July 4

Conference News: July 4

So many faces from so many places

Students' highlights of the week

"The best thing in Learning Expedition in Helsinki is the atmosphere: there are so many foreign people,

various cultures and languages", say GLOBE students Lucie Aalberts (14yrs) and Leyla Özdemir (17yrs) from the Netherlands. "We like the girls best", answer Germans Konrad Mohlfeld (16) and Frank Dietrica (15) laughing.

The highlight of Lucie's week was the trip to Nuuksio National Park: "The night in the tent was awesome. I slept so well in my warm sleeping bag even though it was chilly outside." Boys are charmed by the Finnish nature, its quietness, and the traditional Finnish sauna. Frank has even decided to go in for it also in the future. All of them have got a lot of new friends from almost all of the 24 GLOBE countries attending the conference. Leyla wants to send a message to all students around the world: "Have fun in your life and remember that GLOBE can really make a difference."

South Africa: Great to see cultures working together

Mark Brettenny, a teacher from South Africa, is very happy to be at the GLOBE conference. "My favorite thing about the conference is being able to observe the working together of all the cultures and countries." Before coming to Helsinki he toured around Finland, seeing all the important sights, after the conference he plans to go to Paris and Switzerland before returning to South Africa. For GLOBE his school studied the effects the dam in his city has on their water and taking temperatures and soil samples.

Egypt: Rain was the worst!

Students from Egypt shared a view similar to Mr. Brettenny's when talking about their favorite experience of the conference. Maged Adel, 16, was happy to see so many countries represented. "It's good to see the students from around the world coming together." Another Egyptian student, Michael Refaat, 14, complained that the rain put a damper on things. "The rain in the forest was the worst experience." Rana Salah ElDien, 15, and Lobna Abd El Hamid, 12, both agreed that out of all the people they had met the people from Turkey and the Czech Repulic were the most interesting. All four agreed that the conference had been a lot of fun and they had enjoyed it a lot.

USA: Fun to interact with the deaf students

The Americans also enjoyed the conference. "I had fun walking around the city and exploring", exclaimed Sarah Marr, 16. Sarah mentioned that meeting the people from other countries was a lot of fun. Kay Floyd, 14, had a very different answer from most people: "My favorite part of the conference was interacting with the deaf students." Sarah and Kay both agreed that learning the new protocols in the woods at Nuuksio was one of the most interesting and exciting activities.

Chinese students loved nature, sauna and shopping

Taking an extra step to be in GLOBE: Yuqing Pan, Li Ruiping and Chuan Luo are three Chinese students that have come to Helsinki to represent their country. They have gone an extra step to be in the GLOBE program. Chuan Luo has been very interested in temperature and hydrology. He attended workshops so that he could learn more about the world and its environment. He also got involved with a group that studied measurements, where he learned how to use scientific instruments. Through this he has been able to join the GLOBE program and have knowledge to share with others.15-year old Yuqing, from Guang Dong has been very involved in the program and hopes to make a difference some day. He wishes that everyone in the world would join the GLOBE program and protect the environment.

Wonderful forests, awful mosquitoes: This past week has been a great experience for these students. Li Ruiping from Tianjin thinks that Finland is a beautiful country. She loves the fact that there is clean air for her to breath, and wonderful forests to explore. However, in the forests there are still mosquitoes which neither Li, Yuqing nor Chuan liked. Mosquitoes gave them a taste of Finland and its environment.

All three of these students have enjoyed their time in Finland. Shopping was a main highlight for them: Postcards, stamps and traditional knives were bought. Another highlight was the sauna. Yuqing and Chuan were amazed with the fun they could have by just sitting in a room with darkness and steam. Li on the other hand loved the camping and being outdoors. They will all leave Finland with wonderful knowledge, experience and many new friends that will last a lifetime.

Conference authors: Maria Leppälä, Marna Palmer, Matt Trautman, Maria Alahuhta, and Chelsey Caldwell