Week Seventeen: Lapland Tour

On December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018, Rotary ToursLeave a comment

Friday night the exchange students from all over Finland piled up into four different buses leaving from different parts of the country to pick up students in different cities to make the journey to Muonio in Lapland, Finland. Coming from Helsinki we had a seventeen hour bus ride to arrive in Muonio at eleven the next morning. We blasted music late into the night and talked to our friends, excited to see new people when we made a stop to pick up more students in other cities. The bus ride was a time of bonding and catching up with the people we hadn’t seen in a while.

Saturday morning everyone was extremely anxious to arrive in Muonio. When we did arrive we were given our rooms and ate before we went to get our ski supplies for Monday. We got to catch up with people we haven’t seen since language camp and meet some of the Australians we hadn’t met before. At the ski slopes, once we had gathered all of our materials on the buses for Monday the exchange students got to go sledding on the hill. They had to make snow for the slopes because there was barely any snow in Lapland, which is very rare for Lapland in November. It is actually the warmest it has been in Finland this time of year in the last sixty years. After spending about two hours at the ski slopes we headed back to the hotel before going to the “Winter Camp” for dinner. The Winter Camp was a type of large hut where there were multiple fire places with benches surrounding the fires. There were staff members there ready to serve us food. We were all freezing sitting outside eating, but it was amazing to spend time with the people I hadn’t seen in a while. Back at the hotel we had a “party” in one of my friend’s room. We played music and everyone was coming in and out, dancing, sitting on the couches, and just talking. Most of the people were speaking Spanish, but my friends were always good at making sure I was included. It was a really fun evening despite the fact that Rotary had a lights out time of 10pm.

Sunday was extremely busy. The day started with breakfast and then splitting up into groups based on the buses we took to get to Muonio. My bus (Bus 2) left at 9:45 to go dog sledding. Dog sledding was really amazing. The huskies were really friendly. Despite the fact that the track was not very long, just a short circle, it was still a super cool experience. Before we headed back to the hotel to see the near by husky farm we went to this bridge that was on the boarder between Finland and Sweden. All of the exchange students had fun taking pictures on the boarder and saying “I just walked to Sweden”. At the husky farm they have about 420 dogs that are trained to pull sleds. There were even adorable husky puppies. Each dog has a name and many of them we very social. It was really cool to see so many dogs and learn a little bit about how they go about training the dogs and how they properly take care of so many dogs. When we finished visiting with the dogs and eating lunch we went to one of the fells in the area, and explored the Pallas Nature Center where we learned more about the nature of Finland and importance of Lapland. We didn’t spend much time there before we transferred back to where we went dog sledding that morning to go reindeer sledding. The reindeer sledding was also amazing (a lot slower though). The reindeer were partly wild animals so we were not allowed to pet them but we got to feed the other reindeer that were not being used for sledding. We we shown briefly how to throw a lasso to catch a reindeer and were taught about the job of a reindeer herder. After dinner in the evening we had a small talent show at the school in Muonio. There was a Finnish group playing music in the start and then a few groups from the exchange students performing. I mostly spent the time talking to my friends and enjoying the performance before we got back to the hotel and were sent to our rooms.

Monday was the day for downhill skiing. I was super nervous for skiing and felt really unprepared especially clothing wise. Arriving at the slopes was really scary but they had a ski school for the people who hadn’t done it before, so I was there with most of my friends. Moving with the skis on my feet was super hard. I had some difficulties in the ski school and was really confused on what to do, but they told me to go ahead to the slopes. I went with two of my friends from Ecuador and from Colombia. The first time I went down the hill was a huge mess. I fell so many times and was so frustrated about how hard it was to stand up and stay up. I didn’t want to do it again but after a break I got back up and did it again because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t. My friends and I all tried together and helped each other. We spent most of the day skiing, I was still really bad by the end of the day, but I had a good time. Arriving back at the hotel we had an hour break before we had sauna time. I decided not to go to sauna because I was super tired and I ended up hanging out with friends instead. In the evening we had a program that would act as a going away party for the students from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (we call them “oldies”) since they will be leaving in January and this was our last time seeing most of them. There was a Sami man (Sami are the people who are natives in Lapland, speak the Sami language, and follow their traditions) that sang to us in the Sami language, and the “oldies” gave their own kind of presentation afterwards. There were people in tears because their exchange was coming to an end or because this was the last time we would see our “oldies”. To counteract this sad time we had a large party in this cabin outside of the hotel. Rotary allowed us to blast music and dance until eleven. We reluctantly went back to our rooms to pack for our early morning departure and separation.

Tuesday everyone woke up, ate, and began to load our luggage into our assigned buses. We left around nine in order to make our stop fro two hours in Rovaniemi. In Rovaniemi we visited the Santa Claus Village, met the real Santa Claus, and crossed the Arctic Circle. The experience was absolutely amazing. We all spent time together, taking pictures, joking around, and saying goodbye to those not on our bus before we loaded back up to continue our trip down south. The bus ride back resembled the one we had on the way up except it seemed to take so much longer and everyone was super tired from our long week.

After the Lapland trip I slept all of Wednesday before returning to school to finish up the week.

November was for sure the best month I have had so far. I made so many new friends, experienced new amazing things, and had the time of my life.

My friend from Tennessee and I with one of the huskies

Frozen Lake

Dog Sledding

Sweden and Finland boarder

Week Sixteen: PEEP Program, Estonia, and Thanksgiving

On December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018Leave a comment

Nothing happened week fifteen that is worth mentioning other than a Rotary Halloween party, and it isn’t really worth it’s own blog post. plus I’m really far behind on writing.

At the beginning of the week about fifteen students from Greece, Romania, and Slovakia came to my school for a school program I was involved in. Monday was devoted to showing the school and learning about their countries.

Tuesday we all delivered presentations on the theme, rhythm, and how it is integrated in different aspects of life. Our presentation on rhythm in language went really well. That afternoon after school a lot of us went to Helsinki to walk around and see the city. We joked around and all became friends in our time time in Helsinki.

Wednesday we went to Estonia together to observe the rhythm in architecture, but the trip turned out just to be a time for us to hang out and have fun. We were separated into groups for the day and I was with Jason (Greece), Sergiu (Romania), and Flavia (Romania). We went to the over look in the city, walked around, took tons of pictures, and visited tourist shops. Later in the evening we met up with the other groups and went shopping (Estonia is much cheaper than Finland). On the way to and from Estonia I mostly hung out with Jason and the two Finnish girls (Milla and Jenna). It was overall a great day spent in Estonia with my new friends.

Thursday we went to a workshop near our school. We created buildings out of clay to add to the “Happy City” exhibition. In the afternoon we had a tram tour of Helsinki and went to the Amos Rex museum. We had our own “Thanksgiving dinner” at a burger place in Helsinki and some of my Rotary friends came to join. The evening spent with my friends helped me not think about the homesickness that my other friends had been experiencing getting closer to Thanksgiving. I stayed up very late that night trying to pack for the Rotary trip to Lapland so I could stay almost all day Friday for the program.

Friday was the last day, we had more programs including a rhythm in music workshop, and then a going away party for all of the students in the evening. I had to leave after an hour into the party to get on the bus to Lapland. When it was time for me to leave I was crying so hard saying goodbye to everyone, it was crazy how close I had become to these people I had only met on Monday. The week was busy and amazing, surrounded by great new friends.

(I will write about the Rotary Lapland trip in a separate post)

With students from Greece, Romania, and Finland

The Christmas market in Tallinn

My Helsinki sign with my friends on Thanksgiving

All of the students involved in the program and their hosts.

Week Fourteen: Friends Visiting and Thanksgiving Party

On November 15, 2018December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018Leave a comment

This week I planned a large Thanksgiving party for about 40 people (no alcohol don’t worry, Rotary please don’t send me home), including exchange students and Finnish people. My host mom rented a lake cabin that included three buildings for the party to be hosted. On Wednesday I went to see the cabin and plan where the main party would be held. The are around the cabin was beautiful, all of it right near the Baltic Sea. We decided it would be hosted in the sauna building where there was the biggest central room. On our way back from the cabin we stopped at the Leminkäisen Temppeli, which is a place that many people travel far distances to visit, it is a tunnel under large rocks, but when we went it was filled with water.

Thursday, Elina and Essi had a violin performance, and they both did an amazing job. Elina was by far the best of all of the kids there.

Friday, my friend Cata, from Argentina, came to visit. We spent the morning walking around Helsinki before I had to go to school for an hour to interview the Finnish rapper PaleFace for the PEEP program I am in. We are studying the rhythm in languages and will be presenting our information next week in front of students from Greece, Romania, and Slovakia. When that was done Cata and I went back to my house to start making food for the party. We made fudge, pumpkin bread muffins, chocolate muffins (they didn’t make it to the party), corn bread, and two kilograms of Mac and Cheese. Half way through our cooking time Reija, Cata, and I went to the store to buy food for breakfast Sunday morning and drop most of it off at the cabin. When we returned we still had hours of baking to complete, but Essi and Elina decided we should have a dance party instead, so we ended up dancing around the kitchen listening to Frozen songs for an hour. We were exhausted and sick of cooking, but had an amazing night that prepared us for the party the next days.

We had to pick up Jacobo (Spain) and Tanja (Germany) from their train coming from Mikkeli before Victor’s (Chile) bus arrived two hours later from Northern Finland. To kill the time we showed Tanja the main sites in Helsinki and visited the weird art museum again. We had a lot of fun just hanging out together, even though we got a lot of bad looks from the museum staff, especially when we started running around the museum to hide from Jacobo.

At the mall, Kamppi, we waited for Victor and Jasmine to arrive before we took a train to meet my host dad and go to the cabin. We had many things to prepare before people started arriving. The beginning was slightly stressful for me because I was heating up and making new food while I was trying to greet people at the same time. When it was finally time to eat everything calmed down a bunch and we had so much food. Later in the party my host dad organized some activities, like making groups form a human pyramid, to connect the Finns and exchange students, it wasn’t totally successful, but it got everyone in groups and working together. At first we all thought it was really dumb but we ended up having a great time. Like all Finnish parties, people were in and out of the sauna, while others were playing games and hanging out. People started to leave around 8:00 pm and by 10:30pm the only people left were the ones who were spending the night. We all went to sauna together and then went swimming in the freezing cold ocean (which was a disgusting color of green). Once we spent more time in the sauna after swimming we danced to Spanish music in the main room while clearing up some of the food. My friends kept trying to teach me how to dance and they were… somewhat successful this time. The rest of the night was spent in one of the main cabins talking in to the early hours of the morning.

Sunday was Father’s Day in Finland, so many people had to leave pretty early, but we had a nice breakfast together at the cabin with my host dad. It made me really happy because my host dad seemed to be enjoying his crazy, full breakfast table surrounded by teenagers from all over the world. Everyone left the cabin in shifts based on who’s trains left soonest. We all made promises to do this again in Spring and sent well wishes to each other until we see each other again in Lapland in two weeks.

This weekend was amazing and really helped me realize that I have so many amazing friends here that care about me. I know I say this a lot but this weekend was one of the best ones I have during my time here.

Leminkäisen Temppeli

Art museum

Art Museum

Goofing around

Heading to meet my host dad. Exchange students from: Chile, USA, Argentina, Germany, and Spain.

Some of my friends at the party

The PEEP group and the Finnish rapper, PaleFace JHVS3318

More Party Picture KTPZ0262

Week Thirteen: The Last Two Weeks

On November 13, 2018December 18, 2018 By riversandroads2102In November 2018, October 2018Leave a comment

Not much has been going on recently, but I have managed to stay busy. I have things to do almost everyday after school. The week after school break I went walking with one of the neighbors down the street, which was really nice and I really like her. I saw a movie with a girl who is a friend of the Patrakka family. My friend, Jacobo, came to visit from Mikkeli for the weekend. It was really fun to be the tour guide in Helsinki for once instead of the tourist. His first day here was kind of a mess since he got off at the wrong stop, and I spent about an hour getting off at different train stops trying to find him. In the dark (at 4:30pm) we visited the Cathedral and Market Square in Helsinki. On that Friday we went to the weird art museum (I talked about it in previous posts) and rode chrome bikes that had replaced one of the exhibits I had seen the last time I was there. I was quite disappointed that the puppet exhibit was no longer there. We tried to make plans to go play laser tag in one place in Helsinki, and we got a decent sized group together. When we arrived at 4:30 they told us they wouldn’t have a place open fro us until 9:30. We spent the evening talking and trying to figure out what to do but we never did. One boy had canceled his other plans to come and I felt so bad that we wasted his time. The rest of the weekend Jacobo and I watched movies and played foosball. I really enjoyed getting to show him around Helsinki.

Monday it snowed. There wasn’t much, but enough that schools in Tennessee would have been called off. I went with a group from school to Helsinki University to talk about languages for this program I am participating it. Laisha and I went around Helsinki afterwords looking for “Halloween” costumes for the school dress up day (she was an angel and I was the devil). The snow was packed and made walking very hard, we were both slipping all over the place trying to get around the city. By the next day the snow had all melted.

On Halloween I went to a party at Elina’s school which was quite boring since most of the people there were under thirteen and it was extremely crowded. I spent most of my time with Essi as I let her play on my phone.

My family actually successfully put together a family evening, after Eedit’s cheerleading, we all went bowling at the mall by my house. I was terrible at bowling, even Essi beat me in our overall score, but I had a lot of fun. It was nice to having an evening where the whole family was together.

Friday, I went out after school with some other exchange students and just walked around Helsinki. We found people from Spain giving out free hugs, under all of the newly hung Christmas lights, the Finnish people were not keen to this, but as exchange students we were ready for the hugs. We had a really nice time together before I had to leave to head to Jasmine’s house for her Halloween party. We ate candy, watched movies, and talked through the night. Saturday was spent as a lazy day in Jasmine’s home before we went to see the movie Halloween (we had to walk home in the dark alone and it was really terrifying).

I went to cheerleading the next day and found out we have to perform in front of all of the teams that are actually good on December 3, I am not a fan of this news. I went to Essi’s adorable gymnastics performance, and to their cousins house to play with all the children afterwards.

Not much has happened in the last two weeks but I have stayed busy.

Halloween Costumes