Exchange Student | Brodie
Hei. Mitä kuuluu? Go on – which language do you think it is? German? Croatian? Well, no, it’s Finnish. It’s not a language that many would know but it is one that I used to. You may not have known but I lived in Finland when I was 16. I was an exchange student with Rotary and it was seriously one of the best experiences of my life.
My interview went well – 6 Rotary people in a semi-circle around me firing questions at me. Some I answered well, some not so well – I remember my answer to the question “what do you think is the most pressing issue in the news at the moment that relates to young people”. You’d think I’d be very sophisticated and say something like “violence on tv” or “drug use and availability” or something like that but my answer that won me my exchange year was “I don’t really know – I watch the Simpsons when the news is on”.
I put in for England, America, Canada, Japan (as I’d been studying it since year 7) and then Germany (as I’d taken a couple of classes and knew some words) and I got the call saying that I got Finland. After referring to a map to find out where Finland was, I was very excited.
It was so different to life I’d known. I left in January and went straight into snow. So much was different – driving on the other side of the road, food, weather, I could go on. I went to school there and it is so interesting to see how they learn. In Finland they take 5 classes per semester but they have 5 semesters; so 25 subjects a year. They don’t go over work. It’s taught once and learnt once and it’s the expectation that everyone keeps up – which they seem to do. I found some subjects hard but that was probably as I was taking French class when I didn’t even know Finnish.
I learnt how to do cross-country skiing and did it a bit on the frozen lake out the front of my house as well as around the countryside of my host-parents summer house. I learnt to ride my bike in snow and on ice so I could get to school. And I learnt how to speak Finnish. I also learnt that you shouldn’t go outside with wet hair or it can literally break off!
One of my greatest memories of being in Finland was meeting Santa – yes THE Santa. He lives in Rovaniemi in the Artic Circle of Finland also known as Lapland. Santa can speak, like eight languages with ease. He is a lovely fellow who is happy to see anyone who comes to visit. If you’re ever in Europe, you’d want to drop in to say hello and maybe even hand delivery your Christmas list to Santa Claus Village.
One thing that living in Finland has taught me is to take every opportunity available to you and don’t be scared of things you don’t know. You only live once so live it well and to its fullest.