The Prison and Stockholm!

Wow, I can't believe it's almost the end of October!
A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.

On a walk through Turku with Safire.

I went for a 12 km hike with my host parents last Saturday afternoon. We walked about 5 km one way to a National Park (a different one than the one we went to before) and then walked about 1 km in the Park to a sightseeing area. There was a lookout built that faced swampland but it was so pretty with all of the different colours. Plus, it made the long walk worth it. We cooked makkara, which is always amazing, over a fire, then headed back.

The view from the lookout.

On Sunday I went to a place called the Flow Park, which is kind of like a Tarzan, swinging-from-a-vine type of place. There are about 10 different "trails" that are of different heights from the ground, and you basically climb and jump and crawl through the different parts (there were rope ladders and tires to go through and zip lines etc.). It was so much fun, though it was terrifying at first. My mantra: "trust the ropes, trust the ropes, trust the ropes." Of course, being me, my original mantra soon became: "trust that the people who built this insane place knew what they were doing, trust that the people who built this insane place knew what they were doing..." Figures... It was a lot of fun, until I had to go to dance a couple of hours later and realized that I had very little energy left to jump anymore. Oh, and gym class on Monday at the rock climbing center was lots of fun too, considering my very limited upper-body strength was significantly depleted at the beginning of the rock climbing from the Flow Park the day before. Needless to say, my whole body hurt on Tuesday.

Flow Park.

 On Monday night, some of the exchange students in Turku went to the Kakola Prison, the only prison in the world that is open for public visits in the exact condition as it was when the inmates left (i.e. a prison that has not been and is not planning to be converted into a museum) in 2006 or 2007. We were walking up to what we thought was the prison and taking pictures of some buildings when a lady came out and yelled at us. All I understood was "my house" and the swearing every second word but I think that's all we needed to know. And I don't think she was saying too much besides that; she was pretty drunk...At 6 on a Monday night... It was funny though, because the Finns that were with us were laughing about how it was such a great welcome to Finland and how we have to experience all aspects of the Finnish culture.

Outside, before the drunk lady came to yell at us.

We found the guide soon afterwards, who told us that the lady is the ex-wife of the old prison manager and we had been taking pictures of her house (which is technically still the property of the prison). The guide that we had for the tour was absolutely amazing. She took us around and explained the two different types of cells that were in use (Philadelphia style and another one that I can't remember the name of) and the lifestyle of the inmates. I was happy to hear that Finnish prisoners still have the right to the weekly sauna :) The guide told us a story about a man who had escaped from Kakola through a gate that later was named after him. She then told us of another time she'd been giving the tour and telling the same story and had one of the men raise his hand and say, "excuse me, that man is me". She said that it's pretty common for some of the old inmates to revisit the prison, but I couldn't imagine being in that position...

Our group in the prison's sauna room (or one of the rooms actually,
considering there was another for females even though there were
only ever male prisoners).

Tuesday was my last day of class because Wednesday was the start of 'syysloma', which is the fall break that happens in October. Some schools were out the whole week and lose a couple days of the Christmas break, but my school was out from Wednesday to Friday. It was really nice to sleep in and have a break from the after-school Finnish and Spanish classes.

On Thursday night, my host family and I left for Stockholm. We took the ferry that left Turku around 8 p.m., arriving in Stockholm, Sweden at about 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Our ferry was called Isabella, and she was absolutely huge. Apparently, she can hold about 3000 people in cabins of 4. There was a deck for cars, a restaurant deck, a duty-free shop, a kids area and a "disco". On the boat the first night, we listened to a couple of bands, one of which played Finnish songs from the last couple of decades. It was cool to hear, even though I didn't understand the lyrics.

Part of the Parliament Building (the one on the left).

We were woken up by the crew members at 6:00 or 6:30 on Friday morning and had to leave the boat by 7:30 so that they could have the ferry cleaned and ready to go again by 8:30. We went to a hotel for a buffet breakfast then explored Stockholm. We went to the old city first, which is full of really colourful buildings and long, narrow alleyways with cobblestone streets. We saw the Parliament buildings and the King's Palace. It was snowing, I think for the first time in Stockholm this year and the really big, wet flakes, so it wasn't so much fun to walk in but it was definitely pretty. The snow stopped around lunchtime and the sun came out just in time for our visit to the Ericsson Globe, which is the largest spherical building in the world. There is an elevator that goes up the side of the globe with a view of the city from a height of 130m above sea level. We went shopping for a couple of hours after going up to the top of the Globe, then headed back to the ferry (this time we were on Amorella) at about 6:30. The ferry left soon afterwards and we went to the duty-free shop and listened to the band that was playing.

Some of the Old City.

The view of Stockholm from the top of the Globe.

At 7:30 this morning we arrived back in Turku. I had so much fun in Stockholm and it's a fabulous city but I have to say I'm grateful to be in Turku for my exchange. Stockholm's a little big for me (plus, I'm getting to be quite a fan of Finland).

Time for sleep :)

Time for Month 3

This is the beginning of my third month in the wonderful country of Finland :)

I finished up September with a week of exams and the start of the 2nd period of classes. My first exam was French, which went pretty well, followed by history the next day. I could do the French grammar sections and the translations supposed to be from French to Finnish I did from French to English. On the history exam, I wrote two essays about the Second World War. My math exam was next, which went pretty well too, surprisingly. I answered the questions I could understand first and then sat at my desk puzzling out the others. I guess the teacher noticed the confusion on my face because she came back with a sheet of English translations :) English exam came next, and health exam last. English was fine, except for the vocabulary haha... and health was absolutely dreadful. Since the exams start at 9, I was waiting outside the door to my health room at 8:45. At about 8:55, two other girls from my class showed up and knocked on the door. Apparently the exam had started early, to give everyone more time to finish...I definitely failed it. Oh well...

I also like how we get the exams back after they have been marked in Finland. So far, my French and history exams have been returned... 9+ for French and 9 for history (the marks are given from 4-10 in Finland, with 10 being the highest).

The second period started the day after the exams finished. This period I'm taking two English classes, one that is course 1 (first year) and one that is course 5 (second year). I'm also taking a first-year history, which is from pre-historic to present times (and I'm SO excited for); German, which I'm absolutely terrified for; and a second-year math (which is awesome believe it or not; call me a nerd). Gym continues for this period and my Finnish and Spanish courses are continuing too.

It's been pretty much all about school lately so I haven't done all that much new and exciting. I tried a kind of voileipäkakku (literally sandwich cake) which was pretty good and went to see a couple of movies at the theater.

It's now dark in the mornings when I go to school... It's crazy how quickly the seasons change here. The leaves are all yellow, red and brown and most have already fallen off of the trees (and usually onto the driveway, where they all have to be raked up). It's usually pretty windy and cloudy too but we haven't had much rain yet. We're supposed to get the first snow of the year sometime next week though.. And apparently this winter is going to be the coldest in a 1000 years in Finland.

I went shopping for my Hallowe'en costume today. I'm pretty sure there's only one costume store in the whole city, which made me think of how the entire group of exchange students will look on the bus headed to the Hallowe'en party together...Hallowe'en's not that big here...ahh crazy foreigners.

Also, just recently was the first time that I was able to order something and not have the cashier/salesperson realize that I don't speak Finnish yet. I was asking for a box of popcorn, which was pretty simple, but I was pretty proud of myself nevertheless. It must be really exhausting for everyone to have to deal with foreigners.

I've had a couple of aha! moments where I've realized that I've understood the conversation, but they are pretty few and far between. They're slowly starting to balance out the majority of the times that I'm completely clueless though. It's giving me some hope that I'm still learning.

The Lapland email came yesterday from Rotary! We get to choose between going skiing, snowboarding or cross-country skiing and we're also visiting a reindeer farm and learning how to make ice sculptures. It's going to be about a 16 hour bus ride (picked up at 7 at night and arrive at 11 the next morning) but I can't wait!

I guess that's all. Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Eat lots of turkey and pie. Love from Finland :)

And time goes on..

It's so hard to keep this blog updated when I feel like time is just flying by!
It's already been over 6 weeks since I left Canada!

I started my first Spanish class this evening and I have to say that I am now so grateful for my somewhat adequate French skills. Yay for related languages. But it's all in the name of learning I guess and hopefully I can learn some words and phrases by the end of the year.

Anyway, day-to-day life...The rose-coloured glasses have come off! I've definitely passed the peak of the 'honeymoon' phase (the end of month 1) and I'm pretty sure I'm passing into the stage of true culture shock, though it doesn't feel like culture shock. I'm finding that I'm settled into a routine but it's really really hard when I have free time and nothing to do to occupy myself (this explains the Spanish classes and Finnish classes and dance classes). Experiencing Finland is absolutely wonderful when I'm busy, but I'm starting to miss home too, simply because life seemed easier. I'm definitely still having a great time, but I'm sure ready for the AHA! moment when I just get what's going on in conversations. :) Not sure when that's coming though...or if...

To be honest, though, even though this part of the exchange is the hardest, I do think I'll end up learning the most (cliche, no?) from the end of September to November. Here we go, roller coaster.

I'm not sure what else to add. On Saturday, we went for a hike through one of the National Parks and cooked makkaraa (not sure about the grammar/spelling on that one). Cranberries grow in the swampland that is part of the walk and it's really common to go for sauna and a swim in the swamp-water lake that is close by. The water looks.. interesting.. because it's actually brown from the swampland but it's good for the skin and feels pretty good to swim in. :)

I visited Turku Castle (Turunlinna) with Eija and Amar Jit on the weekend too! This place was absolutely phenomenal and I wish we could have had more time to see it (even though we spent almost three hours there!). Construction of the castle began in the year 1280, while Finland was under Swedish rule, and it was intended to be a military fortress. Originally, the castle was built on an island, but over time, the land has risen and the castle is now a part of the mainland.

Turunlinna

School is decent I guess. In English class, I almost passed a test. Almost, with a score of 4.5 out of 10... Oh well, I'm working on it. Believe it or not, I tried to make Finnish cheat sheets for myself with vocabulary and verb conjugation. Needless to say, I made them and haven't looked at them since. They are now sitting on a shelf..I think I'm going to start trying the 'say it in Finnish and if they don't understand ask for the translation in English' route. It's easier to learn by speaking.

I also had pizza with pepperoni! It was fantastic. Enough said. :) 

The exams for this period are starting this Thursday too. French is first, Thursday morning, then history on Friday. I have Monday off, then math, English and health. I'm writing my history exam in English but considering I haven't actually studied any history since 10th grade, it might be interesting. And I can't wait to see what's on the health exam! My health knowledge is poor even in English! My goal is to understand the questions, not to be able to answer them. I can't believe I'm not even expecting to pass this period. My standards sure have dropped ;)

Who knows what I'll be taking next period...

It's funny because sometimes I'm grateful I don't actually look like a foreigner and sometimes I'm not. I was told that some Finns are uncomfortable around foreigners because they are worried about conversing perfectly in the foreigner's language. I can understand that; it's why I'm so shy to speak Finnish. Also, there are situations in which it is perfectly normal to talk to strangers. It's true! For instance, it is ok to speak to a family that comes to use the same grill that you are using to grill sausages when you are walking in the National Park. The conversation starts with the weather (because it's usually nice weather when you are out walking) and continues to the food and then on from there (generalized of course). I love Finns. :) 

My thoughts are all over the place (sorry!) but I guess that's pretty much it for now. I have to brush up on my WWII history.

Month 1, complete!

It's been exactly one month since I arrived. August 8th... That seems so long ago now, but I'm not sure exactly what I've been doing in the last two weeks to fill up the time...

I sort of have a daily schedule, which pretty much consists of school. Rotary meetings are held on Tuesdays, I have language classes on Wednesdays, possibly followed by coffee with the exchange students, and another language class is going to start up on Monday. There is also dance on Sundays.

I had the flu for a couple of days, which was not so much fun but my host parents were wonderful taking care of me and I'm feeling much better :)

I also had my first Indian cooking lesson, which was pretty cool. Yes, I am in Finland and learning how to cook Indian food. It's fantastic :) I can tell that I'll be cooking a lot more when I get back to Canada....And I'm pretty sure that mom is enthusiastic about this. Also, Amar Jit said he'd try to teach me Punjabi too, which means that this year I will be learning how to speak Finnish, Spanish, better French, possibly Swedish (though probably not) and Punjabi.... Good think I like languages??? I don't think it's going to happen though. I'll probably lose my English, knowing my luck! :)

Last Friday marked only 100 days of school left for the 3rd year students (I'm pretty sure they get time to study for their final exams or something like that). Every year in Finland, the 3rd years celebrate by dressing up and basically terrorizing the school. There were about a hundred pirates screaming and running around with lipsticks, drawing on students' and teachers' faces, interrupting classes, the whole bit... It was funny until I had to leave the school to go to the bus stop in the absolute middle of the city, with people everywhere.... haha at least I wasn't the only one with lipstick all over my face. It happens in every high school (lukio) apparently and again, even bigger and louder in the spring when there are just 10 days left.

I also tried lettu on the weekend which is a thin crepe-like pancake (I think we might have had them at Karkku too, actually) that you eat with jam or berries. I brought down my maple syrup for everyone to try, but to be honest, it tastes better with the jam! Maybe I'll have to find waffles or make pancakes Canadian-style for everyone to fully appreciate the maple syrup.

I got out the shell for my winter coat the other day too. It's getting to be near the freezing point at night and I'm noticing that the days are already getting shorter. I now understand what everyone means about enjoying the sunshine while you can! Good thing I like winter :)

I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss the 3 month mark for being fluent in the language but I think it's all right... Maybe by Christmas...Actually, I'm hoping to be able to understand the Harry Potter movie when it comes out in November. That's the goal ;) But I'm noticing that sometimes I can pick up the gist of sentences, depending on the subject. Don't ask me to tell anybody what we're learning in history class, for example... I hear Hitler or Mussolini or Stalin and I say WWII. That's pretty much the extent of it.

Other than that, though, it feels like I'm pretty settled in. Life is definitely good!

School/Settling In

Alright, so it's been exactly two weeks since I arrived in Finland. It feels like forever ago, in the best way possible (except for the fact that I have no idea what people are saying when they talk to me).

On Sunday, Eija and Amar Jit took me for a tour of Turku, which was absolutely amazing.

I met with Juha, my YEO, on Tuesday morning and we went to pick out my schedule for this period. In Finnish high schools, there are (I think) 6 periods of approximately 6-7 weeks each with classes changing each period. This period my classes are: French, English, Health, Gym, History and Math. I'm also taking a Finnish for Foreigners course every Wednesday. As a side note, Finnish students must buy the books needed for the classes each period. Approximately 20 euros/book X 6 books X 6 periods = lots of $$$.

After picking the classes, we went to meet up with Safire to go to the Rotary meeting. We both did our presentations, which was nerve-wracking since there were about 40 or 50 people in the room, but I think they went well.

I started school on Wednesday morning with French class. Though I originally went to the wrong room and ended up being late, the class was great and it was nice to be able to understand some of the lesson. I met some really really nice people and some rebound exchange students too.

I got to know part of Turku quite well when I got lost on Thursday trying to find my gym class. The class was supposed to be held at a rec center about 10 minutes from the school... I spent an hour trying to find the place and never made it. I think I'll have some explaining to do on Monday when I see the teacher again. Oh well. I guess I have a decent excuse :)

I embarrassed myself again on Friday when I missed the first half of my history lesson by going to lunch at 11. Apparently on Fridays, and only on Fridays, the history class starts at 11:10, breaks for lunch at 11:40 and starts again at 12:10... Guess who didn't know about it....

Friday got better when I went to the sauna with Eija and Amar Jit :) :) The public sauna is located in a national park, right beside a lake. We changed into our bathing suits then went into the sauna. After about 5 minutes, we ran and jumped into the lake to cool down, then went back to the sauna when we started to get cold. (the process was repeated 4 or 5 times). The extreme difference between hot and cold temperatures increases blood circulation and makes you feel so relaxed and refreshed afterwards (hungry too). In the winter, the lake freezes over and a hole is cut into the ice for swimming. Not sure whether I'll get to try that... My Canadian skin might not be tough enough...

I had my first Irish dance class in Turku a couple of hours ago. It felt really good to be exercising again and just made the whole week so much better. Stress, gone!

It's been a crazy week! I still can't understand most of what people say, but I'm starting to recognize some words (mostly food-related hehe). Hopefully my Finnish improves soon because I hate having to speak English and I want so badly to understand what's going on during conversations.

Tortinmäki

Moi!

I just recently arrived at my first host family's house in the village of Tortinmäki, Finland. Their house is absolutely beautiful, or 'kaunis' as they say in Finnish. It's made pretty much of wood inside and there is a sauna too! There is also a smoke sauna outside.

The orientation camp at Karkku finished today! I have officially learned how to say my name, age and phone number, as well as the colours, days of the week and months of the year. Don't ask me to put any sentences together though... The only thing I can say is that Finnish is a very logical language. eg. the word for knowledge is 'tieto' and the word for machine is 'kone' .... a computer is a knowledge machine: 'tietokone'. The same goes for airplane. We'll have to see how school goes on Tuesday :)

We went to Tampere at the camp on Wednesday and it was great seeing how Finns actually act. So far, the lessons have been: no looking people in the eye on the street, no loud conversations, no sitting next to people on the bus unless absolutely necessary, no talking to people on the bus if you don't know them, very little conversation with cashiers/bus drivers etc..... Sounds pretty cold eh? It's not, surprisingly. For me, from the little I saw of Finnish society, it is extremely polite! People seem to be hyper aware of their effect on other people (hence the no talking on the bus for fear of disturbing others). Also, Finns value silence, thank goodness! There is a motto that if you have nothing to say, don't say anything. It is better to say nothing than to talk a lot about nothing, if that makes sense. I also learned that if you break on of these unspoken rules of society, it is assumed that 1) you are drunk, 2) you are crazy or 3) you are a foreigner. Guess which one I am.

Oh, side note: Finns love their forests. Is is legal for anyone to pick berries or mushrooms from any forest in the country, so long as the person is not on anyone's back or front yard. At the camp, we were told that one guy from Italy actually started a business selling mushrooms from Finland back home since they are so expensive there. Pretty smart guy since he picked them for free. Some more Finnish: blueberry is 'mustikka' and they grow wild everywhere, like in Newfoundland. You'd better move to Finland Niki! Berries are eaten with everything. :)

First Couple Days

So, after about 9 hours flying time, I am safe here in Karkku Finland at the Language/Orientation camp. As I was landing on the plane and driving from Helsinki to Karkku I realized how much Finland looks like Canada. It's really humid here too but I love it already. 

There are about 130 people here, all inbound to Finland with about 6 that are inbound to Estonia. It is so crazy with the number of languages being spoken all around me.. Finnish, Spanish, French, German, Japanese .. And those are only the ones I recognize. There are people here from Mexico, Germany, France, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Canada, the States; it's amazing how many countries have come together in this place.

I am rooming with a bunch of girls also from Canada and one of them is also going to my district. We have language lessons every day and it's great to have the Finnish language explained simply for once. As they say, "it's not bad, just different." ... I learned today that the longest acceptable Finnish word is 61 characters long ... and pretty much impossible to pronounce. There is a trip to Tampere on Wednesday, but other than that, it's a whole lot of Finnish language learning. I can't wait for Saturday, when we get to meet our first host families. Oh, it turns out that people wear bathing suits to the sauna at this camp :) 

Departure

Ok, post #1.

After almost a year of planning and anticipation and excitement and nerves, this is it. Tomorrow I leave for Finland and I can't believe that it's only starting to feel real. My flight's booked, I have my passport and visa. The suitcases have been packed.. or should I say that they have been packed and repacked about 10 times. Thank you mom and Niki!

The plan so far is to go to a language/orientation camp for the first week with all of the other Finnish inbounds. On the agenda is the sauna...... According to the internet, it's rude to wear a bathing suit in a Finnish sauna, so it should be an experience. But hey, when in Rome.. :)

After the camp, I'll be picked up by my first host family and driven to Turku, the area where I'll be staying. I think Turku is about the fifth largest city in the country, with a population of roughly 200,000 and the original capital of Finland. Soon after I get to Turku, school starts.

I guess that's it for now. It's off to Finland! :)