Week 6 - Personal

This week, I have been extremely busy. I have been working in placement, but this week has been winter holiday week in Finland, so the pre-school has been off. Instead, I have been working in the day care area of the setting. This has been very demanding and exhausting for me! The children are used to me now, and so they speak to me often, in Finnish! I think this is very interesting, as we can still communicate well and I can understand what they are saying, without understanding their language. The children are also helping to teach me Finnish, for example, I would point at an object and say it in English, and then they would tell me the Finnish version of the word. This week, I also went to Moomin world. Moomin world is a version of the cartoon called, “the Moomins”. This is very well known in Finland, and many children love the Moomins. Moominland was in Naantali, which is a small town just outside of Turku. When we arrived there, the views were breathtakingly beautiful. The sea was completely frozen, and so people were skiing and ice skating on the ocean. It was also a very sunny day, so I think it made people seem happier! My friends and I went around Moominland, and we also went ice skating on the ocean! It was a great experience for me, as I had never had the opportunity to do this before. A few days after Moominland, and few friends and I decided to go sledging. It was on an island beside Turku but we found the right place without any problems. When we got there, we saw people we knew so we could borrow their sledges. I had never been sledging before so it was a new experience for me. However, the first time I went down the hill, I knew I loved it! It was such great fun, and I met some new friends there too! Everyone was so friendly, and we had a good laugh whilst sledging because we fell off a few times (of course!). Throughout this last week in Finland, I have met so many people, and I have really enjoyed myself. I feel so comfortable here, and I have met some really great people, I almost feel I don’t want to come home! I am really enjoying my time here in Finland, and feel so grateful to have this opportunity.