Students Exchange written by Tarmo

On the 26^th of March at 12.00 AM the exchange students from Italy arrived in Kanepi. Me with my mother and other families were there to meet the Italians for the first time. I hosted Gabriele Mesto who is a funny guy and is good at playing football. After I met with him and some other Italians we drove home and I showed him my house. After the house was shown we both went to sleep because he and myself were very tired.

Glass painting workshop

Next day we went to Räpina where there was a ceramic factory and an old paper factory. In the ceramic building we got to paint our own glass painting. After it was dried we got it back.

Then we visited a manor house and after that we went to a pub. There all the group got to eat and rest for a while. Then we visited an old paper factory. When all the Räpina was seen then all the group drove to Kanepi and everybody departed from each other. When we arrived home from Kanepi we had dinner and after that my mother wanted to ask so many questions. Then we sat down with Gabriele and my mother and talked about two to three hours. My mother constantly asked questions and I learned a lot of facts about Italy and Gabriele himself. After the talking we watched the intro to the football match between Switzerland and Estonia. The intro was a little bit boring so we decided to go to sleep.

Saturday started with a breakfast and then we decided to meet up with Artur and Alessandro. We all together went to the Estonian Road Museum where other Italians also were. A tour guide was there for the Italians to talk about the museum. The Italians saw all kinds of historical vehicles and machines used in Estonian history. After the museum everybody departed and started doing their own things. Me and Gabriele teamed up with Artur and Alessandro on this adventure to explore Southern Estonia. At first we drove to Haanja where was the highest peak in Estonia, the Suur Munamägi (Big Egg mountain). The weather was pretty bad and because of that we could not see very far. After that we went to eat pizza in Võru. In the pizza restaurant there was a pizza named Mafioso. Gabriele and Alessandro started to giggle a bit and took a picture of the name. After we ate the pizza we drove to a big oak tree called Tamme-Lauri Tamm. Around the tree everybody took pictures. Then we drove to a place called Pokumaa which was pretty close to my place and Artur’s. Then we went to a farm. The guy who owns the farm is the maintenance director in Kanepi Gymnasium. In the farm we saw some farm animals and a beautiful garden. And after we saw animals we went to Artur’s place to have a barbecue. We also played video games in xbox and took a sauna. Alessandro and Gabriele both liked sauna very much. After we all took sauna we went to eat barbecue meat and talked about the day and planned the next day. When this exhausting day was starting to end Gabriele and I went home.

Artur is going to write about Sunday because we and our Italians traveled in one group.

On Monday it was normal schoolday for Estonians. After we ate breakfast Gabriele and I took a bus to school. At school we had to wait other Italians and send them away to do their own things. I had two regular lessons and then three lessons with the Italians. The three lessons were physics, Estonian and maths. In Estonian lesson the four of us (including Artur and Alessandro) made fun of the lesson and the teacher. I also learned that our Estonian teacher’s name means something funny in Italian. The teacher also wanted Alessandro to read an Italian text. I was amazed because he read that text so fast and with no mistakes.

In the Estonian lesson

It was a funny lesson. Maths lesson was pretty boring. Everybody had to do exercises, also Italians. I learned that Gabriele is a genius in maths because he finished every exercise very quickly. Before my classmates started writing he was done with some exercises. When the lessons were over a football match was about to start.

Football

Everybody thought that Italians were going to win but turned out that Estonians actually won. It was a surprise to everybody. When the football match ended everybody had free time for 2 hours and then a party started in the school. 
There were a lot of activities for everybody in the party. Some dancing was done, games were played and everybody had great time. 

Party games

Unfortunately the party ended very quickly. After the party the four of us (again) waited for a pick up. It was very funny to wait because Alessandro talked about some silly things and everybody laughed very hard. Unfortunately this funny moment was pretty short and it ended with the arrival of my and Artur’s parents who were there to pick us up. Then we departed from Alessandro and Artur and drove home. Then we both immediately went to sleep.

Tuesday arrived very quickly and was pretty sad for everyone. After we ate breakfast my mother made sandwiches for Gabriele and he said goodbye to my father. Then we drove to Kanepi. We were one of the first people to arrive in Kanepi and then we waited for everybody else. It was sad to see some Italians and Estonians crying. Everyone shook hands with everyone and even gave a hug. Then the Italians went on the bus and waved while being driven away.When we couldn’t see the Italians anymore I decided to avoid the teachers and go home because I was so bored of school.