Daniel Coyles (right) is one of a group of ten students from North West Regional College's National Diploma in Music 1st and 2nd year who will be spending three weeks at Kajaani Vocational College, in the large town of Kajaani in Central Finland.

As part of the Leonardo Exchange programme, North West Regional College's Strand Road Campus in Derry City, hosts students from Finland in alternate years, and so this year it is the turn of the College's students to travel to meet their counterparts, studying on a corresponding music course which explores the performance, theory and technology of popular music.

In addition to attending classes with the Finnish students, Daniel, who plays the guitar, and the group will be performing several gigs in Kajaani Vocational College, and other local venues, which, as 2nd year student Daniel explains, they are very much looking forward to,
"We've been rehearsing and practicing hard for the trip, with 2 weeks of gigs at the Bound for Boston venue in Derry for, so we're looking to show off our talents to the Finnish people."

The students have been advised to take plenty of warm clothes for their trip. ""I hear it's very cold out there at the moment with upwards of 6ft of snow, so I'm not looking forward to that too much. But we will get lots of experience of gigging out there and we can use that to our advantage when we return," added 1st year student Dominic O'Callaghan.
For fellow student Niamh McCourt this trip has an added bonus. "This is going to a great experience for us both as students as musicians. I'm really looking forward to going to Finland as it will be my first time out of the country and to be gigging at the same time is nerve wracking. The experience will help us to develop as musicians and I'm sure it will be invaluable during the rest of our course."

As well as performing and going to class in the Finnish College, the three week trip will also include opportunities for the group to try some popular local winter sports, and explore a variety of Finnish cultural experiences.