Leonardo scholarship gives me a great opportunity, a great experience, that will determine the rest of my life. Three months to live alone in an unknown country (not exactly, because I came here two years ago with a Comenius scholarship, but it was nothing comparad to this experience) where I can decide what I want to do or not, everything focused on the work according to these objetives:

Developing new skills, working wiht new artistic techniques and experimenting with new materials, which will develop my professional and personal life.

Here I am learning a lot, working in different workshops of pure craftsmanship carried out at the highest level;

I’m attending classes about cabinet making and artistic works in wood, furniture restoration, wood construction, glass blowing and stained glass production… and with still a month ahead to experiment in different workshops, to continue travelling around the country, (I has alredy been in different parts of Finland: Helsinki, Vaasa, Tampere, Nokia, Toijala, Parkano… etc) Rovaniemi is my next destination, to visit Santa Claus village and get to the Polar Circle Artic. I also want to go to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

With the month that I have still here, I will take the opportunity to do everything I have told previously and of course, to meet people and get to know a country, a culture and a set of traditions… that will always be with me.

Álvaro Maestre.

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