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.
Sounds great GOOD LUCK!!! Love you very much and miss you. Love Katie
ReplyDeleteGOOD LUCK and I can relate to what you're saying. Before getting this job, I was also thinking of going back to studying, but didn't know what to study because there are fewer options in this little village compared to the big cities.
ReplyDeleteGREAT JOB on the language test! I'm sure you'll do just fine in whichever type of studies you will be taking (at one point I was thinking of studying to be a librarian, but it wasn't a possibility here in this village). :-) Keep us updated on your new adventures he he he...
Have you had any inclinations or thoughts to study nursing in the past or is this a completely new type of goal?
ReplyDeleteJust plan ahead so that you get credit from those studies if you choose to take AMK degree later on. (Maybe check with some AMK.) AFAIK that stuff is required for any larger degree of career advancement. Ammattikoulu is vocational school - pure hands on. AMK is still somewhat hands on, but includes theory. In that field, probably organisational stuff and umm.. medicinal? training and uh.. physiology? and ..abstractions and ..stuff.
ReplyDeleteReally don't know the field enough to not sound like a stereotypical valley girl.
Anyway, hope you make it work.
Ha, you'll just slide through the school effortlessly. You're anticipating more difficulties than you could ever face in ammattikoulu.
ReplyDelete