Smyrna times., 1960-08-25
Finnish Girl, Is,
Guest of School
Principal Here
For Coming Year

the United States was a tre-
mendous experience for fifteen
year old Mira Larjanko, who
will spend the l960-6l school
year here as the guest of MIR.
and Mrs. Charles V. Williams.
The appearance of the attrac-
tive, blonde Maria will be a
tremendous experience for the
students at the John Bassett
Moore High School. She may
be mistaken on the streets of
Smyrna and in the corridors of
the high school for a Hollywood
starlet. with lovely pale blonde
hair, worn straight in long
bob, blue eyes the color of the
sea, and a tanned skin. She
will enter the tenth grade as a
sophomore and upon her return
to her home near Helsinki next
year she will enter the senior
secondary school. Her mother
is director of girls physical ed
ucation in the school at Helsin-
XII, and is now at the Olympics
as the leader of a Finnish group
of participants, and also as a
Judge. Mira expects to watch
iTV closely, expecting to see her
mother appear on the television
screen during the contests. She
L is now in Smyrna, not as an
exchange student, but as the re-
suit of a meeting between her
mother and Mr.. Williams, high
school principal, who was one
of forty United States school
administrators participating in
two seminars in Europe last
February and March, the first
in Finland. Her sister, who
speaks French and attended the
University of Paris and is mar
ried, was hostess to five Amerl-
can educators at that time.
Mira pronounced Meria) has
studied English for four years,
Swedish for five years, and will
take three years of German, be-
coming tri-lingual. Her main OBJ
iective at school here will be
study of the English language
and "the American culture"
The subjects she will take will
I include also American history,
business education, a spe cial
course in home economics, and
tipping. Her keenest interest,
however, is in physical educa-
ton. Her first adventure in a
plane was delayed by mechani-
cal trouble and they had to turn
back to Gander, Newfoundland,
arriving late in New York where
she was met by the Williams
family. The young visitor docs
not like mosquitoes" and has
an aversion to clans, she said
when asked her impressions of
life here. She misses most of
| all her steam bath, being used
to a sauna" attached to her
home. She delights in the great
variety of fruit, particularly of
peaches, as in Finland they
have only apples. Mira likes to
swim and dance, with an inter-
lest in all gymnastics. She and
, her mother are alike in their
, love of all things athletic, while
lher sister is interested in mod
, Iern dancing. Her father, doc
J tor, died in 1852. Mira showed
, "a charming Finnish costume
, which she brought and will wear
f later when she appears before
groups to tell of her life at
f home. The costume was COM
posed of a pleated plaid skirt,
with red predominating, a brief
black velvet jacket, white
blouse of hand-loomed linen of
fine quality, and long gay band
of silk which she binds around
, her head. When in doubt about
a word she flies up to her room
and brings down very small
dictionary, which is quite COM
plete, and proves help to her
and there is also Finnish-Eng-
|lish dictionary which is a help
to the family here. She brought
gifts to the Williams family
which includes two pre-school
lage children Karen and Kevin.
The books she brought for the
children are very charming, the
characters animals with unusual
Finnish names, which captivate
THE Williams children. Some
idea of the difficulty of the Fin
nish language will be revealed
in the name of the school which
she will attend when she re-
turns h o m - the Kulosaaren