First few weeks in Finland...

Hei!

It's me again. I've been in Finland now for a few days and I want to finally tell you something about my new life here. Let's start with my host family.

When I've seen them for the first time I had to cry.

I was so happy to finally be in Finland, meet the people I will live with for 10 months and a wish came true in that second.

I have to say my host family is the best! I like them and I was so surprised that I was confident around them in such a short amount of time. Usually I'm a shy person and I struggle to talk to others that I don't know well. But in that case I kind of started to talk to them and in my opinion we already have a good relationship.

Also they are the sweetest! They already kind of planned out my whole exchange year with pretty cool activities. For example we will do a typical Finnish family trip to Estonia during my autumn holiday.

We will also go many times to their 'mökki'. When we were there last weekend it was so much fun!

We were driving there for about three hours but it was so worth it because the country side of Finland and the lakes are so beautiful!

When we arrived in the bigger town near the 'mökki', we went in to a store but instead of signs in Finnish and in Swedish they were written in Finnish and Russian because we were so close to the Russian border.

After another 20 minutes or so we arrived in the middle of the woods (at the end there wasn’t even a road!).

The little mökki

After we unpacked and made our beds we went straight to sleep because it was super late when we got there.

The next day was way more exciting!

Before lunch my host sister, host brother and I decided to do a boat trip on the lake that their property is connected to. So we went down to the building where the sauna is to get life vests and after that we went to their little boat.

It took so long to finally get into the water and when we were finally in it, everything seemed so calming to me. First we went a little bit to the left to look for some really big rock, but we couldn’t find it because the water was too high. For some reason we went back out of the water. That means we were preparing the boat for around 15 minutes only to be in the water for five. It was so funny to me, because it was the shortest boat trip ever!

The way from the sauna straight to the lake!

After we got back to the little cabin my host mum came back from dropping my husband off somewhere for work and prepared lunch while my host siblings and I played some kind of ‘Memory’ but instead of for example animals we had to find old Finnish cities that now belong to Russia.

In the afternoon my host sister and I did some homework and shortly before dinner we picked up some mushrooms from the forest and they tasted soooo good!

After lunch I went with my host sister for the first time in my life to a sauna and it was so weird. First we went in the lake so our hair is a bit wet and then we went in. I thought it would be way hotter but it was the perfect temperature even though it was kind of hard to breath. Especially when we poured some water on the hot stones but it was so relaxing to just hang out there and talk about everything.

On the next day we had to leave again but I really enjoyed the time there and I can’t wait to go there again!

Next topic that I want to talk about is school.

On my first day of school I went with my host sister to the first period, because I had to meet the principal about half an hour after the first lesson started. It was so weird that all the student were sitting in front of their Laptops and work that way. In my old school we had Laptops for maybe a few tasks in a whole week and now I have my own for nearly every subject. Not only because I want to but mostly because my school books are there.

Speaking of school books. In Finland you have to pay for your own books (at least when you’re in Lukio) but after one semester you can sell them again to the book store and get some money back.

I have to have at least five courses in my school so I’m there at least 15 hours per week. At the moment I take the following courses: Music, two different level German courses, Finnish as a second language, physical education and math.

One period lasts 75 minutes and a normal school day goes from 8.15 am until 4 pm. After the first three periods there is a bigger lunch break where you get your lunch for free! Plus you can put it on yourself and even get as much as you like.

What was really weird for me was that the Finnish students talked to their teacher with their first name! I’m used to this really strict relationship between teachers and students… That was always one reason why I didn’t talk to my teachers back in Germany but here the teacher doesn’t seem like an authority anymore. I still respect them but I talk to them more often now, for example when I need help with something.

What surprised me most about Finland/Finns in the last couple of weeks:

1. Finns hate to wait in lines.

2. Finland is such a beautiful country especially on the country side

3. Finns are crazy to go into the cold water after sitting in the Sauna. (Although it was so much fun)

4. 99% out of 100% of the Finns I met yet, are all super nice.

5. ‘Nasut’ is a weird tradition and I’m happy to go to Etelä-Tapilolan Lukio because I only had to embarrass myself.

6. Some of the Finns have a weird British Accent.

7. When you walk about in school during a break nearly EVERYONE is on their phone.

8. The metro and Helsinki are super clean!

9. The Moomins are everywhere.

10. Finns all talk really fast.

See you next Sunday!

-Vanessa ♥