Hosting Dristiss from Shanghai

In August, our school hosted students from our sister school in China, and I got to host a girl named Dristiss (an english name was inspired by Dream’s sister) The first couple of hours were kind of awkward, but after a few Uno games, we matched each other’s energies.

The school set up some events, like visiting Nuuksio, cooking classes, and playing Finnish baseball. It was super interesting to hear Dristiss’s culture shocks, especially how our summer weather felt freezing to her and how students in Mattlidens being allowed to first off not only order a Burger King meal TO school, but also eat it in class with our feets on the tables whilst the teacher was teaching. To her it was the strangest thing known to man. I’m not sure why, but I thought she would be a reserved studious kid, but nope; she was just like any other teen!

Staying up late to watch a goofy Netflix show and complaining about math being the end of the world were our best bonding moments. Overall, it was an awesome week full of fun and friendship!