Week 9: Family Switch

I moved back to my first family on Tuesday of the week. On Monday I had gone to their house again to drop off some of the things I had forgotten to drop off on Sunday. Tuesday I left my second family in the morning for school and went to my new/ first family after school. I was so happy to be back. I was ready to be back with all of my host sisters and be closer to everything. In the evening I went to this place in Helsinki call Walkers, it is right in the center, you have to be under 18 to go in, and you can get soda and sweet buns for very cheap. Everyone who works there are volunteers and the food is all donated from bakeries with day old food, students hang out there playing cards or just meeting other people. I went with four other exchange students. We had a good time and I got pretty close with one of the Australians.

The rest of the week was pretty low key, two of my teachers were in Turkey with a group of students so we didn’t do much in those classes. I spent my afternoons with Paola at her home learning to play piano or just hanging out. I met with one of my new Finnish friends, we sat in the mall for hours just talking, now we are a lot closer and have future plans to hang out. Paola stayed at my home Saturday night and Sunday I met with Leeloo (Australia) in Helsinki. The week was really low key but I still enjoyed myself.

Week 8: Ski Break

On March 25, 2019March 25, 2019 By riversandroads2102In February 2019Leave a comment

My host family didn’t have plans for ski break since my host parents were working, I spent most of my days working on packing for my family switch. I visited my host aunt from my first family and her kids a few times throughout the week and stayed at Laisha’s house a few nights. Friday evening I went to Porvoo, the old city about an hour from Helsinki, with a Rotarian from my club. I spent the night with him and his wife, and toured the city the next day with them and a girl who just completed her exchange in Canada. I had such a lovely time in the city with them, they took me through the old town and showed me what other parts of the city there was to see. I had such a great time with them, and I look forward to going back to Porvoo in the summer.

Sunday I moved my things from my second family’s home to my first family’s house, even though my first family was still in USA I took my things to their home so I would be ready to move in on Tuesday. In there afternoon we had a Rotary event in Helsinki where we all got to meet the new Australians officially and go ice skating all together in Helsinki. It was really nice to see all of the exchange students again, since we haven’t seen some of them since Lapland. Afterwards we all went to eat together and spent the evening in Helsinki together. I had so much fun with all of the exchange students, and getting to know the new Australian girls in our district.

Porvoo

Week Seven: Wanhat

On March 5, 2019March 25, 2019 By riversandroads2102In February 2019Leave a comment

The week started pretty normal with the idea of prom looming at the end. I stayed at school until 7pm just hanging out with my friend Kia (my school ended at 2:30). My first family also left to go to USA for two weeks. I spent most of the days trying to get ready for the prom. Buying hair clips looking for the right jewelry and balancing the work I needed to do and practices at the same time. I also had to feed the cat at my first family’s house when the neighbors couldn’t. I spent most of the week with Kia, she would come with me where I needed to do things.

Thursday was a really big day in Finland, not only was it Valentine’s Day or Ystävänpäivää in Finnish (Friend’s day- much better than Valentine’s Day), but it was also Penkkarit. Penkkarit is the last day of lukio (high school) for the third years (equivalent of seniors). All the third years put together a MASSIVE performance for the school and come dressed in crazy costumes. There was cake and doughnuts in the cafeteria and teachers giving speeches for the third years in the early morning. Around noon all of the third years got in large trucks (like garbage trucks) and threw candy at all of the younger students watching as the trucks left. It was really cool way to celebrate their last day and even fun to watch. Some people had their Wanhat that night so I went with Laisha to help Paola get ready for her dance.

The next day I woke up extremely early to start getting ready for the dance. I had a hair appointment at 9:30, had to get at school with my friends at 11:00, meet Laisha at 11:30 to do my make up, and take a bus to the venue to get to the dance at 12:30. Everything went well until I got to school, when I arrived everyone was already in their dresses and eating, but I hadn’t even put on my dress yet and didn’t want to before I had my make up done. Laisha was really sick but she still showed up to do my make up, but she was fifteen minutes late so we were really rushed. I also left my tights at home so I had to walk in my dress to the store to get tights, and walking without spiked shoes was almost impossible since the snow had melted and the refrozen, all the sidewalks were basically sheets of ice. I barely made it to the gym where the dance was in time and I had gotten the bottom of my dress a little messed up.

We had two performances that day, one for the school at one and the second at five for the parents. Laisha and Kia sat right where they could see me dance. It was really great to have them there but their were laughing at me the whole time and it was kind of distracting. The first dance went well for the most part, I messed up a few times and my shoe fell off at one point but it wasn’t that much problem in the end.

Between the two dances I took photos with my friends and then went to eat with Laisha and Kia at Burger King (I took off my dress of course). I returned to the venue with time to spare and put my dress back on and fixed my hair and make up.

The second dance was much more important. The gym was quite crowded, filled with parents coming to watch their kids. My aunt from my first family actually came and took so many pictures and videos of me. Afterwards she came to me and said “wow you must have really liked your partner, you were laughing and smiling all the time,” I started laughing at this comment I was making myself laugh and smile because Laisha and Kia told me I looked depressed during the first dance.

I went with my new Finnish friend after the dance to her home where we ate and got ready for the after party. We went to a before after party with some people from school for a short time and had a lot of fun before heading to the club in Helsinki (a lot of clubs allowed underage kids in for the night and were rented out to schools but wouldn’t sell alcohol to underaged people). The whole evening was really amazing I met a lot of new people, hung out with old friends, and danced almost all evening. I didn’t end up leaving until around three in the morning when one of my exchange friends met up with me outside the club and my host mom gave us all a ride home. Saturday we spent most of the day sleeping and hanging out. Sunday I didn’t do much, it was a chill weekend after a busy week, soon to be followed by a week off from school for our ski break.

Wanhat Pictures

Valentine’s gift from a Finnish friend

Penkkarit- the trucks the third years threw candy from

Wanhat school lunch

Penkkarit- third year show

Week Six: Wow

On March 5, 2019March 25, 2019 By riversandroads2102In February 2019Leave a comment

This week was honestly ONE of the worst weeks of my whole exchange. I’m not really sure why it just was. I felt terrible emotionally and really isolated. I was uncomfortable and really anxious all week. I spent most afternoons with Laisha before having to go home. I felt bad because I didn’t spend much time with my host family but I really just wanted to be alone and sleep most of the time. Finnish lessons frustrated me and hurt my head. I was frustrated and stressed about everything. I also taught at my host sister’s school for the last time, honestly I was sad I wouldn’t come back before I switched families. In an attempt to help me feel better I went to this really nice place in Helsinki to ice swim in the ocean (Löyly) with my host sister (from the first family) before she went back to USA. At Löyly they had two amazing and large saunas (both men and women so we wore bathing suits) and a central room where you could take a cold shower if you didn’t want to ice swim. We spent about two hours there and went swimming in the ice three times. It was amazing and incredibly relaxing way to end a bad week. It relieved a lot of my stress and made me feel a lot better about everything. I had a wonderful time getting o know my host sister better and talking about our opinions on Finnish and USA culture. In the evening my friend, Cata, from Argentina came to stay with me for the weekend. We visited my first family so she could see the little girls. Saturday we spent the whole day in Helsinki with one of Cata’s friends who was visiting Finland from Argentina and his Finnish friend. We spent the day going around the city, visiting different museums and had a really great time. We visited a hotel where you can see over the city and just spent time hanging out with each other all day. The whole weekend was really nice to end such bad week but it left me exhausted.

Miasma’s new exhibit (weird modern art museum in Helsinki)

The new library in Helsinki

Helsinki

Week Five: My birthday

On March 5, 2019March 25, 2019 By riversandroads2102In February 2019Leave a comment

Since I was sick over the weekend I really didn’t have the energy to deal with much the next week. I went rock climbing with my host family in Helsinki, which was really fun and reminded me of climbing at home. I spent time at school with my Finnish friends and hung out with one of them, Kia, at the mall after school almost everyday. A lot of the week was also spent on planning my birthday party Friday.

At school we had exam week so I only went to school Monday and Tuesday for Art and Photography. Tuesday after my exam I met with my friend Paola (Mexico) and Leeloo (a new girl from Australia) in Helsinki. We kind of gave Leeloo a short tour of the city before she had to go home. I really enjoyed meeting her and I hope to become good friends with her in the future.

Thursday I taught at my host sister’s school again and went to my first family’s house to celebrate my birthday afterwards. I really enjoyed being with the family for my birthday. all the little girls were so happy to see me and I spent a lot of time talking to my older sisters in the basement. They made dinner and cake. Before cutting the cake the little girls brought me presents. Each of them made me a card covered in pictures and cute drawings. Elina (8 years old) made a card for me that actually made me almost start crying, she was talking about how we would till be friends when I go home and that she has loved having me in their family. I spent the evening with my family just spending time with them until late in the evening. The whole night made me feel so happy.

Friday I woke up really early to call one of my friends in USA who has his birthday the day before mine, so we were calling each other while it was my birthday in Finland and his in USA. I loved catching up with him and talking about what had been going on for the last six months. During the call my host mom and host sisters (second family) came to my room, bringing breakfast and gifts. When everyone went to school and work I prepared the last few things for my party, and then headed to Helsinki to pick my friend, Jacobo from Spain, up at the bus station. Shortly after we went to Laisha’s to eat where my friend, Julia, wanted to do my hair and make up. The party started at 6 but we got to the venue around 5:00 to set up. The place was very nice there was a large space to hang out, a balcony, hot tub, and sauna. We spent a lot of time in the beginning getting ready and preparing the last of the food. Most people showed up early and only a few actually showed up after six. There were about thirteen of my friends there with my host sisters and a few of their friends coming later. We had cake and talked for a long time just meeting new people and catching up with those we hadn’t seen in a while. Around nine we all went to either sauna or hot tub where we spent hours listening to music and laughing together. Of course after going to sauna we would jump in the snow on the balcony. I had a really amazing night with all of my friends that night.

Three of my friends stayed after at my home, we ended up staying up until almost five in the morning talking in my room and eating American candy. The day after we went sledding until we took Jacobo back to the bus station (he almost missed the bus). I spent the day in Helsinki with my friends and finished the weekend with a chill day on Sunday to relax after the busy week.

The girls at my party in the hot tub