Not much happened this week. I went to school and Reija’s sister and her children were at the house a lot. I really love having all of the children around all of the time, they make life so much more interesting even though they may bother me every now and then. During the week I met up with my friend Jasmine, from St. Louis, we went for dinner in Helsinki, visited her school, and watched a movie at her house. She’s one of my best friends here and getting to hang out with her was really great, we are already planning a sleepover in September.

Thursday there was a Rotary event in Helsinki, called the Night in the Arts. During the event we all walked around different areas of Helsinki, visiting booths where art exhibits were set up with music and food. The event itself was not super exciting, but getting to see all of my friends was great. Since we were just walking around the city, I moved around friend groups a lot to talk to people I hadn’t gotten to know at camp. Spending time with new friends was really fun. Victor, from Chile, came from central Finland four hours a way for this event because his host sister, who lives in Helsinki, told him about it. I was really glad Victor came, I didn’t get many opportunities to talk to him at camp, but we really hung out and had a lot of fun together on Thursday.

Friday there was a school wide party, called Nasut. It was not through school, but it is kind of a tradition where the second and third years in high school throw food and nasty stuff on the first years (they are the equivalent of freshmen). I spent my time at Nasut with the girls from my homeroom and my second host sister, Nea. We all watched the first years slowly get covered in food and then run around and play games while covered in filth. I met a lot of people that night and really secured myself in the friend group of the girls from my homeroom. That night I stayed at Nea’s house and got to meet my second host family. Their house was very different than my first family’s house and the one I live in at home, it was a lot cleaner and more modern than most houses I have been in in USA. The whole family was very nice and welcoming. They wanted me to come live with them right now, but I won’t switch families until November. The next morning we all went on a walk together around the neighborhood before they took me back to Sello, the big shopping mall right by my first host family’s house. My friend Matias, from Salo, Finland (it’s one hour by train), was coming to visit me. He had stayed in my town this summer with one of my friends for short term exchange; since his parents were gone, he decided to come to Espoo. We spent most of the day walking around Helsinki and talking. At one point we ended up watching swans on a beach for forty-five minutes. It was actually really entertaining, we watched this one Russian lady almost get bitten on the butt by a swan and then she came and sat beside me and kept speaking Russian to me. When it started to get really cold in Helsinki we took a train back to Sello. Reija picked us up and took us to a confirmation party of one of their family friends. Matias and I had never met these people, but they were very nice to us. Most of the party we just ate food and sat on the stairs and talked. It was really funny because they got both of us in the family picture and we didn’t even know anyone there. Now I have been in a picture with these people I had met once and I haven’t even taken a picture with my whole host family yet. Hanging out with Matias that weekend was really fun, it was great to see him and it really made me happy to become better friends with him.

Sunday I had my first cheerleading practice. I joined a beginners team for my age group, but I was by far the oldest one there. Even though I was terrible at it, I really had a great time. The teachers helped me as much as they could and I improved a lot as the practice progressed (I still can’t do a cartwheel…yet). After cheerleading I got home and was organizing my room when suddenly everyone is yelling, looking for Essi and the neighbor boy. We were not super worried because the children’s shoes were in the yard, so we assumed they were hiding somewhere in the house. Elina had been promised for her birthday to go to the Barbie museum, so Reija took Elina and I to the Barbie museum before she went back home to look for Essi. Essi and the neighbor had been found at these stairs that look over all of Helsinki, it is about 2km away from my house, they had walked there all alone without shoes. That’s pretty normal in Finland because everything is so safe here that children are allowed to get to school by themselves (not normally at five though)at an early age. When Essi got home Reija brought her to join us at the Barbie museum. The museum was actually really cool and I had a lot of fun with Essi, Elina, and their cousins. On our way home we visited the stairs that Essi had walked to that day, the view from the top as the sun was setting over the city was fantastic. Looking out over the city as the cold wind was blowing I knew that was where I was supposed to be, and I was genuinely happy. Happy to be here in Finland, happy to be with my amazing host family, just happy.

 Reija helped me practice for my Rotary presentation that was on Monday. This week went by really fast and I’m starting to miss home a lot less. I am really starting to adapt to the culture. When anyone sits next to me on their train I get really confused and automatically assume “foreigner”, even though I am one of them. Friends are really hard to make since people are embarrassed by their English, but my friends are starting to speak to me a lot more. I feel like I may be starting to fit in and be a little more comfortable here. When I learn the language everything will be even better.

(I’m really trying to catch up and write more I’m just busy all of the time, sorry)

Friends from USA, Canada, and Italy at Night in the Arts

Essi, Elina, and I at on the hill where you can look over Helsinki

Essi at the Barbie Museum