Karkku Camp

All About the Camp

Being in an unfamiliar place can be hard, but at least I wasn’t alone. This camp that Rotary has for us exchange students is really great. You meet everyone that is going to Finland for the year there, learn Finnish or Swedish, and make some of the nicest people in the world.

The Rotary picked us up from the Helsinki airport, and we took a bus to Karkku. There is where we met the other exchange students that had arrived earlier. All together, there was about 102 exchange students in one place.

Throughout the week, we strengthened our friendships, learned about the Finnish way of life, made memories to last a lifetime, and had lots of fun.

Fellow Exchange Students

I met people from all around the world. People from right up north Canada all the way to Japan, and everyone was so interesting to talk to although I admit I spent most of my time talking to the Canadians. If you are going on exchange to Finland with rotary, I would recommend talking to EVERYONE, at least once. Everyone is going through the same things, so don’t be afraid to talk to anyone.

Language

The Finnish language will be hard to learn, but I can’t wait until I can understand sentences without having to ask people to repeat themselves or asking them to slow down. My favorite thing about the language is that mostly everything is phonetic, so I won’t have to worry as much about trying to pronounce new words. I already know some basic vocabulary, but in order to understand the language, I will have to learn more grammar. I’m so excited to learn more!!

Tampere

During the camp, all the exchange student went to Tampere to tour the city and also explore it on our own. It was super fun, and I’d recommend everyone to visit the city and explore it with friends.

Meeting My Host Family

At first I was really nervous my host family wasn’t going to like me, I believe this is a common fear among exchange students, but once we got in the car-ride home and started talking, I could tell that I was going to like living with them.

We talked the whole two-hour ride home and got to known each other. I have my own room and will start to attend school on Monday the twelfth. Even though I cannot understand or speak Finnish well yet, I’m very excited to see what the future holds for me.

Blog Info Update

I known in a previous post I said I would post every Thursday, but I’m changing that now.

• I’ll post every Friday OR Saturaday
• It will be around 8:30 PM Finland time (7 Hours ahead of EST)
• Please understand that I’m kinda forgetful, so I might forget about this blog.
• Also keep in mind that not only am I attending normal school, but that I also have Finnish lessons in the evening so posts wont always be on time.
• Please give me suggestions on what to write about also. (I don’t really know what I’m doing.)