Felicity Cooper: what a difference a year makes!
Posted by Franz Huber
on Feb 14, 2016
OK, nobody would ever have considered Felicity to be anything but confident. Still, last Wednesday, she proved what "keeping it all together" means. Just think back the years when you were 18 years old (yes, a half century for many of us). Now, imagine that you had planned your presentation all nicely on a Power Point. After all, you had been to many meetings, and the laptop and projector were always there... But not this time! Then you madly try to get it from your Smartphone, so at least you have the major bullet points, even if no pictures. But that isn't happening either. By then, your Editor would have crawled under the table and curled up in a fetal position. Not "our" Felicity! With (at least outwardly) supreme confidence, she waltzed into it and started her presentation. And with the self assurance of a seasoned politician being interviewed by Leigh Sales, after a relatively short time she opened up to questions from the floor. And the questions came fast and thick!Here are some of her major points: After her opening with a sincere statement of thanks - "it was the experience of a lifetime!" - she outlined how she came to arrive in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. "Helsinki doesn't feel like a city - it appears quite rural." How about coming in from a hot Australian summer into sub-zero temperatures of Scandinavia? "Going into the cold is easier than coming back! You can rug up. There is no reverse possibility coming back into the summer heat!" What about communicating in Finnish? "Yes, the language is very hard. But now I can understand and speak, but I still have some trouble in structuring sentences" she said. Felicity went to a local High School, where classes are (of course) in Finnish. "School is really good, with lots of specialist areas. For example, I took Psychology. And Economics - in Finnish; I even had trouble following it in English back home! But the end of the term, I was quite ok. The major difference to the Australian system is that only the first 8 years are compulsory. Then the choice is to move on to 3-4 years High School, or to go to a Trade College."
She kept very close to Rotary during her stay, visiting her host club just about every week. It was within 15 minutes walking distance from School, so she went there for lunch. Even though, in Finnish schools, the Government provides lunch for the students.
Felicity was hosted primarily by two families - you can see some photos on monthly reports (two of them are still on the Download section on the right). And yes, they do have Saunas - apparently most houses have them. And yes, they hacked a hole into the ice, for her to go for a dip...
Looking forward to your next presentation - we might even allow you to have a projector this time... ☺
For a humorous outline of the Finnish language from an expat's view, go to this link.