This letter is from Miia in Iisalmi,Finland.She is a 17 year old girl that is quite smart.She can speak Finnish,English and Swedish and is also learning Spanish.I think it's great to learn to speak so many different languages.It will be nice when she travels to understand the local people.
She says that she lives in a small town of 20,000 people.She attends high school and is in her second year.We're always fascinated with the schools in other countries.In the states,we have Elementary School which is Kindergarten-4th or 5th grade depending where you live,then Middle School for grades 5th or 6th-8th grade then High School is 9th-12th grade,then if you choose,you go to college where you can get a bachelors degree in 4 years.It seems like in most countries,children go to school for more years than in the US.
Miia has visited London twice and now hopes to visit New York city one day.She loves travelling and meeting new people and getting to speak different languages.
In her free time,she enjoys reading,drawing,writing,hanging out with friends,sending postcards,watching movies,and of course,sleeping. :)But right now she doesn't have much time since she is quite busy with school work,so we are thankful she was able to take some time to write us a letter!
She also hopes to visit Australia one day because her godmother and her 2 year old godson live there.When she wrote the letters,I think they had planned to visit Australia this June,so I hope her trip is still on,sounds like fun!She is really excited as it will be a trip with just her friend,no adults.She says they could stop in Singapore or Hong Kong on the way there,so she is quite excited about that!
When she wrote the letter,it was a very,very cold day,she says,the temperature was -33° Celsius.She says they do have nice winters,with temperatures around +30° Celsius.In her letter to your left at the top corner,she attached a picture showing all the snow they had.While I do love snow,I'm not sure I'd like a ton of it.I think it's beautiful to look at,but not good when you need to get out and drive around somewhere.They do have something I wish we had when we lived up north,they have saunas in their homes where they can go to warm up or just relax.I think if we had one,I may never get out. :)
She also told us that Finns have invented xylitol,which is usually found in candies.It actually comes from a birch tree....I did not even know it came from a tree,how fascinating!
Her country of Finland has about 5 million inhabitants.Their capital is Helsinki.Some well-known Finns are:Jean Sibelius (composer),Sofi Oksanen (writer),Renny Harlin (film director) and some bands like these-Nightwish,Sonata Arctica,etc.Miia says she couldn't live without music.
As she was writing this letter,she was preparing for their prom night at school,where they will dance all day.She says they will have 3 shows,one at 11am,1pm and then at 7pm.Between shows they will eat out at a restaurant.I wonder how it went?
Miia included some wonderful candies that we all love and a postcard of her city.Thanks Miia for the wonderful letter,the postcard and the delicious candies...we love Finnish candy (although we have yet to try any other countries candies,yet).We hope you did well in school and are getting to relax soon!
Here is Miia's letter,postcard and candy below:
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