Finnish Exchange Program

For over 40 years, Upland Country Day School in Kennett Square Pennsylvania has had a Finnish exchange program. Students from Turku, Finland spend their ninth-grade year at Upland and are hosted by some of the students’ families. This year, my family and I were lucky enough to host Nooa Roine. When I first got the news that we might host an exchange student, I was excited because many of my friends’ families have hosted. I knew this was going to be a big change but I was interested to see how my experience would be similar to or different from my friends. 

The first week Nooa came, he was a little shy but quickly warmed up to my younger brother Carter, who is a sixth grader at Upland. Eventually, my whole family got to know him better and learned about his interests, hobbies, and a little bit of Finnish. Nooa adjusted to Upland pretty well and is becoming more outgoing as the year goes on. I have learned about Finnish culture and am eager to see Finland for myself when Upland goes on its annual trip to Finland in March. Nooa has been eager to try new things and this has inspired me to try new things too. It takes courage to fly halfway across the world and live with a new family for a year. Nooa has been a good role model for me and Carter to try new experiences and he has been fun to be around and talk to.

This experience has made me more open to traveling to different places and doing different things, even if I’m not sure if I like them. This has also taught me about opportunities and that taking them might be beneficial. I wasn’t sure if I wanted an older brother because I had always been the oldest child in my family but it was a good choice because I could learn from Nooa and so could the rest of my family. My parents have become more open to opportunities and my brother Carter has an older brother to look up to. Overall, opportunities are not always there so you should take them because they might turn out well like my family hosting a Finnish exchange student.