Week of light in Tampere

Yesterday evening, I met with a friend in the centre of Tampere for the week of light which celebrates light. There was a great atmosphere in Tampere. We watched people dancing with fire and the fireworks, it was very impressive !

Syys lomma – Autumn holiday

Last week it was syys lomma, which means autumn holiday. I took this time to have fun with my hostfamily and rest.
I went with my hostfamily to see a play about James Dean in Valkeakoski, a small town near Tampere, on saturday. The play was in Finnish so I didn’t understand much, but the facial expressions did help though. I did enjoy a lot the songs, some of them were even in English and I could sing along in my head!
On sunday, I met with my friend Alessandra. We did some shopping and walking around in Tampere. It was fun to see how toys have evolved since my childhood. In my time, the Lego boxes were much smaller.

On Tuesday, I spent the whole day with my hostsisters. I made dangerously good Belgian waffels with bananas, whipped cream and melted chocolate for breakfast. Afterwards, Emilia, Milla and I went to Tampere. Emilia and I bought our dress for prom, which is in February. The dresses are fabulous and we look absolutely beautiful! I can’t give more details because I don’t want to ruin the surprise… To end this great day, we went to see the movie “We’re the Millers”. It was absolutely hilarious!!! I recommend everybody to see it!

On Wednesday the girls and I went to visit Mamma, their grandmother, for a long weekend. Mamma lives on the countryside. It was a beautiful area! There weren’t a lot of houses, it was mostly fields and trees. The view was even more beautiful when it started snowing (oh yes!). For me, it was very interesting to see the Finnish countryside. We spend most of the time reading, and just hanging out. We went completely crazy in the supermarket - trust me you don’t want to know why – and also horseback riding, which was amazing. The horse was very sweet and patient, it felt so good! Emilia and I went to a bar with one of her cousins on Friday night. Eventhough the drinks were expensive and the music wasn’t that good, I still had fun! It was so nice to distress. On Sunday, my hostsisters, my hostparents, who had arrived Saturday, and I went to visit Pappa, my hostfather’s father. Pappa also lives on the countryside near a beautifull little lake, which was partly frozen. It was so nice and quiet!
In short, I had a fun, lovely and interesting week!

School – second semester has begun

The second semester began last week. This semester, I have English, history, philosophy and music.

In philosophy and history, we are talking about Ancient Greece, which means these courses are easy for me since I already studied it in the past years in Belgium as a Latin-Greek student. The teachers know it so once in a while they ask me a question in English, and I always know the answer which makes me feel proud…

In music class, we are rehearsing to perform in various, such as a church at Christmas time… It is so much fun! The teacher even suggested I sing something in Dutch… Any suggestions? I can’t seem to be able to pick a song…

In English class, we mainly practice speaking. Yesterday, we did that by saying tongue twisters faster and faster. Try saying “Wether the weather is cold, wether the weather is hot, we'll weather the weather whatever the weather wether we like it or not” as fast as you can. This is also a good one: “How many cookies could a good cook cook if a good cook could cook cookies?” It’s more fun when you see other people trying...

Bye bye!

Suomi maailta

Tonight, AFS Tampere organized a Suomi Maailta. This is an evening where the exchange students get the opportunity to know more about Finland. All the countries represented in Tampere will get an evening. Belgian evening will be in november together with Italy. 

Orientation Camp in Hyvinkää

At Orientation Camp in Hyvinkää, all the exchange students, returnees and volunteers spent the weekend together talking about Finland and about being exchange student. We also danced, sang and made pulla, a Finnish pastry. We had a blast! 

Metsäkylä Primary School

Last week, it was exam week at my school, but since I don’t speak Finnish yet, I didn’t have to take the tests. Instead, my English teacher organized a visit for me in Metsäkylä Koulu, the local Primary School.

So I arrived there in the morning not knowing what to expect, I went to the headmaster’s office. He explained to me how the system works and gave me a tour of the school. I was brought to the craftwork class, where I observed little boys making shelves… That was quite interesting!

Later, I joined a German class, where I showed some pictures of Belgium and Belgian food. The students were very interested and asked me some questions which I gladly answered by showing some more pictures, thank you Google by the way. This was followed by a delicious coffee in the teacher’s lounge…

I also joined an English class, where I spoke again about Belgium; I found out that talking about Belgian food really makes you feel hungry! The students seemed very interested, not only about Belgium but also about me… At the end of the hour, the teacher asked me to participate in an activity called “The Food Store”. I played a shopkeeper, and the students had to come buy some food, in the end they each got one candy, except for me, I received two candies!

At the end of the day, I joined a history class, where I was introduced to some sporty, energetic 12-year-olds … I showed for the third time some pictures of Belgium… And the students started to make jokes about Belgium but I didn’t understand them because the students spoke Finnish...

Visiting Metsäkylä Primary School and meeting these kids was a day I will never forget, and I thank my English teacher for suggesting it, and I also thank the staff and teachers for welcoming me!

 

 

TAMPERE AND TURKU

   This week has been very exciting for me. Last saturday I visited Tampere with my hostsister Emilia and other exchange students. We met at the Keskustori (main square of Tampere) in front of the Tampereen Kaupungin Theater, where they currently play Les Misérables. We walked in the city, ate an ice cream by the river, learned some Finnish words, walked some more, had a picnic in the park with a view on Sarkanniemi, an amusement park, walked again some more, sat down by the lake to wave to all the boats and jetskis that came by, we even saw a boatsauna! Finally, to end this great day filled with lots of laughs and walking, we went to see the fireworks at Sarkanniemi. The show was short but so impressing and wonderfull! To sum up: a great day meeting new people and visiting a new city.
   

On wednesday, I went to historical Turku. We visited the Castle, which was built on the banks of the Aura River around 1280 by the Swedish King to confirm his authority in the region. The castle is one of the oldest buildings in Turku that is still in use. The castle was very nice, and it’s history very interesting. Since the visit was in Finnish, I kind of swayed in the back to read the folders which, luckily, were in English, but I am determined to go back one day and take a guided tour in English…  More about the castle, click here.

   After the castle, we visited Turku’s cathedral, which is the mother church of the Lutheran Church of Finland. It is considered as one of the major records of Finnish architectural history, it’s history is closely linked with the people’s history. The cathedral was built in the 13th century, when Turku began to emerge as an important trading centre in Finland. The cathedral endured a lot of changes, and became bigger and bigger over the centuries, for example a choir was added during the 14th century, side chappels were added in the 15the century, the tower was added later. In 1827, Turku suffered from a big fire, most of the town was destroyed, including most of the cathedral. The tower had to be rebuilt and now reaches 101 metres. The altarpiece was renovated in 1836 and painted by the Swedish artist Fredrik Westin. The walls and roof are decorated with frescos in the Romantic style by R.W. Ekman, also known as the father of painting in Finland. The frescos show episodes of Jesus’s life and the history of the Church of Finland, such as the baptism of the first Finnish Christians. The cathedral also houses the graves of many big names of Finnish history. More about the cathedral, click here.

   To end the day, we visited Turku’s Archeological Museum, Aboa Vetus. This museum guides us through historical Turku’s streets, houses and treasures, about 800 metres below the ground. For the first time of my life I could write on wax tablets, as my history teacher said: medieval iPads, and analyse animal bones with a magnifying glass… I learned a lot about life and trading in medieval Finland and Scandinavia. Very interesting! The museum also offers modern art exhibitions, but we didn’t visit them. More about Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, click here.  
Bye bye!