Normal weekly rhythm starting to appear.

Hi,

My life is starting to get more and more normal here. School resembles some what first year of RCN, of course there are differences. I am starting to remember names of people. I'm actually enjoying classes, yes even TOK is okay. But still so happy that only this week and next week and then no TOK until February.
Econ is the same usual boring revision of everything and English is okay as well as Finnish. Finnish is completely new. Now we are reading Memoirs of a Geisha.It's a really interesting book and a really recommend reading it. As an assignment I need to do a screen play of a scene from the movie. It's actually really fun to do.  Even though I had already a year of English it feels new, since all the material here is different.

Doing homework here isn't so bad as at RCN, since I don't have all of my friends within a 100 meter range here, so distractions are fewer. I do the homework and it doesn't feel horrible.

I sometimes get these moments when I miss RCN. It can be something really simple. Earlier this week I was walking down the corridor when leaving home and heard to Russian speakers talking. This made me miss the Haugland pool and Sauna, with Eastern Europeans talking in Russian, Serbo-Croatian etc. and me being the only person there who did not understand a single word.

Outside school I'm also starting to get a weekly rhythm. Mondays (every other) I go and do some volunteering with CP-disabled children, Tuesdays I go to the gym, Wednesdays I go to the gym or then just studying, Thursdays go to the Gym, Fridays leave to Kuusamo (to our cabin, if we are going there, otherwise a free day). Weekends are usually studying and depending on are we home or at Kuusamo something else.

Next week I'll be alone at home, since my parent's are going to Rome. Jealous! Especially since I have plane tickets from Oslo that I am not able to use. So I'll stay here and catch up with school work and go to classes etc.

RCNers HAVE AN AMAZING NOVEMBER BREAK!

- Anniina 

Food and Baking; A passion of mine

Food and Baking is something I really enjoy. I enjoy both eating and preparing food. If the working hours and wage would be better for chefs I probably would train myself to be a chef, but since it's not it's just going to be a hobby of mine. When I cook or bake, I usually don't think about anything else. It's one of the ways I relax and calm myself down if I am too intensely studying and need a break. Usually I make quite big portions so I can give out bread, buns, cake, pancakes... It's something I am probably better at than the average 18-year old student and I enjoy hearing complements on my cakes and bread.

Today I decided to make chicken soup for my family, so that we can eat the same thing for a couple days more. The recipe is super simple and the dumbest person ever could probably make it. I got the original recipe from a Finnish cook book, but I have altered it. This is usually how I make everything, get a recipe make it once according to it and then alter it to fit better with my tastes.

One really nice thing to have is a empty recipe book. Me and my mom got one from Hullut Päivät (Galna Dagar - a 5 day sale at Stockmann a department store), but it stayed unused until I left to Norway and started to collect nice recipes there. Now I have about 10 or 15 recipes there and more are coming almost weekly. A empty notebook works as well.

Now that I am home and have more options to cook food I will try to post some recipes and food related posts more. Also I will start to schedule posts that are on topics and not on my everyday life,so that when I have time I can write a lot and when I don't have time things will still be published. Posts in the future will be related to Finnish food (and how to make it), my pescotarianism, bread etc. It depends on what I am doing and eating at the moment.

- Anniina 

Life is getting back to normal!

SUOMENKIELINEN POSTAUS TULEE ALKUVIIKOSTA! / POST IN FINNISH COMES OUT BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK!

To those of you who are my friends and/or are friends with me on Facebook this isn't new news; I have started school again. It's IB, the one from what I left to RCN. I kept all the subjects that I could and changed the others. I'm actually now happier about the combination of courses that I take than I was at RCN. I have:

Economics HL - same
English Language and Literature HL - same
Finnish A Literature HL - instead of Norwegian

Mathematics SL - same
History SL - instead of Global Politics
Chemistry SL - instead of E-systems

I really wanted to take History HL, but it wasn't offered. I was first wondering why, but then I figured out that SL has me included 4 students so that probably why...

At the moment I only have my HL classes and Theory of Knowledge. I have to take it again which sucks, especially when I don't have Edmund as my teacher anymore. Economics was super boring since we started from the very beginning with Demand. I know I have forgotten a lot of things from Econ, but I still do remember Demand and Supply. I class the teacher was asking questions and basically he said that I was answering them too complicatedly/ so that anyone else in the class except for him doesn't understand what I'm saying.

Finnish was nice, the group has about 15 students and all girls. We are studying Film and Literature so I have to read The memoirs of the Geisha in Finnish and then watch the film and the same for P.S I love you and The Great Gatsby. I have read P.S I love you and The Great Gatsby in English before so they should be quick.

For History I need to study before February The Arab Israeli Conflict in detail. And in Chemistry I need to study about 50 pages, mostly revision from before by the end of November. Also I have some few assignments to do, but their fairly small and easy.

So returning home has been much easier than I thought it would be. Next week is a break so I'll try to update a bit more on my life, maybe get my room renovated a bit and then post pictures of food and things I have baked.

- Anniina

P.S. We got the first snow earlier this week and it's white outside now. Those of you who know me know how happy this makes me! 

RCN I will miss you! / RCN, tulen kaipaamaan sinua!

As all of my co-years and first years already probably know I had to leave RCN for good. The decision was completely my own and related to physical and mental health issues. The decision was not affected by any people at RCN, maybe confirmed my choice after making the decision, but wasn’t a reason.

How my life will continue from now on is still a bit unclear... I will try to get into my previous school and if not there then to another Finnish high-school. Most likely I will graduate in a year or in a year and a half.

Even though academically last year was wasted otherwise being a year and few months at RCN has been the best year and few months of my life. I have made friendships that I know will last for life, I have grown as a human being extremely, I have learned new skills and most important of all; I have enjoyed my life. 

I know that I will miss RCN and probably at some point the IB as well, but I most likely will not regret my decision to leave. At the moment I cannot handle my anxiety attacks and all the catching up from last year with the normal stress of RCN there. I need a place where I can separate home and school, school and social life. A place where people are not complaining about the smallest things, a place where I have a support network to help me recover.

I will miss all of you amazing people there. Thank you for those of you who knew about my decision before leaving for respecting my privacy and not spreading rumours around. And to those of you who I didn’t tell before hand, don’t take it personally! I just wanted as few people as possible to know and told those who I knew could keep my wishes of privacy and give me the support I needed during the last few days.

I'll still keep updating my blog and the title is still relevant, since RCN became another home for me! 

Love Anniina

Noin viikon verran olen tiennyt, että aikani RCN:ssä on lopussa. Olin viime sunnuntaista taaksepäin 10 päivää kotona stressi/hermolomalla. Kaikki alkoi viime keväänä, jolloin annoin diabetekseni mennä todella huonoon kuntoon ja tästä johtuen huomasin syksyllä, että en muista melkein mitään parin kuukauden ajalta keväältä koulusta. Syksyn ajan olen kaiken normaalin RCN-stressin lisäksi saanut yrittää kiriä eri oppiaineita kiinni. Lopulta jouduin suureen henkiseen väsymykseen ja jatkuvan stressin tilaan. Lisäksi aloin saada ahdistuskohtauksia kun kohtasin vaikeuksia opiskeltaessa.

Tulin siihen tulokseen, että itselleni parasta tällä hetkellä on tulla takaisin Suomeen opiskelemaan. Tuntui aivan kamalalta sanoa hyvästi kaikille kavereille, kun ei ole varmuutta, että tulet enää koskaan näkemään heitä.

Tulevaisuuteni ja jatkosuunnitelmani eivät ole vielä täysin selvillä. Huomenna tai ensi viikolla, alan ottamaan yhteyttä paikkakuntani lukioihin ja kysellä, mistä mahdollisesti löytyisi opiskelu paikka. Yritän ensimmäiseksi päästä vanhaan lukiooni takaisin, sillä siellä tiedän jo kenen opettamistyyli sopii mulle ja kenen ei.

Minulla tulee varmasti olemaan suuri ikävä ja kaipuu takaisin koululle aina välillä, mutta tämä oli paras ratkaisu tällä hetkellä. Tuen silti suuresti UWC-arvoja ja koko ideaa ja kehotan ihmisiä hakemaan elämään UWC-elämää, se ei vaan sattuneista syistä passannut nytten minulle.

Aion silti jatkaa blogin päivittämistä ja nimikin pitää vielä paikkaansa, sillä RCN:stä tuli toinen koti minulle. 

-          Anniina