At first sorry that I had no time to continue writing blog entries. I was busy with learning for my last exams this year. Now I've got my christmas holidays finally. Today's topic will be the third and last preparation camp.
One day I got a mail with the information that my last camp will be in Vlotho in mid-west Germany.
At first I thought the place was in Finland because I didn't know this city really and it even doesn't sound German. After searching the place in Google Maps I found out where Vlotho is really located.
The camp was something special. The destination of all the participants was Scandinavia. There were guys who went to Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and also Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Finding the place where we had to go wasn't that easy as we thought even if there were arrows drawn down on the floor with chalk.
The teamers began with an introduction with the language of the nation where they have been to. We were very confused because we didn't understand anything...
At least I already learned a little bit Finnish with a computer program so that I could introduce myself with little Finnish skills.
I especially liked the evenings we had together in a meeting room. We talked a lot and laughed about stories the others told us. While talking to each other we lost the time out of sight. As a consequence we went to bed at about 5am in the morning. The time plan of the following day began at 7am with breakfast by the way... No, I wasn't tired. :D
There's one more thing to mention: We made groups with 5 or 6 Freshees per group and every group was named after a Scandinavian city (I was in group "Reykjavik", I guess but I actually forgot it). Our task was to work through several stations and win as many points as possible. The group with the most points won the game. We happened to be on rank two. That was quite awesome. Our games had something to do with international cultures. The task of one station was to recognize famous persons on pictures and name them. Another task was to put drawings to the right artist and so on. After about 5 minutes a bell rang and we had to go to the next station. I really liked the game, it was very interesting and we all had fun.
We also talked about typical things that will happen in our host country like getting homesick or failing with making friends. The teamers told us how it will be like in those countries and showed pictures to us. Finland was explained as a place full of nature and silence. The people there are shy and sometimes pessimistic but nevertheless curious and they have a sense of humor.
I noticed that but I didn't really count on that because I wanted to experience the country on my own.
Next time (in the new year) I will start writing about the actual topic of this blog. The big journey to Finland.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May you get plenty of presents and keep healthy.
So until then: Hyvää joulua ja hyvää uutta vuotta. :)
Terveisin, Finno Sheep
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Second Preparation Camp
Today the entry will be about the second AFS meeting on a monestary hill in the middle of nowhere.
It was not that easy to find this place. My dad and me had to drive a little bit around the building until we found a place where we were able to go inside.
Actually I was supposed to meet the same persons like in the first meeting but I wasn't able to attend there, so I took part in another region. But those people were quite nice, too. One special thing happened. There were two Awayees from Sweden and somewhere from South America (I unfortunately forgot it). They told us stories about their life as an exchange student and of course we were very curious. We asked them quite a lot. I thought they were getting tired of this but no, they were really patient. One side-effect of an exchange year.
Patience should be required when you want to go abroad because you have to listen several times until you understand your host family. Sometimes they can't speak English that good. If speaking doesn't help, you can try to communicate with your hands and feet. Then it should be pretty clear, what your host family wants from you (hoover for example has got a typical move, everybody will recognize it).
The South American girl also showed us how to dance Samba. I have to say that it's not as easy as I thought.
We had some tasks again (act like a native inhabitant of a country and react to new people and to talk to your 'neighbours' in your own language for example).
The most memorable thing was a strange ceremony in the late evening. We had to wait outside again, while our teamers prepared something in the big room. By the way, we had to put off our shoes and socks...
Then we were brought in one after another. The room was dark and there was only candlelight. This time we had to wait for the others before something happened. It has to be mentioned that we sat in a semicircle like: Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl and so on.
Our teamers went off for a while. Then they came in and looked really strange. The only man and the other two women had something like monk habits on. They sat down in front of us and brought a cup and two trays with them.
Suddenly the man wanted the women to sit down on the floor and put their chairs aways (without saying anything). Our Freshee Girls had to do the same. As the women sat down again beside him, the man put his hands on their heads and forced them to bend like in the church. He did the same still sitting in his chair.
Of course we had to do the same. One of us couldn't help it and had to snort for laughter. There came a very sharp "Pssst." and the ceremony went on. The women gave everyone of us something to eat and drink from the cup and the trays. It smelled horrible and the laughter came back. Now more than one. Again that "Pssst." After the last one has eaten everything we had to bend again. The monks left the room.
The light was switched on and we had to laugh so hard, we got tears. It was so funny and we weren't allowed to laugh. I still remember the stomach-ache after laughing.
The food we got was made of bananas, basil and ketchup. Of course it had to taste bad, said the teamers.
The drink was made of apple juice, cocoa and vinegar... Stop laughing. Taste it! :D
The idea behind this was that we should be faced with a foreign culture. (No, the ceremony we had doesn't exist). A nice experience, even if it was veeeery strange.
That's all for now ;)
Until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep
It was not that easy to find this place. My dad and me had to drive a little bit around the building until we found a place where we were able to go inside.
Actually I was supposed to meet the same persons like in the first meeting but I wasn't able to attend there, so I took part in another region. But those people were quite nice, too. One special thing happened. There were two Awayees from Sweden and somewhere from South America (I unfortunately forgot it). They told us stories about their life as an exchange student and of course we were very curious. We asked them quite a lot. I thought they were getting tired of this but no, they were really patient. One side-effect of an exchange year.
Patience should be required when you want to go abroad because you have to listen several times until you understand your host family. Sometimes they can't speak English that good. If speaking doesn't help, you can try to communicate with your hands and feet. Then it should be pretty clear, what your host family wants from you (hoover for example has got a typical move, everybody will recognize it).
The South American girl also showed us how to dance Samba. I have to say that it's not as easy as I thought.
We had some tasks again (act like a native inhabitant of a country and react to new people and to talk to your 'neighbours' in your own language for example).
The most memorable thing was a strange ceremony in the late evening. We had to wait outside again, while our teamers prepared something in the big room. By the way, we had to put off our shoes and socks...
Then we were brought in one after another. The room was dark and there was only candlelight. This time we had to wait for the others before something happened. It has to be mentioned that we sat in a semicircle like: Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl and so on.
Our teamers went off for a while. Then they came in and looked really strange. The only man and the other two women had something like monk habits on. They sat down in front of us and brought a cup and two trays with them.
Suddenly the man wanted the women to sit down on the floor and put their chairs aways (without saying anything). Our Freshee Girls had to do the same. As the women sat down again beside him, the man put his hands on their heads and forced them to bend like in the church. He did the same still sitting in his chair.
Of course we had to do the same. One of us couldn't help it and had to snort for laughter. There came a very sharp "Pssst." and the ceremony went on. The women gave everyone of us something to eat and drink from the cup and the trays. It smelled horrible and the laughter came back. Now more than one. Again that "Pssst." After the last one has eaten everything we had to bend again. The monks left the room.
The light was switched on and we had to laugh so hard, we got tears. It was so funny and we weren't allowed to laugh. I still remember the stomach-ache after laughing.
The food we got was made of bananas, basil and ketchup. Of course it had to taste bad, said the teamers.
The drink was made of apple juice, cocoa and vinegar... Stop laughing. Taste it! :D
The idea behind this was that we should be faced with a foreign culture. (No, the ceremony we had doesn't exist). A nice experience, even if it was veeeery strange.
That's all for now ;)
Until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep
Sunday, December 8, 2013
First AFS meeting before Finland
It's my third blog entry already and I'm still telling you about the time before the journey. I hope you are not bored because of this fact.
As I wrote in my last entry I want to tell you now something about the preparation for the exchange year.
The first meeting of AFS was in Bendorf nearby Koblenz. We were around 20 young persons from the same region where we live. The destination from most of us was of course the USA. I was actually a little bit jealous because they got their favourite country. But in the end I was very happy to go to Finland. Why? You will find out soon.
On this meeting we had some so called "Energizers". That means that we had activity games like "Funky Chicken" where you had to dance like the teamer did before or you had a funny native American dance in a circle. The idea behind these "Energizers" was firstly the ice-breaking but secondly and more important to have fun at this "Freshee-Camp".
Maybe I have to explain the names. "Freshee" is the name for a person who is at the beginning of his exchange year experience. The next one is the "Awayee". This person is right now on exchange. A person who returned from his host country is a "Returnee".
Our teamers who were all Returnees gave us tasks to work in a team and tasks to improve our communication skills. One example: All Freshees had to wait outside while the Returnees beckoned in one Freshee after another. I had to take a seat on a chair. On my opposite site there were two of the Returnees. Directly in front of me there were several things on the floor like towels, a hammer, pencils and so on. Next to the teamers there was a bottle, too far away so that I couldn't reach it. So the task was to get the bottle without leaving the chair. Everything in the room could be useful, the teamers said. So I started tinkering a lasso out of the towels and tried to catch the bottle but it was purposeless. Then I started to think again and after a little hint I finally found out that I just had to ask the teamers... I felt soo stupid but the teamers just laughed and said that they had to do this task as well and also failed. After all I had to laugh, too. Then I could sit down in this room and looked, how the other Freshees did it. One guy made it seriously with the lasso and caught the bottle. We were rolling on the floor laughing tears, while he looked like we got insane.
That's all for now. I remembered more than I thought, so it will last a little bit longer until I start writing about flying to Helsinki. I will talk about the second meeting next time. I hope you can wait a little bit longer.
Until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep :)
As I wrote in my last entry I want to tell you now something about the preparation for the exchange year.
The first meeting of AFS was in Bendorf nearby Koblenz. We were around 20 young persons from the same region where we live. The destination from most of us was of course the USA. I was actually a little bit jealous because they got their favourite country. But in the end I was very happy to go to Finland. Why? You will find out soon.
On this meeting we had some so called "Energizers". That means that we had activity games like "Funky Chicken" where you had to dance like the teamer did before or you had a funny native American dance in a circle. The idea behind these "Energizers" was firstly the ice-breaking but secondly and more important to have fun at this "Freshee-Camp".
Maybe I have to explain the names. "Freshee" is the name for a person who is at the beginning of his exchange year experience. The next one is the "Awayee". This person is right now on exchange. A person who returned from his host country is a "Returnee".
Our teamers who were all Returnees gave us tasks to work in a team and tasks to improve our communication skills. One example: All Freshees had to wait outside while the Returnees beckoned in one Freshee after another. I had to take a seat on a chair. On my opposite site there were two of the Returnees. Directly in front of me there were several things on the floor like towels, a hammer, pencils and so on. Next to the teamers there was a bottle, too far away so that I couldn't reach it. So the task was to get the bottle without leaving the chair. Everything in the room could be useful, the teamers said. So I started tinkering a lasso out of the towels and tried to catch the bottle but it was purposeless. Then I started to think again and after a little hint I finally found out that I just had to ask the teamers... I felt soo stupid but the teamers just laughed and said that they had to do this task as well and also failed. After all I had to laugh, too. Then I could sit down in this room and looked, how the other Freshees did it. One guy made it seriously with the lasso and caught the bottle. We were rolling on the floor laughing tears, while he looked like we got insane.
That's all for now. I remembered more than I thought, so it will last a little bit longer until I start writing about flying to Helsinki. I will talk about the second meeting next time. I hope you can wait a little bit longer.
Until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep :)
Saturday, December 7, 2013
How the idea arised...
Hey, it's me again.
Today I want to tell you how I came to the idea of being an Exchange Student.
It all began already in 2008 when I was on a seminary in the deep Bavaria, in Ohlstadt. Right now I can say that this seminary absolutely changed my life. I got to know my current best friend but the most important thing was that someone had a presentation of his own exchange year in Canada.
That was a completely new thing for me because I never heard of such fantastic chances to visit the world before. So of course I was quite curious and listened to this young man carefully. After that I knew: That's it!
You have to do it as well! I was so excited about the idea and tried to imagine how it would be like to live in a foreign country for a year or a half. My first thoughts went to the USA. Everything seems to be awesome in this country but also everybody wants to go there.
Well, because of school and other things, this idea disappeared in the back of my mind.
4 years later I took part in an almost similar seminary in Dipperz nearby Fulda. I was a little bit surprised because that guy who was in Canada was there, too. He even had the presentation again. But in addition to that, there were also two other young persons. One was in the USA and the other one in Panama. It caught me again and from then on the idea never disappeared again. Right after that I applied for 3 different organisations. My parents were quite surprised and I remember, when they said to me: That's going really fast. Are you sure, you want to do this? And I answered with a deep belief: Yes!
The first meeting at an organisation in Bonn was quite boring. The responsible persons from the organisation were tense and not really relaxed. I didn't like it so much and the tasks we got were like school homework and so I thought: No, that's not gonna be my organisation.
Next meeting, next try was in Duisburg. I had to ask an older inhabitant for the way and that woman told me, she would live next to the youth hostel where the organisation located the meeting. When I arrived there I asked myself where the teamers could be... Suddenly one of us (at least I supposed that) started to talk and said: "Welcome to our meeting! Viktor (the guy next to her) and I are your teamers for today's meeting."
I was like: "What the hell is going on?!" Because they looked so young and like they want to go abroad as well. In fact they already returned from their host countries (Brazil and Mexico).
After nice activities and tasks, one thing was clear for me. I found the organisation.
So it happened to be AFS (American Field Service).
Then a new question arised: WHICH COUNTRY?!
I already mentioned that the USA were quite attractive in my eyes. But I also mentioned that many young people want to go there. So after long thinking I came to the conclusion: Finland.
Why Finland? Well, firstly I had to think about a civilized country. I didn't really like to go somewhere where the circumstances are not quite good. Then I thought about a place that you could reach from Germany good because you maybe can visit your host family more often. So my three favourite countries were Finland, Italy and USA (because there was a little hope).
The next time, I will tell you my impressions of the 3 meetings organized by AFS before my big journey began.
I hope you enjoy my texts. So, until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep :)
Today I want to tell you how I came to the idea of being an Exchange Student.
It all began already in 2008 when I was on a seminary in the deep Bavaria, in Ohlstadt. Right now I can say that this seminary absolutely changed my life. I got to know my current best friend but the most important thing was that someone had a presentation of his own exchange year in Canada.
That was a completely new thing for me because I never heard of such fantastic chances to visit the world before. So of course I was quite curious and listened to this young man carefully. After that I knew: That's it!
You have to do it as well! I was so excited about the idea and tried to imagine how it would be like to live in a foreign country for a year or a half. My first thoughts went to the USA. Everything seems to be awesome in this country but also everybody wants to go there.
Well, because of school and other things, this idea disappeared in the back of my mind.
4 years later I took part in an almost similar seminary in Dipperz nearby Fulda. I was a little bit surprised because that guy who was in Canada was there, too. He even had the presentation again. But in addition to that, there were also two other young persons. One was in the USA and the other one in Panama. It caught me again and from then on the idea never disappeared again. Right after that I applied for 3 different organisations. My parents were quite surprised and I remember, when they said to me: That's going really fast. Are you sure, you want to do this? And I answered with a deep belief: Yes!
The first meeting at an organisation in Bonn was quite boring. The responsible persons from the organisation were tense and not really relaxed. I didn't like it so much and the tasks we got were like school homework and so I thought: No, that's not gonna be my organisation.
Next meeting, next try was in Duisburg. I had to ask an older inhabitant for the way and that woman told me, she would live next to the youth hostel where the organisation located the meeting. When I arrived there I asked myself where the teamers could be... Suddenly one of us (at least I supposed that) started to talk and said: "Welcome to our meeting! Viktor (the guy next to her) and I are your teamers for today's meeting."
I was like: "What the hell is going on?!" Because they looked so young and like they want to go abroad as well. In fact they already returned from their host countries (Brazil and Mexico).
After nice activities and tasks, one thing was clear for me. I found the organisation.
So it happened to be AFS (American Field Service).
Then a new question arised: WHICH COUNTRY?!
I already mentioned that the USA were quite attractive in my eyes. But I also mentioned that many young people want to go there. So after long thinking I came to the conclusion: Finland.
Why Finland? Well, firstly I had to think about a civilized country. I didn't really like to go somewhere where the circumstances are not quite good. Then I thought about a place that you could reach from Germany good because you maybe can visit your host family more often. So my three favourite countries were Finland, Italy and USA (because there was a little hope).
The next time, I will tell you my impressions of the 3 meetings organized by AFS before my big journey began.
I hope you enjoy my texts. So, until next time: Stay tuned.
Terveisin, Finno Sheep :)
Friday, December 6, 2013
So this is the beginning...
Hey you, whoever reads this.
Welcome on my new blog. I started this blog to give you a good expression of my exchange student life in Finland. That is also the reason for the first part of my nickname "Finno Sheep". I am also called Sheep because my hair is really woolen. However, I also want to improve my English skills by writing a blog in Englisch since I am from Germany. So if you find any mistakes, don't judge me as dumb. I try to make the best out of it and I really hope that you'll like it.
Finland - I made so many experiences up there in the north. Now my task is, to tell you what I experienced and how I felt during this time. I was there from August 24th, 2012 to January 15th, 2013. In that time so many things happened that I don't really know where to start. Maybe chronologically at the beginning - when I attended a seminary. This story I will tell you in the next blog entry. By the way, it's the Independence Day of Finland today! Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!
So if this awakes your interest, you are right here. Maybe I can also encourage some of you to do the same like I did. I promise that you wouldn't regret it. I also have a tiny diary by my side so that I can read my impressions of Finland whenever I like to. I bought it some weeks before I started my big journey to Suomi (the Finnish name for Finland).
I guess that's all for now. My next entry will be in the next few days. It depends on my free time. Currently I am pretty busy with learning for exams. I can tell you, it's hard to come back to Germany and live like you never have been gone for a long while. You have to work on your own to get back into school stuff and some of my teachers weren't even "able to" help me. But I made it and I'm proud that I can show good results in my latest exams.
Until next time: stay tuned :)
Terveisin, Finno Sheep
Welcome on my new blog. I started this blog to give you a good expression of my exchange student life in Finland. That is also the reason for the first part of my nickname "Finno Sheep". I am also called Sheep because my hair is really woolen. However, I also want to improve my English skills by writing a blog in Englisch since I am from Germany. So if you find any mistakes, don't judge me as dumb. I try to make the best out of it and I really hope that you'll like it.
Finland - I made so many experiences up there in the north. Now my task is, to tell you what I experienced and how I felt during this time. I was there from August 24th, 2012 to January 15th, 2013. In that time so many things happened that I don't really know where to start. Maybe chronologically at the beginning - when I attended a seminary. This story I will tell you in the next blog entry. By the way, it's the Independence Day of Finland today! Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!
So if this awakes your interest, you are right here. Maybe I can also encourage some of you to do the same like I did. I promise that you wouldn't regret it. I also have a tiny diary by my side so that I can read my impressions of Finland whenever I like to. I bought it some weeks before I started my big journey to Suomi (the Finnish name for Finland).
I guess that's all for now. My next entry will be in the next few days. It depends on my free time. Currently I am pretty busy with learning for exams. I can tell you, it's hard to come back to Germany and live like you never have been gone for a long while. You have to work on your own to get back into school stuff and some of my teachers weren't even "able to" help me. But I made it and I'm proud that I can show good results in my latest exams.
Until next time: stay tuned :)
Terveisin, Finno Sheep
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