Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer. He is very well known in Finland, and it has been nice to have his music for the "soundtrack" of my studies!
The coolest thing I did this week was getting to cross the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle technically falls just outside of Rovaniemi, so I had to take a bus to get there.
This week, I just started taking a new Finnish lanugage class. As part of my class, I had to read and translate an email written between two friends. It took a lot of work, and I had to use a dictionary to understand a lot of the words.
Learning a new langauge can be very frusturating. When I look at the email, I realize that most second graders in Finland could probably read it without a problem. It can be very humbling to realize how difficult it is to learn a new language.
To be honest, this week was mostly a lot of walking! At the Pike Museum, I learned more about the outdoors in Finland. Some of the displays taught me how to recognize certain plants and animals, and others discussed the rules for hunting, fishing and hiking in Finland.
This week, I also had the chance to see the Artikum Science Museum. I loved seeing the different displays on Finnish science, culture and heritage. My favorite exhibit talked about traditional ways to make clothes that were warm enough for people to survive so far north. What materials would you use to stay warm in a Finnish winter?
