At the time, I thought language camp was a complete waste of money and time. I was so eager to just get to my host families that I didnt realize how much of a positive experience it really was. I thought that I could learn the language myself and that there would have been no difference between language camp and classes during the week. I was wrong. After talking with other people from my district, I realize that the camp was a really positive experience for me. A lot of the other 7080 outbounds are having a lot of trouble in their first days. They are becoming homesick, bored, and lonely. They all write about how bad their first days in their city were, how they think they are ready to go home already. I didn't experience this once, and as far as I know, nobody in Finland has yet. I am not what so ever homesick (sorry Mom) and I don't feel lonely at all. The language camp gave us an opportunity to get over the fact that we were 239487293487 miles away from home, and made it easier for us to connect with the other exchange students in the country. Not only that, the classes actually helped develop our language. There are 2 other exchange students in my school (with 3 more arriving next week). I am pretty sure I know the most Finnish out of any of them. We learned a lot even though the classes were boring. I have a solid support system now. I know that I have friends all over the country who are going through the same things I am going through and are struggling in the same ways. This makes it much easier to live through the hard days.
I think it would be worth while for every country to invest in a Camp like this. The tutors are truly amazingly helpful and teach you things that you can not learn from a book. I had 2 Finnish books before I came, neither of them taught me how to say 'My name is...' correctly. Some things, you can only learn from the experiences.
:)
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