Crossing the Finnish Line

Today marks day 331, essentially this is the crunch time, and soon I’ll be crossing the Finnish line.

Being an exchange student is both a blessing and a curse. I am blessed to have seen sunsets on the other side of the world, but now I have no idea how to live a stationary life. After experiencing the excitement of living abroad, I don't know how to go back to the familiarity of Kamloops life. 

The independence I gained this year took me to a place I know my parents were concerned I wouldn't reach. Sometimes when I'm making choices, I can hear my Dad's voice, saying "Mackie, you're really intelligent when it comes to books, but when it comes to street smarts, I worry about you....". I am just shy of one year from the last time I heard that, and who would have guessed that the girl who needed driving directions from her house to school, would be able to arrive in Paris and find her way to Disneyland with just a metro map and some confidence. Out of all the times my family has traveled to Disneyworld, Mexico, Jamaica, and Nicaragua, I never once worried about pick pocketers (that's what parents are for, right?). Suddenly I noticed myself consciously separating my money and holding my bag closer while traveling Europe. It might not sound like much, but, Mom and Dad, you know I've come a long way from where I was this time last year.

I knew that this year was intended for me to grow, but I never would have expected to learn so much about myself and other cultures. Many people look at a year abroad as a gap year for fooling around, but for me, this year was so much more.

I always thought I knew what kind of person I was. “Hi I’m Mackie, I’m 18, I enjoy dancing, and I am good at math.” There is so much more to me than just that, and this year was my time to explore the other aspects. Suddenly, I was in a foreign place trying new things almost daily, it was a completely different life. Finland is the place where I learned how to be myself. I learned and accepted my strengths, weaknesses, and places for improvement, and I think when I finally understood these things about myself, was when I stopped worrying and simply moved forward trying to improve on the day before.  

I learned that time flies and life goes on. Being an exchange student is like living a short life inside your real life, kind of. When I had a limited amount of time in a certain place, I always wanted to make the best of it, and never waste a moment, after all there were so many amazing things I wanted to see, and incredible people I wanted to meet.  When I was busy seizing the moment, I lived, learned and grew so quickly. Since time doesn’t wait for anyone, I’m glad I enjoyed my time as much as I did. Now I will go home with fond memories and looking forward to my next adventures.

New Home 3.0

My current host family is very diverse, my host dad is Finnish, my host mom is Italian and, of course, now I’ve been added into the mix. They took my cultural exchange to a new level by inviting me to come with them to Italy for the summer. They have adopted me as one of their own and slowly but surely, Nonna Titti is turning me into a real Italian girl with every teacup of black coffee and spoonful of octopus.

This weekend I went away to Aunt Rosi's beach house. The drive was beautiful, mountains everywhere, the seaside on the left, and greenery to the right. We listened to lovely Spanish guitar music and ate apricots till our skin turned orange. When we arrived, the property looked like it was straight off the Club Med, Cancun website. They won my heart by barbecuing and teaching me that good cuisine and good conversation is all we needed for a good weekend. 

The next morning the sun was shining and the sky was blue, so we hit the beach. I didn't get sun burnt and the kids and I had fun in the waves. I went for a nap, and when I woke up I realized that it was slightly too quiet, and right on cue my host dad said "the kids are off catching frogs, they already have two ". I didn't question it, after all they are kids and kids catch frogs sometimes, "we decided we're going to eat them for dinner if they have enough..." *pukes in mouth* "...it's typical Italian cuisine from this area, trust me, you'll like it ". Meanwhile I'm deciding if it's my place to explain the food safe section on proper storage, I'm pretty sure there weren't any specifics stating "leave desired food alive in a 30 degree environment until 45 minutes before cooking" but I think taking it from the swamp and barbecuing it violates some kind of food safe instructions. I decided it's for the best that I don't say anything and be the good exchange student, that I am, and "go with the flow", because they must have some kind of technique if it's typical Italian cuisine, right? 

Most stressful hour of my life passes by while waiting for dinner. I've never been too picky about food, or scared to try new dishes, but this time, I couldn't stop worrying about the wild frogs. I sat down, sweaty but mentally prepared. I'm given a plate and I pile on some barbecued peppers, some toasted bread and I'm given some chicken wings. I get slightly hopeful that there wasn't enough frogs, I thought that I dodged the bullet. 

"Buon Appitito" we all start eating, five minutes in, my host dad, has something in his barbecue tongs "Here Mackie, this one is for you". 

IT’S THE FROG. Commence personal pep talk, now. "Okay, eat the other foods, make sure they aren't touching it, okay, good. Look at the others plate, why doesn't anyone else have one? How am I supposed to know how to eat it?" 

"Mackie! It tastes like chicken. Just eat it. DONT BE A WIMP!" Says my culturally encouraging host sister. 

"Mackie, you don't like it?" Says Aunt Rosi. 

Pep talk continues "Don't look it in the eyes. Oh my. It looks like Mrs. Steenson's 4th grade class pet." 

"Mackie, seriously, we gave you the last frog, you have to at least try it." 

*holds back tears* okay, show time. Be the ultimate exchange student and get cultured by eating the frog. *picks up fork and knife, stabs frog* maybe if I flip it over it will look less like a pet and more like food. *flips frog* 

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!? THIS WAS A CHICKEN WING THE WHOLE TIME?!" 

Yes, the "frog" was an ugly chicken wing the whole time. Meal ends with everyone laughing and me embarrassingly crying from the stress and/or relief and eating my emotions away with sympathy cheese. 

In conclusion, I'm still proud that I was going to eat the "frog", even if it was just a chicken wing, I'm still proud.

I know that I will miss every aspect of my life abroad, and I must move on, but once I am home, I will do my best to erase the 5,000 km between Finland and Canada.

Proud Mackie

P.S. Here are some photos from the Eurotour - missing my Eurotour family right now :( and also some photos of my new home in Italy. 

Matera, Italy

Most Importantly, We Weren’t Supposed to Fall in Love While Abroad

It’s 9 o’clock in the evening, in the beginning of May, I’ve been laying in bed watching Mamma Mia and thinking for hours. Why am I thinking so hard? 1. I’m trying to figure out where time has gone and 2. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to spend my last 29 days in Finland (and I also have been watching "That Awkward Moment" which inspired the opening #noshame).

As a Rotary Exchang Student we have 5 rules: no drinking, no drugs, no driving, no decorating (tattoos or piercings), and no dating. With this in mind, I’ve made incredible memories and I still managed to fall in love, while respecting these rules. I’m in love with this place and the person I’ve become, and despite my prior inhibitions, it was surprisingly easy to fall in love, and I won’t let distance keep me from following my heart.

I fell in love with the mountains (or hills, depending on how you look at them). With every chair lift up the slope and every wind burn on the way down, I’ll remember the wholesome feeling of appreciating the snow and natural landscape of Finland. Coming from Canada (more specifically British Columbia *cough* west coast = best coast), of course I knew mountains, but I never appreciated them quite as much as when I hiked in Ylläs, in the beginning of my year abroad, continued my exchange by practically living in my ski boots, and finished the snowy season by trading my skis for a snowboard. I don’t know what next year will look like for me, but I know that I’ll make time for mountains, no matter the weather.

I fell in love with art. Maybe it was the “Star and Super Nova” photo exhibition for the Rotary District Conference opening event. Maybe it was the Oulu modern art gallery that showed me real world issues through multimedia. Or maybe it was the excitement of an art assignment in Helsinki. Whatever it was, art is now ever present in my life through my school and social lives, and I hope it stays.

I fell in love with the language. Finnish is hard. Finnish is complicated. Finnish is monotone. But, have you ever heard a yoga teacher speaking Finnish? Easily the most relaxing experience (other than sauna) I had this year. Just trust me on this one; all yoga teachers should speak Finnish. Any other yoga fanatics, in Finland, reading this, can I get an Amen?

I fell in love with the food. For six months I was homesick for my Mom’s burritos, and nostalgic for my Dad’s barbeque. Then I realized “I literally can’t make karjalanpiirakka at home without it looking like dog food” and suddenly I knew I needed to eat all the Finnish food I could. I even got cravings for potatoes again… As hard as I’ll try, I don’t know when the next time I’ll eat authentic Finnish cuisine, luckily I fell in love with it while I still had time to enjoy it.

I fell in love with the people I am surrounded by. Before I came to Finland and when I arrived in Finland, everyone told me, and told me, and told me again “Finnish people are HARD to become close with”. Maybe I was lucky, or maybe I was so persistent on forcing them to talk to me, but nonetheless, I’ve made incredible friends here that want nothing more than to see me happy, and I wish the same for them. After getting to know everyone, they were open about themselves and curious about me, and now I appreciate the honesty and trustworthiness of the Finns. Finnish people are stereotyped as staying true to their word, and this has taught me countless lessons on how I need mean what I say, and trust that others mean what they say, which can be applied to when making plans with friends, or even giving your honest opinion. It can be applied in many aspects of my life and there are many things I learned this year, but this by far, was the greatest thing Finland taught me.

I know that I can count of them no matter the situation, and I have no doubts that we will stay in touch beyond my time in Finland. I have no idea what I’ll do without all of the amazing people I met this year, but I guess now I have another reason (other than sauna) to come back. I knew when I celebrated my birthday that these people have become as close as family to me. Everyone contributed in some small way to be sure that my birthday was one to remember.

In the following weeks I was too busy for even myself to comprehend. I was dancing in Swan Lake here in Finland, and when the show finished I couldn’t wait t run into the lobby to see all the people that were there specifically for me. This year was also our dance school’s 20^th anniversary, and in celebration of the event, they made a yearbook that featured myself and another exchange student, to acknowledge the international path our studio has taken. That weekend, It was also our Rotary District Conference and when I arrived, in a rush, after my dance performance, I was greeted by smiling faces and my host sister with a concerned look saying “You have five minutes to put on your dress!”. The evening was a success with all of the Rotarians proud of how the District 1400 exchange students conducted themselves and how our language skills have progressed this year. I couldn’t have been happier to be a part of the largest (geographically wise), but also smallest (population wise) Rotary district in Finland, #D1400forlife.

I fell in love with the memories. I replay the hours upon hours of memories in my head: nights in Saint Petersburg, days on the ski hill, dinners with my host families, school lessons that were much more fun than they should have been, and everything foreign that happened to me this year. Most of these memories feel as fresh as yesterday’s but I know it’s impossible as some were as long as nine months ago. I just hope they stay as vivid as they are today. 

What I do know is that, these memories I created, with the country I fell in love with, will always be mine to keep.

Sincerely,

Love-Struck Mackie

A Funny Little Thing Called "Time"

Hyvää Pääsiäistä Kaikkille! Happy Easter Everyone!

Time is such a relative concept. While listening to a lecture a second can feel like an eternity. While watching a movie an hour and a half can be turned into a lifelong story. While abroad for one year, time flies by in the blink of an eye.

I always find myself thinking about time. I’ve been here for eight months. I’ll go home in three months. I’ll sleep for seven hours. 28 minutes until lunch, yet I’m always surprised by how fast it goes by.

While I am here my life is progressing, as a person I’m gaining maturity and life experience, my studies are advancing, and I’m getting older (not by much, I might add, but it’s still something). Then when I thought about my life back home, I felt as if it was on pause, not moving forward, but recently I have chosen which university I will attend next year. Now I finally know that my life back home and my life here aren’t separated and can be moulded together.

I have decided that Queen’s University will be my home next year, and since I have already found two exchange students that will be joining me there. Suddenly I realized I have plans for after my exchange that not only are exciting but also combine my exchange life with my home life.

And now onto other exciting things that I’ve been up to:

During hiitoloma (skiing holiday) I went on a skiing trip to Vuokatti with my host family and we had an amazing time together by going skiing and visiting the Angry Birds Activity Park. It was nice to visit another one of Finland’s attractions. Once I returned to Oulu my friend, Molly came to visit and I was so proud to be able to show her around Oulu and also try a vogueing class! (anyone who has seen me recently knows how big an impact this one vogueing class has had on my overall dancing abilities)

Shortly after the skiing holiday I changed host families, so now I am living with the Piira family, and it also means 2/3 of my exchange has passed by, but I will make the most out of the remainder of my time in Finland.

After I changed host families I also went on a Rotary Tour to Saint Petersburg, Russia. I left at 11:47 PM from Oulu and took a train to Seinäjoki and arrived at 4:00 AM, from there I took a bus to the Russian boarder, which was close to an eight-hour drive. Once we all were in Russia we took the bus for two more hours then finally after all of the traveling, we were in our hotel.

Päivä Yksi Venäjällä (Day One in Russia):

During our first day in Russia we spent the morning at the Hermitage Museum where we were able to learn about art and history, in an amazingly huge gallery. We went for a quick lunch then we spent the afternoon in another museum, where we were able to see medical research collections from Peter the Great.  In the evening we saw a traditional folklore show which was very entertaining and full of energy.

Päivä Kaksi Venäjällä (Day Two in Russia):

During our second day in Russia we did a city tour in the morning and in the afternoon we were able to have free time to go shopping on the main street in Saint Petersburg. I went to the Pandora jewelry shop for a souvenir and also to a Russian Starbucks! That evening we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet show in one of the historic palaces.

The next day we were on the road again for the long journey home.

Once I got home, I didn’t have much time to relax as exam week was in full swing. Nonetheless, it went very well and now four jaksos have passed, and only one more to go.

In regards to physical activity, I’ve been very busy going to the gym and I have found a group of people that share my love of Zumba and CXWORX classes, so shout out to The Squad for keeping me entertained at the gym, I don’t know what I’ll do without your motivational texts next year.

Next week I will take a language test, so in the spirit of the Finnish Language Proficiency Test, I will tell everyone how everything is going, in Finnish.

Terve kaikille! Olen nyt asunut Suomessa kahdeksan kuukautta. Näiden viimeisten viikkojen aikana olen matkustanut venäjälle, muuttanut uuteen isäntäperheeseeni, ja olen opiskellut suomea! Olen iloinen koska aurinko paistaa joka päivä ja tämä tarkoitta että kesä on kohta täällä, kunhan lumi vain sulaa! Päivät ovat pidentyneet reilusti joten kesän odotus ei tunnut enää yhtä raskaalta. Useimmat ihmiset ovat innoissaan koska tämä jakso on päättynyt mutta minulle se on ristiriitaisempaa koska se merkitsee  että aikani Suomessa on päättymässä. Toivokaa minulle onnea minun tenttiini!

Even though time is going by much faster than I would like to acknowledge, I’m happy with all of the things I’ve done this year and what my future has in store for me, from Eurotour to university next year, we all know how excited I am.

Wishing time would go slower,

Mackie

P.S. Here's some photos from Russia!
P.S.S Here's my new youtube video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Io5tdcqjtY

How I Was Adopted By the Finns - As Told By Mackie P. Douglas

Six months, minus thirty degrees, and a whole lot of coffee was how our relationship began, and now, my dear Finland, after all that we’ve been through, how will I ever learn to live without sauna?

I have submerged myself into the culture by using my pale skin as a camouflaging mechanism and thankfully the Finns have accepted me as one of their own. I may need to introduce myself by saying “MOI, MINÄ OLEN MACKIE JA OLEN KANADASTA SIKSI PUHUN NIIN PALJON!” (hello, I am Mackie, and I am from Canada so that's why I talk so much) but I think that they appreciate the honesty and get a good laugh from my accent.

School-wise everything is going very well, I completed my 3^rd exam week, which sadly means my school year is more than halfway over. My exams went very well and I’m pleased that Spanish, Finnish, and French are progressing nicely. Our new jakso has started also, I am taking Russian, Spanish, Chemistry, Physics, Math, and Ethics, it sounds like a heavy course load but you all know how I feel about math and science. For anyone that forgot or didn’t know – math is my life. I’m glad that this year I will be able to keep up with my studies and prepare myself for university next year.

I went on another skiing trip this January with my first host family, it was so nice to reconnect with them and enjoy the winter in Levi. We spent our time skiing and also visited one of the Finnish spa that was located there. At the spa I met a Rotarian from Tampere, who told me that his club also had an exchange student! Sometimes I think as a foreigner I attract conversation, but every time it makes me realize how relevant the quote “it’s a small world after all” has become, in my life. There was also a fencing competition that weekend so my host sister Linnea and I helped set up the equipment and watched the competitions. It was an amazing weekend of relaxing, skiing, fencing, and socializing!

Also we had our Wanhat presentation! The day consisted of hair and makeup at 8:00, then we had our first dance at the sports hall near our school at 12:00. My partner Andrea and I had an amazing time and I think the audience really appreciated our smiling faces, we enjoyed every minute of the presentation. Afterwards we had enough time for some quick photos and hellos then we were off to Ouluhalli for our second presentation at 15:00, I think that everyone was feeling a bit tired, but once the music started and all 1000+ people were dancing together, the entire hall lit up and the presentation was spectacular.

My weather report consists of a neighbour’s car being stuck in ice for the past month. Each day on my walk to school I would check to see if the car tires were still half frozen in the ice. About three weeks ago I noticed a man trying to chip away the ice, but I figured he was unsuccessful because the car was still there the next day. The plot thickens as of Friday, a whole +3 degrees, the ice melted enough, and on my way home from school I could hear some extremely strange noises, and I turned the corner and there was a smiley man in his car, finally driving down the street. Maybe this is a good sign; the end (of winter) is near.

I also tried winter swimming, this is a rare hobbie even for Finns, but I was lucky enough to have a winter swimmer in my Rotary club, so she invited me and another exchange student to go swimming with her. We planned the event one week in advance, therefore I had seven days, to prepare myself. Now I know you’re probably thinking “how does one prepare themselves to go winter swimming?”. Well I did it by taking cold showers, slowly decreasing the temperature as the days progressed. Friday came way too quickly, and before I knew it I was nervously standing in my boots and bathing suit convincing myself to get in. Once I finally built up the confidence to test the water, I realized my cold showers did not help at all, the water was much colder than anticipated. But I did go in the water and even swim around a bit before instantaneously climbing out and screaming for my towel. Afterwards I couldn’t help but feel proud that I went swimming in February, maybe I can put it on my resume?

Yesterday my host-family and I took a family road trip to Kemi where we visited the Ice Castle/Hotel. The artwork and architecture was absolutely stunning and I was so impressed that it was all made completely out of ice. The entire castle was so well done, it was hard to believe that everything was just temporary and I can’t imagine how the contributors will feel when it melts away.

Today I went ice skating and horseback riding. I have a good friend that does both of these activities really well, so she has worn off on me and I have picked up two new hobbies! (not that I needed any more, right mom? #busygirl)

Over the past month I’ve had more cultural experience than one can ever imagine, and I’m glad that finally I have taken a step back to give everyone back home, and abroad, a small glimpse of the my home away from home.

On that note, here are some pictures/videos.

Mackie

 Pictures or it didn't happen, am I right?

I was probably screaming when this photo was taken.

 The towel surprisingly helped a lot after going swimming.

You'll be glad to know I still think I'm funny.

Disney on Ice gave me the inspiration for this one.

I guess figure skating isn't my forte, but at least I tried.

 Horseback riding.

Frozen Car.