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!!!!