Finnish Christmas

Winter break is coming! But first I've got to finish exam week...

My week started out with studying for the next day's test. Then on Monday I took my chemistry test (all in Finnish may I add). Since so many people had signed up for that class, it been divided into two groups. On testing day, we all took the test at the same time since it was the same class. The room had thirty people and was very full. This is very unusual in Finnish schools since classes sizes are never more then thirty people, unlike in America where they are always more than thirty students. Anyway, the test went okay even though it was all in Finnish. Then in the afternoon I had rehearsal for the middle school's Christmas performance.

On Tuesday, I was supposed to have an English test, but my English teacher said I didn't have to take it so I could go to the Christmas performance. He was going to so he got another teacher to supervise the test for him. The Christmas performance in the middle school started a little after eight in the morning and ended at nine thirty. We were one of the first groups to perform and I thought it went well. After it had ended, I helped clean up the instruments and chairs. Outside there were lots of people waiting for the buses since you can leave from your test at nine thirty in the high school. Because it was the last day of testing, that means no review and you can go home. The middle schoolers didn't have school after the Christmas performance, so many people were waiting for the buses to come and bring them home. After we finished cleaning, we had some coffee and deserts in the school cafeteria before we headed home for the day.

Wednesday was my first day of winter break! We went Christmas shopping for some last minute gifts, got some ice cream, went to my first host family's house where I gave them their school books that I had been borrowing for the grading period and grabbed the books for the new grading period as well as give my third host family some gifts I had from Minnesota. Lennu (my first host family's dog) has grown quite a lot and is now a very large dog, almost as big as my first host family's other dog Jalo.

Then on Thursday Christmas Eve came. Just to let the people that don't know know, Christmas Eve is when the Fins celebrate their Christmas. First we went to sauna at their cabin. Then we went to the cemetery and placed candles at their family member's graves. We returned home for a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner which consisted of a large ham, potatoes, salad and bread. They had started cooking the ham the night before it was so large. My first host family came over and then Santa did. He handed out presents from a sack to all of us and we took some pictures and talked with him for a little while before he headed out. Then we opened our presents. I got Finnish candy and American candy (which my grandma had sent me) as well as some Finnish things from my parents. My favorite gift was from my second host family saying that I can pick a professional hockey game and they will take me to it in January. Then we had some deserts and coffee. I taught my younger host sister how to make bracelets on her new bracelet maker since the instructions were all in English.

Yesterday, I started working on applications for PSEO in America as I need to complete them while I am here in Finland as well as make thank you cards for the Christmas presents I received.

Today I worked some more on things for America and I wrote thank you notes for all of my Christmas gifts. In the evening I made taco salad for dinner for my host family. They liked it.

Exam week #3

Sunday was a busy day. In the morning I wrapped presents for my hockey team and for my host family. After that, I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and M & M cookies for my hockey team and for my host family. Then in the evening we went to my host family's church where we listened to Christmas songs.

Monday was the last regular school day before exam week. In biology we taught our classmates things we had research and in English we did some practice exercises and talked about culture differences between Finland and other places (random note: my English teacher decided to wear red contacts for the fun of it. Everyone thought it looked so weird.) Then in math we worked on old tests for review for the test and did the same thing in chemistry. In the afternoon I had two free periods so I talked with my friends. I told them what I would be giving my teammates for presents that night at practice. One of my friends who used to play hockey and is a big fan of the NHL was very jealous.

That evening, I packed up my suitcase with all of the presents for my hockey team (yes I had that many). I went right to practice since I didn't have any Finnish lessons in the evening and wouldn't have them until January. I was early and waited for everyone to arrive. As they did, they were impressed by the number of presents I had and they kept saying I should give them a large present. Then my coach came and we decided that we would play some soccer and then open the gifts. We locked the locker room just in case. When we came back, I gave them their gifts. 

First I placed the large box for everyone in the middle of the locker room and said it was for all of them so open it. They did and they were very excited to get an American football. I gave out some Minnesota Wild Schedules (but I said they couldn't open them yet so they didn't know what they were). One of my coaches who was there opened the present I said he could open. It was a calendar I had made and he liked it.  Then I gave out the eight large presents to the people I thought deserved them the most (i.e., the ones who showed up to practice the most, etc). They didn't know what they were and I said they could pick the one they wanted. I said which Wild player they could pick and then they picked one. The people with the large presents guessed that maybe they were pictures. After that I gave the small gifts out to the rest and told them to open them. They were very happy and surprised to be getting t-shirts from the Minnesota Wild. One of my teammates gave me a gift that they said was from all of them. I opened it and saw a JPK hat and towel. I really liked it. Then my coach opened his present (which was a picture signed by Mikael Grandlund) and they were all very impressed that I had managed to get that. Then we took a picture since I said we needed to since I didn't pay for the stuff. I said that this picture would be going to the Minnesota Wild and possibly on to some of their social media and they were really surprised and some didn't even believe me. After practice I gave them cookies I had made and made them sign thank you cards for everyone involved. And after all of that, my host brother picked me up and he showed me how Finnish people drive (let's just say it was fast and furious).

After an exciting day, a new one started and I had to take my physics test. This was in English and I have no idea how I did. It was nice though because my teacher gave me one of the school's graphing calculators that I could use for the rest of the year (I hadn't had one since I didn't want to buy one). Then I went to my music teacher's room where the saxophone players (the trumpet players couldn't make it) practiced the song they had picked (joulupukki matkaan jo käy). It wasn't too hard and I played it well after a few times. I gave my music teacher a calendar as a present since he also helps out with my hockey team and I gave them all left over cookies from the night before. Then I went to Finnish lessons with one of the English teachers and I gave him some cookies too. Then we had biology review before I went back to the music room for more practice, this time with the trumpet players. Then at home I studied for biology and made some thank you cards for the Minnesota Wild Gifts.

Keskivikkona (on Wednesday) I had my biology test. It was also in English and it went okay. Then I had Finnish lessons before I didn't have any review because I didn't have a test the next day. I had music practice though and did that. In the evening I had practice as usual. We had practice and then after practice we kept our gear on and played football with the American football I had given them. It was pretty fun. Then I gave my other coach who was there (and wasn't at practice on Monday) his presents. He got a calendar and a puck signed by Mikko Koivu which they all thought was cool (I hadn't told my teammates what it was but they had been guessing that it was a signature/signatures from the Wild. We went shopping for food and I saw my third host dad and one of my third host brothers. Then we went home and made another batch of cookies for the music event the next day.

On Thursday I had two regular hours of gym where we did Zumba. I gave my teacher a cookie before I had Finnish lessons, but we didn't do anything related to Finnish. Instead I explained to my teacher what PSEO was and what I needed from the school so I could apply for it. Then I had math review and music practice. That evening I went to a music celebration. Basically students who were performing at the Christmas performance performed their song or songs and some people who were not coming to the Christmas performance performed some songs then since they were not coming on Tuesday. Then the parents left and we dumped the candy that everyone had brought on to the table (everyone had to bring candy by the way. I brought cookies). Then we dug in and no one really touched the cookies until I told some of the Finnish girls to try them. They did and they said they were very good. There ended up being a signing battle using only Christmas songs as well as some games before the night ended.

Perjantaina I had my math test which I thought went pretty well (mostly) and chemistry review in the afternoon. In the evening we cleaned up the house.

Tänään I made Christmas presents for my host families and helped decorate the Christmas tree before we went to sauna in the evening.

A Really Big Truck

The week started with a visit to an observation tower. Where I live, the landscape is pretty flat so we could see for kilometers out. I of course signed the guest book while I was there.

The next day was a normal school day. The afternoon was another story though.  As I biked away from school, there is crosswalk that I can cross or I can go a little further down the road and there is a crosswalk there. There were two cars coming and since I didn't want to wait, I turned left and turned at the next crosswalk. There is a little piece of sidewalk before a large driveway for entrances to the shops there. A truck came out of the driveway so I stopped on the piece of sidewalk. It was a large truck, as in it was twice the size of a normal truck, which of course makes it harder to turn with it being so large. It ended up digging in a little on the sidewalk and I could have reached out and touched it if I had wanted to. I didn't and it drove by and turned left and drove away. As it drove away, I heard a clank behind me. I turned and saw that the pedestrian crossing sign which had been on a pole above my head had been knocked off it's post by the truck. I ended up setting the sign by the base of the pole before I biked home. At Finnish lessons we went over the body parts and family members before I had hockey practice.

The circled sign is no longer there

Tiistaina there was frost. There was even some on my bike seat. School was school. Psychology was fun because we did a game with a partner where a sheet with numbers was colored in (one number had one color). They were randomized around the sheet and we had to find the number and then we had to say the number.

On Wednesday I worked on my paper for history class. I worked on my research paper about the Sami people (in English). It was very interesting. Then we drew something to do with perspective in art class before I had hockey. I learned about Girl's Hockey Day which will be on Saturday before we played soccer. As we did, jets flew over us. My coach said they were tour jets from Jyväskylä. Later that evening, we went outside and watched the northern lights. They were beautiful and they were the first time I had ever seen them. I was also in the newspaper!

Torstaina school was normal except at lunch... there were desserts. I don't know why but they were good. In history class we played African Star to learn about imperialism. It was very fun. I won once. In the evening I had hockey practice and my teammates tried to describe mämmi to me.

Then it was the last day before fall break! We had normal classes but our double period of art was cut short since we had homeroom where we got our grades.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for this important news update:
Jim, the news reporter: We have breaking news coming into the newsroom just now: American people do not know how Finnish grades work. We go to our field reporter Diane for an update and see what information she can give us about the current situation
Diane: Well Jim from what I understand so far, it's that American people do not know how the Finnish grading system works. Well from the information we have learned so far, I can tell you that it is certainly not the same. Here is what we know so far: grades in Finland range from 4-10. A four is a fail and a ten is the highest grade someone can get. A ten is not like an A in America as it is extremely difficult to have all tens compared to America where it is difficult to get straight As but not impossible. As I said before, grades in Finland range from 4-10. These are the word representations of the possible grades in a Finnish high school:
10: Commendable
9: Excellent
8: Very good
7: Satisfactory
6: Moderate
5: Passable
4: Fail
S: Pass
We also know that students will always receive an S as a grade for a review class no matter if they got a 5 or a 10 on the final test
These are all of the details that we know so far Jim.
Jim: Thank you Diane. We promise to keep you viewers updated on this story as more information becomes available to us. We apologize for the interruption and we now return to your regularly scheduled programing.

As I was saying, we got our grades back during homeroom. Here's what I got:
Music: 9
Philosophy: 9
History: 9
Math (review class): S
Mother tong-

Breaking news:
Jim: We apologize again for the interruption, but we have just learned more information about this new and breaking news story. We have just learned more about the individual involved. Her name is Emma Mulhern and she attends Alajärven Lukio in Alajärvi Finland. We have learned more about this person's grade report. Because she is an exchange student, some of her teachers didn't want to give her a number for a grade, so they gave her an S. From what we understand so far, Emma did not receive a number in English class because her teacher did not want to grade her as it was her mother tongue. That is all we have for now.
What is that I'm hearing now?
We have just learned that Emma's mother tongue teacher did not want to give her a number because it is not her mother tongue. I repeat, Emma did not receive a number in English and mother tongue because English is her mother tongue and Finnish is not. We will keep you up to date on the latest information which I am hearing we will find out after the next exam week. We promise to give you another update then.

Well as you already heard, I received an S in mother tongue and in English class because my teachers didn't want to give me a number because I am an exchange student, basically. That afternoon, I went and bought a bunch of chocolate and salmiakki to send for the country fair.

http://www.torstai-lehti.fi/2015/10/07/girls-hockey-day-tulee-taas/

Tänään Girls Hockey Day tuli! (Today Girls Hockey Day came) Silja, Heidi (two girls who play on my hockey team) and myself went to the ice rink where we did different activities with the younger girls that had come. Did I mention I had been in the paper earlier in the week because of Girls Hockey Day? Then I did some packing when I returned home since I am changing host families soon. Then in the afternoon we had a hockey game. We didn't win, but it was fun to hang out with my teammates on the way back to Alajärvi. They are all really awesome. Then one of my coaches gave me the banner from the team we played against since he said they had plenty of them already and because I played well.

Fall Storm

On Sunday I wrote answers to questions that the local newspaper had written for me.

Maanataina my chemistry teacher destroyed a coin (to be fair he just put it in a liquid, so I guess you could say the liquid destroyed it) and school ended early (I think the teachers had a thing or something). In the evening I worked with another student on spoken Finnish (adding -ks to end questions versus adding the -ko/kö) before I went to hockey. We had a scrimmage against the "Old Boys" which was fun. I don't know who won.

The next day we had regular classes except we had student council elections during psychology. We voted for people from the first grade and two people from my class were running. They both got in.

Keskiviikkona I did my presentation about women's position in Islam with my partner in Finnish. In psychology we did an activity where five people went out of the room. One person came in and they had to draw an image that we shown to us through the document camera. It was only shown for a second and then they had to draw it. Then the next person came in and we did the same thing to them but this time they saw the picture that the first person had drawn. It was like telephone but with drawing and it was fun to see how it changed over time. Hockey was in the evening and I tried to get my teammates to say thirty three.

On Thursday, I saw on Facebook a post that my host dad wrote about me moving into my second host family. It was really sweet. Then we had a fire drill in the morning. We all went out onto the fields and we lined up by our homeroom and they counted us all before we returned to our normal classes. Later that afternoon my friends taught me the Finnish body parts and then I had hockey that evening. One of my teammates got picked up from practice in a very large tractor. That's Alajärvi for ya.

Perjantaina it sprinkled in the morning and everyone was concerned about the storm that was supposed to happen in the afternoon. Classes continued as normal until last period. Everything was normal until the lights started flickering about twenty minutes before class ended and we could hear the roar of the wind outside. Ten minutes later, the lights went out and people asked if we could go home but the teacher said we had to wait until three. When I got outside, the wind was blowing hard and all of the bikes had been knocked over from the wind. It was harder to bike home since it was so windy. I noticed more cars were out than usual, probably getting supplies for the storm (there is usually a big storm in the spring and in the fall so everyone knew what to do). As I got home, I saw that the neighbor's trampoline had been blown into the forest nearby. At home, my host parents gave me a flashlight in case the power went out.

On Saturday, we headed out to my hockey game in Alajärvi. There were a few large branches that had been knocked down and maybe a tree or two that we saw on the way. We didn't win the game but I got a penalty and they had to ask me the pronunciation of my last name. Then I went home and did some coloring with my host family.

Finnish History

Alajärvi Cemetery

My week started out learning about the Winter War and how it affected the Finns. I got to see an airfield that was used in the war as well as replicas of the defenses that the Finns used against the Russians during the war. Our car might have gotten stuck in the dirt along the way... but we pushed it out.

Then we headed to the cemetery in Alajärvi where I got to see the gravestones of those who died in the war as well as memorials for those who fought the war in their own way, such as the women who stayed back while their husbands, brothers and sons were fighting on the front lines.

Memorial in Alajärvi

We even drove by a memorial (so I couldn't take any pictures of it) that was for men from Alajärvi that had to walk 14 km to get to the train station to be sent off to war.

On Monday, I took my math test before I headed home for the day because I wasn't taking a test for my mother tongue class. I had my usual Finnish lessons and hockey practice.

On Tuesday, I didn't have a test so I stayed home and worked on my Finnish and cleaned my room.

On Wednesday, I started my new classes. I had math first thing, but I didn't know which class I was in (there were two long math classes and I wasn't sure which one I was in) so I went to the one that had my classmates in it. I was wrong so we talked to the teacher and he switched me into that class. Then I had my history class which was a culture class where we will be learning about different cultures around the world. Then I had chemistry where we went over what we will be learning for the year. After that I had psychology where we went over what we were going to do for the year before I missed my art class and had Finnish lessons. I also had my usual hockey practice.

On Thursday, I went to the school's library and got the textbooks I needed for school as well as a library card since I didn't have one. I had the classes that I had the day before (except I had physics this time instead of art). The only difference was that instead of having psychology for the whole 55 minutes, we left about half way through to take pictures. First we took a class picture before we took the individual pictures. I have no idea what the photographer was telling me to do, but I figured it out. Then instead of having hockey practice, I went to Härmä. Two Rotarians from Alajärvi drove me there. It took about an hour. When we got there, we met up with other Rotarians, exchange students, rebounds and Rotex while we have coffee time. We headed to a lecture room where we introduced ourselves before we split off into groups. I went into a room with the other exchange students and a few Rotex where we had candy and hung out. Then we headed upstairs and watched people sing karaoke and dance before we headed home for the night.

On Friday, I went to school and had math, art, psychology and physics. My friends taught me how to say psychology in Finnish: psykologia. It may not seem that hard, but they say the p. So if you want to know how to say it then say pss (like you are trying to get someone's attention), then su-ko-lo-ge-ah. The pss sound was honestly the hardest part for me, but I got it down now. :)

Today, I hung out with Raisa's friends. We made pizza and sang Finnish karaoke. We ate chips and candy while we looked up songs on YouTube and Spotify. It was very fun.

Exam Week and Mölkky

On Monday I had normal classes. My exam week started on Tuesday. I had my first test: history. We had to put our bags in the front of the classroom and our phones on a desk in the front. We had four hours to complete the test. It took me about two hours to write two essays (in English).

The next day I had my philosophy test where I did the same thing. This time, I defined a few vocabulary terms and wrote an essay (again in my mother tongue).

Then I had my music test which was fun. It was basically a game of battleship where you had to answer questions about music.

Then I had my English test. I didn't do so well on the translating from Finnish part, but the reading comprehension and the essay went well.

On Friday evening, I met my "aunt" Niina. She is currently studying in Helsinki, but she came up for the weekend. She gave me a bunch of gifts, from candy to a marimenko fabric. We played games from card games to board games to Mölkky. Mölkky is basically a game where you throw a wooden block to knock down other blocks. There is a picture of me and Raisa in the upper left. 

Then today, we went shopping! We went to a small little town with a population of about 1,000 people. What do you find in a town of that many people? A large shopping mall of course! I got to see that horseshoe sculpture (the second picture) as well as the largest shoe store in Finland. We did some shopping before we returned home.

Next week I will finish my exam week and start new classes! :)

There's a Chill in the Air...

On Sunday, we baked a bunch of awesome Finnish desserts. They were awesome. The temperature has started to get cooler here, so it's time for the jackets to come out.

On Monday, I had to go to school at the normal time since my half math class and the half Swedish class switched places this week (but that meant I got to come to school later on Friday, so I was okay with it). The third year students were doing testing this week, so we had to be quiet during break. I had the usual classes before I headed to my Finnish lessons after school. (One note: we learned about indefinite pronouns in English. To any non-English speakers that want to learn English: indefinite pronouns are hard.)

At my Finnish lesson, the Tunisian student showed up again and two Thai women also showed up and we went over some more Finnish. Then I went to hockey practice. The next day I had school again and I had Finnish lessons. I had been studying my book and I asked a lot of grammar questions. I think my teacher learned more Finnish from me. After school, my host mom, Raisa (one of my host sisters) and I went to a spinning lesson. It was fun.

Wednesday was the very fun day. In music class, we went over how to read rhythms. In America, we read them like this:
A whole note: 1-2-3-4
Two half notes: 1-2 3-4
Four quarter notes: 1 2 3 4
Four eighth notes: 1& 2& 3& 4&
Four sixteenth notes; 1E&A 2E&A 3E&A 4E&A

In Finland, they read rhythms like this:
A whole note: ta-a-a-a
Two half notes: ta-a ta-a
Four quarter notes: ta ta ta ta
Four eighth notes: ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti
Four sixteenth notes; ta-ka-ta-ka ta-ka-ta-ka ta-ka-ta-ka ta-ka-ta-ka

(A note: also, in Finland, they use the letter H instead of the letter B when it come to note reading, For example: A H C D E F G. However, B is used as H♭)

After school I had hockey practice. We practiced on the ice for a while before we took off only our skates, put some shoes on and went out to the soccer field. Wearing full gear, we played American football-with a soccer ball. I got to teach them how to play and it was very fun (and very funny). We ended up with a tie game.

The rest of my week consisted of school, hockey and tongue twisters. On Friday, during a free period I sat with my friends and we talked about different tongue twisters. One of them was able to say "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" by the end of the day.

Today my host dad is working on the dog house (as pictured to the left) while I study for next week because next week is exam week. In other words, starting on Tuesday and going until next Tuesday, we have one exam everyday. Each day is for one class. After the exam, we study for the next test in the afternoon. After exam week is over, our classes change.

Exam week here I come! :)

September Has Arrived

September came before I even knew it. But before it did, I still had a few days in August left. Here is what went down in my last moments in August:

Sunday, August 30th: My host dad asked if I was good at math, I said yes and he asked if I could calculate the volume of a cylinder. I did and then converted it to milliliters for him. He wanted for the dog house he is building.

Monday, August 31st: School was school. I had philosophy where I learned about philosophy, in English I learned some grammar, in history we learned about Ancient Rome and in music class we played instruments. After school, I had a Finnish for foreigners lesson. I was a little early and waited a few minutes before the teacher came in with another student from Tunisia. We went over basic Finnish (which I had already know) but it was fun since I got to help the other student. I then went to hockey practice.

Then September came. I started Finnish lessons during school with one of the English teachers. I also had my normal classes where I played music, did math, learned philosophy, read English texts, learned about the Middle Ages and worked on my Finnish. In my mother tongue class (Finnish class) everyone is working on writing an essay, so the teacher asked me to write something about myself in Finnish. It ended up being two paragraphs and I only needed to look up how to say and write a few things.

Outside of school, I went to hockey practice, did homework and worked on my Finnish from my Finnish books (one of them pictured on the left).

September, watch out, because here I come!

First Finnish Hockey Srimmage

On Sunday I had my first hockey scrimmage! It was really fun even though we lost really badly (0-20). My host family came and watched me. To the left is a picture they took and that little face is my youngest host sister Malla. She will be turning five in November.

Then I had school. I played instruments in music class, did math in math class, learned philosophical theories in philosophy class, learned English in English class (we had a grammar day on Monday and it was fun to learn grammar about my own language), I learned about Ancient Greece in history class (we had to make a PowerPoint Presentation and then present it. I wrote my notes in English and had my host family help me translate them, I read the translated sentences aloud and everyone was very impressed and complemented me for days), and in mother tongue, I worked on learning Finnish.

I had hockey practice of course, but I skipped one of them because my host family was driving to Jyväskylä to pick up their new puppy. I came along and we drove for two hours before we arrived. Once we arrived, we went and picked up the new puppy before driving back for another two hours.

The puppy's name is Lennu. A picture of him and Malla are on the left. For the first night at home, he whimpered when he was left alone, so my host mom had to stay with him all night and she didn't get much sleep, He has gotten better ever since, but the first few days were rough for him.

Now they are trying to train him. He likes to chew things and can be very energetic. My host dad is building a dog house for him right now (if you look behind Mall in the second picture, there are wooden posts for the dog house). It is going to be very big. I am very excited to see how it turns out.

First Full Week in School

School has kicked into full gear. I busy with my full schedule (as seen to the left). Luckily my math class is only a half class so I get to come to school later on Mondays and Wednesdays. :)

What am I doing in school? Well...
In music class here in Finland we don't play like in a band or an orchestra like in America. Instead, it is like a basic music class where we learn the basics of music and play instruments like guitar, piano, bass, percussion or we sing. In math class, we do math, It is a review course and I have done a lot of the stuff before. It isn't too hard. Understand the Finnish part of the question, now that is a bit trickier. Philosophy is hard to understand in Finnish, but my teacher gave me some materials in English that she found online so I could understand what was going on. English is very fun. I am "a walking dictionary" so it's fun when we talk about different words because I get to offer insight. In history class, we have been learning about ancient history, most of which I have learned before so I was able to kind of follow along. In mother tongue, we have been taking notes on about language and learning about language and how it influences people.

What am I doing outside of school?
This week I went to my first Rotary meeting where I gave them the St. Paul Rotary flag and I received theirs. We had a nice meal before I talked some about myself before we headed out.

I am also going to practice with my hockey team. We have practice three times a week and on two out of the three practices, we play soccer for a while and then we go practice on the ice.

However, this week practice was cancelled on Thursday because of a pesäpallo game. I biked there and met up with some of my friends to cheer on the Alajärven Ankkurit. Sadly, they lost, but it was still pretty fun. It was especially very fun to watch the kids go out at "half time" and throw around balls with each other using their caps as gloves.

The first picture to the left is a picture of a member from the Ankkurit preparing to hit the ball.

The second picture on the left is picture from before the game even started. It is how they determine who does what first. Instead of flipping a coin, one player places their hand somewhere on the bat. The other player places their hand right on top of theirs. Whoever ends up at the top gets "wins" (it would be equivalent to your chosen side of a coin being flipped).

First Week in School

 
Previously on Emma's Finnish Adventures...
Emma had a great week at camp with the other exchange students and had a great time meeting her host families but now, a new challenge arises... school. Dun dun duuuuunnnnn. What school bring for Emma? Will she be able to withstand it? Find out on this week's latest addition of Emma's Finnish Adventures!

But first.. let's catch up to what Emma was doing those few days leading up before school.

First, I got to my host family's house and unpacked. Then, we went to their summer
cottage and did some sightseeing. I went to a picnic with Raisa's friends and I made taco salad for dinner one night. Raisa loved it. We bought me school supplies and I headed to school.

Unlike in America, school doesn't start after Labor Day, but rather, it starts in August. My school started on Wednesday. The first day wasn't much but figuring out our schedules and lunch. I also made some Finnish friends on my first day of school. Then on Thursday and Friday, we went to our scheduled classes. English class was easy (because it was taught in English). Math, and music weren't so either bad because I could figure out what was going on. Philosophy, history and mother tongue were another story, but the first week wasn't too bad since we didn't do much.

On Friday night, we then went to my host family's summer cottage for the weekend. On Saturday, we went to Power Park(third picture). It is a very big amusement park about an hour drive away from Alajärvi. We went on many great and fun roller coasters like Junker (first picture) and we went on a roller coaster that went backwards and forwards (second picture). It was awesome. We had some ice cream while we were there too. It was also awesome.

My First Week in Finland

I arrived in Finland on the afternoon of the second. I met with the other exchange students that had arrived before taking a bus to our orientation camp, which was in Karkku. The next day, the action began. Throughout the week, we learned about the basics of the Finnish language, had lectures about our life in Finland as well as having many fun activities too. We got chances to try out a real Finnish sauna, go to the Karkku church and perform for the group, go to Tampere, dance the macarena while having tea, and we got a chance to perform for the group at Cozy Night, our last night together before we met our host families. Then, on Saturday, we met our host families. All of my host parents (all six of them) came as well as one of my first host sisters, Raisa. We drove for three hours back to Alajärvi before I got to settle down in my new home.

The Day I Depart

Today I leave the home I have had for the last fifteen years to make a new home with a new family. Am excited? Of course! Am I nervous? Of course! I can't wait to meet the other exchange students at camp and hear about where they were going. I can't wait to meet my host families and go to school in Finland. Honestly, I can't wait to get started on this exciting adventure!