Pietari from Finland

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Pietari Salmi

2009-10 Inbound from Finland

Hometown: Kotka, Finland

Sponsor: Kotka - Ruotsinsalmi Rotary Club, District 1430, Finland

Host: Kissimmee Bay Rotary Club, District 6980, Florida, USA

School: Harmony High School, St. Cloud, Florida

Bio

October 24 Journal - "Adapting to the culture of the US has gone great. It is very different compared to Finland but I like being here so much, so it's different but in a good way."

Pietari's Bio

Hi, my name is Pietari Salmi and I come from Finland. I live in a city called Kotka, in the coast of southern Finland. Kotka isn't that big of a city, we have about 50,000 people living there. I live with my mum, stepdad, little brother and little sister. I also have two step sisters and two step brothers, but two of them have moved out and other two are living with my dad and my stepmum.

My hobbies are soccer, skiing, golfing, and I also like running a few times a week. Those are my hobbies but I like almost every sport. I'm in sport school in Finland and I practice soccer on my free time. Here in USA I play soccer in my school's team, where I have many new friends.

So far I like school here. It's pretty easy so you don't have to stress too much. Everybody is interested about me and they will come and talk to me almost all the time. It's so easy to make friends because people are more outgoing and talkative. I go to Harmony High School which has about 2000 students.

I had the idea to be an exchange student about 3 years ago, because I wanted to see the world and meet new people and get to know different cultures. This far I've liked my year very much and I want to thank Rotary for this awesome opportunity!

October 24 Journal

Over two months has passed since I first arrived to Florida, and thus far I've had awesome time. Adapting to the culture of the United States has gone great. I've had almost no problems at all. It is very different compared to Finland but I like being here so much, so it's different but in a good way. Of course there are things that I like more about my home country, but I'll have to admit USA is pretty awesome. There's just so much to do! Thus far I've been in New York, Universal Studios, Disney World, Wet n' Wild and the list goes on.

And what makes it even better, I chose to send my application to Rotary. When it comes to youth exchange they are absolutely the best organization. They really care about their exchange students. They are really careful when they are choosing the host families, they are always organizing different kinds of events, and they just make your year more easy and safe.

School here is really different. All kinds of different classes that you can choose, all the clubs that you can go to, school teams, etc. Other kids in my school have been so nice the whole time. They are interested about you and they will come and talk to you. Most of them have never been out of the state so they have so many questions. Some of them are really funny.

Generally people are more easy to just go and talk to. Most of the people are really nice and they like to talk to you and it's so nice to be able to do that.

So my year thus far has been just awesome. And I've only been here for few months. I'm expecting this year to be the best and most interesting year I've had thus far!!