One exam week left: then summer!

Next week is our exam week.. Fortunately I only have three exams left! :) (I have had even five or six exams too) So this weekend I just have to study.. I'm so looking forward to summer holiday. It begins the 1st of June.
  I'm now studying in lukio (upper secondary school). And this year has been very exhausting! I have studied so much during this first year that I think I can't handle any new information anymore because my head is full of knowledge! Btw, here's a chart of the Finnish school system for those who are interested:

Education in Finland

Academic degrees	Vocational degrees				Typical ages
doctor	employment
licentiate
master	Polytechnic (new)				+2-3
bachelor	Polytechnic				+3-4
upper secondary school (voluntary)		vocational school(voluntary)			18-19
					17-18
					16-17
comprehensive school (compulsory)					15-16
					14-15
					13-14
					12-13
					11-12
					10-11
					9-10
					8-9
					7-8
pre-school					6-7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

In lukio we have six periods and at the end of each period we'll have the exams of the subjects we have been studying in that period (the exam week).

  After this next week I won't be in Finnish school for a year! It sounds so weird. It's not the best thing in my exchange that I will leave one year behind my friends.. but I try to think that it doesn't matter because I will have a great year and everything will be worth it :p

                                                             Just wish me luck! :)

Love

Nella

Orientation camp

I know that my blog has been very quiet lately.. I have just so much going on in my life - as usual :D I like when I have a lot of things to do :)

But this is the thing I came here to tell you:
I had the second orientation here in Finland (in Porvoo) last weekend (18.-19.5.2013)! The first one lasted only two hours and it was meant to my parents also. This one was just for the Finnish exchange students 2013-2014 via AFS. There were people who are going to Mexico, China, Thailand, Argentina, Chile, Indonesia.. and of course the other Finnish girl who is coming to Russia! It was really nice to talk with her :)
  There were also AFS volunteers in the camp who are former exchange students. They had been in the countries we are going to. So there was a girl who had been in Russia a year ago! She told us a lot about her exchange and it was really interesting. In the camp we thought and talked a lot: about Finnish culture and other cultures, next year's possible ups and downs (I'm sure it won't be that interesting and exciting all the time), our personal values and goals, for example. We also wrote a letter to ourselves to the future, those letters will be sent to us during our exchange.
  So I met a lot of new people during that weekend :) They were all very nice and we had a lot to talk about because we all had at least one thing in common: exchange. Many of them were very talkative so you had the change to talk as much there as you wanted :D

 I travelled by train from Turku to Helsinki. There was a bus from Helsinki to Porvoo.

  We (at least some of us) went to swimming - even thought the water is still very cold!

             The food in the campsite was really good! We also got some ice cream :p

                                             

  New people!<3

                   One is coming to Russia the other was in Russia (and then there's me!) :)

 

No, we didn't play football :D I think here we were playing some 'mental image' games.

     These photos get me on the summer mood!

Love
Nella

P.S I also added a counter to this site (on the right)! There you can see how many days are left until I go to Russia :))

Vappu - the first of May

Today we had no school because of Vappu. I think it's originally celebration of work. To me it just reminds me of the upcoming summer and gets me on a good, summer mood! Vappu is made from balloons, serpentiinistä (paper streamer), munkeista, simasta and other good food. Only one month school left until our summer holiday and after the summer I will leave! So not much time for that :))
  I baked  'munkkeja' (I don't know a translation for this, you can see them in a pic below) and drank 'sima' with my friend :) Hyvää Vappua kaikille - Happy  first of May  to everyone!

Finally some pictures to this blog ;)

Love
Nella

Why Russia?

Many people have been very surprised about the fact that I'm going to Russia. Especially people in Finland (relatives and friends) do seem to be really worried about me. In all the countries in the world, why did I choose Russia? Well, Russia is an interesting and truly not a common choice for an exchange. AFS was the only organisation, that I found, which sends students to Russia. I feel really good about the organisation and a friend of mine actually recommended it for me :) I was today in an info orientation in Turku which lasted about two hours. There were some AFS volunteers (former exchange students) and it was great to hear about their experiences and tips! There were also other future exchange students (like me) and their parents. Most of them were going to the USA which is the most common destination (at least via AFS).
    I wanted something else. Something way different. I have been studying Russian language for almost three years now but I only know the basics and I really can't understand the language. I really want to learn to speak and understand it fluently. So that's one reason. Other practical reasons are that Russia is a huge neighbour country of Finland. The importance of Russia to our country is growing all the time! I think I will have a big advantage about the Russian language skills and knowing Russian culture in Finland in the future.
    Of course money affected too on my decision. It's way cheaper to go to Russia than for example to Australia! It costs nearly twice the amount that my year will cost. It's difficult to get the money for Russia but not impossible. Impossible would be to get the money twice that much. I do have good experiences about Russia and Russians. I have been in Russia for five days with my school. It was just great and all the Russians were so incredibly nice!  I'm very well aware of our countries' history but in my opinion past is gone. It's the future you need to focus on! I wan't to help creating the friendship between Finland and Russia. Nowadays the image of Russia in Finland is not the best one. I wan't to be part of making it better.
    I think it's not that big deal where you go. Of course it matters but the main point is that you go! Don't let your dreams to be dreams. Do what you wan't to do and make an effort to reach your goals. Live your life! I want to learn about other cultures and about my own culture. I want to experience something I won't experience later. I want to get to know new people and make new friends. I want to grow as a person and learn. I want to have an experience of a lifetime.

Love
Nella

http://int.rgo.ru/news/russia-finland-developing-cooperation/

About myself

So maybe I should start my blog telling a bit about myself for those who don't know me. I'm a 17-year-old girl from a little town in the south of Finland. My hobbies in Finland are floorball and scouting. I also like jogging, cooking and baking a lot.  I've never wrote a blog before so if you have any tips, suggestions or comments, I'll be glad to hear them! I wanted to write my blog in English because I wish myself that there were more blogs about exchanging Russia in English. My English isn't that perfect so comment if something is written very confusingly :)
  I'll go to Russia 22nd or 23rd of August 2013 and I'll come back in the end of June 2014. So I'll be there about 10 months. I'm going via this organisation AFS (www.afs.fi). I don't know exactly where will I go yet but AFS is looking for a host family for me right now. They'll inform me when they find a suitable family for me. I hope I'll find it out soon! I've already talked with some of the people who will come to Russia at the same time than me. I'm already so excited! Of course I will miss a lot everyone close to me in Finland but I'm sure this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We'll keep in touch ;)
  I don't know what else to say.. :) If you have questions, just ask (in English or in Finnish)!

Love,
Nella

P.s I make no promises about updating my blog. Hopefully I will write a lot in here :) Maybe I'll start to write in Finnish if I become lazy :p Who knows!