Workshop 6 - Godby, Åland Islands

On the 5th of April we got ready to collect our guests from the harbor in Mariehamn, it was late and everyone was tired after their long journey from Poland, England, Turkey and Catalonia. Lithuania would be arriving even later at 5 in the morning.

On Wednesday we met at school and after a walk around the school we had a welcome concert in the school gym. With music and theatre we saw "a year on Åland". Everyone enjoyed it.

The first workshop of the day involved using photos from our trips to create collages for each country and each step in the film making process. After lunch we made books in book creator showing what we had done in each land.

On Thursday we finished our work and prepared for an exhibition in the Light Garden. Each country presented themselves to the press and radio who had come to interview us. Both teachers and pupils were interviewed, the article was in the news papers the very next day.

After lunch on Thursday we worked with James and Mikaela printing T-shirts and making wooden puzzles. Tomorrow would be the premiere of our film!!!! On Friday we made the journey into Mariehamn and arrived at Bio Savoy, the cinema, just before nine to prepare.

When the rest of the school, parents and politicians arrived we made our way up the red carpet into the cinema as everyone clapped and cheered. The show opened with the first gig of GHS- iPadBand, playing a piece of music which was very good. The åländish government was represented by Andreas Wiklund, who greeted welcome with a few well chosen words. Then after introductions we saw a film showing how we made our film. Then it was time for the World premier of our film "The Clump- Discovering Celebrations in Europe" It was fantastic to finally see two years of hard work by everyone on the big screen. Some laughed, some even cried - it brought out so many emotions in people, but at the end everybody cheered and clapped.

Now we could relax a little so after a walk through the town and to the Måländish Parlament we went to the Maritime museum on Åland for a guided tour.

After this we just had time to go home before returning to school for 6,30 and our final culture evening with music and games and food, so kindly prepared by the parents who did a fantastic job!-Thank you all once again.

Saturday morning we met at school before taking a bus trip out to see the coastal rocks at Geta and get some pictures and do some climbing.

Then a fish soup lunch before a tour of Kastelholm (a medieval castle on Åland once owned by the king of Sweden). We said goodbye to our Lithuanian friends here as they were to leave later that night.

We spent our final night together with our hosts before getting up early on Sunday 10 th April to go to the ferry in Eckerö. Here we said goodbye with a tear in our eyes for the last time to our friends. Hopefully we will see them again in the future and hope that we all keep in touch. iNimation in clay has been a given us a chance to try new things, learn new things and meet new friends across Europe. A wonderful experience!