I decided to do this little video for all of you and also for myself. The song is Hollywood Hills by Sunrise Avenue, I just had to change the lyrics a little bit.
Enjoy!
No, this is not the time or the place for broken hearted
Cause this is the end of the rainbow
Where no one can be too said
No, I don't wanna leave but I must keep moving ahead Cause my life belongs to the other side Although my life doesn’t belong to the other side
Behind the great ocean'ssee‘s waves.
Bye, bye Hollywood HillsFinnish plateaus I'm gonna miss you wherever I go I'm gonna come back to walk these streets again Bye, bye Hollywood HillsFinnish plateaus forever . Thank you for the morning walks on the sweet sunset And for the hot night moments For the fantasy in my bed I take a part of you with me now and you won't get it back And a part of me will stay here, you can keep it forever, dear Wooaoo...
Bye, byeHollywood HillsFinnish plateaus I'm gonna miss you wherever I go I'm gonna come back to walk this streets again Remember that we had fun together.
Bye, bye lonely girilsboys I'm gonna
Love you wherever I go I'm gonna
Come back so we can play together
Bye, bye Hollywood HillsFinnish plateaus forever. Long distance love doesn't work All the miles in between getting lonely No, I don't wanna go I don't wanna go. Bye, byeHollywood HillsFinnish plateaus I'm gonna miss you wherever I go I'm gonna come back to walk these streets again Bye, bye
Bye, byeHollywood HillsFinnish plateaus I'm gonna
miss you wherever I go I'm gonna
come back to walk these streets again
Remember that we had fun together.
Bye, bye lonely girlsboys I'm gonna
Love you wherever I go I'm gonna
Come back so we can play together Bye, byeHollywood HillsFinnish plateaus forever.
Hollywood HillsFinnish plateaus forever, yeah,Hollywood HillsFinnish plateaus forever
Finally - summer is here, yay! Holidays! Sun! Nice weather!
Well, thats what I would usually say and think. Usually I would count down the days to get out of school. Usually I would be happy to have 3 months of holidays instead of 2. Usually I would see all my classmates after 2 months. Usually...
The problem is, that an exchange year is totally unusual thing! Therefore I prayed for the school to never end. Therefore I'm unhappy that summer holidays is already here. Therefore I'm sad - because i won't see my last-year classmates after 2 months. Most of them I may never see again...
Yea, that's just it. My echange student story is about to end. So soon. Too soon.
There is one thing I really hate about echange year - it gives you the opportunity to meet amazing people, best friends and maybe even love... just to steal it all in such a short time, with almost no chance to meet some of those people ever again. Well, steal... I would use another word which would fit more, but I don't know if there is some - it's like being robbed in a very rough way; like if they took you something, which has just made you the happiest person ever. It tears your heart to small pieces, some of which can never be found again. Maybe it sounds a little bit exaggerated, but I can tell you I have never been suffering emotionally as much as now.
Exchange year unroots you, then put into a new surrounding and, just when you manage to take a root and start to grow again, it unroots you again to put you back to the place you came from, to that same hole where your old roots used to be although now you have the new so nicely shaped ones. Isn't that cruel???!!!!!
So, dear exchange year: I HATE YOU - for making me taste the feeling of total happiness and uniqueness, strongest relationships and sweetest love... But, on the other hand, I will always LOVE you for showing me this.
It's sometimes hard, painful. It's bittersweet experience. But be sure that the taste that reminds is simply the best one you have ever tasted.
Thanks to everybody who was with me this year, to my family and host family for giving me the opportunity to be an exchange student. Because that's the best and the most chastening experience you can have.
Yeaaa, impossible – I can see grass! Well, it’s still the old one and only on very few places (where isn’t over a meter of snow still), but it IS grass. Organic thing, not this whitish form of H2O! And yes, when I wake up, it’s already light; when I go from school it’s STILL light. I have never thought this could happen in Finland, after almost half a year of permanent snow cover and weeks when I saw the sun just at weekends… Anyway, so many exciting events have been happening lately.
Another family – AGAIN???!!
With Veronika in Moomin museo
Yes :D But not permanently – my host-family left to Mexico for 2 weeks to visit my other host-sister who studies there. And I was put into another family (in Tampere, yipeeeee!!). I totally enjoyed it there, because these people were just so great, friendly and I liked them so much. One of these 2 weeks was so called skiing holidays when everybody leaves to Lapland or some European country to ski. And I was in Tampere -> F.U.N.. None of my friends was there! I really thought I would die from boredom and annoyance of not-skiing, but in the end it was just great relaxing week! My temporary host-family took me to museum, theater; Veronika came for visit (omg, I will never forget this eating orgy in Rax pizzabuffet! :D), then I spent day by snowboarding on a 300m long slope, met my support person and finally… fell ill! Huuray – just a week before the long-awaited trip to Lapland!
YFU trip to Lapland
Some random Lappish people
Unforgettable thing, really! It started with Beatrix coming to Nokia to stay overnight and continued with 8 hours ride which ended with horrible headache. Probably everybody knows that I suffer from German-language aversion and even 45min lesson is enough to ruin my day, so just imagine how I felt like after so long bus ride with Germans behind me who constantly talked. Thanks god, exchange has taught me to tolerate other cultures and languages so I didn’t jump out of the bus’ window. We came to Lumi Nenä holiday resort late in the evening and headed to our cottages. Ours was the most international one I guess – Beatrix and Julia from Germany, Yukiko from Japan, Veronika from Slovakia and Teris and me from Czech (oho, Czech mafia is back again!). We did so many great things during the week – I went snowboarding for 3 days and on Searching for Aurora trip (no, we didn’t find nor see any during our stay in Lapland :/) and we all rode Husky- and Reindeer-sledge, saw some kind of shaman show and just had fun together. It was also amazing to meet 3 newcomers who stay in Finland just for half a year. And of course meeting again so many people, some of whom I haven’t seen for 7 months; also talking in my own language (usually during night :D) with those jokes that only we can understand! I got new friends there or just strengthened my friendship with some people. I simply loved the time there even though it was too short and I didn’t see the Norther lights. Which sucks. A lot!
dreadlocking
Ah, those exchangers…
Do you know what happens when Memo visits Tampere? A lot of things. Like our Tampere area’s YFU exchange students meeting. Memo, Koutarou, Lars, Linda and I spent some time in café and then just spontaneously decided to go to Lars’ place and make Mexican food. It was an amazing afternoon full of fun which I will never forget.
yamiiie
Another event was organized by my YFU sister (yeah, I’m so proud that MY YFU sister is the only one ex-exchange student in Tampere who arranges these fun-meetings!) – laser shooting. Unfortunately only Linda, Felix and I came, then of course Sonja and Anna, but it was amazing anyway – we just had to play with a big group of small aggressive kids who enjoyed standing in front of you and shooting you even though you were “dead”. How sweet. It was the first time for me playing this and I, surprisingly, totally loved it!
yes, WE :)
Turning 18 –> great clubs' opening
I’m so old now! I’m adult, huh – horrible thing, isn’t it? I celebrated my birthday at home by few hours call with my family, then continued in restaurant with my host family and ended in club(s). My Russian friend agreed to take care of me, but then she had to go to work so she called her friends to do a little baby-sitting. It was just an amazing evening with them, they really made my birthday! Only one a little bit disappointing thing was that nobody asked for my ID although it’s done thing in bars/clubs in Finland.
Week later I went to other place with Fernanda and her friends. It was so great to meet that many new friendly people, dance, talk and so on whole evening. I will miss that sooooo much when I have to go back to Czech, aj.
Me and Alexander II.
From the city to the countryside
I love traveling and I love my friends – therefore I decided to make a trip to Helsinki to visit Nele and to Alavus to visit Beatrix. My plans were almost ruined when YFU told me “NO” three times, but luckily I have my guardian angel aka support person who called them and suddenly I could go. Nice to see how much worth is exchange students’ voice comparing to adult person, hm? But anyway, I’m happy that I was allowed to go in the end. It was my first time in Helsinki (shame – I live just 2 hours from it) and weather chose to be spiteful – there hadn’t been such a bad day for so long! Anyway, I enjoyed my Helsinki walk with Nele and stay with her wonderful family. Next day we went to zoo where was hardly any animal, but common – better than nothing. Then was time to say bye-bye to Nele and meet my Czech friend who came to Helsinki to compete on Synchronized skating world championship. And I finally saw Helsinki in sunshine!
After that I spent a few hours on a train to Seinäjoki from where I went to Alavus. I was picked up by a tractor (hahaa) and spent a few days in a riding school with Beatrix. It was such a cool place, really! We spent days and nights by being with horses, talking, eating and watching movies. I also visited Beatrix’s school, which is way more amazing than mine because it’s so small and more school-like.
So that’s my life now – so much fun!! Tomorrow starts the last period of my Finnish school – sad. But I keep on smiling!
No, really – it sounds unbelievable, but my time of being an exchange student (=the time of being amazing and extraordinary chump who never knows what to do and where to go) is getting shorter and shorter. Well, let’s admit that I’m just that type of person who always sees glass half empty rather than half full (in fact, even when it’s full I see it 10/10 empty), so I still have some 4 months left, but anyway. And of course there are still people who remind me of the running time, like my parents, grandparents and friends from Czech Republic. You know - it’s nice to know that you can’t wait till I annoy you all day long again, but who has ever said I actually WANT to be back? In this moment I feel more like franticly hugging my exchange year, screaming “DON’T TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME YET!!”.
one of the new experiences - "ice swimming"
Because that’s just it – doesn’t matter what my exchange has been like, I just don’t want this special experience to end. Of course, it hasn’t always been a walk in rose garden (or maybe was, but sometimes it felt like walking through the rose bushes), there were bad days or even weeks (no, dear YFU, it WASN’T culture shock for god shake!), unkind people and unpleasant experiences. I have learnt A LOT about myself (for example that I don’t know a thing about my own country) and found out what I want and mainly don’t want to be like. I don’t want to be moody anymore and anyone hit me if I’m ever uncaring, self-centered and ruthless to somebody who loves me…because I went through kinda “relationship” (which wasn’t relationship at all, but let’s just call it this way for now as I don’t want to be more detailed) with such a guy and I can say only this: NEVER AGAIN!!(of course you have the right to mention this the next time I'm crying for some other idiot) So just to make a summary – even from every bad experience I’ve learnt so much for my future life that in the end I’m not even sure if I feel so sorry for it (well, I still feel like hitting somebody and spitting into somebody’s face, but isn’t that just the ‘southern’ temperament after all?).
the one i love <3
And what’s the most important – there was way too many good days, weeks and months, super-kind people and maximally pleasant experiences to even remember the not so great ones. Sometimes I can’t believe how dear, friendly, helpful and tolerant some people can be! I’ve found how great are people around me, not only here in Finland, but also in Czech. Now I see the things I haven’t noticed before, now I finally see how golden-hearted some people are and now I finally value the friendship more than anything. And all the brilliant moments that I’ve had here? How could I forget! It would last for hours or maybe days if I should talk about all of them. Being an exchange student surely isn’t the easiest year of your life (for me personally it has been probably the most difficult year of my past and future life as I’ve had to face so many changes inside and outside of me, which is something I totally hate), but its surely the most exciting one!
But let’s stop this senseless talking about nothing at all and come back to what has been happening here lately (I mean in last 3 months – that’s the last time I wrote about such things).
So shortly with the very past – there were Christmas, another trip to Oulu and to my host-grandparent’s place which is in eastern Finland. And all these things were just … I don’t have words (therefore I didn’t write anything about them :D)! Amazing? New? Unforgettable?
Then started school again (booooooh). And with that more rehearsing for Wanhojen tanssit! That’s something like prom ball or whatever and in the end it really was one of the highlights of this year! Yes, it cost long hours of practicing, money, shattered nerves and feelings in the style of “now I’m ending, I’ve had enough!”, but hell! It was worth it! When the WT day came with all the excitement, expectations and that very festive atmosphere all around…aww, what could be better?
you just must love exchangers! :)
Just before this came another very pleasant and one of the best moments of this year – mid-year orientation with YFU. I can tell you that I wasn’t looking forward to it at all – spending a weekend by listening about culture shock and bad behaving of exchange students? Not exactly my cup of tea. But I couldn’t have been further from truth! It was weekend full of fun with amazing people (13 exchangers and volunteers), talking and sharing experiences (yeah, hooray, I’m not the only stupid one who did this and that and then felt this way!), eating tons of chocolate and candies (which led to TOTAL sugar shock), laughing, hugging and, of course, taking photos. ;)
Other that-made-my-day events were for example day that I spent by skiing (in my case snowboarding) with my host-dad, weekend in biological laboratories (YES, again!!) with really nice people from my school, pop-singing course and also small concert in my school and so much more things which just don’t pop up on my mind right now. And one more very current thing – I’m again in a new host family, but only for 2 weeks when my host-family is on holidays. It’s great and brings another huge number of moments and people that I will remember.
Now it’s really time to stop and congratulate you if you’ve read all way down here – god, aren’t you a persistent person?! Or maybe really bored one, poor you!
Peace and love to all of you (I mean not all of you, because I’m very bad and vindictive person -even exchange can’t change that – so just to the good ones of you)!!
there is always a reason to smile.
for example camera :)
I don’t have much time (as always), but I just want to express my very (very very very) subjective opinion about Finnish people. It’s so subjective that it even doesn’t try to pretend to be objective, and so I guess you will disagree with me most of the time. And because I’m Czech (nooooo), I have no one else to compare Finns with than just the Czechs. Here we go!
GIRLS
Big group of Finns, including mainly: princesses, young ladies, sportswomen, boyish ones, the originality itself, drama queens, dontseeme-dontseeme and the rest.
When I came to Finland, I’ve noticed that all Finnish girls are top beautiful. But guess what? I was wrong – it’s only around 97% of them.
99,999% has always perfect makeup and hairstyle, stylish outfit and adequate self-confidence.
So many of them are very small and tiny. Ohoho, and then there is me – the big Slavic girl. Bööh.
Part of them hates to speak English and the other one speaks English even among each other. Do you really think it’s THAT cool, eh? At least from my point of view it’s kinda silly behavior, esp. when I try to learn Finnish.
They are communicative and talkative, it’s very easy to get to know them, but quite difficult to become any closer friend of theirs.
They don’t gossip – or at least not as much as Czech girls.
It’s even bigger fun to talk to them when they are a little bit drunk – then they are super-talkative!
BOYS
Another big group of Finns, including mainly: sportsmen, young gentlemen, rough-type guys, rockers, gay-looking ones, dontseeme-dontseeme and the rest.
Ah, yes, YES – I finally got to a country where guys have the need to take care of themselves! Finns are clean, good smelling stylish guys*who tend to behave more than self-confidently. Oh, makes me remember about those Czech guys for who is the top of self-care short shower once a week.
Btw. did you know I hate blond guys with blue eyes (and yes, I still like Finns :D)? Fortunately so many Finns have greenish or grayish eyes and sometimes dyed hair.
I wonder how can be average height of Finnish men around 178cms because most of them seemed to be shorter than me – nooo! :/
I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard this: “Finnish guys suck! Really, trust me, don’t start anything with them, they will just play with you and then kick you away.” Yes, that’s true and I feel sorry for Finnish girls. But there just must be some price for otherwise very “fine material”.
They say that they don’t speak English. True, they don’t do. Unless they drink – then it’s impossible to stop them.
They keep in distance (aj, how I miss hugging of my male-friends). Unless they drink – then it’s impossible to escape.
*this all can’t be applied to all Finnish guys, of course, there is still the group of totally strange ones that I almost fear.
… and all together?
Finns don’t solve their partnerships problems publicly… unless they drink. Then you finally find out who dates/wants to date/ doesn’t want to date/dated/had any type of physical activity with who. Veeeery interesting.
For some reason, the most handsome Finnish guys date – in my opinion – not so super beautiful girls and the model-like girls date those nothing-extra guys. Common people, this doesn’t make any sense!
Finnish people are unbelievably helpful and nice.
You see? Finns are just weird. So are Czechs. Let’s face it – people are weird. But therefore we like them, don’t we?
Well, at least I do LOVE Finns!
Just to have there also opinion on Finns from someone else
