Finland and I

I just noticed that I haven't told you anything about me or Finland, so I'll do my best to fix it. : DD

This post is not so closely connected to my exchange year, but I will write about those things immediately when I have something new to tell you!

Here is some information and couple of pictures about Finland.

Finland is a country in the northern Europe

• The Capital of Finland is Helsinki.
• The population is about 5, 3 million.
• We have our own language, Finnish.  Finland is a bilingual country, so here are also people who speak Swedish. 
• Famous Finnish brands are Nokia, Marimekko, Kone and Fiskars

Other things which Finland is famous for

• Forests and lakes
• Sauna
• Lapland, where they have midnight sun, polar night and really beautiful fall colors
• Santa Clause, who lives in Lapland
• Ice hockey

We have four seasons, and each of them is very different;

Spring

In spring the daily temperature is about 10°C.  Spring starts in April or May, depending the place.  Spring ends when all of the snow has melted and temperature raises over 10 degrees.

Summer

Summer is the warmest time of a year, and the temperature stays above 10 degrees.  It can raise all the way up to 25-30 °C.  Summer starts late May in southern Finland and lasts until the middle September.  In Lapland it starts about a month later and ends a month earlier.

Autumn

In autumn the daily temperature remains below 10°C.  In northern Finland autumn starts in lasts weeks of August, elsewhere it starts a bit later.  Autumn ends when the first snow falls. In northern Finland that happens in September and elsewhere in October.  Finnish autumn is famous for its colorfulness.

Winter

In winters we have a lot of snow, and temperature remains under 0°C.  Winter is the longest season; it lasts 100-200 days depending on the place.  In Lapland the temperature can be -50 degrees, elsewhere the lowest temperature is something between -35°C and -45°C.

That's all this time, I'll write more soon, I promise!

Greetings from sunny Finland,

Liisa 

Route to Australia

I promised to send a post about my flights, so here it is.

The next thing I have to do is tell the travel agency what airport my first Host family wants me to arrive to.  When I've told them that information, they'll book me flights from Helsinki, which is the capital of Finland to Singapore (I guess that we're going to change the plane in Copenhagen), and from there to Australia.  We have to go to Singapore, because we have there some kind of camp where I'll meet all the other Finnish exchange students, and have the last training for our exchange.  In Singapore we have million things to do, for example night safari, training sessions, bamboo boat trip, tour in Chinatown and in Little India, trip to Sentosan, etc.  This all sounds so interesting that I CAN'T WAIT!  : D

If you want dates, here they come:

Tuesday 19.7. Helsinki-Copenhagen      (this flight takes 1h 40min)
Tuesday 19.7. Copenhagen-Singapore   (this flight takes 12 hours)

Wednesday 20.7. - Saturday 23.7.  time in Singapore

Saturday 23.7. Singapore-Sydney         (this flight takes 7h 45min) 

The only problem in this whole thing is that the travelling agency should book the flights now, but I don't know who my Host families are.  Therefore I obviously don't know where they want me to arrive, OUCH.  I'm sure that I will fly to Sydney, but do I need another flight from there to for example Newcastle???  I don't know, so I can't get the flights yet.  It would be good to book the flights as early as possible, so this is a very stupid situation!

I thought that I'm almost ready to go, but it's not only that pink suitcase which I have to worry about.  I have million things to do: those business cards, pins, souvenirs from Finland, visa application, vaccination, official certificates of my health conditions, and so on.  Argh, so nerve wracking! When you think you have done everything, you remember couple more things which you haven't...

a bit frustrated,

Liisa 

SINGLEton

I finally know where I'm going to spend my next year!  The city is called Singleton, and it's quite a little place.  I read that Singleton is located 200 km north west of Sydney and 80 km inland from Newcastle.  So it's just a little over one hours's drive from Newcastle and less than three hours' drive from the center of Sydney.  I've been searching pictures and other information from that place, and I really like it!  First I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to go to a big city, like Sydney.  Now, when I know something about Singleton, I'm very happy that I'm going there. I think that it's the right place for me, and I'm really looking forward to my exchange there!

Yesterday I was in my last training, but before I'll tell you about that, I will make (or at least TRY to make) a little summary about Singleton.  So:

• There is about 21 500 citizens.  It's fast-growing place, so the number changes depending the source
• Singleton lies at the heart of the Hunter Valley, which is famous for its wines and coal mining industry
• The summer is warm, 35-40 degrees max with overnight 15-20 degrees.  Winters are colder, 12-18 degrees and overnight -2-5 degrees.  I'm from Finland, so in my opinion those winters are very warm, too... : D
• Summers and winters are dry, but springs and autumns can be wet.  I'm realllly used to that gum boot weather, so no problemos. : D
• There are mountains and parks, and because I love nature, this is one thing I really like                                                  

This picture IS NOT mine, I found it from here.

And then I tell about the yesterdays 'training'.  This time it was the mandatory nationwide event, I guess I told you that last time.  We had many different lessons, which contained information about visa, insurance, rules, flights, and of course living abroad.  There were lots of experienced people, so the whole session was interesting, though it lasted so long.  The weirdest thing was trying on the Rotary blazers. I liked them. WHAT? Really, I can't believe it, but they looked nice. That was maybe the biggest surprise of the whole day : D

I got a lot of new information, and new things to do.  Now I have to name the airport where I'm going, so the travel agency can book the right flight for me.  I have to think about my business card (sounds a bit odd, but I really have to have them : D) and I have to make pins, too.  They said that I'll need hundreds of business cards and pins. Nice...

Now I stop writing and I'll tell you about my flights and things in Singapore in the next post! :)

Really excited,

Liisa 

p.s. This is a link to Google Maps, if you want to see the exact place: 

More details

There has been a really long time without any posts from me, but now I'm going to tell you EVERYTHING! :)  

So, there's less than three weeks to my next training session.  It is the second, and at the same time the last one and it's in Lahti. That session takes the whole day and it's nationwide and compulsory.  It may sound really formal and boring to you, but I'm looking forward to it.  There I will see everybody who is going to Australia for next year, and we'll have an opportunity to discuss with the Australian correspondent.  I think he's the one who flights with us to Singapore, where we'll have some sort of orientation camp.  I'm looking forward to see people who are in same situation as me.

In that meeting we will also talk about our flight tickets and our Rotary blazers, and other practically things.  We have to book our flights soon, because there is less than three months to the day of our departure. iiiiiiiiiiiiik ! ! !  It's so soon and I don't even have my pink suitcases yet! :D

Is there something else I could tell you?  Ah, my families!  When you're going to exchange as a Rotarian, you have at least three families (I guess four families is the maximum).  I've been thinking the bad sides about that, but of course there are good things, too. You'll get to know more people, and different families with their own lifestyles.  Anyway I'm still quite scared of that; changing families all the time.  Maybe I'm just too pessimistic... About MY families, I don't know who they are, but I've been told the place where do they live.  The area is so big, that I can't say the exact city, but I know It's somewhere near Sydney.  Actually it sounds a bit crazy that I'm going abroad, and I can't even tell where I'm going...  he he he. But I will tell you as soon as I know! : )

At the moment uncertain,

Liisa 

New twists

Today I had my first training for exchange year.  It lasted two hours and we talked about important things.  I was sooooo nervous, because I thought we would have to do something difficult.  I imagined that it would be some kind a test, but I was so wrong... We said our names and told where we are going, and what the reason is. That's it!  For the rest of the time we just listened to people who have been exchange students.  They shared their stories, and told us their experiences.  People there also told us things, which are important to know when we go to our host families in different countries.

Main points were:

-  How should we behave towards our host families?

-  Can our parents come there for a holiday?  If yes, when?

-  What do we pay for ourselves, and what do our host families pay?

-  What's the school like there and how much time should we spend to it?

-  How much we can use your mobile phones and computers there?

-  Who can we talk to if we have some kind a problem?

-  When do we fly there?

And so on.  It sounds unbelievable boring, but when it's you who is going abroad, you suddenly become interested in things like that...

The next "training session" is in May and it lasts all day.  Our parents will come there, and then we'll talk about practical things, like buying flights. We'll also try on Rotary blazers, those formal, deep blue ones...  We will have a lesson, where somebody tells us about country where we are going.  I get more information about Australia, and its culture and just living there.  I can't wait!

At the moment really happy (and T I R E D...),

Liisa 

Hello again!

Hooray!  Now I know the day when I'll fly to Australia.  It can still change, but I'm really excited now! THE DAY is in July, so there is less than four months!  I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm kind of sad. There will be a  whole year when I can't see my family and my friends. : / On the other hand I'll learn new things, get new experiences and see new places, and I'm quite sure that I will get lots of new friends.  At least I hope so... I'm really looking forward to July!  Here in Finland is that time of a year, when snow melts and there is slush everywhere.  I just bought new rain boots (yellow ones!), and I'm sure I will need them...a lot.  We'll see do I need rain boots in Australia, too.  I hope not. : D

Greetings from slush,

Liisa 

The first Hi!

I decided to create my own blog, because I feel like I have something to share with you.  I'll write in English, because I need to practice for my year in Australia.  I still can't totally understand it.  I'm really going to Australia for a year. FOR A YEAR!!!  Oh, it sounds so unrealistic.  Of course it's awesome, but at the same time really scary.  I will have my first 'exchange year training' soon, and I'm already nervous... Now I have to read for my tomorrow's test, so I'll tell you more about my panicking next time. : D

Thanks for reading,

Liisa