Feelings

I'm going to try to describe how I've felt so far. In the beginning, I was really excited to be in Finland, (like the first day) and then once I got to my new home, I was still happy, just not as happy as I usually am. I haven't had severe homesickness, I haven't cried, I love my life here, and for me it gets better and better each day because I get more comfortable with it. I mean, of course I miss my family and friends but I'm just thankful that I get this experience.

My host family is really nice, I have a mom and dad, a brother who's 15, a brother who's 11, a brother who's 8, and a sister who's 17. My sister and I get along SO WELL! I love her so much, she's really fun and we are really lucky that we get along like we do because it makes this experience even more fun. She also doesn't have an accent when she speaks English so it's more comforting to talk to her because it's like talking to a friend from the US.

People live a lot healthier here, which is wonderful! I've lost 15 pounds so far :)

Here is a picture of me and my host sister:



We also threw a costume party last night and had so much fun. Since we go to two different schools, there were lots of new people to meet for both of us. Here was my costume (I forgot to take a camera to the party so I had to take a picture of myself afterwards):

August through October

I've been to quite a few places so far, here are pictures of my host family's vacation cottage in Norrkulla:








I went with school to Lapland. It was quite different planning than in the US because they were like, "Alright, make sure everyone brings a knife and matches!" We also only had 4 teachers go and 40 students. We went by coach bus, it was really fun! The ride was 14 hours I think each way.



































































I went to Tallin, Estonia with my host sister and her friends and it was AMAZING! I can not even describe how great the restaurant we went to was. It was dirt cheap with wonderful food and the people working there were so nice. I will post pictures of it once I get them from Hanna.

I've visited other cities in Finland, like Kitee, Oulu, Porvoo, Anjalankoski (boot camp), and Helsinki of course which is 17 minutes away by train so I go whenever I want. Helsinki is by far my favorite city, it's so clean and there aren't huge skyscrapers so it feels more spacious.

On the weekends, I hang out with my friends or my host sister and her friends, go to parties, go out to eat with friends, you know, just normal teenager things.

First blog

Well, as of now, I've been in Finland for 2 days shy of 3 months.

Here are some little things that are different than in the US:

• Light switches
• Doorknobs
• Door mats in stores
• When you walk into a school or building, there's a bump where the door is when it's closed that I tripped over for weeks.
  
• Houses rarely have fitted carpets, just a few area carpets.
• The level of water in the toilet
• There are trees EVERYWHERE, I live in a suburb but it looks like it's in the woods because they don't cut down trees unless it's absolutely necessary (like exactly where a house would be built)
• When you buy produce at the grocery store, you but it on a scale, push whichever number you're supposed to for that food, and a price sticker comes out that you put on the bag with the food in it. Nifty.
• You have to pay for grocery bags, they're really sturdy though
• There is public transportation

I'm going to get ready to bike now, but I'll try to catch up more later tonight.