School – Week one

Last week, I started at the Ylojarven Lukio, which is the local Upper Secondary School. The Upper Secondary School is three years, the first two are regular years, the third is an examination year that prepares the students for university. In Finland, the education system is very different, it is said it’s the best in the world… I don’t quite fully understand it yet but I have noticed it works very well: the school is organized, relaxed, there is no competition and no discrimination socially: every student can borrow a laptop from the school for free, the only condition is to give it back in good condition at the end of the year. I was also impressed by the fact there’s no competition in the clothes you wear, some people come to school in training pants… I was also surprised to see not a lot of girls wear shoes with heels. In short, nobody tries to show off. Lunch, which is (very conveniently) at 11 o’clock, is free for everybody, and the food is suprisingly good.

As an exchange student, I got to choose the classes I’m following, so I decided to follow English (6 hours), History (6 hours), Music (3 hours) and Swedish (3 hours). All the classes are in Finnish but all the teachers are trying to help me and translate once in a while what they’re saying. The other students are also very nice to me and most of them offer to help me. One teacher even gave my fellow students and me a group assignment so I could meet new people. The assignment was to record a radio programme about a news fact. I was partnered with two very nice girls, and together we decided to make a programme about Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s new movie “The Heat” in the form of an interview. We had a lot of fun doing some research, which mainly consisted of watching very funny videos about the movie, writing it and recording it.

This week, it was also picture day in school. I had spent about an hour the night before with my hostsisters trying to figure out our outfits. I quickly decided to wear a nicely looking chocolate brown outfit, I thought it would be a subtil way to represent my country… The photographer took a picture of each person alone and a classpicture. This was also an opportunity for me to meet the classmates I hadn’t met before because I don’t take the same classes. Anyway, I look forward to see the result in about a month…

First Weekend

August 18th, 2013. 17:46

This first weekend in Julkujärvi is definitly unforgettable. I met some friends of my hostfamily who were extremely nice and welcoming to me! We had some pie, talked (well, they talked and I tried to understand but didn't) and listened to music...
Yesterday, I went grocery shopping with my hostmother. The only thing I recognized was the Becel butter, Coco Pops and Uncle Ben's... I got to choose the kind of ice cream we would buy, which was very nice... And then, for the first time in my life, I had a slice of ice cream! Usually, I get a ball of ice cream... That was so funny and different!
Today, I went on a bike ride with my hostfather to my school so that I could try out the bike and more or less get to know the road. It was so beautiful, so green, so silent, so great!
Afterwards, I went running with my hostsister Emilia in the forest (which is just behind the house !!!). We talked about being an exchange student. Emilia was an exchange student last year in Germany, so before I left for Finland I asked her for advice about the experience. Emilia told that I shouldn't consider things as right or wrong, things are just different... But here everything just seems so right. I feel so great here. I've wanted to do this my whole life and it's as if the puzzle of my life is complete...

Anyway, tomorrow I will be going to school in Ylöjärvi. I really hope it's going to go well! I'm nervous because everything will be in Finnish, and not so much English... I'm curious also because it is said the Finnish education system is the best in the world, and I wonder what the Finnish people think of it... "

Welcome to Finland!

August 16th, 2013. 12 :00

This is it ! I am in the plane to Helsinki. Said goodbye to my friends and family, and left on the biggest adventure of my life : an intercultural exchange program.
For the next eleven months, I will be living with a Finnish family in Jukuljärvi, going to a Finnish school, I will learn to know a new language, and an new culture…