For the third time since the ArctiChildren InNet project started, we got on the bus and headed to Murmansk for a 3 day visit to the Murmansk pilot schools and the Murmansk State Humanities University. Besides me (Mikael Kojo)
and project manager Eiri Sohlman we had three senior lecturers from Lapland UAS Kemi campus, 2 public health nurse students, 4 social service students, 3 physiotherapist students and a photographer with us.

Mon 7.4.
We started our trip to Murmansk on Monday morning from Kemi and the rest of us climbed on from Rovaniemi. We had lunch in Salla and crossed the border just after 12. We then arrived to the Park In hotel at around 20.00.

Tue 8.4.
Tuesday started with greeting from participating attendees from the Universityand the pilot school teachers from Kandalaksha and Lovozero. Our students from Lapland UAS presented their workshops that were due the following day. After lunch we were supposed to test the ChatSimulation but unforynately connections at the computer class failed. The teachers were still interested and willing to try it out later on. We heard interesting presentation from the pilot school teachers and were positively surprised on their work.

Wed 9.4.
The workshops we held on Wednesday. The first one was about the Internet, the good and the bad held by social service students. Pupils got to draw posters about their Internet usage and also discussed about their use of social media and how much they spend time online and in real life with their friends and families.

The second workshop was held by public health nurse students and was about nutrition. There were three different exercises within the workshop. In the first exercise pupils filled up the empty plate by using images of food that they think is healthy. The idea of thinking about food is also thinking about what you should eat daily. In the second exercise pupils had to think what kind of diet would suit different types of people (overweight, athlete and a person who likes stay inside and play games). In the third exercise pupils told our students about Russian way to eat. They thought about their own ways to eat too. What kind of heritage do they have about food? What should we Finnish buy from Russia? Tips for Finns what to eat there. At the same time we will discuss about young peoples’ choices. Is the food that they have chosen healthy, or not? Third workshop was about good posture and ergonomics held by physiotherapist students. Pupils had to think about their own posture and how it affects their health and also how they can improve their posture.

Pupils were clearly excited and they had a lot of questions and commenst in all workshops. After the workshops we had presentation from the school pupils. We also presented the Finnish school system and also Lapland UAS briefly. We got good feedback and tips on improving our work in the future.

Thu 10.4.

On Thursday we visited two interesting places. First one was a youth house called Mr. Pink where we also heard about another project called THINK Mental fashion. Really interesting people and projects happening in
Murmansk. The second place was Center for Help to Family and Children which is kind of a safehouse for mothers and children. We really happy to have these opportunities to visit these places.

Fri 11.4.
Journey back home started early on Friday morning. We had lunch in Ivalo and arrived to Rovaniemi around 17.00. Once again we had a wonderful trip to Murmansk.