Football and pulla – first impressions of Finland
Hi everyone! I’m Chiara and I’m 17. I’m going to stay here in Finland for 10 months.
I’m from Northern Italy; my home is a small village of about 2000 people in the Alps. I like the place I live in because it’s very close to the Lake Como and the mountains so in winter it’s possible to go skiing. I go to school in another town near mine of about 20 000 people. Right now I’m in my fourth year of high school and, after two years, I’ll finally be able to go to university! I like school because I enjoy both studying and meeting friends.
I’m from Northern Italy; my home is a small village of about 2000 people in the Alps.
My Italian family includes, my mom Maria and my dad Loredano: I love them, they’re great and supportive. To tell the truth, I’ve already been in Finland with my family but we’ve just visited Helsinki. Now I’ve been here for two months already and I swear that every single day is wonderful and incredible. I just love this country!
Here in Finland I live in a small village called Jokela of about 6000 people but I go to school in Järvenpää. My host family is lovely! I have my host mom Jaana, my dad Juho and two little brothers: Santeri, who is ten years old, and Juuso, who is seven. I really like the whole family, they’re great and they get me involved in everything. The boys are fantastic and they both love football so, sometimes, we play it all together – even though I’m really bad at it.
Differences between Italy and Finland
As I mentioned, I like going to school. The Finnish school system is completely different from the Italian one. In Finland I usually start school at 8:15 or 9:45 and I finish it at 14:20 or 15:50. Each lesson lasts for 75 minutes and between each lesson there’s a break of 15 minutes. Moreover, around 11:00 to 11:40 I have lunch in Areena and the food is quite good. In Italy, instead, my days last from 8 to 13. Each lesson is about 60 minutes long and we just have one break of 10 minutes. We have lunch at home. We go to school also on Saturdays!
Finnish people use a lot of butter and drink a lot of milk, COLD milk!
Talking about food, I can tell that my favourite one is pulla, a traditional Finnish sweet and I really would like to learn how to make them! Moreover, Finnish people use a lot of butter and drink a lot of milk, COLD milk! Another difference you may notice in Finland is the weather: starting from November it’s usually dark, but with the snow everything is different and I’m really looking to it! I’m also waiting for February which is the coldest month of the whole year, or so I’m told. I really want to try to “survive” with -20° or even -25°.
Anyway, I’m so excited to be in this beautiful place for still eight months and to know and learn something more about this beautiful country and Finnish people who are absolutely kind and available any time I need help!
Chiara, 24th October
Originally written by Chiara Gerna