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First Impressions on Finnish High School

I've attended Finnish 'lukio' for almost a month now and it's been an interesting and amazing experience.


The building itself is called KAARNA, "Koulu ja kulttuurikampus" (school and culture campus) and it teaches students from all ages. It's very normal to see some kiddos while making your way to your next class or on the playground in the front of the school. I specifically go to the "Lukio" section of the school, which is basically the Finnish equivalent of high school. There are roughly 100 people attending Lukio in KAARNA which is quite the shock coming from Wenatchee High School which has 2,000 students in it.


KAARNA School


My school day starts at 8:15 am and ends at 3:55. While it is a long schedule, I've been trying making the most of every minute! My counselor said that the reason I have so many classes is because they wanted me to get involved and meet as many new people as possible. It really made me feel welcomed to the school knowing that they were looking out for me and were making sure that I got to know all the students there. Coming from Wenatchee, it's crazy to think that you could actually know every single person that attends your school.


And I am starting to! Remembering names is very difficult for me though, especially because many of the names here don't exist back home, for example the names, Illona, Vilma, Weeti, Lauri and Santeri just to name a few. And while I try, pronouncing Finnish last names correctly is a struggle. I often finding myself asking people to repeat their names and Finnish words in general a lot. But hey! It's a process.


The Main Door to Lukio

Despite the long day, I really enjoy the time I spend there. Parkanon Lukio is a brand new building that was foreign to all the students, so I wasn't the only one aimlessly walking around trying to find my classes the first day. The school is very modern and is aesthetically pleasing while also being entertaining. For example, some of the chairs in the school are the equivalent of yoga balls, but instead of plastic they have some sort of felt on them to make it more comfortable. They also have these chairs that can spin that have no backs on them. So sometimes you can find students laying on them, just so their stomachs are on the chair, and they have their friends spin them around until they get dizzy. Parkano Lukio has a very laid back environment so you will often see students do things like that. The school also has couches and a hidey hole underneath the stairs that has bean bags in it! A-ma-zing. However, the majority of the classrooms are more professional, with regular chairs and desks so the students can focus on their studies.


This is an area of the cafeteria and the upper level is where the teachers lounge is

The Finnish school schedule is a lot different than the American system. Each class is 55 minutes and every single day of the week is different. For example, Monday, I start the day with PE then I go to art, lunch, Finnish, a break and then an IT class. But then Tuesday I start the day with Spanish then drama, English, lunch, IT and Finnish. The schedule will continue to change the rest of the week. So it's almost impossible to memorize your schedule because of classes constantly changing and the area where the lesson is taught changes throughout the week as well. While it seems confusing, once I got used to it, I started really liking this system. Since this is difficult to explain, I made a chart of my schedule that might help.


Classes also change every 6 weeks which I really like. That way I'm able to take a wide range of classes and not be stuck studying the same things all year.


By far, I'd have to say that Art class is my favorite course at the moment. It's one of the only classes that I don't need translations to understand and it's very nice to just sit down and do something familiar among all of the unknown here. The assignment we just finished was 'drawing something as realistic as possible.' Because I thought it was appropriate, I drew the view outside of an airplane window.



On Mondays, after art I head to lunch, which have been surprisingly delicious. I was very nervous about the food in Finland because I was told that they eat a lot of fish but I think fish has only been served once since I've been here and since school lunches are free for everyone here I really can't complain! It's been so nice to not have to worry about packing a lunch everyday. All I do in the morning is get ready and pack a little snack and that's it.

Here are some of the school lunches I've had since being here, I haven't tasted one school lunch that I haven't liked yet:





This is Jauhelihapihvit, which is basically a minced meat steak. We do eat potatoes with it but instead of peas and carrots, we usually eat salad.






This is Kaarnankiusaus, I'm sure exactly how to explain it but it's basically potatoes, cream, carrots and ham baked in a pan.







In addition to the free food, they also gave every Lukio student a brand new computer for our professional and personal use. It is the students computer until they graduate. They use it for mainly schoolwork but also to play games or watch Netflix in their free time at home. It was very surprising that every student got their own because back in Wenatchee we just had carts of computers that teachers could reserve if we needed them during class. Here, in Finland, everyone always has a computer on them and it's the main way to take notes, which I think is really handy.


All in all, I've really liked the time I've spent in Parkano Lukio so far. While students take their studies seriously, it's still a fun and relaxed environment. One of the ways I noticed this was by seeing what people wear everyday to school. They wear pretty much whatever they want, which is mostly leggings, jeans, and sweatshirts. Which is a lot different than what I was told before I left. I packed mostly fancy clothes because I was prepared to look very nice for school. But turns out that no one really cares what you look like! Which is great news to me, except for the fact that I now have a bunch of dress shirts in my closet that I'll probably never wear. Oops


On Saturday it will officially be a month since I arrived to Finland, and I can't wait to see what the next 9 months hold!


Moi moi,

Emily🌎


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