HELLO FINLAND!- Helsinki/London Cultural Experience is a bilateral youth exchange project which brings together 10 young people from Finland and 10 from the UK between 7th and 18th of July 2011. The project will take place in Finland, at four different locations which are Helsinki, Kirkkonummi, Eura and Hyrynsalmi.The project has two broad themes which are a)rethinking cultural identities and b) sports as a tool for facilitating inter-cultural communication and social inclusion.Throughout implementing the project we are looking for answers to the following questions:1) What is cultural identity? Does it make sense to try to understand European states based on stereotypical national identities?2) How can we transcend cultural boundaries through sports? How can sports work as a tool for both inter-cultural communication and social inclusion?The aim is to encourage young people to actively transcend boundaries between different groups and social realities. This is achieved through three separate paths: a) a journalistic competition which allows the participants to find out how local people feel about their lives in modern Finland; b) organizing fun and meaningful physical activities with people belonging to less priviledged segments of society; c) sharing thoughts and ideas between the participants with very different backgrounds. Most of the work is done in small workgroups which report their findings to other groups daily. The participants have the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas on a number of social issues such as discrimination, exclusion and poverty. They will also think of useful ways of making a change in their own local communities. Ideas derived from SALTO resource centre will be used in encouraging non-formal learning.