Change on exchange

It’s needed to say that I have joined a little bit infamous group of exchange students who change their host families. I will not write the exact reasons there, as I was forbidden to speak about it and it’s only my and my ex-host family’s business. Let’s just say that not everything worked out and the differences in life-style were way too big for me. You may say I just wasn't open-minded and flexible enough; that I could make a lot of things in some other way and everything might be better; that if you were me, you wouldn't be like this and just get over everything... and you may be right, but please, don't judge - think and say whatever you want, but you can never really know what it is like until you are in the exactly same situation. Just to make you understand a bit – it’s like with a relationship – you just can’t date anyone and even if you both try very hard the overall result doesn’t need to be happiness and good life. I went through some bad times because of this issue; learnt a lot about myself and people around me – a few of them disappointed me in an unpleasant way, but mainly I again realized that my friends and those lovely Finns are the best people in the world. It’s hard to describe how I felt - let’s just say these days of changing surely don’t belong to the ones I would like to remember from my exchange stay. But as my dear support person says – everything will work out somehow. And so it did.

YFU found a new host family for me quite soon (although in that moment I had feeling like if it lasted for months) and I even didn’t have to change my school! I moved from Tampere to Nokia, very nice small town nearby Tampere, to host family with sister of my age, lovely parents, dog and cat. I have spent there so far only a few days, but I feel so at home and so happy with them! Fortunately, my host parents don’t speak English at all, but talks with me in Finnish a lot. Well, “talk”- they tell me a lot of really interesting things and I love to listen to them and communicate with them, but I’m still not able to speak Finnish much. But I try and now I get the strongest motivation ever to learn the language – to really talk with these great people, to tell them how much I appreciate how nice they are to me, to tell them also something interesting and just to 100% enjoy the time with them. The few days I spent with them were so great and so full of new things that I felt like if I came to a new country! These people are so unbelievably amazing that I would hate myself forever, if I messed it up (again). But no, this won’t happen, I swear. :)

Lapland, sweet Lapland…

the way up north

I have been pretty busy lately so now I finally get to say a few words about my trip to Lapland and Norway. It was a biology-class trip of my school and 2 other ones plus a Norwegian school “joined” us for the hiking trip.

On Tuesday 7.9.2010 in the afternoon we started our 14-hours ride to Kilpisjärvi. It was nice to find out that our trip is super-international: Finns, teacher from England, Fernanda from Brazil, Jon from New Zealand/Denmark, Ting Ting from China and me (Czeeeeech :D); later also Norwegians, girl from Italy, Germany and Latvia. No, bus isn’t good place to sleep on, but with imagine of the upcoming hiking trip on my mind even I was able to fall asleep. And it was wonderful to wake up in colorful Lapland where autumn had already started and the mist all around straight roads leading to nowhere made the impression of perfection even more awesome. But all the nice things have their end… :D

After we arrived to Kilpisjärvi, had breakfast and changed our clothes, we were finally ready for the scary hiking trip to the “three-country border point” (Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki/Treriksröset/Treriksrøysa). With our backpacks fully packed and all the warm clothes on (yea, it was cold morning) we were just ready to blast off! But oho, we are missing something… Norwegians!! They were LATE, but immediately after their mini-bus stopped and they got off, most of us could only watch their backs disappearing in the distance. Well, to our defense, they didn’t spent previous 14 hours on bus lying in weird positions, trying to get at least some sleep!

The way was around 11kms and nobody can say the path would be straight and easy to walk on. Small and steep up-/downhills in combination with wobbly stones under your feet… not fun! But the nature around!!! Impossible to describe because there isn’t a word for such a beauty! All covered by heath in all shades of autumn colors, sometimes interrupted by calm small lakes or forests of birches… Wild nature untouched and unchanged by humans, no groups of crazy tourists (well, aside from us, of course :D) nor fast-food stalls – just NOTHING, but nature!

And reindeers. That’s the “thing” I was so looking forward to seeing and hey, they really were there! Firstly we saw 2 or 3 of them far away in hills and suddenly they were so close to us, almost fearless (esp. the small ones). It was so amazing to see their kinda silly faces from just a few meters! They stayed together in something like families – 2 or more at the first glance older ones and then usually 1 or 2 smaller and lighter reindeers.

After this reindeer-adventure we reached the peak and were soon at waterfalls that are just in the middle of the way. There we rested some time and I decided to join the first group (hohooo :D). And then another walking, walking and walking. Now it was mostly downhill, but the way seemed to be endless and the backpack too heavy and the temperature was so high…and I so needed to wee! :D So in the end I went again with Nelli and Fernanda, like in the first half of the hiking. Soon we came to a fence that was border between Finland and Norway and then we finally reached the place where we stayed overnight. By some accident we managed to put up our tent and then just ate and relaxed and complained about how bad we felt and what hurt us.



colllllddddd morning



In the evening we were divided into a few groups and discussed the cultural differences in various areas like school, food, sport etc.. It was getting really cold really quickly and so I went into the tent before 10 o’clock. And was freezing whole the night long. The problem was that because of totally cloudless sky the differences between night/day temperatures were incredibly high and so it happened, that the next day in the morning we were feeling like cubes of ice and put all our clothes on (again) just to put it off (again) in a few minutes when the sun went up.

all of us in front of the 3 borders statue

But firstly we went to this magic point where all 3 borders meet! And I’m proud to say that only during this morning I visited all countries of Scandinavia. Yea, I’m super-tourist! ;) Then the hiking again, but this time it was much faster. Fernanda didn’t feel well so she went back by boat, but Nelli and I went valiantly the same way we came there the day before. I was trying to talk Nelli to death, but hell, this girl can stand something! We came to waterfalls, had a short break and continued without single stop (for 6kms!!) in the direction bus – cottage - ardently desired shower. My shoulders and knees were dying from pain (or better I was dying from pain), but just the image of hot water made me want to run. But I wasn’t THAT crazy. To my mean satisfaction, the Norwegian guys who sooooo were hiking the day before stayed far behind us. Hahahahaha, yea!

And finally the moment came – we got back to Kilpisjärvi, after small help from Jemina also to our cottage (have I said I totally hate Finnish doors? :D) and to the SHOWER! Then we even went to civilization - shopping in local city market and then again, program with Norwegians.

Norway



Tromso

The next day we went to Norway to visit “our” Norwegians’ school (lovely place, really!). Before that we stopped by in a small town and just had a look around and Matt, the English teacher, swam in the cold water full of medusas. Then other hours of ride to Tromso. I feel very ashamed to say that, but yes, I was in Norway for a few hours and yes, most of them I was sleeping. Anyway, I woke up in Tromso just in time to get off the bus and up to a mountain by lift. From there we could see the whole city and the mountains behind and the water around. Lovely! Unfortunately we got only hour to see the city center and then it was time to go back to our beautiful Finland. Necessary to say that nature or better landscape changes just a few kms behind borders – from totally flat Finland to Norway full of steep and high mountains and deep fjords. You are trapped inside this landmass which, at least for me, was a little bit claustrophobic, but I saw snow on the tops of the mountains! Yay!

After that little trip we had free evening - talking and playing card games. But I was too tired to be sociable and again – the imagine of upcoming trip scared my “muscles” to sleep. Because the next day we packed all our things and just with nothing (or few kgs of camera equipment in my case) went to Saana tunturi. That’s a big hill close to Kilpisärvi and the way up is really interesting – firstly some 300 stairs and then a few kms to the top. Although I could only guess that from what teachers told us because the mist that day was so dense and persistent that if I hadn’t meet Nelli on the top, I would have probably just walked by and continued somewhere god-knows-where. I was totally we

going down from Saana

t from the mist, but I liked that trip a lot. Then, surprisingly, way down and meeting with another reindeers and then SHOWER. And after that? 14 hours on bus and my great Tampere <3 <3 <3 again.

So what more to say?

I really enjoyed it and I’m so grateful for I got the chance to go there! Not only the hiking and amazing nature made this trip the absolutely best time of my stay in Finland, but mainly the people that I met there and friends that I got. Even if I had to walk 11km every day, I would do it just for the feeling of pure happiness and friendship that I felt and that appear to be so rare for me lately. This is the thing I’m going to have on my mind every time I think back about my exchange – my little trip to north.

I in Norway

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