Finland is a very nice place. I personally loved living there, even though it's very different from Canada. The tap water is drinkable, the bus system is different. You get a card with money on it. When you see the bus, you need to put your card out for the bus driver to see. He or she will stop, you go in, put your card up to a scanner and pay for your ride. Then, when you are about to arrive at your stop, you press a stop button that is within the bus, to let the driver know it will be your stop. Not only the bus system is different there is also free health care for children and more.
Surprisingly enough, I actually liked the school. It's very different from Canada. Since I couldn't speak Finnish, I went to an International school.
The first day of school I brought nothing but a small bag with me. The school supplied everything I needed in the school year, which included notebooks, pencils, erasers, textbooks, etc.. The day began with the teacher introducing itself. In my case herself, interestingly you don't call the teachers by their last name, but rather their first name. For example: say your teacher's full name is Emily Jane. The students wouldn't say Mrs.Jane, they would simply say, Emily. I think it's to establish trust and honestly, I liked that. Once everyone introduced themselves we began with the lessons. We didn't just dive right into the lesson, we just started slowly with what we will learn and then began. Then we had lunch. The school provided the food and you don't pay for it either. The cafeteria was big. You would begin with grabbing the utensils you needed. Then you have a choice: if you would like a small healthy snack, you take one, if not you can get it later. Then comes a side dish either a salad or fruits depended on the day and what dish they had prepared. Then you go over to the lunch ladies where they prepared something tasty for us, except when they made pea soup I never liked that. The drink choices were either water or milk. The school wants the kids to be healthy. Once you're done eating you can go outside. It doesn't matter how fast or how slow you eat, you can leave anytime there is no rush.
Afterwards, we continued with class for another hour or two. For me it was mostly an hour, but when I had English class 2 hours. Not everyone had English, so those who didn't get to go home. That was a typical day in that school. The times were fair, it began at 8:30 am and ended at either 1 or 2:00 pm. Again depended if you were in English class. I enjoyed the school there and would have enjoyed going through the years of learning. In my opinion, the teachers were strict but fair and might I add kind.
The library at the school I went to was huge and there were thousands of books. Best part about it, you sign out your own books. You get a library card and there are machines, and your responsible for it all.
If you are ever interested in moving to Finland with kids, I would suggest Vantaa and take your kids to the International school of Vantaa. I hope you enjoyed.
