A VISIT to the Fylde proved quite an eye-opener for two pupils who travelled thousands of miles just to go to school.

Oksann Gauzha and Shupoval Yaroslav are exchange students who spent five weeks at Hodgson High School.

Their school in Cherkassy, Ukraine, is one of three twinned with the Poulton school and the pair were looked after by local host families and thoroughly lived the life of an English student.

Trips during their stay included a tour of the Illuminations. the Lake District and London and both say they will be taking some very precious memories back with them.

Oskann was completely overwhelmed with the English education system, saying: "One of the things I found very interesting was careers education because we don't have this at home. I think it is very useful for a young person to be helped to find out what he or she wants to do later in life.

"I also wish I could have religious education lessons in my school. In these lessons you talk about the value of life and how to live in society and respect the views of other people."

Shapoval, meanwhile, says the trip did much to bring him closer to Britain.

"It was good to work with computers and modern technology and I will return home full of new impressions.

"If we look at the map of Europe, England and Ukraine are really very close. We are the same people with different traditions and cultures."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.