Exchange students
Finnish exchange student conquers Palermo
Hello fellow students around the world. It’s time to look for the main differences between the culture I’ve known all my life, the Finnish lifestyle and the culture I somewhat learned during my stay in Palermo, the Italian lifestyle.
Because Comenius is a schoolproject, I’ll start this monologue from that as well.My school here in Finland is very different from the one I visited in Italy, mainly because the system itself is different.
The Finnish schoolsystem lasts for 12 years before university, polytechnic or worklife and it’s divided in 3 sections, comprehensive school lower level, which lasts for 6 years. After that, comprehensive school upper level, which lasts for 3 years. These are obligatory and you have to go at least through these. After this we begin highschool which I’m at, which lasts for 3 to 4 years.
In Italy, schools last for 13 years divided in 3 as well. You begin school at the age of five, in scuola elementare (primary school) for 5 years, then it’s time for scuola media (middle school) which lasts for 3 years and after that you continue to scuola superiore (secondary school) which lasts for 5 years. After that you have the opportunity to proceed towards university. So that was that for universal knowledge, now my egoistic personality takes over and it’s time to talk about my experience.
Let’s talk about living. During my stay in Italy I lived in 2 places, one was the 12th floor of a 13th floor high apartment house a few stops away from the center and the other was a 4 store high, almost ancient block of flats in the heart of Palermo. One thing I always wondered was how big the apartments were, compared to Finnish ”boxes” they were huge.
The freetime. Usually in Finland, we have all this stuf to do during our freetime like we have these youth house meetings and stuff. But in Palermo , we had almost nothing to do, except going in some bars ( not that we wouldn’t do it in Finland as well) or I just lacked the imagination to do something creative (most likely) .
The thing I miss most in Italy is probably freedom and this funny attitude, loudness and such that we seem to lack here in Finland.
March the 20th 2008 A.M
Because Comenius is a schoolproject, I’ll start this monologue from that as well.My school here in Finland is very different from the one I visited in Italy, mainly because the system itself is different.
The Finnish schoolsystem lasts for 12 years before university, polytechnic or worklife and it’s divided in 3 sections, comprehensive school lower level, which lasts for 6 years. After that, comprehensive school upper level, which lasts for 3 years. These are obligatory and you have to go at least through these. After this we begin highschool which I’m at, which lasts for 3 to 4 years.
In Italy, schools last for 13 years divided in 3 as well. You begin school at the age of five, in scuola elementare (primary school) for 5 years, then it’s time for scuola media (middle school) which lasts for 3 years and after that you continue to scuola superiore (secondary school) which lasts for 5 years. After that you have the opportunity to proceed towards university. So that was that for universal knowledge, now my egoistic personality takes over and it’s time to talk about my experience.
Let’s talk about living. During my stay in Italy I lived in 2 places, one was the 12th floor of a 13th floor high apartment house a few stops away from the center and the other was a 4 store high, almost ancient block of flats in the heart of Palermo. One thing I always wondered was how big the apartments were, compared to Finnish ”boxes” they were huge.
The freetime. Usually in Finland, we have all this stuf to do during our freetime like we have these youth house meetings and stuff. But in Palermo , we had almost nothing to do, except going in some bars ( not that we wouldn’t do it in Finland as well) or I just lacked the imagination to do something creative (most likely) .
The thing I miss most in Italy is probably freedom and this funny attitude, loudness and such that we seem to lack here in Finland.
March the 20th 2008 A.M
Isa’s month in Sweden
Isa Uski, a seventeen-year-old student here at Ivalo Upper Secondary School, spent a month as an exchange student in Kungsör, Sweden. We interviewed her about her journey to our Western neighbour.
It all started when Isa’s Swedish teacher Satu Korkalo suggested that Isa should send out an application to Pohjola-Norden, the organization behind many forms of Nordic co-operation. They chose a group of little under twenty students from Upper Secondary Schools from different parts of Finland and all these students spent a month in host families in Sweden. On the ninth of November 2005 Isa left Ivalo and travelled first through Finland by train and then to Sweden by boat. Kungsör, Isa’s destination, is situated 120 kilometres from the Capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
Isa describes her host family in Kungsör as lively and wonderful – “ They made me feel like home right away”, she states. The Dad Tommy sold kitchens and the Mom Sanna, whose parents were Finnish, taught youngsters who had problems with school. The family had two daughters, Martina and Mikaela. “Mikaela, my host student, was also seventeen and we got along really well”, Isa says.
Isa went to the same school and entered the same science program as Mikaela did. The school, Ulvesundsgymnasiet, was only slightly bigger than ours, as it had approximately 250 students. “The school had it advantages: The students were given laptops and books without cost, studying was very independent and there were no matriculation exams”, Isa reveals. “The teachers were also very friendly and helpful – it was a very pleasant environment to study in.”
The host student was fond of movies and they spent many nights watching films. In their spare time they also visited near-by towns. And what would a trip to Sweden be without shopping in IKEA! While Isa got to know the Swedish culture she also tried to inform her Swedish friends of Finnish culture. “On the sixth of December, on our Independence Day, we watched the Finnish Presidential reception on TV – Mikaela fell asleep! She couldn’t understand how we Finns like to watch ’a handshaking-marathon’ that lasts for hours!”
Isa had studied Swedish for approximately four and a half years when she went to Sweden. In her opinion she only faced minor problems with the language. “Pronunciation was my biggest weakness, but despite that I had the courage to talk to people. Every now and then I polished my pronunciation by reading aloud nursery rhymes from a children’s book the family had.” Isa tells. And the month in Sweden left her with a very positive image of the Swedes. “They are open and kind and I highly recommend visiting the country!”
M.R., T.H. and I.U. 24.1.06
Friends in Kungsör, Sweden
It all started when Isa’s Swedish teacher Satu Korkalo suggested that Isa should send out an application to Pohjola-Norden, the organization behind many forms of Nordic co-operation. They chose a group of little under twenty students from Upper Secondary Schools from different parts of Finland and all these students spent a month in host families in Sweden. On the ninth of November 2005 Isa left Ivalo and travelled first through Finland by train and then to Sweden by boat. Kungsör, Isa’s destination, is situated 120 kilometres from the Capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
Isa describes her host family in Kungsör as lively and wonderful – “ They made me feel like home right away”, she states. The Dad Tommy sold kitchens and the Mom Sanna, whose parents were Finnish, taught youngsters who had problems with school. The family had two daughters, Martina and Mikaela. “Mikaela, my host student, was also seventeen and we got along really well”, Isa says.
Isa went to the same school and entered the same science program as Mikaela did. The school, Ulvesundsgymnasiet, was only slightly bigger than ours, as it had approximately 250 students. “The school had it advantages: The students were given laptops and books without cost, studying was very independent and there were no matriculation exams”, Isa reveals. “The teachers were also very friendly and helpful – it was a very pleasant environment to study in.”
The host student was fond of movies and they spent many nights watching films. In their spare time they also visited near-by towns. And what would a trip to Sweden be without shopping in IKEA! While Isa got to know the Swedish culture she also tried to inform her Swedish friends of Finnish culture. “On the sixth of December, on our Independence Day, we watched the Finnish Presidential reception on TV – Mikaela fell asleep! She couldn’t understand how we Finns like to watch ’a handshaking-marathon’ that lasts for hours!”
Isa had studied Swedish for approximately four and a half years when she went to Sweden. In her opinion she only faced minor problems with the language. “Pronunciation was my biggest weakness, but despite that I had the courage to talk to people. Every now and then I polished my pronunciation by reading aloud nursery rhymes from a children’s book the family had.” Isa tells. And the month in Sweden left her with a very positive image of the Swedes. “They are open and kind and I highly recommend visiting the country!”
M.R., T.H. and I.U. 24.1.06
Friends in Kungsör, Sweden
Talking to Maria Rita
Ivalo upper secondary school has had a special autumn. First of all, two of our students have been as exchange students in Italy and in Germany. We have also had a great opportunity to host an Italian exchange student, Maria Rita Marsala. This is what she tells us about the experience.
It was a little exciting but very joyful to travel to Finland and settle down to a Finnish family, the Keskitalo-Pyykkönen family. Since coming here, Maria Rita has got new friends and familiarized herself with new hobbies, like fishing and taking a sauna bath. She has also learnt some Finnish and had a good chance to improve her English. Maria Rita loves Finnish nature, for example the northern lights, and salmiakki, of course. (Salmiakki is Finnish salty liquorice.) By the way, she likes Nightwish and has of course heard about mr. Lordi but she didn’t know that he’s Finnish.
One big difference between Palermo and Ivalo is that Palermo is full of life but here you have absolutely nothing to do. In Palermo there’s always noise and people are laughing and screaming all the time, but here in Ivalo everybody is in silence and guys even listen to music in a very low volume.
What has been best in Finland? Well, Maria Rita thinks that hospitality was very great and she will never forget these experiences and people in Ivalo. There are also some plans about Aino’s visit to Palermo in summer. About other activities in Lapland Maria Rita tells as follows:
"I went to Oulu, Utsjoki and Rajajooseppi. Also, we made a little picnic with my host family near Inari lake. I went to Utsjoki because my tutor lives there. I spent a weekend in a family which went to Italy.
I went to Oulu because I had a meeting with other exchange students from the central and northern part of Finland. I met many students from Germany, France, Norway, Turkey, Austria, the USA, Columbia and many other Italian people, too. We shared our first experiences of Finland. I enjoyed the trip very much and now I’m keeping in touch with them.
The school here is amazing. It’s beautiful. You can choose some of the subjects that you study, and then, you have different periods during the year. In Italy we have the same timetable for the whole year. And, you study only the grammar in the languages, but we have to study the literature of each language, too. We also connect the subjects very much. And about the tests, here you have only a written test in different subjects but we also have oral exams. We don’t change classrooms either, the teacher changes. And we don’t use teachers’ first names at all, only the last names. And about the exam week, we have it only in the last year in June and we have three days for written exams and one for oral exams."
31.10.2007
Pauli ja Niina