Hello, I am Andrea, an Italian 17-year-old boy that decided to spend one year as exchange student in Finland.
My journey began on 16th August 2019, when I left Acquaviva delle Fonti, my hometown, to fly to Helsinki. Two days after I finally reached Kokkola and I met my host family. They have been really kind and lovely from the first moment we met.
Few days after I also started my lessons at Lansipuisto Lukio. Everything was really new and I could notice several differences between Finnish and Italian school. It took a little bit to become familiar with the new environment, but I have to say that I love many aspects of the Finnish high schools, such as the possibility to personalize your courses. Finnish students are also very different from the Italian ones: more shy and quiet, but after breaking the ice, you can really find amazing and loyal persons, ready to help an support you.
Andrea and Joel
The school is plenty of very helpful and altruistic persons: from the principal to the teacher, everybody that works there has always been available to assist me in every problem I have faced during these 10 months.
As you may guess, there could be a cultural shock for some aspects when you go to live abroad. The first huge difference is the climate. I had almost never experienced any temperature below 0 before, because in the South of Italy, where I live, temperatures during wintertime stay always around +5°.
Then the darkness. There had been some days that I almost couldn’t see the sun at all, because it was rising after 10 a.m. and setting again before 3 p.m., shining just when I was in school.
Overall I have enjoyed the winter, even though after a while I couldn’t stand snow anymore!
One of the Finnish traditions I have liked the most is sauna. After a long day, or after a hard practice, sauna is the best way to relax and to make you feel better. Furthermore I have really enjoyed, during the winter, avanto. It looked something really crazy to me, but after I tried it the first time, I loved it and I did many other times, even when the outside temperature reached really low temperatures, such as -35°.
Tom and Andrea
I owe a lot to Finland and to this experience and I will also keep all these moments with me.
Kiitos paljon kaikkille.
- Andrea
On 18th of august I arrived here in Finland, I had a flight of 2 hours which was not that long and pretty nice. When I was on the airport and got my luggage I had to wait for 6 hours before I could take the train to Kokkola. Once I arrived in Kokkola my host family was there to pick me up. I had one weekend to get settled into my new home, and after that weekend school already started.
When I arrived on school we (me and the other exchange students) made our schedule with the help of Raimo. After we finished our schedule we went straight to the lesson. But I can’t remember which lesson it was… It was such a long time ago, I can barely believe the 10 months are almost over. I still feel like I’m in the first month, but the end is already so close. The 2nd day of school we went to villa Elba to participate in the first years activities so we got to know some people. After the first few weeks we had the first AFS camp, I did have some AFS camps in the Netherlands already but this was the first one in Finland. Here I got to meet a lot of other exchange students who, I already met a few on the airport and heard their stories, but now I had the chance to learn even more about them. Where they came from and why they chose Finland. Finland is not the most typical choice, a lot of people go to the United States or to Japan. Or at least the Dutch people then I don’t know about the other countries. The reason I chose Finland is because I wanted to go to a country that’s different but not far away. And Finland was the perfect choice. It’s so much different then the Netherlands and yet not that far away. The things I like the most about Finland is the nature of course, especially the nature in Lapland. It’s all so natural and pure. If I go to some nature in the Netherlands it doesn’t feel like that. It’s all man made and nothing is down by just nature which makes it boring to go to these kind of “forests”.
Another thing that I like about this country is that you get free food on school. In the Netherlands I had to take my own food everyday and it was always just bread. I got really hungry at the end of every day and then I still had to cycle 10 km back home. There was no bus connection from my house to school, so if the weather was bad I still had to cycle every day. Here you are able to make your own schedule or at least I was allowed to do that but I always needed help from a teacher because I didn’t understand how it worked, but it’s so nice that you have different subjects every semester. In Holland we just get our schedule and we had to deal with it, and we don’t change our classes during the year, same teacher same class for the whole year. There are also a few things I don’t like about Finland: The food. Yes, you have your own kind of food. But it’s not a thing I’m going to miss when I’m back in the Netherlands. Except reindeer because that’s the only Finnish food that I love. At the beginning of the winter my host family bought a lot of reindeer meat, so we had some lovely food during the winter holidays and sometimes just during the week if my host father felt like preparing it.
The winter that you have here is something I have never seen before, the first snow fell in October. We just get one or two days of snow. Then it also started to get dark, really dark. Only a few hours light per day. If you had school till 16.00, you would have to go back home while it was dark and now it just doesn’t get dark anymore. The thing that surprised me the most is that it was snowing in May. After all the snow and ice had melted I thought finally winter is over, but no, a week later it started snowing again. But no finally, there is no snow anymore. And I hope it will stay like that. It’s almost summer and I’m definitely ready for it, I could use some warm weather.
Next weekend is already the last AFS camp, so that means the last time I will be seeing all the other exchange students from this chapter together. A few only did half a year so they left in January but a lot of them did the whole 10 moths. Before the end of this exchange year I go to Tallinn and Helsinki. I already went to Helsinki two times but I can’t get enough of it. I have visited the big cities here in Finland but I never went to the east side of Finland. I only went to Kuusamo once and that was the only time I was in west Finland. The other time that I was in Lapland was when I went to Inari with my host father. It was so special to be all the way up north. We took 10 hours to get there but it was worth it. I will be missing Finland and I will probably come back here a few times.
Gijs Veldhuysen – Dutch AFS exchange student 2018-2019
My exchange year in Finland and more precisely : Kokkola
One year is big, one year is long, well it was 10 months, so not exactly one year. I try to be short and concise
I came here in Finland because I was getting really bored -let’s say to be polite- of the French school system. I knew Finland had one of the best systems of the world, so far it’s the best for me. But I had only a few theories, just some ideas of how it is, some sayings from people who came here but I still wanted to go there, and discover it by myself ; compare it to our system in France and have stronger arguments against it, and based on something concrete, something that does exist, not only how I thought it should be done -even if my thoughts were mostly accorded to Finland’s school system operation. I could talk a lot about it and do of this text a roman but it’s too long so here are the main points :
You’ve got freedom, confidence, independence, respect.
For school, my most important period was the first school period. Because it’s at this time that I saw most of the things from your system up to the exam week -great idea this exam week. It’s also when I wrote the first post talking about this system.
From the left Johannes, Andrea and Tom
What about Kokkola ? Kokkola it’s a quite small city but still bigger than my village that counts only 102 inhabitants. So Kokkola was nice for me, and I think I could not live in a big city like Tampere, the countryside fits me perfectly.
It is true that it’s quite a dead place, there isn’t big happenings or even people on the street, but I really loved my year in this dead place. Even if I have been bored a lot of times, then I found activities like sport, and I also improved a lot my patience, this I know it. It also calmed my French super activity a lot to adapt to this new country, people and culture, it was necessary to survive let’s say.
My year was just amazing, there is not any word strong enough to describe how it was, and it was in Kokkola with you guys, you reader -even if I don’t know you. I fell in Kokkola and I’m really happy of that, it would have been different somewhere else and I don’t really want that.
People will say to me : “hey, how was it in Finland” -well of course in French because we, in France doesn’t know anything but French- and I will answer : “Great ! Just go read my blog and see by yourself, but if you have any more precise question, I will be happy to answer”. Yes, because you can’t resume in one sentence one year of living. But anyway I could say that Finland permitted me to be able to talk English pretty well, and Spanish too thanks to Catalina mostly. I have learned a lot of finish, I can’t say myself that I do speak it but people say the contrary. Finland gave me a lot of things but I know this year hasn’t been only for me, I also gave a lot to Finland, to his people ; by bringing me, my person, my culture and my ideas ; I know it opened more my eyes, and I opened more your eyes -even if I still don’t know you dear reader.
So as I said, I try to be short and concise, well it can look a bit long but trust me, it’s nothing to everything I could say. If you want to know more about it, just ask me. But how to ask me ? Well…
You never know where I can be.
Tom Curmer
Aikaa Kasvaa
Moi! I'm Catalina from Argentina, I'm 18 years old and I'm in Finland as exchange student during the school year 2018-2019.
If someone asks me I have to say that my experience in Finland was a such a beautiful addition and multiplication of diverse emotions, and that has exceeded everything it I had imagined even though was so different in many ways.
I could meet more About this beautiful culture, its weird and fascinating language, music and traditional food. But also I found me into its history, the silence and all and each one of the new experiences here. I could walk through the finnish forest, swim in an ice hole , ski, eat so many different kinds of berries and travel to the North, south and east, see northern lights and enjoy sauna so much.
But overall I have the happiness to meet so many incredible persons, who gave me a warm welcome and have accompanied during the whole year, always searching the way to make everything enjoyable, and catching as much opportunities as possible to make of my experience an unique and unforgettable one.
Everyone has given me the opportunity to share also my culture and impregnate me of this particular and active Finnish life style.
I have discovered (and maybe they also could do it) in everyone so many interesting and different points of view, and to understand others different than mine.
I Believe I fullfil my mission, and I'm able to answer this that Questioned question ' Why did you choose Finland?' Because my answer always was about the society, its development, values, your clear way to manage politics and to discover what such a cold and quiet could be. The peace of the forest and it that withe and cold of the winter.
I have to say that even though I have tried ( and could in some point) live a ' traditional Finnish life', wasn't enough to forget how to live as a lose tourist constantly during ten months, and this allowed to fullfil my main objetives: Find myself through the others, and have the real freedom to be myself even being in the other side of the world.
I have enjoyed Walk with socks and eat the lunch in the school, things that aren't normal where I live.
When the Spring started to show its green again, everything became alive once more, and Finland woke up after the cold winter, everything and everyone around smiles again, and my emotions also, knowing that my year has gone, and even though I'm sure I will come back, Never will be the same.
Finlandia and Länsipouisto gaven me the best year of my whole life, many incredible friends, and so many memorable experiences, smiles and hugs that I will never forget.
The exchange student year made me grow up and discover myself in a so much deep way, made me be ready to the future, straightened me and made me feel that this is just the beginning.
I am sure I left a Part of my here and I take Finland With me forever.
When I leave from Argentina ' Aikaa Kasvaa' was my rhema and now I can see it concreted.
Being as exchange student means go out of your comfort zone and let you go to the adventure, one that really transforms your life forever.
Just left say thank for this time here and promise to come back as soon as possible.
Catalina Villena
From the left Sevval, Tom, Gijs, Andrea and Catalina
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