Four seasons

This time I want the pictures to tell everything. I have collected some very typical pictures of Finnish nature. The map shows where I live.

Winter lasts from December to March. The temperature can drop below 0F. 

The spring lasts from April to May.

Cherry tree

The short summer lasts from June to August. 

A reindeer

on the top of a mountain

Fall colors are so beautiful

Here are some pictures of Tampere. I don't live in that city but I go to school there. It's the third biggest city in Finland with the population of 223 292. 

This one is from Helsinki which is the capital of Finland. 

What do you want to know about Finland? If you have something in your mind, please tell me!

Love,

Anette

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