Suomen Koulu// Finnish School

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:

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

1. Free school lunch
2. 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.
1. 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.
3. 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
4. The scheduling; the short days are bliss when I get out at 12:55 or go to school at 9:45
5. 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

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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. 
4. 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

Stockholm

For January 30th and 31st I was in Stockholm with my host mom! We walked around the city, rode the metro, and visited some great museum's and historical places.

THE CASTLE

One of the places in Stockholm I visited was the Castle, where the royal family (of Sweden) lived/lives. One part of the castle is open to visitor and the rest is closed off because they live in the other part. Here is a slideshow of pictures I took. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a history nerd and it was so amazing to have seen the castle and read all the facts that they had in the castle.

...

OLD TOWN

This part of Stockholm has been here for many centuries back to the 1000's I believe. I loved how cute and vibrant everything was here in this part of town. It reminded me a lot of what Italy looks like in the movies. 

...

GLOBEN

On our last day in Stockholm, my host mom took me to Globen! Globen is like a very mini London Eye, so you get in to this glass bubble type of thing and you ride up and you can see the top of Stockholm from it. It takes 20 minutes in total to get up and come down and it is a little over 400 feet up. 

...

THE CHURCH

When we first arrived in Old Town the first place we went to was the Cathedral of Stockholm.

...

Along with those places I went to the Nobel Prize Museum, which was such a fascinating place. I also took photo's in an old Swedish phone booth and in front of the Nobel Museum. I found out that 7/11's exist outside of the US (in many countries but Finland of course), it also brought back memories of home as Stockholm is on the waterfront just like Hampton, so the chilliness of the windy air made me think of home. 

 

Next Sunday I leave for Poland for Sport Holiday, thanks to my host parents I will be able to bear witness to Auschwitz

-Hailey

2 Years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BLOG!!

Two years ago I got an email from CBYX say that I was going to be a semi-finalist which ment that I had a pretty good chance to do an exchange year in Germany my junior year. Though I did not get that scholarship, here I am two years later in Finland but actually I'm in Sweden right now but you get the jist. I still can't believe where I am even though I did not go to go to Germany 14-15 I'm grateful for have been a semi-finalist. It really gave that extra push and confirmed with me that I wanted to do exchange and it wasn't a long lost dream of mine. For my senior year Icouldn't have pictured it any better I can't believe I will be finishing the last of my high school classes in March and then in August I will hopefully be leaving for Paris for university and this will be an amazing year.  As I probably said last year I'm grateful for have started my blog even if I was so superstitious for doing it. I love re-reading my past blogpost not knowing what my future held. Thank you for everyone who has supported me and read my blog!

Until Next Time,
Hailey

P.S I have a video coming soon but I may trash it and just write what I talked about but there is something coming very soon :)

Hyvää Joulua//Last blog post of 2015

So this will be 2 post in 1!

Christmas 

Christmas here is celebrated on the 24th whereas back home we celebrate on the 25th, so this Christmas was spent a bit differntly. I woke up on the 24th, ate breakfast, and helped my host family set up a tree, took a shower, then went to Christmas Church. Pretty much the whole town go to the main church in Nurmijärvi for a little Christmas service, I didn't understand much but there was prayer, singing, and preaching. After this we returned home and shortly after left for my host grandparents house in Kalukkala for Christmas dinner and to open presents. Chrismas dinner consited of Turkey, many types of casseroles, meatballs, salad, a type of cream from Greece, and ham. After we ate dinner, we opened presents their tradition is that the youngest goes and gives a present to someone from under the tree one at a time. Both Nea and I handed out presents and recieved our own. I'm so thankful for my host family for being so kind for opening me into their home and giving me gifts for Christmas. It set in that this Christmas will the first of the next 4 or 5 Christmases away from home, so I did get a bit of homesick (okay a lot of homesick) but I enjoyed it and the new experince is worth it.



My last post of 2015.

This was one damn of a year. Soooo much has happened this year! I'm so grateful for Rotary, for my American friends, my Finnish friends, my exchange student friends here in Finland. I was accepted into two differnt exchange programs to two differnt amazing contries! I left my home and family, I came to this new country with two large suitcases and a carryon, and I made a life here I'm a bit afraid to leave. I've been accepted into my dream school, I've been homesick, and I've been the happiest I've ever been. This was my last year as a minor (plus nine days into 2016 but I won't count it really) My past 17 years of life have been great but I have many many years of more life to live, so I won't say  these have been the best years of my life because I've just started living.

Pictures of the day I left at the airport

 









Signing off for 2015,
Hailey

Ruka

On December 17th, at about 4:30pm I started on a 9 in a half hour trip back to Lapland to a place called Ruka!

It was about -20 degrees celsius while we were there (-4 degrees Fahrenheit)

My host sister and her friend had their training, as they are  downhill skier's, in Ruka so my my host family decided to take a trip there. We drove Tuesday evening and arrived a little after 4 am on Wednesday after having car trouble because of the cold. I think by 11:30 everyone was up and a little after I walked a bit around the little ski village in Ruka with my host mom.

That day I reliesed I was sick and of course it happened while I was there. That day I didn't go skiing but just hung out in the apartment. The next day, I woke up with a very sore throat and a runny nose, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my day. At about one I went skiing with my host dad over on the kiddie slopes because after my one day of skiing in Muonio I didn't feel pro-enough to concur the big hills.

The view from the bottom of the hill

I'm so thankful for my host mom who went to the apteeki (pharmacy store) and got me throat lounges and a powder hot water thing which numb my throat. Friday my throat was feeling better but nose was still running like it was running a marathon. At about 12 I went skiing again with my host dad on the hill for basically people who are to advanced for the kiddie hill but not ready for the harder slopes. On the way there since it was on the other side of the mountain my host dad and I rode the lift to the top of the big hill where all the slopes led off from and skied down to the basically big kid hill. I was honestly ready to shat my pants because I was sure I would ski off the hill to my death. I made it down in one piece and skied for about 3 hours and then we took the ski lift back to the top and skied down to the hotel. I had to have a teacher help me because the first slope down was steep and all I could see was death haha.

The lift that dropped off at the 'next step up form kiddie hill' hill

View from the 'next step up from the kiddie hill' hill

 My host dad dropped me off an hour later back on the other side so I could ski a bit more, and I fell so many times, it was funny until I went to the kiddie slopes and fell and sat like five minutes trying to get up. after about 2 in a half hours my host dad skied over to that side and we rode the lift up to go down one slope then skied back to the lift that would take us to the slope that would lead back to the hotel. My host dad had to help me like the teacher did earlier because I was still afraid of going down that part.

My ski card was good night skiing which started at 7:30pm so at about 8 my host sister, her friend, and I went skiing. We did the beginner  trail because only one life was up and the other slopes were way to difficult for me. Low and behold so was the beginner trail from the top of the hill to the bottom. My host sister and her friend helped me learn to ski, the first time went good and the second time when I was trying to turn I skied into my host sister and we both fell. Ahh! I had a fun time.

The next day we packed to leave and left for our 9 1/2 hour trip back to Numijärvi! I had a swell time and enjoyed being able to ski for a second time. Also there were lots of British families, it was so cute to hear the little British kids speak with their accents!

-Hailey

Lapland Trip

One of the three trips Rotary offers is the Lapland Trip, which we ride a bus up to Muonio and spend 3 days up there until coming back on the fourth day. The Lapland trip was from November 28th to December 2nd!

My third host parents took me to Hyvinkää bus station where the bus I would be riding would pick me up. Also at that stop was Kellar, from Ohio, and we met up and talked a bit and got back in our cars since it was so cold. We were waiting for our bus to come for over 30 minutes, it was already 15 minutes late thats when Kellar got a call from the Rotex and we found out that bus we thought wasn't our bus was actually our bus. We boarded the bus to find out we were the first one's and we could choose any seats we want. So like the bad kids we are we chose the back haha!

We made stops to: Hammenlinna, Tampere, Oulu and other cities in between that I don't remember. This with 2 breaks took about 17 hours! The bus ride wasn't too bad, we had a lot of fun, music, and food haha. At one in the morning we did have to change buses because our bus's fifth and sixth gears were broken. Once we reached Muonio at like 10 in the morning we were greeted with snowballs from the other exchange students who had arrived before us and we went to our rooms to put our suit cases down. I shared a room with Maddie (Canada), Mariam (Mexico), and Jana (Germany)! We had the lucky greatness to have the last room at the end of the hall which means there was a lot of walking involved to get to our rooms! Haha!

Day One:

• Arriving in Muonio
• Snowball fights: Not long after we arrived most of us went outside and threw snowballs at each other and sled down the hill, this lasted for 30 to 40 minutes!
• Enjoying the Lappi life: Nothing else was planned for the day so we just caught up with each other as we haven't been together since Karkku. We played games, ate, and

Day Two:

• Skiing in Olos: I had never skied before so I knew it would be interesting! It took me four hours until I could get the handle on it, but unfortunately I stayed on the little baby slope's because I just was not advanced enough for the bigger slopes! Most of us already knew how to sky or snowboard but then you have the rest of us who have never tried. Even if I didn't go all the way to the top or become a pro in the five hours we had, I still had a lot of fun! P.S Ski boots hurt sooo much!

• We went to a local school that evening where different countries did dances or performances to the locals and a few groups of girls also did dances for us. It was nice to show the local community in Muonio the craziness of us exchange students, and I hope we inspired at least one person to become an exchange student. 

Day Three:

• Went to a Reindeer Farm: At this Reindeer farm we learned about Reindeer farmers and the history of this farm. We also learned about how Reindeer was used for warmth  and food and how resourceful the Sami people are of Reindeer. (Sami people are what the people who lived in Lapland are called. Similar to Native Americans.)
• Fed Reindeer: They were so darn cute!! There were so many Svens!
• Went Reindeer Sleighing: In the evening we walked in snow shoes to the Reindeer riding place. We rode reindeer in a little circle, and it was absolutely amazing!
• Went Husky Sleighing: After Reindeer sledding we went Husky sleighing! It was also just as wonderful! And being able to see all the wonderful dogs! At this Husky farm (?) They had over 400 dogs, there were so many! They were all so cute also!
• Had Reindeer for dinner: That night we had Reindeer for dinner! It didn't taste much differently then other meat. I'm so sorry Sven!
• Had a party that night since it would be the last time we are all together since our oldies leave next month: At 6:30 we had an evening program, where Rotex did some things, a Sami man came and sung us orignal songs and chants, and then our oldies sung us a few songs and then from 8 to 12 we partied!

Day Four:

• Went to the North Pole in Rovaniemi: We left the hotel at 9, I believe, and left for Rovaniemi! It was a 3 hour bus ride until we got there. In Rovaniemi we stopped at Santa's Village aka The North Pole, and were given about 2 hours to explore! It wasn't as magical as I hoped it would be, it was very commercialised and not very spectacular. But I did get my passport stamped with the Artic Circle stamp!
• Saw Santa
• Left from Lapland to come home (Got home the next day at 5 in the morning)

This is a summary of my Lapland trip! I had so much fun! Thank you to everyone who helped make it so much fun and to my lovely oldies who will be gone soon. Also thank you too Lee and Bill from my district back home for helping me go on this amazing trip!

Here is a short video of pictures a few video's from Lapland! Not all these pictures are mine so thank you Neeky, Marie, and Mariam <3

Click here to see the video!

-Hailey

Thanksgiving

This post is a bit overdue but I've been in Lapland on my Lapland trip (a post will soon come about that)!

Obviously they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so I brought a bit of America to Finland on the 26th. I'm such a bad cook, I was really scared about how everything would turn out! I made Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, tourtiere, and devilled eggs.

I made the pie's on Wednesday and woke up at 8 on Thursday to start my turkey. I had to watch a video on Youtube on how to make the turkey since I've never made one before so it took me an hour to prep it compared to the supposed to be time of 20 minutes. I then made mashed potatoes, devilled devilled eggs, and then lastly the mashed potatoes. I was cooking from 8 to about 5:30 with of course a bit of free time in between. Cooking wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I didn't have the typical appetite I usually had at Thanksgiving.

At 7pm my friends (Veera, Neea, Julia, Vera, and Emmi) and also my host grandparents came over to celebrate Thanksgiving with me! They were so sweet, they brought me boxes of chocolate and ate the food I cooked haha. I also made little hand Turkeys similar to the one's we made in elementary school. This isn't a very good post but I had such a good time! I'm so thankful of getting to have this experience and being able to spend it with four wonderful families and friends!