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)

Finnish pastries

Reindeer chips and jerky in a shop in Helsinki

Crayfish are eaten a lot during the summer in Finland

Finnish berries

Week 5: Finnish Lessons and Iik Week

On September 12, 2018September 13, 2018 By riversandroads2102In September 2018Leave a comment

Monday after the party was a great day! I saw people who were at the birthday party in the hallways and they were all waving and talking to me when I saw them. The whole day just made me feel really good about my time here. I felt like I had made friends.

I finally started my Finnish lessons on Tuesday, everything we learned was really basic stuff I learned at camp like the alphabet and numbers. Even though I knew what we learned it gave me more practice using the words. There are the other four exchange students who go to school with me in the class and the rest of the people are adults at least in their late twenties.

I get off of school at 12:30 on Wednesdays so Laisha (from Mexico) and I went to Helsinki for the evening before she had to see a movie with her host mom. It was really nice to have someone to just walk around he city with instead of going alone like I normally do. We went to a contemporary art museum together (no where close to as weird as the modern art museum) and just talked about our lives. We decided to hang out more since we are both tired of being alone all of the time. I really enjoyed my time with her. When Laisha left I got a text from Jasmine asking if we could meet up. We went to her school to talk in the library, but there were parent teacher conferences so we headed back to city center to meet one of her friends from Germany. I couldn’t stay long because the next day was Reija’s birthday and she would be leaving very early in the morning for a work trip. Essi made a card, Ella and Eedit made a coupon book signing up all of the kids to do chores, and I got her a picture frame to put our picture in when we finally take a family picture. We sang “Happy Birthday” and ate Daim cake from Ikea, it was a really cute celebration.

I saw Kinky Boots the musical, in Finnish, with my theater class on Thursday. We had a workshop with the lead actor in the beginning where he answered questions we had about the show and himself. Afterwards, we had a tour of the theater, we saw the dressing rooms, costume closet, wig station, prop tables, and other places in the theater that most people don’t get to see. Despite the fact that it was all in Finnish it was a really cool experience. We had an hour until the show started so I hung out with some girls from my class in the park near by. One of them is hoping to do Rotary Youth Exchange in the USA next year and her English is great. She actually made her friends speak English around me when we were hanging out. We took a lot of pictures and talked before the show. During the show we didn’t have seats together, but I was put next to another one of my friends from theater class who explained to me what was going on in the show. Even though I couldn’t understand most of what was going on the show was amazing. The actors had to much passion and connection to the story that was really powerful and made the show come to life. The message of the show was translated through the actions of the characters and the way the actors portrayed them. It reminded me of what I’ve learned in school at home, to act not only with your words but your actions to bring the character to life. I was truly amazed by what happened on stage that evening.

Friday, was a really long day with another Finnish lesson after school, I was just tired and feeling homesick. I was lonely and missing my friends and family when the day really turned around. Elina fell asleep on me on the couch all cuddled up, which I have to say was one of the best things ever. Once she was asleep I went to the basement with Ella and Eedit to dye Eedit’s hair. We just talked as we did this and it was great. Eedit had to wash all the hair dye out of her hair and Ella and I talked about school and our friends, it honestly made me feel so good.

I met up with Laisha early the next morning to go shopping in Helsinki. We went to the market in the harbor and walked around. We didn’t do much shopping, but a lot of talking, before I had to go meet up with Jasmine to go to Linannmäki (the amusement park I went to the weekend before). This week at the amusement park it’s Iik Week (Eek Week) which is like a Halloween celebration except it’s in September because it’s too cold for the park to be open in October. Jasmine’s host mom is the managing director of Linannmaki so we got all of the inside information on which haunted houses were the best and how the park works. I was not for the haunted houses, at home I love being in them but I do not want to go through one, but her host mom made us. I was terrified, we all walked in a line, I held Jasmine’s host mom’s hands and Jasmine was grabbing my back while her host sister and host sister’s boyfriend walked behind with her host dad. It wasn’t actually that scary, but the thought of the unknown was terrifying. Since Jasmine and I were totally freaking out in the haunted house her host family did everything they could to scare us the rest of the evening and it worked almost every time. I had so much fun that evening and we stayed until the park closed at midnight. I was so happy, it was a good distraction from the fact that the Moon River music festival was going on at home and I wasn’t there.

It was a pretty great week! I made new friends and had a lot of fun. I look forward to what next week brings!

Reija’s Birthday Celebration

My new friend, Julia, who wants to do Rotary Youth Exchange next year

Jasmine and I at Iik week

Ferris Wheel Ride in the amusement park

View from the top of the ferris wheel

Week 4: Weird Art and Rotary Meetings

On September 9, 2018September 13, 2018 By riversandroads2102In September 2018Leave a comment

Monday was a pretty big day, I was interviewed by one teacher for the school social media and had my first Rotary meeting with my host club. I walked into the fur factory where my host club meets and there was this large banquet room. Immediately I thought it would be filled with people that I would have to present in front of. As it got closer to the time for me to present I realized that the Rotarians were just sitting at two of the tables in the room. There were not many people in the club compared to the Chattanooga Rotary Club, but everyone was so kind. They were all very interested in knowing how I had liked Finland so far and how they could support me during my exchange. I got to meet each of the member and talk to them personally. After meeting everyone, I was no longer so scared to go up and present. When it was my turn I presented my slide show in Finnish, they were all very impressed by what I had learned so far, even though I messed up quite a few times I was still able to be understood. Doing it was so exciting and I loved getting to talk about where I am from and what I do in my free time. All of the Rotarians afterwards told me how much I learned and I really endeared myself to them by trying to speak their language.

On Tuesdays my classes don’t start until 11:20. Both Reija, and Mikko had early meetings so i was put in charge of taking essay to daycare. Shortly before we had to leave I tried to wake Essi up, picking her out of bed and putting her on the couch in the living room. As soon as she woke up she started screaming and crying and tried to run away from me. I sat on the floor holding her as she screamed and cried, when she finally calmed down I let her go so I could try to get her to put her clothes. As soon as I let go she took off running and tried to lock herself in her parent’s room, but thankfully there was a broom in the way and I was able to get in after her. I sat there with her on the bed for about 30 minutes before I thought she had fallen asleep. I went upstairs to get the rest of my things ready for school so I could try again with Essi later, but then I heard the door slam. She had gotten out of bed, moved the broom, slammed, locked the door while I was upstairs. I had no idea what to do, I just stood out of the room yelling at her and texted Reija. Shortly after I sent the text Reija called me and asked me to give the phone to Essi and sure enough Essi unlocked the door. They were speaking in Finnish so I had no idea what was going on. After the phone call Essi got out of bed and said “Ok, I’m ready to go to daycare”, she put on her clothes and shoes and we start walking. Halfway to daycare Reija meets us and walks with Essi and I until we almost reach daycare and she goes back to her car. As soon as her mom leaves Essi starts crying again, so I had to drag crying Essi into daycare. The lady who took her from me just asked “Did Essi have a good morning?”, I wanted to scream. Reija took me to school, the rest of the day kinda sucked. Finnish didn’t even sound like a language anymore, just like unidentifiable gibberish. At home I needed to walk to pick up Essi, and of course on the way home she was a perfect angel.

The next morning I actually fell asleep in theater class I was so tired from the long day on Tuesday (well now I can finally say I have fallen asleep in class before). I was supposed to hang out with Jasmine right after school but she couldn’t because she was shopping with her host grandma, so we agreed to meet up later. I went to Helsinki by myself and just walked around. Before I had to go to Sello to meet Jasmine, I ended up walking a mile and a half just to get a milkshake and it was TOTALLY worth it. I had so much fun with Jasmine at Sello we just were shopping and talking. I bough really cute pants and had Hesburger (Finnish McDonalds) for the first time. We both went back to my host family’s house where tons of children were in the yard playing, with a table covered in food set up. Elina told me that it was for Essi and the neighbor’s fake wedding ceremony, but Essi did’t want to get married anymore so it became a “Girl Party”. Honestly it was so much fun, there was music and we all ate the food on the table and the plums that fell off a tree and onto the trampoline. It was one of the best evenings I have had here. The whole night made me so happy and warm inside.

Thursday I got to miss my radio class because I was going to be an extra in a Finnish TV show. It was so much fun even though I had no idea what was going on most of the time. Some people would tell me “that actor, right there, is really really famous” and of course I had no idea who they were. But just being in the studio was really really cool, seeing all of the details, props, and equipment.

On Friday I got a message from Victor (from Chile) saying he was going to this event in Helsinki with his host sister. I decided I wanted to go too, it was at the modern art museum it looked like this really cool light, art, and poetry presentation. The show was super weird: the first lady did some short of wailing, moaning, singing, the second man made smacking, chewing nosies with his mouth, and other weird sounds, the third lady, I’m pretty sure she was convinced she was a crazy witch, and the last man, his presentation was actually really cool but I thought some one was going to die afterwards. After the performance I hung out with Victor and his host sister the rest of the evening as we went through the museum. The exhibits were SO weird. It was a lot of strange “artistic” videos that were supposed to be very unique analyzations of life. The last exhibit we visited was definitely the weirdest, it was these Muppet looking puppets that were playing music and talking. We thought it was going to be this cute children’s exhibit but it got weirder as we went further in the room. Eventually there were naked puppets covered in ham and cheese holding up the Earth, and there was a movie that went along with the whole exhibit. We sat in the movie from the beginning until the end of the first ten minutes. The movie was in English, but we had no idea what was going on AT ALL. There was a box puppet and an Egg head puppet in the middle and they were talking to each other between certain scenes and moving the projectors on their heads all over the room. The evening was so much fun, but one of the weirdest things I had ever seen. Victor and I were both really glad was came because it made a great story and memory together.

Saturday, I had a Rotary district trip to the amusement park in Helsinki, Linnanmaki. Since Victor and Jasmine weren’t there I hung out with girls from Canada, Taiwan, and Japan. They were super sweet and we had so much fun. The park was really small compared to most of the parks in the USA but it was really cute. The day was really fun getting to hang out with girls I hadn’t before and riding the rides. Eventually I switched groups and hung out with three girls from USA before I had to leave. We got snacks before I left to go hang out with my Finnish friends from homeroom that had invited me over. With the Finnish girls we ate at McDonalds (I have had more McDonalds here than I have had in the USA ever, but it actually is a lot better here) and headed to Ina’s house. We played games and ate candy until late in the evening. It was really fun and hanging out with them was really nice, but it was hard because they didn’t really speak English to me very much so they were mostly just talking round me in Finnish.

Sunday I had cheerleading again and then had to get ready from Sohvi’s (another girl from homeroom) birthday party. I was really nervous for her party, but it ended up being REALLy great. Sohvi made everyone speak English even if they were not talking to me, so I could join any conversations I wanted. It made me feel great, I was a part of something and making friends with people I normally wouldn’t get to. The evening was really amazing I feel like I made many new friends that I can hopefully hangout with in the future.

The first term of school is ending soon and I’m hoping to line up some of my classes with my new friends for the next term.

My Host Club President and I exchanging pennants.