While others are Netflixing and wasting their lives away on social media, one Geneva senior is leading a very different teenage experience. Olga Pietila is a 17-year-old Finnish exchange student. Throughout her life, she has lived in China, India, Finland, and now here in Geneva, Illinois. In an interview with GHS Voyager, she discussed her new life and experiences as an American teenager.

When we sat down, Olga explained how she just ran the mile. We both groaned, and I began to describe how much I detest P.E. Olga clarifies that in Finland, P.E. is mandatory, but students have a much different view on the class. They actually enjoy going to work out, and group fitness isn’t expected. I soon realized that, even though we are the same age, our childhood and background are completely dissimilar.

She describes her life in Finland as athletic. “In Finland, I play a sport called floorball, and it’s like hockey without the skates….I want to start badminton when it starts.”

As for hobbies here, Olga isn’t as athletic, she likes to relax. “[I like to] hang out with friends, go to Starbucks. I like the football games. I think I’m the only one that likes them.”

Scouts is popular in Finland, but not the traditional Boy and Girl Scouts; this organization includes boys and girls together. “We go camping, and [two] summers [ago], we went to Japan…and hung out with other people from around the world. Our hobbies aren’t in the schools…school is only for studying, so [Scouts] is in our town.”

Olga’s host family, an older couple, lives in downtown Geneva. In Finland, she is 20 minutes away from the nearest big city, living in a town of ten thousand people. “My family is great. I have an older brother and an older sister. We spend a lot of time together…” she reminisces about her family back home.

Although she doesn’t travel to mainland Europe a lot, Olga enjoys Finland’s capital, Helsinki. She was born in China, then spent ages six to eight in India. “I went to American school [in India], so we spoke English all the time.”

Finns have specific stereotypes about Americans, whether true or completely bonkers. “You sue each other a lot, and there’s a McDonald’s and a Starbucks at every corner. For high school, you have the nerds, bullies. Like Mean Girls is the perfect stereotype that we have.” As for the validity of these stereotypes, Olga says she hasn’t seen any yet.

This past summer, her exchange family introduced her to the vastness of the United States. “We took a road trip to Wyoming to see my host brother, who worked there. So, we drove through the Badlands, we went to Mount Rushmore. It was so cool.”

Olga has decided her favorite places in Geneva are Graham’s 318 and Starbucks. “You can hang with your friends, and I go study a lot,” she says.

Olga really likes the city and landscape of Chicago, but she truly admires the people. “[They] dress how they want, and they don’t care about [anything]. It’s nice to see diversity.”

A major part of experiencing a new culture is trying new food. Back home, Olga’s favorite food is crispy, baked bread with rice porridge in the middle. As for new foods she has discovered here, she likes mac and cheese, and struggles through her lactose-intolerance to eat it. “I haven’t discovered much new [foods], because everything here is like hamburgers and hot dogs. I tried the Chicago-style hot dog; I didn’t like it. I went to Taco Bell for the first time, it’s not great. I like Chipotle also. The only fast food restaurant [Finland] has is McDonald’s.”

I recognize that Olga makes clicking sounds with her tongue. Upon further research, I discover that these noises, or ingressive sounds, are common in Scandinavia and Finland and are basically equivalent to “um” or “uh.”It was then that I realized that even though our backgrounds seem so entirely opposite, Olga and her American peers are not that different. We all want to make new friends and be accepted. Olga encourages the student body to, “come and speak to me if you see me in the hallways; I’m not intimidating.”