Hosting a Finnish Student

This past week, I had the pleasure of hosting a student from Jarvenpaa, Finland through the Pasadena Sister Cities program. Every time I take part in an exchange experience, I come away with a deeper understanding both of their culture and my own.

I really enjoyed the experience of bringing her to my classes at school and having the opportunity to see my life through her eyes. She was astounded at our rowdy classes and lack of focus but also envious of our discussions and the critical thinking skills we learn. She was also very excited to be in a city, as where she lives in Finland is very rural.

This was my first experience having a host student who actually wasn’t very happy with where she lived, which gave me a new perspective on Finland, supposedly the happiest country in the world. Not only did she feel like she didn’t fit in within her community because it is quite small and homogenous, but she felt trapped within her own language. She said she felt like she could only properly express her emotions when talking in English because Finnish just doesn’t have the words she wants to use.

Another stark contrast between our lives is the next step we will take in our education. In Finland, it is much more normalized to go to a vocational school out of high school, while in the U.S., we see college as the only way to be successful. We also discussed the ease with which she is able to afford college, even outside of Finland, because the Finnish government supports the education of their citizens anywhere in the world. In the U.S., we are under the control of our parents while we are in college because they are the ones who have the money to pay for it.

Overall, like all my hosting experiences, I had a great time and I learned a lot about myself and my student. I would recommend hosting to anyone interested!