I'm finally putting up a blog post about school here in Finland. I can say that chances are no matter where you go, school is school and you will most of the time be waiting for your last class to end so you can go home. The difference of school in the US and Finland is quite different,
In high school (lukio) the schedule is more closer to college schedule, you are treated as a responsible adult, and there are 5 Jakso's (marking period).
So my current schedule looks like this:
In high school (lukio) the schedule is more closer to college schedule, you are treated as a responsible adult, and there are 5 Jakso's (marking period).
So my current schedule looks like this:
| Maanantai | Tiistai | Keskiviiko | Torstai | Perjantai |
| 8:20 - 9:30 |
X
|
X
|
X
|
Finnish |
X
|
| 9:50 - 11:00 | French | Math | Music | Math | French |
| Lunch 11:00 -11:40 |
| 11:45 - 12:55 | Math | Music | English | French | English |
| 1:20 - 2:35 | English | Finnish |
X
|
Music | Finnish |
| 2:50 - 4:10 |
x
|
Gym |
x
|
x
|
x
|
I'm taking 6 classes where before I've taken 4 or 5 classes a Jakso.
Classes are 75 minutes and you have each one 3 times a week. When a teacher will be gone, there is sometimes a substitute but I have had times where my classes are canceled which is so nice, haha. Each Jakso last 6 weeks, 5 of those weeks are teaching and the last week is exam week (koeviikko). They also call their teachers by their first names here, so instead of Mrs. Doe they would say Jane. It deeply confuses me, but I go with flow and adding to this I don't know many of the teacher's I've had names. They have a different grading scale, they don't have letter's bur rather numbers from 4 to 10 and 10 is really really hard to get and 7 is average and 4 and 5 are failing. Here in Finland after the 9th grade they must apply to lukio with their grades from the middle school. So if your grades are not good enough you can go to 10th grade which is optional and raise your numbers there.
Now about my school specifically. I go to the 2nd biggest school in my city out of the 3 there are. There's between 700-800 student's at my school which are mostly middle school students (7th to 9th) and lukio has between 250 and 300 students. My school is pretty nice and I think that's because a lot of the student's here appreciate their school more in then in the states. My school is also in the center of town in my county (?? I'm not sure about this but my city has three parts and this county stuff confuses me because in Hampton, we are an independent city so there is no counties or anything like that.)
Some things I like here compared to my school in the US
Something I like in the US compared to school here
Classes are 75 minutes and you have each one 3 times a week. When a teacher will be gone, there is sometimes a substitute but I have had times where my classes are canceled which is so nice, haha. Each Jakso last 6 weeks, 5 of those weeks are teaching and the last week is exam week (koeviikko). They also call their teachers by their first names here, so instead of Mrs. Doe they would say Jane. It deeply confuses me, but I go with flow and adding to this I don't know many of the teacher's I've had names. They have a different grading scale, they don't have letter's bur rather numbers from 4 to 10 and 10 is really really hard to get and 7 is average and 4 and 5 are failing. Here in Finland after the 9th grade they must apply to lukio with their grades from the middle school. So if your grades are not good enough you can go to 10th grade which is optional and raise your numbers there.
Now about my school specifically. I go to the 2nd biggest school in my city out of the 3 there are. There's between 700-800 student's at my school which are mostly middle school students (7th to 9th) and lukio has between 250 and 300 students. My school is pretty nice and I think that's because a lot of the student's here appreciate their school more in then in the states. My school is also in the center of town in my county (?? I'm not sure about this but my city has three parts and this county stuff confuses me because in Hampton, we are an independent city so there is no counties or anything like that.)
Some things I like here compared to my school in the US
- Free school lunch
- Open campus policy; With everyone's schedule different they can't exactly enforce a close campus policy. So if you don't want lunch you can go across the street to the stores and get something to eat or if you don't have a class and want to go buy something you can.
- No dress code; THIS IS LIFE! There is no dress code here and you know what no matter what someone wears everyone get's there school work done. In August when it was still warm I wore shorts and a tank top to school and didn't get in trouble because they're freaking great here.
- 20 minute breaks between classes; 20 minutes break?! Yes! If there were hall sweeps here, you would honestly have no excuse to tell Brion (one of the dean's at my school in the US) why you didn't make it to class
- The scheduling; the short days are bliss when I get out at 12:55 or go to school at 9:45
- Coffee machine; There's a coffee machine in my school and for .60 cents you can get your self a mini coffee, expresso, or hot chocolate and it's great.
Something I like in the US compared to school here
- The lunch; okay so food here is healthy and free but it often doesn't have much taste and I'm often left yearning for chicken wings, pizza or chicken patty for lunch. There are days when there is no meat for lunch and usually by the end of the day I need beef jerky or something.
- School Buses; They don't have school buses here. If you live farther out you can take the public transportation but most kids in lukio ride their bikes, walk, or ride their mopeds to school. In winter when everything is icy, walking to school is just hell. I didn't fall much but it takes a lot of concentration not too and also during this icy/snowy time if you don't have winter tire's on your bike you can ride your bike to school (I learned this the hard way).
- The bigness of Bethel; Anyone who goes to Bethel knows how big the student body is and how small the school is. The smallness of Bethel I don't miss but what I do miss is how many student's there were.
- School Sports; In most European countries there are no sports connected with the school as school is for academics and then sport is with club. It's nice to go to school and have practice after and have your small little family at school.
I've been wanting to have written this for over 4 months now but I just never felt energetic enough to write this. Happy Valentine's Day! Hyvää Ystäväpäivä! (Direct translation: Happy Friendday)
-Hailey
