Erasmus+ project: Students' mobility to Monterotondo, Italy

Tuesday, 25.03.

Monterotondo is a town of around 40.000 people in the Lazio region of Italy, maybe 30 minutes by train from the centre of Rome. This makes it very easy to go to Rome anytime you want, with trains running every 20-30 minutes. 

We started our day very early to be able to see as much of Rome as we can in one day. The trip started with us arriving to Tiburtina and taking a metro to Colosseum. We did not go inside, but walked around this amazing sight and wondered how could it survive all those centuries. From there we continued to Forum Romanum, an amazing open air museum of antic columns and archeological sites. We learned about the power of the ancient Rome and how it slowly disappeared into history, leaving behind only traces of its glory.

Next was the Victor Emanuelle 2nd monument, a large national monument built between 1885 and 1935 to honour Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy. It is also a place where Mussolini gave speeches to the italian people during the fascist regime times. Luckily, those times are long gone and now we can just stand amazed in front of the huge building, reflecting its white walls in the spring sun.

Next on our tour was the Michelangelo square, which was designed by this genius, but unfortunately all the buildings were under construction, so we did not get to see any of the beautiful buildings there. Next on our list was the jewish quarters on Rome. We learned about the remember stones, that remind us of people taken by nazi soldiers to concentration camps. Sometimes, it was whole families that disappeared from these narrow streets to never return again.

Our free time started at Piazza Navona, an old market square and we got to enjoy Rome with our friend, we walked to Pantheon, fountain La Trevi and other sights of Rome.

We returned home late, tired after walking almost 30 kilometres, but happy and amazed by the eternal city.

Wednesday, 26.03.

The funny thing about stereotypes is how often they are actually true. We felt like this in Italy all the time. People are very friendly here, but they talk a lot and use their hands to make the famous Italian gestures. They also love their pizza and pasta and they drink a lot of coffee. But we enjoy this all, and are very happy to immerse into the italian culture.

Today we worked at the project and started creating the escape room. We were split into international teams, working with the friends from Italy and Cyprus. Each team came up with a different theme for their escape room,  some of us chose geography, some chose art or music and some of us were mixing the general knowledge about our countries from all fields mixed.

It took us some time to decide what and how we want to do, but once we started, the work went well and fast.

After a short break, we moved to the chemistry laboratory and did some sustainability experiments. We were divided into international teams and each team had a task, then moved to another one - that way we got to try all 4 of the experiments. First one, we created plastic from milk. We did not know it is possible, but it is a sustainable way to make plastic and it looked very easy. We were wondering why we do not make more plastic like this. Second and third team were using 2 different methods to create a bio-friendly slime. It was a slime that we could play with and it was more of a fun task. itThis slime has interesting characteristics, because it does stand a huge pressure. The fourth task was melting plastic and creating a raw material to be used as recycled plastic again. This was also an interesting exercise.

The italian school does not have a cafeteria, but it has a very good buffet with a very tasty and very affordable sandwiches and paninis. They cost around 2 eur, so everyone can afford to buy one as their lunch or snack. And they also make a very good coffee for like 60 cents.

The school building is a bit old, but well functioning and they have many outside spaces for the students to chill and enjoy the sun, which shines here all the time. While it was snowing in Finland, we had lovely 18 degrees here and enjoyed the sun as much as we could.

However, the students are not allowed to leave the school property, the gate is locked and students can only leave once the school is over. We prefer our way, when we are free to go to the shop or go home if we live near the school and have a free lesson.

After school we went to Rome again, because our hosts wanted to show us Vatican city and also how Rome looks in the dark, when there are street lights on. It was so romantic, and we spent some time dancing at the bridge by the Castel Sant'Angelo. What can be more romantic than that?

Thursday, 27.03.

So far, the italian weather has been very kind to us and sun was waking us up every morning. Today, we were supposed to go on a hike in the Lazio region and visit some small sights and town, and of course, we woke up to a cold and rainy day. Luckily, the italians were flexible and quickly adjusted the plan, so we took the bus and instead of walking we were travelling fast and dry.

Our first stop was the Farfa Abbey. It is around 60 km from Rome, in a beautiful country of small green hills and little villages. This abbey belongs to the benedictine order and for many centuries it has been one of the biggest and strongest abbey in Italy. It has been actually more rich then the pope, which, of course, the pope was not very happy about. Now, what stayed, is a beautiful church with amazing frescas and small streets with tiny shops. We spent couple hours here, walking the narrow streets and looking at the stone houses. We bought some really tasty cookies and then visited the workshop of wowing carpets and fabrics. The town was also full of cats and dogs so we played with them as well and time has passed very fast.

Our next stop was some 20 minutes drive, and it was a small town of Fara Sabina. This medieval town has another very old and amazing church and we got a tour guide that explained to us the meaning of the paintings on the wall, that were from 16th century. Then we had some free time to walk the narrow streets of the old town and get a real gelato or other snacks.

What we noticed as very interesting is that many of the small town and built on a hill. We guess it has a sense for the defence of the city, but must be very difficult for older people or a baby trolley to navigate, some streets were so narrow that car would not fit in there. So how do people move? We don't know. But it was a great feeling to walk the old streets and imagine how the town looked some 600 years ago. We agreed it was for sure much more dirty and smelly.

After this visit, we jumped on the bus and we driven home, where we all went to a pizza place and had so much pizza that we did not believe was possible. We also laughed so hard that it is hard to say did our bellies hurt from that or all the pizza we ate. It was another very nice day with our new friends.

Friday, 28.03.

An old saying says, that when you have fun, time flies. And we can say it is true. This week has gone by so fast, it seems we just yesterday arrived to Monterotondo and now it is the last day.

We started by presenting the final works. Every team presented the idea behind their digital escape room and then some volunteers got to see if they can escape. Everyone did it, even if some of the tasks were very challenging. 

After that we heard some nice words from the teachers and some students and had a lot of cake, got our certificates and some small gift and it was time to enjoy the free afternoon of the last day together. 

Our hosts rented a big house for the evening where we could dance and eat and have fun and that is what we did until very late. Tomorrow morning we wake up very early and it is time to fly back to Kalajoki.

We talked about this week the whole was back home and even students that have travelled before have agreed that this has been the best week, we were really welcomed, felt connected to the community, family and our hosts and we felt we also learned a lot about the italian culture, school, customs, and also improved our english language, skills to manage the project and our digital skillset.