A general update:
Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Joensuu. Because test spots filled up so quickly here in Lappeenranta, I'll stay the night there and make my way to the YKI testi in the morning. Apparently I'm not the only one who's got to travel a ways. A couple of classmates of mine will be taking the test in Mikkeli.
I've applied to study at ammattikoulu. I've been thinking of changing careers, as I lack teaching work and, really, the idea of leaving academia is appealing on some level. In the US, we're taught that a university degree is a compulsory, logical next step in any given person's education. In my case, it was true. Still, it hasn't served me much in any way other than my own betterment, pleasure and edification. That's some pretty great stuff, but was it worth $50,000, a debt I'll be paying off for ages to come? I wouldn't return it for a refund, but the answer is a definitive "no."
I've thought of continuing my studies more than I can tell you. I miss learning. I'd love to keep on studying language: linguistics, literature, philology, what have you. I'd even love to change my focus and study something like psychology or pedagogy.
But.
I can't afford to do any of that in my home country, and my Finnish skills aren't yet good enough to do so here. There are certainly a lot of opportunities to study in English, but no such programs to suit my taste in Lappeenranta. And, finally, while I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, I'm quite reluctant to move to another city.
So I'm planning to start over. I've waited so long and been so very bored. And while I've been cooped up without much to do, I've desperately missed the times when I was in a position to help people who needed it. Perhaps I was always meant to be a lähihoitaja after all.
It's not as if the intellectual challenge won't be massive; while I've made great strides with the language, I doubt very much that studying anything entirely in Finnish will be easy. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to it.
This morning, I took a short language test for foreigners who have applied to this specific program. Though my performance was nowhere near perfect, I finished long before the allotted time was over and I left feeling very good about the whole thing. I sort of feel as if I was just freed from jail. My life is moving forward.
Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Joensuu. Because test spots filled up so quickly here in Lappeenranta, I'll stay the night there and make my way to the YKI testi in the morning. Apparently I'm not the only one who's got to travel a ways. A couple of classmates of mine will be taking the test in Mikkeli.
I've applied to study at ammattikoulu. I've been thinking of changing careers, as I lack teaching work and, really, the idea of leaving academia is appealing on some level. In the US, we're taught that a university degree is a compulsory, logical next step in any given person's education. In my case, it was true. Still, it hasn't served me much in any way other than my own betterment, pleasure and edification. That's some pretty great stuff, but was it worth $50,000, a debt I'll be paying off for ages to come? I wouldn't return it for a refund, but the answer is a definitive "no."
I've thought of continuing my studies more than I can tell you. I miss learning. I'd love to keep on studying language: linguistics, literature, philology, what have you. I'd even love to change my focus and study something like psychology or pedagogy.
But.
I can't afford to do any of that in my home country, and my Finnish skills aren't yet good enough to do so here. There are certainly a lot of opportunities to study in English, but no such programs to suit my taste in Lappeenranta. And, finally, while I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, I'm quite reluctant to move to another city.
So I'm planning to start over. I've waited so long and been so very bored. And while I've been cooped up without much to do, I've desperately missed the times when I was in a position to help people who needed it. Perhaps I was always meant to be a lähihoitaja after all.
It's not as if the intellectual challenge won't be massive; while I've made great strides with the language, I doubt very much that studying anything entirely in Finnish will be easy. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to it.
This morning, I took a short language test for foreigners who have applied to this specific program. Though my performance was nowhere near perfect, I finished long before the allotted time was over and I left feeling very good about the whole thing. I sort of feel as if I was just freed from jail. My life is moving forward.
