nuoret

Hattulan kunta ja saksalainen Evangelische Jugend Freiburg -protestanttinuoret järjestivät kansainvälisen nuorisovaihdon leirin Mallinkaisten leirikeskuksessa Janakkalassa. Suomi-Saksa vaihdolla on Hattulassa pitkät perinteet. Vuodesta 1987 järjestettyyn vaihtoon on osallistunut yli 1000 hattulalaista. Tämän vuoden vaihtoa jouduttiin tosin odottamaan koronan vuoksi pari vuotta. Nuorisovaihtoon osallistunut saksalainen 15-vuotias Greta kirjoitti kokemuksistaan nuorisovaihdossa:

 

When I first heard of this trip, it was simply a joke of my best friend and I was sure that this experience would never actually be a part of my summer break. But just a couple of hours later, I drastically changed my mind. Maybe it was the program, maybe it was my best friends skills at talking myself into things, maybe it was the fact that I already knew and liked one of the leaders very dearly (most probable!). Whatever it was, about eight weeks later, I was sitting in a plane that took me and the whole group to a country I never visited before, Finland! And just when I stepped into that foreign airport and saw the Finnish group waiting for us, I knew that I had made the right decision. What was a foreign country with so many strangers in one bus driving to a place you probably would never find on a map, was soon to be an unforgettable landscape with even more unforgettable people.

 

Arriving at our camp, all my expectations had been overthrown by the beauty of the lake, the forest and our whole surrounding. The next couple of days were so special, so different from what I had ever experienced, that I can‘t yet comprehend what just happened. Not only did we get to spend free time in the capital Helsinki, but the program also included riddles around the campsite, sauna, swimming, stand up paddling, driving with boats on the beautiful lake, many many werewolf rounds (in which unfortunately the werewolves almost always won!), card games, the Olympic games, talking, discussing, a little bit of cleaning, baking, visiting Hattula and its mayor, bubble football, and of course the silent disco. There is still so much to talk about. We will forever remember the amazing food (and will be hungry for ever, since there are only three meals in Germany) buying „groceries“, mostly chocolate, the kidnap of the German leaders, many carpool karaoke sessions, Finnish sunsets, sauna sessions in which the Germans were always sweating their heart out whilst the Finnish people were cold and so on. Thank you so much for this experience. It’s been a blast! We will miss you and remember forever. Finland you have been good to us, till next time!