A journey to Belgium

One week in October, 2016

We started our trip early in the morning on the 9th of October by travelling to the Oulu airport. We met each other feeling anxious and excited about our trip. Our journey didn't start without issues, as there were no personnel in the flight control tower to give us clearance for a take-off. Finally someone made it up there and gave us the green light to start our flight. In Helsinki we had some time to have breakfast, as most of us were already hungry. Our flight to Brussels was long, and some of us got some much needed sleep.

When we arrived in Brussels, we went straight to the train station and got on a train that took us to Mechelen. We were ahead of our schedule and got a couple of hours to look around the magnificent city of Mechelen. After our first look at the city, a Belgian teacher Jeroen walked with us to the school. We made acquaintances with our fellow students from Belgium, France and Sweden. After chatting for a bit, we left off for our host families' homes. Our first day went nicely with our host families.

On the second day we made our way to the city hall. We had an official welcome from the city of Mechelen. We split into two groups, one climbed the tower of a church and the other got a tour of the city. The view from St. Rumbold's Tower was amazing and we learned many facts about the history and the significance of the tower.

On our third day we visited Telenet, which is the largest company in Belgium that provides analog and digital cable television and mobile telephone services. The rest of the day we were free to do whatever we wanted, and many of us went to visit the city of Brussels.

On the fourth day we visited a train museum called Train World. It is located just outside of Brussels. There were a lot of different types of trains from old to new. We also got a lot of information about the history and development of railways and trains. In the afternoon we were supposed to have a few workshops, but the plans got cancelled. For that reason we got plenty of spare time for the rest of the evening.

On the last day of the trip, the students got to choose whether they would continue the game development, update their avatars, or create videos of the journey in Belgium. After that we got a little free time before the upcoming evening’s farewell party. All of the students and their host families were invited. We got to enjoy great food and also brilliant live music. Everyone had a really fun time.

The next day we had to wake up rather early, because we had to make it to the airport on time. The Finnish team arrived in Oulu approximately at 5pm. The trip was unforgettable in every way. All of us got new international friends and our English language skills got better. However, it was also quite nice to be back home.


* Arttu Rissanen and Joni Moilanen, Haukipudas Upper Secondary School, Oulu, Finland

The Finnish DIG_IT team went to take some pictures this week. Our art teacher Kaisa Annala managed to borrow a pile of old clothing from a theatre company. She took the students to the local museum site to create authentic atmosphere. The group had a lot of fun shooting the pictures and processing them to look old.

Here are a few pictures: THE MAKING OF...

It was important to make sure that the people in the pictures did not wear any modern wrist watches, have mobile phones sticking out of their pockets or modern jewellery aroung their necks.

This is making history real!

A transnational meeting in Karlskrona, Sweden, in April 2016

We had a wonderful week in Karlskrona in spring. This is what two of our students wrote about it:

The DIG_IT project (Erasmus+): a transnational meeting in Sweden

The journey

Our journey to Karlskrona began at the Oulu airport on a windy and cloudy Sunday morning. We first flew from Oulu to Helsinki and from there to Copenhagen. In Helsinki we were still a little tired, because of the early wake up call.  There we went to a restaurant, or a sports bar if you like to call it that. And of course, we went shopping for a while, chocolate and sweets mostly. In Copenhagen we didn’t have much time to spend there, not that we would’ve had much to do. Suddenly we were in a hurry, Anja just shouted that we had 3 minutes to get on the train instead of the 20 minutes we were previously told we had. On the train we were like typical Finns, shouting and making noise all the time. But, by the end of the ride everyone was tired and silent.

Karlskrona

When we arrived in Karlskrona we saw our hosts for the first time, it was a little awkward at first. When we got to the hosts’ cars everyone started talking and socializing. The first night went by fast because everyone was very tired after our long trip.

The first day was really nice, because we got to know some of the people from Belgium, France and Sweden. We also went to an ice cream parlour called Glassiären, which basically translates to glacier if we are right. The ice creams there were huge, you could get three balls of ice cream and some soft ice cream on the top. Later that day we also went to a viewpoint and a small park, they also had some animals there.

On the other days we had many tours around the city, and many activities. On Tuesday we had a programming workshop, it was amazing. We learned a lot about coding and making games. The people who didn’t participate went to an island called Aspö (Not sure how it’s spelled), they had a tour around the island. If you ask me, the programming workshop was a lot better. In the coding workshop we also started working on some board games, six groups started to work on their own board games.

On Wednesday we went to the Naval Museum. They had two real submarines there, and a lot of other historical artifacts. There they also had a souvenir shop where you could by many things and small objects related to ships and sailing.

On Thursday we had a group game where we had to get points by taking pictures all around the city and gathering some objects. In the evening we went to Elliot’s where we had a BBQ-party. We played the piano and sang some songs. It was an amazing evening and I think everyone enjoyed it very much.

On Friday we continued the programming workshop. We tried out a 3D printer and an Oculus Rift. In the evening we had a farewell party, where we looked at some pictures that were taken during the week and ate food. When we were eating, Pascal, one of the teachers held a speech. He told us that he had sworn not to cry, but in the end he did. After that we had a really short party, one of the DIG_IT students, Jonatan, was the DJ. Then, sadly, we had to leave.

The Journey back

The time of our departure had come really close. It was Saturday morning and everyone was feeling down. When the train left the station, some of us cried, the time we had in Karlskrona was just so amazing. The farewell was really sad and no one wanted to leave. Our journey back was quiet and we hardly said anything. 

In a nutshell, we will never forget our trip to Karlskrona, the people or the fun times we had together. We all hope we’ll see each other soon again.

- Miikka Kuosmanen and Marjut Juhonen from Haukipudas Upper Secondary School, 

Oulu, Finland

A wonderful week in Sweden in April 2016

Here we are! We are very busy with all the wonderful activities and getting to know each other. There will be text and pictures later on! In the meanwhile you can take a look at the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/erasmusdigit/photos/a.903014796433287.1073741826.903008656433901/985809471487152/?type=3 and see what we are up to.

Introducing their avatars

Before the trip to Karlskrona, Sweden, the Finnish students introduced all their avatars to each other. There are many interesting characters going through fascinating phases of life.

Here are the Finnish team's avatar characters:

Tyyne Korhonen: https://www.facebook.com/Tyyne-Korhonen-956062844464114/
Kaino Lahtinen: https://www.facebook.com/Kaino-Lahtinen-440704866126810
Mikko Pekkarinen: https://www.facebook.com/pekkarinenmikkodigit
Martti Kemppainen: https://www.facebook.com/Martti-Kemppainen-809646165847421
Veikko Meriläinen: https://www.facebook.com/Veikko-Meriläinen-1015972405143131
Kalervo Markkanen: https://www.facebook.com/Kalervo-Markkanen-226773540988312
Mauno Hatunen: https://www.facebook.com/Mauno-Hatunen-664748023664015
Antero Hatunen: https://www.facebook.com/Antero-Hatunen-1029907513735183
Jake Larsson: https://www.facebook.com/Jake-Larsson-1741585996075220
Inga Aho: https://www.facebook.com/ingalarssondigit/

Belgian Avatars

On Friday the 18th of March the Belgian Avatars were launched:

Tobie Claes

http://bit.ly/1LwKG9h

 

Armand de Perceval

http://bit.ly/1RqMIKw

 

Alexander-Alphons Horn

http://bit.ly/1RVjoWQ

 

Willem Ragheno

http://bit.ly/25aSELL

 

Kristof Van Den Bergh

http://bit.ly/1puyprv

 

Anna Van de Velde

http://bit.ly/21AtbGU

 

 

Oscar Vankesbeeck

http://bit.ly/1LwKSp2

Rik Wouters

http://bit.ly/1RqMTW1

French students find about Pons before and during Industrial Revolution with a M. Hélis, University Professor and member of local council.

Today M. Hélis, law professor in Bordeaux and member of local council in Pons, came to visit the French students and talked to them about the Industrial Revolution in Pons. 

He shared with them some late 19th century and early 20th century pictures and postcards from his collection and his book. 

It was very interesting to find out about the changes the Industrial Revolution brought to local economy, urban landscape and lifestyle. 

Here are pictures from what Pons used to be in the late 19th century and the train station at its beginning. Everything looked so different, amazing!

“Arsenaal, the Belgian national railway service’s central workshop”

On Wednesday 17th of February 2016 the Mechelen Royal Guides Association together with the Koninklijk Atheneum Pitzemburg alumni association held a lecture on the “Arsenaal, the Belgian national railway service’s central workshop”. Four student members of the Belgian DIG_IT team were literally in the front row.

In this lecture the first steam train on the European continent was put in the spotlight, as well as the expansion of both the previously mentioned workshop and the city of Mechelen.

The lecture was lavishly illustrated with photographs, floor-plans and extracts from several Mechelen archives.

 

 

Headmaster @ BA Pitzemburg teaching History

The headmaster @ BA Pitzemburg (Belgium) is teaching history in Erasmus+ project DIG_IT.

 

The project is visible in the main hall @ Pitzemburg in Belgium.

The Finnish DIG_IT - group has been studying some history to be able to create realistic avatars. First, before Christmas, our very own Jukka gave them a revision lesson on Finnish history related to our particular time period of 1815-1915.

This week we got plenty of insightful information from an experienced historian Martti Asunmaa. This retired history teacher has published a great many studies on local history and was able to paint us a vivid picture of Haukipudas and Oulu in olden days.

The first Facebook pages of our avatars are soon to be published.

Belgian kick-off

We just had the Belgian "DIG_IT" kick-off @ BAPitzemburg: