Bridging Minds and Cultures Through Stories
A Nordplus Project at Tallinn European School
This week, Tallinn European School hosted the Nordplus project “Bridging Minds and Cultures Through Stories”, in collaboration with three partner schools: Laanila Upper Secondary School and Svenska Privatskolan i Uleåborg from Oulu, Finland, and Tröllaskagi Upper Secondary School from Iceland.
The project brought together 35 young people aged 13–18, offering them an opportunity to connect across borders through storytelling, language, arts, and creativity. Throughout the week, students worked collaboratively on various creative projects exploring themes such as dreams, home, sports, and friendship—with one group even recording two original songs. A digital magazine will be published to showcase their shared stories and cultural perspectives.
As cultural exchange was a central part of the experience, each school hosted a cultural evening, introducing their country through presentations, traditional food and music, and folk dancing-celebrating the diversity and shared values of the Nordic-Baltic region.
Host Families
At first, I was really scared to go to a new family and live with them for a week. I was afraid they wouldn’t like me, but luckily I soon realized that fear was unnecessary. I didn’t need to be scared at all. Most of the host families were really welcoming. They tried to make us feel good and comfortable.
All of the families were different because they came from various countries. For example, my host family was from Moldova. With the host families, we played games and had conversations. Some students spent more time with their families than others, but I’m sure most of the families were kind to the exchange students.
It was lovely to get to know the family. I really enjoyed having conversations with them. It was actually kind of sad to leave. I would have loved to spend more time with them.
Living with the families taught us about different cultures and lifestyles. It also helped us learn how to communicate and speak with different kinds of people, since we had to talk with them daily. Overall, it was amazing to spend time with them.
Fanni, Laanila High School
Cultural differences
At first, I thought there wouldn’t be many cultural differences between Finland and Estonia because they are so close to each other. However, after spending some time in Estonia, I realized that there really are some noticeable differences.
The biggest differences were definitely the mealtimes and how talkative people were. When meeting new people, they were immediately open and talkative. In Finland, I was used to people being more quiet and shy. As for mealtimes, people in Estonia had dinner quite late, around 7 or 8 p.m.
The students at school seemed to have a stronger bond with each other than what I’m used to in Finland. Even students from different grades would play and hang out together in large groups.
There were also noticeable differences in fashion between Finnish and Estonian people. In Estonia, different styles were trending compared to Finland.
Manna, Laanila High School
Tallinn European School
Tallinn European School is located in Estonia. It offers a multilingual and multicultural education for students and is a fee-paying school. The school serves children and young people aged 4 to 18 years.
On Monday, October 13th, we all arrived at Tallinn European School at 9:00 a.m. I think most of us were a little surprised by the high level of security and the size of the building. There was always a security guard present, and we needed a visitor card to enter the school. Many of us felt a bit lost at first, especially when it came time to eat.
We also had to learn the school’s rules, which were quite different from ours. For example, we were not allowed to use our phones or eat and drink outside the cafeteria. We also had to wear indoor shoes, which was a new experience for us. One of the most surprising things was the loud noise, especially in the cafeteria.
However, I think all the teachers were very kind, and everyone greeted us warmly.
Overall, it was nice to spend a week in a new school. In my opinion, the biggest differences were the wide age range of students, the noise levels, the school rules, and how talkative the students were. The cafeteria’s food options were also a bit more varied than what we have at our school.
Still, this was a new and very inspiring experience for all of us.
Matilda, Laanila High School
Nordplus Group Work
The aim of this trip was to do group work with all the different schools. Each group had a theme—for example, dreams, songs, friends, home, etc. Groups were allowed to decide how their work would be created. As a result, there were podcasts, videos, songs, and artwork.
We started working on the project on Tuesday when we divided into groups based on the themes. During the project, we learned about editing, videography, and teamwork, among other things.
My group’s project was a video podcast where we discussed our own dreams and the challenges young people face when trying to figure out what they want to do in the future. We also interviewed our teachers about these topics.
We worked on the project until Friday, which is when we finished it and when all the groups’ work was collected and compiled into a digital magazine. Finally, the digital magazine was presented to everyone, and we got to see the work of the other groups.
Silmu, Laanila High School
Nordplus cultural evenings
During the week, we had the opportunity to explore the different cultures represented in our Nordplus project. Each participating country — Finland, Iceland, and Estonia — hosted its own cultural evening.
During these evenings, we enjoyed local foods, listened to traditional music, and presented aspects of our cultures. Some countries also organized quizzes about their nation, which added a fun and educational element to the events.
For me personally, these evenings were eye-opening experiences. I learned so many new things about other cultures. They also seemed to be a lot of fun — every student, and even the teachers, took part in the activities.
The Finnish letkajenkka dance was especially successful in creating a strong sense of community, as everyone joined in.
Overall, each evening was filled with learning, laughter, and quality time spent together.
Vivian, Laanila High School
Scavenger Hunt
On Monday, the last activity was a scavenger hunt around the Old Town of Tallinn. Our mission was to find seven hidden locations and discover some of the gruesome facts about Tallinn. After giving the correct answer to a riddle, we were allowed to continue. At each site, we had to take a creative photo of our team at the location and also answer a reflection question.
The seven locations were:
- The Watchful Gates – In medieval times, this was one of the few ways to enter the city.
- The Angry Priest and the Hidden ‘L’ – Near the oldest pharmacy in Europe, there is a brick forming the letter L.
- The Town Hall Square – There is a building with dragon-headed gutters and a weathervane of a brave knight.
- The Short & the Long-Leg Streets – There were two streets going uphill to the upper Old Town. One is shorter than the other, hence the names “Short Leg” and “Long Leg” streets.
- The Tower That Watches Over All – This tower has been watching over Tallinn for centuries. We had to find this tower and the castle it belongs to.
- A Midnight Wedding – We had to find the house where a famous wedding once took place and take a picture in front of its façade.
- The Tale of Two Priests – In the 1500s, two men of the church—a vicar and a priest—brought violence into a holy place. We had to find the plaque near the church where this story is remembered.
Matilde, Laanila High School
Art Museum – Kumu
Kumu is the main building of the Art Museum of Estonia (established in 1919) and is one of the largest art museums in Estonia and the Baltic region.
