Today I woke up at 8 so I could go into school at 9. It was raining, so Sari drove all of us into school. First we dropped Venla and Aatu off and then Sari came into the high school building with me so she could help me find my teacher. Her name is Salla and the teaches my Spanish and Math classes. One surprising thing about the schools is that all the students call their teachers by their first name and the classes are very informal. She had a Spanish class going on at 9, so she took me in there and had me stand in front of the class and talk in Spanish. Then the students all went around and asked me questions in Spanish. It was very nerve racking and stressful because it has been so long since I have been able to speak with anyone or study Spanish. I am very rusty, but hopefully I will be able to remember it all quickly. After that class ended she took me to see the school advisor and she helped me pick my classes. Salla had already chosen Spanish for me, so I chose 4 other classes, Math, Art, Music and Sports. (Super easy schedule) The Finnish school year is separated into five terms, each one you have different classes, and each one has a week at the end where there are no classes, just exams. They are each about 6 weeks long. The school day varies from person to person. It isn't like in the United States where everyday it is 8 to 3 and you have the same classes. Here, you have block scheduling and a day can range from 2 classes to as many as 5 classes. Everyone here has encouraged me to take an easy schedule, so I chose 5 classes for an entire term. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I start school at 8:20 and end at 2:30, It seemed almost like a regular school day, then I realized I have 2 hours for lunch. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have only a half hour for lunch, but school starts at 11:10 and ends at 2:30. On top of all this, schools in Finland usually give their students little to no homework everyday. And in all of the classes that I went to today the homework is extra credit, or if you want a little more practice. It is not mandatory. Lunch is paid for by the school, so students don't have to pay, which is very nice. I met a lot of really nice people, hopefully ones that I can be friends with. I am the only American exchange student at the school, and a lot of students had apparently been talking about me and trying to figure out why an American would want to come to Finland. There were a lot of stares, and a couple brave people ran up and said, “you’re the american exchange student, right?” I had lunch with a couple of very nice girls, one of them who invited me to her next class because I had nothing going on for two hours, so I got to see how English is taught to non-english speakers. It was very interesting and fun. I walked home for the first time by myself today, which was strange, but also very relaxing. I studied Finnish for about 2 hours until Sari came home and then we had dinner. OH! Another thing is that in Finland we have 4 meals in a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening snack. It is really nice because I love food. :) Venla, Sari and I played the Finnish version of Monopoly and the names are very strange. Tomorrow I have to go into Helsinki by myself on the train, so Sari and I rode bikes to the nearest station and she showed me where I need to go. I am still so tired. Hopefully I will get over this soon.