Our hosts wasted no time and gave us this document in order to teach us about their language. We will have an exam based on these words on the last day.

I had the opportunity to meet with Ismo-Olav Kjaldman at Leppavaaran Lukio Upper Secondary School. It was a pleasure speaking with him on many different topics: FLLs, SPED students, the Sami People, schoolwide structure, school food, discipline, degree requirements, and matriculation.

I had the opportunity to visit three different classes while I was at Leppavaran. I first visited a psychology course where the students were learning about Attribution Theory. The second class that I visited was Religion III, where students were presenting about eastern religions. I learned that Religion I and II are requirements for graduation.

It was my first time going to a Ringette game with my fellow Fulbrighters. Finland played against Canada and won 8-2. It was a lot of fun. Ringette is a non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using ice hockey skates. It is a women's sport and instead of a hockey puck, a hollow ring is used in its place.

The stadium was packed and the people were energetic. A lot of American music was being played throughout the game.

On the fourth day, we traveled to the Finnish Nature Center in Espoo. It is one of 41 national nature parks in the country. I'm pointing to where we're at in the map.

Our nature guide for the tour was Kirsi Kallio. She did a great job teaching us about the different animals that inhabit the reserve and the Finnish efforts taken to preserve the park system.

After Kirsi gave us a lesson about the reserve, we took a hike in the park, exploring the different species of plants and trees present there.

Towards the end of our hike, we visited a Lavvu, or tipi, which is inspired by ones used by the Sami People.

One our guides, Inari Ahokas, brought some homemade dough from home for us to cook over the campfire.

It tasted like dough bread. We also had a drink called Glögi, which is a hot spiced wine in Finland.

This is the Senate Square in Helsinki, the political capital of the country. Behind me is the Government Palace, which houses the prime minister's office.

My fellow Fubrighters and me with the Senate Square in the background.

This grey house was built in 1757 and it's the oldest building of central Helsinki.

This is a statue of Alexander II, who was Czar of Russia from 1855-1881. He oversaw many reforms, which gave Finland more autonomy and is thus viewed positively.

This is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral of Helsinki. Lutheranism is the official religion of Finland.

We took a group picture on the steps leading up to the Lutheran Cathedral.

Reindeer is a staple food in Finnish cuisine. It was my first time having it and it was delicious.

We had the opportunity to be hosted by a Fulbright Alumna, Tuija Kae and her husband, for a meet and greet at her house. It was a lot of fun and we exchanged our experiences with each other over blueberry pie.

We traveled to Joensuu from Helsinki, a 5 hour bus ride. Joensuu is located in North Karelia and it has a population of 77,000.

We will spend the next four days here, visiting school sites and meeting with local officials.

I'm helping Jill out with getting the dough ready.

In this picture, we're getting ready to eat the different Finnish foods we made in the kitchen. I tasted everything and it was delicious.

In the second half of the day, I visited Lyseon Lukio Upper Secondary School in Joensuu. I had the opportunity to meet several teachers from there and our host was Adam Lerch, an American Fulbrighter who lives and teaches in Finland. We had many one-on-one conversations with the teachers about myriad topics. Despite being far away from each other, we both have/are facing many of the same challenges in the teaching profession.

 It was movie night, so teachers and students dressed in masquerade clothing. After watching a movie, the students ran an evening dance night at the school. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of American music playing at this event.

In this picture, I had the opportunity to meet Principal Mika Merilla and International Coordinator Hanna-Kaiso at Mutala Primary School in Joensuu.

I visited several classrooms and spoke with many students about their learning and educational experience.

I gave a classroom presentation with my friend and colleague, Conrad Ulpindo, about the state of California to 5th grade students.

We took a group picture with Mika's class at the end. Mika is a principal and a teacher at Mutala. This is a common practice in Finland.

We gave a second presentation to the whole school in the gymnasium.

We talked about California diversity, the major languages spoken, the major ethnic groups, the sports teams, the university system (CSU and UC), the natural park system, and much more.

In this slide, I discuss the major racial groups in California.

In this slide, I talked about the many natural wonders California provides. The Finnish are very proud of their natural parks, so they were appreciative of this.

California is home to many entertainment venues. I discussed many of them during this presentation.

I gave a presentation about John H. Pitman High School, the school I teach at. I spoke about the classes I teach, the programs offered at Pitman, and much more.

I made sure students asked me questions throughout the presentation.

The presentation was interactive and students were participating whenever I posed questions to them.

We visited the Karelian Museum in Joensuu. We learned about the local culture and its history in the region. I'm standing next to mannequins dressed in the Orthodox tradition.

The museum had many traditional instruments. The Kantele is the national instrument of Finland. Here's a link showing the instrument in action.

I had the pleasure to meet Olga Fillipova, who gave us a presentation about the education system in Ukraine. She is a professor at UEF.

She also told us about how the current war has ravaged the country.

My partner, Ryan Lewis, and I participated in presentation rounds about our topic of Comparative Governments, with a focus on how different government systems handle immigration crises at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). See image for poster details.

We had several rounds and met many different adminstrators and teachers from schools across Finland. The purpose was to introduce ourselves and pitch ideas for transatlantic collaboration. We connected with several people who wanted pursue an academic relationship with us.

In the evening, we walked to the City Center where the shopping district is located. The City Center was getting ready for Christmas.

This part of Helsinki has a lot of shopping centers, restaurants, cafes, and bars.

Today was Father's Day in Finland, so we had a free day to travel on our own. Three of us visited the Helsinki Cathedral at Senate Square.

The church was having a service, so we attended it. There was a sermon, prayer, and communion.

I'm pointing at Finland in this pciture. The room behind me is the International Program Office at Martinaakso Upper Secondary School.

These students, from Upper Secondary, gave us presentations about their experiences at the school. We also had a Q&A with them that was enlightening.

This is the Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden. The glasshouses have over 1300 plants from all over Finland.

The glasshouses also contain plants from Africa (e.g., savannah, desert, rainforests, and dry forests), from wetlands, Australia, and plants from the Mediterranean World. This garden houses numerous plants. The outdoor garden has many attractions as well.

As part of our final presentation, I, Ryan, and Anne created an epic poem about our collective experiences about Finland. The poem was also published on the Fulbright Finland website.

We each took turns reading our parts. I was playing Kantele music in the background before each part began--in total, there are five parts. Our poem focused on our expectations coming in, what we learned, and we became most proud of.

Terhi Molsa, the CEO for the Fulbright Finland Foundation, presented me with a Fulbright certificate of completion.

I had the pleasure to meet all of these wonderful people from the Fulbright Finland Foundation. They were our generous hosts and guides throughout the field site experience.