Un Mois en Finlande

Bonjour!

Finally the time has come. I have waited for so long for this moment and now it's here. I will be leaving in one month!

At the moment, one month seems like a very long time, but I have a lot of things to do, so it probably goes very quickly. I'll work for one week, then go on a confirmation camp to Lapland for a week (that's gonna be awesome), play some Finnish baseball, spend time at our summer cottage and, of course, spend the last moments with my loved ones before this break.

Goodbyes scare me. For months I have been thinking about the moments when I have to say goodbye to my friends and loved ones. And still, it will not go like i have thought or planned. I have to do it, and however it goes, I will survive it. But it's not going to be easy.

Couple weeks ago I got to know that two other Finnish girls are on the same flight to Paris with me. That's awesome, because we have some time to chill together at airports. Hopefully having friends with me helps, so I'm not in a panick about everything.

In this next month I will pack my life into one suitcase, spend a lot of time with my loved ones and hug them tight before I leave. When I walk through the security check at the airport, I will hopefully be happy, relieved and willing to start the biggest adventure of my life so far!

À bientôt!

Nea

Pins, cards, flags and the blazer... What else do I need?

Salut!

Like I promised, today I'll tell more about some important things for a Rotary Youth Exchange Student: pins, blazer, business cards and flags. Let's begin!

Pins
I bought my pins from Awesome Merchandise, mainly because the price was decent and one fellow exchange student recommended that, and now I can recommend it too! Fortunately this student was able to do my designs with photoshop, so I told him my ideas and he made awesome designs for me! I also have 30 pieces of Finnish Rotary's official pins!

Blazer
My Rotary blazer arrived to the local post office about a week ago. Right away when I opened the package, I fell in love with the blazer! One day I was taking some pictures, and I'm going to share them here now!

Business Cards
I don't know if business cards are a compulsory thing, but I think it's very handy to have cards with all important information people need. I bought my cards from Vistaprint, which I can highly recommend! The cards were cheap, they came a week in advance and the quality is awesome! So, if you need business cards for any purpose, I'd suggest to use Vistaprint!

Flags
Flags I bought from Flagshop, which I can also highly recommend! The price was low (about twenty euros for two flags, size 90*150), flags came quickly (in couple of days) and quality was excellent! Unfortunately I don't have that much pictures of my flags, but you will probably see them later!

Departure is coming closer and closer all the time, and at the moment I have 35 days left in Finland! I'm already so excited and can't wait to start my adventure! Almost everything is done: I have flight tickets, insurance and some Finnish stuff for my host families and friends. Also all the paperwork is done! All I have to do is learn some French and finish presentations about me and Finland!

Today the RYE Students heading to Australia and New Zealand left Finland, and I'm wishing all the best for their year!

Au revoir!

Nea

All About My Exchange

On Friday morning the world woke up to horrible news from France. Finland is not that close to France, but in these circumstances this of course had a special effect on me, as France is going to be my home country in less than 40 days. I'm not afraid to go, and after something like this happens, it feels more important to see the world and bring people from different cultures together.

But now, to something happier. Usually when I tell people that I'm going on exchange, I get asked a lot of questions, and very often they are the same questions. I don't mean that people shouldn't ask me these questions, but because they are the most popular ones, I'm going to answer them here, in my blog. Here we go:

What is a district? Or a club?
Because I'm going on exchange via Rotary, districts and clubs are very important. For Rotarians, world is divided into districts. In Finland I'm in D1410 and in France I'll be in D1690. Clubs are smaller, in one district there are many clubs, and in big cities there can be more than just one club. My sponsoring club is the club of Laitila and my host club is Angoulême les Eaux Claires!

How long does your exchange last?

One year. Or technically 11 months, but it's an exchange year, so one year.

Where will you go?
I will go to France, to Angoulême, which is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants.

Will you study in France?

I will go to school there normally, and maybe I can get some courses for the Finnish curriculum. I don't know if I'm taking exams, but at least in the beginning the main point is to learn to speak French properly.

How many host families will you have? What are they like?

I don't know yet. I just know I will have at least two families. In my first host family there is mom, dad, four sisters and a brother. I don't know anything about the second family yet.

Do you speak French?
I have studied French at school for two and a half years and now, during summer holiday, I have done some revision.

Aren't you scared that your friends will "forget" you?
I have to admit that I have thought about it. What if my friends continue their life without me? What if, when I come back, all my friends have disappeared from my life? It's a fact, that some of my friends might not be in my life anymore when I come back. But I trust that the most important ones stay and my friendship with them just gets stronger!

Are you happy to go to France?
Yes! Superhappy! As some of you know, because I'm going via Rotary, I didn't get to decide in which country to spend my year. But I couldn't be happier about this and I know that France is just my place!

At the moment I have gotten my business cards and my Rotary blazer. As soon as I receive my pins (hopefully in few days), I will make a post about all of these.

Au revoir!

Nea