Week Seventeen: Lapland Tour

On December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018, Rotary ToursLeave a comment

Friday night the exchange students from all over Finland piled up into four different buses leaving from different parts of the country to pick up students in different cities to make the journey to Muonio in Lapland, Finland. Coming from Helsinki we had a seventeen hour bus ride to arrive in Muonio at eleven the next morning. We blasted music late into the night and talked to our friends, excited to see new people when we made a stop to pick up more students in other cities. The bus ride was a time of bonding and catching up with the people we hadn’t seen in a while.

Saturday morning everyone was extremely anxious to arrive in Muonio. When we did arrive we were given our rooms and ate before we went to get our ski supplies for Monday. We got to catch up with people we haven’t seen since language camp and meet some of the Australians we hadn’t met before. At the ski slopes, once we had gathered all of our materials on the buses for Monday the exchange students got to go sledding on the hill. They had to make snow for the slopes because there was barely any snow in Lapland, which is very rare for Lapland in November. It is actually the warmest it has been in Finland this time of year in the last sixty years. After spending about two hours at the ski slopes we headed back to the hotel before going to the “Winter Camp” for dinner. The Winter Camp was a type of large hut where there were multiple fire places with benches surrounding the fires. There were staff members there ready to serve us food. We were all freezing sitting outside eating, but it was amazing to spend time with the people I hadn’t seen in a while. Back at the hotel we had a “party” in one of my friend’s room. We played music and everyone was coming in and out, dancing, sitting on the couches, and just talking. Most of the people were speaking Spanish, but my friends were always good at making sure I was included. It was a really fun evening despite the fact that Rotary had a lights out time of 10pm.

Sunday was extremely busy. The day started with breakfast and then splitting up into groups based on the buses we took to get to Muonio. My bus (Bus 2) left at 9:45 to go dog sledding. Dog sledding was really amazing. The huskies were really friendly. Despite the fact that the track was not very long, just a short circle, it was still a super cool experience. Before we headed back to the hotel to see the near by husky farm we went to this bridge that was on the boarder between Finland and Sweden. All of the exchange students had fun taking pictures on the boarder and saying “I just walked to Sweden”. At the husky farm they have about 420 dogs that are trained to pull sleds. There were even adorable husky puppies. Each dog has a name and many of them we very social. It was really cool to see so many dogs and learn a little bit about how they go about training the dogs and how they properly take care of so many dogs. When we finished visiting with the dogs and eating lunch we went to one of the fells in the area, and explored the Pallas Nature Center where we learned more about the nature of Finland and importance of Lapland. We didn’t spend much time there before we transferred back to where we went dog sledding that morning to go reindeer sledding. The reindeer sledding was also amazing (a lot slower though). The reindeer were partly wild animals so we were not allowed to pet them but we got to feed the other reindeer that were not being used for sledding. We we shown briefly how to throw a lasso to catch a reindeer and were taught about the job of a reindeer herder. After dinner in the evening we had a small talent show at the school in Muonio. There was a Finnish group playing music in the start and then a few groups from the exchange students performing. I mostly spent the time talking to my friends and enjoying the performance before we got back to the hotel and were sent to our rooms.

Monday was the day for downhill skiing. I was super nervous for skiing and felt really unprepared especially clothing wise. Arriving at the slopes was really scary but they had a ski school for the people who hadn’t done it before, so I was there with most of my friends. Moving with the skis on my feet was super hard. I had some difficulties in the ski school and was really confused on what to do, but they told me to go ahead to the slopes. I went with two of my friends from Ecuador and from Colombia. The first time I went down the hill was a huge mess. I fell so many times and was so frustrated about how hard it was to stand up and stay up. I didn’t want to do it again but after a break I got back up and did it again because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t. My friends and I all tried together and helped each other. We spent most of the day skiing, I was still really bad by the end of the day, but I had a good time. Arriving back at the hotel we had an hour break before we had sauna time. I decided not to go to sauna because I was super tired and I ended up hanging out with friends instead. In the evening we had a program that would act as a going away party for the students from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (we call them “oldies”) since they will be leaving in January and this was our last time seeing most of them. There was a Sami man (Sami are the people who are natives in Lapland, speak the Sami language, and follow their traditions) that sang to us in the Sami language, and the “oldies” gave their own kind of presentation afterwards. There were people in tears because their exchange was coming to an end or because this was the last time we would see our “oldies”. To counteract this sad time we had a large party in this cabin outside of the hotel. Rotary allowed us to blast music and dance until eleven. We reluctantly went back to our rooms to pack for our early morning departure and separation.

Tuesday everyone woke up, ate, and began to load our luggage into our assigned buses. We left around nine in order to make our stop fro two hours in Rovaniemi. In Rovaniemi we visited the Santa Claus Village, met the real Santa Claus, and crossed the Arctic Circle. The experience was absolutely amazing. We all spent time together, taking pictures, joking around, and saying goodbye to those not on our bus before we loaded back up to continue our trip down south. The bus ride back resembled the one we had on the way up except it seemed to take so much longer and everyone was super tired from our long week.

After the Lapland trip I slept all of Wednesday before returning to school to finish up the week.

November was for sure the best month I have had so far. I made so many new friends, experienced new amazing things, and had the time of my life.

My friend from Tennessee and I with one of the huskies

Frozen Lake

Dog Sledding

Sweden and Finland boarder

Week Sixteen: PEEP Program, Estonia, and Thanksgiving

On December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018Leave a comment

Nothing happened week fifteen that is worth mentioning other than a Rotary Halloween party, and it isn’t really worth it’s own blog post. plus I’m really far behind on writing.

At the beginning of the week about fifteen students from Greece, Romania, and Slovakia came to my school for a school program I was involved in. Monday was devoted to showing the school and learning about their countries.

Tuesday we all delivered presentations on the theme, rhythm, and how it is integrated in different aspects of life. Our presentation on rhythm in language went really well. That afternoon after school a lot of us went to Helsinki to walk around and see the city. We joked around and all became friends in our time time in Helsinki.

Wednesday we went to Estonia together to observe the rhythm in architecture, but the trip turned out just to be a time for us to hang out and have fun. We were separated into groups for the day and I was with Jason (Greece), Sergiu (Romania), and Flavia (Romania). We went to the over look in the city, walked around, took tons of pictures, and visited tourist shops. Later in the evening we met up with the other groups and went shopping (Estonia is much cheaper than Finland). On the way to and from Estonia I mostly hung out with Jason and the two Finnish girls (Milla and Jenna). It was overall a great day spent in Estonia with my new friends.

Thursday we went to a workshop near our school. We created buildings out of clay to add to the “Happy City” exhibition. In the afternoon we had a tram tour of Helsinki and went to the Amos Rex museum. We had our own “Thanksgiving dinner” at a burger place in Helsinki and some of my Rotary friends came to join. The evening spent with my friends helped me not think about the homesickness that my other friends had been experiencing getting closer to Thanksgiving. I stayed up very late that night trying to pack for the Rotary trip to Lapland so I could stay almost all day Friday for the program.

Friday was the last day, we had more programs including a rhythm in music workshop, and then a going away party for all of the students in the evening. I had to leave after an hour into the party to get on the bus to Lapland. When it was time for me to leave I was crying so hard saying goodbye to everyone, it was crazy how close I had become to these people I had only met on Monday. The week was busy and amazing, surrounded by great new friends.

(I will write about the Rotary Lapland trip in a separate post)

With students from Greece, Romania, and Finland

The Christmas market in Tallinn

My Helsinki sign with my friends on Thanksgiving

All of the students involved in the program and their hosts.

Week Fourteen: Friends Visiting and Thanksgiving Party

On November 15, 2018December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018Leave a comment

This week I planned a large Thanksgiving party for about 40 people (no alcohol don’t worry, Rotary please don’t send me home), including exchange students and Finnish people. My host mom rented a lake cabin that included three buildings for the party to be hosted. On Wednesday I went to see the cabin and plan where the main party would be held. The are around the cabin was beautiful, all of it right near the Baltic Sea. We decided it would be hosted in the sauna building where there was the biggest central room. On our way back from the cabin we stopped at the Leminkäisen Temppeli, which is a place that many people travel far distances to visit, it is a tunnel under large rocks, but when we went it was filled with water.

Thursday, Elina and Essi had a violin performance, and they both did an amazing job. Elina was by far the best of all of the kids there.

Friday, my friend Cata, from Argentina, came to visit. We spent the morning walking around Helsinki before I had to go to school for an hour to interview the Finnish rapper PaleFace for the PEEP program I am in. We are studying the rhythm in languages and will be presenting our information next week in front of students from Greece, Romania, and Slovakia. When that was done Cata and I went back to my house to start making food for the party. We made fudge, pumpkin bread muffins, chocolate muffins (they didn’t make it to the party), corn bread, and two kilograms of Mac and Cheese. Half way through our cooking time Reija, Cata, and I went to the store to buy food for breakfast Sunday morning and drop most of it off at the cabin. When we returned we still had hours of baking to complete, but Essi and Elina decided we should have a dance party instead, so we ended up dancing around the kitchen listening to Frozen songs for an hour. We were exhausted and sick of cooking, but had an amazing night that prepared us for the party the next days.

We had to pick up Jacobo (Spain) and Tanja (Germany) from their train coming from Mikkeli before Victor’s (Chile) bus arrived two hours later from Northern Finland. To kill the time we showed Tanja the main sites in Helsinki and visited the weird art museum again. We had a lot of fun just hanging out together, even though we got a lot of bad looks from the museum staff, especially when we started running around the museum to hide from Jacobo.

At the mall, Kamppi, we waited for Victor and Jasmine to arrive before we took a train to meet my host dad and go to the cabin. We had many things to prepare before people started arriving. The beginning was slightly stressful for me because I was heating up and making new food while I was trying to greet people at the same time. When it was finally time to eat everything calmed down a bunch and we had so much food. Later in the party my host dad organized some activities, like making groups form a human pyramid, to connect the Finns and exchange students, it wasn’t totally successful, but it got everyone in groups and working together. At first we all thought it was really dumb but we ended up having a great time. Like all Finnish parties, people were in and out of the sauna, while others were playing games and hanging out. People started to leave around 8:00 pm and by 10:30pm the only people left were the ones who were spending the night. We all went to sauna together and then went swimming in the freezing cold ocean (which was a disgusting color of green). Once we spent more time in the sauna after swimming we danced to Spanish music in the main room while clearing up some of the food. My friends kept trying to teach me how to dance and they were… somewhat successful this time. The rest of the night was spent in one of the main cabins talking in to the early hours of the morning.

Sunday was Father’s Day in Finland, so many people had to leave pretty early, but we had a nice breakfast together at the cabin with my host dad. It made me really happy because my host dad seemed to be enjoying his crazy, full breakfast table surrounded by teenagers from all over the world. Everyone left the cabin in shifts based on who’s trains left soonest. We all made promises to do this again in Spring and sent well wishes to each other until we see each other again in Lapland in two weeks.

This weekend was amazing and really helped me realize that I have so many amazing friends here that care about me. I know I say this a lot but this weekend was one of the best ones I have during my time here.

Leminkäisen Temppeli

Art museum

Art Museum

Goofing around

Heading to meet my host dad. Exchange students from: Chile, USA, Argentina, Germany, and Spain.

Some of my friends at the party

The PEEP group and the Finnish rapper, PaleFace JHVS3318

More Party Picture KTPZ0262

Week Thirteen: The Last Two Weeks

On November 13, 2018December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018, October 2018Leave a comment

Not much has been going on recently, but I have managed to stay busy. I have things to do almost everyday after school. The week after school break I went walking with one of the neighbors down the street, which was really nice and I really like her. I saw a movie with a girl who is a friend of the Patrakka family. My friend, Jacobo, came to visit from Mikkeli for the weekend. It was really fun to be the tour guide in Helsinki for once instead of the tourist. His first day here was kind of a mess since he got off at the wrong stop, and I spent about an hour getting off at different train stops trying to find him. In the dark (at 4:30pm) we visited the Cathedral and Market Square in Helsinki. On that Friday we went to the weird art museum (I talked about it in previous posts) and rode chrome bikes that had replaced one of the exhibits I had seen the last time I was there. I was quite disappointed that the puppet exhibit was no longer there. We tried to make plans to go play laser tag in one place in Helsinki, and we got a decent sized group together. When we arrived at 4:30 they told us they wouldn’t have a place open fro us until 9:30. We spent the evening talking and trying to figure out what to do but we never did. One boy had canceled his other plans to come and I felt so bad that we wasted his time. The rest of the weekend Jacobo and I watched movies and played foosball. I really enjoyed getting to show him around Helsinki.

Monday it snowed. There wasn’t much, but enough that schools in Tennessee would have been called off. I went with a group from school to Helsinki University to talk about languages for this program I am participating it. Laisha and I went around Helsinki afterwords looking for “Halloween” costumes for the school dress up day (she was an angel and I was the devil). The snow was packed and made walking very hard, we were both slipping all over the place trying to get around the city. By the next day the snow had all melted.

On Halloween I went to a party at Elina’s school which was quite boring since most of the people there were under thirteen and it was extremely crowded. I spent most of my time with Essi as I let her play on my phone.

My family actually successfully put together a family evening, after Eedit’s cheerleading, we all went bowling at the mall by my house. I was terrible at bowling, even Essi beat me in our overall score, but I had a lot of fun. It was nice to having an evening where the whole family was together.

Friday, I went out after school with some other exchange students and just walked around Helsinki. We found people from Spain giving out free hugs, under all of the newly hung Christmas lights, the Finnish people were not keen to this, but as exchange students we were ready for the hugs. We had a really nice time together before I had to leave to head to Jasmine’s house for her Halloween party. We ate candy, watched movies, and talked through the night. Saturday was spent as a lazy day in Jasmine’s home before we went to see the movie Halloween (we had to walk home in the dark alone and it was really terrifying).

I went to cheerleading the next day and found out we have to perform in front of all of the teams that are actually good on December 3, I am not a fan of this news. I went to Essi’s adorable gymnastics performance, and to their cousins house to play with all the children afterwards.

Not much has happened in the last two weeks but I have stayed busy.

Halloween Costumes

Essi and I at Elina’s Halloween Party

Christmas Lights in the Market Square

The first snow

Family Bowling

More Christmas Lights in Helsinki

Spanish people giving free hugs

The graveyard are covered in candles the first Saturday of November

Week Eleven: School Break, Estonia, and Mikkeli

On October 24, 2018November 15, 2018 By riversandroads2102In October 2018Leave a comment

School break started strong, I spent the night at my friend’s house and watched scary movies. On Saturday, I met Sebastian, from Mexico, at the train station by my house before we were to go to Laisha’s birthday party together. We made brownies and hung out at my house until it was time to go. When we first arrived it was just Laisha, Paola (Mexico), Cata (Argentina), Sebastian, and I. Later some Finnish girls from school showed up. The evening was absolutely amazing, I became closer with everyone there. We all started making plans to hang out in the future. Paola spent a good portion of the evening trying to teach me to cartwheel and…it ended up being SUCCESSFUL! They also tried to teach me how to dance which was very…unsuccessful. The night was absolutely amazing and one of my favorite ones I have had since I have been here. On Sunday I met up with Cata, Laisha, Sebastian, and two boys from France, we walked around Helsinki and talked for a few hours. Both Sunday and Monday evening I went to the light festival in the amusement park in Helsinki. On Sunday I went with my neighbor and Monday I went with my friend from Ecuador. The light festival is a pretty big deal since it’s the last time the park is open before it closes for winter. The lights were beautiful and I had an amazing time each night.

Tuesday my host family took me to Seurasaari (an outdoor museum sort of like Cade’s Cove in Tennessee). The park was beautiful especially since the leaves were turning colors. On the island were Seurassri is located there was actually an area blocked off for a naked beach in the summer.

When we didn’t have plans over break I spent a lot of time with Laisha outside because of the really nice weather we have had for the past week and a half.

On Thursday my host family went on a day trip to Estonia. We had Essi, Elina, my host aunt’s two kids, and a family friend’s kids, that meant five kids all under the age of nine, it was kind of crazy. Despite the moments where everything was crazy, the trip was really nice. The old town of Tallinn was beautiful, and Reija did everything she could to make the trip enjoyable for me. We went to a KGB jail in the basement of a building, went to a look out place over the Old Town, had lunch in the market square, walked around the city, and I met up with one of my friends who is on exchange in Estonia. I loved Tallinn and the day trip gave us just enough time to see what we were hoping to.

Friday I left for Mikkeli to visit my friend Jacobo, from Spain, and Tanja, from Germany. I went to my first hockey game with them and one Rotarian (our team won), which was a lot of fun. The next day we went to and orienteering party with their host dad and then had an hour to walk around Mikkeli. That weekend I went to church for the first time since I have been here, and of course the whole service was in Finnish. After the service everyone started taking pictures of us because we are exchange students (it was quite strange but really funny). I had a great time in Mikkeli visiting my friends and I can’t wait for them to come visit me.

When I arrived home Sunday night I dropped my stuff at home and headed out to the amusement park for the last time until next summer. I was meeting my friend Jasmine to see the firework show, that was the closing ceremony of the festival. I was truly amazed by the work that went into the show and the lights. The night was an amazing way to bring the end of school break.

Laisha’s Birthday Party

Estonia with Elina

Goofing around in Estonia

Tallinn

Russia Orthodox Church in Tallinn

Old Town

The Cathedral in Mikkeli (not the church we went to) with Jacobo

Overlooking Mikkeli

Week Ten: Reflection

On October 18, 2018March 25, 2019 By riversandroads2102In October 2018, ReflectionsLeave a comment

This blog post is filler because this week sucked. Honestly, it was terrible, no idea why and there’s not much of a good explanation. School was stressing me out and I had no motivation to go to my classes. The weather was finally really great, it was warm, so I didn’t want to be in school. I wanted to be out exploring and enjoying the weather. I think I have learned the most in the last two weeks than I have since I’ve been here, because the last two weeks have sucked but the weekends have been really great. It has really reminded me that this year isn’t just supposed to be easy, it’s not just a vacation.

There are times when I want to go home, I want to see my friends, my family, MY CATS (let’s be real, I miss my cats more than anything else), my city, my car, my school, my room, my bed, my house, my outdoor shower, Chick-fil-a, and Clumpies (only Chattanooga people will understand). I miss being able to blast my music whenever I want, being able to make spicy thai noodles or pesto pasta or chocolate chip cookies whenever I want, packing my lunch for school, the drive to school, joking with my brother, getting popsicles, Whole Foods, getting gas, knowing where I am 80% of the time, just walking around with my friends, and being able to hide in my room without feeling rude.

But more importantly, I miss being able to understand what’s going on, I miss the fact that people won’t (most of the time) just ignore me when I try to talk to them, I miss two sided conversations where I don’t have to force it, I miss being able to make a joke without worrying people will be offended, and I miss being able to just be me and not being scared that someone will try to get me sent home. I am tired of having all of my senses on high alert 24/7 because when some is yelling they could be yelling at me but how would I know. I’m tired of people starting to speaking Finnish to me and I stand there feeling really dumb, not understanding a thing they say and getting myself in awkward situations because of my “yes” or “no” answer.

But despite all of the things that I miss or I am “tired of”, I don’t want to go home because of weekends like this one or the one before last. Weekends and adventures where I am surrounded other exchange students, who understand exactly what I am going through, or other people I know that genuinely care about me. Those adventures are why I am here, those people are why I am here, and they are why I am still here, why anyone is still here. I have learned so much about myself and the world in the short two and a half months I have been here.

I am okay being alone, I am not dependent on being with other people all of the time. I have found peace with just walking around the city alone and seeing whatever I want, and in the process I have found some really good music. I am less anxious and have more confidence. Even though my confidence or anxiety aren’t at my ideal level yet, it’s gotten so much better. I don’t wake up every morning terrified of anything and everything, I’m not constantly on the verge of freaking out, which was something I experienced frequently in American high school. I am more happy with myself, my sense of humor, my ability to make people happy, and I now understand how people should actually treat me.

Although I still hesitate sometimes, and of course there are some moments I am scared and have self-doubt but those are much less frequent than in the past. I have grown up, I know how to buy my own groceries, make my own food, limit the amount of unhealthy food I eat (we are still working on this one, exchange calories don’t count right?), read a map, get around with public transportation, ask questions, be independent, and talk myself through my own issues and uncomfortable situations.

Despite the fact that I miss home sometimes, I am here, in Finland, living my best life. I can live at home for the rest of my life after this year if I want to. I have made amazing, life-long friends from all over the world that care about me. I have plans to travel the world to see them. I have experienced amazing things that a lot of people my age don’t get to: I have seen the northern lights, been in Finnish sauna, visited Sweden, visited one of the most iconic places in Finland, rowed with people from all over the world in the Baltic Sea, lived in Finland for two and a half months, attended Finnish high school, explored, traveled, seen weird things, lived with an amazing host family (with four younger sisters), and been a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. This journey hasn’t always been easy but it’s not supposed to be or you wouldn’t learn anything. I would not and will not trade this experience for anything. These friends and memories will last a life time. I really look forward to spending the next eight-ish months in Finland learning more about myself, this culture, language, and amazing country.

Week Nine: District Camp

On October 8, 2018October 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In October 2018Leave a comment

Honestly the beginning of this week was pretty rough. It was the start of the new term and we had all new classes. I had just gotten adjusted to my old classes when they told us it was time to change classes. I start school at 8:20 almost every morning now, which is a struggle (I miss 11:20 mornings). I went to Finnish lessons for the first time in almost two weeks and was totally lost. I liked my classes from last term much better. I did join a soccer team that doesn’t actually play games they just play together and it’s just to have a good time. The environment was really great. On Wednesday I went out after school with my second host family. We went to this giant mall and a hotel that looks over Helsinki for hot chocolate. The evening was really great and made me so happy. Thursday I went out with friends for one of my (Finnish) friend’s birthday. We went shopping and to eat together and it was a lot of fun. I got to know the girls better and they showed me good stores to get better deals on products. After hanging out all together a lot of people went home, but I went to my friend Sohvi’s house to meet her cat (softest cat ever). I’m really glad I went to Sohvi’s, I really like her and now that we have a class together I think we will be a lot closer.

Over the weekend we had the 1420 District camp in Suomenlina (an old military fort island off the coast of Helsinki). All of the exchange students from the district (even the kids who are in Estonia) met up to take a ferry to the island. After dropping our bags at the hostel we were staying at for the weekend, one of the Rotarians walked us around and showed us the highlights of the island while talking about the history. We went to the store on the island and bought as many snacks as we could and all played games together, eating snacks before we had free time to explore the island that afternoon. During free time I went with Laisha, Paola (from Mexico), Jasmine, and Roxy (from Germany), we all became fast friends and had so much fun together. We found really cool, dark tunnels that we explored, none of them had much in them it just smelled bad. We took so many pictures and all around had an amazing time. All of us made plans to hang out soon because we all live so close to each other. In the evening we all went back to the hostel for dinner and to spend time with everyone else. We had to go to bed pretty early because we had a Rotary charity event to save the Baltic Sea where we had to row in the ocean for one hour.

Waking up early the next day was awful especially when we ended up sitting around doing nothing for almost two hours when we got to the event, the rowing was great though. We all got to see Helsinki from a new perspective that was absolutely beautiful, especially since the weather wasn’t that bad. We had a nice lunch after the event on one of the cruise ships in the harbor and sold raffle tickets to the other people at the event. When the exchange students were allowed to leave we all walked to Kamppi (one of the big malls in the center of Helsinki) and showed the Estonians highlights of the city before they had to leave. We got coffee and hung out before we all left. Everyone was exhausted. I was about to go to sleep when my host dad ran upstairs and came into my room to tell me that he got an alert on his phone saying you could see the Northern Lights in Southern Finland. As soon as we could Ella, Mikko, and I drove to the lake where you are supposed to see them best. You couldn’t see much it all looked like a thin, long cloud across the sky with a tiny green tint. It was still amazing, but a little disappointing. At home we started to walk inside when Mikko yelled at us to come back out. We could see the green glow, much brighter than before, just over the tree line. There wasn’t much movement but they were changing every second. Mikko and I went to the stairs that look over the whole city (Ella went to sleep to prepare for school). Since there was so much light there the Aurora was really dim but you could see the cloud like shape stretching across the sky with its light green shimmer. It was amazing.

This week turned out to be really great. It was one of those weeks that make me realize why I am here.

Rowing in Helsinki

The start of a great district camp

My friend Maya from Japan

Suomenlina

Jasmine, Roxy, Me, Laisha, and Paola at Suomenlina

“Bad Boy” statue in Helsinki with my younger second host sister

Helsinki

Quick tour of the city

Week Eight: Stockholm, Exam, and Koli

On October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 By riversandroads2102In September 2018Leave a comment

My week was started with an exam in my art class. The exam was actually quite easy and I didn’t have much of a problem with it. I was rushed to finish so I could get on a cruise to Stockholm, Sweden with Essi, Elina, Reija, and my host grandmother. It was going to be my first time on a cruise ship. On the boat we ate amazing food and participated in many activities to keep Elina and Essi entertained. The evening consisted of a Moomin disco (with a seal instead of a Moomin), Essi’s shoes getting stolen, Elina running around with Heelys, singing karaoke, me singing a song in Finnish for karaoke, finding Essi’s shoes, and a lot of candy. We were all set after a fun boat ride to end up in Sweden around 10:30 am. Once arriving in Sweden we headed straight to the Vasa Museum. The museum is dedicated to a ship that sank in 1628, less than a mile into it’s maiden voyage. In the museum the ship is there, almost completely the same way it was found when it was brought up from the sea years ago. Certain rooms in the museum actually made it look like you were on the ship, and there were videos explaining the life for people in the time the ship sank. The museum was fascinating but we had to rush through it so we could go to Junibacken for Elina and Essi. Junibacken is a museum/play area based not the books written by the Swedish author of Pippi Longstocking. Junibacken was super cute, it looked like something right out of a story book, and I would have loved it as a kid but there wasn’t much I could do there. Elina and Essi LOVED it, they go almost every time they are in Sweden. We did’t stay long because we had to go to the center of the city so I could meet up with one of my friends who is on exchange in Sweden. My friend and I walked around the old town and other parts of the city during our time together. It was great getting to catch up with her and talk about our exchanges. Stockholm was absolutely beautiful, Reija was scared that I would never come back to Finland after seeing Sweden. After about two and a half hours we met back up with my host family so we could get back on the ship. I was exhausted after walking around the city all day but we still went to karaoke that night. We got back to Helsinki around 10:00 am the next morning. My host grandma took Essi and Elina to school while I stayed with Reija at work. We went to the Helsinki Cathedral for her work. I got to go places tourists don’t get to do and it was SO cool. That evening Eedit, Reija, Mikko, my host grandma, and I all went to a film festival where one of Eedit’s short films was being shown, her film was the best one we saw (in my opinion). Not much else happened other than an English exam and spending time with Laisha until Friday.

Friday morning I was picked up by my second host family to head to Koli. Koli is known as one of the most iconic and beautiful places in Finland. I was so excited to be there. I met my host grandmas, host grandfather, and host aunt. Saturday was spent hiking in the beautiful forest. Even though the extended family doesn’t speak as much English as my first family I loved getting to know them. I got to practice my Finnish more and work on fixing my mistakes. I really like my second host mom (Saana) and I felt comfortable with their family dynamic, even though I didn’t know what they were saying most of the time. Saana, Nea (second host sister, 17), and Iisa (second host sister, 9) went to the Koli Spa Sunday before leaving. The spa was relaxing and the views were amazing. It was all together a great weekend getting to know my second host family.

Next week starts the next school term and all my classes are new, I hope I will meet new people and make new friends in my new classes.

Essi, Elina, and I in Stockholm

Koli

Old Town, Stockholm

Forest in Koli

Week Seven: Rock Church, International Market, Amos Rex, and Turku

On September 28, 2018October 3, 2018 By riversandroads2102In September 20181 Comment

A recap of the last few weeks.

I went orienteering with my host dad which was more fun than I thought it would be. I got to see a new part of Epsoo and parts of the forest I never would have gotten to see if I hadn’t gone.

I visited really cool new places in Helsinki. I finally saw the rock church, a church in the middle of the city that was built in rock formation. Finally, went to Sibelius Park and saw the monument I had been waiting to see. I actually stubbled upon this cafe by the sea that I had been wanting to go to.

When I was meeting Laisha to hang out we found an international market in the center of Helsinki. There were both making food from all different countries, it was so good and we had a lot of fun.

I went to an art museum near my house with my host family. And to a Chilean Independence Day party with Jasmine, which was actually super crowded so we only stayed five minutes, but it was an interesting experience.

Laisha and I went to the rock church a take pictures together.

This week I spent a lot of time walking in Helsinki just by myself and it was actually great. Exams started this week for school so I don’t have to go to school for the next week and a half expect for next Monday and Thursday. On Friday I went to the zoo with exchange students from Italy and Canada. It was so much fun to hang out with them and I really hope to hang out with more of the exchange students soon.

I went to a museum called Amos Rex. It had animated light images shown on walls by projectors. In one room you could draw pictures and scan them on this machine and then they were animated and put on the wall. The different pictures people had drawn interacted in the environment together. It was super cool! After the museum I walked all the way to the ocean from the central train station. The weather was amazing and the walk was really pretty. I ended up getting invited to go out with exchange students for one the birthday of one of the girls from Canada. We went to this place for people under eighteen where teens can buy cheap coffee and pastries. The evening was really amazing and made me super happy.

I went to Turku (western coast of Finland) to visit my friend Siobhan. We saw the Turku castle, went to a cafe/museum that had been built on an old village, visited the Turku castle, walked around the city, and went to many thrift stores. The city was really amazing and I had so much fun just walking around with my friend. Siobhan and I went on a hike by her house the next day, before I went home, it was so beautiful and spending time in the woods was really nice.

Next week is really busy for me. I am going to Sweden Monday evening and coming back Wednesday morning. I also am going to Koli (eastern city in Finland that’s more northern) with my second host family next weekend. I’m very excited for this next week!

Rock Church in Helsinki

Sibelius Monument

Cafe by the sea

Art Museum I went to with my host family

Amos Rex- my drawing and the animation

A picture from one of my walks in Helsinki

Turku castle with Siobhan

Beautiful forest we hiked in

Path through the swap

The lake we found on our hike.

Week Six: Food, Culture, and School

On September 20, 2018October 3, 2018 By riversandroads2102In September 2018Leave a comment

I think this is what most people actually want to know about because this is what I’ve been asked the most about. “How’s the food?” and “Is the culture really different?” and “What makes the education system so good?”. Food and culture were easy questions for me to answer from the very beginning but school has been something I’ve had to really think about.

First, the food is AMAZING. Everything is so healthy and none of it makes me feel gross after eating. There are four meals a day in Finland: breakfast, lunch, dinner (which is eaten really early), and evening snack ( which is a light meal before bed). Potatoes, vegetables, and soup are common in most Finnish meals. There is a salad with almost every meal with lettuce and tomatoes and cheese. Berries are also very big in Finland during the summer, since this last summer was really dry there have been a lot less berries. Normally in the summers families pick buckets and buckets of berries and mushrooms. The berries are frozen in the fridge to be eaten during the winter time because buying Finnish berries at the store is really expensive. They don’t eat pickled herring here very often, if at all (I was asked about this a lot), that’s Swedish but they do eat a lot of salmon which is actually really good. People eat a lot of rye bread (which I love) and it’s a lot more healthy than white bread, McDonald’s even has a rye bread hamburger (McDonald’s here is better). Finns eats butter on everything, and the butter is like a mix of butter and margin but it is really good. They actually have a favorite type of butter (Oivariini) and they can supposedly taste the difference between that and other brands, it’s kind of crazy. One of my favorite things is the cheese Oltermanni that’s made in Finland. It comes in a cylinder shape and you have to use a cheese knife to cut it, it’s really good and actually so popular that people try to smuggle mass amounts of it over the board to sell in Russia illegally. But I think my all time favorite thing is Karjalanpiirakka, it is a thin layer of rye bread with a layer of rice pudding on top, it sounds nasty but it’s FANTASTIC.

People also drink a lot of coffee here, and there are many coffee chains. The coffee is a lot more bitter than in the states but it’s really good with cream and sugar.

The chocolate and pastries are SO GOOD HERE. Fazer chocolate (the big brand in Finland) is so much better than most American chocolate, and it’s a lot cheaper. Actually there is a day called “karkkipäivä” which means candy day. Every Saturday children are allowed to eat candy, and typically only on Saturdays. Parents are not allowed to give someone else’s children candy without permission because of this candy day tradition. It’s kinda crazy but also really cool because as the children grow up and can buy their own candy they know that its not good to have candy everyday and often limit themselves to Candy Day.

The food is amazing and really healthy. No one needs to worry about trying to send me peanut butter just so I have something to eat.

The culture is very different. The people are very different. No one talks to people on the street. If you even smile of make eye contact with anyone you don’t know on the street Finns automatically think they have something weird on their clothes. Finnish people do not talk unless they have something serious to talk about or you need help. They stare a lot which is super uncomfortable. On public transportation people do not sit next to someone else even if there is a seat open, they will stand. It is considered polite to give people their space and not talk. There is no small talk. Everything is direct and straight to the point instead of elaboration. Finnish people do not often interrupt. You have to ask for ideas and input from Finnish people. They will always wait until you are done talking. To talk to a Finnish person you have to ask them for help. It’s considered ok to be surrounded by friends but not speak because there is nothing to say and the space does not have to be filled with words. Teenagers don’t like to speak English because they are embarrassed to mess up especially around their friends. Finnish people are also not as sarcastic (as we are in the US), they take everything you say at face value and only say what they mean. They don’t say “I love you” to friends or most of the time not even their parents or in any casual way, it is reserved for a significant other. Finland is super safe, the people are very trusting. Most children go to and from school by themselves around eight years old by walking or taking buses or trains. Time is also very valuable to Finnish people, don’t be late (that one had been hard for me for sure).

School. This is what I get the most questions on. Why is Finnish education so good? How is school there?

There is a preschool or day care but instead of learning math and school subjects the little kids learn practical skills, but school normally starts for a student when they are six years old and is required until fifteen or sixteen. When students finish primary school they have a choice to go to high school, vocational school, or drop out. Students have to work really hard to get into a high school, so the students actually want to be there. I mean of course it’s school and teenagers don’t want to be there, but Finnish students have more motivation. The teachers teach and they don’t care if you do it, it’s your fault if you fail the exam and have to take the class again. They don’t often check homework and the students are left to be very independent and self-motivated. School is done like college classes, you have to be at school when you have class and when you don’t you can do pretty much whatever you want. There are five terms in a year and each term is about five to seven weeks and then the classes change. At the end of each term there are exams for each of the classes. It’s honestly great because if the class is really boring or you don’t like the teacher you don’t have to be stuck with them for a year or semester. High school can be done in two to four years depending on how a students decides to structure their classes, but three years is the standard amount of time students spend in high school. To graduate high school students have to take seventy-three courses, one course lasts the one term. Students can work really hard their first two years so that they might only have classes three days a week in their third year. At the end of high school there are massive exams that are on everything learned in your classes ever. These are what allow Finns to graduate and get into college. Students who are taking the exams actually get a “Study Break” for about two weeks, before their exams, the time is just to study.

Since the teachers are so hands off with the students the students are forced to do what they need themselves to succeed. The teachers teach and the students do what they need to do to succeed.

These have just been my observations on Finland, the culture, food, and school so far, and there are of course things that I left out. I am really loving and adapting to way of life here.

Karjalanpiirakka- it is normally eaten with egg butter (boiled eggs and butter mixed)