April 13, 2016: Welcoming the Finns

The Visting Finns!

Today I got the pleasure of eating lunch with students visiting from Finland and took one of them to my F period class, AP Biology. Over a tasty Pad Thai, the Finnish students and my peers talked about everything from politics to hobbies. I was pleasantly surprised by their kindness and well-refined English skills. I learned that the school structure in Finland is very similar to America but the main difference is that they take courses like Biology and Calculus but instead of spending a year in the class like we do they learn about it throughout all the years they spend in high school.  I also learned that Americans aren't the only one concerned about the future of our country, the Finnish students showed a lot of knowledge in American politics and were asking us who we wanted to see as the future president. After a delicious lunch, I took one of the Finnish students, Nicholas, with me to AP Biology class. He told me he was also studying biology and was really eager to know what we were learning. In AP Biology we were in the middle of a four day lab, so I explained to him about how we were using DNA sequencing to test whether or not a food was a GM organism. He was fascinated and told me that at his school they don't actually do labs, they only read about them hypothetically because they don't have technology to actually do the labs. So to say the least, Nicholas was very excited to sit in our biology class. He insisted on seeing my textbook and oogled at the equipment and posters throughout the classroom. At last class was over and we had to say our goodbyes. I was so glad to have the opportunity to meet with Nicholas and the other Finnish students and hope they have safe travels back home!