Hey everyone! I just switch website users to WordPress because I guess you have to make a gmail account to read my posts =(
http://rissmunozfinland.wordpress.com/
follow me on my journey =)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Homesickness kicks in at bedtime I guess
11:30pm August 18, 2011
Almost 2 weeks in and I'm already feeling like I've hit rock bottom :(
This is not a good feeling at all...
I need to stop relying on my past to fix my problems and focus on those currently around me to get me out of this slump :/
School needs to come already!!
The sun needs to rise!!
Something needs to happen :(
Almost 2 weeks in and I'm already feeling like I've hit rock bottom :(
This is not a good feeling at all...
I need to stop relying on my past to fix my problems and focus on those currently around me to get me out of this slump :/
School needs to come already!!
The sun needs to rise!!
Something needs to happen :(
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
First day of school at Töölö Secondary School
I woke up this morning at 6:30am not really feeling any sort of anxiety or stress; I pretty much just got ready for another school day as if I was going to Monterey High again. I put on my favorite pair of dark jeans to boost of my confidence a notch, took off the tags from a new red and white striped shirt that I bought at Forever 21, and grabbed my black set of Vans shoes next to my brown satchel bag. I combed my hair, brushed my teeth, put on some jewelry, and what'd you know... Pauliina, my host sister, and I were walking a 8 minute walk to the bus stop behind our house. I've never had to take the bus to school, EVER. I never even was forced to the bus either. The only time I ever rode a bus was to see what it was like to ride it from Seaside to Monterey.
Buses here in Finland are known to be very punctual or early. If you are not standing at the bus stop waving your hands to signal it to stop, the bus would just continue to drive past you, which will leave you to be late for school. They are also known to just shut the doors on you or purposely leave you panting on the sidewalk because you were not at the bus stop at exactly 8am.
Well, we had to make a few stops to pick up other students and people, some being friends of Pauliina, before we made it to school about 30 minutes later. Knowing that they were going to be both very shy to talk to me in English, I just greeted them and introduced myself so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable about making mistakes in English.
Töölö is a very nice school. It reminds me of a private school in New York or something because it is, I think, 5 stories high, indoors, pastel green looking, building in between two other big buildings. Inside are corridors that has stairs at both end and about 6 classes on each floor containing different subjects.
Because i'm an exchange student with brown hair, and asian looking a bit, I did get quite a lot of stares from the blonde haired and blue eyed students, or pink haired and blue eyed, or mohawk rockers, etc. It didn't bother me much because Karkku camp pretty much prepared me for this.
My only worry about living in Finland was making friends. Because Finnish people tend to be very shy and reserved to themselves, I had this idea that I would probably eat my lunch in the corner or be a nuisance and tag along to my host sister and her friends. Of course, I didn't want either of those options to play into role!
I met the principal of Töölö and he took me to my first class called Finnish Literature, I think...
I had to introduce myself, and yes I did it in Finnish =), then I took a seat next to a boy that the teacher told me to sit by. The class started laughing, but I didn't care because I had no idea what they were laughing about and also, just because I didn't... care haha.
After hearing the info by our teacher, class was over so I got up out of my seat and two girls Riika and Jenni introduced theirselves to me! I was sooo happy that someone actually talked to me with a smile for once! They invited me to do dance lessons and go to Helsinki center today, but I had to settle in to school before I did anything.
I said goodbye to them and walked outside to be approached by two other girls and a teacher asking "are you the exchange students!?" It was definitely a nice greeting, I thought =) They offered to show me the office and when the lady handed me papers they allowed me to hang out with them and attend a Tutor meeting. I had to leave early to go get my bus card with Pauliina and her friend Sara.
When I got home, I realized that I am lactose intolerant after drinking a rather sour, strawberry milkshake. My stomach was killing me! Then my stomach started to hurt and nose started to run... I can safely say that I am sick =(
When I was feeling much better, my host sisters and I were in charge of making dinner made of chicken, ginger, carrots, launto (special finnish vegetable), and a delicious sauce. It was extremely good over some noodles. When dinner was made, we wolfed down our food and rushed to Noora and Pauliina's golfing lessons. Kati taught me how to swing a golf club for the first time at the driving range and surprisingly I did better than I thought, at least that's what I got from Kati's reaction! We hit a few golf balls and saved enough to go practice putting, which led to competitions to see who can hit 5 balls into the hole with the less amount of attempts. Of course, I lost, but I realized that golfing is actually a really fun sport that is extremely difficult. Back in the US, I never would have considered golfing and to try it in a far way country like Finland, I think it has taught me a lot about stepping outside the box and experiencing new things more often.
After the lessons, we all went home and Matti had hot tea and toast with Nutella all ready for us to warm up to since Pauliina and I had sore throats. It was extremely a wonderful moment to actually get to sit down with the entire family and just speak about our day over a nice, warm cup of tea.
During one of our discussions, Kati asked me "What other choices did I choose if I didn't choose Finland at all." I told her about the whole conversation with Melissa Mears and immediately everyone started laughing, I laughed too. It was also really peculiar to see how Finnish people tend to joke about their home country rather than come back with an aggressive response. For example, I asked them, "How do you feel about Finland's status in the world? Does it bother you that Finland is not a country people talk about, or know about for that matter?" They basically just said, "well it is Finland! No one knows where it is!" and then they started laughing again.
I really like Finland. I honestly can't see myself in any other country besides this Northern, ice-lantic place either. Yes, I do stand out quite a bit to all the others living here, but what I noticed is that even if the onlookers were thinking negative thoughts about my chinky eyes and brown hair... I couldn't tell! Finnish people really do keep to themselves and now I understand their shyness and take is seriously. I don't think every Fin is rude anymore, because then I would be judging a book by its over. It's a good thing that they are so quiet, because I learned that there needs to be moments to just relax and have alone time to myself or with other people. Back at home, I always had to be doing something or else I would go crazy! But here, I can now find time to read a book, study, or be in the company of others while they do their own thing.
I finally learned how to enjoy the moment, rather than unintentionally avoiding it.
Buses here in Finland are known to be very punctual or early. If you are not standing at the bus stop waving your hands to signal it to stop, the bus would just continue to drive past you, which will leave you to be late for school. They are also known to just shut the doors on you or purposely leave you panting on the sidewalk because you were not at the bus stop at exactly 8am.
Well, we had to make a few stops to pick up other students and people, some being friends of Pauliina, before we made it to school about 30 minutes later. Knowing that they were going to be both very shy to talk to me in English, I just greeted them and introduced myself so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable about making mistakes in English.
Töölö is a very nice school. It reminds me of a private school in New York or something because it is, I think, 5 stories high, indoors, pastel green looking, building in between two other big buildings. Inside are corridors that has stairs at both end and about 6 classes on each floor containing different subjects.
Because i'm an exchange student with brown hair, and asian looking a bit, I did get quite a lot of stares from the blonde haired and blue eyed students, or pink haired and blue eyed, or mohawk rockers, etc. It didn't bother me much because Karkku camp pretty much prepared me for this.
My only worry about living in Finland was making friends. Because Finnish people tend to be very shy and reserved to themselves, I had this idea that I would probably eat my lunch in the corner or be a nuisance and tag along to my host sister and her friends. Of course, I didn't want either of those options to play into role!
I met the principal of Töölö and he took me to my first class called Finnish Literature, I think...
I had to introduce myself, and yes I did it in Finnish =), then I took a seat next to a boy that the teacher told me to sit by. The class started laughing, but I didn't care because I had no idea what they were laughing about and also, just because I didn't... care haha.
After hearing the info by our teacher, class was over so I got up out of my seat and two girls Riika and Jenni introduced theirselves to me! I was sooo happy that someone actually talked to me with a smile for once! They invited me to do dance lessons and go to Helsinki center today, but I had to settle in to school before I did anything.
I said goodbye to them and walked outside to be approached by two other girls and a teacher asking "are you the exchange students!?" It was definitely a nice greeting, I thought =) They offered to show me the office and when the lady handed me papers they allowed me to hang out with them and attend a Tutor meeting. I had to leave early to go get my bus card with Pauliina and her friend Sara.
When I got home, I realized that I am lactose intolerant after drinking a rather sour, strawberry milkshake. My stomach was killing me! Then my stomach started to hurt and nose started to run... I can safely say that I am sick =(
When I was feeling much better, my host sisters and I were in charge of making dinner made of chicken, ginger, carrots, launto (special finnish vegetable), and a delicious sauce. It was extremely good over some noodles. When dinner was made, we wolfed down our food and rushed to Noora and Pauliina's golfing lessons. Kati taught me how to swing a golf club for the first time at the driving range and surprisingly I did better than I thought, at least that's what I got from Kati's reaction! We hit a few golf balls and saved enough to go practice putting, which led to competitions to see who can hit 5 balls into the hole with the less amount of attempts. Of course, I lost, but I realized that golfing is actually a really fun sport that is extremely difficult. Back in the US, I never would have considered golfing and to try it in a far way country like Finland, I think it has taught me a lot about stepping outside the box and experiencing new things more often.
After the lessons, we all went home and Matti had hot tea and toast with Nutella all ready for us to warm up to since Pauliina and I had sore throats. It was extremely a wonderful moment to actually get to sit down with the entire family and just speak about our day over a nice, warm cup of tea.
During one of our discussions, Kati asked me "What other choices did I choose if I didn't choose Finland at all." I told her about the whole conversation with Melissa Mears and immediately everyone started laughing, I laughed too. It was also really peculiar to see how Finnish people tend to joke about their home country rather than come back with an aggressive response. For example, I asked them, "How do you feel about Finland's status in the world? Does it bother you that Finland is not a country people talk about, or know about for that matter?" They basically just said, "well it is Finland! No one knows where it is!" and then they started laughing again.
I really like Finland. I honestly can't see myself in any other country besides this Northern, ice-lantic place either. Yes, I do stand out quite a bit to all the others living here, but what I noticed is that even if the onlookers were thinking negative thoughts about my chinky eyes and brown hair... I couldn't tell! Finnish people really do keep to themselves and now I understand their shyness and take is seriously. I don't think every Fin is rude anymore, because then I would be judging a book by its over. It's a good thing that they are so quiet, because I learned that there needs to be moments to just relax and have alone time to myself or with other people. Back at home, I always had to be doing something or else I would go crazy! But here, I can now find time to read a book, study, or be in the company of others while they do their own thing.
I finally learned how to enjoy the moment, rather than unintentionally avoiding it.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Meeting Host Family #1 - Kovalainen Family
August 13, 2011
The entire week at Karkku seemed like a drag at the beginning. I remember on Monday how I wished I could've went straight to my host family instead of attending Karkku because I just really wanted to finally meet the people i've been in touch with the past four months!
Then that morning came... when saying goodbye to Jane and Danielle (my good friends I made at camp), saying goodbye to the Rotex and teachers who have taught me so much about Finland and the Finnish language, and saying nähdään to Karkku... finally was here. All I felt was nerves rising and tension splitting my thoughts! I really did want to meet my host family, but after a week's stay in Finland, I had accumulated those psychotic emotions of stress, unreadiness (if it was an emotion), and fright! I wasn't ready to meet my host family, yet alone, begin my life as an exchange students....
At 11:30am, I saw Kati (host mom) standing on the stairs outside of Karkku with a sign that read "Marissa Munoz" =) The nerves quickly subsided and I ran up the stairs to introduce my self and give hugs to the following family members behind her, Mati (host dad), Pauliina (host sister), and Noora (host sister). I knew giving hugs was most appropriate when meeting a Finnish family for the first time, but I had to hug them all!
The entire week at Karkku seemed like a drag at the beginning. I remember on Monday how I wished I could've went straight to my host family instead of attending Karkku because I just really wanted to finally meet the people i've been in touch with the past four months!
Then that morning came... when saying goodbye to Jane and Danielle (my good friends I made at camp), saying goodbye to the Rotex and teachers who have taught me so much about Finland and the Finnish language, and saying nähdään to Karkku... finally was here. All I felt was nerves rising and tension splitting my thoughts! I really did want to meet my host family, but after a week's stay in Finland, I had accumulated those psychotic emotions of stress, unreadiness (if it was an emotion), and fright! I wasn't ready to meet my host family, yet alone, begin my life as an exchange students....
At 11:30am, I saw Kati (host mom) standing on the stairs outside of Karkku with a sign that read "Marissa Munoz" =) The nerves quickly subsided and I ran up the stairs to introduce my self and give hugs to the following family members behind her, Mati (host dad), Pauliina (host sister), and Noora (host sister). I knew giving hugs was most appropriate when meeting a Finnish family for the first time, but I had to hug them all!
A brief intro of my first week in Finland
August 10, 2011
At camp Karkku, we have a scheduled program that involves lectures about Finnish grammar and language, lessons about Finnish culture, and outdoor activities.
I've learned a lot from camp Karkku, which has taught me how to communicate with others speaking Finnish. All the students at Karkku went on a sightseeing tour of Tampere, Finland's 3rd biggest city, and also had the opportunity to shop using the basic question "Mitä tämä maksaa?" or "how much is this" in english. Of course, every Finnish employee at the stores Stockmann and Sokos replied to me in English -.-which is not what I wanted to hear of course!
I went into Sokos, which is a department store that has pretty much anything you want (even a buffet upstairs!) to buy a hair straightener. Once I found them, I asked these two girls if they spoke english so I can ask for their help with choosing which straightener I should get. The two girls looked at each other, smiled, and walked away.... I told the Rotex (Finnish exchange students who just came back from a foreign country) and they said that they were just shy and embarrassed to make mistakes when speaking english.
I still don't believe them and now I have this idea that "shyness" is actually a word used to conceal how mean some young Finnish girls are!
At camp Karkku, we have a scheduled program that involves lectures about Finnish grammar and language, lessons about Finnish culture, and outdoor activities.
I've learned a lot from camp Karkku, which has taught me how to communicate with others speaking Finnish. All the students at Karkku went on a sightseeing tour of Tampere, Finland's 3rd biggest city, and also had the opportunity to shop using the basic question "Mitä tämä maksaa?" or "how much is this" in english. Of course, every Finnish employee at the stores Stockmann and Sokos replied to me in English -.-which is not what I wanted to hear of course!
I went into Sokos, which is a department store that has pretty much anything you want (even a buffet upstairs!) to buy a hair straightener. Once I found them, I asked these two girls if they spoke english so I can ask for their help with choosing which straightener I should get. The two girls looked at each other, smiled, and walked away.... I told the Rotex (Finnish exchange students who just came back from a foreign country) and they said that they were just shy and embarrassed to make mistakes when speaking english.
I still don't believe them and now I have this idea that "shyness" is actually a word used to conceal how mean some young Finnish girls are!
A brief intro of my first week in Finland
August 8, 2011
It was difficult trying to keep sleeping after arriving to the Karkku school because the sun literally went down at 10pm and rose at 4am... What a difference compared to California, right?
We had to wake up for breakfast at 7:30am. The menu of the day was porridge, bread & butter, cereal, tea, coffee, and a few other items. The set up for meals was like a buffet in cafeteria, I really liked it because you could choose the portions that you wanted instead of it being small enough to feed all 123 students =)
For every meal, bread and butter with tea and/or coffee was always served. Maito (milk) and vesi (water) are also always served with every meal.
A kid from Canada was kind enough to let me try Salmiakki, a Finnish candy that is described as salty, black licorice. I honestly was not very fond of it, but I guess they say the second time I try it will be even better haha.
I had to wear what I wore for pajamas the entire day because my luggage didn't arrive until Tuesday night. It sucked sooooo muchhhhhhh because all my clean clothes, shoes, and warm jackets were in the luggage that got lost =/
It was difficult trying to keep sleeping after arriving to the Karkku school because the sun literally went down at 10pm and rose at 4am... What a difference compared to California, right?
We had to wake up for breakfast at 7:30am. The menu of the day was porridge, bread & butter, cereal, tea, coffee, and a few other items. The set up for meals was like a buffet in cafeteria, I really liked it because you could choose the portions that you wanted instead of it being small enough to feed all 123 students =)
For every meal, bread and butter with tea and/or coffee was always served. Maito (milk) and vesi (water) are also always served with every meal.
A kid from Canada was kind enough to let me try Salmiakki, a Finnish candy that is described as salty, black licorice. I honestly was not very fond of it, but I guess they say the second time I try it will be even better haha.
I had to wear what I wore for pajamas the entire day because my luggage didn't arrive until Tuesday night. It sucked sooooo muchhhhhhh because all my clean clothes, shoes, and warm jackets were in the luggage that got lost =/
A brief intro of my first week in Finland
August 7, 2011
I left Monterey's airport on August 6, 2011 an hour late due to a delay in flight. When I arrived at the Denver airport I had already missed my flight to Frankfort, Germany. So with luck on my shoulders, I managed to book another reservation and catch the next flight to London that same day. After almost missing my flight out from London to Helsinki because of misconception of the flight schedule, I was able to convince the flight attendant with tears of stress and tiredness.
After a long 9 hour flight to Helsinki, I landed at the airport at 9pm with a few other exchange students coming to Finland. We finally left the airport at 12am after the other exchange students flew in from their flights. The drive from Helsinki to Karkku was 3 hours long -.-
It was raining when we came to Karkun Evankelinen Opisto (Karkku Evangelical School).
Soon after unloading the buses, all 30 of us late arrivals got our room numbers and keys and headed straight to our rooms to sleep!
I left Monterey's airport on August 6, 2011 an hour late due to a delay in flight. When I arrived at the Denver airport I had already missed my flight to Frankfort, Germany. So with luck on my shoulders, I managed to book another reservation and catch the next flight to London that same day. After almost missing my flight out from London to Helsinki because of misconception of the flight schedule, I was able to convince the flight attendant with tears of stress and tiredness.
After a long 9 hour flight to Helsinki, I landed at the airport at 9pm with a few other exchange students coming to Finland. We finally left the airport at 12am after the other exchange students flew in from their flights. The drive from Helsinki to Karkku was 3 hours long -.-
It was raining when we came to Karkun Evankelinen Opisto (Karkku Evangelical School).
Soon after unloading the buses, all 30 of us late arrivals got our room numbers and keys and headed straight to our rooms to sleep!
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