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Joonas Keränen
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2008-09 Inbound from
Finland
Hometown: Kuopio,
Finland
Sponsor: Kallaveden Rotary Club, District 1430, Finland
Host: Ormond Beach
West Rotary Club, District
6970, Florida, USA
School: Seabreeze
High School, Daytona Beach, FL
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Bio
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| October 21 Journal -
"It is already October and I have
been here more than two months now, it feels like two weeks. I can’t believe
that the weather is still nice and warm, which is really nice." |
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December 14 Journal - "School days
pass quickly and after school I spend time with my friends. I really like to
watch football, American football, especially when my high school is
playing." |
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Joonas's Bio
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Hey,
My name is Joonas Keränen and I come from Kuopio, Finland.
I was born and raised there. Now I am living in Ormond Beach while on
exchange in Florida and I am hosted by Ormond Beach West Rotary Club.
Time has passed by very fast. Now I have been four weeks
here in Florida. I am already used to this heat, big cars, and palm trees.
Also, I have got a little bit tan and burned once.
I am attending Seabreeze High School. First days at school
were boring, but now it’s getting better and better all the time and I am
making a lot of new friends.
I chose to be an exchange student because I wanted to
discover a new country and culture, get more independent, and improve my
English. |
October 21 Journal
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Time has been running very fast. It is already October and I have
been here more than two months now, it feels like two weeks. I can’t believe
that the weather is still nice and warm, which is really nice. The weather in
Finland, my home country, is absolutely different now at the moment. I am sure
it will snow back in Finland in next couple of weeks.
I had a birthday in October 14th. We invited a lot of
people to come over, ordered some pizza and turned the hot tub on. It was
funny, even though my birthday cake had a Finnish flag with white cross on
the blue background.
I have already changed my host family once. First I lived
in the countryside with a family which included mom (Linda), sister (Rachel)
and brother (Rolly), who is an
exchange student in Ecuador right now. Now I live a little bit closer to
school with a nice guy called Tom.
I have been busy the past couple of weeks now. During the
week I have been at school and during weekends I have been traveling. Couple
of weeks ago we went to a golden wedding anniversary in Atlanta with my host
dad and Ivan, who is an exchange student from Brazil.
We went to Stone Mountain, which is the largest granite stone in the world.
They have a ski lift to the top but we decided walk to the top and back
down. We also went to the third largest Hindu temple in the world. Last
weekend we stayed at St. Augustine with a bunch of exchange students from
our Rotary District.
At school I started to do cross-country, which is running
on the beach everyday after school. The next incoming week is Homecoming
week, which means different events during the week and great Homecoming
dance in Saturday. I am really looking forward that. |
December 14 Journal
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Hey everyone!
I thought it’s time to write few words about what is going
on.
The weather is getting colder right now. Nothing very
dramatic has happened, but still temperature has gone down a few degrees and
I have to take a hoodie with me when I go to school.
School days pass off very quickly and after school I spend
time with my friends. I really like to watch football, American football,
especially when my high school is playing. Today I went to Jacksonville
Jaguars game with members of my hosting Rotary Club.
A few weeks ago I had my first Thanksgiving. We ate turkey
and some other traditional Thanksgiving food. Schools were out for five days
Last weekend I went to Disney World with all the exchange
students around the Florida and few students from other states. The trip was
great and I had a good time.
On next Friday our winter holiday starts, finally. I’m
just wondering how I turn on my traditional Christmas spirit without snow.
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