A Hundred Days...

Just now I had a text message from Lucie. "I'm bringing three friends home with me to choose pyjamas...."

Odd message, you may think, but there was a reason for this. Lukio (the Finnish equivalent of sixth form) lasts for three years over here. There are many traditions involved for lukio students, such as their Prom Night and many other special events.  Tomorrow the third year students will all be spending the day in their pyjamas.

Having not been to school in Finland myself, this was news to me. I asked Lucie what the day was celebrating. I have to be honest...her answer came as a total shock.

"It's to commemorate the fact that we have a hundred days left of school..." she said. WHAT? I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Not the pyjama bit...it's that I am simply amazed that Lucie is now so close to the end of her school life.

In the UK children have to start school by the time they are five, but most start earlier than this, commonly at three years of age. This means that Lucie has been going to school now for the last fourteen years. After all this time I am still coming to terms with the fact that now, in just a hundred more school days, all that will be over. Another phase of our family life will be moving on to the next one. I can guess that the parents of the other fifty students in the third year may well be feeling the same way as I am.

I am sure the students too will have a lot to think about tomorrow. It's only a few months until their final exams, and then a whole new chapter will be ahead. Some will know what they are doing next, others will still be looking at their options, but for all of them this is a time which is exciting...full of opportunity and a chance to walk into the unknown.

Tomorrow I look forward to bringing you some pyjama photos of the students from Somero Lukio and I know you will join me in wishing them every happiness in enjoying their last one hundred days of school!