evolving and changing for the better. But it can also be bad if you are not ready for that experience. But then again it is going to challenge you to stand up for yourself. 20 year ­ old from Copenhagen University

Does education really make a ● Why/why not has your high difference? school degree made you aim to

Innovations make teaching and learning easier Computers and tablets are innovations that have significantly changed the way students are educated in Danish schools.

By Mie Knudsen and Silja Nidløse ­Ørestad Gymnasium Edited by Bianca Rasmussen

We have all tried it at least once: It’s monday morning and you have forgotten your chemistry book and your math homework on your desk. It’s terribly annoying ­how are you going to survive the rest of the school day? At Ørestad Gymnasium in Denmark, this is no longer a problem for the students. Inventions such as computers and cellphones have changed the way we are taught and learn in high school. The only thing you have to bring to school is a computer or a tablet; it’s as simple as that.

Everything you need ­all your books, homework and schedule ­is available online; you don’t even have to bring your pencil case! ’’It’s amazing how much easier it makes going to school, when you only to have to bring your computer. You have all your books and files in one place and you don’t have to think about a heavy backpack or that one book you forgot at home’’, says Diba Afza from 1.D at Ørestad gymnasium.

It might sound crazy to someone not used to going to school this way, and it really

is something you have to get and finish a project. used to at first.

Another way that we use A great thing about using computers at Ørestad Gymcomputers is that it’s easier to nasium is in science classes, communicate with fellow stu- such as chemistry and biolodents and your teachers. At gy, where we have access to an Ørestad Gymnasium we use online software that works like Google­docs, which is an on- a virtual laboratory. It allows line word processor. The ad- the students to perform diffevantage of using Google­docs, rent experiments just like they is that multiple people can would in a real laboratory. The view and edit a document at great thing about using a virthe same time, and it’s easy tual laboratory is that it gives to share the document so that students an opportunity to others can view it. perform experiments that they wouldn’t normally be able to, Teachers use this a lot, es- because of the sometimes expecially to write lesson plans pensive apparatus that is neeand make worksheets for every ded. class, so that students know what they are going to work The teacher can also use this with and learn in a lesson. software, if all the laboratories The teacher can also make are in use by another class, or sure that the students are the students can perform exactive during the class, by periments from home as homekeeping an eye on their do- work. cument and leaving a virtual comment suggesting areas in Can computers be a distracwhich the students could imp- tion? rove. For many this is a whole new and maybe strange way to There are obviously many be taught, since the teacher great things about using indoesn’t even have to be phy- ventions such as computers in sically present in a lesson to school, but are there any issuteach. es with being so dependent on technology?

The students at Ørestad Gymnasium spend a lot of time “Going to a school where working in groups on projects, technology is a big part of your and as most people know, it day can become a problem if can sometimes be difficult if you can’t connect to the interyou have to work on it outside net or your computer breaks’’, of school. says Dana Dan­Lin Wang from 2.D. at Ørestad Gymnasium.

With Google­ docs and skype it’s no longer a problem to Although this rarely happens, communicate with your group it becomes kind of an issue

when the internet connection does fail. Almost all materials used in classes require an internet connection. If internet access is lost, the lesson is interrupted and it’s often difficult for the teacher to continue teaching.

Sometimes it can also be challenging for the students not to become distracted by social media websites and online games during class.

“Having you computer with you everyday really is a great way to learn. However, once in awhile you catch yourself being distracted by Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Tetris. But usually it is not

that hard to regain focus.”, says tunity to use the previously Weda Allaha Gul from 2.C. at mentioned innovations is just Ørestad. too great to pass by ­we believe that it enhances the learning The innovations have both experience and opens up for good and bad qualities to endless possibilities to better them, but we choose to focus oneself academically. on the good sides, as we believe there is a surplus of positiUsing internet and electrove consequences. We students nic devices in school is the way find that it is more beneficial forward, not only for us here at for our everyday school lives to incorporate the innovaØrestad Gymnasium, but for tions, such as computers and school systems as a whole. tablets into the lessons, than having to attend class without them. Although there of course is a risk of being distracted on the internet. The oppor-

sivu 30 February

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

School and Entrepreneurship By: Raúl Pérez González/Daniel Suarez School plays an important role in everyone’s development and future. It helps you grow as aperson, develops your profesional future and makes you learn and experience great things like friendship, self discovery, other languages, but does it really help you and encourage you to be entrepreneurial?

For me, that question has a quick answer, NO. I am currently a student of high school and in a few months I will be heading to university. And for the experience that I have had, school does not help you think out of the box, I would say it doesn’t encourage creativity.

The education we have experienced, for the most part, is focused on working and thinking like everyone else, following the established rules on how things work, without letting individuals express their creativity and potencial for entrepreneurship. You will probably have a clearer picture of what I mean, after reading what happened to my friend Daniel Suárez when he was in primary. “… when I was child I used to go to the supermarket and buy small toys, games, etc.

entrepreneurial spirit of students, and it is something we need to change for the future generations.

There are many skills that I wish I had learned at school, and I hope one day my kids learn when they go. For example entrepreneurship, for me innovation is what keeps the world going, so we desperately need more creative and innovative people who will make this world a better place, and the education system is not helping. We need more companies who are willing to develop greater and more efficient services for the sake of society. Great positive things like community development, social change, adds for national income. New businesses and economical fields are directly attached to entrepreneurship, so we must invest on our youth to guarantee the advantages of having entrepreneurs in our society.

And other vital knowledge that should be taught at school like how to handle money, critical thinking, how to get a job, how to build a career that is all your own, etc.

Youngsters and ITC

By Déborah Hernández del Castillo

Some ways that can help to a better school system are, first of all, changing the idea of failure. At school we have been taught that failure is bad. In the entrepreneurial arena, failure Some people think that can be a great thing if a posischool should only aim at tive lesson is learned. Creating Then, I used to prepare some preparing kids to complete a independence and critical thinking is also important. raffles and I sold them for 1€ higher education. among my school mates. If the Inspiring creativity will build toy cost about 15€, I sold 40 However, youngsters spend tickets, so that I could get some long hours at school, so it marketing skills. Teaching kids benefits. When teachers knew should also develop our social about marketing is a great way to prepare them to attract cusabout it, they didn’t like it at dimension. tomers to their future business, all, and I was punished. I had to arrange the mattresses for Even though some teachers, etcIn conclusion we have a long the children who used to sleep do focus on teaching important way ahead of us, but change is in the school after lunchtime - values, like the ones mentioned in our hands. It is important for a whole term. All this just before, it is not enough. Teach- to never forget the power in us because of selling tickets for a ing should not be reduced to and always fight for a better raffle? Was this punishment ac- just conventional subjects like world. tually fair? maths, physics or geography, we need to emphasize on creaWell, this is one of the ways in tivity and innovation. And this which schools can end with the problem has a solution.

Most of my school mates have grown up without internet, computers, smartphones... and all those sophisticated technological gadgets that we cannot live without now. They have changed our way of living, the way we enjoy, solve problems and probably, even the way we think. We have had to adapt to those changes. They have both positive and negative effects.

Undoubtedly, the biggest innovation in the life o ​f youngsters has been mobile phones. We keep in touch with other people and we are always located.

There have been many cases of people who have got lost and were found thanks to their mobile phones. In addition, we can​inform others about any problem which could have happened to us, so that the other person knows about our situation, if we are going to be delayed, etc. At an academic level, mobile phones have freed students from hours and hours copying notes, with only a click when we take a photo.

However, our mobile phones can break or we even get lost and when this happens we are in real trouble, it can turn our social life into chaos!

On the other hand, the fact of being always located sometimes is not so good, especially when strangers could access to our personal information, for examp-

le through social networks.

Although they help us to keep in touch with other people, even if they are in other countries, it can also happen that strangers, with bad intentions, are informed​ o​f our whereabouts. Many of us spend the day publishing everything we do. Many times we are so worried about taking the best pic that we just forget to enjoy the moment. Most of the time our privacy is exposed and then problems may appear. Parents and teachers complain we are less focused while studying.

Many times we are studying and waiting for a new message to arrive. Besides, when something does not work properly in our social network, we forget about what we were doing​a​nd we just focus our attention on fixing it. At this point we can emphasize another disadvantage, the loss of faceto-face communication. It is true that this technology has helped us to keep in contact with people in the distance, but it has had so much influence on us - we pay so much attention to them, that we miss what it is happening around us.

At school level there has been a big change in the student's life. We do activities and projects in the computer, and handwritten tasks are outdated. This allows students to do them faster and also the internet has helped us to keep in

touch with our teachers, just sending a message without having to wait for the next class. Schools can no longer do without the Internet, computers, projectors and so on. The traditional classes have had to adapt to this new technological advances, that have helped students in many ways. In many schools books are being replaced by Ibooks and computers, in that way students can save money and also carry less weight in their backpacks.

To sum up, innovation has changed student's life in many ways. It has provided a lot of positive things, however, it also has had some negative ones, isn't it always like that?

Over the years new technological advances will appear and we will have to adapt to them. Our society is constantly innovating and trying to make our lives easier.

sivu 31 February 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Does your school help you to develop and to safeguard an entrepreneurial spirit ?

by Christian Michelini class IV B Liceo Classico N. Machiavelli . Italy Before answering this question I have to clarify how our school can help me to develop an entrepreneurial spirit.

We can say by developing the fundamental competences which are indispensable for a successful entrepreneur such as creativity, courage, spirit of enterprise, organization and other ones that we all share now as “AVITAE” students. So the question that is at the basis of this article becomes: does my school help me to develop these competences ? Let me analyze the issue: I think that both creativity and courage are innate qualities which are not easy to develop or learn. However, concerning creativity I can say that through the study of classical culture, my school can support me to increase it; in fact, the study of what happened in the past must always be the foundation for all new creations. But we must also say

that, given the nature of the curriculum, at my school we do not have many opportunities to use our creativity. Regarding such competences as organization or the enterprise spirit, I fear that my school does not really help me to develop them.

Why ? Because those competences are closely related to the job market and my school is more oriented to give students an academic education.

Should I therefore conclude that my school cannot give me a hand to develop an entrepreneurial spirit ? Indeed this is not completely correct: in fact, through the subjects that I am studying, my school is forging my critical mind and open-mindedness; these are to me essential for the building of one’s entrepreneurial spirit.

How do People see innovation change their Life (computer, smartphone) Advantages and disadvantages Class IV B Liceo Classico N, Machiavelli – Italy

By Jacopo Ghilardi and Irene Isola

During a family dinner, while we were chatting about school life, at one point my lovely mum said, with a little bit of bitterness: ”You kids have it so much easier these days” and obviously she was totally right.

While we still have all the same educational benefits as those of the previous generation, we also have the opportunity to experience many different ways of learning and teaching.

For instance, we can still pay a visit to actual libraries from time to time, but we also have countless virtual ones we can rely on.

Back in the day, students couldn’t dispose of the means we have; for example, when it came to studying they simply sat down at their desks, with notes and books all sorted out and ready to be read and analised. Nowadays we have a different approach to our homework: a simple net search of a chosen topic can inspire us

and provide us with access to a in some schools, are already huge number of resources. common in classrooms... and why shouldn’t they be? The Students-teacher interaction replacement of textbooks with is another area that has bene- tablets allows students to have fited from technology, for both the luxury of having updated, parties. We still directly keep in interactive and even personalitouch with our teachers when zed learning material; moreover, needed, but we can now com- you can have all that without municate from the comfort of spending too much money. our homes through email and instant messaging.

That’s why my mother was right when she said that stuIt’s amazing to actually look dents have it easier nowadays; back, compare, and take on we have indeed embraced board the advancements that technology and learnt how to have been made and the bene- use it to meet our needs and fits we are reaping as a result. wants. Technology is changing at such an amazing rate... who Then there are many ot- knows what is around the corher ways for students to use ner? We should be ready to technology to their advantage, take advantage of each nnovaboth inside and outside the tion straight-away classroom, like using Prezi or PowerPoint for school presentations, eBay to sell old textbooks, Google Drive to share documents... the list could go on forever.

Laptops, and even tablets

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 32

February 2016

Technology in students’ everyday lives Technology has advanced so much in the last few decades that has made life easier, so it is hard to get away from an electronic environment nowadays. We are now part of the 21st century, the century that is full of pearls of knowledge and soaring with technological advancements. Take a look around and you will observe that technological accomplishments have become a vital part of our everyday lives, even in the field of education.

Admittedly, technology has made our lives easier as we are able to store, transmit and gain access to an array of useful information at any time of the day. Therefore, it enables us to enter the world of knowledge. It is a time-saving tool, as it can save us time from having to go to a shop while at the same time one can save money as they can find bargains online. It’s outstanding that technology has literally brought the world to our fingertips.

What is more, society has become completely dependent on the technology advancement, as it is acutely

used on a daily basis in all the fields. Technology has tremendously helped humanity to advance the medical field, permitting and facilitating complex surgeries.

Moreover, technology has brought about numerous advancements in today’s modern classrooms. To begin with, a student is now able to have access to everything his teacher has presented in class. Consequently, decreasing paper and photocopying costs and promoting the concept of “green revolution”. Furthermore, it gives the opportunity to students who are in geographically isolated areas to be educated through “Distance Learning”, while at the same time students are trained to learn new technological skills they can use in their future workplace. That is why, we strongly believe, that the IT (Information Technology) subject should be compulsory throughout the student’s educational career. These skills are a must in today’s society.

The advent of this vast network of connections, technology in general, has created efficiency and convenience, yet at the same

time it has opened a portal for crime, privacy and copyright issues to emerge and bubble up to the surface.

There is a high risk for privacy breach, nowadays. Everything we do with a computer online leaves a digital footprint, giving the opportunity to criminals to steal ones identity and personal info, within a blink of an eye.

programme incompatibility while at the same time both students and teachers will need to be regularly informed on the new advancements. Additionally, this gives a terrible ability to students on cheating on tests and quizzes, which will give both students and teachers the wrong impression for every student’s abilities, which will have disastrous Technology has not only effects on them in the longcaused crime issues but term. also tremendous amounts of health problems. Peop- The bottom line is that, le when overusing compu- whether we like to admit it ters can end up suffering or not, technology has befrom neck strain, eye strain, come an integral part of our inevitable and annoying lives and without it we canheadache, and obesity as not do anything. Therefore, technology has brought it is ultimately up to eveabout a more sedentary ryone to minimize the curse life. In addition, society has parts of technology while at become overwhelmingly the same time take full adaddicted in surfing the net vantage of its blessings. which has caused isolation among citizens.

Likewise, it has terrible effects on education. First and foremost, the fact that not all students can afford computers does not allow the fulfilment of this idea.

Besides that, the fact that technology changes continuously, will bring about issues such as software and

Made by Elias Hirvikoski and Jeremia Toppari from Finland.

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

A.V.I.T.A.E

Ancient food with a twist

By Bianca Rasmussen, Denmark AVITAE MAGIRA is the title of the new cookbook published by the AVITAE team, with ancient recipies from all over Europe.

In the fall of 2015, students from seven European countries traveled to Hotel Academia in Bratislava to work with recipes from the

participating countries and reinvent them with an innovative twist.

Prior to the visit, the students did a great deal of research and dug out the recipes of five courses for an original authentic meal from the respective countries.

The ancient recipes were brought to Bratislava, where the students cooked together in international teams,

sivu 33

competing to present the best meals for the tasters.

Sofie Brøbech Hedam Hansen from Denmark went to Bratislava to cook with four other students. “I had a great experience in Bratislava.

The equipment was all modern but the meals were old fashioned. It was fun to work in an international team and try to present the food in an innovative way!”.

The recipes have all been collected into one book, which is now available to download for free! http://www. avitae.org/#!magiraavita/ginyg Bon appetite!

sivu 34 Spring

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

Articles on travelling If you could travel anywhere for free, where would you go and why?

Well, for me this has been a really hard decision, but I think I am not the only one. Nowadays, travelling has turned into popular but expensive activity.

There are enough travel agencies which offer you various vacations and journeys. We know also cheaper ways how to travel such as backpacking and making a journey on your own.

When I imagine travelling for free, I would definitely go everywhere. There are a lot of countries I wish to visit, meet different people, make new friends and taste diverse cuisines.

But like everyone, I have a few places I would like to go the most.

The first on my wish-list is Iceland. I have never been there but I would love to go there one day. I have heard that it is a unique country in its culture, food and people. For me Iceland is a peaceful country with endless and untouched nature mountains and different species of animals and natural wonders.

The phenomenon of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) can be seen during mid-winter (November-December) when the weather is clear. There are plenty of adventurers photographers who want to take a picture of this beauty but it is

really hard to find it.

Iceland is specific with arctic and cold weather, short days and long polar white nights. For a small country, Iceland is full of natural wonders.

You will find a unique mix of volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls, lava fields, black sand beaches, geysers, and dramatic mountains.

I like to imagine living there one day. In my point of view Iceland is not that much interested in politics, there is really less criminality than in the other countries, so it is a quite safe place for living.

People there are open hearted and friendly. Did you know that the national food in Iceland is Hot-dog ?

Surveys show that despite their obsession with modern technology, as many as 80% of Icelanders believe in the existence of elves. Even today, roads have been rerouted and building plans redesigned or abandoned to avoid disturbing rocks where elves are said to live.

All around the country, strange lava formations were once explained in folktales as trolls who were turned to stone when caught outdoors in daylight. But only children in Iceland believe in trolls today, and the once widespread belief

in ghosts is in decline, some say because electricity has taken the fright out of the long winter nights.

Iceland has a ton of volcanic activity. While some countries might be scared to live in the center of a fiery ring of volcanoes, Iceland grabbed nature by its slippery throat and figured out how to use it to their advantage. Roughly 85 percent of Iceland’s energy is from re-

newable resources, and well over half of that is geothermal alone.

At the present, Iceland has become popular for visitors from all over the world. Sporting attractions have become a must for visitors to Iceland.

The top favourites include swimming in a geothermal hot spring (where people can bath in warm open-air pools all year round – even during blizzards!),

Anywhere in the world…

By Sofie Brøbech Every day, way too many times a day, with no exception I check my Instagram (ask any of my friends for real life proof). I follow travel photographer after travel photographer, and see corners of the world I have never been to on my teeny tiny iPhone screen. This is really not a good habit to have, if you don’t have any money for all the trips you want to go on after seeing all the pictures. So when asked the question of where I would go, if I could go anywhere in the entire world for free – my mind goes into panic mode. How could I ever choose between sunny Cape Town, amazing Australia or the city that never sleeps – New York?

I want to go everywhere, but one place I just can’t seem to let go at the moment is Iceland.

Why Iceland? Why go to a little island, found far out in the

Atlantic and Artic ocean, when pe and seeing them through a you could go anywhere? screen just isn’t enough. I am always looking for an advenWell, first of all it is insanely ture and getting to experience expensive to go to Iceland – Iceland’s nature first hand is, so a free trip would make my without a doubt, the number cheap-ass student heart feel one adventure on my bucket very very good. But that is not list. The most magical thing, nearly what I find most com- above all of the amazingness pelling about Iceland. The one of Iceland, would be the Nortthing that truly makes Iceland a hern lights. A phenomenon I no-brainer for me is the nature. know absolutely nothing about Gigantic glaciers, snowy moun- (or close too), but I feel like it tains and of course, the Nort- really doesn’t need an explanahern Lights. I have heard stories tion. Seeing big green streaks, from friends, watched videos dancing in the night sky is in my on YouTube and read captions opinion as close to a miracle as to pictures and not once have we get. I know that this is just a I seen or heard anything even rhetorical question, but if anyslightly bad about Iceland. Out one would ever like to pay for of all of my friends, YouTubers my trip to Iceland it would be and photographers I follow, all awesome. Even though I will go of them can’t praise the beau- there anyways, that I am sure ty of the island enough. I think of. I might not be on the first that has played a major role in plane to Reykjavik tomorrow my wanting to go there. I am but hopefully on one very, very a sucker for a good landsca- soon.

a trek on the small but hardy Icelandic horse (the most natural way to travel through nature as it has been for more than a thousand years), and salmon & trout fishing.

I hope that one day I will gain a possibility to explore the land of fire and ice, and other wonderful destinations.

-Slovakia

And where would you like to go the most?

-Denmark

sivu 35 Spring 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Experiences are the salt of life -Finland

By: Henri Petäjäsoja and Viljami Haapakoski Learning can be dull sometimes, but it can be very breathtaking and interesting if you do it in a different way. One of these “betterâ€? ways is travelling.

Travelling not just shows you the culture and the places - It explains everything about these destinations’ backgrounds and gives you the real experience and shows the way the local people feel and see their world and culture.

side of China. The monumental history that China has is very diverse. The sights that the dynasties and Communism have left are not so well known, but we know that the China was the first civilization so there are so many things to see, like temples and The Great Wall of China.

China’s history includes many traditions like martial arts. There are also many festivals that we don’t know and have.

Of course travelling doesn’t happen without money. But if we manage to get the trip for free, the place in the world where we would want be is China. China has so many different things to see. First in Southern China you have these wild Himalayan mountain areas. Wild and cruel nature can give you a different way to look at things.

And that mountain range isn’t like the arctic hills here in Finland. The way how people live there would be so cool to see, just because it seems almost impossible to us. Also without support, you don’t often get this kind of opportunity to go to China.

China has a population of over 1.3 billion people and most of them lives in cities. These cities are the biggest in the world. Visiting even one of these would be an educational experience and change the way we look at slums and the economy. The huge mass of people. Always stuck in metros, which people think are late if they arrive 5 seconds behind schedule, beautiful skyscrapers and huge entertainment centres.

Chinese food - almost everyone loves it. Just imagine all the different restaurants, street booths etc. Experiencing even a part of Chinese food culture would be such a pleasure, not The second thing that gives only for our tummies, but also us goose bumps is the historical for our knowledge.

The Countryside of China might not be so well know as the cities. It’s very diverse. You have the rainforests where wild Pandas and tigers live. You have the gargantuan rice fields that you can see stretching over the horizon. You have the mighty rivers. So many different things to see and feel.

nist party. It would be interesting to ask local people how they feel about that system, and what they would change.

Overall hearing what these local people think about daily life basis would be very teachful.

Like what teenagers do in their freetime in cities and in countryside.

China has become one of the “wisest� countries, tells the studies. But they haven’t always been, so it would be very interesting to see the differences in education between Finland and China. The fact we know already is that the children in China starts school one year earlier.

The size of the schools in cities are also interesting to see.

China have four percent of uneploymentage. That means like billion people are working there. Sounds crazy. So what are the jobs there that can run so many workplaces. It would be so impossible to believe how many people there are. The government in china is one-party state governed by the commu-

The U.S.A: The Best Place to Visit on Earth By: Anna Kossivaki, Evelina Koutsou, Renia Antoniou, Tasos Kontos

Œ¤ ¤’Ž “£ šœ¤ ”Œ£¤ Š Â?—ŠŒŽ Â?ÂœÂĄ Â¤ÂœÂŚÂĄÂ“ÂŁÂ¤ÂŁá€” Â’ÂŽÂĄÂŽ “£ ÂŁÂœ Â˜ÂŚÂŒÂ’ Â˜ÂœÂĄÂŽ ¤œ “¤ ¤’Šš ¤’Š¤ထ

ÂŞÂœÂŚÂ—Â? ¥ŽŠ——­ Žš”œ­ ˜ŽŽ¤“š‘ ¤’Ž Â?ÂŽÂœÂ?—Ž ÂŞÂ’Âœ —“¨Ž ¤’Ž¥Ž ŠšÂ? Š£ ¤’Ž­ ÂŁÂ?ŽŠ– š‘—“£’ထ ÂŞÂœÂŚÂ—Â?

The world is a wonderful place and there are many fascinating places to visit. But if i had the time and money, I would visit the USA because there is so much to see and do there.

Top of my list would be a few days in The Big Apple, New York. It is an amazing city which is so full of life, twenty four hours a day. It would be really exciting just to be there. I have always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty which is the most famous sight in the USA and I would definitely take a selfie on the top to show to my friends back home. After that, I would like to visit Times Square which

WĹ?Ä?ĆšĆľĆŒÄž Ä¨ĆŒĹ˝Ĺľ Ç Ç Ç Í˜ĹŻĹ˝ĹśÄžĹŻÇ‡Ć‰ĹŻÄ‚ĹśÄžĆšÍ˜Ä?Žž

I have seen in so many films and there I would take time to enjoy a cup of coffee at the famous Hard Rock cafe.

Next stop in my list would be Florida. I have heard about the amazing experience of swimming with dolphins there and this would be a must for me. I would also love to pay a visit to some of the awesome theme parks in Florida: Walt Disney World and Sea World to name but a few.

Finally, I would like to end my visit with a trip to California. It would be a dream come true to go LA and see the film studios where so many Hollywood movies are made. If I

am lucky, I might even meet a movie star! Of course I would definitely take a tour in Beverly Hills to see the mansions where the stars live and hopefully there would also be time (and money) for some shopping on Rodeo Drive.

But the USA is not just a place for tourists. There is so much more to it than that, I would really enjoy meeting the people who live there and as they speak English, I would have no problem communicating with them. It would be really interesting to experience the american way of life that we see so often in American TV shows and films. I would particularly like to

be’Š¨Ž šœ Â?ÂĄÂœÂ‹Â—ÂŽÂ˜ ÂŒÂœÂ˜Â˜ÂŚÂšÂ“ÂŒÂŠÂ¤Â“ÂšÂ‘ ª“¤’ ¤’Ž˜န ¤ ÂŞÂœÂŚÂ—Â? ‹Ž ¥ŽŠ——­ “š¤Ž¥Ž£¤“š‘ ¤œ ÂŽÂŹÂ?ÂŽÂĄÂ“ÂŽÂšÂŒÂŽ there for Thanksgiving so I can taste homemade American Pumpkin Pie. ¤’Ž ÂŠÂ˜ÂŽÂĄÂ“ÂŒÂŠÂš ªŠ­ ÂœÂ? —“Â?ÂŽ ¤’Š¤ ÂŞÂŽ ÂŁÂŽÂŽ ÂŁÂœ ÂœÂ?¤Žš “š Â˜ÂŽÂĄÂ“ÂŒÂŠÂš ÂŁÂ’ÂœÂŞÂŁ ŠšÂ? Â?Â“Â—Â˜ÂŁá€” ÂŞÂœÂŚÂ—Â?

In short, a trip to the USA would be an experience of a Â?ÂŠÂĄÂ¤Â“ÂŒÂŚÂ—ÂŠÂĄÂ—Â­ —“–Ž ¤œ ‹Ž ¤’Ž¥Ž Â?ÂœÂĄ ’Šš–£‘“¨“š‘ ÂŁÂœ ŒŠš ¤Š£¤Ž ’œ˜Ž˜ŠÂ?ÂŽ Â˜ÂŽÂĄÂ“ÂŒÂŠÂš lifetime for me and hope that one day I get the chance to make my dream come true. ÂŚÂ˜Â?–“š “Žန

-Greece

š ÂŁÂ’ÂœÂĄÂ¤á€‘ Š ¤¥“Â? ¤œ ¤’Ž ÂŞÂœÂŚÂ—Â? ‹Ž Šš ÂŽÂŹÂ?ÂŽÂĄÂ“ÂŽÂšÂŒÂŽ ÂœÂ? Š —“Â?Ž¤“˜Ž Â?ÂœÂĄ ˜Ž ŠšÂ? Â’ÂœÂ?ÂŽ ¤’Š¤ œšŽ Â?Š­ ‘Ž¤ ¤’Ž Œ’ŠšŒŽ ¤œ ˜Š–Ž ˜­ Â?ÂĄÂŽÂŠÂ˜ Œœ˜Ž ¤¥ŒŽန

WĹ?Ä?ĆšĆľĆŒÄž Ä¨ĆŒĹ˝Ĺľ dŽĚĚ WĹ˝Ć?ĆšÄ?Ä‚ĆŒÄšĆ?

sivu 36 Spring

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

If you could go anywhere in the world, without considering the cost, where would you go and why?

It is an incredibly personal question if you think about it: it can give a glimpse into your past -a memory of a favorite childhood vacation or summers spent on the beach- or into your hopes for the future, it can be influenced heavily by your taste in music, movies and books.

We quickly realized all five of us couldn’t possibly agree on one place and so we decided to poll our classes in an attempt to discover which countries our classmates hope to experience.

After we reconvened to compare our results, we couldn’t help but notice that many students from different classes had chosen similar destinations. We were struck by the fact that the

reasons people would like to travel to the same place could be extremely varied: curiosity, study or work opportunities , desirable environments to live in and so on; so we decided to classify their answers and separate them by motivation, rather than, say, geographical areas.

tinations in books or they’re fascinated by the art or by the natural landscape. Others selected places like England, Canada or France. All these countries have big multicultural cities, with prestigious universities and many more job opportunities. These are long-term trips, with the goal of beginning The results can be divided a better life. into two groups: the places chosen for their “exotic atWe could call this phenomosphere” and those chosen menon “smart immigration”: for the opportunity to advance people leave their homes and economically and academically. families, moving from one developed country to another, The first group, that includes not because they’re poor or countries like India or Iceland, escaping from war zones, but draws travelers for short-term because they’re looking for visits and holidays. People are the best the world has to offer attracted to these places be- them. cause they want to explore radically new cultures. Often The results of our poll they’ve read about these des- prompted us to notice that

the average Italian student is fascinated by and attracted to industrialized, modern cities while others seem to be drawn to places that are perceived as further from their culture. These preferences appear to be based more on literary and media influences than on a wellinformed analysis.

-Italy

Lastly, we must note that in contemporary society each and every trip is seen as an investment in a young person’s future or as a journey of selfdiscovery — even a hypothetical trip that is free of cost.

By Tatia, Giacomo, Sara, Tommaso, Daniele.

If you could travel anywhere for free, where would you go and why?

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.

Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Mark Twain I love this beautiful little island I call my homeland. I appreciate all that it has to offer to me, the long history, the bright sun, the magnificent sea.

At the same time, this does not stop me from longing to meet other places, from desiring to travel the whole wide world …

Could I pick just one place or even two to visit? Impossible!

Every corner on this planet has something which makes it unique, which distinguishes it from everywhere else.

If money was no object, I would start my adventure from Europe, travelling to Greece to follow the steps of those who have set the foundations of democracy and admire all the

unparalleled architectural wonders of the ancient world. Then I would visit Italy, the perfect combination of a fascinating history and a mouth watering cuisine. Next would come Western Europe: A trip through an evergreen nature, endless Medieval and Renaissance Castles and twenty-first century modern cities . An amalgam of cultural richness, elegance and fashion, industrial empires and political power. Up to the north I would spend hours admiring the North Selas and the snowy landscapes and visit the Arctic with the icebergs, the seals, the walrus and the arctic bears.

Across the Atlantic, I would be welcomed by the gigantic Statue of Liberty. In the Big Apple, I would stroll in Central Park and spend hours in the famous Wall Street, where people become rich or poor in just a day.

Moving South, I would visit Washington DC, the United States Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial. To the West,

I would hike in the National Parks, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon. On the Pacific Coast, I would visit Hollywood, where all the fantastic films we watch in the cinema are being created. After spending some fun time in Florida and Disney World, I would make my way to South America.

Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru … Ever since I have read about the Maya Civilization and the Incan Empire my curiosity is urging me to travel there. I would learn how to dance the Argentine Tango, Salsa, Rumba and Mambo. I would definitely be skeptical and a bit scared about exploring the Amazon Rainforest but I would make sure fear would not stop me from admiring the largest river on earth.

When I think of Africa, wild animals come to mind, lions, elephants, cheetah, leopards, hippos, hyenas. I have seen them all on documentaries and films, some of them I met in the zoo, where they are locked

in cages, suffering in silence. I would love to admire them in their natural environment, keeping a safe distance, of course. Then, I would visit several of the African Tribes, who live peacefully away from the civilization. Sahara Desert and the Pyramids are on my list, as well.

There are so many places to visit in Asia and so many things to do. The Great Wall of China, “an awe-inspiring feat of ancient defensive architecture”, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Yellow Mountains are just a few of the wonders of China. I would learn firsthand about the Chinese civilization, which is so mysterious and so impressively unique. In India I would visit Mumbai, New Delhi and Goa, the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the coasts of Ganges.

Australia is yet another enigma, so far away and so different.

The kangaroos, the koalas, they are such strange but beautiful animals. Sydney with the impressive Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, Melbourne

-Cyprus City, the beautiful beaches with the fearless surfers and the coral reefs are just of few of the things that come to mind when I think of Down Under.

There are thousands of other places I would have loved to visit had I known about them.

I am aware that what I now know is only a small fraction of the whole picture, only a small piece of the incredible puzzle we call Earth. If I could travel anywhere for free, I would go EVERYWHERE. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St Augustine of Hippo Cyprus AVITAE team

sivu 37 Spring 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

NEW ZEALAND -Spain

By: Alejandra Sánchez Benet Since I watched the trilogy of ‘‘The Lord of the Rings’’ I’ve wanted to go on a trip to New Zealand. More than 150 locations throughout the country were used to made these films. I really want to enjoy it. I’ve look for information on the internet and you can visit ‘Hobbiton’, the place were the main characters of the movie lived.

Also, I think go to New Zealand would be amazing because it has a lot of natural touristic places. I would like to do a road trip through all the country. I if have the chance, I would start in the northern island, in Auckland, and I would watch a rugby game! Rugby is one of the most famous sports there. The ‘‘All Blacks’’ national team are famous because before a match starts, they perform a ‘‘Haka Maori’’ which is a traditional dance for intimidate the other team.

southern island. First, I would go to the Abel Tasman National Park. There, you can do everything: from walk through golden sandy beaches to go hiking around the calm and serene vegetation, and also you have a chance to meet local wildlife like fur seals and blue penguins. Next, I would walk through valleys on ice in Fox Glacier, on the western edge of the island. This unique natural wonder looks amazing and unusual, I really want to go there. Then, I would go to a place near the mountains, and in the night, enjoy the gorgeous the Aurora Borealis. Finally, I would do a lot of activities like bungee in beautiful places; do aquatic sports like rafting through the rapids of the Tongariro river, fishing in the Lake Laupo, and canoeing on a unspoiled beach; and also I would visit the big cities and I would taste

the New Zealand’s traditional food.

Another reason why I want to go to this amazing country is because I wan to know more about the Maoris lives. The Maoris are the indigenous people that live there. I want to experience the Maori’s culture by visiting a Marae (their house) and learn about fascinating myths and legends from them.

Then, I would go to the Lake Taupo in Mine Bay, more specifically to the part where the ancient people sculpted on a wall Maoris drawings. After that, I would visit ‘‘Hobbiton’’ as I said before. Afterwards, I would go to the thermas in Rotorua, which are natural pools with bubbling mud, with occasional bursts of activity from nearby geysers. For Maori culture, this place is like the hell in the earth because of the dry scenery and the vapor of the pools.

Later, I would travel to the

Articles on innovation INSIGHT INTO INNOVATION

-Spain

“Can Innovation Be Other than Products?”

by Haydée Rodríguez Hernández and David Riverol Martín.

No doubt the best way to get an adequate answer to this question is talking to an expert on innovation, science and technology. So, we have interviewed José Joaquín Hernández Brito, Executive Manager of PLOCAN. First he told us about his job.

He works at the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands, a scientific and technological facility funded by the Spanish and Canary Islands governments. Its aim is to enable research, technological development and innovation in the ocean at increasing depths in

an environmentally sustainable way.

The infrastructure is dedicated to experimentation and research in all aspects of marine science and technology, especially those which require access to scientific and technical laboratories in the marine environment. The platform is available to the national scientific and technological community, opened to international collaboration, and integrated within European coordination and collaboration initiatives in this field. Additionally PLOCAN is involved in R+D+I projects, enabling research and scientific technological development of maritime and marine sciences.

(Official Website http://www. plocan.eu/index.php/en/)

How would you define

innovation?

PLOCAN is helping to do innovation in the so called “Blue Growth”, that involves ocean energy, aquaculture, coastal tourism, marine biotechnology and other activities. As an example, we provide test sites to improve new prototypes to produce marine energy, underwater robotics and new sensors to measure anthropogenic pollutants in the oceans.

It is the process of transferring an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. Innovation means solving a problem; an outcome with a positive impact, new value in the company or in the society.

European economies have often had difficulties in transforming their success in basic research into commercial success.

It is crucial for our future to try Can you explain what to create value at the same time Responsible Research and we develop science; closing a Innovation means (RRI)? virtuous loop where money is invested in research and the reRRI implies that researchers, search output is applied to pro- citizens, policy makers, busiduce innovation, fresh money ness and third sector organizaand value, benefits and profits. tions work together during the research and innovation proWhat type of innovation is cess in order to align both the carried out at PLOCAN? process and its outcomes with

the values, needs and expectations of society. We are specially interested in the application of RRI to fields within the Blue Economy: ocean renewable energy, aquaculture, maritime activities or marine tourism.

Blue economy could provide many opportunities and jobs, but researchers have to work together with citizens to meet their needs and expectations.

And the last question, Is innovation focussed only in the generation of new products or services?

Not exactly. Innovation is any change in the organization of the company or institution that will produce a positive output, an increase of its competitiveness. Research institutions should also try to generate

improved models to manage sciences and technology, considering the future challenges in a globalized world, collaboration with private sector and innovative entrepreneurs and society.

After our interview we have realized how important innovation is and the different aspects it covers.

sivu 38 Spring

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

Innovation - our path into the future By: Sanna Halunen &Katja Keskitalo Our world is full of enviable home runs, for example Apple, Microsoft, McDonald’s and other successful companies. Somehow they conquer the world with their inventions and products. What do all these companies have in common? Other than an enormous amount of money, they have a leader who had a vision, an innovation and was brave enough to work for it.

What is innovation? Is it a new kind of product, something never-seen-before? Or is it maybe something old, just brought again into daylight? Could it be both?

Innovation is easy to see as a product, but generally speaking it’s much more. The definition of innovation is something new and fresh, something that people haven’t seen before. In other words, it means a vision

of the future where that idea is an obvious part of the world.

How did people live without that spark, created by someone? We don’t know, but obviously it was awful.

An enormous part of being innovative is being creative. More importantly, it’s having courage to see things that others might not see. J.K Rowling, the author of Harry Potter, had to go through eight publishers before somebody read her book and saw it as the huge, successful story that it is. In conclusion, one can’t win without taking risks. If people stay in their comfort zones, they won’t learn and not to mention, they won’t advance.

There is this Finnish guy who re-invented the axe. A traditional axe has a handle and a blade, but Heikki Kärnä wanted to improve it. In other

words, he invented a leveraxe which is fast, doesn’t get stuck and more importantly, it’s safer than the traditional axe.

Nevertheless, at first people thought that it was stupid and useless. Some people would’ve thought ‘that’s it, I’m giving up’ but not Kärnä. On the contrary, he founded his own business and nowadays he owns multiple patents.

How then attract attentions to your idea? In Finland new start-up companies can meet up in Slush, an event for big and small companies world-wide, where the new innovations are presented to the world. Even the small companies have possibility to rise and get known among the biggest companies in the world. It’s an amazing opportunity for adolescents to expand horizons and learn about the real world.

Innovation is an idea - an idea of better future and new possibilities. It is made of willpower, motivation, hard work and being a risk-taker, a courageous person. Everyone who has the guts can bring up a new innovation and try his wings as an entrepreneur in the business world.

In Finland we have this thing called sisu. It means going through a lot to get what one wants and never giving up. Innovations are made of sisu: of the will to go on. If the life gives you lemons, take them and make some lemonade. Every entrepreneur should have sisu: to hold on their ideas and dreams, to their innovation, no matter what.

Innovation – more than a physical product?

By Bianca Rasmussen, 2.j Ørestad Gymnasium, Copenhagen, Denmark

In just a couple of weeks, the latest version of the Samsung Galaxy flagship model, rounded edges and all, will be released with its new software and special features. The technology company Intel recently showcased their newest product – an intelligent dress, which reacts to people coming near it, activating a cloud of electronic butterflies, combining fashion and technology. Many shops across Europe have introduced contactless payment in their checkout counters, increasing efficiency and speed for the customers. All the aforementioned are excellent examples of innovation, each product new and groundbreaking in their field. But is innovation solely confined to physical products?

The answer is hopefully pretty obvious; no, of course innovation is much more than a simple product that can be held in your hand. Innovation exceeds that which people can touch. For example, one can learn innovatively, teach in an innovative manner – one can even lead an innovative lifestyle. Basically innovation in itself comes from one thing: Thinking innovatively.

An example of the innovative thinking and teaching is something that I, for one, experience every day. As a student at Ørestad Gymnasium, we are taught to think out of the box, which leads to us working innovatively and solving our problems, both in school and out, in an original fashion. This is not to say that

our methods are always successful – We still make a great deal of mistakes, which is only natural, but the innovative way of tackling that is to learn from your mistakes. The next time you start a project, you will be able to think back and examine which courses of action ended with success and which should be avoided in the future.

The goal is to turn us into independent young people and prepare us for the multiple challenges of the real world, where our teachers won’t be at hand to guide us.

How does one become an independent young person?

For starters, we are taught to question what we learn. Many years ago, most well educated people believed the world to

-Finland

be as flat as a pancake. Scientist are constantly discovering new things, so it is important for us students to challenge the established facts and views on certain issues. Some projects are all about identifying and working with an actual problem in our society. These projects have an innovative focus as well, encouraging us to find solutions that will help solve realworld problems.

Working in groups is also encouraged as a method of innovate teaching. The students sit with each other, bouncing ideas off of one another and exchanging experiences. In my opinion, this opportunity to share your work with other people is great. Through this, my fellow students can use some of their

-Denmark experiences to suggest improvements which might have evaded my attention after working on the same project for a long time.

In projects such as AVITAE, we often do huge brainstorms, covering the walls or floor of the classroom with post-it notes to get as many ideas out there as possible. People are not necessarily the same age or of the same cultural background – But that is exactly the point. We all have something to contribute with, and a new set of eyes can see solutions that ten others couldn’t have. With innovative teaching, we learn from our peers as well as our teachers.

So the bottom line is this: If it is original or an improvement to

already existing things, whether it be physical products such as dresses and phones or ways to think and learn, such as working in groups or using the floor to create mind-maps, it is per definition innovative.

Let me just end with three good tips on how you can be more innovative in your own life: 1. Allow yourself to be around people who think differently than you.

2. Don’t be afraid to take risks – have courage and be kind.

3. It’s alright to fail. We can all learn from our mistakes.

sivu 39 Spring 2016

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Can innovation be other than products?

By Giulia, Sara, Maraja and Alice To the question about whether innovation can be other than products there's only one answer: yes, of course.

In our age we can see how a small detail can make a product look better than it is thanks to the addition or the removal of some parts which can be ingredients, or funny things; and thanks to advertising, which plays an important part in innovation.

In Italy, an example of this is given by the famous hazelnut chocolates called "Baci Perugina": they are nothing more than chocolate pralines with

one whole hazelnut inside, but everybody knows them thanks to a little “innovation” that has nothing to do with the product itself since it is not edible!

This “innovation” consists in tiny, translucent wrappings containing navy blue colored romance aphorisms. The chocolate the pralines are made of is the same we can find in other products too, but thanks to this little feature (the aphorisms), the “Baci” have become unique.

Still talking about chocolate, we can also think of Easter Eggs: in 1875 an English confectionery factory created the first chocolate egg with a surprise inside. Just adding a small gift to the chocolate, manufacturers created a tradition.

Yet, companies sometimes choose an opposite way to innovate their own products: they do not add something new, but they rather remove something from the product to safeguard their customers' health for example.

This is the case of Coca Cola or Coke, as it is often called. In 1982 the Coca-Cola company invented Diet Coke to extend its network of consumers; this product has a flavour which is similar to that of the classic Coke but contains few calories.

Innovation can also be effectively achieved through advertising, which plays a central role in trade: even if a product is really innovative, it means nothing without a clever advertising campaign. Sometimes it

doesn't really matter whether there is real innovation, since what counts is the way in which advertising presents the innovative concept you want to promote, no matter how authentic and transformative it actually is. This can be easily understood when looking at computers: Apple is the brand which best uses the advertising strategy described above. As a fact, the differences between an IPhone model and the models of other brands are minimal, but IPhones are supported by a great advertising campaign which makes customers think that there is a real positive added value in them which you cannot find elsewhere.

So, as we have tried to show in the examples provided, some

-Italy little “brushstrokes” of advertising genius are often the basis of innovation, and count more that the actual disruptive quality of a product.

Can innovation be other than products?

Have you ever thought about anything other than product?

You should now concentrate on its innovation. Innovation can help you discover what opportunities exist now, or are likely to emerge in the future. Would you be willing to consider working in an innovative or creative company? It is a kind of company that does not follow others, instead, it uses new ideas, methods of collaborating with others, tries to set up better environment for its workers, uses techniques that are suitable for new, young workforce, such as painting walls, darts, chill out zones etc. Innovation is not only about designing a new product or service to sell, but can also focus on existing business processes and practices to improve efficiency, find new customers, cut down on waste and increase profits.

In fact, all companies can be more creative and innovative no matter what their expertise or product is. When applying innovation to any aspect of a business, you are able to stay ahead of a changing market place and the competition. Would you like to know more about company like this? Here are some characteristics of it.

Consumers often see innovation as something that adds value to a company or to its

products. Used properly, innovation can give you a commercial advantage - especially in saturated or rapidly shifting markets.

The customers may even be willing to pay more for a welldesigned, novel and innovative product or service, rather than choosing a cheaper, but less exciting rival.

Constantly innovating and improving business practices are also likely to help you attract better staff members and retain more of your existing staff - something which is crucial to the long-term health and performance of your business.

Another characteristic that is essential for innovation is asking company’s stuff. Every company should challenge people who work in the business to find new and better ways to do things and late and improved ways to please customers. They are close to the action and can see opportunities for innovation. They often need encouragement to bring forward many great ideas.

Moreover, running a brainstorm during meetings is one of the necessary conditions of being innovative because generating a large quantity of ideas is really important. It brings improved ways how to get the customers on their side and

those are pleased when they are offered different approach.

Using social networks - following trends and asking questions on groups like Twitter or Facebook are great ways to become successful. Asking what people want to see in the future innovation or what the big new idea will be. Many early adopters are active on social network groups and will happily respond with suggestion.

Another point in becoming effective is to come up with ideas at the beginning of the innovation process ... and then stop. Many times we come up with several ideas and start innovating, and then we crop up with more ideas and never get a single concept done.

At some point we have to turn off the idea of the process and really work on the innovation in order to bring a project to life.

To conclude, the more creative and innovative you and your team members are, the more long-

term success you will achieve.

When you work hard, you will be regarded as an industry innovator—the one your competitors are trying to copy.

-Slovakia

sivu 40 Spring

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

Can innovation be other than products?

Every day we come across a new product which came to existence in order to make our life easier, in order to solve a problem. This is what the purpose of innovation is.

Can you imagine your life without a mobile phone, a tablet, a GPS? Yet, when our parents were young, none of these products existed.

It is easy and straightforward to understand what an innovative product is, but is innovation limited to just products?

“An innovation is a new or significantly improved product (goods or services) brought to market by an enterprise or a

new or significantly improved process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations implemented by an enterprise.” Statistics Finland This is a puzzling matter. Looking around us, what else has made our everyday life easier, what else has solved a problem we had or improved the quality of our life in any way?

Our AVITAE friends live thousands of miles away from us yet we can chat everyday through Facebook and we are also able to share files and work together

in Google Drive. We can send a package to them which reaches them within a couple of days.

When we were looking for plane tickets to travel for the AVITAE meetings we searched online for the most convenient and cheapest options using the numerous sites dedicated to this purpose. We also booked hotels online based on the evaluation given from fellow travelers and we decided which are the best restaurants for dining by reading their reviews.

We can buy new or second hand books or whatever else our imagination can think of, from all around the world, wit-

hout leaving our house.

We take all these services for granted but if we stop for a second and consider our life without them, we will realize that Facebook and Google Drive, Booking.com and TripAdvisor, Expedia and Amazon, FedEx and ebay and so many other services were innovative when they first appeared because they fitted the description, they were solving a problem and making life easier.

Therefore the answer to the title question is yes, innovation is not limited to products, in fact it is not limited to services either. Innovation is everything

-Cyprus new that makes a positive difference.

The European Programmes, the predecessors of Erasmus+ were innovative because they provided us with a new, improved way of learning and of improving our skills way beyond the traditional classrooms.

We should never stop thinking of new ways of improving

our life, new approaches to learning, new approaches to doing things and we should never be afraid of change. Afterall, as Thomas Edison said “There is a way to do it better – find it”.

Cyprus AVITAE Team

Can innovation be other than products?

By: Chris Kolios, Vasia Dragataki, Marianthi Gountza, Vasiliki Mpagiorga, Giannis Vakkas Who can deny the fact that over the years great stride have been made in innovation in many ways and sectors .Other than in products there have been advancements made in the various fields of science, medicine in particular. Another sector which innovation has played a major role is technology and the educational field.

So through innovations society has improved greatly in the last few years.

First and foremost, the value of innovation has extended to all areas of human activity and especially in the sector of

health. It seems that the 21st century's innovations play an important role on the health care system as their use of has made the health care system better than before. For example they developed new products and treatments which can cure many serious illnesses, such as cancer. Moreover, the rapid development of technology has contributed to the expansion of telemedicine services and to the most effective treatment of patients in remote areas.

In addition, education has improved by innovations.

For instance, with the help of

+QEjkgI Â Ng]Z qqq hEQI[EIg]YY E]Z

technology, teachers will no longer be forced to organize the lesson for the next day.

One of the innovations in education is interactive boards which make the lesson more interesting, creative and improve cooperation among students. Likewise, students can use e-books rather than books.

E-books are transferred more easily and provide to pupils a range of services. What is more, computers are also used for educational and recreational purposes, as students can store information there, solve problems and do extra exercises.

Other than this, innovation has influenced technology very much. Many and amazing technological breakthroughs have been spawned in the 21st century. For example some universities in Europe have managed to «print» human parts from real human tissue through 3D printers. Another important breakthrough is the fact that many car industries have already manufactured cars, which do not need a car driver. This means that in the future the human life may be safer and easier as everything will be automatic. Such deve-

lopments in technology promise to humanity a better, easier and safer way of life.

Last but not least, innovations are very important for society. Social innovation helps to solve some of the world's most crucial problems, such as climate change, youth unemployment, aging population and increasing social conflicts. They offer new solutions in the structure of societies and governing.

-Greece Social innovation has become even more significant for economic growth, because the rise of economy can be done only with the help of social innovation and the improvement of human relationships.

So considering all the above, it is unequivocal that inno-

+QEjkgI Â Ng]Z qqq hEQI[EIg]YY E]Z

vation has enter our lives not only as regards products, but also as regards different and important sectors of human activities such as education, medicine, technology and social structures with the only purpose of improving the quality and pace of our lives.

+QEjkgI Ã Ng]Z qqq Ikg]GQ<E][Q< ]gO

Made by Elias Hirvikoski and Jeremia Toppari from Finland.

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 41

A.V.I.T.A.E

Take a walk with me

By Bianca Michelle Rasmussen, Ørestad Gymnasium, Copenhagen Thursday, the second day of the AVITAE project’s visit to Tenerife, both students and teachers are invited outside to take a stroll through the historical La Laguna. The weather is wonderful - especially to someone from the north, like myself – so spirits are high both among the visitors and our guides.

With the city bathed in warm sunlight filtering through the leaves of palm trees along the cobblestone roads, it is easy to understand why San Cristobal de La Laguna was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in 1999. The layout of the city is the main reason behind this. Not only are the streets lined with colorful mansions, well preserved from colonial times – the layout of the streets is significant as well. La Laguna was one of the first cities in the world to have the streets laid out in a grid-system, which travelers found interesting and brought with them to America, where a great part of the cities are modeled after La Laguna’s layout.

Our charming guides take us through the old city to visit many of the historical sites. Among these is the famous church Iglesia de la Concepcion, with it’s beautiful bell tower, and the Catedral de La Laguna with its neoclassical façade and spectacular interior.

Kasper Rejnhold Baun, a Danish AVITAE student and aspiring architect, can hardly contain his admiration for the place: “I love the Spanish architecture here in La Laguna, it is simply stunning! Just like the women. But mostly

the architecture.”

There is time for questions and group photos as well. I find out that not only are people from the AVITAE project good at working innovatively – we also know how to strike a pose for photos.

Although La Laguna may not seem big, it has a large amount of historical sites – almost too many to visit. We walk past the dark and splendid façade of Palacio de Nava and revisit the town hall where we had the pleasure of meeting La Laguna’s mayor the previous day.

While we walk to our next sight the sound of our chatter fills the air and mingles with other sounds from the cozy, narrow streets.

Many tourists are visiting this area too, and the city is preparing for an upcoming school fair and also the traditional Romaria festival.

In connection to the traditional festival, we end the tour by visiting the Casa Lercaro, a yellow 16th century building containing an exhibition of the entire history of Tenerife.

Here we are introduced to some of Tenerife’s traditional clothing, which is also worn during the Romaria. Experts within the field guide us through the clothing items piece by piece with able students from the audience. At the end of the presentation, one female student displays the original traditional headdress, whilst another showcases the

modern version of the traditional wear.

All in all the guided trip opened up our eyes to many of the hidden treasures of La Laguna. The variety in architectural styles and historical events connected to the sites truly makes La Laguna special. We visitors are very pleased to be able to say that we have been guided through the city streets by local young citizens of the UNESCO world heritage site.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 42 2016 May

Tenerife Meeting

By: Antoniou Renia, Dimitriou Nantia, Karydi Ioanna and Mpageorga Vasiliki The IES Canarias Cabrera Pinto , La Laguna Meeting our Spanish partners in April gave us the opportunity to see a really interesting school very different from the ones we are used to, here, in Greece. The Canarias Cabrera Pinto school is housed in two different buildings: a modern one, which is quite an ordinary school building and an old one which dates back to the Renaissance. Generally, it’s the oldest educational institution in the region being a place for learning for 170 years.

We were really impressed by the old building and its surroundings. It used to be a monastery. There is a very old cloister there enclosing a garden with plants and trees from the region. We were told that many monks and important people were buried there.

On the first day, we were received in their official assembly hall, a very formal room with huge paintings on the walls belonging to the Prado Museum. Really impressive! So was another part of the old building, a really

old tower of the 16th century looking on another garden where there are the busts of the two men that the school was named after: D. Adolfo Cabrera Pinto, a student and later headmaster of the school and D. Blas Cabrera Felipe, also a student of the school that became a renowned physicist.

There are also three museum show rooms. One of them is dedicated to Cabrera Felipe displaying various scientific equipments.

Another room displays stuffed animals. Some of them looked cute but others were fearful…. The third room had some archaeological stuff found in excavations and even contained a female mummy!!!!

The new building, which was across the street, had big, well equipped classrooms, each one being used for a specific subject. We had our sessions in the science lab where we were shown some robots they had constructed. We didn’t like the fact that the school gates were locked during the day and we didn’t like much, either, a huge

paper mobile hanging from the hall ceiling. Too dangerous for your eyes☺ .

It is very interesting that young people, studying to become teachers, can come to the school and work next to the experienced ones, profiting from the innovational methods that the school is trying to promote.

All in all, we really appreciated the respect that the students show to their cultural heritage. They care deeply for their school, keep it clean and try with their teachers to live up to their heavy legacy.

The Slovakian Market Project By: Antoniou Renia, Dimitriou Nantia , Karydi Ioanna and Mpageorga Vasiliki The IES Canarias Cabrera Pinto , La Laguna

dŚĞ ĐůŽŝƐƚĞƌ ĂŶĚ ƚŽǁĞƌ ďĞůů

The Slovakian project on the past, present and future market was put up in images that were digitally presented. They said that they decided to show their work through a computer because they wanted to do something interesting and innovational and because they didn’t have the time to prepare something else. They added that they wanted to show their various kinds of markets as, since ancient times, there are always street markets in their country depending on the time of year.

Their presentation simulated a picture gallery and through digital means you were transferred from place to place. This trick got the audience interested.

The students also gave a short description of their work, trying to convey the importance that street markets have in their culture. They explained that their economy has always been based on trading. They started their project presen-

tation with the big migration wave in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Then the Slavs came to their area and settled there as it was an important trading crossroads. From then on they expanded their commercial interactions to the end of the known world of the time.

In the 10th century the king ordered people to build a church and the area all around it was used as a market place.

Nowadays there are still street markets in cities and villages.

In the future, though, they believe that people will prefer digital ways to do their shopping and afterwards a drone will make the deliveries right to your place.

dŚĞ ^ĐŝĞŶĐĞ ^ŚŽǁ ƌŽŽŵ

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Economy of Tenerife

43 Maysivu 2016

By Henna Möttönen, Inka Pisilä, Santeri Puhakka, Jarkko Karsikko, Veera Röyttä Pyhäjoen lukio, Finland Tenerife has very long traditions in economy. The biggest sector is the service sector and especially tourism, which is the most important factor in Tenerife’s economy. Every year millions of tourists go there.

Southern Tenerife is more popular than the north, because it is warmer and drier there. Most of the tourists come from the Nordic countries.

So, what makes people go to Tenerife? Of course the climate, but also well developed resorts and nature: the famous volcano Teide is the highest place in the whole of Spain. There are also many conservation areas and unusual forests, which are very interesting for many people from all around world.

flights to destinations make the taste better than other countclimate change stronger. ries’. That is because they have their own banana variety. This Wine cultivation is also very variety is smaller than others. important for the island. It It grows slower and that makes goes back to the Middle Ages. it more sweet and tasty. The The wine of Tenerife has always bananas are also no so dry. been exported around world, Even if you do not like bananas especially to Europe. That is normally, you may like bananas probably because Tenerife is from Tenerife because they are on the trade route to Ameri- so much better. ca. The prestige of this wine has been and is very high. Even Nowadays tomatoes, flowers Shakespeare mentioned wines and other plants are also imof Tenerife in his plays and ot- portant. So, in a nutshell, touher writings. rism and agriculture are keeping Tenerife alive.

There are still more than seventy vineyards in Tenerife.

They do their best to make perfect wine with love and tradition. The wine of Tenerife has won many prizes and competitions over the years and not without reason. If you want so, you can buy wine straight from the vineyards. There are also museums in Tenerife where you can see how they made wine earlier. In the museums they sell wine to visitors.

On the other hand, Tenerife’s tourism has also big problems.

There is not so much water for local people to use, and tourism takes a big part of it. The lack of water might become everyday life. For example hotels and swimming pools use much more water than they can Other agriculture is also very afford. Also the environmen- important. Tenerife is known tal problems are real. Resorts for its bananas. According to may be hard to keep clean and studies, Tenerife’s bananas

Trade off - the Italy’s market place

By Henna Möttönen, Inka Pisilä, Santeri Puhakka, Jarkko Karsikko, Veera Röyttä Pyhäjoen lukio, Finland Ultimately, the best of all the called TRADE OFF. universal marketplaces was Italy’s one. It wasn't an ordinaAll of the other works were ry work, because it was a game more concrete than Italy’s one.

“At first the whole idea felt a little bit weird, because our work wasn’t a concrete marketplace. We wondered that

maybe we shouldn’t do that, because it didn’t follow the assignment. But after all we ended up making the game”, Jacopo Ghilardi and Beatrice Biondi say. Other group members were Giulia Paladini, Stefano Sesta and Sara Cecchi. In addition the game, they also made a Prezi-presentation. All in all, the whole project began in March and took about one month.

represent all seven AVITAEcountries. At first everyone chooses a character and gets 300 euros and 2 cards of their own product.

The rules were made after the first playtime. “It was hard to make rules which would be simple enough to understand”, mentioned Beatrice. “After that it was nice to play the game and The aim is to be the first we were really happy because reaching the last box. When it worked out so well and our you reach the box with the Avi- work won the competition.” tae-sign, you must pick a card.

The cards give you or deprive you of money/products. Each product card is worth 100€.

On your turn you can roll a dice The Italians got their idea and/or invest your product to from their schoolmates who move forward. took part in Avitae-trip to Greece. “Claus, the Danish teEvery country must use only acher, was there and our friend one specific product to move Ilda Tabaku got the idea from forward, but other products him. Bianca Vauvca, Chiara Bar- can be sold to other players toli and Camilla Angelotti were who need them to make money. also there”, clarified Jacopo and These products are blue vases Beatrice. The whole class took (Slovakia), cheese (Cyprus), silk part in making the game.

(Italy), tar (Finland), oranges (Spain) and ships (Denmark).

Shortly, the main idea of the game is to trade with other You can’t invest your product players and earn as much as to move forward after you have you can. During the game the taken a card, you have to wait players will also meet unex- until your next turn. If a card pected events that can change deprives you of your money the game - in a the good or bad and products, you can choose way. The Equipment is a board, what to lose. card, a dice and pieces that

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 44 2016 May

HOSTING AVITAE MEETING HAS TAUGHT US MANY THINGS

“A challenging experience we will always treasure in our hearts”.

By Carlos Acosta, Dámaris Álvarez, Ana Fernández, Carlos González, Oriana González, Déborah Hernández, Aixa Melián, Frida Salazar, Alejandra Sánchez, Elena Simó, Sabina Simó, Yolimar Siverio, Pablo Rodríguez, Pilar Rodríguez, Daniel Suárez.

Being a host means learning to share your day to day life with someone for a week. It is not easy, especially if he or she is from a different country, and speaks another language.

Hosting a student from another part of Europe, from the North like Finland or Denmark, Center Europe, like Slovakia, or countries from the South such as Italy, Greece, or Cyprus, means a great challenge as you are supposed to explain different aspects of your culture to that person and at the same time you want to learn about his or her own.

Receiving a person in our houses has meant both a new experience and a big responsibility. Getting everything ready so that your host feels like home: “tidying up and having all the stuff prepared”.

Indeed, hosting someone opens up your mind. Culture, food and especially habits and timetables, are different in every country. However, it was easy to connect with every single person, regardless the country they came from. As we see it, the best part of the international meeting is hosting. This way we can all learn

about other countries through a local person. Of course, it is very demanding because you want them to remember their time here as one of the best experiences in their lives, so you become a perfectionist and you may end up feeling stressed, or making your host feel exhausted after doing so many activities in a few days!

Actually, the limited time we had was a handicap. We wish we had had more time to spend all together and show our friends more things. Despite that, we feel our guests were impressed by what they saw on our island: the sunny beach, the moon like landscape at the Teide, the water cloud forest, and the incredible changes in the weather, sunshine, and sea of clouds…

This visit has made us more aware of the diversity of cultures, languages, and ways at schools. Experiencing this, will allow us to have better opportunities in our future.It has also taught us the importance of learning foreign languages. AVITAE has prompted us to improve our level of English, and also get an interest in other languages.

Nobody wanted to say good-

bye to nice bunch of new friends, but we are keeping in touch through different social networks.

Here are some of the comments about the AVITAE meeting: "Hosting someone is something incredible, it is the best way to know what a person is like or what he or she usually does" ''I guess words aren’t enough for expressing what this opportunity has meant for us, and how it actually can make you change your point of view, not only concerning country stereotypes, but also about different aspects of our ordinary lives.”

“I can only say this kind of experience helps you to grow as a student, and, more important, as a person, and I’m definitely sure this meeting in Tenerife isn’t the end of this adventure, we will see each other soon.''

“An unforgettable experience”.

"If I had the opportunity to do it again I would not think it twice. "

SPAIN REPORTING ON THE FINNISH MARKET MODEL

By Dámaris Álvarez, Yaiza Castro, Iván Correa, Carla Rodríguez, Daniel LLombet, Pablo Oliva, Carla R. Zerpa, Carolina Torres, Damián Trujillo.

An “Agora Market Exhibition” model. All of them were great! took place during the internaFinland elaborated a motional meeting held in Tenerife. del which couldn’t easily be Each country presented their brought to Tenerife. They had

a long trip ahead, more than 3,000 km, flying south over the Atlantic Ocean. Besides, some of the materials used were fra-

gile, and they were worried it would be damaged on the way, so they solved this problem by recording a film of their market!

It was very convenient as they have free access to iPads at school.

They wanted to show us what Finnish markets looked like in the past, how they are nowadays and how they imagine them in the future.

cloth, sand, cardboard...). Of course, they also used typical materials like glue or wire, and they painted cardboard so that it reflected the color of Finnish nature; blue for water and the sky, and green for the forests.

kings and foreign traders sold their products there, mainly fish, bread, furs and salt. Nowadays, markets are places where people gather in summer to enjoy, eat sausages and meet with friends. For example, to celebrate the victory of the Finnish Today’s market, shows a pho- ice hockey team! to with people celebrating, the food and objects in it, were Finally, they explained that made up of clay. in the future, transport will be accessible to anybody, public We asked them which had UFOs for example, and there been the most challenging will also be a mobile applicatipart. They said the futuristic on to travel to markets easily. one. Representing what mar- Some technological devices will kets used to be in the past was be sold there, for example speeasy after doing some research, cial glasses or UFO cleaners. however, imagining what they will look like in the future needs to be more creative.

There are always many things going on both at school and at AVITAE, so the team didn’t have much time to build their models, just about a week.

This surprised us, they made it so fast. This could be done by working as a team. Once they had designed the model, they decided to use both recycled In the past the markets were and natural materials (like important meeting places. Vi-

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 45 May 2016

Universal Market Spain - Arches and 3D-printers

By Bianca Michelle Rasmussen Copenhagen, Denmark

The two clever minds behind the Spanish contribution to the exhibition are the lovely ladies Carolina María Torres Rodríguez and Carla Rodríguez Zerpa. A special twist to their model includes 3D-printed buildings and inspiration from ancient markets in Morocco.

After the interesting exhibit in La Laguna showcasing the different universal market models made by the seven AVITAE countries, we Danes snatched the Spanish nominees away for a private interview concerning their ideas.

As shown in the pictures, Carolina and Carla’s universal market model has been split into two separate models – one showcasing an ancient market next to a model of what Carolina and Carla imagine the future will look like.

The build of the houses looks very futuristic, as they stand there upon what looks like sandstone tiles. A bit of questioning reveals that the fanciful shapes have come to life with the help of a local 3D-printer.

“We thought this would make our model stand out more, since we were certain nobody else would think of using a 3D-printer.”, explains Carolina and grins at Carla. And the girls certainly were right – no other countries presented 3D-printed models at the exhibition.

But what inspired Carolina and Carla to design the structure of the buildings?

Carla explains: “We came up with the idea because we thought that in the future, domes and circular structures would be the dominant ones.”

Carolina confirms with a nod, and Carla continues: “We also thought that in the future, we would not have petroleum or these kind of sources, so we would bet on renewable energy – like sun-energy and such things.”

A little airplane dominates the right hand corner of the futuristic model, representing transport in the future. “It also represents communication to the rest of the world. So there is going to be an airport to transport the products all around the world, to stay connected.”, Carla says.

Whereas the futuristic model required an idea hatched from scratch, the ancient market needed a bit less out-of-thebox creativity from the designers. Carolina and Carla did most of their research online for this part of the project.

“We were looking at some ideas for the ancient market on the internet and we saw the old Arabian ones.” Carolina says, “We like the Arabian models a lot, especially because of the architecture. We loved the arches in the Arabian architecture when we saw them, so we used arches in our own model too.”

Both representatives are happy with their project and feel it

turned out just as they had imagined. “If we could do anything differently, we probably would have put more technology into our future model,” Carla says, “because we believe technology will be a very big part of our future.”

sivu 46 2016 May

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Ɂʊʍʏʉʎ ɸ଺ʎ͘​͘​͘ ʏ୑ ଛʍʊʅɸʆʉʆ

Back to the Future ĂĐŬ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ &ƵƚƵƌĞ

LJ ^ĂƌĂ ĞĐĐŚŝ͕ 'ŝƵůŝĂ WĂůĂĚŝŶŝ͕ ^ƚĞĨĂŶŽ ^ĞƐƚĂŶŝ

By Sara Cecchi, Giulia Paladini, Stefano Sestani Liceo classic Machiavelli - Italy >ŝĐĞŽ ĐůĂƐƐŝĐ DĂĐŚŝĂǀĞůůŝ Ͳ /ƚĂůLJ

countries for those, they're all ducts, like a perfume and some dŚĞ 'ƌĞĞŬ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƉůĂĐĞ ƚŚĂƚ ǁĂƐ ƉƌĞƐĞŶƚĞĚ ĚƵƌŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ϱƚŚ s/d ŵĞĞƚŝŶŐ ŝŶ >Ă >ĂŐƵŶĂ ƐƚƌƵĐŬ ĞǀĞƌLJďŽĚLJ Greek and we're very proud of sweets, and they staged for us it. - And in what ways do you a slave market so we could see ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ĨŝƌƐƚ ŵŽŵĞŶƚ ďĞĐĂƵƐĞ ŽĨ ŝƚƐ ďĞŝŶŐ Ă ƐƵŐŐĞƐƚŝǀĞ ĞŶĐŽƵŶƚĞƌ ďĞƚǁĞĞŶ ƉĂƐƚ͕ ƉƌĞƐĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ ĨƵƚƵƌĞ͘ dŚĞ think the customs around the how it happened in the ancient market have evolved? - Well, times. Moreover, their exposiƚŝƚůĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚ ƐƵŐŐĞƐƚƐ ƚŚŝƐ ƉŝǀŽƚĂů ŝĚĞĂ ƵƐŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ƌŚĞƚŽƌŝĐĂů ĨŝŐƵƌĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŽdžLJŵŽƌŽŶ͗ Η ĂĐŬ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ first of all, as you could see, sla- tion was very clear, as they had ves used to be sold in markets labels on their products that ĨƵƚƵƌĞΗ͘ Ƶƚ ŚŽǁ ĚŝĚ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶĐĞƉƚ ĐŽŵĞ ƵƉ͍ dŽ ĨŝŶĚ ŽƵƚ ĂďŽƵƚ ƚŚŝƐ ĂŶĚ ŽƚŚĞƌ ŝƐƐƵĞƐ͕ ǁĞ ƚĂůŬĞĚ ĚŝƌĞĐƚůLJ ƚŽ and we don't do that anymore. were written in both Greek and Also, the clothing from that era English, and they also handed ƚŚĞ ŵŝŶĚƐ ǁŚŽ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞĚ ƚŚĞ ǁŽƌŬ͘ /ƚ ǁĞŶƚ ;ŵŽƌĞ Žƌ ůĞƐƐͿ ůŝŬĞ ƚŚŝƐ͗͒ Ͳ ,Žǁ ĚŝĚ LJŽƵ ĐŽŵĞ ƵƉ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚŝƐ ŝĚĞĂ͍ has evolved and women have a each of us a booklet that contotally different position: they tained information about the ͒ Ͳ /ƚ ũƵƐƚ ĐĂŵĞ ƵƉ͕ ďĞĐĂƵƐĞ ǁĞ ŬŶŽǁ ĂďŽƵƚ ŽƵƌ ŚŝƐƚŽƌLJ͕ ƐŽ ǁĞ ƚŚŽƵŐŚƚ ŝƚ ǁŽƵůĚ ŚĂǀĞ ďĞĞŶ ŶŝĐĞ ƚŽ ƐŚŽǁ also sold dancers in the ago- natural properties of the food ra. - Yeah, that's true. Where they were selling and a brief did you get all this informati- introduction to the aim of their LJŽƵ ŚŽǁ ƚŚĞ ĂŐŽƌĂ ǁŽƌŬĞĚ ŝŶ ĂŶĐŝĞŶƚ ƚŝŵĞƐ͕ ĂŶĚ͕ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ ƚŚŝƐ͕ ŚŽǁ ƉĂƐƚ ĂŶĚ ƉƌĞƐĞŶƚ ĂƌĞ ĐŽŶŶĞĐƚĞĚ͕ ƐŝŶĐĞ on? - We researched on the in- project. Appealing, captivating, ternet and our teachers gave us thought-provoking, delightful. ŵĂŶLJ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƚŚŝŶŐƐ ǁĞ ƐĞůů ŚĂǀĞ ďĞĞŶ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ĨŽƌ ĐĞŶƚƵƌŝĞƐ͘ dŚĞ ŽŶůLJ ƚŚŝŶŐ ƚŚĂƚ ŵĂLJ ŚĂǀĞ ĐŚĂŶŐĞĚ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ lots of books, and for example Never was a dive into history some excerpts from Plato and this enchanting! ĚŝƐƉůĂLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ĚŝƐƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƐƚŽĐŬ͒͘ Ͳ dĂůŬŝŶŐ ĂďŽƵƚ ƚŚĞ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ LJŽƵ ǁĞƌĞ ƐĞůůŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚĞLJ ǁĞƌĞ ƚƌƵůLJ ŐŽŽĚ͘ Aristotle, where we could find some information about anzŽƵ ŵƵƐƚ ďĞ ƉƌŽƵĚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞŵ͊͒ Ͳ KĨ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ LJĞƐ͕ ǁĞ ĚŽŶΖƚ ĚĞƉĞŶĚ ŽŶ ĂŶLJ ƐƵƉƉůŝĞƐ ĨƌŽŵ ŽƚŚĞƌ ĐŽƵŶƚƌŝĞƐ ĨŽƌ cient marketplaces. It took us about 2 months to complete ƚŚŽƐĞ͕ ƚŚĞLJΖƌĞ Ăůů 'ƌĞĞŬ ĂŶĚ ǁĞΖƌĞ ǀĞƌLJ ƉƌŽƵĚ ŽĨ ŝƚ͒͘ Ͳ ŶĚ ŝŶ ǁŚĂƚ ǁĂLJƐ ĚŽ LJŽƵ ƚŚŝŶŬ ƚŚĞ ĐƵƐƚŽŵƐ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ the entire project. What do we think about it? Our impresƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŚĂǀĞ ĞǀŽůǀĞĚ͍͒ sion was, withoutͲ tĞůů͕ ĨŝƌƐƚ ŽĨ Ăůů͕ ĂƐ LJŽƵ ĐŽƵůĚ ƐĞĞ͕ ƐůĂǀĞƐ ƵƐĞĚ ƚŽ ďĞ ƐŽůĚ ŝŶ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐ ĂŶĚ ǁĞ any doubt, extremely positive: their competence ranged from the aestĚŽŶΖƚ ĚŽ ƚŚĂƚ ĂŶLJŵŽƌĞ͘ ůƐŽ͕ ƚŚĞ ĐůŽƚŚŝŶŐ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĂƚ ĞƌĂ ŚĂƐ ĞǀŽůǀĞĚ ĂŶĚ ǁŽŵĞŶ ŚĂǀĞ Ă ƚŽƚĂůůLJ ĚŝĨĨĞƌĞŶƚ hetic and technical field to the conceptual one. One great stƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ͗ ƚŚĞLJ ĂůƐŽ ƐŽůĚ ĚĂŶĐĞƌƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂŐŽƌĂ͒͘ Ͳ zĞĂŚ͕ ƚŚĂƚΖƐ ƚƌƵĞ͘ tŚĞƌĞ ĚŝĚ LJŽƵ ŐĞƚ Ăůů ƚŚŝƐ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ͍͒ rength of their project was that we could see firsthand how a Ͳ tĞ ƌĞƐĞĂƌĐŚĞĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŝŶƚĞƌŶĞƚ ĂŶĚ ŽƵƌ ƚĞĂĐŚĞƌƐ ŐĂǀĞ ƵƐ ůŽƚƐ ŽĨ ŬƐ͕ ĂŶĚ ĨŽƌ ĞdžĂŵƉůĞ ƐŽŵĞ ĞdžĐĞƌƉƚƐ Greek marketplace is, through a direct interaction with the selĨƌŽŵ WůĂƚŽ ĂŶĚ ƌŝƐƚŽƚůĞ͕ ǁŚĞƌĞ ǁĞ ĐŽƵůĚ ĨŝŶĚ ƐŽŵĞ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ ĂďŽƵƚ ĂŶĐŝĞŶƚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƉůĂĐĞƐ͘ /ƚ ƚŽŽŬ ƵƐ lers: they offered us their proĂďŽƵƚ Ϯ ŵŽŶƚŚƐ ƚŽ ĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞ ƚŚĞ ĞŶƚŝƌĞ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͒͘ ͒ tŚĂƚ ĚŽ ǁĞ ƚŚŝŶŬ ĂďŽƵƚ ŝƚ͍ KƵƌ ŝŵƉƌĞƐƐŝŽŶ ǁĂƐ͕ ǁŝƚŚŽƵƚ ĂŶLJ ĚŽƵďƚ͕ ĞdžƚƌĞŵĞůLJ ƉŽƐŝƚŝǀĞ͗ ƚŚĞŝƌ ĐŽŵƉĞƚĞŶĐĞ ƌĂŶŐĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ĂĞƐƚŚĞƚŝĐ ĂŶĚ ƚĞĐŚŶŝĐĂů ĨŝĞůĚ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŶĐĞƉƚƵĂů ŽŶĞ͘ KŶĞ ŐƌĞĂƚ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚ ŽĨ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚ ǁĂƐ ƚŚĂƚ ǁĞ ĐŽƵůĚ ƐĞĞ ĨŝƌƐƚŚĂŶĚ ŚŽǁ Ă 'ƌĞĞŬ ŵĂƌŬĞƚƉůĂĐĞ ŝƐ͕ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ Ă ĚŝƌĞĐƚ ŝŶƚĞƌĂĐƚŝŽŶ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ ƐĞůůĞƌƐ͗ ƚŚĞLJ ŽĨĨĞƌĞĚ ƵƐ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ͕ ůŝŬĞ Ă ƉĞƌĨƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ƐŽŵĞ ƐǁĞĞƚƐ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞLJ ƐƚĂŐĞĚ ĨŽƌ ƵƐ Ă ƐůĂǀĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƐŽ ǁĞ ĐŽƵůĚ ƐĞĞ ŚŽǁ ŝƚ ŚĂƉƉĞŶĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂŶĐŝĞŶƚ ƚŝŵĞƐ͘ DŽƌĞŽǀĞƌ͕ ƚŚĞŝƌ ĞdžƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶ ǁĂƐ ǀĞƌLJ ĐůĞĂƌ͕ ĂƐ ƚŚĞLJ ŚĂĚ ůĂďĞůƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ ƚŚĂƚ ǁĞƌĞ ǁƌŝƚƚĞŶ ŝŶ ďŽƚŚ 'ƌĞĞŬ ĂŶĚ ŶŐůŝƐŚ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞLJ ĂůƐŽ ŚĂŶĚĞĚ ĞĂĐŚ ŽĨ ƵƐ à ŬůĞƚ ƚŚĂƚ ĐŽŶƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ ĂďŽƵƚ ƚŚĞ ŶĂƚƵƌĂů ƉƌŽƉĞƌƚŝĞƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĨŽŽĚ ƚŚĞLJ ǁĞƌĞ ƐĞůůŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ Ă ďƌŝĞĨ ŝŶƚƌŽĚƵĐƚŝŽŶ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ Ăŝŵ ŽĨ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͒͘ ƉƉĞĂůŝŶŐ͕ ĐĂƉƚŝǀĂƚŝŶŐ͕ ƚŚŽƵŐŚƚͲƉƌŽǀŽŬŝŶŐ͕ ĚĞůŝŐŚƚĨƵů͘ EĞǀĞƌ ǁĂƐ Ă ĚŝǀĞ ŝŶƚŽ ŚŝƐƚŽƌLJ ƚŚŝƐ ĞŶĐŚĂŶƚŝŶŐ͊

The Greek marketplace that was presented during the 5th AVITAE meeting in La Laguna struck everybody from the first moment because of its being a suggestive encounter between past, present and future. The title of the project suggests this pivotal idea using the rhetorical figure of the oxymoron: "Back to the future". But how did the concept come up? To find out about this and other issues, we talked directly to the minds who developed the work.

It went (more or less) like this: How did you come up with this idea? - It just came up, because we know about our history, so we thought it would have been nice to show you how the agora worked in ancient times, and, through this, how past and present are connected, since many of the things we sell have been the same for centuries.

The only thing that may have changed is the display, the disposition of the stock. - Talking about the products you were selling, they were truly good.

You must be proud of them! Of course yes, we don't depend on any supplies from other

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Innovation with Erasmus+ On the first day we were divided into groups. Mr. Claus Witfeld asked us if anyone knew something about environmental struggles of the country in which we resided. Everyone started shouting the first ideas that came on their mind, whether it was water or immigration crises.

We started consulting those issues and it evolved into hot discussion. After final debates we split into the groups. In each group at least one person must had been from each of seven countries that were involved.

The countries were Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, and Finland. Each crew had to solve one question.

The most common problem was water. We found out that Spain has no clean water what is a big problem. They import all of the drinking water. Mr. Claus admitted that we had lots of great ideas, sometimes really fantastic and creative ones. After presenting of our thoughts, we got a paper and were asked to describe a person or a group of people that we wished to help.

Description was about unreal imaginary character, with random name and sex and imaginary city in which he or she lived.

Our first day ended as soon as

47 Maysivu 2016

we submitted our papers.

On the second day we sat into school-desks and the teacher gave us five papers. After that one by one he asked us five questions and we had to write down each answer on one single paper. After that we sorted the same answers together. We had to divide into same groups as the day before. We received a task to create something that would help with the environmental difficulties. Teachers had given us markers, cardboards, paints, scissors, everything to create our own safe house or machine to filter the water. After we had been done with our ideas, we presented and talked about our creations.

Our mentors liked every single idea that we produced. It took us so long to create them and it was even more fulfilling to know that everyone was satisfied with us. After the end of the presentations, Mr. Claus jumped on the table and said he was very happy that we accomplished what we did. These activities helped us to get to know each other but mainly to make the first step. Everyone liked the activities but we even more liked the strategy of how

our Mr Claus talked to us about the problems and the form of the teaching he used.

THANK you for this experience and for a chance to move forward.

Cyprus in the past

On the territory of the island there are few traces of the Stone Age. Bronze Age is characterized by well-developed civilization. People quickly learned to work in the rich copper mines. Island newcomers brought with them their own language, advanced technology and new artistic expression.

Greek influence in the culture and language has remained on the island since 1220 BC, despite many impacts resulting from successive shocks. Over time, Cyprus become a source of timber for the Greek fleet.

At the time of the Persian Empire, Cyprus was an area from which flowed taxes and fees to finance the Persian ships and royalty. In the years 58-57 BC, Cyprus territory was annexed by the Roman Empire. The most important event during the period of Roman Cyprus was the visit of the Apostles Paul and

Barnabas who accompanied Saint Mark, who came to the island at the beginning of his first mission in 45 AD. After arriving on the island they continued east towards Paphos, where they managed convert the Roman governor Sergius Paulus.

Present: We have already looked at some ancient societies, what they used to eat and what the markets used to have. In the present, as we know, we have got Coca-Cola at the markets, but the Cypriots do not believe junk food will take over. They still believe in healthy food.

One thing is, that we see companies like Coca-Cola monopolizing, that is the way they promote Coca-Cola in the present, and in the future. Another thing is, when you go from the past

to present you see some connections. They have national products. It is halloum cheese, something made by the Cypriots. Some kind of traditional bread, sweets…

Future The Cypriots believe that they will not have junk food; they would like to eat healthier.

They believe that they will have healthy and unhealthy food.

The Cypriots believe that they will have homemade meals. In the future, they want to replace the markets with drones.

They think that you will order your fresh vegetables or fruit from the market and it will be delivered directly to your home by your drone. It could be a very good thing. You can stay at home and you can use your free time, because the drone is on the way with your food.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 48

May 2016

Our trip to the “Observatorio del Teide”

By Beatrice Biondi, Jacopo Ghilardi Liceo Classico N. Machiavelli During the mobility in Tenerife, one of the most exciting things in our program was the visit to Teide Observatory, which is operated by the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.

After its opening in 1964, it has become one of the major international observatories across the globe, which gathers telescopes from different countries worldwide because of the good astronomical seeing conditions of the site. It is considered one of the world's major observatories together with the ones in Hawaii and Chile.

When we arrived we were received by a young French Astrophysicist that showed us (in a playful way) the basis of astronomical observation by displaying some pictures of celestial objects (such as stars, galaxy, planets, moons, comets and nebulae).

To catch our attention and to give us some teach-

ing about the principles of astronomical observation, he started to film us with a termographic camera (also called Infrared Cam) so that we could see our body …. through our clothes!

That was to explain to us that Infrared Rays can let you look through the dusty clouds peopling the outer space, so that you can see the stars even inside nebulae!

After that, we were escorted into a real and functional telescope which had been recycled from materials from WW2 (tanks). It was originally a prototype but it worked well, so the scientists at Teide have been using it up to nowadays.

The guide also gave us some curious information: for instance, the fact that telescopes are tall because during the day the soil heats up and this causes turbulences that might disturb the rendition of the photos; so

the more distant from the ground the lenses are, the better. He also told us that microwave telescopes might someday catch the first rays of light still coming from the Big Bang!

In the area around the telescopes there were some very interesting panels that represented the Solar System; they were positioned at a distance from the model of the Sun that is proportional to the real distance existing between each planet and our star. In this way, we could imagine how big our universe is, just looking at one of its tiny particles (the Solar System).

At the end of the tour, our guide even gave us the chance to watch a small sunspot through a solar telescope; the task was not so easy for us because we had to adjust our sight to the lens in order to focus on the spot. And this was not easy at all!

Made by Elias Hirvikoski and Jeremia Toppari from Finland.

sivu 49 August 2016

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

A.V.I.T.A.E

SOCIAL MEDIA – LISTENING, LEARNING & SHARING by: AVITAE Cyprus Team

“Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, social curation, and wikis are among the different types of social media.”

WhatIs.com As social animals we have always been seeking ways of communication, in order to connect and strengthen our relationships. When distance creates an obstacle to this need, we keep inventing new creative means of eliminating this obstacle and enabling our contact.

This urge for communication is nothing new, neither is the continuous search for new methods of achieving it.

According to the ancient historian Hellanicus the first recorded hand written letter was by Queen Atossa of Persia, mother of Xerxes around 500 BC. The telegraph was invented in 1792, allowing messages to be delivered over long distances much faster than with a horse or a ship.

The introduction of the telephone in 1876 added a new dimension to the communications scene.

We had an important milestone in the history of communications in the 1960s as the earliest forms of the internet and the email were developed.

The first social media site was created in 1997 and the first blogging sites became popular by 1999.

From then on the popularity of social media increased exponentially and the same applied to the number of new sites appearing overnight.

While a few of these sites disappeared as fast as they had appeared, the rest became an

integral part of our lives!

Google+ : Google's social What exactly makes social networking project, designed media such a success story? to replicate the way people interact offline.

Conventional media - television, radio, newspapers, magaWikipedia: a free, open conzines - transmit information in tent online encyclopedia creaone direction. Users acquire ted through the collaborative the information the media offer, effort of a community of users. but their ability to share their own views on the subject is eitInstagram: an online mobile her very limited or nonexistent. photo-sharing, video-sharing, As we have already noted at the and social networking service very beginning of this article, that enables its users to take we are social animals and as pictures and videos, and shasuch we much prefer having two re them either publicly or pridirectional communication with vately on the app, as well as others. We favor the idea of through a variety of other sosharing our opinion, of exchan- cial networking platforms. ging thoughts and experiences.

This is exactly what makes the LinkedIn: a social networking social media so attractive. This site designed specifically for is the reason why they are here the business community. to stay!

Reddit: a social media and social news aggregation, web An infographic on the content rating and discussion evolution of Social Media website.

In 2008, the Conversation Pinterest: a social curation Prism (CP), an evolving info- website for sharing and categographic capturing the state of rizing images found online. social media, debuted. This visual tool, developed by Brian Solis, was organized by how important social networks are used by professional and everyday consumers.

Comparing the 2008 version 1.0 of the CP with the version 4.0 of 2013 gives us a clear idea of how fast the social meHere we were at the end of dia scene is changing and how the second year of AVITAE. It impressive these changes are. was about time to share with One can only try to imagine our teachers, our friends and how a 2016 version of the CP their parents the work that would look like! had been done during this seSome examples of popular cond year, the outcomes that Social Media had been produced and the photographic evidence of how Facebook : a free social netmuch fun the whole process working website that allows had been. registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, We decided that, just like a send messages and keep in year ago, we would make sure touch. that as many people as possible Twitter: a free microblogging were going to have the opporservice that allows registered tunity to admire the efforts of members to broadcast short the AVITAE team. Therefore, posts called tweets.

AVITAE EXHIBITION 2016 we set our exhibition stand and posters in the main Hall of our school, where the registration procedure for all the students, current and new, would take place.

In addition to our project’s outcomes (the International Market Model, the cooking book, the newspapers and a beautiful collection of photographs from our meetings) our stand provided information about the Erasmus+ Programme, as a whole, through posters, leaflets and handbooks we had received from our National

Agency.

Furthermore, the three winners of the art competition we had run, entitled “AVITAE: The Market of the Past, the Present and the Future”, received their prizes from the headmistress.

Lastly, the exhibition provided us with the perfect opportunity to distribute the information regarding the upcoming Learning Activities Meeting we are going to host in our school, this coming October.

The exhibition lasted from June 15 to June 30.

sivu 50 August

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

SOCIAL MEDIA PROS AND CONS

By Ilaria Nenna and Chiara Bartoli - Liceo classico N. Machiavelli (Italy) Nowadays, social media (SM) is a way to share photos, documents and events with others and, consequently, it is also utilised for the creation of new relations among those near and far. Social media plays an essential role in our life because of its power and because it could help us get to know more and more information. Thanks to this, we can become aware of many events and news across the globe and broaden our horizons. On the one hand, this tool is very important for us and improves our knowledge and way to communicate, on the other hand sometimes social media posts wrong news or manipulates it; thus opinions on news spread by social media should be examined in depth.

It is also true that to be a manager of a social media tool is a promising new job: one has to continuously improve the social media website in order to have a lot of visitors. So, these professionals study a great deal

to make their social media life become more and more appealing and complete. Therefore, on the bright side, social media creates new jobs! However, the risky side of the business seems to dominate the foreground: everyone can post what they want, and everyone can access what has been posted. So, we should pay attention to what we really want the others to know, because sometimes we lose the possibility to be free without fully realizing it. At this time social media does not have real limits: it is in every place, every home and every school.

The vast majority of people use social media and often become addicted to it. As an Italian film states, “our smartphones and social media have turned into the black box of our life”; in them are kept all our secrets and there we can find all details about us and others. And this is rarely a good thing: sometimes we should just write a letter or read a “paper” newspaper; we

should remember that many years ago people did live without social media and such “obsolete” actions as writing a letter or reading a paper were the only way to be connected.

Probably at that time people were freer and less shallow, with much leisure time to devote to their interpersonal skills.

Yet, it would be wrong to be too negative and pessimistic about the present. Social media exists and we cannot ignore it. It is useless and a wee bit silly to look back to the past; we ought to live at this time in the best way we can, appreciate what we have and use the tool as wisely as possible in order to safeguard our freedom and right to privacy.

Italian Avitae Day 2016

By Noemi Biagini and Bianca Vannucci . Liceo classico N. Machiavelli (Italy)

Two hundred students, six schools, one great concordant spirit united to celebrate the European Union Day on 9th May. As a consequence, in Lucca every international project carried out by the local schools had the opportunity to be shown and illustrated to visitors (mainly, teachers students from all the schools in town, and some citizens and stakeholders).

As students of the Liceo Classico N.Machiavelli, we had the chance to share with our peers a lot of unforgettable experiences and the products which we realised all together during our Avitae trips.

The Erasmus class set up a stand entirely dedicated to our tour in ancient entrepreneurship. Each one of the teams had to complete a different task which involved: printing pictures representing the best moments we had had abroad,

making a video summing up how our creativity developed thanks to Avitae, drawing some original posters and displaying our creations.

Five students from our class were chosen to present the activities that took place during the meetings: Camilla talked about the “Index Session” carried out in the modern and efficient Ørestad Gymnasium in Copenhagen, Ilda illustrated how ancient and current entrepreneurship perfectly mixed during the teamwork hosted in the 2nd Geniko Lykeio of Arta, Chiara described how the students managed to bring back to life ancient recipes in the advanced structures of the Slovakian Hotelová Akadémia through their spirit of cooperation; Stefano narrated how successful our board game called “Trade off” had been in IES Canarias Cabrera Pinto in Tenerife.

The crowd was enthusiastic and fascinated by our project as well as the way in which it is conducted by the international team made of our teachers and by us the students - so culturally different yet so united and passionate in our work.

Moreover, there are many other projects that our school presented on this special day, such as the European Youth Parliament and the Models United Nations. Both of them are focused on political and social cooperation and were exposed in this unique occasion by Cecilia and Mishel for EYP and by Noemi and Bianca for MUN. It was absolutely the perfect day to share the mentality that the European Union strives to spread among young people without renouncing our national identity.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

TENERIFE AVITAE DAY, JUNE 2016

This second year of our project has been very challenging for the Tenerife team.

We have hosted all of our partners in this adventure and it has been really awesome, and, just a short time after such a wonderful and unforgettable experience, while we were still excited, we celebrated our AVITAE day with another remarkable event for our students: a Skype conversation with our program fellows in Finland.

Students of 3º ESO and 4º ESO sang the chorus of a very famous song that talks about the Canary Islands, about living in an archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about loving music and life...

After that, students started to talk about their summer holidays and their plans.

Some Finnish students said they will be coming with their families to the Canary Islands, so they took advantage of this digital encounter to ask for details of nice places to visit and also to clear up some doubts they had about the weather, the food and many other things.

All the teams had worked on the topic of Universal Market: ancient markets, future markets trying to show their vision of the changes between

both as time goes by, not only in their physical aspect, but also in the way sellers and buyers get in contact and the way people connect. As the results were so astonishing, we decided to share them. Therefore, we took all the "Universal Market" models which our students had made using a wide range of techniques (from recycling objects and materials to creating new things using a 3D printer) and we joined them with the absolutely wonderful posters that the Danish and Greek teams had brought for the meeting in Tenerife, and we prepared an exhibition for the whole high school.

In that exhibition, we added the work carried out by students of international teams during the sessions held in the Tenerife meeting. They followed the indications of Claus, our Danish specialist in Innovation and Creative thinking, which resulted in an incredible outcome. The things we can do!! Thanks, Claus, for showing us the way.

We have worked hard and we deserve to enjoy the summer!!

SOCIAL NETWORKS

by Pablo Rodríguez Zerpa and Andrea Pérez Pavón

Could teenagers survive without social networks? They have, beyond any doubt, become important tools in our society in the last few years, especially among teenagers, but they are also widely used by adults.

We come across lots of social networks created for different purposes. For example, if you want to find a job, then you should look for LinkedIn, or maybe you feel like keeping in contact with someone really far away, in which case you might create an account in Skype, a media created for video calling. Many of these programs or apps or websites serve a purpose, but there are several which function only as a communication tool… Here we find a change in the paradigm; what’s actually impressive about social networks is that they have transformed our traditional ‘face to face’ communication into a ‘face to screen’.

For instance, in our country, Spain, almost every single person has a Whatsapp account and uses it every day - adults and teenagers alike. We

love creating groups for friends, for schoolmates, for family, for the people in our health club, for the next AVITAE group travelling to Cyprus… Whatever the reason, we may create a group for it. But why do people like it so much? Maybe because it’s easy to use and it allows people to communicate in a quick and free way. It also permits you to send photos, jokes, voice messages, and it has such an interactive design.

Another example of the success of social media in Spain is Instagram. Posting photographs and short videos and sharing them with the people you want feels great. It is probably one of the most relevant networks in our society among teenagers.

The last app we are going to talk about is Snapchat.

It is really fast, just like the other networks we have already talked about: take a picture, write something on it or add some stickers and send it to whoever you want. And you don’t need to worry too much, because it will be deleted from your profile after 24 hours.

Easy and simple.

No doubt those apps have succeeded for their easy access, intuitive design and the important fact that they’re free! They are so easy to use and so attractive that they are sometimes considered even addictive. Now the paradox appears, we have created a tool to share information, to communicate, and yet, many claim that this very tool is the one responsible for killing communication itself. Well, it’s true that social networks may entail negative consequences such as harming our personal relationships, reducing our concentration, or provoking stress and anxiety. However, these side effects are not direct results of social media, but the misuse or the overuse of them. Something we all may be aware of to prevent future problems.

Social networks are useful; it is completely understandable that teenagers want to be in touch with their friends and share their experiences. However, social network comes accompanied with two main and easy to solve problems, which

are dependence and the risk to bably see new ones in no time, privacy, fortunately, both can let’s just not forget real life! be solved or even prevented with proper education and common sense.

We feel social networks are here to stay, and we will pro-

sivu 51 August 2016

sivu 52 August

2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

SOCIAL MEDIA AND STUDENTS ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE An amazing Internet tool that has developed and grown over the years is the social media network. There are many different social media networks available for students to join, such as Twitter and Instagram.

Most of them have a strong grasp on the lives of students in universities and colleges worldwide. One in particular which is popular to see students in class using is Facebook. It has generated over 845 million users and the majority of the users are in the age range of students that could be in college and university. The number of students conversing per hour and per day are staggering.

Students are checking up on their friends' statuses, photos that are posted, comments that are posted. However, there is a time and a place for doing these things, and in class or during lectures is not the time.

Many surveys have been conducted and research done to prove that social media networks are the reason for the downfall of students' grade and educational performance.

Twitter and Facebook distract students when they need to review a lecture, write a paper, or study for exams and tests. It is proven that students cannot focus solely on one task, i.e., pay attention to the teacher in class; they always need to do something else at the same time. However, this learning behaviour makes it impossible for the brain of students to absorb information and retain it. There are children who spend 7 to 11 hours a day on social media networks and entertainment programs, and that means for the majority of the day they are staring at a screen; no wonder why their grades are dropping.

Students as well as teachers need to realize the potential that social media networks have and need to harness it and use it in a positive way that is productive educationally for both parties. Having the perfect balance between a social media network and homework can be achieved through self-discipline and suitable scheduling. It is time for students to realize all the negative impacts social media can cause. Students need to start making big decisions and start changing their habits and becoming less distracted by social media networks. w w

Year 2 AVITAE day: Greece

17 June 2016 was a great day indeed. It being the last day of school exams was a good reason to celebrate. We thought that such a day was just the right time to present this year’s AVITAE outcomes so we included that in the festivities.

To be honest, due to the exams’ long period we didn’t have enough time to prepare an extravagant day. We decided we could instead share with the rest of the school, students and teachers our experiences of the two years of AVITAE. We gathered in the groups that we had formed when we visited the partner countries, we prepared small presentations of our visits there, selected some typical photos, decided on some highlights and there we were.

We took turns to present

our power points, each group focusing on the central project we had had to prepare for each visit: the ancient / contemporary / future market, the recipes book, entrepreneurship in ancient times etc.

We all realized that we had had beautiful experiences, some nice impressions and memories which we would like to share.

What we wished we had had time to do was to make more detailed presentations of the other schools’ projects. We believe that everybody would have benefited from that hugely. Unfortunately we were very short on time. We promised we would be prepared for that next year.

We loved it when we circulated around the copies of the AVITAE newspaper, explaining to our teachers and school mates what we had had to do

to prepare for the articles we wrote. We were extra proud for the issues featuring pictures with our happy faces on them!

We also added the stuff we brought back from Tenerife in the little window we have for our AVITAE corner. Now it gives the impression of a little ancient market.

Finally, although it was very hot, we all went outside, in the school yard. We lay down and we tried to form the acronym AVITAE with our bodies. I’m not sure how readable this proved out to be or if somebody who hadn’t known about our intentions could tell what we were trying to do. The truth is that we had great fun.

We laughed a lot and, correct me if I’m wrong, this is what celebrations are for.

P y h ä j o A.V.I.T.A.E e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Socialising through media instagram as a social media connecting the AVITAE project

By Frederikke Johansen and Molly Tatnell What is instagram?

“Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures. Snap a photo with your mobile phone, then choose a filter to transform the image into a memory to keep around forever. We're building Instagram to allow you to experience moments in your friends' lives through pictures as they happen. We imagine a world more connected through photos”.

(Source: Instagram FAQ) Why have we chosen Instagram?

We have chosen Instagram because we needed a media to connect through that was not Facebook. The problem with Facebook is that there are a lot of people involved in the project that had chosen specifically not to have Facebook.

Therefore, we needed a media to work with, that many of the participants already had, and hopefully the people who did not have an account would get one.

In the AVITAE project we are 7 countries with around 30 participants each. It sums up to be a pretty large group of people. Besides the meetings

that we have in each country, we do not have much communication across the countries, which is a problem since we are an international project. We do have social platforms online on which we can communicate, but none of the ones that we have been using so far have been very successful.

So when our teachers asked us to find a way in which the participants could get to know each other better, we had to think differently.

After an hour of multiple ideas, we came to think that of all the social medias we had been using so far, we had never tried out Instagram. We started thinking of how we could involve everyone using Instagram.

The final idea was to use Instagram as a kind of diary to get the participants of the project to get to know the other countries better. We created some guidelines, which are as follow: Each country has ownership of the official AVITAE project Instagram account for one week. In the five school days that they have the ownership of the account they have to post one picture every day that shows something from their

everyday lives as students in their country. Each picture has to have a description that explains it, and when the week has passed, the Instagram account is passed on to the next country.

gelotti (Italy) says; “Thanks for this brilliant idea. We now have the chance to understand how school works and how education is conceived in other countries, which can not only serve as useful information, but can also help us to get inspired and Juliana Glahn (Denmark) make progress.” was the one to come up with the idea of using Instagram as Juliana Glahn also added that AVITAE’s social media platform. she is an active follower of the She was inspired by other net- AVITAE profile, and she enjoys works that appeal to young getting to know more about adults. She discussed the idea the other countries’ typical with the other Danish students week at school, and to see how with the purpose of getting the her friends from the other parstudents more involved in the ticipating countries are doing. project, and even to reach further out to people not involved Because of the positive accepin the project at all. tance, the OfficialAvitaeProject account has had from the parNow the AVITAE Instagram ticipants, we hope to make it profile has been active for a stay as a part of the AVITAE few weeks before the summer project, and that the profile will vacation started. Five countries help us students become even have so far had the ownership closer and more knowledgeabof the profile for one week le about each other’s countries each, and a lot of pictures have and cultures. been posted already. Juliana Glahn says; “Many people have received the profile with open arms, and it works surprisingly well.” And this is the same answer we have gotten from students from some of the other countries as well. Camilla An-

August 2016

sivu 53

sivu 54 August

P y h ä j o e n A.V.I.T.A.E K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

2016

AVITAE in our hearts, our minds and our tummies The AVITAE day

By Anna Sofie Hvass & Simone Sejdenfaden The clock struck 8 a.m. and by then the students in the AVITAE club had already begun cutting out the flags of the AVITAE countries, and putting up artworks from the trip to Tenerife. During the next hour the students of the AVITAE club prepared special dishes characterizing each country represented in the AVITEA Project Danish strawberry tart, Finnish rhubarb crumble, Italian olive tapenade on bread and various other delicious dishes representing the different countries.

Almost every dish was either prepared or brought home from the country of origin by different students and teachers in the AVITAE club. Recipes from the cookbook were used for preparing the dishes, making sure the food became as authentic as possible. The room became filled with delicious aromas, tempting the club members while they finished preparations for when the students and teachers of the entire school would come.

The first guests, in the shape of other students, came by at around 9 o’clock to try some of the delicious, and to some, new food and to hear about the project. They asked about the innovative art and those who had been in Spain told them all about it and the adventure it had been to produce and show them to other students.

The food was given plenty of attention too, especially the rhubarb crumble was a hit. During the next forty minutes old students, who were once a part of the project, came by to greet their AVITAE friends, and teachers from all over the school also showed up and they too were very interested and excited to hear about all the things AVITAE is. Even our principal Allan took a quick break to see if everything was turning out well for the AVITAE group and to take a look at our newspapers.

gone to Tenerife along with the students who were in their final year of school received their certificates of participation. The school’s stamp was brought forth to validate the diplomas, signifying the completion of yet another successful trip and sending off the final year students in the best way possible - with the memories of their past trips and work reawakened by not only the wonderful dishes of the participating countries, but also the stories they had been sharing with other students of the school.

Overall it was a most successful and enjoyable day. A day where the AVITAE project was truly experienced by everyone who showed up - including both the new and the old club members -, through the three most important functions of the human body - the heart, the mind and the tummy. All fueling the After a while of indulging and creative and innovative entrepspeaking about the project, reneurship, trademarking the it was time for the diploma project. ceremony. Students who had

P y h ä j o e n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

August 2016sivu 55

A.V.I.T.A.E

Social media makes a difference by: Oona Jauhiainen and Katja Keskitalo Social media is a place where you can find amazing pictures and phenomena waiting for you. Social media impacts us in many ways, but the impact is not always strictly black or white. Everyone has heard that if you put a picture online, it stays there. If you make a dumb meme about your friend, teacher, neighbour or anyone, it could stay as an inside joke, or it could go viral, but just as well people can share their arts, knowledge and just about anything.

Nobody is saying that you shouldn’t post anything on Facebook. On the contrary, sharing is a very powerful way to get attention, not only for you but for bigger things. Sharing addresses, making campaigns, creating new hashtags… For example, Suomen Lukiolaisten Liitto, also known as The Union of Upper Secondary School Students in Finland, created a hashtag #kutsumua, literally translated #callme, which is against bullying and name-calling. In other words, teenagers took a simple selfie with a paper, where was written some mean trait or nickname crossed over and in bigger letters a new, better trait. In other words, somebody could cross over

“weird” and write “unique” and they could also share something about their past. It was a brutal way of showing how common bullying is and how it destroys one’s self-esteem.

smartphones and social media accounts, despite age limits.

Parents don’t have the power or don’t know how to control their children, so social media is basically like the Wild West; there are some rules, but peopIn 2013 Finland was the last le think of them as some kind of Nordic country where same-sex guidelines instead of law. marriage was not allowed, but not for long. Tahdon2013 was When you are using social an initiative which made the go- media, you should know for vernment recognize this prob- sure what you are posting. Solem. Over 160 000 people sig- cial media and the world can ned it in only a few days, when change a practical joke to soin fact initiatives need only 50 mething that you didn’t hope 000 signatures. In 2017 we will for. The best rule is to not post be able to marry whoever we anything that you would like want to, as long as our partner to remove some day, because is on board with us. To sum up, unfortunately that can be imsocial media is not only for sel- possible. fies and who gets the greatest number of likes. It’s an easier In the end the impact of social way to make a change and media is boundless. Social mespread the word. dia has taken a place in homes, schools and workplaces. You But what makes social media can’t avoid the impacts and so powerful? Well, obviously consequences. In fact, every everyone has access to it and one of us gives power to social almost everybody is using some media. That is why it’s our reskind of social media. Facebook, ponsibility to make it safe for Twitter, Instagram, Blogger, everyone.

MySpace… the list is endless.

Social media has taken root in today’s world and it has taken a place in everybody’s life. In the future, social media is going to take an even bigger place in our lives. Even children have

The Avitae Day was a success

by Sanna Halunen What is better than a school day spent listening to students sharing their memories and feelings about amazing trips around the Europe? This was what the students of junior high school and secondary school of Pyhäjoki got to do on a sunny day in June. The people of the town had also been invited to take part in the Avitae Day.

ries. During the Avitae Day in Pyhäjoki the students got to hear about all the trips made from the upper secondary school of Pyhäjoki in the past year. Two of those were Avitae trips, to Bratislava and to Tenerife. Some of the students have also visited Russia and Barcelona and those trips were also mentioned during the day.

The Avitae Day united younger and older students to learn about the Avitae project, which makes students collaborate with total strangers from foreign count-

Bratislava was the first destination of the school year.

From Pyhäjoki there were five students and one teacher taking part in the project.

On the Bratislava-stop eve-

rybody got to hear about the beautiful sights in Bratislava and amazing experiences that will be forever remembered.

Especially the school made a big impact on the Finns; it was a high school but also a vocational school, where students learned to, for example, cook.

This is also why the theme of the trip was food.

The rest of the trips were all made in the spring. Five students and two teachers visited Tenerife in the end of April. They stayed in San Cristóbal de La Laguna for one week. Though Tenerife is

an island near Africa, it is part of Spain and part of Europe.

Still it is the most southern point of Europe. For Finnish students the climate and nature are different and very intriguing.

Avitae Day was a success, and in the end the school had a Skype-connection straight to Tenerife. We heard the Spanish students sing a traditional Canarian song and had a wonderful chat with them about all kinds of things such as our schools, the weather and holiday plans. The Day

was a way to give everyone a glimpse of different culture and of the deepest meaning of the whole project: new experiences and friendship.

August 2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 56

Social media

By Ema Bujnakova, Slovakia Last week I read an interesting article about the pros and cons of social media. There is no doubt that social media has a huge influence on young people. I must say that it doesn’t only affect young people, but people of all ages - my mother spends more time on social media than I do.

Why does she spend so much time there? Because she is connected with people important to her job. This is really a great feature of social media, bringing people together that are interested in the same things as you are.

Thanks to my mother, I have explored Twitter lately and was surprised at how interesting it can be. Of course I use Facebook, YouTube and Instagram too, but Twitter is something new for me. I have discovered such amazing resources for recipes there. It is easy, just write the hashtag with the food you want to explore and there are

thousands of tweets with information. It is also easy to follow interesting people, react to their posts and connect with them.

We all know Facebook and its power. I used to spend hours and hours on Facebook, posting, but most of all chatting with friends. It is very useful to go to Facebook when you need to connect with people and reach them very quickly.

On the other hand, I spent so much time on Facebook chatting instead of going out with friends. One day I decided to reduce it and it was great. Now I prefer real meetings with friends and talking to them and it really is better.

I have also learnt that it is very important to think about what I am going to post or comment.

It can be beneficial or dangerous when applying for a job. Did you know that companies check your internet activity?

Social networking is nice, but

we need to have a set time to spend on it. There is a danger that you are so involved in reading different posts that you forget to live your own life. There is also a big danger of cyberbullying especially for children.

Social media exists and we need to learn how to behave and how to use it to be beneficial and not harmful for us.

AVITAE DAY Hotelova akademia, Slovakia

We decided to organize the AVITAE day on the last day of school in June. It was our task to decide what we would do.

We are a team of students who participated in the exchange visits. It was our last year of participating in the project, because next year we will leave our school and will have to prepare for the final exams.

We decided to prepare a presentation about AVITAE project and invite all teachers and students to visit our classroom.

To make it nice and interesting, we also prepared some sweets and a coffee corner for the teachers, where they had an opportunity to talk to the AVITAE participants and read the AVITAE newspapers.

Students and teachers visited out classroom and learnt about our visit to Denmark, Greece, and Tenerife and also about the

visit of all project partners in our school in October.

Most interesting and exciting part was talking about staying in the host families and getting in touch with other cultures and ways of life. We presented also our twinspace and the webpage of the project. It was so nice to see the students eager to talk to us and listen to our stories.

There is no doubt that they would like to participate in such a project next year.

AVITAE project was the most valuable experience that we had during our studies. We learnt not only about innovation and entrepreneurship, but also about our partner countries. We had an opportunity to learn how different and how similar we are, we were able to collaborate and create things together in international teams and it was really amazing.

Made by Jeremia Toppari from Finland.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

August 2016sivu 57

A.V.I.T.A.E

AVITAE: Enterpreneurship Issue The AVITAE project travelled to Cyprus to learn how to deal with JA-companies and enterpreneurship, to study Cypriot traditions, culture and history and to meet each others once again. The trip was a success, and here are some fruits of our labour.

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT CYPRUS

by Elena Demetriou â&#x20AC;&#x201C; AVITAE Cyprus

JA Cyprus is a member of JA Worldwide, one of the largest global NGOs dedicated to addressing fundamental social and economic challenges of young people by educating and empowering them to transform their future and own their economic success. JA Worldwide was funded in 1919 and it currently has more than 100 member countries. The JA Worldwide network is powered by over 450 000 volunteers and mentors from all sectors of society, reaching more than 10 million young people around the world every year.

JA Cyprus is a relatively young non-for-profit organization, specializing in entrepreneurship education. Through a variety of educational programmes the youth of today (5-25 year olds) acquire entrepreneurial, financial literacy and employability skills.

Funded by businesses, institutions, foundations and individuals, JA Cyprus brings the public and private sectors together to provide young people in primary and secondary schools and early university with experiences that promote the skills, understanding and perspective that they will need to succeed

in a global economy.

Students, who participate to this kind of programme, gain real-world experience. First of all, they build entrepreneurial skills and competencies because students are split into teams that will produce an innovative product. Each team operates like a mini company, the members of the teams become members of the board of directors and each of them takes their own responsibility and task (e.g. Marketing Manager, Communication Manager, IT Manager , CEO etc). However in order to achieve this, the students have to work together, create strong business plans, develop business concepts from bottom to top, set goal and manage their time. Apart from developing enterprising skills and attitudes, students learn to take responsibility and be accountable to their shareholders.

Needless to say, during their time in the programme, students develop attitudes and skills necessary for personal success and employability, even understanding the innerworkings of business. They gain key understanding in selfemployment, business creati-

on, risk-taking and coping with adversity, all with the support of experienced business volunteers.

Apart from these entrepreneurial skills and attitudes gained during the programme, which are necessary for personal success, there are also other impacts that are offered and they are worth-mentioning. To begin with, the entrepreneurial rate among JA alumni is twice as high as the average population. Furthermore, JA participants are 25% less likely to be unemployed after graduation.

Moreover, 63% of JA alumni are confident managing their own money (compared to 37% of non-JA). This is due to the fact that JA participants during the programme have to decide the best way to spend their money and learn to deal with opportunity cost.

Last but not least, JA participants are three times more likely to hold senior or middle management positions because they have experience in dealing with risk-taking situation and they are more capable of handling difficult decisions and puzzling problems.

sivu 58 August

2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Articles on Failed or MadeOver Companies Ford Motor Company

By Jakob Nguyen.

Young Henry Ford was fascinated by machines. He wanted to know how things worked and why they didn´t work.

He loved experiments. In 1896 his experiments culminated with the completion of his first self-propelled vehicle, the Quadricycle. It had four wire wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat and had only two forward speeds with no reverse.

In 1898 he persuaded a group of businessmen to invest in his company that produced and sold horseless carriages.

But Ford knew nothing about running a business and his new company failed, as did a second. His cars were low quality and too pricey for average consumers.

Finally in 1903 he incorporated his third automotive venture, Ford Motor Company. He was able to attract outstanding people who believed in his vision. The new company´s first car, called the Model A, was followed by a variety of improved models.

The most important one was Model T. It was easy to operate and became a huge success.

Ford decided to move into a

huge new plant and there he introduced methods for largescale manufacture of cars and large-scale management of industrial workforce using ideas of Eli Whitney, who made one of the first engineered manufacture sequences by moving on assembly lines. This brought possibility to start produce good quality, low-priced cars.

But Ford workers objected to the repetitive work. Ford responded with his great innovation – he doubled wages.

Ford made another mistake.

He ignored the growing popularity of more expensive but more comfortable cars like the Chevrolet and would not listen to his son when he said it was time for a new model. After a couple of years of declining sales figures he finally began to design a new car. By 1927 all steps in the manufacturing process from refining raw materials to final assembly al the automobile took place at his plant. On time it would become the world´s largest factory, making not only cars but the steel, glass, tires and other components that went into the cars.

Ford was interested in every

aspect of life around him. He a source of profits, it was a way believed in technology as a for- to harness new ideas and furtce for improving people´s lives. her democratize life.

For him technology wasn´t just Ford Motor Company is now

an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The company sells

automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln.

August 2016sivu 59

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Nokia - Connecting People

by Anna-Sofia Sarpola, Tomi Pyhälä, Hanna-Sofia Luoto, Vilma Kunnasmäki, Santeri Puhakka Nokia is a Finnish successful company. At first Nokia concentrated for example on sawmill industry, circular saws and boots. That was at the beginning of the 20th century. Later every sector did their own companies. And one company was a telecommunication sector company. From that began the Finnish success story. Nokia produced cables and improved telephone technology. Nokia became one of the leading telecommunications company. They were many steps ahead of other companies in the same market. On the side Nokia improved GSM-technology and telephones. From that secondary business formed the biggest business of Nokia. For example the first

SMS Message was sent from released Lumia -smartphoa Nokia telephone. Nokia nes, Nokia’s downhill also made other technologi- started. cal devices, such as TVs. Yet in the 2010s Nokia On the late 1900s and ear- had a significant portion of ly 2000s, the time before smartphone markets. Nosmartphones, Nokia was one kia made one of the first of the most popular and suc- smartphones. The N8 and cessful cell phone company. N9 phones reached a great They made good, simple and success. Soon Nokia began cheap cell phones and they producing Lumia-phones. were sold all over the world. That was the turning point Millward Brown’s studies of Nokia’s success, becaushow that in 2009, Nokia se the company chose the was the world’s thirteenth operating system Micromost valuable brand. soft Windows Phone, which One of Nokia’s best known wasn’t popular among users. phone, the Nokia 3310, has Other phones also became sold over 136 million units. available, which had a difThe 3310 phone is a super ferent operating systems. indestructible phone and it Android and iOs systems has only basic features and passed Nokia. Nokia’s users four games. When smart got tired of the operating phone era began and Nokia system, but also the lack of

applications on offer. As a company, Nokia got stuck in place and the competitors passed them by.

Microsoft bought Nokia’s Devices & Services transaction in april 2014 with 5,44 billion euros. This was a long process, because they discussed it for 7 months, before they got the deal to a point where both of them were happy. Two Nokia factories remained with Nokia, where they continue working, by selling mobile phones they make to Microsoft

as a subcontractor, a factory in India with about 7000 workers and a small factory in South-Korea. The mobile phone unit didn’t make money for Nokia back then, because the sales weren’t high enough. So this trade was a positive thing for Nokia.

Their products are mobile broadband, consultancy and managed services and multimedia technology. The company was created between the Siemens Communications division and Nokia’s Network Business Group. It was first Nokia Siemens Network (NSN) but in 2014 it Nokia Networks is Nokia’s renamed as Nokia Networks. business unit. It designs and manufactures hardware and In the future Nokia Netsoftware for use in telecom- works may be on display. munications networks. It Nokia Networks did a great was founded in 2007 and job with 4G access and they the company is headquar- have planned to start wortered in Espoo, Finland. king with 5G technology.

Old But New - Re-Inventing a National Favorite

By Anna Sofie Hvass, Silja Nidløse, Mie Knudsen &amp; Simone Sejdenfaden - Denmark

Lakrids by Johan Bülow started on the Danish island called Bornholm, Mr. Bülow’s birthplace, and liquorice has been pouring out of the company ever since. With focus on the quality of his raw materials Bülow has taken liquorice to a new level. Because liquorice is not in itself a new invention. Liquorice has been in Denmark for ages and has been a national favourite for many years. But, what else besides quality materials did mr. Bülow utilize in order to receive such succes? Well,

he took the liquorice and reinvented the whole concept - Also known as pivoting in the business world.

Bülow does so by making an art out of branding - he created beautiful, interesting containers. He invented a special system where he gave each type of liquorice his company produced a special number or letter.

This appealed to the crowd.

But not only do he and his company pivot when it comes to branding. Pivoting is often done in the office of

Lakrids by Johan Bülow. Every season they create a new interesting flavor in order to keep the crowd’s interest.

The competition is fierce there are many Danish candy companies and they are very cheap compared to Lakrids

by Johan Bülow. Branding itself on quality, interesting packaging and a constant stream of new flavors is what keeps the company going. It is what makes the company different and fancy - despite the high prices.

modity that he can find and allegedly search far and wide for these. Exotic variants of liquorice and other key ingredients are handpicked from places such as the Middle East and they work as the cherry on the top making Lakrids by Johan Bülow something special. Several researches on the Danes’ consumer behaviors show a tendency to prefer quality over quantity. This means that companies such as Lakrids by Johan Bülow can continue to keep their stanBülow uses the best com- dards high and continue to

use premium commodities without fear of losing customers to the cheaper brands.

This small detail has most probably played a huge part in terms of Bülow’s popularity and success - the circumstances were definitely with him.

In our age, successfully reaching out to the public and catching their interest is one of many huge barriers a new company must face.

Unfortunately, this is often where many new aspirants must admit defeat. But some

will survive the battle for success and Lakrids by Johan Bülow is surely one of the lucky ones or perhaps one of the more talented ones.

His company has recently begun exporting to England and America among other countries expanding beyond the Danish border. The market is constantly changing - but so is Lakrids by Johan Bülow. And that is probably one of the most admirable things about this company.

Vassilakis Security By: Christos Kolios, Eirini Papadimitriou, Grigoris Tsiorise

We decided to narrate the story of a local business that managed to survive against all odds. It all started when Dimitris Vassilakis from Arta, Greece, who got his degree in electronic engineering from the University of Thessaloniki, wanted to start his own local business called “Vassilakis Security”, which specializes in alarm systems.

The need of a friend of his to install an alarm system in his house was the cause to start this pioneer enterprise in April 1992.

from friends and relatives in order to establish his company and to serve his only three costumers, who had come off. After three years of personal hard work (he had to work 24 hours per day on his own) he met his wife who became his partner in business too. The problems they had to face were too many, financial and practical ones. Customers were also hard to find as people didn’t trust them and didn’t believe in them because they were very young and inexperienced.

So, he began right from the (They were 26 and 21 years bottom by borrowing money old respectively). However,

they believed, and they still do, in themselves and due to their perseverance and confidence for accomplishing their goals, they managed after two years to get over their financial problems and they even hired their own personnel for the first time since the beginning of their company.

After all these years, they have become one of the biggest and most popular enterprises of their kind in Greece. They have around 5000 Greek costumers, including 2 of the biggest Greek banks, public services

and other major enterprises. Beside their main office, located in Arta, they have opened a second one in Thessaloniki. What’s more, they own the only center in Western Greece for receiving alarm signals and

monitoring their clients’ systems notifying them in case of suspicious movements.

They serve not only their own clients but also clients of other enterprises’ alarm systems.

Despite their current success, problems still exist, but they keep working hard because – as they told us – “keeping an enterprise like this alive needs hard work and the way to success is too long”.

sivu August 60

2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Coca Cola, a Story of Failures and Success

By Carla Andrea Rodríguez, Damaris Álvarez, Daniel LLombet y Yaiza Castro.

Everyone knows Coca Cola, but not everyone knows how they strived to reach success.

Coca Cola is one of the most known companies because of its products. A sparkling drink, similar to soda, was created by John S. Pemberton on May 8, 1886 in Atlanta. The pharmacist wanted to create a syrup against digestion problems which would also be energetic, and ended up creating the most famous and secret formula of the world. He offered this product in vessels, making a total of about 5 glasses per day.

Over time they started selling it as a drink and not a medicine. Although everyone thought it would fail, because in their first year the company only sold 400 bottles, a very low amount, people started to buy the product, which turned the company into a large one. However, years later, Pepsi, the rival company, launched the Next Generation campaign, conquering especially young audiences. Big pop stars like Michael Jackson or Spice Girls

appeared in this new campaign.

Coca-Cola made some research which concluded that Pepsi was successful because of its sweeter flavor.

So, after numerous surveys, developments and thousands of tests, they thought they had found the perfect flavor.

The company embarked on a massive advertising campaign to introduce the New Coke, Coca-Cola with a sweeter taste that would replace the traditional Coca Cola.

As the news of this replacement spread, the company started receiving thousands of letters asking for a return to the original formula, the former Coca Cola. In less than three months, the New Coke had to be withdrawn from the market to return to what, from then on, would become known as Coca-Cola Classic.

The New Coke had failed, but why?

In the 200,000 tastings volunteers were asked what flavor of all presented, they preferred. But they did

not ask their customers what they thought about the traditional Coca Cola, which value it had in their lives and how their lives had changed with it.

Thus, the company replaced it with one that nobody liked.

This change almost made the company go bankrupt. The lack of customer orientati-

on cost the Coca-Cola four million dollars but, in return, they found that customer knowledge, their life and their interests are fundamental to the success of a product or a commercial activity of any kind.

Year after year, Coca-Cola appears on the top of

Six Seconds of Fame

By Italian Student Team.

Unfortunately, nowadays the economic crisis causes companies to fail almost every day- both small businesses and multinational corporations. It’s clear that when we hear of the failure of an important company, we are shocked. However, we must also remember all the recently founded start-ups that die with the hopes of the young entrepreneurs who were deeply invested in them.

And businesses fail even in countries that have largely avoided the crisis. But what are the reasons that a company, well-known or less so, fails? The answer is far from simple: the team might work

poorly together or lack funds, there might not be a market for the product, the founders might lose sight of their goal or have legal issues… Clearly, failure doesn’t depend solely on financial problems: anyone can lose their way on the path to success.

Vine was a free application that allowed users to create six second videos, called “vines,” and share them on numerous social networks, like Twitter or Facebook. Vine was founded by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll in June 2012. The company was later bought by Twitter in October of the same year.

The microvideo-sharing app

will cease to exist in the next few months. This wasn’t the only announcement made by Twitter: the company communicated a cut of 9% in its workforce. Discouraging news that only feeds the negative forecasts that have been swirling for some time regarding the future of social media.

Let’s try to figure out what went wrong in Vine’s case and what its collapse will mean for its users. The application managed to claim a space for itself on the Internet and in the hearts of its audience thanks to the inherent limitations of the six second format. But even after achieving a certain level of success among its

most devoted users, it seems it never managed to progress to the next level. Twitter’s decision to shut down the app could be due to the recent competition created by Snapchat and Instagram Stories as well as the app’s inability to monetize. For now, the videos saved on the profiles of Vine users won’t be eliminated and will continue to be available as will the site and app itself. Twitter has already made clear that users will be warned with sufficient notice in order to download and save their own videos before the app is closed permanently.

the most recognized brands in the world and with added value.

No matter what a brand and its departments or any other business selling plan make with a product or service and its distribution.

The consumer will choose, mostly, according to their criteria and interests, and the success of the product, brand or dealer depends on this.

Behind the success of a product there are a lot of marketing strategies of all

kinds, but there is a fundamental: Customer Orientation.

Customer Orientation can be defined as the predisposition of a brand or company to anticipate and meet the needs of its customers.

There are numerous examples of large corporate failures behind a bad strategy of customer orientation, but if there were an official ranking of business failures, possibly Coca-Cola would be at the top of the ranking.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Mini-Articles on Cyprus

August 2016sivu 61

Nicosia, Ledras Street

by Maraja (Italy), Yaiza (Spain), Silja (Denmark), Evelina (Greece) After the war in 1974 Cyprus separated into two parts, the Cypriot and the Turkish area.

In between these areas there is a small space no one owns - the no man’s land.

The sad story of how one country got separated into two contries is of course a very sad story! In the end of Ledras street there are policemen, making sure no wrong person enter the no man’s land, and passing into the Turkish side. It is still possible to enter the area, and it makes it attractive for us as tourists,

because how many places in the world is owned by no one? Not many!

When we first stepped in Ledras street the view was really amazing. The street was full of shops and restaurants which were really crowded.

The buildings were not typically developed buildings, but they were old buildings made of stone. This is why it is called The old town of Nicosia. The stone-made buildings made the place even more impressive. It didn’t look like places we’ve seen befo-

re since it included both the tradition of Cyprus and the root of its architecture along with modern restaurants but without influencing any of the traditions of Cypriot architecture.

Places Where You Can Sense History

by Mie (Denmark), Ema (Slovakia) and Anna- Sofia (Finland) Kourion and Amathous are archeological sites located on the southwestern coast of Cyprus. The cities were very important city-kingdoms in ancient times, and they are both very well preserved. When you visit those places, you can almost imagine living there thousands of years ago.

Kourion with the GreekRoman theater is a most interesting place. It is exciting to think that people have stood on the same steps many years ago. Another wonderful thing in Kourion is the amazing view of the sea. There are also ruins of the baths, which were built

in complex of Eustolios. The baths have a lot of skillfully made mosaics, which are also very well preserved. It is clear that people’s standard of living was high. There you can also take beautiful pictures and you will remember that place and its history for a long time.

It is believed that the Amathous archaeological site was built in 1000 B.C. Many frameworks in Amathous are preserved until this day. The most attractive monuments you can find there are the Agora and the baths which are the earliest indications of human activity in the area.

Next important monument

is the Port. Its ruins are preserved today under the sea.

They used it to defend the city and it was where the sailors had the opportunity to pull the ships out of the water in order to better protect them from the wind.

It is easier to understand what people have already

been able to build in ancient times when you see it with your own eyes. It is more instructive and interesting to see these places yourself than reading about them in a book in class.

sivu August 62

2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Cypros Institute The Cyprus Institute is a non profit research and education institution with a strong scientific and technological orientation located in Nicosia.

There are currently three active Research Centers.

The STARC lab project aims at creating a unique infrastructure consisting of a mobile lab with facilities for digital data, acquisition, geophisics, data processing and archeometry, for research documentation, conservation and preservation of cultural heritage. The STARC project is developed by the Cyprus Institute and the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (headquarter Louvre). STARC is involved also in the coordination of STACHEM, in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean-Middle East region is one of the world’s richest areas in terms of cultural heritage and archeological remnants and thus

offers a fertile ground for developing this line of research.

High-Performance Computing Facility (Cy-Tera): The mission of the Cy-Tera is to provide compute and data resources to the research community of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean region, and to establish itself as the national supercomputing facility of Cyprus. Cy-Tera is an innovative hybrid machine, which is the first supercomputer in Cyprus, and the biggest open access supercomputer in the Middle East, mostly used by researchers and students The Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) is focused on research into the energy efficiency and renewable energies(solar energy), environmental integrity, and the management of water resources in the region and in the EU.EEWRC is partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

By International Student Team.

(MIT). The Energy focuses research is developing in the field of Solar Thermal Energy technologies, the enviro-

mental field is mainly monitoring regional enviroment and climate changes using UAVs (unmanned aerial ve-

Cypriot Traditional Dances

By Marina Trives, Pannayotis Lambrianou, Santeri Puhakka, Irina Papadimitriou

We arrived at the school and we were welcomed at the entrance. Some chairs were set for us to sit and watch a show of Cypriot traditional dancing.

There were some musicians in the middle playing a small guitar and singing. Next to them, several boys and girls wearing traditional costumes. We specially admired the girls’ costumes. They looked so elegant in their red dresses, finely embroidered. They sang and danced too.

We realized that Cypriot dances are mainly of the type performed by

a confronted pair, two men or two women. For us it was remarkable that male and female danced separately.

Men’s dances were dynamic and vigorous, cheerful, even with a kind of improvisation to show their dancing skills and competitive spirit. Meanwhile, women’s dances were smooth, quiet and with a certain shyness.

They showed us different dances, like the Kartzilamas. In the end we were invited to try one of the dances. We joined in.

We all held hands and danced together in a circle. It was awesome! Feeling part

of these traditional celebrations! We danced to the music and shared a great time together.

Finally, we could also appreciate how modern lives of young people in Limassol are closely related to folk dances. Boys and girls learned them at school and they feel very proud of showing it to their hosts.

It was a different and exciting experience to see their traditional dresses and dances and it was really amazing how much energy they transmitted in their dancing and singing.

Attractive Old Town of Limassol

by Daniele Orsi, Anna Kossyvaki, Hanna-Sofia Luoto The old town of Limassol is characterized by its narrow streets radiating out from the old fishing harbour. In the middle of this, there is a Medieval Castle which was build by the Byzantine Empire in around 1000 A.D. It is famous because the first coronation and royal marriage out of England took place by this castle. Now there is

a museum in which you can see interesting tombstoner, coats of arms, reliefs and many other archeological finds.

The modern architecture of the Limassol Marina stands out next to the architecture of the old town The Limassol Marina is the

latest waterfront development creating waves in the Eastern Mediterranean. A Milestone project for Cyprus, and the first superyacht marina on the island, it has already established itself as one of the most attractive and unique projects across Europe.

hicles).The water resources water saving and rainwater field develops model related harvesting. to an interactive water savings application, household

August 2016sivu 63

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

The Ruins of Amathus

By Simona Jungmajerová, Alice Treggi and Simone Sejdenfaden The ruins of Amathus are located directly across the road to the seemingly infinite ocean surrounding Cyprus. Pillars from the past still stand tall, despite their old age. Few plants are to find within the ruins as if to underline that the place is a sacred, historical treasure.

The ruins are a great place to visit if you seek a pure, calming atmosphere.

This ancient work of men is a fountain of magnificent myths and fascinating history. One myth states that this was where the Greek hero Theseus left the pregnant Ariadne to be cared for after the battle with Minotaur.

Various attractions can be found at the site – such as the ruins of the Temple of

Aphrodite and tombs dating back to the early Iron Age of Graeco-Phoenician.

Another notable discovery at the site was that of the world’s largest stone vase, which stands at a wobbling 1.85 m. It is a large limestone amphora weighting 14 tons and dates back to the 6th century BC. It is now located at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

This place emits history and myths and is a must-see when visit the ancient landmarks of Cyprus.

To top it off, after viewing the ruins, one must walk along the newly constructed ocean-trail running along the shore – this is after all the same sea as thousands of eons ago.

Lovers’ Place

By Tatia Eleni Bresnahan (Italy), Anna Sofie Hvass (Denmark, ) Tomi Pyhälä (Finland, Dani Llombet Pintor (Spain) The birthplace of Aphrodite (also known as Petra tou Romiou) is a must-see destination for anyone who travels to Cyprus. Legend has it that Aphrodite emerged from the sea foam there, the famous scene depicted in the classic Botticelli painting. And it's certainly easy to imagine the goddess of beauty and passion being born in such a spot: the color of the sea is a rich and vivid blue that fades seamlessly into the sky and rocky cliffs tower high above. Some say that, if you loop the surrounding rocks three times at sundown, you too might be blessed with such beauty. (Isn't that a love-

ly prospect!) The beach itself is covered in small stones, arranged into hearts of varying sizes by visiting lovers. While it is a tourist destination, the beach is not overly crowded, leaving you lots of space to cover. There are many things to do at Petra tou Romiou: wade into the crystal clear waters, climb the large rocks to get an even better view, watch the sun set over the sea and snap the perfect picture or scrawl a love note onto one of the pebbles.

But above all just sitting on the sand in a place with such romantic, mythological origins is an unforgettable experience-don't miss out

Cypriot Cuisine By Christos Kolios, Daniele Ferrigno, Vlado Mestan, Damaris Alvarez Cypriot cuisine is closely related to the Greek and Turkish cuisine. It has also been influenced by the Byzantine, French, Italian, Catalan, Ottoman and Middle Eastern cuisines. A typical Cypriot dinner will start with appetizers, dips, and salads, followed by main dishes that are mostly meat-based, and end with dessert and traditional strong coffee that’s brewed right on the island.

The typical dishes highlight the Mezze, a sort of appeti-

zer served before the meal.

These snacks consist of a variety of preparations: salads, tarama, fish roe pâté, hummus, tehina (chickpea cream flavored with sesame paste), etc. We decided to talk about some of our favorite dishes which we have tasted in Cyprus.

Halloumi cheese was originated in Cyprus. Halloumi is a Cypriot semi-hard, unripened brined cheese made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep’s milk, and sometimes

also cow’s milk. The cheese is white, with a distinctive layered texture, similar to mozzarella and has a salty flavor. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled.

Another traditional Cypriot dish and maybe the most well known is Sheftalia. It is a type of sausage without skin, that uses, the membrane that surrounds the stomach of pig or lamb, to wrap the ingredients rather than sausage casing. The

name comes from the Turkish word şeftali, which means ”peach”, and presumably refers to the texture and consistency of the prepared food. The filling is made of ground pork or lamb shoulder or leg mixed with finely chopped onion and parsley, salt, and pepper and formed into small round balls. These balls are then placed on the spread caul (membrane) fat and squares of caul fat are cut around them and wrapped, making little sausages

which are put on two skewers. Sheftalias are then grilled, preferably on charcoal until golden brown.

However, the Cypriots have many delicious desserts too. Bourekia are a traditional dessert served in traditional events like Baptisms, name days etc. This dessert comes in various forms, for example with anari cheese and pastry creme which are the sweet bourekia and with mushroom, minced meat, or halloumi cheese which are

the savory ones. Bourekia with Anari cheese is a pastry filled with anari, cinnamon, rose water and sometimes vanilla. They are then deep fried and sprinkled with Icing sugar. Loukoumades are a dessert with roots in deep antiquity. Loukoumades are pastries made of deep fried dough soaked in syrup, chocolate sauce or honey, with cinnamon and sometimes sprinkled with sesame or grated walnuts (depending on the regional varieties).

August 2016

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 64

A FEW “BUSINESS WORLD SURVIVAL TIPS” FROM A PAIR OF JA “VETERANS”

By Aliki Antoniou & Evandros Theodosiou – AVITAE Cyprus “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them” Aristotle From the very beginning of our venture we realized that there were not going to be any theories, any examples and practice exercises waiting for us, no books to study and no classroom teaching, the way we were used to, the way we have been taught ever since we started Elementary School.

This was a new approach to learning all together.

We felt like we were thrown in at the deep end and it was completely up to us to “survi-

ve”.

Our “survival” depended on the development of certain attitudes and skills, as we realized quite early on our entrepreneurial journey …

SYNERGY “Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its component parts.”

Working together, depending on and trusting each other. We were a team, we focused on our goal, we divided duties and responsibilities and we were always ready to help each other.

COMMITMENT AND PERSISTENCE

“You never fail until you stop trying.” Albert Einstein Even the best of us make mistakes, let alone a bunch of teenagers entering the “grown-ups arena”. We did not let our weaknesses overtake us. Our ignorance turned into stubbornness. We worked hard, around the clock, in order to achieve the target we had set and we were supporting each other through the whole process.

VISION AND AMBITION “If you don't build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.” Tony A. Gaskins Jr. If you are not ambitious and

you do not aim high, you may as well stick to your school books. Unless you truly believe in what you do, you embrace the experience and give it your best shot, you will not achieve its full potentials.

ORGANIZATION AND TIME MANAGEMENT “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” Alan Lakein Combining our role as Students, with a very hectic school programme, and our new role as Company Managers was not easy. We had to depend on a well organized and efficient

working schedule and a strict time plan. There was no time to waste. We have experienced a lot of pressure, we have exhausted ourselves, at times, but we have gained so much as well.

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein What could make our life easier, something completely new or something that is already there but would improve tremendously with an innovative twist? Pay attention to what is there around you. Free your

thoughts, think outside the box! A crazy idea may actually lead to a brilliant one!

Branding, marketing and promoting a product and achieving its recognition require a lot of creativity, as well. Customers are demanding, they are not easily impressed. Therefore, you should be innovative in the approach you choose to get their attention.

Keep in mind that this is probably not going to be a “Walk in the Park”, it is more likely to feel like a “Roller Coaster Ride” … Just Make Sure you Enjoy the Ride!

Made by Roni Ohvo and Eemil Soronen from Finland

sivu 65 EU Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

A.V.I.T.A.E

AVITAE: Special Issue Special Issue on the EU to celebrate the sixty years since the ratification of the Treaty of Rome (25 March 1957). Students of each country were asked to approach the subject of the European Union from the perspective of their own choosing.

The European Union, the Future of Europe or an Unsuccessful Experiment?

by Rasmus Hökkä, Julius Yrjänä, Ossi Tuuttila, Victoria Peltoniemi, Elias Saari, Finland

Almost 100 year old Finland has been a member of the European Union for over 22 years now. Anyone born since Finland joined the union have only known Finland as a part of the EU. This behemoth of a trade and political union has grown and changed since its founding and today has 28 member states spanning across the European continent with an estimated population of 510 million people in total. It is even considered to be a current or a potential superpower alongside the U.S. The EU sounds pretty impressive, and it is. However such a huge system doesn’t come without its faults.

Many people have criticized the EU for being too complex, hard to understand and hard to manage as an organization. People also say that it is too controlling over its member states for a mere political/economical union.

Finns often say that there’s not enough representation for Finland in the European Parliament and that the little we do have is meaningless.

Not to mention the EU’s apparent ineffectiveness to deal with larger scale issues such as the refugee crisis quickly and effectively enough.

When you lay down the is-

sues and faults of the EU, it does look bad. This doesn’t necessarily meant that the Union should be scrapped as an experiment that didn’t go as planned. Throughout history multinational organizations and alliances have crumbled at the first stepping stone or after long term decline. For the European Union the stepping stone today is the refugee crisis, and its organizational issues are its long term problem. This is why the system needs to adapt, it needs to overcome its difficulties and change if it wishes to survive.

It is doing those things but is it doing them fast enough?

More importantly, are the changes enough in the first place? Some people don’t think the EU can adapt and want it gone, while others people, the citizens of EU are willing to give it a chance. aren’t fully aware of them? In fact, very few Finnish people For anyone wondering: Is actually know how the systhe idea of a united, strong- tem works and what it does. er Europe so cheap and easy This is especially obvious to throw away? On the other with the younger generahand, is sacrificing so much tions, who have lived in the for such an enormous prob- EU for their entire lives! This lematic system really worth situation is definitely probit? And at what cost exactly? lematic, as the citizens of EU Both sides or the argument don’t know the system that’s have valid points. supposed to exist for them to begin with. There’s definiThe issues and benefits of tely work needed to be done the EU go even deeper and on the PR department of the into far bigger things, but EU. Perhaps introducing EU how can such things change oriented courses and classes or even be discussed if the available for all age groups

would solve this at least partially. In any case, awareness of the union should definitely be raised in some way.

In the end it always comes down to the people, no matter how big the system is.

This brings us to the everyday Finnish EU citizen. Naturally, the union has an impact on all of our lives, its regulations and rules affect us all in one way or another. We all enjoy the benefits of easy travelling and some of us get to experience EU funded education and business projects for example. Yet being

a citizen of the EU isn’t really obvious in the everyday life of the average person in Finland. It’s there, but you don’t really see it apart from the currency and the things you see and hear from news.

This is a part of the reason why only few people identify as “European”, instead most rather identify as “Finnish”. This loops back to the awareness problem, the lack of information and obvious presence of the EU in our everyday lives only adds to the mystery of it.

Lack of understanding the

union makes it scarier, and when the constant negative news feed about new regulations or crises gets added on top that it’s easy to forget the positives of the EU. A hundred years ago people would’ve laughed at the idea of a unified Europe, yet today it is reality, it has become everyday life. We all know how hard it is to appreciate things that become the norm like peace and unity for example. Things that we really only learn to truly appreciate once they are gone…

sivu 66 EU

Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

A Stronger EU Is a Shared Vision

by Laura Prier Albrink, Denmark Responsibility is an important noun. If you look it up in the dictionary, it’ll tell you that having responsibility is the burden of obligation upon one who is responsible. The greatest responsibility towards the European Union’s citizens lies on the shoulder upon the members of the EU. Obviously the EU’s first responsibility is towards the EU’s citizens because they are the one that they have to meet when they represent their interest, their collective interest, their values, expectations, but also, I believe, especially in these days, the EU has a collective responsibility to the citizens as for letting them see and realise what the European Union actually represents in the world because sometimes we know that the European Union seen from the outside sometimes shows much more added value than when you look at it from the inside and out.

member states need to gain a stronger vision that is shared but also make common actions. To create a stronger EU with shared visions is, as l see it, key issues such as freedom and safety. It is very important to tune in on our common mission, and our common message in the months to come. And my message would be in a word, a mix of European pride and hunger for change, and the ambition to realise this change that will happen. When the EU was founded in 1958, it was based upon a dream of cooperation.

The European Union citizens hunger for even more freedom and more safety. And that should be the key issues that the Union could share those visions. When people are safe they are more giving, and freedom gives people the ability to be larger when it comes to agreements.

A stronger EU needs cooperation and a shared vision on key A shared vision is a good issues to make the EU a much component to a better EU. The stronger union.

Federica Mogherini is an Italian politician, who is the Vice-President of the European Commission. ‘’We have to work together, we have to work together inside the Union and with our partners. The message might be a bit simplified but I think we have to get back to basics sometimes.’’[1] These are the words of Federica Mogherini at the EU Ambassadors Conference. And I could not agree more. To make a stronger EU we have to go back to those values it was founded upon, going back to the basic and grabbing a hold of these key issues that we all know matter. Respect the values such as freedom and the possibility and responsibility that is cooperation between member states and EU’s partners.

The European Union - What Does This Mean Exaclty?

by Noemi Biagini, Giulia Paladini, Bianca Vannucci, Italy

The Treaty of Rome of 1957 stated the creation of the European Economic Community, which would gradually lead to the foundation of the European Union. During these sixty years, a great community composed of many different cultures and traditions and based on the values of equality, democracy and mutual solidarity has been developed, and it has contributed to change its citizens’ political, cultural and everyday life with the aim of demolishing physical and mental walls.

As far as the political changes are concerned, European people are now allowed to freely cross their national borders and circulate flexibly without having to show their passports all the time, thanks to the Schengen Agreement; this has facilitated all sorts of exchanges, including the multiculural ones, and accordingly the basis for the development of a European mindset has been laid. Regarding the interplay among the Member States, the Treaty also encourages international support and collaboration in case of specific needs of a member State. On top of that, compulsory, Europe-wide quality standards have been introduced for the air we breath, and EU countries must make sure that these standards are upheld. In addition, Member States make their health in-

surance cover available to each other.

Economically speaking, the European single market of over 500 million people increased trade among the EU countries from € 800 billion in 1992 to € 2800 billion in 2011, and has gradually abolished national monopolies in order to enhance competition.

Moreover, from the cultural point of view, we are witnessing a growing open-mindedness and toleration regarding diversities, and in many cases a genuine interest for foreign customs and traditions can be perceived in many European citizens.

As growing students, we are experiencing transformations in our ordinary as well as educational lifestyle. As a matter of fact, unlike the previous generations, we can now appreciate international didactic approaches which, besides giving us the opportunity to feel European in our classrooms, also let us spend learning time abroad and enjoy life-changing experiences - let us think of the teaching/learning programs of the European Youth Parliament, or of Erasmus+, which provides students with the financial, educational and organisational support that is needed to guarantee school-to school-to mobilities or undergraduate-

centered academic experiences across the EU..not to mention the opportunity of a work placement away from home, somewhere in the EU, for young anspiring EU workers.

Furthermore, we can recognise the importance of an education system focused on European values; this will form a new political class which will be

more aware of the tasks and the responsibilities that it will have to face in the future.

However, in spite of these very positive aspects, in several EU member States there are today many political parties or currents of thought which believe that the European Union doesn’t constitute a valuable asset for its citizens: in their un-

European claims, these parties or factions lament the loss of national identities, the damages caused to local markets by the internationalization of trade, and the excessive influence of EU institutions on national policies.

All things considered, in spite of the fact that we still have a long way ahead of us before so-

mething like a real political and not just economic or monetary Union comes to life, we can’t be anything but proud of the developments and innovations that have been made across our beloved continent during these sixty years, and we are now more hopeful than ever eah time we think of the worthiness of the EU.

sivu 67 EU Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

#Eudialogue - Meeting the EU Commissioner, Tibor Navrascics

by Elena Demetriou, Melissa Geissler, Cyprus On the 15th of December 2016, students of Laniteio Lyceum travelled to Nicosia to represent their school at a meeting with Tibor Navrascics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport.

Mr Navrascics has certain responsibilities in the European Commission. For example, he is responsible for identifying how to invest and modernize Europe’s education systems, so that they help people find rewarding jobs which will also support economic growth.

That was one of the main subjects discussed during the conference. Students were able to exchange opinions and had the chance to ask questions about the future of Europe and how Europe would influence their own future. The answers we received, regarding the work done by the European Commission, gave us hope.

A major subject discussed throughout the conference was the chance given to youngsters to participate in many European Programmes such as e-Twinning, European Solidarity Corps and EU’s largest Programme so far, Erasmus.

Erasmus gives the opportunity to students (studying in schools or universities) to travel throughout Europe in order to live their lives beyond boundaries. Students in this programme volunteer in many events, work on projects and familiarize themselves with the different cultures and way of life of other European countries. Furthermore, Erasmus offers job opportunities to people with a strong desire to discover the rest of Europe.

The European Commissioner informed us that in 2017 we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Erasmus.

Unemployment is one of the most severe problems in the European Union. Tibor Navrascics mentioned that the employment rate will increase in the next 5-10 years due to the opportunities that are given and will be given by the commission.

He noted that the development of social skills play an important role in our employability chances. Social skills build a person’s character and help them gain fundamental qualifications for work. For instance, time management, organization and the ability to work under pressure

are very important qualities.

Last but not least, the European Commissioner answered several questions regarding the problems youngsters are faced with, especially in our small country.

A major problem in recent years is the new Education System which is being implemented, as it has caused significant disagreement between generations. Among other things, the Commissioner mentioned the example of Portugal’s educational system which has adjusted and developed rapidly in order to satisfy the needs of the new generation.

It was a great pleasure meeting such a wonderful individual who was in a position to answer all our questions and inform us about all the goals the European Commission has set and is working on accomplishing.

The conference taught us that we should fight for our rights and for a better future. We were grateful that our voice could be heard regardless of our young age and we left feeling somewhat more confident and secure about our future.

What Should the European Parliament’s Policy Be on Development?

by Elena Demetriou, Cyprus

How responsible should the European Parliament be for developing countries? Does the current economic crisis in Europe justify a decrease in EU financial aid? What kind of aid should be provided by the European Union to developing countries?

The European Parliament should be responsible for developing countries but only after considering a decision from all angles. The EU should find a way through the European parliament to help these developing countries.

If financial aid is a problem, technical assistance and specialized support should be given to help these countries to stand on their own. Decreasing financial aid to other countries due to the rising needs of EU itself as a temporary measure is justified, if other supporting aid is secured as mentioned above.

The European Union should establish an advisory committee with technocrats and specialists at their disposal in order to give technical and other support to these countries and also to improve trade for

mutual benefit. Furthermore, by sending an advisory committee to these countries the specialist-consultants could encourage the government to take advantage of their natural resources and improve their agriculture sector. Therefore, more people would be able to get employment.

Another way that support aid can be given from EU to these countries is through education. More schools should be constructed, with an emphasis on teaching children about and making them aware of their economic problems. This will, hopefully, increase their willingness to get tertiary education and study at a university in order to change the political situation of their country. In order to give them access to education , attending school should be a mandatory part of children’s life instead of working.

Additionally, EU could give an incentive to people who live in developing countries to be educated for instance by giving scholarships to young girls to attend school. Also, for example, EU could give scholarships topupils who have excellent

marks to study at a European University. This would give them the opportunity to learn about the European Culture, so when they return to their own countries they will disseminate this knowledge, with the hope that their standard of living will start rising.

Since European culture and mentality are different from those of developing countries, it would be beneficial to organize events to inform these people about personal hygiene and the effects of serious diseases like HIV/AIDS in order for them to protect themselves.

Moreover, in order to improve their way of life more hospitals should be constructed with a more advanced technology, so people could be vaccinated, consequently restricting the spread of disease.

Last but not least, EU should find a way of ensuring household access to safe drinking water. It would be good to encourage the building of latrines, thus allowing people in developing countries to live in a healthier environment.

sivu 68 EU

Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Greece’s course in the EU

by Theodora Katti, Tasos Kontos, Iasonas Krapsitis, Greece The first application of Greece for accession to the newly established European Economic Community in June 1959, an application that led to the Association Agreement between Greece and the EEC, was signed in June 1961. This Agreement, which in fact constituted the first step towards Greece’s integration into the European Community, ”froze” following the imposition of dictatorship in Greece (April 1967) and was re-activated after democracy was restored (July 1974).

The Greek Government and Konstantinos Karamanlis in particular, aimed at integrating the country into the European Union as a full member. The application for full accession was submitted on July 12, 1975.

The reasons for this are the following: Greece considered that the Community would bring stability into its democratic political system and institutions.

Greece wanted to make clear its free status from the post-war dependence upon the United States of America (US) and get the ”power to negotiate”, particularly in relation to Turkey, which, after the invasion and occupation of Cyprus (July 1974), appeared as a major threat to Greece.

Accession to the Community was regarded by Greece as a way for the development and modernization of the Greek economy and society.

The European Community, through a European Commission’s proposal, deci-

ded a pre-accession transition period before full institutional integration, in order that the necessary economic reforms would be set.

Prime Minister Karamanlis appealed to the governments of the nine member states - France and Germany in particular - and the Commission’s proposal was rejected. Accession negotiations started in July 1976 and finished in May 1979, with the signing of the Accession Deed in Athens (Zappeion Megaron).

The Greek Parliament ratified the Accession Deed of Greece

to the European Community on June 28, 1979. The Accession Treaty got into force two years later, on January 1, 1981.

Greece’s participation in the European Community / Union over the period 1981-2002 could be divided into three basic sub-periods: the first, from 1981 to 1985, the second, from 1985 to 1995, and the third, from 1996 to date.

The first period was characterized by Greece’s strong doubts about the role of certain aspects of the European institutions, politics and de-

fense. Greece asked for further economic support in order to develop the Greek economy.

It’ s then when we received the first ”Delors packet”.

During the second period of participation, the policy Greece started adopting the ”federal” integration model in areas like education, health, and environment. On the other hand, in the political sector, the issue of the FYROM name was a good reason for grievances.

Moreover, since 1987 Greece started to have as its main goal Cyprus’ accession to the Euro-

pean Community and started to support the Nicosia Government in their effort until their application for accession was submitted in June 1990.

In the third period integration was deepened in every sector. Greece was among the Member States supporting the adoption of a European Constitution. Greece participated as a full member in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adopted the single currency (euro) on January 1, 2002.

Greece has also been a supporter of the Union’s enlargement

through the accession of the countries of Eastern Europe.

The fourth Hellenic EU Presidency (first semester 2003) was a success for Greece and it was during this Presidency that the EU had its largest wave of enlargement in its history (10 new member states).

The fifth Hellenic Presidency (first semester 2014) was held in the midst of the worst economic and social crisis in the recent history of the European Union.

The EU and Greek teenagers

by Ioanna Kaskaouti, Marianthi Gountza, Vasia Dragataki, Greece

When we were asked to write an article answering to this question we were rather at a loss. We asked ourselves about that and we couldn‘t come up with a straight answer.

So we started asking around.

Our classmates and people of our age were not much of a help.

They were not quite sure how much the fact that we live in a country – member of the EU can affect our lives and how different things would have been if we were out of it.

I don’t want to excuse myself but, I believe, there is a good reason for that ignorance and our state of mind.

The thing is that we have been used to this kind of situation since we were born. There was nothing for us to compare. We had no different past. We simply took everything for granted: our presence in an environment that was strongly influenced by the fact that we have been in the European family since 1981.

We started having answers to our concern when we talked to older people: teachers or parents. They made us realize that belonging to a Union like the European one can bring about many changes in the life of a country. For some grownups it was a blessing and for others a menace. Their reasons were mainly political.

But we are young people.

We shouldn’t be so much concerned about finances and politics. We should try objectively to see what this partnership has offered to us. So, first and foremost, as a school we were given the opportunity to be granted some European money so as to carry out European projects. This has happened twice and we hope we will have the chance to do it again. The benefits of these two projects were great. We had the opportunity to meet people from countries really far away from ours, eg Latvia, in our first project or Finland in the second one and people clo-

ser to us that speak the same language and have the same religion as we do but we couldn’t afford meeting them otherwise. So we lived in the flesh this ideal of different people coming together in a common ground.

Because in these projects we really got together, sharing common and different things.

We spent time in other people’s homes experiencing their cultures and habits. We were trusted with money to create, new, innovative things; we produced outcomes and new ideas. We even got involved in things we did not particularly like or we didn’t know that we liked.

We realized that travelling around was facilitated due to this Union. In the past, crossing borders was not an easy thing sometimes. We became all citizens of a common world and that felt great.

As young people we never had the experience of different currencies. We are the generation of the Euro and we see the positive aspect in that.

We found out that the E.U. policies are particularly sensitive towards the protection of the environment and people’s health. This attitude creates a common framework that governments have to respect. We also loved this.

The project Euroscola offers to us the opportunity to have our voice heard in the European Parliament. Students from our school participated in the project and came back really excited by the experience.

All in all, we love our country,

our culture our particularities but we can easily see all these making sense within the european framework.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

The Birth of the EEC, the Rise of the EU

by Sara Bertolli and Maraja Tempestini, Italy The European Union, as we know it today, has been created by degrees over the years. The first attempt of a pacific community of nations was carried out in Europe at the end of 1950s, exactly on March 25th, 1957 when the Treaty of Rome was stipulated; the treaty gave birth to the European Economic Community (EEC).

Only six countries took part into it: Belgium, France, Italy, German Federal Republic, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands; they were united in the European Single Market.

The aim of this community was to create an economic integration between the members, characterized by the elimination of customs in order to make the exchanges of goods easier.

Since 1957 many decisions have been taken, and little by little our endeared EU has begun to shape itself.

Nowadays being a European citizen means enjoying the harmonization process between member states that

has taken so long to become true. Just think about the larger and larger impact on our lives of the rules that have been issued for environmental protection, consumer protection, for the promotion of sustainable development, and, more significantly, for employment policies. Let us also consider the European rules on health care for citizens travelling around the EU, the Erasmus+ program which allows young people to gain experience at both school and university level in one of the EU member states (so, for instance, an undergraduate student can begin his courses at home and then continue them in Tenerife or in Finland!), in order to “marketise” his academic and professional qualifications anywhere in the Union.

It is true: the European Union as it was conceived by EU founding father Altiero Spinelli on the tiny Italian island of Ventotene has not been realized yet. However, if he had the opportuni-

ty to see us now, he would be proud of who we, the young people, are trying to become: conscientious and truly unified European citizens, veritable friends and enthusiastic ‘Erasmians’.

sivu 69 EU Special Issue

sivu 70 EU

Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

InterRail for Interconnection

by Carsten Skov, Denmark “The elitist project of a unified Europe will never succeed!”, critics cry. Nevertheless, they’re not protesting just for the sake of it. They object because many of them feel like the EU is striving for something unachievable. The idea of a European continent, with a common authoritative body that everyone can agree on, may seem farfetched to some. They argue that the cultural, religious, historical and maybe even ethnic differences seize the potential of a sustainable and functioning EU. Its laws can never be appropriate or welcomed across the entire span of the

union’s member states. “It’s simply unrealistic”, critics proclaim. When EU bans the sale of high energy-consuming light bulbs and vacuum cleaners, it may prove a popular directive in Denmark, an environmental frontrunner, but experience less support in other countries.

However, if we are to dismiss light bulbs as the cause of EU’s potential demise, the criticism remains a legitimate concern to many.

Throughout history, Europe has been an epicentre of war and conflict. Even both world wars had their outbreaks on European soil.

Nonetheless, the European Union is divided in aspects other than historical. The EU recognises 24 official languages amongst its member states and a vast variety of religions. Despite 72% of the EU being Christian, there are still a number of denominations such as Catholicism, Protestantism, Easter Orthodoxy etc. So how can the EU establish a common European identity whilst having its citizens shielded from each other’s culture, values and beliefs?

The answer to this question is…it can’t.

Manfred Weber has found a long-term solution to this issue – by granting 18-yearolds a free InterRail pass on behalf of the EU. Though, yet to be passed by parliament, the proposal has gained extensive support the recent weeks and will likely be implemented within a year.

Allowing young adults to explore their continent as they please will become an inevitable eye-opener for the younger generations. The future of Europe will not be a story of cultural barriers and divided nations, but instead a tale of embracement and greater solidarity between Fortunately, German MEP its peoples. The youth of

today will grow to feel a sense of European belonging. A belonging that will extend to continued support of the EU and its fundamental ideals. Ideals that have faith in European citizens to embrace each other and work towards mutually beneficial goals.

One of the most iconic pillars of the EU is its single market and dedication to the “four freedoms”. Granting a free InterRail pass will only help promote these freedoms, especially the freedom of movement, and thus potentially boost the combined economy of the

single market. It may even help combat the high levels of youth unemployment which, in particular, plague Southern Europe.

At the end of the day, the EU is offering its young citizens a once-in-a-lifetime experience to explore the continent of Europe. The so-called “elitists” are showing interest and gratitude towards those who will tackle the future issues of the EU. The best of it all? The gratitude will be rewarded with a more harmonious, sustainable and appreciative union.

Making a Difference - Youth Influence in the EU

by Sanna Halunen, Katja Keskitalo, Finland

The European Union is all around us. It influences everything in our everyday life; from the leaders of our countries to the price of milk in the corner store. Even though the EU is something that we all know, we hardly know the main goals of the Union or the rights given to us by it.

We think that we cannot change the direction of the Union decisions, but, actually, that is not true. The question isn’t if one individual can make an influence to the acts made by the decision makers in Brussels, but how

can one influence them? Es- travelling to new countries pecially, how can a youngs- and learning new skills. ter get involved in important matters that also influence One path is influencing his or her life? through different youth organizations, for example The youths are actual- Scouts and Guides or Ally one of the EU’s greatest liance. They can always take concerns nowadays. The EU the important issues to the wishes to invest in educati- upper level, for example via on, youth internationality the European Youth Forum and collaboration between (YFJ). It is a society for Eudifferent nations. Cimo ropean youths. Via the YFJ, funds different youth pro- young people are able to jects, for example Erasmus+ take part in interesting meeand all kind of activity to inc- tings to represent different rease the conscious of social organisations. Its goal is and governmental issues of to unite different national EU. Some of us have already councils and non-governbeen part of these projects, mental organisations and to

be a voice for young people. a fresh view on some matters. Not to mention that YFJ wants to give youth or- they have power to change ganisations and via them to things. the youngsters the possibility to participate. It is a great The Union wants to hear way to make a difference and the views of youths, but have an influence on impor- there is still a long way to tant matters, especially on go before young people are those that actually have an well-represented in the EU. impact on the youth of EU. Even though he amount of youths in decision making This all might seem diffi- has been increased, there cult, but it is very important. aren’t many under 30-yearIt is crucial that there are not olds in the high levels. This only some old people ma- is why the biggest goal of king decisions which affects YFJ is to actually change the us all, because they might structure of decision making not know everything, after in EU. The society doesn’t all. Young people can have just want to keep up as it

goes, but it wants to enable youths to become the decision makers of EU. Young people are growing their power in the Union. We have the possibility to make a difference. We, youngsters, are the future of these countries, and we have a lot to offer. If you think that you can’t have an impact on the society around you, you’re wrong. Every one of us can make a difference.

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Time to Talk: EU Languages

by Paula Blanco Rios, Tenerife “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” As Nelson Mandela pointed out, languages are so much more than a mere medium of communication between people who come from different countries.

They are so much more than a group of sounds, funny pictures on paper and a set of rules which are combined to create a logical communicative tool between two individuals.

They are the symbol of a culture, a society, a civilization. Whenever a language dies, an entire culture ushers its last cry before vanishing from the surface of our planet.

That is the reason why we change, even if only a little, each time we learn a new language. One starts to use words and phrases we would not necessarily say in our own mother tongue. Our scope widens: we start to see our society from a different point of view. New situations and environments do not shock

us as much as they used to: we are more open-minded when meeting people from the other side of the world.

We come to accept the fact that our world is inhabited by multiple, very different cultures, and that none of them is superior in any way to the others. Language learning enables us to grow as human beings, as people.

This phenomenon can be observed within the context of the European Union. The EU congregates 28 different countries, in which more than 60 different languages are spoken.

It is an immensely diverse cultural environment. We have been careful enough to both respect and protect this cultural diversity.

We can see it in the abundance of regional languages (such as Basque, Galician or Welsh) and their acknowledgement by the government. We see it in the countless efforts to revive languages in the verge of dying and in the encouragement of their usage through education, like with Irish Gaelic.

It is remarkable, however, that such diversity has its downside: it could potentially complicate communication between cultures. Luckily, the EU has continuously encouraged us to overcome this barrier. The fact that the EU has 24 official languages, together with the support they give to programmes such as Erasmus+ which aims at education, training youth and sport, heartens multilingualism as a bridge between cultures.

We live in a world in which cultural clashes are a constant source of inequality, injustice and discrimination. Learning languages allows us to peek into someone else’s mind, thus also reaching their society and values. It promotes respect, non-discrimination and tolerance. They help us communicate. And maybe it is communication the one thing missing from our attempts at creating a better community worldwide.

sivu 71 EU Special Issue

EU Special Issue

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 72

EU Back to School

by Tenerife team Our AVITAE group interviewed Ms Raquel Fernández Horcajada, an economist with specialisation in European Affairs by the College of Europe in Belgium. After a decade working in European research and innovation projects in the Canary Islands, she moved to Brussels in order to work for the European Commission. Currently she is a Research Programme Officer at the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission where she is involved in the Excellence pillar of H2020, specifically in the Future and Emerging Technologies programme.

She visited our High School, and we had an interesting workshop on the European Union: information, posters, quizzes, games, prizes.

The project she presented is called “EU back to school”, where former students who

are now working in the EU visit the High Schools where they studied, and talk with the students about the EU. “EU back to school” puts a face on Europe for young students and brings the EU institutions closer. The project gives us, students a unique chance to ask questions on the EU and learn something from the experiences of people who are actually helping make European integration a reality. It helps better understand how the EU works, learn about European policies and discover educational programmes we can participate in, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Erasmus. These are some of the questions we asked her.

- We know that EU has many interesting proposals for schools and teachers, like the Erasmus+ projects that we have in our school, but, what programmes can young people apply for?

Apart from ERASMUS + there are other programs such as European Voluntary Service, Youth Guarantee, or European Youth Portal.

Made by Roni Ohvo and Tytti Karsikko from Finland

See the programmes mentioned before in this website links: European Voluntary Service: https://europa.eu/youth/ EU/voluntar y-activities/ european-voluntary-service_en Youth Guarantee: h t t p : //e c . e u r o p a . eu/social/main. jsp?catId=1079&langId=en European Youth Portal: https://europa.eu/youth/ EU_en

- Which ones would you recommend?

It depends on each student of course, but ERASMUS + is definitely the one I would recommend. Studying abroad has been shown to have a positive effect on later job prospects. It is also a chance - What would you suggest to improve language skills, to the new generation of gain self-confidence and in- European citizens? dependence and immerse in To expand their minds hacultures. ving enriching experiences like studying abroad, lear- Where can we, youngs- ning new languages, meeting ters, get the information? people from different cultu-

res, participating in European initiatives and international ones.

- What new challenges are there for us? What is our role?

My role is to promote the participation of the European researchers in the European Research Area with joint research and innovation projects. I hope and I am confident that students from AVITAE team shall contribute to the intellectual capital of Europe by bringing new solutions to the current challenges we are facing such as the climate change, ageing population, economic crisis, and others.

April 2017

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 73

A.V.I.T.A.E

In February AVITAE travelled to Italy, Lucca to hold a trade fair where the students presented minicompanies to each other. Here are the students’ commentaries on the process of creating their minicompanies, as well as articles on the events and places that AVITAE visited in Italy,

First Impressions

We interviewed some Erasmus students about their first impression of the school Liceo Machiavelli. We heard some interesting and different points of view from them. Most of the students agreed on the school being ancient and classical.

The school has some awesome decoration, especially in the Aula Magna. Many students like the school for having an inside and an outside space.

The school is huge and beautiful. Some of the other students didn’t like the architecture of the school, meaning that the school has no floor on the ground floor and the building doesn’t look like a school. Some of the students loved that there is a museum in the school, they think it’s a wonderful and awesome thing to have. Many students were interested in the

different ancient stuffed animal, rock and minerals collection, but the other students were shocked to see the museum. In some of the European countries there is no museum in the school, the museums are separated and are kept in their own buildings. So those students who are used to the separation of the two think that it is very weird that the school has a museum.

Some of the students were wondering why there is a museum in the school, but as the other students answered it is very rare and awesome to have a museum in a school. Everyone we interviewed agreed on a thing that the schools classes are awful and in a very bad condition. Anyway the participants liked the Italian students and thought that they are very friendly and nice.

Interview Interview about The History of Liceo Classico Niccolò Machiaveli Ερευνητική Αναφορά: Liceo Classico Niccolò Machiavelli appears as an ancient and interesting building: it has a lot of different rooms all of which hold various scientific items and artifacts. In order to know more about the history of the building we got the

chance to interview two of the students of this school.

To begin wit0h, they told us that the school was built in 1785, and this makes the school the most ancient inTuscany. Anyway, it was not a highschool at first, it was a university were people could study a whole variety of scientific subjects. Due to the changes at the governement and

the time going by the building went through a lot of changes and it finally became a Royal highschool in 1819. During all these years of history a conspicuous amount of items are now kept in the museum that is found in the school premises. Other interesting rooms, of which the hemicircular amphitheatre is the most important one, are used even

nowadays as a facility helpful for the students.

To conclude, as we asked if some ancient rooms were still in use nowadays, the students answered that a lot of them were used to host the museum and the school library.

sivu 74 April

2017

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Florence, a treasure of artistic legacy in Tuscany

By Noemi, Evandros, Anna-Dimitra, Angelos, Alexandra, Pablo, Mie, Beatrice and Emma.

On Wednesday, we took the bus to one of the most wonderful cities in Tuscany. We experienced a historic center full of tourists, wonderful buildings and art everywhere.

We learned about Florence, a center of Medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time.

Architecture and monuments abound. Apart from the museums, the Uffizi Gallery, Bargello, we also had the opportunity to visit the beautiful cathedral of Florence, the Duomo. It is so impressive!

While we were walking around the city, we also noticed the alleys and its shops, leather, shoes, jewelry and handicrafts.

We were waiting at meeting point in Piazza Della Signo-

ria admiring some of the most important statues for Italy’s art culture. We learned about masters, Giambologna and Benvenuto Cellini.

Inside the Uffizi museum we were dazzled both by the beauty of its works of art and fascinating view of the city looking out of the windows, the river Arno, and Ponte Vecchio.

To finish a wonderful day, we went to Piazza Michelangelo, well known for its wonderful view of the city. It was getting dark so we could see all the lights illuminating the city and we realized how huge and awesome the buildings in the city are.

Now we feel lucky for the opportunity to have seen this stylish and charming city full of history and art.

Museums, a “must see” in Florence

By Noemi, Evandros, Anna-Dimitra, Angelos, Alexandra, Pablo, Mie, Beatrice and Emma.

Museums are a great way to know about the past of a place and its art collections. Florence treasures a few wonderful ones.

Visiting the Bargello museum in Florence helped us understand how important the Medici family was during centuries, and how much Florence owes to this family.

The Bargello museum is one of the oldest building in this Renaissance city. It dates back to 1255 and it hosts relevant and exclusive masterpieces. Julius Cesar by Michelangelo and Flying Mercurius by Giambologna, both from the 16th century. We also recommend, David by Donatello, from the 15th century. It is one of the precious works of art of the exhibition.

Other interesting collections of ceramics, textile and silver can also be found in the mu-

seum.

The Uffizi gallery is also “a must” for any visitor in Florence. The building is located in “Piazza della Signoria”. It was constructed by the Medici family in 1560, in front of “Palazzo de Priori”, the family’s house. The project was carried out by Giorgio Vasari, one of the most famous architects of the period. The collections inside portray some of the most relevant names in art history, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance such as Giotto, Botticelli, Raffaello, Michelangelo and many others.

These museums and collections give us an insight on the importance that art and architecture had for the Florence of the time. We think that anyone who wants to know more about Italian culture, they should visit the museums in Florence.

A trip to Pisa

By Maria Hapidou (CY), Ioanna Kaskaouti (GR), Ossi Tuuttila (FIN), Bianca Vannucci (IT) As soon as we got to Pisa and we saw the Leaning Tower, we realised that it was going to be a memorable day: we were going to see a worldwide famous architecture, something that we had never seen before.

The fact that a single square contained so many artistic attractions surprised us. Even though we didn’t get to go inside the tower, we had the unique opportunity to visit the magnificent cathedral.

The beauty and the history of the church were unbelievable: the paintings, the ceiling, the sculptures and especially the baptistery by Nicola Pisa-

no which was of unparalleled beauty.

Something that particularly got our attention was the presence of tombs on the floor, as well as the inscriptions in latin and the symbols engraved on the marble.

After Piazza dei Miracoli we walked to the city and we passed by the Normale School.

A building of amazing mastery and exquisite elegance. We were all shocked to learn that that institute is reserved only to highly intelligent people; our teachers told us that only twenty Italian students manage to get in every year.

The free time we had after visiting Piazza dei Cavalieri gave us the opportunity to get more in touch with the Italian culture. The street view was very different from the one we are used to. We were amazed by all the centuries-old buildings that surrounded us.

The trip to Pisa will always hold a special place in our memories, the sightseeing, the history, the architecture …

Someday we would love to visit Italy again and spend more time exploring all the picturesque old towns, like Lucca and Pisa.

Lucca comics and games Even small, the town of Lucca houses one of the most wellknown and appreciated attraction for comics and videogames fan: Lucca Comics and Games.

The event was introduced to the Erasmus AVITAE project by the co-director Emanuele Vietina and the creative process reader Lorenzo Cosimo Pancini during an interesting conference that took place at Liceo Classico Machiavelli.

Lucca Comics and Games has an old well-rooted tradition in the town: its first appearance was in 1966, when Lucca housed the second edition of

the Salone Internazionale dei Comics, which grew up until reaching the prestigious position of second world most famous comics event.

During the manifestation (the current one, taking place between the month of October and November) the town is full of comics fans, movie cosplayers and videogames nerdy guys, enjoying many different attractions scattered across the city centre .

A consistent part of those guys come from lots of different countries, and you can see them running along the

April 2017

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

city walls costumed like their favourite TV show or fantasy book character.

Last year, the event could boast half a million of visitors, and such a number was made possible also by the work of many minicompanies involved in promoting it.

Thus, Lucca Comics and Games grounds itself on an alive and increasing market and, bottom line, it represents probably the most illustrious example of entrepreneurship of the town and one of the most remarkable across the whole peninsula.

sivu 75

An exclusive look inside of The Museum of the Roman ships

By Patrick (SLO), Sofie Brøbech (DEN), Christian (ITA), Carolina (SPA) On Friday we went to have an exclusive look inside the museum of the Roman Ships.

The museum, not even open to the public yet, was filled to the brim with shipwrecks found in the very ground of the city of Pisa.

At the museum, multiple ships have been reconstructed and others were still in the process of being reconstructed.

We were guided through the process of preserving the ships and studying them, in order to paint a picture of life thouThe ship wrecks were found sands of years ago. The ships at the construction side of a found were used for cargo, in new railway in 1998. The rail- harbour travels and more. way-construction was paused, as the archaeologists started Our guide, a very interesting saving the artifacts from the and likable woman, served dark grounds. Along with the as our link to another world. ships, artifacts and skeletons When we started our visit, were found in the archaeologi- she showed us how and whecal savings. re the ships were found, on

both maps and pictures from the actual archeological site.

The ships were found in what used to be the crossing of two rivers. Our guide’s favorite artifact found on the ships was a basket filled with *black stuff* (tar) which was used to coat the ships.

When we took the first step into the ancient world of the Roman ships, we didn’t know what to expect. But we were met with a surprisingly interesting messenger who walked us through the intriguing life of the ancient Romans.

Puccini Concert Close your eyes and listen carefully to the stories told though powerful voices. Then open your eyes and see how majestic the artists are.

After a long day, preparing our mini-companies, we thought this activity was going to be boring, but we were wrong!! We entered a really beautiful building, the Istituto Musicale Luigi Boccherini, where we found gifts on our chairs and suddenly formal dressed singers appeared. The concert was exclusive for the

Erasmus+ students. Most of the songs were composed by Puccini, a well known composer from the small treasure of Lucca, which is a famous city for music in Italy. The artists performed in different ways: sometimes they sang alone, other times there was a duet and we also heard a quartet. Even though most of us didn’t understand the language, it was emotional and touching. It was clear that the first duet was about two people in love whereas in the last one they were

heartbroken, maybe the love was only one sided or they had a reason that made them not be together, we don’t know, we just know that our hearts broke a little inside. Some of us already knew a couple of them due to their importance, for instance ”O mio babbino caro”. Although we had heard the song before, hearing it live was impressive. We were amazed by the artists’ passion and overall it was an enriching experience.

Interview with Lord Mayor Tambellini: How do we make Lucca great again?

By Marianthi Gountza, Irene Isola, Filippo Ficini, Vladimír Mešťan and Bianca Rasmussen It’s Tuesday afternoon and the AVITAE group is visiting the Lord Mayor Tambellini in the town hall of Lucca.

We enter through the huge oak doors, walk up the grand staircase to a spacious golden and white room and are seated around a large oval table. The lord mayor Tambellini, a former high school teacher, greets us and tells us about the history of Lucca as a major entrepreneurial city in the Middle Ages. The red silk curtains

fluttering from the windows of the room are original and produced locally here in Lucca, he tells us.

After the general introduction, we have the pleasure of asking the lord Mayor about his plans for the future of Lucca.

basketball league of Italy.

But Lucca does not only have activities for young, local Italians. The Lord Mayor tells us that Lucca also hosts international events such as ”Lucca Comics and Games”, a huge fair in the end of October and Lucca offers many activities ”Lucca summer festival”. for young people such as theatre, music and sports activities, Lucca Summer festival is a the Lord Mayor tells us. For music festival targeted at young example, the female basketball people, which can be seen by team of Lucca is in the major the variety of artists playing

at the festival. This year Lucca will have the pleasure of hosting fx Macklemore, Green Day and Imagine Dragons.

The mayor says that he is even trying to get big names such as Rolling Stones to play at the festival.

Due to Lucca’s ancient history, the city has a lot to offer to tourists. At the moment, Lucca has a big paper production industry, but the current paper industry is not the future, ac-

cording to the Lord Mayor. ”The future for Lucca is education and tourism.” he tells us.

Last year Lucca hosted around one million tourists, which is a large amount of people considering the size of the city. Therefore the Lord Mayor tells us that if the tourism industry is developed, Lucca will be able to host many more tourists in the future.

In fact the Lord Mayor tells

us, that his main goal as mayor of the city is to create more tourism in Lucca. His dream is to make the city more attractive to all age groups and nationalities. So how will he make Lucca great in again? In his own words, he wishes to focus on tourism and develop this industry to make Lucca ”the center of Italy or maybe even of Europe.”

sivu 76 April

2017

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Articles on Minicompanies

The journey towards entrepreneurship

By Julius Yrjänä, Ossi Tuuttila, Victoria Peltoniemi, Elias Saari and Rasmus Hökkä What every company needs is a product. They need something they can sell and produce for the people.

The duty of companies is to help people with their problems and create jobs at the same time. So we started the whole project thinking about the everyday problems of everyday people.

Then it hit us; our product has to something to do with cooking. People need to eat everyday, but cooking takes time and money - you always

need something you don’t have. And that is how we got our product; by compounding the problem and the solution. Our app, Chef’s Little Helper, helps you cook with ingredients you already have.

A company needs employees. Someone has to manage the company’s finances, someone has to do marketing plans and someone has to be in charge of the whole company. Our team consists

of five member and everyone of us has a role in our company. We have a CEO, a financial manager, a marketing manager, a technology manager and a communication manager. We don’t have a real company, because we aren’t manufacturing or selling anything right now.

Right now it is time for developing the app and planning our future.

Avitae Minicompany Fair in Italy, Lucca. It was a magnificent success. We drew people’s attention there and got a lot of feedback for our app and got a chance to market our app by sharing businesscards.The Avitae Minicompany Fair was a wonderful experience where we got a chance to tell people about our app and us.

We also presented a short slideshow where we announced what kind of app we have and what kind of features it has. The slideshow also contained some small information about our financial situation, shareholders and marketing plans.

quit now when almost everything is planned. It would be a great feeling to see our app in the use of everyday life. In the future we hope to continue our journey of entrepreneurship and hopefully our company might take off into an actual enterprise. We wouldn’t mind becoming the At the moment we are still next Nokia. figuring out how to continue from where we are now. We We had made a prototype have done some improveThe first time when we of our app which we introdu- ments with the idea of our introduced our app was in ced in the Minicompany fair. app. It would be a shame to

Dedalo JA: the start-up which makes Lucca a charmingly child-friendly place.

By Leonardo Malaspina (production manager) and Benedetta Morrocchesi (communication manager)

Have you ever thought of discovering your town in a new, different way? Well, then our project is just right for you! We run a JA mini company called DEDALO; how rationale is to show children the wonders of our town. We are students of ISI N. Machiavelli, and despite our limited knowledge of the entrepreneurial world we are trying hard to set up business and to work as a team.

When we were told to think about an idea to develop, after a long discussion we decided to work with children, and we thought that the best thing to do was to offer them something we would have wanted when we were kids. Who can ignore the lack of motivation which often grabs children on school trips?

We elaborated the idea, compared it to other proposals, and then started to work on it.

The company’s name was inspired by the engraving of a labyrinth, with a dedication to the mythical architect Daedalus (you can see it under the cathedral’s portico here in Lucca): just the perfect name

for us, challenging and easy to admission fees, but we negoremember. tiated and obtained the price we wanted in order to maintain To help us with the task of the competitiveness of our bucreating a start-up, we had a siness. wonderful Dream Coach from local company Encom 21; he But practically, what have we taught us the basics of a good done? company, and how to work together as true company direcWe have created four itinerators. For this reason we distri- ries based in Lucca which expbuted roles and elected our lore the historical and natural C.E.O. to coordinate activities, heritage of the town; they are resolve conflicts and finalise nicely wrapped up as they inshared decisions. Thanks to clude fun treasure hunts, gaour coach we were given a nice mes, interactivity, a goodie bag place to work: a real co-working and short costume drama perenvironment where we alterna- formances. Tours are going to te around the table with much last about two and a half hours, more skilled professionals! and in that time we will show children our targeted places, As regards the practical steps, stop for a nice break, do the for us the first thing to do was activities with the young expto find places to fit into special lorers and finally we will deliver walking tours for elementary our little gadgets. We will see school pupils; so, our commu- to all tasks; we will be guides nication and logistics directors and historical figures that tell called every museum related to their own stories! our idea to negotiate a favourable price for the company; it What about troubleshooting? was the first time we were expe- When we started looking for riencing business to business! clients we did have problems, We had some troubles during because this time of the year this phase, because one of the is not the best one to organize museums refused to lower their school trips, and some schools

did not even take us seriously during our visits, but we dug deeper and found people who were enthusiastic to take part in our project. And the best thing is that the price agreed with our customers is so good that we will be able to reach

break even quickly, and then start making profits. We were so worried! But now we realise (thanks to our commercial directors) that we don’t even need that many clients to fulfil our aim! So, the Junior Achievement Tuscan contest is round

the corner (May 28) but we feel ready, and around May 15 our first guided tour will take place. What great fun to be entrepreneurs!

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

April 2017

sivu 77

Junior Achievement Cyprus – Our Mini Companies

By Cyprus AVITAE team Laniteio Lykeio has been participating in the Mini Companies – Young Entrepreneurship Programme of the Junior Achievement Cyprus for 4 years now.

This year we have 4 mini companies running in our school, working in completely different fields, targeting different customer groups, offering a variety of products or services.

• Say What! is turning old computer parts into new interesting and useful objects. The two main products of the company are:

(1) A clock created using a tower’s motherboard, which comes in 5 different colours: traditional green, yellow, black, red and blue.

(2) WordBeams : A boardgame which uses old keyboard keys as tiles and makes developing a child’s linguistic and arithmetic skills an enjoyable family activity.

pany has been cooperating with the Cyprus Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis Association, aiming to raise awareness on the disease.

• BRACELORDS has created a unique bracelet, which comes in various designs and is filled with seeds from Cypriot plants.

The company aims to promote the idea of reforestation and • EVENTually is dedicated in protection of our island’s unithe promotion of sensitive is- que and beautiful nature. sues to young people, through the organization of parties and • Avita Nostra is applying entertaining events. The com- modern techniques to create

jewelry for the young women of today. The company has two main Collections: Avita Collection: The jewelry is embedded with authentic traditional embroidery work, handmade by Cypriot Village ladies. The company buys from small family businesses in Fyti, Lefkara, Anoyira, supporting in this way the preservation of Cypriot traditional masterpieces and the survival of such enterprises.

Natura Collection: The jewelry is embedded with native Cypriot flowers and herbs,

collected from an essential oils from all around Cyprus. The park, located in the Limassol COYC2017 Final will be held rural area. on April 28, at the Royal Hall, Nicosia.

All 4 mini companies have All 4 companies continue worparticipated in the Junior king hard in order to complete Achievement Trade Fair, on their tasks. They will be liquidaMarch 26 2017, demonstrating ted at the end of the academic and promoting their products/ year and their shareholders will services to the public and com- receive their shares. peting for a place in the Company of the Year Competition We have been living and bre- COYC2017 Final. athing entrepreneurship for Avita Nostra received the months now and we have been Trade Fair Best Stand Award loving every minute of it! and has also advanced to the Final, along with 9 other teams

sivu 78 April

2017

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

Process of Adventure travel

By Denmark Team We started our project with using a tool called index, where you use it to go through four processes, 1 make some word associated with the subject, 2 make some small groups out of these words, 3 starting forming your project and last but not least finish your project. In process 4 we had to form our project, we made a lot of mind maps, drawings and we mostly gathered information about our project. The app Adventure Travel was born because our group thought that it would be interesting to create an app with many more programs than the other apps had. Our experience to travel apps has not been good; many of them are either not working, reliable or have some little things to show.

We wanted to make a good and a strong app that we could use in different countries. We wanted to give our app a personal touch, which meant that we had to find something that could be very different and it had to be better than the other apps. This process meant that we had to work with people who lived in the country so we could get their opinion in the way their country will be presented. We used public reference about the different places and what was the best thing to see in their country. Our main point to work with the app was the public and their choices to

show their country from their eyes. Our app turned out to carry information about transport, food, attractions, Specialty and much more from the different countries. We wanted to create a completely new world with everything someone wanted on their phone via the app. This app was a new opening for the younger and those who travel a lot. After we agreed on what the app was going to contain we started working on our website, flyers and many more things that were associated with our app. Don’t worry we won’t say that we didn’t have some disagreements and arguments about the project, because then we are lying, we had a lot of arguments over the style and the way the app was going to look, but in the end everyone got some off their wishes fulfilled and that was the beginning of the real project we made and finished. The most important thing in our project was the teamwork we all did because everyone had some great ideas and there were something to do for everyone. No one had a dull moment in our group because we tried to work in teams and that was our most important process for our project. Our finish product was not a physical app, but it was some kind of notebook with pictures and information about the 7 countries in Avitae.

Greece Airnet Junior: organizing education… and not only trips for European students in Greece

By Marianthi Gountza and Ioanna Kaskaouti

Making mini companies was an unforgettable experience because we had the chance to learn how a company works.

Things were not easy at all as we lacked any experience in that. We turned for help to a local travel agency and the

owner was pleased to offer us partnership in this endeavour.

He thought it sounded as good business. He advised us on how we structure a successful programme, how we estimate costs.

So we understood how difficult it is to organise a company be-

cause many actions have to be done to achieve a good result.

Before we presented our mini company in italy we were anxious and stressed but in the end of that we realized that it was not so difficult as we thought and we got more confidence

in speaking english. Generally, during this trip we learned how important it is cooperating with others ,exchanging ideas and point of views.

EXPURE: The Transporting company

By Angelos Kaselouris and Christos Kolios Several months ago, me and my partner Christos, started planning about creating our mini company named Expure , which was basically going to help local producers export their products to other countries. First of all we had to take under consideration which products we could export and to find the appropriate producers to provide them. So we learned how the market functions. Because of the fact that we had

to collaborate with transport companies we learned how this kind of companies work and which should be our priorities and concerns. Also we learned to think outside the box, which is the meaning of entrepreneurship, because we had to think of ways to make a gain without making our products more expensive. Moreover, we got experiences about the behavior and the manners an entrepreneur should have because we

had to make reluctant producers to trust us and to attract new customers. Generally we became more ready to face the real world and the market.

However this project helped us not only with giving us knowledge on entrepreneurship but also helped us to improve our English skills. Thanks to this project we learned to collaborate with each other and of course we made so many new friends. Regarding the pre-

sentation of our company, we learned to react and stay calm on awkward and stressful moments. In the end , we both realized how hard , exhausting and time consuming building a company is , and although we had to face a lot of difficulties and confusions , it was all worth it , because our mini company really worked out !!!!

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

April 2017

sivu 79

Slovak mini-company: BramiTour

By Slovak team We are providing a guided tour to show young children in primary school the capital city of Slovakia. Usually, guided tours are not entertaining for children, but our tour is different. The guided tour will focus more on the adventurous sites and activities. This means there are many games, small quizzes and brain teasers. Children will investigate and explore Bratislava in teams. Not only they will be entertained, but they’ll be learning some important and also interesting facts about the town. Lastly, once the tour is finished the kids will receive a certificate indicated that they have successfully finished the guided tour.

Do you want to know how we got this idea? It was little bit harder as we had thought.

Firstly, we were finding some problems with solutions. We had one idea. We wanted to start producing some glutenfree stuff. For example: bread rolls, muffins, cakes... Since there are not as many of them in our country that are both good and healthy at the same time.

And people nowadays want to live and eat more healthy. And of course there are plenty of

people with allergies and other problems. So this was our first idea of a company. But we could not make it real, because we did not have enough resources for realisation this gluten-free bakery shop. So we had to find something new. Then we got an idea of an interesting sightseeing tours for children. There are many school trips organized to bring pupils to the capital, but the tours are so long and so boring for children in general.

Usually they don’t pay enough attention after few minutes. We decided to make sightseeing in more funny way for them.

Because it is easier to learn in funnier way as we know from our personal experiences. We started thinking exactly how should it look, step by step.

We will devide them into teams and they will need to cooperate with each other to move to the next checkpoint and solve their rebus, task, puzzle or find some information. After successful solution they can move to the next checkpoint until they reach the final line.

We also counted the costs of our product to get the final price. When setting the price we had to make sure the price is not too cheap but also not too expensive. If the price was too cheap we would not be able to buy for example: materials for our company, rewards for the children, promo materials, diplomas and so on. If it was too expensive parents would not let their kids to go. Next we made some presentations, posters, and promo materials. They are colourful, eye-catching, interesting. So this was our journey of how we handled and made our sightseeing company. But it is just the beginning. In May, we will start to realize it. We all are looking forward to it so much.

Keep fingeres crossed for us :)

We divided our tasks, manager functions and started making this whole project real.

Minicompanies ”Yellow Submarine”: The ultimate traditional dessert

By Evelina Koutsou, Anna Kossyvaki and Eirini Papadimitriou

The Avitae project gave us the great opportunity to create our own product and promote it to the market. So, the three of us, Evelina Koutsou, Anna Kossyvaki and Eirini Papadimitriou managed to make a homemade traditional vanilla dessert with lemon flavor. Its name is ‘yellow submarine’ and it is an ideal choice for summer’s hot days but also a really good one for winters too. Its main ingredient is (what else?) lemon flavor, although it also contains melted sugar, honey and vanilla without any preservatives.

Our hard work got rewarded

in many ways! First of all, we learned how to cooperate with each other in order to have as good results as we can. We also felt joy and satisfaction when our product was finally completed by hearing nothing but positive comments about it.

In the end, we can undoubtedly say that it was one of the best experiences in our life that will stay forever in our memories!

P y h ä j o e A.V.I.T.A.E n K u u l u m i s e t – 2 3 . 4 . 2 0 17

sivu 80

April 2017

WhambiShop “By and For Students”

By Ana Fernández, Carla Rodríguez, Sabina Simó and Carolina Mª Torres Our last AVITAE meeting took place in the city of Lucca. There we presented our mini-company called WhambiShop.

Every year we are confronted with many classmates who are having a bad time due to economic problems. The crisis has hit many families. In Spain each year students have to buy at least 10 different books for their classes. Each book is about 40 euros. This means, when September comes, every family spends more than 400 euros on books.

Unfortunately, there is not enough help from the government. Therefore, many of our partners can’t afford to buy the school material or get help when they can’t cope with some subjects at school. In order to avoid this situation, we came up with this idea. We created Whambi.

The name is catchy and appealing! So, people will remember it!

We offer an app where students can exchange second hand books at very cheap prices and also get other school

material. Private lessons are also offered, for students who need help when revising for their exams. Apart from that, we need notebooks, pens…. on a regular basis. Whambi can provide them.

Besides, we have twitter account, an email address, telephone number, and of course, as it is “BY STUDENTS AND FOR STUDENTS”, any student can meet us at school every day.

Apart from Spain, it seems to us this problem also affects other countries, so we would like to expand it in the future because it is something easy to organize and useful.

LINF, the app that will make your trip memorable

By Iván Correa Armas

Lucca was the venue for the mini-company fair. We had to create a company, offering a product or a service that made a difference. After discussing many ideas, our team developed and application called LINF. It is an app for travelers. It contains information about La Laguna, our hometown.

We aim at giving the visitors a more fulfilling experience, by offering updated information about things to do, places to visit, the best restaurants, popular hangouts, etc.

When travelling, having the information you need saves time and money, and your experience is more memorable.

Although lots of people visit us on their holiday,

there isn’t a guide for visitors which is updated and accessible. So, we decided to create one.

Our app is user friendly, and very practical. It helps people find what they need at a click.

Basically we have designed a tourist guide of our city, but we have gone beyond that, we offer an immediate service, close at hand, which rates all kind of places.

Our business offers plans to spend with friends, family or just on your own. It is aimed at young people, providing the relevant information they need. Users can comment, put updates, in our @LiLInfo1 twitter account, and these updates are included in LINF right

Made by Roni Ohvo from Finland

away.

Our company offers personal reliable service. Recommendations are based on what users experience every day. That is what makes us different. It is updated constantly with information from local users.

You can find it in google play and it will soon be in apple store. Don’t miss it if you visit La Laguna. You only have to download it and make the most of your holidays.

We have plans to add new places to our app, once our company starts making profits.