Thursday, September 13, 2012

Pictures from the Past


Wow, this brings us back to the very beginning of it all. This picture was taken at Winter Orientation in January when I was just told that I would be going on exchange to Finland. The boy in the blue blazer is named Ilkka, he was at the time on exchange in Juneau, Alaska. The other boy is named Kaden, and he had just gotten back from his exchange year in Finland. They both walked up on to the stage, Ilkka carrying the flag of his home country, and Kaden holding the envelope decorated as a Finnish flag. They gave out a short introduction in Finnish, then both with a smile on their faces said in unison, 
"Welcome to Finland Katie Cadigan." 



Here we have pictures from the night I left Fairbanks behind. This was both the most wonderful, and most terrible night of my life. I know I already posted a bit about this night, so I'll only give a short run down of what happened. My Dad and my younger brother Sean drove me to the airport at about 11:30 at night where we were met by my wonderful friends Kelly, Claire, Torie, Spencer, Deenaalee, and Harry. We had very tearful goodbyes, and eventually it was down to just Sean, Dad, and I, sitting on the bench shown in the picture. I was crying, and honestly having a panic attack, but somehow I managed to stand up, say goodbye to the two people closest to me in the world, and board my plane. 


Now we have me, in Finland, at the very beginning of my journey.

Pala Kaiken

Moi!

I think I am losing my touch at fabricating a set thesis for these posts, because I have so many little things that I want to share, and most of them have no connection to each other at all! Bare with me please. :)

Sweden

T-2 days until I head off to Sweden with my host family! I am SO excited! The reason behind this trip is that my host Grandmother just turned 80 years old! The entire family (and its a big family) is going to meet in Stockholm for 2 days of celebrating, then when they leave on Sunday, Annica, Fred, Nora, and myself are staying through Monday to do some shopping and sight seeing! I am literally bouncing up and down in my seat with excitement right now!

Fun.

For a long time I have had a favorite band named Fun., and wouldn't you know it, as if my exchange wasn't amazing already, guess who is coming to have a concert in Helsinki? Fun.! I bought my tickets yesterday! Other exchange students from across Finland are coming to see the concert as well, so we will all meet up and have a nice reunion while we watch Fun. preform!

Suomen Kurssi

I started my Finnish language courses on Tuesday, so now every Tuesday and Thursday I will be going to a class at 7 p.m. to learn how to finally puhu suomea! En ole kovin hyvä.

Thats about all I can think of right now, but I will write again soon, and put up more pictures!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Life 2.0


These are two of my closest friends here on exchange, Dylan, Sara, and Vivian, who took this picture. This is the magnificent Lutheran Cathedral in the heart of Helsinki.


This beautiful view of the Baltic Sea is only a 10 minute walk from my house. Every time I walk by the view takes my breath away! 


Myself with my host father and host sister at the Central Market Place right on the Baltic Sea in Helsinki. I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful host family!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Things I Have Come to Know

Moi!

We have officially come to the one month in Finland mark! It was a whirl wind of activity and new experiences, and now things are finally starting to fall into a rhythm. Through this rhythm, there are a few things that I have come to notice about Finland, and my everyday life, that seem quite normal now, but a year ago would have baffled me had someone told me that these were in my future. These are the things that I have come to know:

1) Silence is fun! No really, I have come to enjoy the quiet atmosphere that you can find throughout this country. This sounds quiet, and you may now have an image of stone-faced Finns walking through the streets of Helsinki not saying a word. That isn't the case at all, its just that when you compare where I come from to where I am now, its like the volume level has been turned down about five notches. People here believe that if you are going to speak, you should have something to say. This means also that what a Finn says is the truth, and each word holds a new weight that I hadn't before felt in the US.  Because of this I have found that I have much more time with my own thoughts, and I have a better chance to observe and "people-watch", as well as learn much from the people that do speak with me.

2) Finland is like a small town, it seems that everyone knows everyone else. A very good example of this is when I told my host mother Annica that I wanted to join a yoga class. She smiled and said that "Oh yes, I have a friend named Monica who teaches a yoga class, let me give her a call and see if she can fit you in." Less than an hour later she comes to me stating that I was signed up and ready for a few weekend courses at a local studio, and that Monica would even teach in English for me so that I wouldn't get lost in the folds of the Swedish language. It was extremely kind of Annica to use her connections to help me out, and it also gives a good perspective on the community aspect of this countries culture.

3) Food. Ohhhhhh the food. I had no idea what I would be eating when I came to this country. I had heard horror stories about "blood-cake" and blood this, and blood that, so naturally I began to wonder if the people in Finland were really all vampires... No not really, but these rumors made me nervous about what types of foods  I would eat. Today I am happy to report that the food is good! The main staple foods that are included in most every meal are potatoes (peruna), tomatoes (tomaatii), cucumber (kurkku), fish (kala), bread (leipa), and butter (voi). There is an extreme emphasis on the bread and butter, daily I have at LEAST four pieces of bread with butter. And thats considered a low number. I quite enjoy everything we eat!

4) Public transportation has become one of my dearest, and most trusted friends. I say most trusted because when everything else in my life is a little bit crazy, I can always count on the bus I need to take to be there at the exact time that it is scheduled to. On a normal day I usually only use the bus to get where I need to go, but occasionally I need a train or a metro to get me to my destination. Each of these forms of people movers are very convenient, and I enjoy the freedom they give me.

There are defiantly more to add to this list, but its quite late, and I am terribly sick, so I should probably get to sleep. I'll start posting picture of my trip for those of you who haven't seen them on Facebook!

Hyvää yötä!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

'It's a Process"

Moi :)
We are almost at the 1 month point! Can you believe that so much time has passed? I remember when I was counting down from 200 days! Each day here is a new adventure and challenge.
Last post was about Karkku, so now I think it is time to write about how I have been settling in, and what Espoo is all about!

My normal day consists of waking up to go to school, sitting in class trying to understand pieces of the finnish words being thrown out across that classroom, catching enough to understand where the conversation is going, but not enough to actually engage in the discussion. After class, I shuffle into the massive fray of students milling around an over crowed hallway, trying push my way towards either my next class, or more often the front door. My schedule is very loose, and not many of my classes are back to back, so I sometimes have enough time to slip out of school and get some fresh air. My classes are English 1.1, English 1.2, English 10.1, "Free-Form" Gym, and lastly Music. In each of my English classes I either help teach or sit by myself and work through my Finnish Language Lesson Books. Its a slow going task, but its helped me with the language a little bit. "Free-Form" Gym class is given such a title because the students choose what will happen in each class. An example can be found in this Fridays class, we partnered up and gave each other back massages. My good friend Sara (on exchange from Belgium) is in my class, so it may actually be an enjoyable class. Lastly there is Music. I can't understand a thing in that class, but weirdly enough the actual music that they play is usually Pop, and half the time its in English, so I can sing along with out the aid of a book, which is one small victory for the clueless girl from Alaska.
Now, a word about the people in my school before I go on. They are all clones of one another. People may tell me there name, but half the time none of them have enough variation between each other for me to keep track of who is who. So I gave up, and if on the rare occasion someone says hi (which so far has been once) I grin and use every tactic I know to avoid saying their name.
Once school is out, myself and the other two exchange students in my school, Sara from Belgium and Alex from New Zealand, usually go back to either mine or Sara's house to hang out. Making friends that are Finnish at out school has turned out to be a very difficult task indeed, so its a miracle that we have each other to spend time with. Sometimes we go to meet other exchangers in Helsinki or Tapiola, other times we turn on MTV's music station (they actually have an MTV station here that only plays music!) and dance around the kitchen as a way to shake off the school day. As Sara put it, we are the Haukilahti Exchange Trio. Maybe school won't be so bad now that they are here to brighten my day!

Living in a big city, with a new language, with new people, has shocked me into the realization that I am not in Fairbanks anymore. Ive heard some of the first day stories form my school back home, and seen how people are slowly moving on and forward into another monotonous year at West Valley High School. Some days I wish I was back there, not having to fear that I won't make friends here, or that I won't learn the language, or that when I get on a bus that I will get off at the wrong stop and I won't be able to read the signs that point the way home. But the moment that thought pops into my mind I realize that the safety of Fairbanks, Alaska is exactly what I was trying to escape. I need to see the rest of the world, and learn about the different pieces that make up one massive world community that I hope to join through going on this exchange. I am so thankful that I have been given this experience, and I wouldn't change any part of it for the world.


"If you are brave enough to leave behind everything that is comforting, which could be anything; your house to bitter old resentments, and set out on a truth seeking journey, either externally, or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be with held from you. I can't help but believe it, given my experience." -- Eat Pray Love