My future

What are you doing after high school? Where are you going to study? What do you want to become? These are the most common questions a high school student has to answer besides the exams and homework questions. Usually when I get asked these questions, I really don’t know how to answer. My future is something distant in my head, even though I know it’s going to come ahead, and even though I know I’ll have to face it sometime soon.

When you start high school you think that you will have so much time before it ends. But in reality, you don’t. Two and a half years go by so fast and you will have to decide what you’re going to do in the future at the end of your first year and I think it’s way too early! When I had to choose my courses for the next year, I panicked because you have to know what subjects you are going to take your final exams from. You will have to pick the right courses and at that point you will basically need to know where you want to go or study after school.

My future plans are not my favorite thing to think about, but of course when I think about it, I get a certain picture in my head. I know I want a social job in the future and for example Ihave thought of studying history or English at the university to become a teacher. That would be a very interesting job that I like to think I’d never get bored with. I also want my job to be international, so that I could teach someplace else. I have also been thinking about maybe studying abroad. or at least studying as an exchange student for a while.

There has been lot of talk about youth unemployment lately, but I’m not really worried about it yet. You never know how things will be in five years. I would also like to believe that the situation is getting better rather than worse, so I’m looking at the unemployment positively.

All in all, I have some kind of image of what I want to do but I’m not sure of anything yet. However I’m sure it will all sort out in time. So for now, my secure summer plans are to have an awesome and unforgettable summer with my family and friends, and maybe I’ll figure it all out somewhere in the middle of it.

picture source

The Finland Phenomenon - The Finnish school system

We had an assignment to watch and read different kinds of articles and videos about Finnish school system and I chose a video named The Finland Phenomenon. The hour long video is in four parts and it covers the Finnish school system and things that other countries could learn from it.

      The video tells us that Finland is the highest ranked country in the world and that we also have the highest Pisa test results. The Finnish school system is based on trust and the students here are successful and equal even though the school is relaxed and casual. The schools and the class sizes in Finland are both small and it’s free to everyone.  Here the teachers are also really highly educated, for example. all the teachers need to have a master’s degree. Also, after ninth grade, at the age of sixteen, we can decide either go to an academic based high school or a non-academic vocational school.

        As a high school student from Finland I agree and disagree with some of the facts that came up in the video. For example, they said that Finnish school system and teaching does not rely on testing and that students rarely have any homework  and as a student here in Finland I can assure you that this is not the case. We do have homework every day and exam weeks five times per year. Even at the lower grades I remember that we had lots of homework almost every day and even though we did not have exam weeks, exams were held on regular basis several times a year.

      Apart of these couple of things I disagreed with the video,  there were some good facts too. For examples they said that technology in Finnish schools is high and advanced and it’s available to to students and teachers. This is true. We also use computers and other kind of technology at classes all the time. And as they told us in the video our schools give the students the responsibility to learn and do their homework, and I think it’s a good thing because this way we learn to do things by ourselves and take responsibility of our actions.

All in all I think that even though the video had some wrong information, it was interesting to hear about our school system from a different angle. Also, it managed to give us a basic view of the Finnish school system in a interesting way.

You are what you know.

“You are what you know.”

Nowadays people consider knowledge as everything. In fact I think it’s overvalued.

It is true that your amount of knowledge and information is part of you, but I disagree with the quote “You are what you know” because I don’t think that your knowledge itself defines who you really are. It’s only a part of it. In my opinion “you”is defined with a lot of more things than knowledge alone. What you do and how you use the facts and the knowledge, your experiences and your imagination define your true personality and your true self much better.

Even though I slightly disagree with the quote, I still can tell what the person behind it pursued. Our thoughts and actions often rely on what we know about certain things and what we have experienced. That is why the more we know, the more we can use that information in our everyday lives. Still your lack of information, or your intelligence does not tell if you are a good or a bad person or what kind of person and personality you are.

Every time after our exam weeks at school I have to remind myself of an important thing: Even though I can’t succeed in every subject, the most important thing is that I tried my best. And, that numbers don’t define who you are or if you’re a good or a bad person. Numbers only tell you how well you have understood something, and in my opinion if you have tried your best, you should not be sad of a failure. Failure can sometimes be a good thing that pushes you forward and gets you trying even harder to accomplish your goals.

So no. all in all In my opinion you are not what you know. And you really can’t define yourself only by the amount of information or knowledge you have.

the link to the photo: http://weheartit.com/entry/56522741/via/contiis

Amy Tan: Two Kinds

In this blog-post I will answer some questions about Amy Tan's short story: Two Kinds.
The story is about a Chinese girl who's mother can't accept her daughter as she is and always requires her to be perfect and wants her to become a prodigy.

1. How does Amy Tan represent the mother's dialect of english?
-Amy presents the mom's dialect as a typical Chinese woman's dialect in English: little bit poor, but still understandable. For example she quotes the mom as follows: "You can be best anything" or "Turn off TV"

2.What motivates Jing-Mei to try become the prodigy her mother wants?
-Jing-Mei tries to be the prodigy her mom wants her to be because she wants to make her mom proud and be accepted by her parents like children usually do. I think that she also thinks that without becoming a prodigy, her mom won't love her as much as she would if she'd become one.

3. How would you describe the character of the mother?
-I think that Jing-mei's mother was really strict, intent and demanding. Her intentions were essentially good, but she acted wrong. She wanted her daughter to be successful in her life but instead of loving her just the way she was and encouraging her daughter to find her own ways to express herself, she forced her to practice things that she did not like. Jing-Mei's mom had a rough life and didn't want Jing-Mei suffer the same fate. The strictness of the mother occurs in many parts of the text. For example: The scene where she tries to force Jing-Mei to play piano even after the unsuccessful  performance. The intentness came up right at the beginning when she repeatedly told her nine year old daughter that she would become a prodigy. At the end we got to see the softer and the more loving side of Jing-Mei's mom when she offered her the piano.

4. The narrator speaks as one who looks back on her childhood. She now realizes that she could have become a good pianist. What does she indicate about why she was lazy in her practice habits as a child?
-At the end the narrator realizes that she could have become a good pianist but she was too lazy as a kid because of her mom and the pressure that her mom was putting on her. The constant "you have to be best" talk made her not to want to be the best and the pressure made her not to try her best. She wanted to show her mom that she couldn't be changed.

5. What is ironic about Jing-Mei's daydreams?
-When she was little, she dreamed of being perfect and that her parents would adore her and that became  ironic later because her mom wanted the same all the time. She wanted her to be perfect, but after awhile  Jing-Mei was tired of all of the pressure and trying to be perfect all the time and so she did not want to try anymore. She didn't want to be perfect anymore. And so she quit trying all the time.

6. What are Jing-Mei's feelings before her performance? how about after? what does happen?
-Before her Schumann's piece performance she was feeling really confident and exited and she thought that maybe she'll become a prodigy after all. The performance fails. She plays all the wrong notes in front of all of her family and friends. Her confidence, excitement and hope are gone and the feeling of shame and nervousness replace the positive feelings that she had just awhile ago.

7. What do you think about Jing-Mei's interpretation of her parents' reasons for sitting trough the rest of the show? how about her own? 
-Jing-Mei thought that her parents were anchored to their chairs because of their pride and sense of honor, and she herself was sitting in the chair because of the shame and embarrassment that she felt.

8. How is the mother-daughter conflict resolved?
-The mother-daughter conflict is never resolved properly. They just never talk about it again and they act like it never happened. Like everything was normal. I think that the unresolved conflict disturbs both of them for a long time. After many years Jing-Mei feels that her mother finally forgives her for the things that she sayid when the mom offers her the piano.

9. What does Jing-Mei imply in the last sentence?
-At the last sentence Jing-Mei realizes that the two songs she has been playing separately (Pleading child and Perfectly contented)  are two halves of the same song. I think that at this point she maybe finally realizes that her mothers strictness in her childhood had made her the person that she was at that point and that now she was perfectly pleased with herself just the way she was. I think that she also realized that if you really want something and you try your best, you can reach it. Even if your not the best of all.

+10. The writer of this short story, Amy Tan, is an American (her parents are Chinese) writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Being an artist had always been a dream of Amy's and she finally fulfilled that dream by starting to write at the age of 33. Her first short story was published when she was 34, and three years later, she published her first book, a collection of short stories called The Joy Luck Club. Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages, from Spanish, French, and Finnish to Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew.

                                                                 Amy Tan
                                                                 Her official website

Peter Pan

Every year we have a different musical project at school. This year our musical was Peter Pan.
I was really excited at first because it was the really first one that I would take part in, and when I  heard that it's going to be Peter Pan, I got even more excited. Peter Pan was always one of my favorite stories when I was little. Its plot is different than any other stories and I found it really interesting.

The auditioning for the roles started almost immediately right at the beginning of the school year and it came so quickly that I didn't know if I wanted any role in it yet and that is why I did not audition. Instead, I thought that it would be a fun experience to sing in the backup choir, and so I applied for  that. Once the roles and the other groups were figured out, we started to practice. It took several months of practice to get it ready and at some point I remember thinking that: wow,
it was not going to get ready till the premiere night.
But it did, and it turned out great. Even better than I thought it would. And I was right about the choir, it  was really fun and challenging at the same time. 

One week before the premiere, we practiced at the performing stage (Sigyn sali) from morning till dawn.
I think that was the most hard week for everyone. We woke up in the morning, went to the practice and when we got out, we were so tired that once we got home we went straight to bed. And this repeated for about five days. Finally it was the premiere night. At the beginning everyone was really excited and nervous but it went really well. We had five shows and each time the stand was nearly full. At the end of every day, I went home tired but really happy and the songs stuck in my head for a really long time.

All in all taking part in a musical was really hard, unforgettable, awesome, fun and challenging  at the same time and I would do it again right away. The week also gave me a chance to know everyone better. There were nearly 45 of our school students from every grade and I got to know every one of them a little bit better.

 

Pictures from jonea-galleria (you can also go and see some other pictures from our musical trough this link.)

TONIGHT WE ARE YOUNG!

“Being a teenager - when you’re too young for half the things you want to do and too old to do the other half.” -weheartit

They say that being young is the best and the worst time of your life, and I think that’s true.
Youth is the time of having fun, finding your true self, hanging out with your friends and learning from your mistakes. You are not a child anymore but not quite adult either. They expect the same things from you as from adults but they treat you like a child, you have to act and look right to fit in, your parents are too strict etc.These and many other things make youth a difficult period of your life, but on the other hand you don’t have to go to work, you don’t have to provide for your own family, and your biggest responsibility is graduating from school. This is why you have the time to have fun with your friends: the most important people of your teenage years.

For me it has been great so far. We all have our ups and downs but that’s life. I think that these days the media and the internet give the wrong image of being young today. Almost everything that relates to being a teenager is shown negatively or at least worse than it is. For some teenagers it might be like that but I think that at least in Finland things aren’t that bad. School is hard, but it’s also fun because of it is sociality and it lets me feel success when I really work for something and get good grades.

You won’t be young forever so I think it’s important to try new things and for example travel a lot. These are the few highlights of being young and free before growing up. Youth is a really important time of everybody’s life because you get into new situations and thereby learn new things about yourself and in that way you get to know yourself better.

My trip to Rome, Italy

I had always wanted to go to Rome and see all of the historical places that I had read and seen movies of, so when our parents told us that they had booked a three-day trip to Italy, I was really excited! It was the summer of 2012 and I was ready to go! It was a three hour flight to Rome and from there, an hour-long bus ride to Rome city center.

Rome was everything I had always imagined. Everywhere was beautiful, old and interesting. The first day was all about finding our hotel and checking in, but in the evening, we had a little of time and we made our way to the metro station to went to the historical center of Rome: Colosseo. Colosseo is where the Colosseum and Forum Romanum (the old city center of Rome) is located, but everywhere was closed already.  

The second day we took a tourist hop on, hop off bus and went through Rome’s most popular historical places like the Vatican city, Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. The city itself was amazing because of its old and antique vibe and the atmosphere was modern and historical at the same time, but I was the most impressed of the Colosseum and Forum Romanum. They have managed to keep them in such a good condition!  You could easily imagine Italian people from the past going around the city center or gladiators fighting at the Colosseum. It was like there was a united theme for the whole city. All of the buildings were really detailed and they carried out a same color scale.

                                         Piazza Navona

                                        

                                         Colosseum
On the third day, we didn’t have time to do much, but we went to the old city center to shop and see the places for the last time.Our plane back to Helsinki departed at six in the evening, and we had to be at the airport at least two hours early.
The thing about Italy is its old places and strong culture that make it a very interesting travelling spot. The food is also very famous and I can assure you, It is good! Pizzas, pastas and the ice cream (or as they would call it, gelato) were all better than anywhere I have been. My favourite food was probably the Italian basic pasta, pasta bolognese.The way the italians just cook everything simply,is probably why it is that good.

Even though I only got to be there just for three days, Rome managed to steal my heart and I know that I will go back someday.