When I was in Junior high, all I could think about was the stereotypical high school experience of being on the cheer team, hanging out with friends after school, and going to school dances. But while in Finland, I have learned more about myself. The best high school experience for me isn’t the typical one as I like to live more independently, be free of drama, and communicate with people who are more worldly than the average 14/15 year old.
It’s been a great experience seeing how everyday people here in Finland are so considerate of the environment. For example, people who aren’t vocal activists do simple things like having 6 or more types of recycling in addition to a trash can in their home, not littering, and if they eat meat, they make sure that the animal was treated well without industrialized farming. Also, my family and I have noticed how well educated about the earth people are in the Nordic countries; they all seem to have a really good global perspective. And I think that’s also linked to their environmental efforts.
Speaking of home, I’ve made up some word vocabulary that has actually become very useful. My family and I refer to both our house here in Jyvaskyla as “home” and our house in Goleta as “home”. It got really confusing when you think someone was talking about one “home,” but really they were talking about our other “home” – if that makes any sense. So, I decided that why don’t we just call our Jyvaskylan home pronounced as “yome” and our Goleta home as “gome”. It’s turned out to be both effective and convenient.