Yesterday we toured and learned things of Nikolauspflege. Today it was time to start with the eye diseases - we heard of the reasons why some people are or become blind and of the different impairments. We also were informed of the mobility training which is mainly for the totally blind persons. İn Nikolauspflege are only 15% totally blind people, much less than more think. Visually impaired people don't see that well and the range of dıfferences in the ability to see varies greatly.

After theory it was time transfer the facts to reality. The Finnish students got some glasses which had modified lences. Some could see only on one eye, some had blind spots, some couldn't focus properly and the view was blurry and others had only tiny hole where you could see. The German group guided us and as in pairs we headed to the city and to the main railway station.

I hope that the other people at the station had as fun as we did. We tried to find our way to various places and tried to use ticker machines etc. The main goal was to get as real as possible experiment of what it is to be visually impaired.

İn the afternoon we divided into four groups: shops, companies, authorities and infrastructure. The actual working in our groups starts tomorrow when we head to the city.

Rest of the day we spent at the Activ Park. Activ Park uses experimental and adventure learning as a method to work with a group. Another important thing is the communication. Groups and the individuals in them are challenged by mental and physical tasks. The Park is a safe place to test your boundaries and learn something more of yourself and the group as well of working in it. The key idea in most of the tasks is that it is impossible to accomplish only on yourself - you need to talk and work together to make it work!

// Elina