1. Who are you and where do you come from?
I’m Giulia, I’m sixteen years old and I’m from Italy.
2. Where did you get the idea to go for an exchange and what did it feel like to leave your own home and school?
I heard about the possibility to go for an exchange in my school in Italy from my English teacher that is a volunteer of AFS that is a global organization. Leaving my town and my school felt scaring and interesting at the same time.
3. Why did you decide to come to Finland?
I decided to come to Finland because I wanted to try something completely different from Italy and it is for sure! I really like Nordic countries for the stunning landscapes and I’m looking foward to see the Northen Lights!
4. What is your Italian school like and how does studying differ from Finnish schooling? Also, describe your own school and the atmosphere of the school.
The Italian school system is really different from the Finnish school system. The main differences are in the organization. Italian students stay at school for six hours (8-13) and there is only one break every three hours. Italian students use books to study, while Finnish students use computers. Finnish school system gives you more opportunities to study subjects that are very different from each other, in Italy students have to choose the subjects that they will study for five years in the first year, so for the whole high school time. This is the reason why I want to try as many new subjects as I can to improve my skills in many fields. Both school systems have strong and weak points and I think that all school systems are valid if students can learn well and find what they really enjoy doing.
5. What are your favorite subjects at school?
In Italy my favourite subjects were philosophy, Latin and Gqreek. Here in Finland I really enjoyed psychology.
6. What has surprised you the most in Finland?
The thing that surprises me the most in Finland is the large number of parks and green areas. In Italy there are not many parks and the forests are far from the city while here it is all together!
7. How do you spend your free time?
I always try to go out when I have free time, both to make new friends and to see new places, but I also like listening to music, reading and drawing.
8. Advertise a little: who is your favorite author and what is your favorite movie?
My favourite author is Philip Pullman, who became famous for the trilogy “His dark materials”, and my favourite film is Interstellar. I also like the Harry Potter -saga.
9. What benefits do you think / hope the exchange time will bring you?
I hope that during this period I will be able to gain as much experience as possible, make new friends, try things I have never done before and figure out what I would like to do in the future.
10. Do you already know what profession you are aiming for in the future? Where would you like to study?
I still don’t know what profession I’m aiming at in the future and which university I will choose, but my dream is to travel a lot.