Having a host family is one of the best parts of being an exchange student, in my opinion. Rather than viewing a country through the eyes of an outsider one becomes part of the community and is able to truly experience the country for what it is.
A few days ago I learned who my host family will be and they seem to be everything I had hoped for and more! I will be staying with a family on an island in the south of Finland. My host mother is an English teacher (I can communicate with more than my three words of Finnish!) and my host father is a marketing manager. They have two sons, one is 17 and one is 13, both of which seem to be very good at sports. In fact, the whole family seems to be very much into sports, especially soccer. They even have a one year old schnauzer named Messi!
I'm so excited to stay with such a wonderful family! Although I'm not particularly good at soccer or other sports (my school focuses on the arts and doesn't have any sports teams), I love to play soccer and basketball. It will also be interesting to experience a sports oriented life style that is quite different from the academic and arts oriented life style I am used to at home.
It's hard to believe that I am already going to leave for Washington D.C. tomorrow for my pre-departure orientation but I can't wait to meet the other FUSYE scholarship recipients and the Finnish students from FYAP. As much as I would love to leave for D.C. to start my adventure right this minute, I have to figure out how to pack for 6 weeks! Until the next post!
No comments:
Post a Comment