(or lack of)
I can't even speak english anymore, seriously.
the other day, I asked my friend Lucie if immaturity was a word.
and then like 4 days later, on our way home from Lapland, me and her spent about an hour and a half trying to figure out how many syllables the word 'wasps' has.
(Seriously though, if you say it, it kind of has 1.5 syllables, wasps, wasps, wasps, wasps, wasps. just try it??)
Oh and today, my host mom asked me what the area that like horses go in while they are like within a fence but still kind of free? what is that called??
and she asked me what the little room is that a horse lives in? like with the sliding door on the front? I can't even remember english words.
all the horse talk is because we have 4 horses, 3 mares and 1 stallion. All week, the stallion keeps breaking the fence (my host mom has fixed it 4 times) and he just walks right through the electrical wires and pushes them down. Anyways, the horses have escaped every night and then been gone all night and come back in the morning.
So last night they escaped, all 5 of them. 4 of ours and one of our neighbours. they all escaped together and then this morning, I saw them running around the house so we had to try and capture them and take them to the barn. After that, we had to move the stallion to an icelandic horse farm in Varkaus, about 1.5 hours away so he will actually not run away anymore. It was actually really cool to be with the horses, even though the stallion is kind of scary. The rest of the horses are really old and calm so not scary at all. The stallion though is fairly young and its funny because he broke the fence so many times and then when we finally captured him, my host mom tied him to the trailer we were going to put him in and he just looked at us like 'hahahaha, im so cute. look what a mess i made. but aren't i just the cutest boy? will you forgive me?'
we had to give him some medicine to keep him calm and then it looked like he forgot how to walk and didn't know where he was. typical drunk finn ;) kidding.
my host mom was really glad she had Roosa's help and my help today. She said that moving a horse has never been as easy as it was today.
:)
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
christmas
My Christmas presents arrived while I was in Lapland and now they are sitting in my bedroom taunting me.
This is just the worst. And I still have to wait 19 days to open them!
This is just the worst. And I still have to wait 19 days to open them!
days 111-125
OKAY
things have been crazy and insane lately. that is why I haven't been posting.
to be 100% honest, I don't even use my computer that much anymore other than on weekends.
My last post was written on Helena's birthday, Wednesday and on Thursday, we went to see Skyfall and it was actually so good.
During the week, about 3 days a week I don't get home until 7 or 8 o clock and last week was especially busy.
My host sisters are all involved in Scout so last week we were baking for a scout fundraiser on monday, tuesday and wednesday. It was actually a lot of fun and we baked a crap load of things.
On Thursday, I think I came home. I don't really remember...
But on Friday, I left for Lapland. I left at 12:05am so I went to Roosa's at about 5pm with all of my stuff. I ate way too many clementines trying to keep myself awake (about 9) and curled Roosa's hair. She has a hell of a lot of hair and it is soooo long so it took forever.
Lapland was seriously so much fun. I don't even know how to describe it. It was an 11 hour drive for me. We only stopped once for half an hour because every other time we were scheduled to stop everyone was asleep. The drive actually wasn't that bad because we hadn't seen eachother in so long we had so much to talk about. There were 20 people on my bus, my whole district plus one other girl, which was amazing compared to the other buses who all had 40. We all talked and caught up and then all fell asleep around 3 or 4 am. People started to wake up around 8 or 9 and when I woke up and looked out the window, it was a lot different than what I had been seeing before. Although still dark, it was absolutely beautiful. All the trees were covered in snow and there were trees everywhere. The land was flat and in some places, far off you could see mountains. Not like real mountains but small ones. :)
We weren't supposed to arrive until 11 or 11:30 but we actually ended up arriving at around 10. It was nice to be so early because we had lots of time to get settled in the hotel before any of the buses even arrived.The rest arrived at 11 or so but one didn't arrive until almost 1 o clock. At 2 o clock, we all left and headed to Olos Ski Centre. It was absolutely beautiful because at the time we got there, the sun was already setting and it was just so pretty. We didn't actually end up skiing at all. Some of my friends and I tobogganed and then watched other people ski and tried to stay warm. It was about -26 Celsius that day. At night, we had dinner outside in this like I don't know how to explan it. It was like a huge gazebo with like 5 different rooms and we had actually really good salmon soup and yeah it was so pretty!
On Sunday, we had the same options or we could stay at the hotel and do ice sculpting. Again, we chose to do this because then we could come in and get warm for a bit and it was a much more relaxed day and ice sculpting seemed really cool. It was not actually ice sculpting but snow sculpting. but still super cool. It was fun. We made a sculpture and hung out in the hotel and stuff for a bit and I forget what else :D At night, we had almost a concert thing in the local high school and they played music for us and we danced and then each country did their own little thing. some people sang, played a game or danced. the Canadians sang the hockey song.
On Monday, we all had different activities during the day. In the morning, my group (Bus #4) snowshoed to the reindeer place and then we all had rides pulled by reindeer sleighs. It was so cool but scary at the same time. There were 3 reindeer and 3 sleighs all attached so it went reindeer, sleigh, reindeer, sleigh, reindeer, sleigh. I was in the very back sleigh with 2 of my friends and our reindeer was the youngest and craziest. Halfway through our ride, the rope attaching the reindeer's collar and the sleigh infront of it got wrapped around the reindeer's antlers so it started going crazy and trying to get it off. It was the scariest and saddest thing I think I have ever witnessed. Not only was it trying to get it off, it was still running because the 2 reindeer in front didnt know something bad had happened and just kept running. It was so sad and at one point we almost jumped out it was so sad. We got hit by some trees and the reindeer actually layed down on the ground and the other 2 stopped for a second. He started rubbing his face in the snow really fast, like a dog when it's face is itchy and then the rope finally came free and they all started running again. It was a realy cool experience even though it was quite scary.
After that traumatizing experience, we walked to the husky farm to have dog sled rides which ended up almost being just as traumatizing. We got on our dog sled and the dogs were so excited to see people and they had so much energy. Well one of our dogs ended up getting angry at another one and started to bite its neck and like play fight with it. And the dog was like HELL NO. and then they all started to run. The dog escaped its collar, ended up jumping on our laps and then quickly running away. The craziest thing was that I don't even think the man on our sled yelled anything but as soon as the dog got out of its collar, the lead dogs knew to stop. So while everyone else ran with an even number of dogs, ours was odd but we still got there and it was such a cool experience :)
After that, we had lunch and then went to another reindeer farm that has about 800 reindeer. The craziest thing about Lapland is there are reindeer everywhere. They just were chilling on the side of the road or in the middle of the road while we were trying to drive or just everywhere. On this reindeer farm we learned about like the history of reindeer and yeah! they aren't really used for anything. They aren't even like penned in (i cant think of the word... like there are no fences) they just wander in the forest and when they want food, they will come back to their original farm. They all have distinctive ear markings and every spring, the Swedes and Finns have to cross eachothers borders to get their reindeer back. We went in the main house which was built in like the 1700s and met the lady who owns the farm.
After that, we went to this small mountain range in lapland and we went to the visitors centre. When we got here, the sun was setting and we got to take lots of beautiful pictures!
After that, we went to Sweden. Our hotel was literally right on the border, there was a river beside the hotel and that river was the border. So on Sunday, I waved to Sweden (and Alexis) and on Monday, I went to Sweden. We just drove across the border and drove back and parked. Then we walked to the middle of the bridge to take pictures of the actual border sign.
After that we went back to the hotel and although it was only 3pm, it was pitch black outside.
We all got ready for our party that night, which turned out a lot differently than expected. We thought it would be just a dance but actually for 3 hours it was performances almost. In the beginning we had a few country performances we didn't have time for the night before and then the Oldies (people who's exchange started in January) presented some of us with gifts. Turns out, there are all these gifts that are passed from Oldie to Newbie and one of them has been going on for 27 years, which is 54 exchange students. It is a hat and it is passed to someone who is a leader of the group and talks to everyone and keeps everyone together. After all of that we danced for a little while but I felt sick so I went back to the hotel with my friend Sarah.
The way home was horrible, it lasted forever. We drove for 2 hours, stopped for 3 hours, drove for half an hour, stopped for an hour, and then drove the rest of the way without stopping. We left at 9am and I got home at 11pm. It was a long day.
We stopped in Santa's Village in Rovaniemi. Yes, Santa Claus lives in Finland and they actually have a post office here where they get letters every year from over 90 countries. It was really cool but I thought there would be more to do. The whole place was just full of souvenir shops and it was very touristy. We wished that there had been more activities. We got to meet Santa and get our picture taken, although that was way too expensive :D
It was such a good trip and it was so good to be with all of my friends. I have seriously made some of the best friends in the world here. I have 3 best friends in my district, Lucie, Sarah and Maddy who are from West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. I am so glad we are only about 12 hours apart. I don't know what I would do if they were on the other side of the world.
On the way home, we got so sad that we were leaving eachother that the 4 of us sat in 2 seats. Me and Lucie sitting in the chairs and Sarah and Maddy sitting on our laps. We sat like this for probably an hour and all cried and talked about how much we loved eachother. I can't even believe how close we have become in the last 4 months. None of us even talked to eachother at Language camp and just met when we found out we were in the same district. As of day, we have only ever spent 6 days together but our friendship is inseparable.
During this last month, I have really realized how much I love this country and this town. I don't know what I would do without my friends and my families. I no longer picture this as a town that I live it, it is a home to me and I actually feel like I am part of it :D
So so happy to be where I am and I can not imagine myself anywhere else or with any different people.
things have been crazy and insane lately. that is why I haven't been posting.
to be 100% honest, I don't even use my computer that much anymore other than on weekends.
My last post was written on Helena's birthday, Wednesday and on Thursday, we went to see Skyfall and it was actually so good.
During the week, about 3 days a week I don't get home until 7 or 8 o clock and last week was especially busy.
My host sisters are all involved in Scout so last week we were baking for a scout fundraiser on monday, tuesday and wednesday. It was actually a lot of fun and we baked a crap load of things.
On Thursday, I think I came home. I don't really remember...
But on Friday, I left for Lapland. I left at 12:05am so I went to Roosa's at about 5pm with all of my stuff. I ate way too many clementines trying to keep myself awake (about 9) and curled Roosa's hair. She has a hell of a lot of hair and it is soooo long so it took forever.
Lapland was seriously so much fun. I don't even know how to describe it. It was an 11 hour drive for me. We only stopped once for half an hour because every other time we were scheduled to stop everyone was asleep. The drive actually wasn't that bad because we hadn't seen eachother in so long we had so much to talk about. There were 20 people on my bus, my whole district plus one other girl, which was amazing compared to the other buses who all had 40. We all talked and caught up and then all fell asleep around 3 or 4 am. People started to wake up around 8 or 9 and when I woke up and looked out the window, it was a lot different than what I had been seeing before. Although still dark, it was absolutely beautiful. All the trees were covered in snow and there were trees everywhere. The land was flat and in some places, far off you could see mountains. Not like real mountains but small ones. :)
We weren't supposed to arrive until 11 or 11:30 but we actually ended up arriving at around 10. It was nice to be so early because we had lots of time to get settled in the hotel before any of the buses even arrived.The rest arrived at 11 or so but one didn't arrive until almost 1 o clock. At 2 o clock, we all left and headed to Olos Ski Centre. It was absolutely beautiful because at the time we got there, the sun was already setting and it was just so pretty. We didn't actually end up skiing at all. Some of my friends and I tobogganed and then watched other people ski and tried to stay warm. It was about -26 Celsius that day. At night, we had dinner outside in this like I don't know how to explan it. It was like a huge gazebo with like 5 different rooms and we had actually really good salmon soup and yeah it was so pretty!
On Sunday, we had the same options or we could stay at the hotel and do ice sculpting. Again, we chose to do this because then we could come in and get warm for a bit and it was a much more relaxed day and ice sculpting seemed really cool. It was not actually ice sculpting but snow sculpting. but still super cool. It was fun. We made a sculpture and hung out in the hotel and stuff for a bit and I forget what else :D At night, we had almost a concert thing in the local high school and they played music for us and we danced and then each country did their own little thing. some people sang, played a game or danced. the Canadians sang the hockey song.
On Monday, we all had different activities during the day. In the morning, my group (Bus #4) snowshoed to the reindeer place and then we all had rides pulled by reindeer sleighs. It was so cool but scary at the same time. There were 3 reindeer and 3 sleighs all attached so it went reindeer, sleigh, reindeer, sleigh, reindeer, sleigh. I was in the very back sleigh with 2 of my friends and our reindeer was the youngest and craziest. Halfway through our ride, the rope attaching the reindeer's collar and the sleigh infront of it got wrapped around the reindeer's antlers so it started going crazy and trying to get it off. It was the scariest and saddest thing I think I have ever witnessed. Not only was it trying to get it off, it was still running because the 2 reindeer in front didnt know something bad had happened and just kept running. It was so sad and at one point we almost jumped out it was so sad. We got hit by some trees and the reindeer actually layed down on the ground and the other 2 stopped for a second. He started rubbing his face in the snow really fast, like a dog when it's face is itchy and then the rope finally came free and they all started running again. It was a realy cool experience even though it was quite scary.
After that traumatizing experience, we walked to the husky farm to have dog sled rides which ended up almost being just as traumatizing. We got on our dog sled and the dogs were so excited to see people and they had so much energy. Well one of our dogs ended up getting angry at another one and started to bite its neck and like play fight with it. And the dog was like HELL NO. and then they all started to run. The dog escaped its collar, ended up jumping on our laps and then quickly running away. The craziest thing was that I don't even think the man on our sled yelled anything but as soon as the dog got out of its collar, the lead dogs knew to stop. So while everyone else ran with an even number of dogs, ours was odd but we still got there and it was such a cool experience :)
After that, we had lunch and then went to another reindeer farm that has about 800 reindeer. The craziest thing about Lapland is there are reindeer everywhere. They just were chilling on the side of the road or in the middle of the road while we were trying to drive or just everywhere. On this reindeer farm we learned about like the history of reindeer and yeah! they aren't really used for anything. They aren't even like penned in (i cant think of the word... like there are no fences) they just wander in the forest and when they want food, they will come back to their original farm. They all have distinctive ear markings and every spring, the Swedes and Finns have to cross eachothers borders to get their reindeer back. We went in the main house which was built in like the 1700s and met the lady who owns the farm.
After that, we went to this small mountain range in lapland and we went to the visitors centre. When we got here, the sun was setting and we got to take lots of beautiful pictures!
After that, we went to Sweden. Our hotel was literally right on the border, there was a river beside the hotel and that river was the border. So on Sunday, I waved to Sweden (and Alexis) and on Monday, I went to Sweden. We just drove across the border and drove back and parked. Then we walked to the middle of the bridge to take pictures of the actual border sign.
After that we went back to the hotel and although it was only 3pm, it was pitch black outside.
We all got ready for our party that night, which turned out a lot differently than expected. We thought it would be just a dance but actually for 3 hours it was performances almost. In the beginning we had a few country performances we didn't have time for the night before and then the Oldies (people who's exchange started in January) presented some of us with gifts. Turns out, there are all these gifts that are passed from Oldie to Newbie and one of them has been going on for 27 years, which is 54 exchange students. It is a hat and it is passed to someone who is a leader of the group and talks to everyone and keeps everyone together. After all of that we danced for a little while but I felt sick so I went back to the hotel with my friend Sarah.
The way home was horrible, it lasted forever. We drove for 2 hours, stopped for 3 hours, drove for half an hour, stopped for an hour, and then drove the rest of the way without stopping. We left at 9am and I got home at 11pm. It was a long day.
We stopped in Santa's Village in Rovaniemi. Yes, Santa Claus lives in Finland and they actually have a post office here where they get letters every year from over 90 countries. It was really cool but I thought there would be more to do. The whole place was just full of souvenir shops and it was very touristy. We wished that there had been more activities. We got to meet Santa and get our picture taken, although that was way too expensive :D
It was such a good trip and it was so good to be with all of my friends. I have seriously made some of the best friends in the world here. I have 3 best friends in my district, Lucie, Sarah and Maddy who are from West Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. I am so glad we are only about 12 hours apart. I don't know what I would do if they were on the other side of the world.
On the way home, we got so sad that we were leaving eachother that the 4 of us sat in 2 seats. Me and Lucie sitting in the chairs and Sarah and Maddy sitting on our laps. We sat like this for probably an hour and all cried and talked about how much we loved eachother. I can't even believe how close we have become in the last 4 months. None of us even talked to eachother at Language camp and just met when we found out we were in the same district. As of day, we have only ever spent 6 days together but our friendship is inseparable.
During this last month, I have really realized how much I love this country and this town. I don't know what I would do without my friends and my families. I no longer picture this as a town that I live it, it is a home to me and I actually feel like I am part of it :D
So so happy to be where I am and I can not imagine myself anywhere else or with any different people.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
things.
1. I had my first Finnish dream last night. It was super weird because it involved people who go to IDCI speaking Finnish in my Finnish school. It was really confusing. But cool at the same time!!!
2. It is currently 8:42 am and it is PITCH BLACK outside.
2. It is currently 8:42 am and it is PITCH BLACK outside.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
day 100-110
again, it has been a while since I have written on here.
Life gets busier and busier as the days go on.
I am now settled into my new host family. I actually like them a lot. It is very loud and busy, which prevents me from getting homesick. I am never even left alone to think too much. There is always someone home that I can talk to.
Now my day is a little bit different.
My alarm goes off at 5:45 am, and I get out of bed at 6. I get ready and eat breakfast and we leave the house at 6:50. We stop to give water to the horses and then continue to drive the 3km to the bus stop. We catch the bus in the pitch black around 7:00. Usually it is so dark that the bus can't even see us with its bright headlights on so we have to wear reflective clothing and move around so they know we aren't just some reflective sign or something. Its about a 40 minute bus ride to school, with all the stops. I usually get to school around 7:40, which I like so I have time to sit and relax before all the noisy people get there.
Update from whats going on in school.
Nothing really has changed. Exams start this friday and I only have one exam so basically I get a week off of school. This is what my next 3 weeks look like..
Monday Nov 19 normal school
Tues Nov 20 normal school
Wed Nov 21 normal school
Thurs Nov 22 normal school
Fri Nov 23 no exam
Mon Nov 26 no exam
Tues Nov 27 no exam
Wed Nov 28 no exam
Thurs Nov 29 no exam
Fri Nov 30 english exam
Mon Nov 3 lapland
Tues Nov 4 lapland
Wed Nov 5 school in morning, assembly in afternoon
Thurs Nov 6 Finnish Indepedence Day, no school
Fri Nov 7 Continuation of Indepedence Day, no school
So basically I can get really caught up on my sleep :)
I might go to school some days because I have to do this huge project for my counsellor about Intercultural Learning and it is pretty long but should be easy. Also I might just come to school to see my friends since it will be so long until I see them hahaha.
Mutta joo,
I am very happy in this family and things are pretty busy right now. I went to Kotka this weekend and had a sleepover with most of the other exchange students in my district. We baked like 100 gingerbread cookies and decorate them but then nobody wanted to eat them.
When I got home, guess what my family had been making all day.... Ginger bread cookies. hahahaha
The weather here hasn't been that great. It has been rainy and sitting around 3 or 4 degrees for like the last week. Kind of sucks. But at least its not freezing cold yet.
Im not sure what else to write about..
Oh today is my host sisters birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELENA, or ONNEA HELENA. :)
Life gets busier and busier as the days go on.
I am now settled into my new host family. I actually like them a lot. It is very loud and busy, which prevents me from getting homesick. I am never even left alone to think too much. There is always someone home that I can talk to.
Now my day is a little bit different.
My alarm goes off at 5:45 am, and I get out of bed at 6. I get ready and eat breakfast and we leave the house at 6:50. We stop to give water to the horses and then continue to drive the 3km to the bus stop. We catch the bus in the pitch black around 7:00. Usually it is so dark that the bus can't even see us with its bright headlights on so we have to wear reflective clothing and move around so they know we aren't just some reflective sign or something. Its about a 40 minute bus ride to school, with all the stops. I usually get to school around 7:40, which I like so I have time to sit and relax before all the noisy people get there.
Update from whats going on in school.
Nothing really has changed. Exams start this friday and I only have one exam so basically I get a week off of school. This is what my next 3 weeks look like..
Monday Nov 19 normal school
Tues Nov 20 normal school
Wed Nov 21 normal school
Thurs Nov 22 normal school
Fri Nov 23 no exam
Mon Nov 26 no exam
Tues Nov 27 no exam
Wed Nov 28 no exam
Thurs Nov 29 no exam
Fri Nov 30 english exam
Mon Nov 3 lapland
Tues Nov 4 lapland
Wed Nov 5 school in morning, assembly in afternoon
Thurs Nov 6 Finnish Indepedence Day, no school
Fri Nov 7 Continuation of Indepedence Day, no school
So basically I can get really caught up on my sleep :)
I might go to school some days because I have to do this huge project for my counsellor about Intercultural Learning and it is pretty long but should be easy. Also I might just come to school to see my friends since it will be so long until I see them hahaha.
Mutta joo,
I am very happy in this family and things are pretty busy right now. I went to Kotka this weekend and had a sleepover with most of the other exchange students in my district. We baked like 100 gingerbread cookies and decorate them but then nobody wanted to eat them.
When I got home, guess what my family had been making all day.... Ginger bread cookies. hahahaha
The weather here hasn't been that great. It has been rainy and sitting around 3 or 4 degrees for like the last week. Kind of sucks. But at least its not freezing cold yet.
Im not sure what else to write about..
Oh today is my host sisters birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELENA, or ONNEA HELENA. :)
Saturday, November 10, 2012
day 93-99
Okay first of all, I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write on here. I have had such a busy week. My life just keeps getting busier and busier and busier.
On Sunday, I went with Outi to visit my new host family. They live out in the country and it takes about 20 minutes drive down country roads to get there. As soon as we got there, I realized that they lived in a HUGE house. Seriously I almost got lost its so big.
It was really nice to meet my new host family. I found out that I would be moving on Friday so the rest of the week was filled with me packing.
I realized that I actually have a lot of stuff with me. It's not even that I have that many clothes, I just have a lot of STUFF. I have gifts for my host families and for my friends, books about Canada and never ending Canada paraphernalia. Along with my winter coat, winter boots and snowpants, it is fair to say I had about 5 bags. OOPS.
Last night (Friday) I moved to this new family. My new family is really great. I have my host mom, Leena, our au pair, Mailis, and 4 sisters, Helena (15), Leila (14), Annakaisa (10) and Maija (6). It is great to be here and I have already developed a good relationship with my sisters. It will be more of a challenge to live here for me which I think is good. All of my sisters can speak some english but I try to communicate mostly with Maija and Kaisa in Finnish, which is the challenge. I hope this will really improve my speaking. :)
My new home is about 20 minutes from the centre of Siilinjarvi so I have to take a bus to school. My bus card was 100 Euros for the month, so thank god Rotary will pay me back for this. Although the new house is so far away, I kind of like it out here, it is quiet all the time and I am really close to the lake. Literally my house is a waterfront property :)
Oh and yesterday, I started to write my beavertale, actually I finished writing my beavertale and just as I finished, my email deleted the whole thing!!! I freaked out, I actually almost cried at school hahaha. I had worked so hard on it and the whole thing was gone. I looked through my whole email and it never came back and then I gave up. Finally last night I was just like 'oh I am going to check my email on my ipod' AND IT WAS THERE. I freaked out and then emailed it to myself 7 times and then took screen captures of it on my ipod incase it disappeared again. I am so glad I got it back finally. :)
woooooooooooooo
life is good again.
On Sunday, I went with Outi to visit my new host family. They live out in the country and it takes about 20 minutes drive down country roads to get there. As soon as we got there, I realized that they lived in a HUGE house. Seriously I almost got lost its so big.
It was really nice to meet my new host family. I found out that I would be moving on Friday so the rest of the week was filled with me packing.
I realized that I actually have a lot of stuff with me. It's not even that I have that many clothes, I just have a lot of STUFF. I have gifts for my host families and for my friends, books about Canada and never ending Canada paraphernalia. Along with my winter coat, winter boots and snowpants, it is fair to say I had about 5 bags. OOPS.
Last night (Friday) I moved to this new family. My new family is really great. I have my host mom, Leena, our au pair, Mailis, and 4 sisters, Helena (15), Leila (14), Annakaisa (10) and Maija (6). It is great to be here and I have already developed a good relationship with my sisters. It will be more of a challenge to live here for me which I think is good. All of my sisters can speak some english but I try to communicate mostly with Maija and Kaisa in Finnish, which is the challenge. I hope this will really improve my speaking. :)
My new home is about 20 minutes from the centre of Siilinjarvi so I have to take a bus to school. My bus card was 100 Euros for the month, so thank god Rotary will pay me back for this. Although the new house is so far away, I kind of like it out here, it is quiet all the time and I am really close to the lake. Literally my house is a waterfront property :)
Oh and yesterday, I started to write my beavertale, actually I finished writing my beavertale and just as I finished, my email deleted the whole thing!!! I freaked out, I actually almost cried at school hahaha. I had worked so hard on it and the whole thing was gone. I looked through my whole email and it never came back and then I gave up. Finally last night I was just like 'oh I am going to check my email on my ipod' AND IT WAS THERE. I freaked out and then emailed it to myself 7 times and then took screen captures of it on my ipod incase it disappeared again. I am so glad I got it back finally. :)
woooooooooooooo
life is good again.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
update
writing every day is getting harder and harder as my life gets busier and busier and i have more and more friends to talk to.
Wow that was a lot of words duplicated.
Anyways,
I will try to write about once or twice a week but I have been so busy lately that I haven't written.
I will switch families tomorrow so I will write an update after that busyness is over :)
Wow that was a lot of words duplicated.
Anyways,
I will try to write about once or twice a week but I have been so busy lately that I haven't written.
I will switch families tomorrow so I will write an update after that busyness is over :)
Sunday, November 4, 2012
day 90, 91, 92,
okay so Thursday was so much fun!
Not having classes was kind of boring but I survived. At 12,00 we went bowling and it was fun too. Except!!! They have 10 pin bowling here and I have only ever 10 pin bowled like once in my life and I was maybe 7...? So, I had so much trouble and I really sucked and yes, it was just plain bad. And I broke my thumb nail really bad and it hurt. :(
But then, my friend Henri came and he saved the day because he bowls in like a league and then I won :)
After bowling, we ate Pulla at the restaurant in Fontanella and then Mara, Finja, Lookmou, Rebekka and I came to my house to watch a movie for our history class. It was stupid, hahahaha.
Friday was a normal school day, nothing very exciting. After school, Roosa and I walked to Old Fox for fries. It was cold so we sat in there for like an hour and a half. After that, we finally decided we should walk home. It was pouring rain and like 1 degree outside. It sucked. and its like a 45 minute walk to Roosa's house. We almost died. I think at one point it was actually hailing. Then we were frozen for like an hour when we finally got home.
Sanna came over that night and we both were going to sleepover at Roosa's house. We got all settled in and comfortable to watch a movie and were like half way through it when Henri called us. He was bored so he wanted us to come hang out with him. So we went, it was like 11 when we got there and we stayed until 12:30, good thing he lives close to Roosa.
We had fun and we got a lot closer telling secrets to eachother. I love those moments when you just bond with someone so easily, and then you instantly become so much closer.
I think we went to bed at 3 am that night, and then woke up at 9:30 the next day to go to the new mall. There was a new mall opening in Kuopio(well outside Kuopio but still) and we were going. We thought the mall opened at 11, but it actually opneed at 12 so we had to wait outside for a bit. There were cars and people everywhere. At about 12:30 after we had only been in a few shops, Emmi (another friend) called us. She couldn't even get into the mall because they wouldnt let any more cars in the parking lot. It sucked. But after that we met up with Henri, Peetu and Anssi who were also there shopping.
I just have to say, shopping with boys is HORRIBLE. They had no idea what they even wanted to buy, or where they wanted to go. We would walk into a store , they would look at 2 shirts and then they would want to leave. And we would freak out like 'YOU DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AROUND!!!!!' we were getting really frustrated. Thank god Peetu actually was trying things on. Eventually we just wanted to pick out clothes for them and make them buy them but they wouldn't let us.
They needed to eat lunch and had to wait in the 34928374928734 person Subway line. So we went shopping a bit more. After about 45 minutes, we were wondering where they were so we called them and they were STILL waiting in line. They all ate one and a half full subs. So 18 inches, or 45cm of sub! and THEN, they were like 'lets go get donuts'
I think my jaw actually dropped.
How does one stomach hold that much food?????????????
anyways,
yeah so Peetu drove us all home after that and Roosa and I went to Henri's (again). And his friend Eetu came over and we all were going to watch a scary movie but Eetu was scared ahhaha. So we all played this game that is like Taboo. It is NOT easy to play a word game in Finnish....... so basically I only explained the words that I understood. There weren't very many I knew, but it was still fun.
I think the most entertaining thing was that even though I didn't understand everything they were saying, I could tell when they were excited or frustrated. Although excited and frustrated both involved slapping the cards onto the table. hahahaha.
It was a good weekend :D
Not having classes was kind of boring but I survived. At 12,00 we went bowling and it was fun too. Except!!! They have 10 pin bowling here and I have only ever 10 pin bowled like once in my life and I was maybe 7...? So, I had so much trouble and I really sucked and yes, it was just plain bad. And I broke my thumb nail really bad and it hurt. :(
But then, my friend Henri came and he saved the day because he bowls in like a league and then I won :)
After bowling, we ate Pulla at the restaurant in Fontanella and then Mara, Finja, Lookmou, Rebekka and I came to my house to watch a movie for our history class. It was stupid, hahahaha.
Friday was a normal school day, nothing very exciting. After school, Roosa and I walked to Old Fox for fries. It was cold so we sat in there for like an hour and a half. After that, we finally decided we should walk home. It was pouring rain and like 1 degree outside. It sucked. and its like a 45 minute walk to Roosa's house. We almost died. I think at one point it was actually hailing. Then we were frozen for like an hour when we finally got home.
Sanna came over that night and we both were going to sleepover at Roosa's house. We got all settled in and comfortable to watch a movie and were like half way through it when Henri called us. He was bored so he wanted us to come hang out with him. So we went, it was like 11 when we got there and we stayed until 12:30, good thing he lives close to Roosa.
We had fun and we got a lot closer telling secrets to eachother. I love those moments when you just bond with someone so easily, and then you instantly become so much closer.
I think we went to bed at 3 am that night, and then woke up at 9:30 the next day to go to the new mall. There was a new mall opening in Kuopio(well outside Kuopio but still) and we were going. We thought the mall opened at 11, but it actually opneed at 12 so we had to wait outside for a bit. There were cars and people everywhere. At about 12:30 after we had only been in a few shops, Emmi (another friend) called us. She couldn't even get into the mall because they wouldnt let any more cars in the parking lot. It sucked. But after that we met up with Henri, Peetu and Anssi who were also there shopping.
I just have to say, shopping with boys is HORRIBLE. They had no idea what they even wanted to buy, or where they wanted to go. We would walk into a store , they would look at 2 shirts and then they would want to leave. And we would freak out like 'YOU DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AROUND!!!!!' we were getting really frustrated. Thank god Peetu actually was trying things on. Eventually we just wanted to pick out clothes for them and make them buy them but they wouldn't let us.
They needed to eat lunch and had to wait in the 34928374928734 person Subway line. So we went shopping a bit more. After about 45 minutes, we were wondering where they were so we called them and they were STILL waiting in line. They all ate one and a half full subs. So 18 inches, or 45cm of sub! and THEN, they were like 'lets go get donuts'
I think my jaw actually dropped.
How does one stomach hold that much food?????????????
anyways,
yeah so Peetu drove us all home after that and Roosa and I went to Henri's (again). And his friend Eetu came over and we all were going to watch a scary movie but Eetu was scared ahhaha. So we all played this game that is like Taboo. It is NOT easy to play a word game in Finnish....... so basically I only explained the words that I understood. There weren't very many I knew, but it was still fun.
I think the most entertaining thing was that even though I didn't understand everything they were saying, I could tell when they were excited or frustrated. Although excited and frustrated both involved slapping the cards onto the table. hahahaha.
It was a good weekend :D
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
day 86, 87,88,89, and 90 (predicted)
Day 86, Sunday
I don't even really remember what I did on Sunday. I got home in the morning sometime and then I just relaxed all day :)
I skyped my parents at like 4 or something, and then I skyped Sophie and went to bed! I'm getting really tired again.
On Monday, I had school just like normal and then I went to Rotary. Just an average day, nothing exciting happened. We talked about milk and cows for an hour and a half at rotary. It made me feel sick almost, hahaha.
On Monday night, Mara and Arlene were both claiming that it was snowing but when I walked outside my house there was not snow falling from the sky so I don't really know if it actually was snowing or not.
But when I woke up on Tuesday morning, there was a little bit of snow on the ground :)
On Tuesday I had school again, average day again. Nothing very exciting is happening this week. And then I went home and made dinner with Minna and Outi.
Today is Wednesday and so far today, I have had 2 classes, English and Math. Both were easy, too easy. I don't have any classes this afternoon because our History teacher is on vacation and here they dont really have substitute teachers so all the kids just go to the computers or sometimes they sit in the classroom and so nothing, but yeah. And I don't have a class after this but I have to stay here and wait for my friends because we are going to Finnish course after school.
Tomorrow is going to be interesting because I technically don't have any classes all day.
Normally I would have History, Spare, lunch, English, Spare but tomorrow we don't have history again so I technically don't have to come to school, but then during Spare there is a presentation from Mara about italy because she was sick when the rest of us made our presentations. During lunch, I have to do a presentation in the middle school (I think the last one, maybe). And then after that, at 12, all the exchange students get to go bowling with some teachers and other students. So we are all going to do that. So technically I am not going to any classes tomorrow. But I'll still be at school for most of the day.
So this post kind of explains day 90 too, I will add that to the title and then add more about it tomorrow night :)
I don't even really remember what I did on Sunday. I got home in the morning sometime and then I just relaxed all day :)
I skyped my parents at like 4 or something, and then I skyped Sophie and went to bed! I'm getting really tired again.
On Monday, I had school just like normal and then I went to Rotary. Just an average day, nothing exciting happened. We talked about milk and cows for an hour and a half at rotary. It made me feel sick almost, hahaha.
On Monday night, Mara and Arlene were both claiming that it was snowing but when I walked outside my house there was not snow falling from the sky so I don't really know if it actually was snowing or not.
But when I woke up on Tuesday morning, there was a little bit of snow on the ground :)
On Tuesday I had school again, average day again. Nothing very exciting is happening this week. And then I went home and made dinner with Minna and Outi.
Today is Wednesday and so far today, I have had 2 classes, English and Math. Both were easy, too easy. I don't have any classes this afternoon because our History teacher is on vacation and here they dont really have substitute teachers so all the kids just go to the computers or sometimes they sit in the classroom and so nothing, but yeah. And I don't have a class after this but I have to stay here and wait for my friends because we are going to Finnish course after school.
Tomorrow is going to be interesting because I technically don't have any classes all day.
Normally I would have History, Spare, lunch, English, Spare but tomorrow we don't have history again so I technically don't have to come to school, but then during Spare there is a presentation from Mara about italy because she was sick when the rest of us made our presentations. During lunch, I have to do a presentation in the middle school (I think the last one, maybe). And then after that, at 12, all the exchange students get to go bowling with some teachers and other students. So we are all going to do that. So technically I am not going to any classes tomorrow. But I'll still be at school for most of the day.
So this post kind of explains day 90 too, I will add that to the title and then add more about it tomorrow night :)
Saturday, October 27, 2012
changes
before i came here, i never liked pineapple other than in watergate salad.
NOW I AM FRIGGEN ADDICTED TO IT and i cant stop eating it and i eat like a can a day
NOW I AM FRIGGEN ADDICTED TO IT and i cant stop eating it and i eat like a can a day
day 83, 84, 85
Thursday... What did I do on Thursday.
OH, on Thursday I woke up with a bad headache at 4am and I was awake until 6 tossing and turning. So when my alarm went off at 6:30, I decided to stay home from school and left a note on my door. After that, I took some tylenol and went back to sleep until 11. When I woke up that time, the headache was gone so I just stayed at home and cleaned my room and watched TV and stuff.
I think it was on Thursday that Outi and I went to Kuopio at night to get all the rest of my Christmas presents (thats a lie I actually have no idea what day it was... maybe it was tuesday?) And I got them all and wrapped them all and they are ready to ship as soon as I get paid by Rotary.
Friday
I had school all day, WOOOT. and then I had a presentation in the middle school again. This one actually went a bit better. Mara came with me so they were asking her questions about Italy and about her exchange too. And It was basically 2 kids asking questions but that is better than none. I figured out that either one kid lived in the United States or he had visited there for a long amount of time. His english was nearly perfect and he was talking about how he had been to 2 Chicago Blackhawks games. Nobody flies over the ocean to go to a hockey game... that I know of.
After school, I just came home and hung out. Made dinner and then started to watch a movie. But I got super bored of it so I shut it off and went to sleep.
Today is Saturday
I woke up at like 10 this morning and then we got groceries and everything.
After that, we went up to this lookout point in Siilinjarvi where you can see the whole town and it was pretty. Its been pretty cold lately. It was -7 when I woke up yesterday. :( and it was today too but the sun is pretty bright and theres not a cloud in the sky now so it is about -3.
I am going to take pictures down by the lake with Mara and then I am sleeping over at her house. So I will talk to you all tomorrow, I promise :)
Okay to finish off Saturday, I stayed over at Mara's house and we took pictures down by the lake and then went to sauna and watched mean girls :) WOOOOOO.
best movie ever
OH, on Thursday I woke up with a bad headache at 4am and I was awake until 6 tossing and turning. So when my alarm went off at 6:30, I decided to stay home from school and left a note on my door. After that, I took some tylenol and went back to sleep until 11. When I woke up that time, the headache was gone so I just stayed at home and cleaned my room and watched TV and stuff.
I think it was on Thursday that Outi and I went to Kuopio at night to get all the rest of my Christmas presents (thats a lie I actually have no idea what day it was... maybe it was tuesday?) And I got them all and wrapped them all and they are ready to ship as soon as I get paid by Rotary.
Friday
I had school all day, WOOOT. and then I had a presentation in the middle school again. This one actually went a bit better. Mara came with me so they were asking her questions about Italy and about her exchange too. And It was basically 2 kids asking questions but that is better than none. I figured out that either one kid lived in the United States or he had visited there for a long amount of time. His english was nearly perfect and he was talking about how he had been to 2 Chicago Blackhawks games. Nobody flies over the ocean to go to a hockey game... that I know of.
After school, I just came home and hung out. Made dinner and then started to watch a movie. But I got super bored of it so I shut it off and went to sleep.
Today is Saturday
I woke up at like 10 this morning and then we got groceries and everything.
After that, we went up to this lookout point in Siilinjarvi where you can see the whole town and it was pretty. Its been pretty cold lately. It was -7 when I woke up yesterday. :( and it was today too but the sun is pretty bright and theres not a cloud in the sky now so it is about -3.
I am going to take pictures down by the lake with Mara and then I am sleeping over at her house. So I will talk to you all tomorrow, I promise :)
Okay to finish off Saturday, I stayed over at Mara's house and we took pictures down by the lake and then went to sauna and watched mean girls :) WOOOOOO.
best movie ever
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Day 80,81,82
Sorry I haven't really been writing a lot lately. There's not really much to say. Right now things aren't very exciting.
I will probably start writing less frequently unless really exciting things happen.
I wrapped all of my Christmas presents last night and realized its going to cost me a million dollars to send them ahhhhh. And that's pretty much all that has happened in the last few days.
Today Is Wednesday and I have my longest day of the week, 4 classes plus Finnish course so I won't get home until 6 tonight. Wednesdays suck
It's getting a lot colder now, I even wore my warm winter coat on Monday. It snowed in many parts of Savo (my area in Finland) including iisalmi and kuopio, which are north and south of me but no snow here :( it actually rained all day yesterday and its raining today. Monday was like -3 but yesterday and today are like 3 degrees.
I found out yesterday that I have a possible 2nd host family and that I could be going to live there in the next few weeks. They live on a farm and I am actually excited for the change in lifestyle because then I won't be bored and everything will be busier, keeping the homesickness away. I've discovered that I really need to keep myself busy to prevent myself from being homesick. Talking to my family Doesnt really make me homesick but when I skyped Shelly, Abby, Megan, Erin and Sarah on Sunday, Megan looked right in the camera an said 'come back home'. My heart broke into a thousand pieces and it made me really homesick.
I also found out that I have another possible host family but I can't go there until after Christmas because their house flooded or something and is being redone. I understand this completely. I've been there and it's not fun. At least we didn't have to move out of our house when ours flooded. I'm glad that things are starting to fall into place. I was worried for a bit.
This morning I found out that my friend Jon from school got accepted for rotary exchange :) I'm so happy for him and it keeps bringing back the moment I found out. Can't believe it was a year ago! But yes I am very happy for him and he's so excited too :)
I'm glad I convinced him to apply because he's so excited now!
:)
Wednesday continued,
I decided to drop my Finnish Creative Writing course. although I like the idea of the class, the people in the class were very NOT helpful to me. I didn't understand what was going on most of the time. All of the class was anonymous writing but when your writing is in a different language than everyone else's, its not exactly anonymous. Also, I couldn't even read what everyone was writing and no one was willing to translate for me. The teacher asked the class to translate for me because she had to go get something. Nobody said one word to me so I ended up translating the whole thing on my ipod by myself. WOOOT> So anyways, I dropped that class and I will make up the extra hours next period..
And then I had finnish course, where my teacher pretty much just talked to us about our countires and her trip to Spain for an hour and 15 minutes. We didn't do a whole lot. hahaha
I will probably start writing less frequently unless really exciting things happen.
I wrapped all of my Christmas presents last night and realized its going to cost me a million dollars to send them ahhhhh. And that's pretty much all that has happened in the last few days.
Today Is Wednesday and I have my longest day of the week, 4 classes plus Finnish course so I won't get home until 6 tonight. Wednesdays suck
It's getting a lot colder now, I even wore my warm winter coat on Monday. It snowed in many parts of Savo (my area in Finland) including iisalmi and kuopio, which are north and south of me but no snow here :( it actually rained all day yesterday and its raining today. Monday was like -3 but yesterday and today are like 3 degrees.
I found out yesterday that I have a possible 2nd host family and that I could be going to live there in the next few weeks. They live on a farm and I am actually excited for the change in lifestyle because then I won't be bored and everything will be busier, keeping the homesickness away. I've discovered that I really need to keep myself busy to prevent myself from being homesick. Talking to my family Doesnt really make me homesick but when I skyped Shelly, Abby, Megan, Erin and Sarah on Sunday, Megan looked right in the camera an said 'come back home'. My heart broke into a thousand pieces and it made me really homesick.
I also found out that I have another possible host family but I can't go there until after Christmas because their house flooded or something and is being redone. I understand this completely. I've been there and it's not fun. At least we didn't have to move out of our house when ours flooded. I'm glad that things are starting to fall into place. I was worried for a bit.
This morning I found out that my friend Jon from school got accepted for rotary exchange :) I'm so happy for him and it keeps bringing back the moment I found out. Can't believe it was a year ago! But yes I am very happy for him and he's so excited too :)
I'm glad I convinced him to apply because he's so excited now!
:)
Wednesday continued,
I decided to drop my Finnish Creative Writing course. although I like the idea of the class, the people in the class were very NOT helpful to me. I didn't understand what was going on most of the time. All of the class was anonymous writing but when your writing is in a different language than everyone else's, its not exactly anonymous. Also, I couldn't even read what everyone was writing and no one was willing to translate for me. The teacher asked the class to translate for me because she had to go get something. Nobody said one word to me so I ended up translating the whole thing on my ipod by myself. WOOOT> So anyways, I dropped that class and I will make up the extra hours next period..
And then I had finnish course, where my teacher pretty much just talked to us about our countires and her trip to Spain for an hour and 15 minutes. We didn't do a whole lot. hahaha
Sunday, October 21, 2012
day 77,78 and 79.
Well I'm sorry that I haven't written in the last few days. I spent the whole weekend at Roosa's house. We ate a lot of food, didn't sleep much, and laughed a lot. :) It was a good weekend.
The only bad t hing about this weekend is that I have had like extreme hiccups for like 3 days. THEY ARE SO BAD. Roosa was laughing at me last night so hard because my hiccups were making the weirdest noises. I can't help it!!!!
Nothing much else happened other than that, we made Mokkapala (chocolate cake) and pizzas and ate our favourite ice cream and yeah :)
The only bad t hing about this weekend is that I have had like extreme hiccups for like 3 days. THEY ARE SO BAD. Roosa was laughing at me last night so hard because my hiccups were making the weirdest noises. I can't help it!!!!
Nothing much else happened other than that, we made Mokkapala (chocolate cake) and pizzas and ate our favourite ice cream and yeah :)
Friday, October 19, 2012
day 75 and 76
I know I've been sucking at writing lately but theres not really anything to write about.
Yesterday was Wednesday, I went shopping in Kuopio and bought Sarah and Mom Christmas presents. Still don't know what to get Dad and Josh. We had fun, trying to find Roosa a dress for a wedding. I think we went in every store in the downtown and we still didn't find a dress. Finally, after about 2 hours of looking I said 'WE ARE GOING TO FIND A DRESS IN THIS STORE'. Roosa is probably the pickiest shopper I have ever met. Everything I said would look good on her she was like 'no, i hate that' no i hate that' 'no thats ugly' but FINALLY, we found one. I suggested it and she was like 'well its a dress soo...' and then she liked it and i was like I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's basically all and then we went to see a movieeeeeeee and then came home. Our bus was like 28 minutes late and I managed to get off the bus at my house IN THE DARK all by myself. The bus comes from the opposite direction than I usually come so I was kind of lost but I just guessed and figured it out!
Today was Thursday and I pretty much did nothing all day. Literally. I watched tv and drank iced tea and layed in my bed. It was an amazing day.
I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. like university wise. So many ideas floating around in my head, so if you're reading this, please comment below and tell me what you think I should do!! Seriously any suggestions can help right now. Now that alll my friends are applying for University, my brain can't decide what I want to do.
ahhhh.
Yesterday was Wednesday, I went shopping in Kuopio and bought Sarah and Mom Christmas presents. Still don't know what to get Dad and Josh. We had fun, trying to find Roosa a dress for a wedding. I think we went in every store in the downtown and we still didn't find a dress. Finally, after about 2 hours of looking I said 'WE ARE GOING TO FIND A DRESS IN THIS STORE'. Roosa is probably the pickiest shopper I have ever met. Everything I said would look good on her she was like 'no, i hate that' no i hate that' 'no thats ugly' but FINALLY, we found one. I suggested it and she was like 'well its a dress soo...' and then she liked it and i was like I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's basically all and then we went to see a movieeeeeeee and then came home. Our bus was like 28 minutes late and I managed to get off the bus at my house IN THE DARK all by myself. The bus comes from the opposite direction than I usually come so I was kind of lost but I just guessed and figured it out!
Today was Thursday and I pretty much did nothing all day. Literally. I watched tv and drank iced tea and layed in my bed. It was an amazing day.
I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. like university wise. So many ideas floating around in my head, so if you're reading this, please comment below and tell me what you think I should do!! Seriously any suggestions can help right now. Now that alll my friends are applying for University, my brain can't decide what I want to do.
ahhhh.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
day 72, 73, 74
Okay so on Sunday, I went to visit Lucie in Leppavirta, which is about an hour away! First, I went to Kuopio to Katharina's (from Germany). Her parents drove us to Leppavirta. We got there at like 5pm and met with Amelie (from Quebec) who had stayed over the night before at Lucies. We all hung out for a bit and then we had to drive Amelie to the nearest train station (45 minutes away). After Lucie, Katharina and I got back to Lucie's house, we had dinner and ate cake, cookies, and cupcakes that we had all made. I made the cookies. We hung out until like 3 am and had a great time. It is great to be with rotary exchange students because idk we just understand eachother so well. We made promises that we would get together soon again :)
On Monday, we left Lucie's at 2 to take the bus back to Kuopio. I stayed in Kuopio with Katharina until 7 and we went shopping and sat in a coffee shop! It was fun too and I got 3 new shirts and a scarf for under 50 euros :D awesome deals everywhere. :) After that I took the train home and fell asleep. I was so tired by the time I got home.
While walking home from the train station though, I walked past the beach. Although it was only 7:30 at night, it was pitch black and the beach looked so beautiful. I tried to post pictures but its impossible to capture the same things in a picture that you see with your eyes. It was so pretty because the lights of the town and buildings surrounding the lake were shining off the water and it was still and calm and quiet. It was so peaceful. I stopped for like 10 minutes even though I was freezing.
It is getting colder here, it is supposed to snow this week apparently. I hope not.
I am off school this week so basically all day today I layed in my bed and watched movies and tv shows on my laptop. After dinner, Minna went back to Henriikka's (where she had been all day) and Outi and I went and rented Bad Teacher which we then watched and ate popcorn and now I am here.
X factor is next and then BEDTIMEEEEE. :)
On Monday, we left Lucie's at 2 to take the bus back to Kuopio. I stayed in Kuopio with Katharina until 7 and we went shopping and sat in a coffee shop! It was fun too and I got 3 new shirts and a scarf for under 50 euros :D awesome deals everywhere. :) After that I took the train home and fell asleep. I was so tired by the time I got home.
While walking home from the train station though, I walked past the beach. Although it was only 7:30 at night, it was pitch black and the beach looked so beautiful. I tried to post pictures but its impossible to capture the same things in a picture that you see with your eyes. It was so pretty because the lights of the town and buildings surrounding the lake were shining off the water and it was still and calm and quiet. It was so peaceful. I stopped for like 10 minutes even though I was freezing.
It is getting colder here, it is supposed to snow this week apparently. I hope not.
I am off school this week so basically all day today I layed in my bed and watched movies and tv shows on my laptop. After dinner, Minna went back to Henriikka's (where she had been all day) and Outi and I went and rented Bad Teacher which we then watched and ate popcorn and now I am here.
X factor is next and then BEDTIMEEEEE. :)
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Day 71 :)
Yesterday, woke up at about 10, and then I just watched tv and hung around the house for a few hours. At like 1, I went with Roosa to the horse stable. I offered to go help her because I figured it was bettter than sitting and doing nothing all day :p
But I realized that I have really no crappy clothes that are warm. And I didn't want to get horse pop on my sweatpants because they are my favourite.
So we went and cleaned out the stable and then groomed Leevi, Rossa's favourite horse and then she rode for an hour while I froze my butt off
After I got home I was frozen. It was so cold yesterday so I had a hot shower and tried to warm up and then we had dinner
After dinner outi's fried came over with her little girl and we had coffee and tea and cookies (Finnish evening snack)
Pretty much after that I just went to bed because I was tired :p
But I realized that I have really no crappy clothes that are warm. And I didn't want to get horse pop on my sweatpants because they are my favourite.
So we went and cleaned out the stable and then groomed Leevi, Rossa's favourite horse and then she rode for an hour while I froze my butt off
After I got home I was frozen. It was so cold yesterday so I had a hot shower and tried to warm up and then we had dinner
After dinner outi's fried came over with her little girl and we had coffee and tea and cookies (Finnish evening snack)
Pretty much after that I just went to bed because I was tired :p
Saturday, October 13, 2012
day 69 and 70
Thursday was just a normal day. I didn't really do anything exciting. I had school and then after dinner, we took Minna to Henriikka's and Outi and I were on a mission to find myself a winter coat. We went to Citymarket, which is basically the Walmart of Finland. It is awesome. :P and I got one. It's really nice and I think it was worth the money because I will have it for probably 5 years. I haven't bought snowpants yet but I don't need them until Lapland which is at the end of November.
My boots arrived so now my feet will be nice and warm walking to and from school :D I think I will probably buy a pair of other boots (fancier and not so warm) because although I brought 3 pairs with me, 1 pair doesnt fit me, the other has holes all in it and the 3rd pair is completely destroyed already. :P
So I am zero on boots right now pretty much so I think I will just buy a cheap pair of boots when I find one. Not really super necessary because I can live on these boots for now.
Oh also on Thursday, I had another presentation in the middle school and this time the class asked even less questions. At least in the 1st one, there was one kid who kept asking questions and making comments. Not here. Whatever, it still went okay.
On Friday, I would normally have school but it was the day that we got back our exams so I didn't start school until 8:35, and I was done at 10:40. Each class was only 25 minutes long, long enough to get your projects and exams back and see your final grade. Since I am an exchange student and the language barrier is so different, they can't give us grades technically because we can't compare with the other students. A few of my teachers gave me a grade as to what I would have gotten in the course but overall I just got an S, which means I completed the course.
In English 7, I got a 10 (PERFECT!). In English 4, she didn't give me a mark. In French I got an 8 I think (can't remember now). In geography I didn't get a mark and in health I got a 7 (I don't see why because I put a lot of effort into my project but the teacher didn't really have anything to mark for us so I think he just picked numbers out of a hat).
After that, Roosa Mara Tiia and I went for fries at the Old Fox. (tradition) and then we started walking home. When we got half way home, we decided that we should have gotten snacks because we were going to Henri's last night. We didn't want to walk all the way back uphill to the grocery store so we walked to ABC instead. Both equal distance, but ABC was not uphill. (We aren't lazy at all.... but seriously its a big hill.........)
And then last night we went to Henri's and it was a lot of fun. We just listened to music and hung out and ate hamburgers and played NHL 13. I freaked out because Tim Hortons was on the ice on the video game. it was funny.
Also, we watched Henri and Anssi do tricks on the trampoline. They both do circus, which is actually a kind of big thing in Europe. Well bigger than in Canada. Its awesome they do all these cool tricks.
I really want to go watch it someday :)
My boots arrived so now my feet will be nice and warm walking to and from school :D I think I will probably buy a pair of other boots (fancier and not so warm) because although I brought 3 pairs with me, 1 pair doesnt fit me, the other has holes all in it and the 3rd pair is completely destroyed already. :P
So I am zero on boots right now pretty much so I think I will just buy a cheap pair of boots when I find one. Not really super necessary because I can live on these boots for now.
Oh also on Thursday, I had another presentation in the middle school and this time the class asked even less questions. At least in the 1st one, there was one kid who kept asking questions and making comments. Not here. Whatever, it still went okay.
On Friday, I would normally have school but it was the day that we got back our exams so I didn't start school until 8:35, and I was done at 10:40. Each class was only 25 minutes long, long enough to get your projects and exams back and see your final grade. Since I am an exchange student and the language barrier is so different, they can't give us grades technically because we can't compare with the other students. A few of my teachers gave me a grade as to what I would have gotten in the course but overall I just got an S, which means I completed the course.
In English 7, I got a 10 (PERFECT!). In English 4, she didn't give me a mark. In French I got an 8 I think (can't remember now). In geography I didn't get a mark and in health I got a 7 (I don't see why because I put a lot of effort into my project but the teacher didn't really have anything to mark for us so I think he just picked numbers out of a hat).
After that, Roosa Mara Tiia and I went for fries at the Old Fox. (tradition) and then we started walking home. When we got half way home, we decided that we should have gotten snacks because we were going to Henri's last night. We didn't want to walk all the way back uphill to the grocery store so we walked to ABC instead. Both equal distance, but ABC was not uphill. (We aren't lazy at all.... but seriously its a big hill.........)
And then last night we went to Henri's and it was a lot of fun. We just listened to music and hung out and ate hamburgers and played NHL 13. I freaked out because Tim Hortons was on the ice on the video game. it was funny.
Also, we watched Henri and Anssi do tricks on the trampoline. They both do circus, which is actually a kind of big thing in Europe. Well bigger than in Canada. Its awesome they do all these cool tricks.
I really want to go watch it someday :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
english= gone
yesterday, my teacher asked me to write 5 words in english starting with 'a'. the 5 words were supposed to be things that we wanted to have in life.. the only word i could think of was 'akkoset' in finnish (meaning alphabet). i still can't think of any good words starting with a that fit this criteria....
also, about 2 minutes ago, it took me about 30 seconds to find the ? key on my laptop. i am getting too used to using the finnish keyboards at school.
also, about 2 minutes ago, it took me about 30 seconds to find the ? key on my laptop. i am getting too used to using the finnish keyboards at school.
day 67 and 68
Yesterday was tuesday. It was pretty much just a normal school day. During lunch I had to make a presentation about Canada to one of the Grade 9 classes because they learn about Canada in English Class.
It went pretty well except they didn't ask me any questions so it was awkward. And a couple of the boys were extremely rude and I almost wanted to ask them if I was interrupting their conversation (still don't have patience for rudeness....) Other then that the day was pretty good.
Today was normal school and then we went for pizza. We had no Finnish Course because our teacher is gone to Spain to build a sauna for her friend. She is driving there. (INSANE..., well I guess I will pretty much do that on eurotour.......anyways, still crazy) So yeah that was my day. And then Finja, Mara and I went for an adventure on the way home. We just go down streets or paths that we don't know where they lead and find out and then go back the way towards home. That's what our adventures consist of.
On Wednesdays, we eat pizza and go on adventures. :)
It went pretty well except they didn't ask me any questions so it was awkward. And a couple of the boys were extremely rude and I almost wanted to ask them if I was interrupting their conversation (still don't have patience for rudeness....) Other then that the day was pretty good.
Today was normal school and then we went for pizza. We had no Finnish Course because our teacher is gone to Spain to build a sauna for her friend. She is driving there. (INSANE..., well I guess I will pretty much do that on eurotour.......anyways, still crazy) So yeah that was my day. And then Finja, Mara and I went for an adventure on the way home. We just go down streets or paths that we don't know where they lead and find out and then go back the way towards home. That's what our adventures consist of.
On Wednesdays, we eat pizza and go on adventures. :)
Monday, October 8, 2012
day 64, 65, 66
Sorry I have been too lazy to write lately. :)
Saturday I woke up at like 11. And then just hung out around the house with Minna and Henriikka for a little bit during the day and then Roosa and Veera came over and we watched Paranormal Activity 3. We had to help Veera get through her first scary movie. (She's terrified) and then we sat and watched funny youtube videos for like 2 hours. At around 7, Roosa and Veera left and I started to watch New Girl online. It is really funny and I watched it for most of the day on Sunday too.
Sunday, I woke up at about 10, and then we went for groceries at 12. We had dinner at about 3 and then I started baking apple crisp. :) It turned out pretty good! Almost as good as at home, but the brown sugar was a little different so idk. I felt pretty bad because the apples leaked all in the oven and made a stinky, black, sticky mess! But it was really good. I skyped my family because it was Thanksgiving in Canada, it made me kind of homesick, but not that bad. I just slept it off and I was fine.
Today is Monday and I had school. 6:30 always comes so early on Mondays. I had Math, History and English today. I was done school at 1 and came home and had a nap. I am so tired today. I am going to rotary now and I will write about how that goes when I come home :)
Okay so rotary was actually really good.
They asked me to introduce myself again and I opened my mouth and ........................
FINNISH CAME OUT.
it was amazing.
Saturday I woke up at like 11. And then just hung out around the house with Minna and Henriikka for a little bit during the day and then Roosa and Veera came over and we watched Paranormal Activity 3. We had to help Veera get through her first scary movie. (She's terrified) and then we sat and watched funny youtube videos for like 2 hours. At around 7, Roosa and Veera left and I started to watch New Girl online. It is really funny and I watched it for most of the day on Sunday too.
Sunday, I woke up at about 10, and then we went for groceries at 12. We had dinner at about 3 and then I started baking apple crisp. :) It turned out pretty good! Almost as good as at home, but the brown sugar was a little different so idk. I felt pretty bad because the apples leaked all in the oven and made a stinky, black, sticky mess! But it was really good. I skyped my family because it was Thanksgiving in Canada, it made me kind of homesick, but not that bad. I just slept it off and I was fine.
Today is Monday and I had school. 6:30 always comes so early on Mondays. I had Math, History and English today. I was done school at 1 and came home and had a nap. I am so tired today. I am going to rotary now and I will write about how that goes when I come home :)
Okay so rotary was actually really good.
They asked me to introduce myself again and I opened my mouth and ........................
FINNISH CAME OUT.
it was amazing.
Friday, October 5, 2012
day 63
Great day.
First, i had math and i ACTUALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS GOING ON. even though the teacher didn't speak one word of english the whole class. it is amazing to actually know whats going on!!!! I was so proud of myself
I don't even remember what other classes I had today :D
After school, it was pouring rain. Roosa, Petra and I went to my house to get peanut butter cookies and then we went to the grocery store to get some stuff for mokkapalat, which is basically one big brownie. It was really good. We had a lot of problems. We started to make the topping and ran out of icing sugar so we just tried to make it work, poured it on the brownie and it wasnt thick enough and looked stupid so we poured it off and started again. We had to run to the neighbours to get more icing sugar first though :D
We then went to Perjantai Kahvilla and ran around the hall and found all these secret doors and stuff .It was fun. Everyone started singing church songs so Roosa and I got bored and went home to watch X Factor and eat ice cream (lactose free of course!!).
It was a good day although it's been raining non-stop since probably 1 o clock. WOOOOO. rain. :(
Thursday, October 4, 2012
day 62- 2 months!!
I don't really have much else to say today other than it is my 2 month anniversary with Finland. Ahhhhhh, I love this country to death. Seriously, I can not imagine myself getting sent to any other place in the world. It's like i have some secret connection with Finland. Maybe Josh and Sarah were right, I was adopted and both my birth parents are Finnish. KIDDING. :)
I have not really experienced homesickness at all. One of the biggest things I miss is school sports. There are no sports in schools here and I really miss the bomber spirit and watching football and getting all dressed up in school colours. Although I love the school system here, if they added sports it would just make it even more amazing.
That's all I am going to write for right now because I am going to go sit on the dock and write there.
be back soon with more information.
So today marks 2 months in this absolutely amazing and beautiful country. I honestly can not imagine myself in any other country but here.
September 30th marked exactly 1 year since I found i was accepted for exchange. i remember at the time feeling kind of numb. i was excited for the future but also unsure of what exactly what infornt of me. for the first little while, i was unsure of what i was getting myself into. i was going to miss my senior year, my prom and graduating with all my friends. when i met all the other outbounds in january, everything kind of changed. i realized that i was not the only one who would be going through those things and that we all would deal together.
In February, when Announcement Day was in the air, I got nervous. Well I guess not really nervous but more anxious. At the beginning of the process, my heart was leaning towards Europe. I had been there before, and loved it. Asia and South America were unfamiliar to me and that kind of scared me. .When my rotary club told me they thought i would be going to SA, my thoughts kind of changed. Although Europe wasn't unappealing to me, SA was a new kind of exciting. At that point, I realized I didn't really care where I ended up.
When Announcement Day finally arrived, after a week postpone (like we hadn't waited long enough....)I was a disaster. I remember having to get up fairly early because we were always so far away. When we arrived in Mississauga, I was even more of a disaster. We drove past the hall where it would be held and I got even worse. Of course, we were like an hour early so we went and got some lunch. The only place we could find was subway. After a short stop there, we headed back to the hall. We were still the first ones there (like usual...) so we just waited in the truck until more cars arrived. When the rotarians finally arrived, I felt sick. I wasn't sure whether it was the nerves or the subway I'd eaten. Im thinking nerves. The rest of announcement day is pretty much just a blur. I remember my name being called. Don't remember reading the letter, don't remember sitting down, don't really remember what came after that. All I remember is hugging Katri, and I think I only remember that because there is a picture of it. I don't even really remember leaving the hall. It was all pretty much a blur. It wasn't that I was disappointed for Finland, I just really had no idea anything about it. Yes I had done my minor research on all the countries but not to any extent because I didn't want to get home. Its fair to say that that night I went home and Google'd for about 29420348 hours. After that, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders but yet another one was put back on. I had to wait another 3 or so months until my guarantee forms arrived.
I found out on May 21st that I would be living in Siilinjarvi and again, it was numbness and GOOGLE.
Then came the busy time, guuarantee forms, training weekends, residence permits, insurance, flights. There was a lot to do in a short amount of time. Luckily I got everything I needed in time and then I just had to wait. I wasn't really nervous to leave at all or excited. But the closer the day got, the more excited I got. I wasn't nervous until I got on the plane and it started moving.
In the last 2 months of this crazy adventure, I have learned SO much about myself. I can't even say what right now but so much about myself. I have more patience, I care less what others think and I am a hell of a lot more confident in myself.
I'm sorry to my family. I don't really miss you that much. Well of course I miss you but it doens't hurt to miss you, it just feels ..... normal? I don't know how to explain it. I am not homesick barely at all. The only things I am homesick for are food and school sports...
So that is pretty much all I have to say for now.
The last 2 months have been amazing, I love everything here. I could not imagine rotary putting me in any better of a place <3
If you are future exchange student and you happen to be reading this, don't be unsure about rotary's decision on where to send you. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!!!!
I have not really experienced homesickness at all. One of the biggest things I miss is school sports. There are no sports in schools here and I really miss the bomber spirit and watching football and getting all dressed up in school colours. Although I love the school system here, if they added sports it would just make it even more amazing.
That's all I am going to write for right now because I am going to go sit on the dock and write there.
be back soon with more information.
So today marks 2 months in this absolutely amazing and beautiful country. I honestly can not imagine myself in any other country but here.
September 30th marked exactly 1 year since I found i was accepted for exchange. i remember at the time feeling kind of numb. i was excited for the future but also unsure of what exactly what infornt of me. for the first little while, i was unsure of what i was getting myself into. i was going to miss my senior year, my prom and graduating with all my friends. when i met all the other outbounds in january, everything kind of changed. i realized that i was not the only one who would be going through those things and that we all would deal together.
In February, when Announcement Day was in the air, I got nervous. Well I guess not really nervous but more anxious. At the beginning of the process, my heart was leaning towards Europe. I had been there before, and loved it. Asia and South America were unfamiliar to me and that kind of scared me. .When my rotary club told me they thought i would be going to SA, my thoughts kind of changed. Although Europe wasn't unappealing to me, SA was a new kind of exciting. At that point, I realized I didn't really care where I ended up.
When Announcement Day finally arrived, after a week postpone (like we hadn't waited long enough....)I was a disaster. I remember having to get up fairly early because we were always so far away. When we arrived in Mississauga, I was even more of a disaster. We drove past the hall where it would be held and I got even worse. Of course, we were like an hour early so we went and got some lunch. The only place we could find was subway. After a short stop there, we headed back to the hall. We were still the first ones there (like usual...) so we just waited in the truck until more cars arrived. When the rotarians finally arrived, I felt sick. I wasn't sure whether it was the nerves or the subway I'd eaten. Im thinking nerves. The rest of announcement day is pretty much just a blur. I remember my name being called. Don't remember reading the letter, don't remember sitting down, don't really remember what came after that. All I remember is hugging Katri, and I think I only remember that because there is a picture of it. I don't even really remember leaving the hall. It was all pretty much a blur. It wasn't that I was disappointed for Finland, I just really had no idea anything about it. Yes I had done my minor research on all the countries but not to any extent because I didn't want to get home. Its fair to say that that night I went home and Google'd for about 29420348 hours. After that, it felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders but yet another one was put back on. I had to wait another 3 or so months until my guarantee forms arrived.
I found out on May 21st that I would be living in Siilinjarvi and again, it was numbness and GOOGLE.
Then came the busy time, guuarantee forms, training weekends, residence permits, insurance, flights. There was a lot to do in a short amount of time. Luckily I got everything I needed in time and then I just had to wait. I wasn't really nervous to leave at all or excited. But the closer the day got, the more excited I got. I wasn't nervous until I got on the plane and it started moving.
In the last 2 months of this crazy adventure, I have learned SO much about myself. I can't even say what right now but so much about myself. I have more patience, I care less what others think and I am a hell of a lot more confident in myself.
I'm sorry to my family. I don't really miss you that much. Well of course I miss you but it doens't hurt to miss you, it just feels ..... normal? I don't know how to explain it. I am not homesick barely at all. The only things I am homesick for are food and school sports...
So that is pretty much all I have to say for now.
The last 2 months have been amazing, I love everything here. I could not imagine rotary putting me in any better of a place <3
If you are future exchange student and you happen to be reading this, don't be unsure about rotary's decision on where to send you. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!!!!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
day 61
Today was the beginning of period 2! I was kind of nervous because I didn't really know anyone in any of my classes except the 1st one. Turns out I have at least 1 friend in every class. So far, I like all my teachers and it was a really good day :D. I actually like my classes. my history teacher is hillarious and speaks english to us because there are 9 people in the class and 4 of them are exchange students..... Also, we can kind of learn what ever we want in the class so he was kind of open to speaking english and we just talked about our different cultures. :D
I had english 1 and creative writing and math also. Not as fun, but still good. Teachers are good so far.
After school, Roosa, Arlene, Finja, Mara, Marie, Rebekka, Henri, Anssi and I went for pizza. Henri (on his bike) and I (walking) were wayyyy ahead of everyone else because they walk SO FRIGGEN SLOW. So we just waited at the pizza place for them. We all had lots of laughs (and Mean Girls quotes) and talked about our accents and laughed some more.
After pizza, the exchange students went to finnish course, (woooo) and everyone else went home. Mara and I walked home from finnish together and took some pictures at the beach.
All the fall colours are beautiful right now. Its amazing and today was so sunny!
I had english 1 and creative writing and math also. Not as fun, but still good. Teachers are good so far.
After school, Roosa, Arlene, Finja, Mara, Marie, Rebekka, Henri, Anssi and I went for pizza. Henri (on his bike) and I (walking) were wayyyy ahead of everyone else because they walk SO FRIGGEN SLOW. So we just waited at the pizza place for them. We all had lots of laughs (and Mean Girls quotes) and talked about our accents and laughed some more.
After pizza, the exchange students went to finnish course, (woooo) and everyone else went home. Mara and I walked home from finnish together and took some pictures at the beach.
All the fall colours are beautiful right now. Its amazing and today was so sunny!
ITS A GIRLLL :D
So i got the message at 12:24 am last night that Shelly and Howie's baby was a baby girllll and then I got another message at 2:30 am saying that her name was Erin Elizabeth Howe. annd today, mom sent me a picture of her. BOY IS SHE ADORABLE.
i almost burst into tears. she's so friggen cute. :D
i almost burst into tears. she's so friggen cute. :D
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
day 60
Today I had my last exam. We went to the exam at 9 because our teacher told us we would get bored if we came any earlier. But when we went at 9, all the desks in our class were taken so we had to go to a different classroom and it was weird but whatever. The exam was really easy and I finished quickly and then the teacher let me leave.
After that, I talked to Rauha about my books and host families and everything. As of right now, i still do not have any for sure host families but we have a back up if necessary. As for my books, she told me just to ask her about books before I buy them because she will make sure the school doesnt have any extra copies, and then after I pay them to give the reciept to the club and they will put the money in my bank account. I feel a lot better about it now.
I went out for lunch to Old Fox with Roosa :D and then we watched a movie at home and she tried ketchup chips (not sure if she liked them or not.....). Then we just hung out for a little bit.
Also today I bought yarn and I am starting to make bracelets again. So far today I made 5. I have 3 and Roosa has 2.
Since Roosa left, I have pretty much just been watching tv and making bracelets. And eating. Dinner is good too.
now it is 10 o clock and I am trying to keep myself as awake as possible. Shelly just went into surgery and BABY HOWE #3 should be here in just a few hours. ASK ME IF IM EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am going to be up all night waiting for the message. !!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
After that, I talked to Rauha about my books and host families and everything. As of right now, i still do not have any for sure host families but we have a back up if necessary. As for my books, she told me just to ask her about books before I buy them because she will make sure the school doesnt have any extra copies, and then after I pay them to give the reciept to the club and they will put the money in my bank account. I feel a lot better about it now.
I went out for lunch to Old Fox with Roosa :D and then we watched a movie at home and she tried ketchup chips (not sure if she liked them or not.....). Then we just hung out for a little bit.
Also today I bought yarn and I am starting to make bracelets again. So far today I made 5. I have 3 and Roosa has 2.
Since Roosa left, I have pretty much just been watching tv and making bracelets. And eating. Dinner is good too.
now it is 10 o clock and I am trying to keep myself as awake as possible. Shelly just went into surgery and BABY HOWE #3 should be here in just a few hours. ASK ME IF IM EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am going to be up all night waiting for the message. !!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Monday, October 1, 2012
day 58 and 59
I just realized that I forgot to write about Sunday, ooooops :D
I woke up, did some homework. I have been working on this project for school all weekend and I finally finished it today (Monday) I will link it at the end of the blog. I am pretty proud of myself...
So yesterdya, I skyped Mom and Dad and Sarah and Aunt Linda and Uncle John and Remi. It was great to see them all :D kind of sad that I'm not gunna be there for thanksgiving (Aunt Linda and Uncle John will you mail me some cabbage rolls..........?) Even if I tried to do Thanksgiving here, it'd be impossible. They don't have turkey here. (Well I haven't seen it yet). We don't have the special machine to make coleslaw. I can't make Watergate because I relaly doubt they have the pudding here! It's hard to do it in another country! So that leaves potatoes and buns. And that's a typical Finnish meal.
I don't know what else I did yesterday..
Today, I had an exam at 8:10 and it was an English exam. I was done my exam at like 9:15. I had to wait in the room until 11. It sucked. I was so bored. After that, I went to the computer room with Finja, Mara, Lookmou and Arlene to work on our projects for Nina. We had to do a project on the town where we are living in Finland (For most of us it is Siilijarvi but for Lookmou it is Maaninka) That is the project I am going to link at the end of this post.
After that, Mara and I walked home. She thought it was cold apparently...
After I got home, I worked on my project for like another 4 hours and then I went to rotary.
Rotary was SUPER boring. They were just reviewing their accomplishments and how much money they spent last year. But it was all in Finnish so I didn't understand anything other than nuorisovaihto which means youth exchange. Thats all. :P
Then I walked home, and now I am going to eat cake. :D
Today, I discovered that I am finally caught up on my sleeep. When I was in Canada, I would always wake up around 3-4 every morning and drink a glass of water. Since I've been here I hadn't done it once until this weekend. And I've done it every night since Friday now. I guess that means I'm finally back to normal :D
http://prezi.com/nqwct8v3cjwc/siilinjarvi/ Here is my project
I woke up, did some homework. I have been working on this project for school all weekend and I finally finished it today (Monday) I will link it at the end of the blog. I am pretty proud of myself...
So yesterdya, I skyped Mom and Dad and Sarah and Aunt Linda and Uncle John and Remi. It was great to see them all :D kind of sad that I'm not gunna be there for thanksgiving (Aunt Linda and Uncle John will you mail me some cabbage rolls..........?) Even if I tried to do Thanksgiving here, it'd be impossible. They don't have turkey here. (Well I haven't seen it yet). We don't have the special machine to make coleslaw. I can't make Watergate because I relaly doubt they have the pudding here! It's hard to do it in another country! So that leaves potatoes and buns. And that's a typical Finnish meal.
I don't know what else I did yesterday..
Today, I had an exam at 8:10 and it was an English exam. I was done my exam at like 9:15. I had to wait in the room until 11. It sucked. I was so bored. After that, I went to the computer room with Finja, Mara, Lookmou and Arlene to work on our projects for Nina. We had to do a project on the town where we are living in Finland (For most of us it is Siilijarvi but for Lookmou it is Maaninka) That is the project I am going to link at the end of this post.
After that, Mara and I walked home. She thought it was cold apparently...
After I got home, I worked on my project for like another 4 hours and then I went to rotary.
Rotary was SUPER boring. They were just reviewing their accomplishments and how much money they spent last year. But it was all in Finnish so I didn't understand anything other than nuorisovaihto which means youth exchange. Thats all. :P
Then I walked home, and now I am going to eat cake. :D
Today, I discovered that I am finally caught up on my sleeep. When I was in Canada, I would always wake up around 3-4 every morning and drink a glass of water. Since I've been here I hadn't done it once until this weekend. And I've done it every night since Friday now. I guess that means I'm finally back to normal :D
http://prezi.com/nqwct8v3cjwc/siilinjarvi/ Here is my project
Saturday, September 29, 2012
day 57
Today is exactly 8 weeks since I left Canada and I am absolutely loving it here. I can not believe that I have been here almost 2 months!!!! its crazy.. I will write more about that on my 2 month anniveersary.
Today, I didn't do much! Outi was working and Minna was at her dads so I just hung out around here and did a school project!
I also got bored so I straightened my hair :)
And then I skyped Kayla and then Zoe :D
It was a goooooooood dayyy :D
Today, I didn't do much! Outi was working and Minna was at her dads so I just hung out around here and did a school project!
I also got bored so I straightened my hair :)
And then I skyped Kayla and then Zoe :D
It was a goooooooood dayyy :D
Friday, September 28, 2012
day 56
I didn't really do anything exciting today. Another day off school!
This morning we went grocery shopping and then I started to watch Ted for a bit. Also, I watched Glee on the internet :) I love glee. It just makes me happy.
Then I made Red Pepper Chicken for my family. They dont really have chicken breasts here so I just used pieces of chicken breasts that you can buy in the grocery store and I think it turned out better than ever before :D
It was really good!!!
And then Minna went to her dads, and Outi and I have just been hanging around here singing all night.
We watched X Factor and now we are watching Talent Suomi I think (I forget what this show is called), but today there are like 2348230498 english songs and i keep getting really excited.
YEP THAT IT
HEIPPA <3
This morning we went grocery shopping and then I started to watch Ted for a bit. Also, I watched Glee on the internet :) I love glee. It just makes me happy.
Then I made Red Pepper Chicken for my family. They dont really have chicken breasts here so I just used pieces of chicken breasts that you can buy in the grocery store and I think it turned out better than ever before :D
It was really good!!!
And then Minna went to her dads, and Outi and I have just been hanging around here singing all night.
We watched X Factor and now we are watching Talent Suomi I think (I forget what this show is called), but today there are like 2348230498 english songs and i keep getting really excited.
YEP THAT IT
HEIPPA <3
Thursday, September 27, 2012
day 55
Today, I didn't have an exam so I basically didn't wake up until almost 11. After I woke up, my host mom left for work so I just hung around for a bit and then I decided to go to town with Mara. We went grocery shopping. It was funny because we were trying to find ingredients to bake cookies but everything was in finnish and we couldn't even figure out where the flour was. It was complicated.
After that adventure, I came home and made the simplest peanut butter cookies that exist. Peanut butter, sugar and an egg. It was so easy.
But, the recipe was in cups and finnish people dont measure in cups.... soo.... I found a measuring cup in the drawer that had millilitres. then I had to figure out how many mL were in a cup. So I poured that many millilitires of water (i think 236??) into a certain container to try and figure out approximately which container was a cup. Then I filled that container with peanut butter to measure the 1 cup. It was complicated but the cookies taste great.
Thats pretty much all I did today. Outi was working until 6 so Minna and I made dinner together. Its hard to make dinner when the recipe was in Finnish. So Minna pretty much told me what to do and I helped :)
Pretty soon I am going to sauna with candles and a magazine :)
Also, today I found a massive bruise on my leg. I very lightly hit my leg on Arlene's bike last night when I was trying to bike. (That's the 2nd bike I havent gotten along with since I've been here... what the heck) Apparently I am not meant to bike.........
It hurts.. and is like dark purple...
Also the other night, we watched the X Factor USA and I fell in love with this song!
So good.
And this girl sings it way better than the original people. Awesome <3
After that adventure, I came home and made the simplest peanut butter cookies that exist. Peanut butter, sugar and an egg. It was so easy.
But, the recipe was in cups and finnish people dont measure in cups.... soo.... I found a measuring cup in the drawer that had millilitres. then I had to figure out how many mL were in a cup. So I poured that many millilitires of water (i think 236??) into a certain container to try and figure out approximately which container was a cup. Then I filled that container with peanut butter to measure the 1 cup. It was complicated but the cookies taste great.
Thats pretty much all I did today. Outi was working until 6 so Minna and I made dinner together. Its hard to make dinner when the recipe was in Finnish. So Minna pretty much told me what to do and I helped :)
Pretty soon I am going to sauna with candles and a magazine :)
Also, today I found a massive bruise on my leg. I very lightly hit my leg on Arlene's bike last night when I was trying to bike. (That's the 2nd bike I havent gotten along with since I've been here... what the heck) Apparently I am not meant to bike.........
It hurts.. and is like dark purple...
Also the other night, we watched the X Factor USA and I fell in love with this song!
So good.
And this girl sings it way better than the original people. Awesome <3
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
day 53 and 54
the last 2 days have been fairly boring thats why i havent been writing :D
on tuesday, I had to walk to school in the morning to hand in a project and then I walked back home and watched a movie. It was a really long day because there was nothing on tv!!!!
Today, I had a french exam. Well I thought I had a french exam. So i went to school and you can choose to go at either 8:15 or 9 and my whole class chose to go at 9 so when we went to go into the exam at 9 the teacher was just like 'okay you 3 exchange students can just go to the computer room and do your exam there.' and then she was like 'do you know what you have to do?' and we were like 'no.......' all we had to do was write about the cultural differences and differences in school between Finland and our home countries. It was so easy. We were on facebook and listening to music and all talking. Also, we didnt even have to hand it in today, we just have to hand it in sometime this week to our counsellor. It was pretty much the most pointless exam ever. :P
Then, I came home and watched another movie and then I went to the finnish course. We have a different teacher and she is a lot nicer than the last one :D and then Arlene, Finja, Mara, Lumo and I went for pizza.
Thats been my 2 days so far!!
on tuesday, I had to walk to school in the morning to hand in a project and then I walked back home and watched a movie. It was a really long day because there was nothing on tv!!!!
Today, I had a french exam. Well I thought I had a french exam. So i went to school and you can choose to go at either 8:15 or 9 and my whole class chose to go at 9 so when we went to go into the exam at 9 the teacher was just like 'okay you 3 exchange students can just go to the computer room and do your exam there.' and then she was like 'do you know what you have to do?' and we were like 'no.......' all we had to do was write about the cultural differences and differences in school between Finland and our home countries. It was so easy. We were on facebook and listening to music and all talking. Also, we didnt even have to hand it in today, we just have to hand it in sometime this week to our counsellor. It was pretty much the most pointless exam ever. :P
Then, I came home and watched another movie and then I went to the finnish course. We have a different teacher and she is a lot nicer than the last one :D and then Arlene, Finja, Mara, Lumo and I went for pizza.
Thats been my 2 days so far!!
Monday, September 24, 2012
day 52
today was the last day of school before exams start. it wasnt exciting or stressful like it normally is in canada, it was rather relaxed actually....
tomorrow, i just have to go to school to hand in my geography project, any time between 8:15 and 11. so i will probably just sleep until whenever and then go. we dont have an exam in that class. and then i can come home and sleep.
:)
but yeah today was good! it was rainy and cold and yuck but whatever.
Oh, and last night, i went to bed at 5pm for a nap. alarm didnt go off and i woke up at 10. I had to go and tell my host mom that I was still alive. she said she was going to come in and check on me soon :P
i fell back asleep soon after that and woke up at 6:30 this morning.
i got almost 14 hours of sleep and im still tired... what the heck...
tomorrow, i just have to go to school to hand in my geography project, any time between 8:15 and 11. so i will probably just sleep until whenever and then go. we dont have an exam in that class. and then i can come home and sleep.
:)
but yeah today was good! it was rainy and cold and yuck but whatever.
Oh, and last night, i went to bed at 5pm for a nap. alarm didnt go off and i woke up at 10. I had to go and tell my host mom that I was still alive. she said she was going to come in and check on me soon :P
i fell back asleep soon after that and woke up at 6:30 this morning.
i got almost 14 hours of sleep and im still tired... what the heck...
Sunday, September 23, 2012
MY WEEKEND WAS AMAZING. - days 49,50,51
okay this might be a little long cuz i have a lot to say and it might not make sense in some parts because i havent slept in almost 30 hours. and yes. so forgive me. also, i am too lazy to capitalize words, so youre going to have to suffer :)
Friday- I got off school at 1 and Outi picked me up with all my clothes and everything and we went to the train station. I was kind of nervous to take the train by myself because ive never done this before in canada. it wasnt scary at all. when I got on, there was someone in almost every single group of seats and finns dont sit beside eachother so i just found an empty one and then sat there until Kuopio when everyone got off. at kuopio i had to wait for 20 minutes while my train changed routes techincally. it was going from Oulu-Kuopio when i got on and then it was going from Kuopio-Kouvala after so it had to like wait a while for people. I dont know.
but during the wait in kuopio, Rebeka (brazil), gustavo (ecuador), katharina and kiara (germany) got on too and i knew them kind of and i had talked to them about taking the train together. so yeah and then the train ride went really fast and it wasnt scary and yaaaaaa.
when we got to the train station in Pieksamaki, there was nobody there. so we basically just wandered around until we found someone... we ended up finding amelie from quebec and then we all started taking some group pictures.. (like exchange students usually do...) and then the rotarians walked in. they were really nice and they took us to the camp. we were the first group there. there was only one person, Lucie who was there already because she had come with one of the rotarians. we sat around and people drank coffee and we laughed and got to know eachother. there are 19 people in my district, 5 boys and 14 girls. and they are all very different. some are very shy and some are very outgoing.
on friday night once everyone was there we had dinner and then we sat in the girls cabin (not sure how it was decided that our cottage was the leisure/party/hangout hall but it was....) we all sat in a circle and the rotarians and rotex were there too and we all just talked about our host families and school and the language and whether we were having any troubles. rotary just wanted to check up on us. it was realy nice actually to be able to sit and have this conversation with everyone because the more you listen to what they say, the more you realize that everyones going through the same problems (although i dont have any problems with my family, the language or school)
after that, we went to sauna and we went swimming in the lake and it was so cold but it felt so good. and it was manoels birthday so we all sang to him like 3 times and gave him and Andrea (who's birthday was on saturday) cake and sang to them and gave them presents and yeah!
after that, the party continued at our cottage. the only horrible thing is that the cottage was 2 floors but the top floor was kind of just a loft, so everyone trying to sleep on the top floor could hear every word of the people on the bottom floor. I stayed up until about 1:30 i think before i tried to go to bed. TRIED being the key word. i didnt succeed. people were running around the house and slamming doors and playing music so finally at 3:30, i yelled 'can you all just go to sleep so that the rest of us can finally go to sleep? we all have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.' and they did :D yay for 4 hours of sleep!
on saturday morning, we had breakfast at 9 (at least they let us sleep in!!) and then we packed lunches for our hike. the hike took about 2 hours. i think it was like 8 kilometres, i dont remember through. but it wasnt that bad. we stopped for lunch and started a fire and cooked our Makkara on the fire and it was fun :)
after we went back, we played volleyball for a bit and just hung out until we went to meet the rest of the rotarians who had been in meetings all day, as well as the rebounds. i actually dont know if anybody from the Siilinjarvi club came because I didnt see them there when i was there.... who knows. Erkka was there though.
after this, we had dinner (at 3:30 which is really early...) and then we had the camp olympics. we were in 4 teams and had to run up this hill and at the top of the hill there was a piece of paper taped to the tree and we had to read the lyrics and try and memorize them and then run back and write them down. the team to get the lyrics the most correct the fastest won. GUESSS WHO WON. my team. oh and we had to then sing the song.... which was the finnish national anthem :D and its been stuck in my head ever since. its so catchy.
after that, i forget what we did.... we might have all written our letters. we all had to write letters to ourselves 1 year from now. it was a lot harder than the last letter i wrote to myself (at wanakita that i will recieve in february). this one was much harder so i just ended up writing different things. and then someone had the idea that we would all write messages to the future ourselves. so we all signed eachothers things and yeah :D so that was cool..
somewhere during this, people started dancing. mostly the mexicans but then the more people joined in, it just got louder and hotter and there were so many people dancing in such a small space. it was really fun though. and we danced like popular dances from many different countries. but mostly mexico and brazil because the latinos LOVE to dance. its insane
i think at around 1, a few of us went into one of the bedrooms just because we wanted some peace and quiet and away from the crowds. when we heard call me maybe on the radio at like 2, we got really excited. when we went out, almost half the people were gone and it was mostly just us so we all just kept dancing. we danced until 4:30am.....
at this point, Sarah (USA) and I just decided that there was no point in going to bed. I think around 5 or 5:30, Manoel, Caique, Shelby, Rebeka and Katharina went to bed but Pedro, Sarah and I all stayed up all night... we were so hungry all the night. so when morning finally came, we were dying for breakfast. we werent even that tired, until right before breakfast, because we just needed food.
and then this morning, we just went to breakfast and then came to the train station..
it was such a good weekend and we had so much fun and got so much closer :D and yes! i loved it !
oh but all of my leg muscles are killing me from running/hiking/dancing. :P
Friday- I got off school at 1 and Outi picked me up with all my clothes and everything and we went to the train station. I was kind of nervous to take the train by myself because ive never done this before in canada. it wasnt scary at all. when I got on, there was someone in almost every single group of seats and finns dont sit beside eachother so i just found an empty one and then sat there until Kuopio when everyone got off. at kuopio i had to wait for 20 minutes while my train changed routes techincally. it was going from Oulu-Kuopio when i got on and then it was going from Kuopio-Kouvala after so it had to like wait a while for people. I dont know.
but during the wait in kuopio, Rebeka (brazil), gustavo (ecuador), katharina and kiara (germany) got on too and i knew them kind of and i had talked to them about taking the train together. so yeah and then the train ride went really fast and it wasnt scary and yaaaaaa.
when we got to the train station in Pieksamaki, there was nobody there. so we basically just wandered around until we found someone... we ended up finding amelie from quebec and then we all started taking some group pictures.. (like exchange students usually do...) and then the rotarians walked in. they were really nice and they took us to the camp. we were the first group there. there was only one person, Lucie who was there already because she had come with one of the rotarians. we sat around and people drank coffee and we laughed and got to know eachother. there are 19 people in my district, 5 boys and 14 girls. and they are all very different. some are very shy and some are very outgoing.
on friday night once everyone was there we had dinner and then we sat in the girls cabin (not sure how it was decided that our cottage was the leisure/party/hangout hall but it was....) we all sat in a circle and the rotarians and rotex were there too and we all just talked about our host families and school and the language and whether we were having any troubles. rotary just wanted to check up on us. it was realy nice actually to be able to sit and have this conversation with everyone because the more you listen to what they say, the more you realize that everyones going through the same problems (although i dont have any problems with my family, the language or school)
after that, we went to sauna and we went swimming in the lake and it was so cold but it felt so good. and it was manoels birthday so we all sang to him like 3 times and gave him and Andrea (who's birthday was on saturday) cake and sang to them and gave them presents and yeah!
after that, the party continued at our cottage. the only horrible thing is that the cottage was 2 floors but the top floor was kind of just a loft, so everyone trying to sleep on the top floor could hear every word of the people on the bottom floor. I stayed up until about 1:30 i think before i tried to go to bed. TRIED being the key word. i didnt succeed. people were running around the house and slamming doors and playing music so finally at 3:30, i yelled 'can you all just go to sleep so that the rest of us can finally go to sleep? we all have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.' and they did :D yay for 4 hours of sleep!
on saturday morning, we had breakfast at 9 (at least they let us sleep in!!) and then we packed lunches for our hike. the hike took about 2 hours. i think it was like 8 kilometres, i dont remember through. but it wasnt that bad. we stopped for lunch and started a fire and cooked our Makkara on the fire and it was fun :)
after we went back, we played volleyball for a bit and just hung out until we went to meet the rest of the rotarians who had been in meetings all day, as well as the rebounds. i actually dont know if anybody from the Siilinjarvi club came because I didnt see them there when i was there.... who knows. Erkka was there though.
after this, we had dinner (at 3:30 which is really early...) and then we had the camp olympics. we were in 4 teams and had to run up this hill and at the top of the hill there was a piece of paper taped to the tree and we had to read the lyrics and try and memorize them and then run back and write them down. the team to get the lyrics the most correct the fastest won. GUESSS WHO WON. my team. oh and we had to then sing the song.... which was the finnish national anthem :D and its been stuck in my head ever since. its so catchy.
after that, i forget what we did.... we might have all written our letters. we all had to write letters to ourselves 1 year from now. it was a lot harder than the last letter i wrote to myself (at wanakita that i will recieve in february). this one was much harder so i just ended up writing different things. and then someone had the idea that we would all write messages to the future ourselves. so we all signed eachothers things and yeah :D so that was cool..
somewhere during this, people started dancing. mostly the mexicans but then the more people joined in, it just got louder and hotter and there were so many people dancing in such a small space. it was really fun though. and we danced like popular dances from many different countries. but mostly mexico and brazil because the latinos LOVE to dance. its insane
i think at around 1, a few of us went into one of the bedrooms just because we wanted some peace and quiet and away from the crowds. when we heard call me maybe on the radio at like 2, we got really excited. when we went out, almost half the people were gone and it was mostly just us so we all just kept dancing. we danced until 4:30am.....
at this point, Sarah (USA) and I just decided that there was no point in going to bed. I think around 5 or 5:30, Manoel, Caique, Shelby, Rebeka and Katharina went to bed but Pedro, Sarah and I all stayed up all night... we were so hungry all the night. so when morning finally came, we were dying for breakfast. we werent even that tired, until right before breakfast, because we just needed food.
and then this morning, we just went to breakfast and then came to the train station..
everyone! mexico, ecuador, brazil, canada, usa, germany, taiwan, :)
oh but all of my leg muscles are killing me from running/hiking/dancing. :P
Thursday, September 20, 2012
weekend!
again, I will be away this weekend so I will be unable to post :D
I will tell you about it when I get back on Sunday Afternoon!
<3
I will tell you about it when I get back on Sunday Afternoon!
<3
day 48
Today was great!!!
we had presentations at school for all the exchange students. we all made like a 10 minute presentation and then we were all interviewed in a big group with the 3 returning exchange students.
I went third and my presenation actually went really well. :D I wore my canada hockey jersey. which may have made people hate me, but canada is better than finland at hockey, they just need to face the facts. :) kidding
It went really well. I was in such a good mood after! and I jsut felt so much more comfortable and people starting like saying hi to me in the halls and ya! it was good :D
i stayed at school for my spare and it was boring but i got some work done and watched ellen on youtube :)
After that, we all went to town and bought ingredients for texmex night at arlenes.
i forget what we made but it was like baguette cut into small pieces and then she put it in a frying pan with butter quickly and then put cheese on top and tomato sauce. it was really good. im pretty sure it was more italian than mexican but whatever.
after that i came home and finished my geography project and henriikka came over to hang out with minna and they made food. im not sure what it is but it smells good!!
and i have just packed to get ready for Pieksamaki tomorrow!!
we had presentations at school for all the exchange students. we all made like a 10 minute presentation and then we were all interviewed in a big group with the 3 returning exchange students.
I went third and my presenation actually went really well. :D I wore my canada hockey jersey. which may have made people hate me, but canada is better than finland at hockey, they just need to face the facts. :) kidding
It went really well. I was in such a good mood after! and I jsut felt so much more comfortable and people starting like saying hi to me in the halls and ya! it was good :D
i stayed at school for my spare and it was boring but i got some work done and watched ellen on youtube :)
After that, we all went to town and bought ingredients for texmex night at arlenes.
i forget what we made but it was like baguette cut into small pieces and then she put it in a frying pan with butter quickly and then put cheese on top and tomato sauce. it was really good. im pretty sure it was more italian than mexican but whatever.
after that i came home and finished my geography project and henriikka came over to hang out with minna and they made food. im not sure what it is but it smells good!!
and i have just packed to get ready for Pieksamaki tomorrow!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
day 47
Nothing really exciting happened today. Okay well thats a lie it totally did...
Well ill start with yesterday, because I was too busy to write a lot last night. I came home and did my geography project for like hours and my health project for hours and then we went and picked apples and it was fun :)
and then I came home and did more homework..... and then I went to bed. Oh but also yesterday I got a notice that a package had arrived from Canada, and I was just like 'oh its just my boots, woot....'
So this morning, I went to school, had french class and then Roosa drove me to the post office during spare. We didn't really factor in the size of the box on the moped though....... So, I went to the post office picked it up and as soon as I saw it I said 'crap.' So we opened it, (just to see if there was anything exciting inside) and it wasnt my boots in fact. IT WAS MY KETCHUP CHIPS :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D they werent even chips they were just crumbs but they still tasted good. I am savouring them and making them last until Christmas though...
So then Roosa and I walked back to the moped and us 2, with the huge box inbetween us, drove back to the school. Thank god it fit in my locker or I don't know what I would have done.........
Then I had class again and it wasnt exciting.
And then me and my box of wonderful walked home (I still looked like an idiot carrying a big box down the street..)
And so far tonight, I've done more homework (WAHOO) and then I went and bought my train ticket for Friday's camp in Pieksamaki and then..... I did more homework and finished my presentation for school tomorrow!
BEDTIME. HEIPPA <3
Well ill start with yesterday, because I was too busy to write a lot last night. I came home and did my geography project for like hours and my health project for hours and then we went and picked apples and it was fun :)
and then I came home and did more homework..... and then I went to bed. Oh but also yesterday I got a notice that a package had arrived from Canada, and I was just like 'oh its just my boots, woot....'
So this morning, I went to school, had french class and then Roosa drove me to the post office during spare. We didn't really factor in the size of the box on the moped though....... So, I went to the post office picked it up and as soon as I saw it I said 'crap.' So we opened it, (just to see if there was anything exciting inside) and it wasnt my boots in fact. IT WAS MY KETCHUP CHIPS :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D they werent even chips they were just crumbs but they still tasted good. I am savouring them and making them last until Christmas though...
So then Roosa and I walked back to the moped and us 2, with the huge box inbetween us, drove back to the school. Thank god it fit in my locker or I don't know what I would have done.........
Then I had class again and it wasnt exciting.
And then me and my box of wonderful walked home (I still looked like an idiot carrying a big box down the street..)
And so far tonight, I've done more homework (WAHOO) and then I went and bought my train ticket for Friday's camp in Pieksamaki and then..... I did more homework and finished my presentation for school tomorrow!
BEDTIME. HEIPPA <3
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
day 45 and 46
Sorry for not writing a lot in the last 2 days. I might not write a lot this week because I've been really busy doing final projects for exams.
I have to write 3 exams, French English and English. and I have a final project in French, Geography, Health and I have to do a project for my guidance counsellor because I only have 3 exams. Its fair to say I'm getting kind of stressed.
I had my rotary presentation yesterday, it went okay. It was really hard for me because I felt like I couldn't say half of the things I wanted to because they dont really understand english that well. So yeah. Also, I started my finnish course yesterday and it sucked because everyone in our class (other then exchange students) already know finnish so our teacher wants us to move to a different class. OH AND the book I have to buy for my course is 47 EUROS.
Ya.
I have to write 3 exams, French English and English. and I have a final project in French, Geography, Health and I have to do a project for my guidance counsellor because I only have 3 exams. Its fair to say I'm getting kind of stressed.
I had my rotary presentation yesterday, it went okay. It was really hard for me because I felt like I couldn't say half of the things I wanted to because they dont really understand english that well. So yeah. Also, I started my finnish course yesterday and it sucked because everyone in our class (other then exchange students) already know finnish so our teacher wants us to move to a different class. OH AND the book I have to buy for my course is 47 EUROS.
Ya.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
day 42, 43, and 44.
okay day 42, i went to school. Don't really remember if anything exciting happened because it was so long ago, but after that I went for pizza with Roosa and then came back here and packed for Nurmes. :)
At like 5:30, we left for Nurmes and arrived there around 6:45. We had coffee and snacks and just hung out and then went to sauna and then went to bed.
Day 43, we woke up around 9:30 or 10, made breakfast, and hung out for a bit. Minna started reading a book. She finished it by the end of the day.. Apparently it was a good book!!!
At about 11:30, we went into 'downtown' Nurmes, which technically was smaller than Siilinjarvi but seemed a lot bigger. I dont know why. But we went to the town's 3 clothing stores, because Minna needed new jeans. We didn't find any though. We also started to look at winter coats for me but not many stores have them out yet!After a very unsuccessful shopping trip, we went to the grocery store. We bought lots of candy and food and then went back to Terhi and Pekka's house, which was kind of in the middle of the woods. It was so pretty though. :)
We watched Camp Rock 2, (I miss family channel) and then went for a walk around the property where I took some photos. I have discovered that my camera takes REALLY nice pictures (THANKS SARAH :D) and really loves the sun.
Later in the night, we went to this spa/hotel thing where there's a public pool. And we went swimming in the pool and then there's a pool outside, which is right on the lake and the view is so pretty. And then, bringing out the daredevil exchange student in me, I went swimming in the lake. I can't even say it was cold because you know, I couldn't really feel my skin... We think the water was somewhere between 8-12 degrees celsius. COLD for water. And it was really windy which made it worse. BUT YA I SWAM IN A LAKE IN THE MIDDLE OF SEPTEMBER WHICH WAS REALLY COLD, WAHOOOOOOOOOO.
So then I went home and went to bed. :)
here you can see the outdoor pool that i swam in as well as the lake! in that building in the winter, they cut a hole in the ice so you can go ice water swimming.
At like 5:30, we left for Nurmes and arrived there around 6:45. We had coffee and snacks and just hung out and then went to sauna and then went to bed.
Day 43, we woke up around 9:30 or 10, made breakfast, and hung out for a bit. Minna started reading a book. She finished it by the end of the day.. Apparently it was a good book!!!
At about 11:30, we went into 'downtown' Nurmes, which technically was smaller than Siilinjarvi but seemed a lot bigger. I dont know why. But we went to the town's 3 clothing stores, because Minna needed new jeans. We didn't find any though. We also started to look at winter coats for me but not many stores have them out yet!After a very unsuccessful shopping trip, we went to the grocery store. We bought lots of candy and food and then went back to Terhi and Pekka's house, which was kind of in the middle of the woods. It was so pretty though. :)
We watched Camp Rock 2, (I miss family channel) and then went for a walk around the property where I took some photos. I have discovered that my camera takes REALLY nice pictures (THANKS SARAH :D) and really loves the sun.
pond
Lingenberries!
Terhi and Pekka's house. Originally built in the 1900's. On the inside (which I somehow managed not to get pictures of... ) it is like a log cabin. Its so cool.
Later in the night, we went to this spa/hotel thing where there's a public pool. And we went swimming in the pool and then there's a pool outside, which is right on the lake and the view is so pretty. And then, bringing out the daredevil exchange student in me, I went swimming in the lake. I can't even say it was cold because you know, I couldn't really feel my skin... We think the water was somewhere between 8-12 degrees celsius. COLD for water. And it was really windy which made it worse. BUT YA I SWAM IN A LAKE IN THE MIDDLE OF SEPTEMBER WHICH WAS REALLY COLD, WAHOOOOOOOOOO.
So then I went home and went to bed. :)
Day 44
We woke up late cuz we sleep a LOT, around 10 again. Made breakfast, and then we went to visit Terhi and Outi's father, (who I also met the day before, forgot to mention that...) at his house. I didn't really know what was going on the whole time because the people that were there didnt speak english :D BUT we ate these really good apple things. MMM. they were good :)
After that, we went to be tourists and went back to the Hotel where I was the night before to take some pictures and explore. There is this building there that used to be in the part of Finland that is now owned by Russia. Its the only building in all of finland thats like it. I forget what its called but its like a huge house where the animals live on the bottom floor and the humans and the hay are on the top floor. Its kind of weird if you think about it . We went inside and it was cool, really dark though. BUT YA.
heres more pictures
After that, we went home and had dinner and then headed homeeeee.
then, I skyped HANNAH AND DEMI.
we love eachother.
and now im gunna skype zoe I think and then go to bed!
:) it was a great weekend!
Friday, September 14, 2012
weeeeeeekend!
well, I am leaving soon for Nurmes with my host family.
SO.
I will write about today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow when I get home :)
have a good weekend!
SO.
I will write about today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow when I get home :)
have a good weekend!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
day 41
nothing too exciting happened today! i discovered that there are twins in my class. totally didnt even know they were twins. they look nothing alike... its weird!!!
and in english class, my teacher showed us this video. HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard.
and in english class, my teacher showed us this video. HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard.
you know youre an exchange student when...
okay so i found this on this website. here are the following things that apply to me.
You ask for some type of food/snack/drink to be care packaged to you as your X-mas present.
You buy everything in sight with the name of the country you went to visit so when you go back people are bound to ask you about it.
You're so used to another culture and language that your home country is a distant memory.
Getting yelled at doesn't bother you because they just sound so funny getting all worked up in a foreign language.
You get letters and emails in a language that no one else can read.
You've ever attempted to fit all your worldly possessions into 2 suitcases and a carry on
You cringe at the mention of 'baggage weight limit'.
You're living or have lived in a country that most people can't identify on a map, or in a city that nobody you know besides you has ever heard of... ... and you recommend it as a vacation spot to all your friends.
You have been in the country long enough that when you see a 'foreigner' you laugh and shake your head - but you never help, just watch.
It becomes habit to introduce yourself by saying 'I am from (country) and my name is (name)
You 'talk' to your pets when you phone home.
You become really good friends with people you barely spoke to back home because they e-mail you more than the people you considered your 'good' friends.
You can't imagine what life will be like without all the wonderful things you have experienced and friends you have made in your new country.
You think blazers with tons of pins are way cool, although everybody laughs at them.
While other, non-exchange people are amazed by how many pins you have, you insist that you have very few and won't be satisfied till you've at least doubled the number.
You've got friends on more than two continents.
When you walk down the street, everyone stares at your 2nd head.
You begin to think like you're 4 again, because you have no language.
You begin to feel like you're 4 again, because everyone just leads you from place to place and you never know what's going on.
'Good job! I understood you!' is a compliment.
You ask for some type of food/snack/drink to be care packaged to you as your X-mas present.
You buy everything in sight with the name of the country you went to visit so when you go back people are bound to ask you about it.
You're so used to another culture and language that your home country is a distant memory.
Getting yelled at doesn't bother you because they just sound so funny getting all worked up in a foreign language.
You get letters and emails in a language that no one else can read.
You've ever attempted to fit all your worldly possessions into 2 suitcases and a carry on
You cringe at the mention of 'baggage weight limit'.
You're living or have lived in a country that most people can't identify on a map, or in a city that nobody you know besides you has ever heard of... ... and you recommend it as a vacation spot to all your friends.
You have been in the country long enough that when you see a 'foreigner' you laugh and shake your head - but you never help, just watch.
It becomes habit to introduce yourself by saying 'I am from (country) and my name is (name)
You 'talk' to your pets when you phone home.
You become really good friends with people you barely spoke to back home because they e-mail you more than the people you considered your 'good' friends.
You can't imagine what life will be like without all the wonderful things you have experienced and friends you have made in your new country.
You think blazers with tons of pins are way cool, although everybody laughs at them.
While other, non-exchange people are amazed by how many pins you have, you insist that you have very few and won't be satisfied till you've at least doubled the number.
You've got friends on more than two continents.
When you walk down the street, everyone stares at your 2nd head.
You begin to think like you're 4 again, because you have no language.
You begin to feel like you're 4 again, because everyone just leads you from place to place and you never know what's going on.
'Good job! I understood you!' is a compliment.
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