My host school and my new life

Eli AFS intia järjesti eräänlaisen kilpailun, jossa vaihtareiden tuli kertoa fiiliksistä yms tähän mennessä. Mun aiheena oli koulu ja minun uusi elämä :) ja kuvat(kollaasit) täydentävät ketomusta ;)

Hi! Let me first introduce myself. I'm an AFS exchange student from Finland to India. I'm 17-years-old girl and I have been in India almost 4 months now. I stay in Chennai with a host family which includes Mom, Dad and an elder brother. In Finland I lived with my Mom, Dad, younger sister and 7 lizards. 

   In Finland, my school was quite small, it included 500 students. We made our own schedules, we had no school uniform or any dress code and we called the teachers by their first names. Now, in India, I'm studying in a school with a population of 3,000 students. I'm in the commerce group with marketing. There are 44 students in my class. I have marketing, economics, accounts, business studies and English. Among these subjects I have studied only English. I have a school uniform for the first time in my life and I call my teachers using the word 'miss'. 

  Lets pick a typical school day. I wake up 6:45, I have a shower, breakfast, I wear my school uniform and I braid my hair into two plaits. Then I walk down three floors and pick my classmate to walk with me to school. School starts 8 o'clock with prayer which is in Sanskrit. The class Teacher takes attendance and then our first period starts. One period takes 35 minutes and we have ten of them. After three periods we have a snack break for 10 minutes. And again we have four periods before lunch break which is for half an hour. During or between periods we might play some simple games like bingo or pictionary. Teachers are very motherly specially with girls.  After the Last three periods I head for dance class. I'm learning Bharatanatyam, the South Indian classical dance. Dance class is held in school itself. It is as long as one normal period. Then I chat with some friends near the school gate before going home. 

   I would like to share some of the things I love about India till now. Bollywood movies are something amazing. Dance, music, drama, love, action, all together. My favourites by far are Tara Rumpum and Bang Bang, I also like Kick and Paa. I was surprised how well I was able to follow these movies, even though they were in Hindi. Pictures tell more than thousand words. I have also found my new favourite songs in Hindi, such as Tu Meri and Offo.  Food is excellent here; my hostmom cooks so well that I think she is able to go some cooking competition. And when talking about food, PaniPuri is obviously something amazing. Indian clothes look very pretty and I like to wear them all the time. 

   Already now, the time which I have spent here have opened my eyes about reasons for why people do things. When people dance over night during Navratri, it is not just for fun, or when people do flower carpets during Onam, they don't do it only because it looks nice. They do it that they can welcome the King. There is a story behind every festival. Value of family is huge and they are always with you in good and bad times in life. When I have faced problems, people are always with helping me solve it. I want to thank my family in Finland and in India for all this, and AFS of course.