Week 2 - Professional

This week was a very busy week for me as well. On Sunday, I went with a few friends to a cross country skiing park, where we decided to go skiing. This was great fun, although sadly I was not as professional as I first assumed I would be! After a few hours of skiing we were exhausted but had a great time. On Monday, I went to visit my placement where I would be working this spring. My placement is quite far away for me from where I am staying (about 40mins on the bus). My first impression of my placement was that it looked like it was in an old antique factory, which my tutor confirmed for me. At the front of the building was a map, to direct people around the facility. My placement was in a separate building, which seemed to be a modern build. When I entered the building, the first thing I noticed was that all the children in this pre school were about six years old, and then I remembered that children start primary school a lot later here than I was used to. I also noticed that the children's and the adult’s shoes had to be removed at the door in order to prevent people from slipping and falling. Once I had taken my shoes off, I greeted the female assistants in the room in Finnish, before they asked me to sit down. My tutor is bilingual and can speak Finnish and English, which I was grateful for, because the assistants in the room seemed to speak very little English, and the children spoke no English at all. My first thoughts when I realised this, were ones of panic and worry, but then I thought that it would be interesting to communicate with the children and the adults in this setting, with a language barrier. Already, the adults in this setting were making an effort to speak to me, using a mixture of Finnish and English words, and their body language was very positive towards me.  I tried my best to communicate with the adults and the children in the setting, using what little Finnish I knew, and I felt that I was comfortable enough doing this in this particular setting.  I look forward to when I will start in this setting, which is the 10^th of February, after I come home from Lapland. I am curious as to how the children will react to me as I cannot speak their native language, and they cannot speak English. I feel that I will learn a lot in this placement in the art of body language, and I feel confident that this experience will be thoroughly enjoyable.

My first week in Turku

I arrived in Finland on Friday the 14th of January at approximately 8pm. My first impression was of the airport, and it seemed exceptionally clean. Mandy and I then got a taxi to our hostel in Helsinki, where we stayed the night. The hostel was also clean, and the staff were helpful and friendly. We then had to walk to the tram stop at the end of the road (which was very difficult because we both had 2 suitcases each, and they were heavy!). We dragged them along the snow which was a struggle but we made it onto the tram. We had asked the staff at the hostel where we needed to get off to get the train to Turku, which was where we were staying. Once we had got on the tram, we had not paid the driver, and we were confused as how to do it. We eventually paid the driver, who was also helpful and showed us where to get off at the train station. The train station was busy, and we had to press a button on a machine so we would get a number to wait for. Once our number was called we could buy our train ticket. The ticket cost 30 euros each. Once on the train, we found a seat on the upper level. There was a small kids area for children, where there was a small climbing frame and a slide. The train was also clean and tidy. It took approximately 2 hours for us to arrive in Turku, and when we did, one of our student tutors was waiting for us. We then got into the car, and drove to our apartment. I was pleasantly surprised at how tidy and clean our apartment was. When I saw my room, I saw that I had an excellent view out my window and I was thrilled. For the rest of the night, I just relaxed and unpacked. The next day we were able to explore the city a little. I noticed that when we were on the bus, anyone with a child was able to get on for free. All around our apartments and the city, there were also many parks and play areas for children. The city looked beautiful in the light, and there seemed to be a lot of different theaters, shops and cultural buildings. As we looked around the city, (always cautious of forgetting the way back to the bus stop) we noticed that inside all the buildings were heated to a nice temperature, almost that when you went back outside the cold took your breath away! We had wrapped up warm, and the amount of snow there was astounded me. We often saw snowploughs on the streets and there was gravel all along the footpaths, however, you would have to be very careful in case you slipped as it could be very icy. For the first week, Mandy and I were conscious of where to get on and off the bus, and that we must remember that people drive on the right hand side of the road, so we must remember to get on the correct side of the street for the bus. Throughout the first week of visiting Turku, the city seems vast and wide, and I feel we have only explored a small section of the city that we know, there is yet much more to explore!