Junior Essi Karjalainen is an exchange student visiting from Finland. She is petite with short blonde hair, large eyes, and a particularly shy demeanor. In my time with Essi, we discussed what she experienced in her two weeks here, her hobbies, what she hopes to achieve, and how an exchange program works.

1) What are some differences you have noticed between the American education system and the Finnish education system?

Well, high school for us is just three years, and not everyone has to go to [high] school. We have nine years of basic education that everyone has to take, and then you can go to vocational school.

Vocational school? What exactly is that?

Like, where you can just, I mean, you don’t have to go high school, you can just get a profession.

So you study what you want to be as an adult? Your job?

Yeah, to become, like, a plumber or something… [laughs]. Like, if you want to be in a higher educated job, you can get those if you want to.

So if you want the higher educated ones, do you have to do more school?

Yeah, you have to go to high school and then to college, and college is free, education is free.

Education here is so expensive. It’s crazy… everyone has to take out loans and it’s really competitive. Free education… that sounds really nice.

2) So what classes are you taking this semester?

Right now I have Drama, and then Spanish II, Honors American Lit, and IDT [a computer class]. Drama is my favorite, though.

3) Why did you choose to come to North Cobb with your program?

Normally, people just choose the country that they get to visit, and might not even get to there. With my organization if you choose a country you get to go, but if you have a specific place where you want to go, like, California, you can pay more, and then if it happens you have to pay. I had direct placement because my mom and my sister have both both been exchange students at North Cobb, so that was a little cheaper.

Both of them? That’s so cool! Why did you decide to do a foreign exchange program?

Well, since I knew about it so much, because my mom and sister both went, and they both had such good experience, I decided to come.

4) What are your favorite things about America?

I like that people are very social, friendly and outgoing. It’s nice. And I like the weather, it’s sometimes a little too hot, though.

Have you tried any new things? Restaurants or stores that you don’t have back home in Finland?

Well, we don’t have Wal-Mart in Finland! And there are a lot of restaurants that we do have, like McDonald’s and Subway, and others that I haven’t tried much.

5) What do you miss about Finland?

My family and friends, but I’m not really homesick yet.

How long will you be here?

Ten months, so the whole school year.

It’s so cool you get to experience all of it. Who are you staying with?

I have just one host family for the whole year. They’re the Wrights, they have four children, and it’s nice because I don’t have younger siblings, I just have older siblings, an older sister.

6) What are your hobbies?

In Finland I used to go to the drama after school, kind of like theatre [class], but it was after school, but also I had it in school. As for hobbies, I also like reading and music.

7) What American TV shows have you liked so far?

In Finland I watch shows like Friends, Glee, and New Girl.

They have those in Finland? Are they in Finnish?

They have Finnish subtitles, but because of the subtitles we are behind [in episodes], so I haven’t seen the most recent seasons.

8) What is the process of becoming an exchange student?

You have to apply and fill out all the forms, and it’s quite expensive. Then you have to go the interview and you have an orientation, and then you have to get your visa.

How long did the process take?

About a year. It doesn’t have to take that long, but I applied before the school year so I had to wait to start in the next one.

What grade would you be entering in Finland?

I would be a second year.

So a sophomore?

Well, we only have three years in Finland. So I’m a second year.

9) What American stereotypes have been proven wrong or right since you’ve been here?

Well…Americans are very friendly and talk a lot.

Really? You’ve heard Americans are friendly? I thought that people in other countries would perceive us as mean and greedy, fat and just lazy. What did you think Americans would be like before you actually came here?

Well, just that they talk much. Finnish people are more reserved, so we don’t really talk to strangers. That’s the stereotype of Finnish people, so Americans are kind of the opposite. I don’t think everyone thinks that Americans are fat and just… eat all the time!

10) In your ten months here what do you hope to accomplish?

Well I want to experience the holidays, like Halloween, we don’t really celebrate, and Thanksgiving.

What holidays do you celebrate in Finland?

Well we celebrate Christmas, and we have like a midsummer holiday that I don’t think you celebrate. It’s called Juhannus.

How do you celebrate?

It’s just a midsummer thing that people just celebrate. People used to do all these magic tricks, like they would pick certain flowers and then they would see the person of that they’re going to marry in their dreams. It’s a tradition.

What other holidays do you have?

We have Easter, and then this thing called Vappu. People drink sima [a finnish soda that has raisins in it], and eat donuts.

Catch Essi in the North Cobb Drama Program’s production The 39 Steps, premiering this fall. “I’ve been acting since I was nine and I have been in plays before. I am excited for The 39 Steps because I get to see if you do things differently in America than we do in Finland,” she said.