I have now had my first full month living abroad in Finland and I am loving it! The first two weeks were very difficult at times but now that I have settled in more I have already made a few good friends and that has helped me to feel a lot less homesick. I made several friends during orientation camp and I have already met up with my closest friend from camp in Helsinki once and we are planning to go to Helsinki again this weekend. I am so lucky to live only half an hour away from the city!
My first host family, the Lotila family, is so nice and they
were so helpful with everything. We have gone to their summer cottage
(mökki), picked berries and mushrooms, gone horseback riding, and we
have gone to a museum in Herueka. The kids are very nice and we always
have a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline together.
They held a welcome party for me once I had been in Finland
for two weeks so that I could meet my other three host families. (I have
four in total) My second family also recently invited me to a crayfish
party at their house which was a lot of fun. At the crayfish party one
of Sanni's (my second host mom) friends promised to lend me a guitar and
ukulele! I just picked up both instruments today and she said I could
use them all year, which I am very grateful and excited about.
This jakso at school I am taking two art classes, two music
classes, and an English class. I will probably take more challenging
courses once I learn more Finnish (I start my Finnish lessons on
Thursday). I am really enjoying the art classes and especially the music
classes because the school has such nice facilities and equipment.
There are six exchange students in total at my school, one
boy is from Buffalo, NY, and is also with the Rotary, there is an AFS
girl from Florida until January, there are two German girls, and a
Slovakian girl. I like them all and it's really nice having other
exchange students at the school.
I really the Nurmijarvi-Klaukkala-Lepsämä area so far, its a
perfect mix of countryside, and small town, and is nice and close to
Helsinki and Espoo. Since I am currently living in Lepsämä, its a little
far from the school, about 8 km, so I have to take the bus to school.
Luckily my three other host families live much closer to my school and
to the center of town, so it will be much easier for me to hang out with
friends after school without worrying about having to catch the bus by a
certain time.
Sincerely,
Michaela Schnore
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