day 28

havent done much today. I'm sick so I stayed home from school and layed on the couch all day.
it kind of sucked because this morning, the only thing that was on tv was infomercials for bras or music videos. it sucked. but eventually i found something to watch. i forget what it was.. I found the biggest loser and then i watched degrassi for like 3 hours and now im addicted to that show. and now im watching the biggest loser again....
minna is gone to her friends and outi and i have been searching the house for the last half hour looking for anni's coat that she wants us to send her.... we cant find it anywhere. we've looked in every closet, cupboard, box, storage cabinet, EVERYWHERE. and we still cant find it.
i'm so congested its not even funny. i slept for like 16 hours last night and i dont feel any better... WOO. and no trip to nurmes because im sick and Outi's sister's husband hurt is back really bad :(
so we will go another weekend.

Now, i guess we are just going to stay home and search for this coat all weekend! And sleep. Sleep is great :)

day 27

normal day of school todayy. last night after i got out of the sauna, my throat was kind of sore but i just went to bed and then when i woke up this morning, my nose was stuffed up and my throat was even more sore. after a full say of school and concentration, now i feel like crap. It is 7 o clock and I am ready for bed. Usually I never get sick in August. Maybe thats because it feels like the end of fall in Canada. One more day of school and then the weekenddd.


Hyvää yötä!

Day 25 and 26.

Sorry I didn't write yesterday! I am doing a combined one for yesterday and today. This will probably start to happen more and more often as the days are getting less exciting with school.
Yesterday wasn't that exciting. I went to school, went for pizza (again) with my friends and then met my host  mom at her work. After that, we went to the bank to pick up my new bank card and then to the post office for me to ssend my first batch of postcards plus a package to my family.
After that, I FINALLY realized what I was going to write
So on Monday, 3 more exchange students joined the school. It was so weird. Arlene and I kind of looked at them like they were these foreign creatures that we had  never seen. It was the exact same look everyone gave us on the first day of school. It's weird that we've only been here a week and we already feel so included and like we fit in here that other exchange students are weird to us. It was funny.

So anyways, yeah. that's what I did yesterday.

And today, I went to school WAHOOO. and now im home and ready for a nap.
WHY AM I SO TIRED ALL THE TIME?
I dont know. I dont get it.




But yes, that's my day so far. If anything else interesting happens, I'll write it here.

xoxox,
Alyssa

random again

oh and on another note. i am addicted to orange juice.
i drink like 6 glasses a day. that and water is all I drink.
thats all :)

day 24

Back to school again today. Waking up at 6:30 seriously sucks. but it was a good day. it was fairly warm, i actually took my coat off on the way to school. after school, i came home and listened to music and then we went into town to buy postcards after we took Minna to riding. After that, I got picked up by a rotarian at Fontanella (the complex) and we went to this thing in the middle of nowhere (literally) and made lyhde which is a 'sheaf' in english, according to google translate. Ive never heard that word but I've seen them before. It's like a bundle of wheat and then you tie it together with a zip tie and then they put them outside in the winter for birds to eat. It was fun and a got to get to know a lot more people and became a lot more comfortable with them. Now, I don't think I'll have a problem going to rotary by myself. It was fun and we got a lot done, but now I'm very itchy and sneezy. YAY ALLERGIES.  not. 

there was something else i was going to write here but i seriously cant remember what it is now........

Anteeeeeeksi :) (sorry)

HEIPPA!

day 23

didnt do anything today, but it was great. i slept, watched movies, and lounged in my pjs all day. WAHOOOOOO :)

Day 22

Today was a lot of fun!!
In the morning, I went to Kuopio with Outi and we met up with Minna (who stayed the weekend at her Dads) and we all went shopping. I bought postcards, a pair of jeans, 3 shirts, a new purse/school bag, earrings, and one other thing but I cant write it here because  its a gift. My sister and I decided to play Sisterhood of the Travelling __________, and that is the item we are going to use. We are going to mail it to eachother once every month.
While in Kuopio, we went to the main harbour, where there was a fair going on. Unfortunately, it didn't start til 4pm so we were too early for the rides. So, we came home.
After being home for about an hour and a half, Roosa texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out tonight. I said yes. After sitting in the Old Fox and driving around town for like half an hour, we decided to go to Kuopio to the fair. It was a lot of fun, I swear I'm still kind of dizzy. There was this one ride where you went inside, and then leaned back against a board. When the thing started to spin, it felt like you were upside down and you couldnt lift any part of your body cuz you were spinning so fast. The faster we span, the harder it was to move, and then all of a sudden your feet lift off the ground and it feels like you're completely upside down, and then the board you are leaning on slides upwards, taking you with it. It was so creepy but so cool! My arm muscles still feel weird from holding on so tight!

It was a good day :)

Day 21

Today was much much much bettter.
I went to the Opo (or counsellor) on my spare to talk to her about my classes. I asked her about dropping out of art and she said thats perfectly fine. I apologized for changing my schedule so many times and she said its okay because I'm an exchange student and you never know what to expect until you are in the class. The other exchange student from Mexico recommended that I take Health because the teacher is very good in English and helps her to understand things every day. My counsellor also thought this would be a good idea. So now, every day I have 3 classes.

I was finished school at 1 and I came home for a bit and then at 3, Roosa picked me up and we went out for pizza with Riikka, Laura and Emmi. (Roosa and I shared a pizza this time since neither of us could eat a whole one last time.) Emmi is the tinniest person I've seen here and she ate a whole pizza plus a huge plate of salad. I wish my metabolism was that great.

After that, we ran into Minna (not my sister), Anssi, Piia, and Arlene (who had gone out for pizza in a different place), and Arlene came with us to Roosa's. Then Tiia came over too, and we all laughed and cried from laughing and laughed some more for about 2 hours. And then we watched The Hunger Games and it was so good!!!!

Now, I am home and I am exhausted, language seriously tires you out.

Tomorrow, we are going to Kuopio to the fair and to go shopping :) I'm excitedd!


Heippa!

day 20

Didn't do much today!! Busy day at school...
Seriously hate art class and want to drop it. I am not artistic at all..... Pretty much today my teacher told me that I suck at art, (y). dont want to be in that class anymore..



Dont know what to do..


thats all that happened today. now its 7pm and im going to bed.


Hyvää yötä

Day 19

School today (these posts are probably starting to get boring now that I'm in school all day every day...)

School was normal. After school, I went to the centre with Roosa, Tiia, Rebekka, Riikka, and Arlene. We all went to get pizza. Everyone ordered their slices of pizza and so did I. On the sign there was normal or Perhe size (which means family). So we all ordered the normal size (which would be a slice in Canada). No. It was a WHOLE PIZZA. and it was like a large pizza too. I ate like 3/4 of it and then my stomach literally could not hold any more. That was 4 hours ago, and I'm still full.
Thats pretty much all that happened today that was the least bit exciting.

Oh, I tried to use one of the computers at school and it took me about 5 minutes to find the @ symbol to type my email address in... After I finally found it, it took me another 5 minutes to figure out how to type it. You have to hit the 2nd shift (Alt GR) which is crazy because we dont even have that on our computers! Turns out, the Finnish keyboard layout is very different and very confusing for a Canadian apparently.

I'm glad I was the only one in the computer lab or it could have gotten seriously awkward.


:)\



Heippa!

:)

Day 18

Not much happened today. Schoooooool!

I decided I was going to come home during lunch because I had lunch and then spare. I walked all the way home (15 minutes) and realized I didn't have my key, which was at school in my backpack. I walked all the way back to the school (15 minutes) to get the key and then back home (15 minutes) to let the dogs out to go pee and for me to have something to eat, and then I went back (15 minutes). Also, I walked to school this morning (15 minutes) and walked home after school (15 minutes). 

MY LEGS ARE TIRED. 

They say exchange students always gain weight. I don't think I've gained any yet. probably lost like 5 pounds because I walk so much everyday :)

I love walking though! It's so relaxing but today definately was not my day. Then on the way back to school the 2nd time, I lost the back of my Blackberry and had to go back and find it. Such bad luck.

I just had English today. But had a test in my English 7 class. It was all in Finnish and was about translating the Finnish to English. I got 2/10. WOOHOOOO. (just kidding thats horrible... I feel like crap about it. I know I've been in this town for like 10 days but still!! I cant help but feel bad about a grade like that...)

After school, Sami and I went to the beach and played football and went swimming. It was really cold but I actually swam. It felt a lot better once I was actually in the water, the wind was freezing. 

Idk what else to write. I am going to bed like really soon because I'm exhausted (per usual). I use so much of my energy trying to figure out what everyones saying every day.  I seriously just need to sleep for days. (How many days until the week off in October?) 

Nähdään! (See you later!)

Day 17? idk what day it is. This is going to have to stop soon enough.

Today was great actually. School was boring as usual, but I had lunch with Roosa and my friends, which was fun. We had class pictures this morning and it was really cold outside but we all survived. (except the Mexican, she might still be shivering). After school, I just came home and emailed Aunt Linda and wrote a blog about language camp (which you may or may not have already read). Then, I decided not to go to the Rotary Meeting Today. Its really hard to go because a)nobody understands me b) I don't understand what they are even talking about c) they can't talk to me anyways. So I was really torn but I think I will go next week with Erkka (the rebound. he went to L.A last year). He promised he would come with me so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable. I went to Minna's riding lesson instead. Then I came home, had some dinner and then skyped Alexis in Sweden! Then I hung out on Minna's bed and we listened to One Direction and Justin Bieber and I french-braided her hair :). Then what did I do? I dont remember. I think my host mom came home from walking the dogs and we all sat down for a little. Now it is like 9:30 and I have been being quizzed by Sami for the last hour and a half almost on finnish words. I'm doing pretty good if I do say so myself. He's proud of me too. But I don't know any of the sports except hockey yet (jääkiekko) so apparently I need to learn those. I am proud of myself that I can finally start to understand some things :)
Now, I am going to go to bed because I'm tired (like usual).


Heippa (Bye!)

Random- Language Camp

At the time, I thought language camp was a complete waste of money and time. I was so eager to just get to my host families that I didnt realize how much of a positive experience it really was. I thought that I could learn the language myself and that there would have been no difference between language camp and classes during the week. I was wrong. After talking with other people from my district, I realize that the camp was a really positive experience for me. A lot of the other 7080 outbounds are having a lot of trouble in their first days. They are becoming homesick, bored, and lonely. They all write about how bad their first days in their city were, how they think they are ready to go home already. I didn't experience this once, and as far as I know, nobody in Finland has yet. I am not what so ever homesick (sorry Mom) and I don't feel lonely at all. The language camp gave us an opportunity to get over the fact that we were 239487293487 miles away from home, and made it easier for us to connect with the other exchange students in the country. Not only that, the classes actually helped develop our language. There are 2 other exchange students in my school (with 3 more arriving next week). I am pretty sure I know the most Finnish out of any of them. We learned a lot even though the classes were boring. I have a solid support system now. I know that I have friends all over the country who are going through the same things I am going through and are struggling in the same ways. This makes it much easier to live through the hard days.

I think it would be worth while for every country to invest in a Camp like this. The tutors are truly amazingly helpful and teach you things that you can not learn from a book. I had 2 Finnish books before I came, neither of them taught me how to say 'My name is...' correctly. Some things, you can only learn from the experiences.

 :)

Day 16

This morning, we went to an organic farm where Henriikka works. They have a little cafe there and a store where they sell all organic food that they make on their farm. There were like 50000 eggs, haha. I had finnish apple pie and it was good! We then walked around a little bit, looked at the lake and took a few pictures. There was an amazing view of the lake from the farm :)

Now it is quarter to 6 and I might go to the beach soon. This is how close the beach is to my house:

Only 750m away. Its a pretty fast walk though :) that is the main beach but I have been to one that is farther down the lake, and a longer walk and its a lot smaller. We also went swimming off this huge pier that's on the complete opposite side of the lake. The water was super deep and it was really cold because it was so deep. I still like the main beach the best because its the sandiest, warmest and closest. I like to just sit on the dock and stare out into the lake. Its beautiful. The only thing that could be better would be if the sun set on the water, but instead it rises on the water. One day, I will have to watch that. (too bad the sunrise is at like 4 am right now or else I would)

And this is my walk to school, it takes about 10-15 minutes, and is about 1.5km 

I will post more pictures of my school on Tuesday maybe when I actually have a chance to take some without looking like a tourist in my school. Actually looking forward to going to school which is nice. :) English classes are by far the best!! French is good too. Geography- not so much. and Art- well art is art and I'm not good at art. :)

Day 15

This morning, we went to the market square and to the grocery store. There was still a bunch of stuff going on downtown. There were vendors for clothes, jewellery, accessories, food, etc. It was a lot bigger than the normal market that is in the square everyday. We picked up Minna after we got groceries and then we all came home. By the time we got home it was like 12 or 1. We all watched tv for a bit and then started to make supper. After supper, Minna, Sallamari, Jonne, Joona, Markus and I went for a swim off the docks on the other side of the lake. It was so cold. But I survived. After that, Minna went to Henriikka's so Outi and I went to the ABC station and bought candy and came back and watched Grease. Such a good movie. It was a good day and I just relaxed because I was so tired from the 3 days of school. :)

Day 14

6:30 comes way too early in the morning for my liking. I woke up early this morning, ready to go to school for 8. It is about a 10-15 minute walk, and because I'm 'Finnish' I had to be early. I had French first this morning (2nd best class next to english) and I knew what was going on 80% of the time. We didn't really do anything exciting, and when class was over, I went home. I didnt want to sit at the school for 2 hours so I went home and relaxed. :) I think I got home at about 9:40 and didnt have to leave until 11:20 so I had lots of time to do nothing at home. Then I went back to school for English 7, which wasnt exciting either. The whole class is based on nature, kind of boring but it works. Im finding english really easy and actually helpful because a lot of it is translating Finnish into English, so I am learning new Finnish words. I have to be able to see them to learn them, which makes the class even more helpful. After class I came home and now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. At 7 or 8 I am going to this concert thing in the centre (the downtown) with Roosa and her friends. And then I am going to sleep for like 15 hours because I am exhausted.

School gets better and better each day. Yesterday, I couldn't find my art class and I was walking down the hall and then I started to go downstairs to find someone I knew and this girl ran after me and was like 'HEY CANADA!! come with me!!' and she helped me find my class. All these people know who I am but I have no clue who they are. Yesterday also, I passed a guy on the main floor (the 3rd. There are 4). and he was like 'HI!', so I said hi back and continued walking. He went down a staircase and I walked down a hall to go to a different one. When I got down the staircase, I walked out the door, got almost to my locker and he walked passed me again 'HI!!'. I don't know his name, and have never been introduced to him (that I remember. I've met way too many people) but again today, I passed him in the hall and he yelled 'HI!'. I have to remember to be friends with this extremely outgoing Finn. (Did I mention that you are looked at funny if you even remotely smile at someone while passing them? I struggle with this a lot. I can't help but smile. So I just do it anyways. They look at me like I am foreign and continue on...) I'm glad its the weekend so I can catch up on my sleep. SOOOO TIREDDDDDD.


I will write more tonight after I get home from the centre festival concert thing :)
BYE, XXXX


ps: one last thing about my school. It has no bells. You have no idea when youre supposed to be in class or when youre supposed to get out. All the teachers just rely on the clocks but every clock in the school is different so there are always a billion people in the hall by the time your class even gets out. And in the morning, there are people in the hall and you just wait by your classroom, and then when people start to disappear, you know its time for class. Its so different from Canada, where you have a bell to warn you that class is going to start, a bell that class is starting, and then a bell that class is ending. Not in Finland. You just have to guess :) Oh and I don't know if I've wrote this anywhere yet, but my school is super tiny but has 4 floors and only 300 people. That's like the size as my grade at IDCI. Oh and my school has an elevator and people use it to get from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor or the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor and so on. SO LAZY. Take the 15 steps. And the staircases are spirally and its cool! And the inside of the school is painted orange and blue (so much better than the white walls of IDCI). I have a locker on the bottom but the lockers are split weird so each person has room to hang something up. I dont exactly know how to explain it... I'll take a picture some day and put it on here. Its weird but cool. But I'm leaving now. bye :)

Sorry I didn't finish writing this when I got home, I was so tired. It is now Saturday. Last night was a lot of fun. I went to Roosa's at about 5:30 and then we waited for her friends to get ready and then walked with 2 of her friends to the centre, which took FOREVER. We finally got there at like 8:15. At first, I was kind of lost because there were people everywhere speaking Finnish. After a little while, we found   another group of our friends, which included the Mexican exchange student, Arlene. After that, we all hung out in a huge group and spoke mostly English so both of us understood. We took about 600 pictures on Roosa's camera, (I will save them to my computer later ). It was a good night and I made a bunch of new friends.

Tiia, Arlene, me and Roosa. :)

Day 13

Today was much better than  yesterday. Geography still sucked because I didn't know what was going on, but my class tried to speak more English to me. My 2nd class was English 7 (the most advanced English in the school). I was really shocked by the huge words that people are required to know that I didn't even know until a few years ago (genocide, apartheid). And then there was a word I didn't even know (and cant remember what it is right now, thats how confusing it was.) After lunch, I was supposed to have gym, but I changed it to another english class, because the first english class I had was helping me to learn Finnish. And then I had art. After school, we went to Hesberger for supper and then I met Roosa at the beach. We were going to go swimming before I helped her with her application for youth exchange. When I got to the beach, Roosa didn't even have her bathing suit. So I waited at the beach while she went home and got it. The first friend I made in Siilinjarvi, Sami, was at the beach too, so I played football with him until Roosa got back. (My arms still sore, but yes dad- I still remember how to throw a spiral!!!!) Then the three of us swam together for like an hour. (I will sleep well tonight.) After the beach, Roosa and I drove back to my house on her moped. I have never been on one and it was really cool. Did I mention that a bunch of people here ride  mopeds or dirtbikes !? Or they ride bikes. I am one of few people that walk to school. Ill have to make sure to take a picture of all the bikes some day. Anyways, we just wrote Roosa's letter and then I went to bed. :) Thats all.


But school was MUCH better than my first day :)

Day 12

Today was a different day. School kind of sucked. I made a few friends over the last few days, but SURPRISE, none of them are in any of my classes. My first class was French so at least I somewhat knew what was going on. I can understand a lot more french than finnish. I felt pretty good after that class, and then I had spare with Roosa and we walked downtown with her friend Anni. I felt even better after this and then I had lunch with Roosa and her friends (mind you, lunch is free. doesnt mean that it is a super fantastic good meal..... it wasnt that bad though). After this, I went to geography which was a disaster. My teacher didnt know that I was an exchange student or that I was even in his class. I wasn't on the class list. He just kept talking to me in Finnish and when I tried to explain myself in English, he didn't comprehend. This caused my stress level to rise, and then the only other 2 girls in my class started laughing at me. That made it worse. They continued to look at me and snicker until the teacher made them help me. I had no clue what was going on, everything was in finnish and the teachers writing was horrible so not only did I not know what it said, I couldn't even read most of it. When the girls finally helped me, they tried a little to speak english but not very much. They did most of the work and I sat there and pretended I knew what we were doing. In reality, I had no idea.... The class passed pretty slowly, very slowly actually. But the teacher kept leaving so we could kind of just do whatever we wanted. By the time the class finally ended, I was just ready to get out of the building. The only good thing about school so far is that my counsellor speaks perfect english, and the school schedule is the exact same as IDCI's. 8:10-2:25.
After school, I just relaxed for a few hours until dinner. After dinner, Minna went out with her friend and I stayed here. I decided to go to the beach and sit and take pictures and just think. A lot of Finns think in the sauna but im not sure. The sauna and the beach are completely different for me. In the sauna, I think about the things I'm worrying about, I overthink them kind of just making it worse. (but it puts me to sleep)... Out by the lake, all my problems just disappear and my mind wanders to wherever it wants to go. I love to go sit by the water alone and relax. It's the place where I'm most comfortable.
I wasn't there very long when Minna texted me and asked if I wanted to go hang out with her, Meri, and Henriikka. I went and we ended up meeting up with Markus, Jonne, Joona, and Sallamari too. We went swimming in the lake and I jumped off of the 3m diving board. It was scary as crap but I survived. My feet and ears hurt though. Feet hurt from hitting the water so hard and Ears hurt from the pressure at the bottom of the lake. If people think the lake is cold, try jumping from that high and going so deep. Its much colder down there. This made the day better. Now, I'm ready for bed. I am so tired lately. AHHHH. Jet lag is finally catching up to me.


Goodnight :)

Day 11

his morning we went to the bank and set up my bank account. My card will be here in approximately 1 week! it is reallly cool actually!! it has funky designs on it. I wish Canadian Debit cards were like that :P
My host mom and I sat in the market square today and ate ice cream. (Reason Finland and I Get Along: They have lactose free food everywhere!!!) It was beautiful outside and the sun was shining off the fountain. It was beautiful. Outi said that it was the hottest day they have had yet this summer.
This morning Minna had school from 9-11, just a little thing where she got her schedule and everything.
I went with Outi at 1pm to the school where I picked my classes. I am taking French, English, Geography, Art and Gym. (all things that will be easy for the next month and a half until I grasp the language more). I am also going to take a Finnish for Beginners course at the library from now until April. The only problem is that the course runs on Monday (my longest day of school). This means I have school until 3pm, Finnish from 3pm-4:30pm and then Rotary from 5-6:30pm. Will be a long day. I found out that I have two tutors (Tuomas and Pekka) who are both boys but whatever, boys cause less drama anyways. I have talked to them and one other boy, Sami who are all very good in English. This makes me a little bit more comfortable for tomorrow. Also, there are 5 other exchange students in my school (even better). So I know I'm not the only one whos lost and confused. Its making me less and less nervous for school.
Also just found out that another girl I met, Roosa has spare with me tomorrow so I won't be alone :)
We met with my counsellor who is super nice and used to be an English teacher so she's perfect. She told me that the school has something planned for me and that I will fit in just fine at the school and that my tutors already want to take me to a professional hockey game in Kuopio. I am very comfortable with her :)

After we went to the school, Minna, Henriikka, Outi and I went to the beach and Minna and I went swimming. It was FREEZING. But felt so good especially after such a hot day. (it was like 25, which is hot for Finland). We came home and just hung out around here for a bit, had supper and then all of us were pretty much ready for bed. Henriikka went home at about 4 and then at 5:30, we already had been asked to go swimming again with Henriikka and Sallamari. (Another Reason Finland and I Get Along: No matter where you are, you can walk to a lake and go swimming within 10 minutes.)We went to this little tiny beach in the woods which felt much warmer than the main beach. It was nice to hang out with them, and this time they spoke more English to me. Its hard to have to force people to deviate from their comfort zone, I feel bad so sometimes I just sit back and pretend I know whats going on. Soon enough, I will be able to understand more of what they are saying (I hope!!!!)

Tomorrow is school, AHHHHHH. Wish me luck.
Going to eat some waffles now and then go to bed! Hyvää Yötä!

Day 10

Today wasnt very exciting. After waking up and getting ready, we went to pick up Minna's friend Henriikka and then the 4 of us went to Kuopio to go grocery shopping. We went to a store that was a lot like Walmart.  I bought a pair of running shoes so I can go for runs to the beach in the evening. This is my plan :).
We went to a few stores in Siilinjärvi and figured out my phone. I chose to use Anni's old phone so that I can't talk to my friends every 2 minutes. I figure this will help with the homesickness that is to come.
Plus, everyone here has Nokia phones and I feel like a Finn if I have one.
I also bought coloured pants (everyone in europe has them). I wasn't so fond of them when I first saw them but I LOVE THEM now. They are like a teal/green colour and I just love them. I wish I could wear them everyday.
Today, I met another girl, Roosa who goes to my school. She rides horses with Minna and she was very outgoing and not afraid to speak English to me. This makes me feel better about school.
Also, people keep messaging me on facebook asking me about if I am going to Lukio or not (that means highschool). I am not as nervous anymore.
I went to my first Rotary meeting today. I was scared that they would be very shy but they weren't. I met my counsellor, president, secretary, YEO and past president. They were all very nice. Plus, one of the Rotarians has a daughter that lives in Parry Sound. We only stayed for about 10 minutes because we didn't want to eat and we had to go pick  up Minna! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I am already pretty comfortable going again. I think I will be even more after meeting my Principal again tomorrow :)


No sauna tonight, I am just ready for bed!
Hyvää Yötä!

Day 9

Boy was I tired. I slept 11 hours last night and should probably get out of bed soon or my family might think I'm dead.
It is now nighttime and I am going to go to Sauna again tonight. (I am keeping a count of how many times I sauna this year, just to see how many times I do). Last night, Minna made me a raspberry pie and it was amazing. So good. Finns eat whipped cream (vanilla whipped cream) on a lot of desserts and its very good. We had it with our pie along with raspberries and it was just the best dinner. We also had little sandwiches and yogurt :) didn't need much considering we had a big lunch. Today, we ate a big breakfast so we had lunch/dinner (lupper) at about 4, which was chicken rice and salad. mmmmmm. For dinner/snack (dont know what to call that one?) we had waffles and the Canadian Maple Syrup I brought with me. Today, Outi Minna , the dogs and I went for a walk along the beach and around our neighbourhood. It was beautiful outside. We wore sweaters but all ended up taking them off because it was so warm outside. After that, Minna and I played MarioKart and SuperMario on the Wii. It is safe to say that Minna beat me, at least 10 times. At 1 pm, I met Markus, Jonne, Sallamari, Henriikka and Joona who are Anni and Minna's friends. We all walked to our schools which are attached. Minna, Henriikka and Joona go to the younger school and Sallamari, Markus, Jonne and I go to the lukio. We then walked into the 'city' or village and they showed me the library, post office, health centre, the recreation centre and a few little shops. We were going to go into a clothing store but it was closed, so we headed home. On the way home, we stopped at the beach and sat on the docks for a few minutes. The water was cold, but I still wanted to go swimming. We came back here and played Wii, PS3 and a board game called Quackle until everyone had to go home. Minna and I watched a movie and then Henriikka came over again. They made waffles and I practiced my Finnish for 2 hours. We all ate waffles and syrup and now I am here. Henriikka has gone home and I am going to sauna soon. 

One thing I have forgot to write about in these blogs so far; In Finland, there is no laws for trespassing. They call it 'Any Man's Land'. You are allowed to hike in any forest you can see,unless it is fenced. I found this so interesting. In Canada, it is impossible to even walk into a forest because most of them are fenced or there are no trespassing signs. This was so cool to me. 
Another cool thing I learned today; the street I live on is called Vaahterapolku which means Maple Path. I thought this was cool and symbolic considering I am a Canadian and Maple Leafs symbolize us. 

I love it here so much. I fit in so well with my first host family. My mom and I both sing to any song we hear and Minna and I are already becoming a lot closer. She is becoming more comfortable with her English and I am becoming more comfortable with my Finnish (even though I am still totally confused 99% of the time). On the plus side, today Henriikka asked 'Mita kello on?' and I ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT SHE SAID!!!!!!!!!! I was proud of myself! On an even more plus side, nobody here snores and the bed is super comfy.

At the time, I didn't think language camp was that helpful. The camp atmosphere was fun but I didnt feel like I could focus in the classes. (I'm not sure if it was because I'd eaten too much or the fact that I hadn't had a good nights sleep in 2 weeks.) Now, I feel a lot more confident in my Finnish and I am remembering more and more every time I hear it. I will catch on to this language soon, I promise myself :) Today is Kenzie's birthday. I sang happy birthday to her (over facebook) in Finnish. I am encorportating Finnish words into my English sentences. Well trying. 


I am going to sauna now. So I will be back tomorrow :)
Hyvää yötä (Good Night). 

<3

Day 8- meeting the new family :)

Day 8- Saturday 
The morning started off with breakfast and then packing. And then we had meetings with our rotary corespondents and then with our district committees. (I will be in district 1430). And then we went to our cabin to pack some more and then leave our luggage outside to be picked up by the van. After our luggage was outside, we could go to the main school and wait for our host families to come out of their meetings. This was when our stomachs really started to have butterflies. Luckily, I spotted my host mom almost immediately after she walked out the door. She had a sign with my name on it but I found her so cast she didn't even have time to hold it up. We hugged and I hugged my sister, Minna. We went outside and took a picture and then waited again for another meeting to start. We all sat together and listened to the shirt presentation which was mostly in Finnish. After that we had lunch and hit the road for our 5 hour drive home. I discovered that if you don't really know someone but want to, drive for many hours with them. even if they are Finnish and dont have much to say, everything they say is valuable. One crazy thing I discovered on the way to Siilinjärvi was that Finnish radio stations do not sensor their music. When hearing the song Payphone in Canada, we hear a version with no swear words. Not in Finland. They just put it all out there. My mom was fairly outgoing the whole trip home but my sister was a little quiet. I couldn't tell if it was because she was shy, uncomfortable, having trouble with my English, or was just tired (they got up at 4 to come get me). Once we arrived home she got better though :) now I am all unpacked and have settled in nicely. :) and am ready for bed. 

Day 7

Today was definitely the best day of all. It started out with breakfast which was berries and yogurt. My faaaaaaaavourite. :) and then we had lessons ( as usual) for 3 hours. After that, lunch which was rice salad and beef. It wasn't your typical beef though. It was like cut up and then cooked in a gravy sort of thing but it was more just like the natural juices. But then it had carrots and red pepper in it. We ate the whole thing over rice and it was really good. And then we had lessons 2 hours again (as usual). After that we had Kahvi (coffee) and then free time to play sports and such. Then we had a lecture from rotarians on our exchange year and the rules and consequences and everything like that. After that, we had dinner and then Cosy Night began. It was a night for people to showcase their talents or sing national anthems . We sang Oh Canada and then kydra sang a medley of Canadian songs including Justin bieber, knaan, and Rebecca black. It was hilarious. Now I'm laying in bed and my roommates already snoring (insert angry face here). So I am going put headphones in now and attempt to go to sleep. But I am so excited to meet my host mom and sister tomorrow :) Ahhhh 

Day 6

It has been cold and rainy for days here. The first day I got to camp it was nice but then it quickly got cold the next day. It has rained and stormed quite a few times but today it is absolutely beautiful out. The sun is shining and it is kind of warm. When the sun goes away it is cold but it's shining most of the time. There are only a few clouds in the sky and they are only little and really white so that is good :) I am in Finnish class and we are on a 15 minute break but I have to go back now. 
It has been a long day of finnish classes and lectures and food. Classes- boring but helpful. We have 4 hours of Finnish class each day and we have learned a lot sofar. That doest mean that I remember it though. Lectures have been good actually. we have had lectures on the Finnish way of life, sauna, a year in Finland, and Finnish school. The lady who has been speaking to us is name Mummi which means grandma in finnish. But she isn't even that old. So Finnish food. It is so good. Breakfast is really weird. It's like bread, ham, cucumber, red pepper and tomatoes to make a sandwich, and porridge and cereal. And then we get raspberry jam and everyone puts it on their cereal or porridge. This morning though we had raspberry mousse (again) with breakfast. So good. Lunches have been more like dinner. They are all meat and potatoes and salad kind of meal. A couple days we had a tuna casserole and we have had salmon ( for my first time and I actually liked it) and we had meatballs too, I forget what else. Dinner is not our typical Canadian dinner either. We have had wiener soup, spaghetti with gravy and tonight we had lasagna. They eat so much food here. There is breakfast, lunch, coffee break (finnish people love their coffee and are the only country in the world to have a specified break for it) where they drink coffee and eat some sort of dessert and cucumbers and bread. ( did I mention they eat cucumbers and bread with every meal?) then it is dinner and then evening snack. I don't know if it is like this at every Finnish household but at camp it is. 
Today I experienced the weirdest thing (well not weird but just unusual for me to see). A boy named Pedro fell and sprained his ankle really bad playing soccer on monday. He had to go to the hospital and get it all wrapped up and everything. But anyways so he's been walking around on one foot with crutches all week and today another guy came up and asked him of he could pray for pedro's foot to heal (in English). The thing is, Pedro is from Mexico. He does not speak nor understand English very much. Pedro looked utterly confused. So after finally getting a translator for the guy and for Pedro, he finally got permission to pray. It was a huge process and Pedro looked confused, annoyed and creeped out. And then the question came
"can I touch your foot while I pray?" 
"dear god please use all your power and strength to help dear pedro's foot heal. Rid him of his pain dear lord. In jesus name, amen. ......... Do you feel the difference yet?"
Pedro politely said "ci" and walked away pretending none of it had happened and wishing that no one had seen it. I was a super nice gesture but Pedro just looked helpless. Sad, but funny as well. That pretty much sums up my day. Other than walking around the camp singing with kydra, people looking at us funny but hey, we're exchange students, we're supposed to be weird. :) 

Day 5- Class & Tampere

More language camp. These 3 hour classes are killing me. Can't focus and my tutor barely knows English and doesn't know how to explain things to us everyone in my class is French and I can somewhat understand them but choose not to :p 
A girl from France asked me if I eat syrup for breakfast every morning 
Today for dessert after lunch, we had raspberry mouse. It tasted exactly like raspberry frozen yogurt from bartleys. Craving =satisfied 
There are so many amazing singers here!! Oh my god. We are all sitting in the main lounge singing hallelujah :) and now on our way to Tampere. Now going home from Tampere, didnt buy too many clothes but the clothes I bought were a steal. So cheap. Also bought some candy and had a wonderful conversation with a French man! He was so nice! Went to a book store and bought some school supplies since school starts on Wednesday. 5 euros for 1 pen, which is horrible considering I loose pens so easily. Glad I brought my own!! Kydra and I bought matching shirts and scarves and pencil cases. That way we can remember eachother even though we are on opposite sides of the country. Tampere was fun today. This camp has been fun but because there are so many people from different countries, they have become very cliquey and only talk to eachother in their native languages instead of English where everyone understands. So today in Tampere we went to Hesberger which is like Finnish mcdonald's. It is honestly the exact same thing. They have ncdonalds here too but we decided go try Hesberger instead. :) it was good. While on Hesberger we ran into some of the oldies that are in our towns from like Australia and new Zealand and some places in brazil. They didn't talk to us for very long though because they had to catch a train to go back to their towns. The ride home was a lot of fun. We had the very back of the bus which was 5 seats and then like 8 other people who were in seats at the back were talking to us too. This guy named alex from Belgium had an old school game boy exactly the same as the one I used to have when I was 4 or 5. He had this special game piece that he used to make music on the game boy. The songs are all made using the sound effects from different games. It was the coolest thing about the day. He even writes his own lyrics to the songs he creates. And then I finally met a girl that will be in my district. She will be in kuopio which is only like 20 minutes from Siilinjärvi. :) right now kydra and I are writing a mashup of Justin bieber songs for the cozy night concert which is Friday :) 

Day 4 (I think) - Karkku

Had to climb in the window again today. Today though the counsellors left the room unlocked, the wind blew the door shut and it locks automatically. It's been a long day of language camp and I am almost ready for bed and it's only 8. Finnish is a tiring language and it doesn't help that I haven't barely slept since I got here. Went In the sauna again tonight but it wasn't as relaxing. I think I'm just too tired to function. Tomorrow is shopping in Tampere. I might go to bed now though because everyone is gone and maybe I can get some sleep before everyone else comes back. Hyvää iltä!
Ya i almostgot to sleep and then 2 of my roommates got back. Now kydra is singing me to sleep :) so relaxing 

Day 3- orientation camp.

After arriving here last night at about 9:30, we were all ready for bed. We had a quick snack and then headed to our cabins for bed. We stayed up until at least 11 talking to our tutors ( counsellors) most of whom have been exchange students in the past. One of them has dreads and we spent about half an hour talking about them alone. They all speak English very well despite the heavy accents, as well as the language in which they spoke on their exchange. After a night of no sleep (2 of my roommates snore) we got up at 7 to get ready for today. We had a breakfast at 8 and then headed off for our introduction. This was just a run-down of the rules of the camp and where everything is and such. After that we had 3 hours of Finnish lessons, where we generally learned pronunciation and some greetings. Then we had lunch and then 2 more hours of Finnish lessons. These lessons were the same. After that, we had afternoon coffee (Finnish people love their coffee). Then we all loaded into the lecture hall for a lecture on the Finnish way of life. This included conversations, public transportation, sauna, families and such. Everything you need to know to survive the people in Finland. We had another lecture just on Finnish sauna and then had the opportunity to sign up before dinner. After dinner, we all kind of made our way back to our cabins (mine being the farthest away........) while others played soccer in the soccer field. At 8pm it was time for sauna. Which felt absolutely amazimg. I don't know if my skin has ever been this soft. We would sit in the sauna for about 10 mins and then run into the lake and cool down. The lake was so cold that I couldn't feel my back after very long. We got out and went in the sauna again, warming ourselves back up. By now it was 9:30 and time for us to go to bed! Bt no because when we got back to our cabin (we being my non-snoring roommate, Shelby and I) everyone was already asleep. 2 of them snoring. After an hour of if, we decided to go paint our nails outside considering it was still light out ( oh and did I mention that we have no electricity upstairs because one of the idiots in my cabin plugged a 3 plug splitter into her adapter and then onto the wall. She didn'tsee the problem with this and did of again so we had no power twice.) so now I am laying in bed writing this hoping the snoring will stop soon! Wish me luck!!! 

Hyvää iltä (goodnight) 

Ps: I heard a Finnish person today say that theydidnt want to go outside because they didnt want to get freckles. I laughed. Canadians would go outside to get a tan and end up with only freckles. Also my roommate bad to climb in the fire escape of our cabin today because the counsellors had the keys and we were too lazy to go get them.

Day 1 and 2

8:41 pm
I am on the plane, slowly waiting and waiting for time to pass, waiting for my destination to become closer, waiting for this amazing adventure to begin. The day began early, Remi woke me up at like 8 and I couldn't get backto sleep. I was too excited for the adventure to commence! The airport was difficult, everyone cried. I tried my best not to but a few slipped out. It has now been 2 hours since I've left and I'm just trying not to think about it too much. 5 hours of flight ahead of me. I started to watch the notebook (saddest movie of life) which I have never watched from start to finish. (still). The movie shut off half way through when I tried to see how far we were yet. When I looked out the window I saw land and I thought 'we are in Europe already?!?!' no.... We weren't even out of Canada yet. Crossed the gulf of st Lawrence and were approaching New Foundland and Labrador. After watching a beautiful sunset, we headed off for the wide open ocean. To most people, this is the scariest part of flying. To me, it's my favorite. There is nothing about the idea of a wide open ocean that scares me. It's freeing and calming. The notebook shut off and I was too lazy to fast forward through the first hour. I decided to watch glee, but it's really not that great anymore. Glee project is way bettter (MOM IF YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE TELL ME WHO IS STILL THERE!!!) :) I think I might just listen to music soon, and drift into sleep. If only this crying baby will stop... Sometimes I seriously wonder why people choose to bring their kids on long flights. Flight has been okay so far, kind of like Karn road when your stomach flips and flops. Lots of turbulence so seatbelt light has been on for 2 hours now, which means I can't even go to the bathroom :( but I'm going to go to sleep soon because my body and brain are both exhausted. Been a long day and if I don't sleep, today will extend into tomorrow and then I'll be even more tired. 9 hours of flying + 4 hour layover + 7 hours time change + excitement + stress= one tired Alyssa.
Best part of today, getting a nice burger and fries at the airport for only 7 dollars (score).
Worst part of today, can't decide whether it's the baby that won't stop crying or the lack of good movies on this tv. Either way it sucks, but the adventure begins. Finland here I come :)
xxxx, lyss

9:53pm
Ya can't sleep. Ididnt think the earplugs would make a huge difference but they did. Still couldn't eliminate the baby crying or the sounds of the jets right outside my window. Such a beautiful view at night. Above the wing, I can see nothing but stars, and below the wing, a sheet of puffy clouds. This is why I love flying. Sitting here thinking about how lucky I am to be on this wonderful. Listening to slow music trying to put myself to sleep, it's not working... Lalallala i am somewhere over the atlanic ocean. Want to be in finland already, can't we fast forward through the flight and the layover. Wish I wasn't so excited because then maybe I would sleep and time would pass faster!
12:19 am/ 5:19 am (where I'm flying)
Slept about 20 minutes wooooooo! But I'm not even that tired, yet.... Approx 1 more hour of flying and one more time zone until I can finally sit somewhere more comfortable. Flying over Ireland and enjoying a beautiful sunrise :) just need a hot lemon tea and I'd be ready to go! Finland here I cooooooome!
Idk what time it is at home/10:24 in Brussels
Arrived and just waiting for our plane to arrive. Gate isn't even open until 11. Shouldnt we be boarding the plane at 11? :s aaaaanyways ya so excited!!!! Only slept 20 mins in the last 48 hours so its surprising I'm even awake. One more flight. Then Finland :)
Around 3:30 pm Helsinki airport
So we for off the plane and followed the signs to border control just like they told us to on the plane. When I got to the wicket, the guy freaked out on me because I was in the wrong place. Apparently we didn't have to go through customs and were in the complete wrong spot. So we found the girl that I sat with on the plane, (3 week exchanger in Belgium through lions) who was also in the wrong place and she helped us detour through all the Finnish signs to finally find our bags. Turns out, she only lives about 20 minutes from Siilinjärvi.

5:11pm/ 9:11 in Canada 
Finally here but exhausted. Going to language camp now, apparently it's a 3-4 hour drive, after a full day of traveling. We are just ready to go to bed. Going to be a good sleep tonight!! Oh and I just met someone who lives in Germany and has a pet chipmunk. She was absolutely shocked go hear that they are wild in Canada and run around wherever they want and aren't anybody's pet. She was shocked. also, been sitting on this bus since 4 o clock.. Still haven't left yet and it's already 6:20. We're all sitting on the bus sharing candy from our home countries <3 Oh and also, not all of our luggage would fit in the bus so we had to fill the aisles, under the seats PLUS a van and a trailer full of bags. ooooops :)
Ps: havent decided when day 1 is going to end yet. Considering I've been awake for about 36 hours so far I'd say that day 1 hasn't even ended for me yet. Bus is finally moving and i am headed for a nap and then some fun with everyone else!! so beautiful. everywhere you go. Even if you are within a city, its like being in northern Ontario. There are lakes rocks grass and trees EVERYWHERE. Seriously, we have been driving for 2 hours (and although I slept an hour and a half) I havent seen barely any parking lots. Maximize green space= YES. I love this country so much already. Remember my plan to move to parry sound and have a house on a lake and a boat and a dog? I might just relocate that plan to Finland. In northern Ontario, there's not really any big city centers anywhere close to go to. Well in Finland, the country and cottage country (where the lakes and cottages are) are within the city as well. I have been here not even 5 hours (1 in the airport, 2 in a bus sitting in a parking lot, and 2 driving) and I already love this country so much. And I just drove past an Ikea in the middle of nowhere <3. the horrible thing about language camp so far; none of us were told that it was a 3-4 hour drive. Most of us were expecting to be in bed by 7pm. It's now 8:30 and we are nowhere near camp nor sleep.