My senior year

In Finland high school lasts only for three years. That's because the junior high lasts for three years, too. Anyway, this year is (finally) my senior year. The senior year is very special, including the final exams in September and in March.  

The highlight of the senior year is this one week in February. It was three weeks ago, 13-18 February. The 8th of February was my last actual school day.

During the week there are different activities for the seniors. There are about 260 seniors in my school. A Finnish word for a senior is abi. It comes from the German word Abitur which means the final exams.

So, back to the week. Wednesday we had a theme party for the seniors. Every year the second-graders host a theme party for seniors. This year the theme was Olympics. I was a tennis player even though I don't even know how to play tennis. It was fun!!

The seniors make a play in which they play and mock the teachers. I saw that play Thursday morning. After the play, which is called abishow, we had a parade. It's kind of similar to the American homecoming parade: students dress up and they throw candy to people who come to watch the parade. The seniors stand on a truck and all the high schools of the city drive their trucks up and down the main street. There are approximately 10 high schools in Tampere. There are huge signs on the trucks which usually criticize politics.

I dressed up an old and mean granny with my friends.

Another traditional senior activity is a cruise to Tallinn or Stockholm. The cruise is just for seniors and it lasts for a day. There's a delicious buffet and usually an artist who has a concert there.

This is a reference to Brexit

Next week will be my last week of studying, yay!! My studying break officially started three weeks ago. Next week I will still study about 5-6 hours per day independently for my final exams. The final exam, officially the matriculation examination, is a 6-hour long test, in which your knowledge of the subject is tested. It covers everything you have learned in high school. Usually you have to write essays in order to answer the questions. A student can choose the subjects which s/he wishes to be tested in. Only Finnish is mandatory and everyone takes the English test. I’ll be tested in those two, but also in Advanced level math, chemistry, biology and Swedish. Each test has their own testing day so I have to go to take the tests in six parts (means 36 hours of sitting and writing…)

This is what our kitchen table looks like when I'm studying :D 

Here are a couple of examples of the questions:

Biology:

How can mutations affect the phenotype and fitness of a species?

History:

The picture below is from the 1920s. The era is also called the “roaring twenties”.

Discuss what kind of Western phenomena are for this nickname and how can this nickname also be critisized?

Finnish:

The passage begins John Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row. In what ways does the narrator describe the setting in the passage? (I have not attached the passage here)

The final exams will be held in March. After that, most of the seniors don't have school anymore and they get a job. My situation is different because I want to apply for the University of Medicine. I have to take an entrance exam which is one of the hardest ones in Finland. Only 10% of the applicants get in. I'm going to a course that prepares me for the entrance test. On the course I will be studying about 6 hours per day chemistry, physics and biology. I have already studied them in high school so it’s not anything new but I just have to remember every single detail of the material. That ain't easy.

The graduation ceremony will be held in early June. I will tell more about it later.

Love,

Anette

My family part 2

Hello,

here comes the part two, as I promised. In this part I will introduce my parents and siblings and my best friends to you.

My parents are quite old: my mom was 40 when I was born and my dad was 45. My dad is retired already. He used to work as a sales manager in a car store. Nowadays he enjoys playing golf a lot. He travels around the world playing golf with his friends. He is also the president of a local Rotary club. Rotary club is an international charity organisation. My dad and I go cross-country skiing a lot in the winter. That's our common hobby.

My mom is still working - she is a nurse and works in the OR. Perhaps it is her occupation that has inspired me to dream about being a doctor...She loves traveling and spending time at our summer cottage.

We all love traveling - both in Finland and abroad. We have a summer cottage on an island where we spend plenty of time in the summer. We also have another cottage in Northern Finland, Lapland. We usually go to Lapland in the winter. Actually we are going to spend the next week there skiing and enjoying the snow.

This picture is from Sweden, 2013.

My siblings are actually my halfsiblings because we only have the same father but not the same mother. Both of my siblings have once been exchange students, too. They both went to Germany. My sister has also studied in Germany for many years.

My halfbrother, Tommi (English equivalent is Tommy), turns 40 in a couple of months. He lives in Southern Finland with his daughter, wife and two dogs. I have the honor to be his daughter's godmother. Emma's birthday was in early February and she turned one. She has learned to walk! I love to see her growing up.

My halfsister, Kirsi, is the international part of our family. Nowadays she lives in Oslo, Norway, but it wasn't a long time ago when she still lived in Berlin. She is married to a German man and they have a child. Their child will turn one soon, too.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post any pictures of the children here or anywhere in the social media.

I've known my best friends since the first grade of elementary school. One of them is my cousin, too. 

Her name is Sanni, who is very close to me. I consider her my sister. She is 19 years old and studies radiology in the University. She competes in cross-country skiing and rowing so she loves to do sports. She lives only only 4,8 miles from me but we don't see each other very often due to our hectic lifestyles.

My very best friend, Janina, is my neighbor. Even though we live right next to each other, we don't hang out very often. She's doing a gap year and I have school...Last year she graduated from high school. Now she works at a grocery store but soon she will leave for Spain for two months. She will study tourism there.

Sanni was at the airport when I came back to Finland from the US.

Janina's graduation 

Love,

Anette

The green Christmas

Hello,

And happy New Year!

Yesterday was the Epiphany day, which ends the Christmas time (at least in Finland). This year I spent Christmas with Joonas and his family. As I tell you about my Christmas, I will introduce you some Finnish Christmas traditions.

In Finland we celebrate Christmas on the Christmas Eve. In the morning we eat rice pudding. There's an almond hidden in the pudding the myth goes that whoever finds the almond will be lucky next year. Unfortunately I didn't get the almond but so far this year has been quite nice, though. 

Going to the sauna is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. This Christmas we went to the sauna twice; in the afternoon and in the evening. My boyfriend has a hot tub in which we bathed for a long time. 

Another favorite Christmas tradition of mine is food, of course. Typical Christmas dinner includes ham, potatoes, different casseroles such as carrot, sweet potato, potato and liver, smoked salmon and herring. Salad is usually made of beetroot, carrot, potato and pickles. 

Typical Christmas sweets are pastries filled with plum marmalade and gingerbread cookies which are usually eaten with a drink called glögi. Basically it's hot blackcurrant juice spiced with clove, cinnamon and ginger. I also made a raw chocolate cake that turned out to be delicious. 

The highlight of the day is Santa's visit. In Finland he just casually knocks the door and walks in. Well, as most of the older kids and adults don't believe in Santa, he doesn't visit everyone. My boyfriend's cousin was afraid of Santa so we decided to call Santa and tell him not to visit us this year 😄

I got a gift card for a spa where Joonas and I spent two days after Christmas. I also got chocolate, a bracelet, warm and cozy socks, pictures of my goddaughter, a calendar and a board game. 

Santa with his favorite elf :)

Santa lives in Finland, on the Arctic Circle. There's a huge tourist attraction called Santa Claus village where you can meet Santa and his elves.

Joonas' two sisters and I got the same socks :D

Unfortunately, the weather was rather miserable this Christmas. It was 40 and raining. Instead of being white, this Christmas was green and black. Well it started snowing after Christmas and now we have 3 inches of snow! ( And it's freezing cold...)

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!

Love,

Anette

My family part 1

Hello,

I think it's high time I introduced my family to you. I'll begin with my boyfriend, who I've been dating for over a year. We met at a church camp in the summer 2015 after I had returned home from the U.S. 

Well, I'll let him introduce himself...

And hello from me, too. My name is Joonas and I'm an 18-year old beginning of a man. The American equivalent to my name would be Jonas (even though the Finnish version is pronounced differently). I live in a fancy house by lake in the middle of nowhere. I live in the same town as Anette, though,  just 32 miles from her. I go to a different school than Anette, This year is my senior year, too.

With my family

My hobbies are hunting and ice swimming, so I'm a crazy guy (at least Anette thinks so). Basically ice swimming means that I go swimming in a frozen lake in a freezing cold water, usually after sauna. I have also taught Anette to like it a bit.

I'm a science nerd and I'm into IT, technology and good movies, such as superhero movies.

I work at a company that produces and sells 3D printers.

Besides all this nerdy stuff, I also like to work out. I like to go to gym.

In Finland it's mandatory to join army forces and I'm starting my service next summer. It'll last for a year. After that I'm going to study IT and computer science in the University of  Technology.

This is my home

We both wish you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Anette and Joonas

EYP - what is it?

Hello my lovely American lads (influenced by this Irish girl),

I apologize the lack of posts on my blog. This fall has been super busy in terms of schoolwork. 

Luckily, this week I have a fall break. Last ten days I've spent in Laax, Switzerland, in the 83rd International session of EYP. I want to tell you something about these 10 amazing days.

EYP - European Youth Parliament is an NGO that has members in 40 countries throughout Europe (there are 50 countries in Europe overall). EYP is not related to the European Union. EYP has no political power and therefore it is not politically committed.

There are 3 types of sessions held each year: regional, national and international. Regionals and nationals are for the members of the corresponding country. International sessions are for members that have been selected from the other two sessions. 

In each sessions the delegates are split into different committees. Each committee has one issue, usually concerning events going on in Europe. Their task is to solve the issue by identifying problems and coming up with a plan on how to solve them. Each resolution is presented in General Assembly where all the delegates can discuss and debate on the issue. 

Sounds like politics, huh? Well, I bet this is easier and much more fun. EYP is actually more about problem solving, debating, interacting, discussing and thinking about current issues. Being an active citizen of Europe. Meeting people from all over Europe.

This was a brief introduction of EYP.

The map of Europe - just in case you wanted to see where Switzerland is.

I was selected to this Laax International session (IS) last February. When October finally came and I had finished my marticulation exams, I was definitely ready for Laax. 

Laax is a small village surrounded by the Alps. Nature was beautiful and yet so green. The landscape was breathtaking. 

One day I had an opportunity to go hiking. It was a four-hour hike but it was totally worth it. 

The 10-day session included lots of events where you were able to try foods from different European countries. The picture is from the Eurovillage, where the delegates from all the 40 countries had brought some traditional food. We brought salty liquorice, rye bread, cranberries, cloudberries, reindeer meat and of course Finnish chocolate!

Irish, Finnish, German, Czech Republican and Bosnian girls

There were 15 delegates on my committee. Our 

topic was about the ageing society in Europe, meaning there are more old people than young people in the society. On the picture above you see my roommates who were also on my committee.

We also rode the ski lift up to the mountain. We were above the clouds, 7200 ft above the sea level.

 Me and my three friends from Finland decided to spend a couple of hours exploring Zurich before going to the airport. We didn't have much time to walk around but Zurich seemed to be a nice and beautiful town. I will definitely visit it one day again.

This session was one of the best things in my life. I learned a lot about different cultures in Europe. Even though Europe is coherent, there is a huge diversity of cultures and traditions. As I learned more about differences within Europe, I became more open-minded. I made friends with people from Eastern Europe. I've never known anyone from Eastern Europe before the session. Having friends and connections everywhere in Europe is precious. 

The session also reminded me of how much I love traveling and exploring the world. There's so much to see and experience. So many people I haven't met yet.

I'm still thinking about studying abroad...

Want to see more pictures of Laax? 

Click this!

Happy Halloween (ik I am a little bit early...)

Lots of love,

Anette 

Easter break

A five-day Easter break gave me a great opportunity to relax (and do homework) at my winter house. This is the best time of the year to ski in Lapland. The sun is shining and it's not too cold. This means the temperature is something around 30F.

I've visited my winter house since the year I was born. The entire family (my grandparents and cousins) used to gather together and spend a week at the winter house. Nowadays it's only my family and my cousin, Sanni's family who come all 1280 miles to Lapland in order to ski.

The Northern part of Finland is called Lapland. It's not a city or anything-kinda like a county or something. The Santa Claus lives in Lapland, on the Arctic Circle. It's only two hours away from my winter house!!! Many tourists from all over the world visit Lapland (and you should, too!)

This pic has been taken years ago, this year there was so much more snow!

My ex and I visited Santa Claus last summer

Our winter house was re-decorated a year ago.

Lisää kuvateksti

Thursday was a great day for skiing! The tracks were just damped down! I enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine! The sun doesn't really shine in the winter and it's really dark, so the sunshine it's a sign of spring.

This picture has been takes a couple years ago. My cousin, Sanni (on the left) is a skier and competes frequently. I skied about 80 miles. Saturday Sanni and I went snowboarding. There's a whole lot of snow here; I bet the snow banks are more than 2 feet tall!!

 We both have been snowboarding for years. We usually snowboard about three days in the winter. It's not a lot, because in Southern Finland there's too little snow for skiing.

I also wanna tell you something about Finnish Easter traditions. It's a religious holiday after all, but we also have some weird traditions. On Palm Sunday children dress up as witches and wizards and go from door to door doing a trick or treat kind of a thing. They give a pussy willow and get easter eggs for treat. I will make sure I audiotape the poem they say😂😂😂

Unlike in English, the Good Friday is Long Friday in Finnish. And hat comes to the name, Good Friday is really nonsense, just saying. It wasn't good at all as we all know. 

Anyway, we also have some traditional foods we eat on Easter. This includes lamb, rye porridge, limppu (bread) and Easter eggs. Rye porridge is made of rye flour, water and syrup. I find it really disgusting, though. Limppu is a Finnish bread and I'm not aware of the equivalent English word for it. It's usually soft rye bread with some syrup added.  Actually, I did eat that bread once in America at the Finnish Christmas dinner.
Including a small (and really unnecessary) toy, the Easter eggs differ from the American ones. But then again, the most popular Easter eggs come from German. I've heard you've tried Kinder chocolate, too. Ain't that good, though?

Some Finns grow a little piece of grass in a jar. Apparently that's called ryegrass(?). It's a signifies new life. 

 With warm and sunny regards,

Anette