I had a meeting Monday with the school counselor along with the other exchange students that go to my school about the Exam week and the Second Jakso. We got our Exam Schedules (Which were honestly pretty much almost completely empty) and got to choose our next classes we would take for the Second Jakso, which will last until December.
So, my school schedule for the Second Jakso looks like this:
maanantai:
9:45-11:00 History13:15-14:30 Geography
14:45-16:00 English
tiistai:
9:45-11:00 Music12:30-13:00 Business?
14:45-16:00 History
17:00-18:40 Finnish Lessons
keskiviikko:
9:45-11:00 Geography11:45-13:00 Music
14:45-16:00 English
torstai:
8:15-9:30 Business?11:15-12:30 History
14:45-16:00 Geography
17:00-18:40 Finnish Lessons
perjantai:
8:15-9:30 English
11:45-13:00 Music
13:15-14:30 Business?
As you can see, I have A LOT of free time during my school days. :(
(We actually call that time in between classes where you DONT have class, "hypätä tuntia"; which means, "Jump hour".)
Let me explain why I have SO much free time:
I am taking one less class than I was before, and I am not taking any art classes like last time. I am taking harder classes than I was before, and this is sort of an experiment for me! I want to see how much I will be able to understand and REALLY learn in the next few weeks, when it comes to my Language skills. I ALWAYS have a bad habit of giving myself REALLY unrealistic goals...but I am hoping to soon be speaking Finnish all the time; even if it isn't at all grammatically correct.
Hopefully by taking more serious classes, I will be able to LISTEN in class rather than just take pictures all day or make art. (Don't get me wrong, I like those things; but my main priority is to learn Finnish.). I feel like by being able to listen in class and take REAL notes this time instead of just sitting there like a dead bird, ill be able to learn the language more.
Another reason why I decided to do this was because it gives me at LEAST a solid 2 hours to study Finnish, EVERY day. So instead of just cramming it in during the 15 minute passing periods, or during my jump period on Tuesday; I now have solid uninterrupted studying time at school to just sit and REALLY study Finnish.
This decision that I made could go either BAD or GOOD...its really a 50/50 chance here...But hopefully by taking the risk, it will end up being an okay next 6 weeks of school! I guess we will see after my first day of the new jasko on Thursday!
After we discussed the next Jakso, we were given our Exam Schedules; which were literally almost COMPLETELY EMPTY! I did not have to go to school last Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and I only went to the first 15 minutes of one of the history class finals on Friday to give a presentation about where I come from and the USA.
So, for the rest of the week I went out to the city center with some other Exchange Students, who did not have Exams at their schools either.
Ill post some pictures from this past week, and tell a little about what I did.
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Another American AFS Exchange Student, Patrick and I sat on the city stage and bought ice cream, while we practiced our Finnish.
I went out to the city with some of my Exchange Student friends, and one of the days I went to the city library with Patrick. We went to the children's section, and we decided to take turns reading each other Finnish children's books.
It was SO embarrassing because ALL of the little kids could read SO much better than us, and we had to whisper the words we were reading SO quietly because the library was absolutely SILENT! We probably sounded really funny, but it was good practice for our pronunciation...even if we didn't understand most of what we were reading!
I baked banana bread for my host family! ...too bad my host dog ATE IT!
My host mom wanted to me make a recipe from home, and so I decided to make my mom's banana bread. Its a family recipe, and I thought that I would try and make it. Despite the confusing with how to measure everything; it actually turned out really good!
...unfortunately my host dog ATE it!
My AFS friend, Patrick and I bought muffins at the grocery store...but on our 10 minute walk to the park, the muffins literally FROZE, and we literally couldn't FEEL our hands! It was SO cold outside!
Oh boy...its not even Winter yet, and its FREEZING!
I made my host family their first EVER chocolate chip cookies! Unfortunately, they turned out terrible because I didn't know how to measure the ingredients correctly. (I learned the hard way that guessing and checking does NOT always work!)
I was actually pretty sad that the cookies turned out really gross...my host mom said that she liked them, but I thought they were awful! Hopefully I will be able to try again soon...
I decorated a cake with my Finnish friends! (The cake was supposed to be butterfly.)
The final product. :)
My friend, Dawnya (Another Rotary Exchange Student from Oregon) came to hang out with me for the day! We decided to go out in the city for some pizza and dessert. :)
My friend, Dawnya's host mom had a Rotary meeting in Oulu, and so she got to hang out with me for the day! She lives about an hour south of Oulu, so we don't get to see each other very often...But it was a lot of fun! She is from the VERY South of Oregon, so we hadn't met each other until we flew down to L.A to get our visas for Finland together. I later learned after we met again in Karkku Language Camp that she was also in my Rotary District! :)
We went shopping for warm jackets and gloves, and I also bought a few more scarfs. You can for SURE tell that it is beginning to get REALLY cold!
It is AMAZING because its not even winter yet! This weather for sure fells like almost middle of winter for me...and its funny to think that this is only the beginning of Fall in Finland. The trees have already changed to Orange and Red and the leaves have already begun to fall...it will be interesting to see JUST how cold and snowy Winter gets!
Winter will be A LOT different than home. :)
And that was my past week and weekend!
Today I had to go to school for my other history final, and this time I was actually given an alternative assignment. I had to write an essay from an article, and unfortunately...it did NOT go as planned.
I wanted to show my teacher that I actually CAN be a good student, and that I actually AM smart, instead of just sitting in class like a brainless dead bird all the time...And so I wrote AND wrote AND wrote...
My essay ended up being 5 pages long, front and back!
It was embarrassing though, because I realized that as I was writing it just how BAD it ACTUALLY was...I cant remember how to spell things in English very well, and to tell you the truth... this blog post would be horrible if it didn't automatically correct my grammar and spelling mistakes...
My English is beginning to be HORRIBLE, and its embarrassing because I barely speak Finnish still! I speak incorrect grammar all the time, (even to other American exchange students!), and sometimes I even have to google how to spell a word!
But...unfortunately that wasn't the embarassing part of my history final.
I realized AFTER I wrote my essay that there were questions on the BACK of the article that I had to answer in my essay...So needless to say I did the assignment wrong, and had to write ANOTHER essay! I ended up being the LAST student in the classroom for the final, AND my essay ended up being not only 5...but 8 PAGES LONG!
It was pretty embarrassing being the last one in the classroom, AND to be the Foreign Exchange Student with the alternative assignment that was to ONLY write a simple essay...in a way I wish that the teacher would have known what happened instead of me looking like a total idiot who takes 2 hours to write a simple essay...
So much for trying to make a good impression, when I finally got to do an assignment in my native language. :P
Tomorrow I have another "final" to go to, but fortunately for me it is only English. I know what you're thinking, and this is when I mention that I am not actually TAKING the English final. I offered to my English teacher to come in for the first hour of the final, when the students are all reviewing their work; so that I could help answer questions and help the students review.
Wednesday is the last day of the Exams, and then the 2ed jakso officially begins on Thursday! Hopefully things will go as planned, and that my risk of taking harder classes will go the way I am hoping they will! :)
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