On April 8th, my second to last day here in Finland, I had already made plans with Evelina to go to her house. When I arrived we walked to her room and when she opened the door, I was surprised to see 4 more of my friends: Karoliina, Anni, Josefina, and Milla who all shouted “surprise!”
We then went down downstairs and started my surprise party eating mud cake, chips and dip, cheese balls, and carrots and cucumbers. Then we walked around outside for a bit before going back inside where they surprised me with presents.
After that we played a game called “murder” where we all had to pick a card from the hat and whoever got the card for the investigator would leave the room while the person who pulled he murderer cards and the victims sorted out the order of killings. Whoever had the card that said “k1” would die first and “k4” would die last if the murderer wasn’t discovered. The murderer would fake kill the first victim and the victim would scream, cueing the investigator to enter. The investigator had to ask everyone else where they had been and each person had make up some kind of excuse on spot. It was a lot of fun to see what kind of excuses each person would make, trying to trick the investigator into choosing them.
The investigator, after hearing each person’s story, then would choose someone to question to further and bring them away to another room, if they heard a scream from a new victim then they knew they chose the wrong person and would have to choose again. We had a lot of fun during the game but after a while we switched to playing a clean version of truth or dare which was more of just getting to know each other better.
Both Josefina and Karoliina had to leave early, but the rest of us continued to talk and eat more food until Sari came to pick me up too. I’m gonna miss them all a lot and I had a ton of fun here in Finland. I hope I can return soon!!
On April fools day, my art class pulled a prank on my religion teacher because she always would complain about people walking past her window while she was teaching. In order to prank her, my art teacher cut out a larger than life cardboard cutout of the pope and we all went outside with it.
We walked up to her window making lots of noise while a kid hid under the site of the window. He slowly raised the pope up so it looked like the pope was waving at the class through the window. My religion teacher, as well as her class, found it very funny and she now keeps the cardboard pope hanging up in her classroom.
After school I took a bus to Lahti with my friend Anni to watch The 5th Wave, and we spent the day walking around stores and ate at Arnold’s bakery as well as Burger King. Our movie started at 6:30 so we had a lot of time to spare before it started so we waited at the movie theatre 2 hours and 30 minutes early and watch funny videos and then a show on Netflix together. We also bought a lot of candy and popcorn for the movie.
The Saturday after that, me, Jasmin, and Tomi went to a castle in Turku. It was really cool to walk around in and luckily there were English explanations in each room too. We got to also dress up in the time periods clothing and feel how heavy parts of armour were. It was so much fun and very cool to see!
On Sunday, I went to a horse stable with my friend Elina so that I could ride her horse. Since the outdoor riding ring was wet we went on a trail ride around a dirt rode with me riding and her walking next to me.
We got to talk and learn a lot more about each other and it was a lot of fun. I only walked and trotted so that she wouldn’t have to run too fast but it was still really exciting and I’m glad I got the chance to do it!
On March 19th, me and Jasmin decorated willow branches for the Palm Sunday tradition of Finland. From the very start of March 20th, kids were arriving at our door dressed as witches and wizards. They would say a chant in Finish wishing us good health and then gave us one of their many branches in exchange for chocolate.
Me and Jasmin also went to some houses, though not many, since we didn’t make that many branches.
We didn’t do much special for Easter except Sari gave us all chocolate and we spent the day with their family, eating many delicious foods. But the Friday before Easter, during our 3rd class, all the student in the school had to walk down to the church for a special Easter service.
It ended sooner than school does but when it was over we were dismissed.
On March 12th, I spent the day at my friend’s house. Her brother picked me up because both my host parents were busy and he spoke almost perfect English. When I got to my friend, Evelina’s, house her dog ran out to greet me and then we went inside so she could give me a tour of her house. I met her cat, which was exciting for me since I haven’t gotten to see a cat in two months.
Then we went for a walk with her in the snow and walked to an old abandoned building that they usually go to on Halloween. When we got back to her house we ate some toast with cheese that she had baked in the oven and a traditional Estonian sweet drink that is made from mixing eggs, milk, and sugar and drank raw. Afterwards we talked and she told me more about Estonian culture.
When her parents came home we had cream puffs and Estonian chocolate and then retreated to her bedroom where we fooled around with snapchat filters and talked about our pets. Afterwards, we went back downstairs to watch tv and I showed her funny videos from tumblr as we watched Sharkboy and Lavagirl and then Burlesque while eating Finnish cinnamon buns. It was a lot of fun and by the time I had to go her dog didn’t want me to leave!
On Monday, March 14th, we started making a film in my video/photography class. My group decided to make a film about a serial killer murdering someone and then getting arrested, but such a violent sounding theme it turned into more of a comedy. I dressed up as a totally inconspicuous murderer and we dressed a dummy up as my victim.
We decided to film in the cafeteria which earned us many strange looks from the people in there. In the end we decided that we would have to use music and sound effects instead of actual sound from the video because of how much laughing there was.
On February 27th, we woke up at 3 in the morning and left for Lapland by 3:30 am. A car ride from here to Lapland is usually around 11 hours long but it was even longer for us because we drove into Sweden too and stopped at many of the “ABC” rest stops on the way.
Also, we were following Tomi’s parents to their cabin first which was in another part of Lapland. By the time we finally got to our cabin it was too late to do anything. We were all tired so me and Jasmin just played in the snow for a bit before going back inside to sleep.
The next day we all slept in, but right after breakfast we put our ski equipment on and then walked to the ski hill that was very close to our cottage. Since I had never downhill skied before, Tomi stayed with me at a training hill and taught me how to ski while Sari and Jasmin went on the actual mountain. Halfway through our time there they switched and Sari stayed with me instead for a bit until we went home for dinner.
After dinner, we drove to the top of the mountain and took pictures of the sunset. There was so much snow that all the trees were bent over and only looked like bumps coming up from the snowy ground. On our drive back me and Jasmin were dropped off at the shopping area near our cottage to browse through souvenir shops. Neither of us had money but we planned out what we wanted to buy. Once it started getting too late and we had went through all the stores, we walked home.
So much snow on all the cottages and trees.
On February 29th, I went skiing with Sari on a not steep hill while Tomi and Jasmin went skiing on bigger hills. After a little while we decided to go back so that Sari could make dinner so we walked home. However, when we got to our cottage and knocked on the door no one answered. We didn’t have keys with us because Kasper was at home but he couldn’t hear us. We knocked on the doors and windows and Sari threw snowballs at a window, but it was the wrong one. So after 1 hour and 40 minutes of waiting in the cold, Tomi and Jasmin came back and they had a key.
On March 1st, I went shopping with Jasmin in the morning and bought many souvenirs. Then when we walked back to the cottage, Jasmin’s friend was there and she left to go skiing with her friend and Tomi went with her friend’s dad. So me and Sari walked to a hiking path in the ski place. The start of our home was normal but then we weren’t sure which way to go. Sari lead the way to where she thought we were supposed to go but it brought us to a snow shoeing path where the snow was much to fluffy to walk in. While we were lost, we ran into two French people snow shoeing and the guy showed us their map because they were also lost. After some confusion were able to make it to the right path.
On March 3rd, me and Jasmin went sledding in the morning. At the hill we were sledding on there was even a small “sled lift” where you would sit on the sled and then grab on to a rope that would pull you up the hill. After sledding we walked home and discovered we had the perfect hill to sled on at our cottage too so we spent some more time sledding there before actually going inside the cottage.
When Sari and Tomi came back from skiing, we went to an ice village that was a place made out of snow and ice with amazing designs and cool lights. The village is actually a hotel that people can stay in and has many different rooms for guests and a restaurant, bar, and chapel. We spent a lot of time there walking around the place and taking many pictures so by the time we got back home it was too late to do anything else but sleep.
A surreal ice tunnel.
On March 4th, we went to a Lapland village and saw many reindeer and dogs. There was a dog sledding thing that we came just in time to see. We also looked at old type building and walked around two different villages, but there wasn’t much to do there so we left early on and went shopping. I bought a couple more things and then helped Jasmin find gifts for her friends.
On March 5th, we had to drive home from vacation but first we drove to Sweden in order to go to a huge candy store called Candy World. We all bought a ton of candy there and then continued driving to find a place to eat.
Finally after eating we were on our way home, but while driving out of Lapland we saw Santa’s Village and stopped there to walk around. We didn’t get to see Santa though because pictures with him were very expensive, but seeing the place was cool enough.
Our ride from there was normal and we got home at around 11 and then FaceTimed my family and ate and showered. Which I then afterwards FaceTimed my sister at around 12 so I wasn’t ready for bed till very very late, but even though it was a long day I had a lot of fun.
On Friday, I went to the Lahti with my friends Evelina and Hilla right after school. We walked to the bus stop and took a bus the rest of the way. We were going to watch Deadpool so we bought the tickets as soon as we got there and then left the theatre to eat. We went to a place that was like a mall and ate a bakery called Arnold’s. We ate amazing muffins and then spent time browsing through different stores.
We then decided to head back to the theatre and bought popcorn, soda, and candy and then proceeded to wait for the movie to start for 2 hours. Luckily the wait wasn’t too boring though because we spent the time talking and playing games. Eventually we were finally allowed into the theatre room and watched the movie which was great!
On February 18th it was a special traditional event for the high school students. They all dressed up in costumes and walked around in the morning with bags of candy which they threw at all the other students. They came to our classroom and threw so much candy in at us that my teacher put up a “shield” so that none of the candies would hit the girl sitting closest to the door. However, it was a lot of fun and by the end of the day we had a lot of candy!
The next day, we all went to the gym during our first classes to watch the older students preform the traditional ballroom dancing done every year. It was amazing to watch with all the girls wearing beautiful gowns and the boys wearing tuxedos with tailcoats. At the end of the dance routine anyone was invited to go down and dance too, but me and my friends stayed and watched.
After school I went to the Finnish military base with my host family to watch a ceremony of the people in the army giving their promises to Finland. It was very cold but luckily wasn’t too long and afterwards Joonas showed us around and we had buns and tea/coffee.
On Sunday, we went to Lahti to watch a ski championship which was really cool to see. There were people from many different countries there so I didn’t feel out of place at all, however I don’t think there were any other Americans. After the regular ski races we went back to our house to eat and then returned later in the day to watch the ski jump competition which was amazing to see in real life.
On February 3rd (Wednesday) it was my birthday. I usually wake up at 7:00 a.m., and that morning my host mother and sister came into my room to surprise me with a cake and present while singing ‘happy birthday.’ The present was a necklace made by a popular Finnish jewellery company and some Finnish chocolate.
I got dressed and ready and then we ate the cake together and I went to school. I thought all the birthday surprises would be over, but when I sat down in my Math class, everyone stood up together without explanation and began singing ‘happy birthday’ to me in English and then Finnish. When they sat back down, one of the girls pulled out two small cakes (shaped like long rectangles) and a knife, while another pulled out matches and a candle. We spent the beginning of my math class eating cake and talking. One of my friends also gave me a chocolate bar as a present when the math party was over.
Friday after my birthday, I had a bad headache when waking up so my host mother let me stay home from school. I slept in late and then was feeling better. So when my host sister got home we made some Finnish buns for my party on Saturday. Also, it was Runeberg’s birthday (the man who wrote the Finnish national anthem) so we ate Runeberg’s tortes. And my host brother, Joonas, came back from the army for the weekend.
On Saturday morning, I made a mud cake with my host sister and laughed with Joonas as he tried to play the Walking Dead video game, which has decisions you must quickly make on what to make the character say, but they are all in English. When the people came to the party, we ate cake and buns and drank tea or coffee, and then relaxed in the living room.
Most of the people there didn’t speak English but I spent the time talking to a little girl that my host mother’s brother takes care of sometimes like an uncle. She only knew a couple words in English but we got help communicating through Sari’s brother. We talked about how we both are afraid of spiders and I told her how I was once badly bitten by one. She told me I’m Spider-Man and that she is Super-Girl, and we talked about Minions and she told me she likes to play Five Nights at Freddy’s (a horror game). For presents I got a mug, chocolate, a pretty necklace made with a cool stone, home-made mittens, and some special traditional Finnish branches used in the sauna.
Throughout the week my school days have mostly been the same. We have 3-4 classes a day and school starts at 8:15 a.m. and ends at 12:45/2:15 p.m. In gym I did cross-country skiing for the first time and it was really hard. We also did ice skating and played a game on the ice that’s similar to hockey, which was also difficult for me since it’s already hard enough for me to simply not fall while slowly moving forward on ice skates.
I had a physics test that my teacher translated into English for me but somehow I managed to get a better grade than some of the people in my class, despite not learning physics since last year. We don’t get much homework, except before tests we get a lot of review work.
The weather has been much warmer but my host family says that it will get colder again soon. People here drive no matter how icy it is but go slowly and have good tires. My walks to school have been like ice skating with the mixture of warm and cold temperatures.
Also last week, I had my family try peanut butter and jelly toast for the first time, since my parents sent me a jar of peanut butter, and they loved it.
On January 30th, I went to Helsinki with my host mother and host sister and we went to two museums and a couple stores. Helsinki was colder because of all the wind, but it’s been warmer lately here so it still wasn’t too cold. The city was made up of a mixture of old, pretty buildings and new, tall ones. The people there were nice and gave us directions when we were lost.
We ate at a pizza buffet were you could take as much food as you want. We’re planning to go back to Helsinki sometime to go shopping more and visit more sites since the city is so big.
For the entire time last week my host family had their friend’s dog over because Jasmin loves dogs and the family of it doesn’t have much time to exercise their dog. She was an adorable golden retrieve dog who loved to be petted. However, she went back at the end of the week since Kasper is allergic to dog and his allergies were bothering him.
On my first day in Finland most host family members Sari, Tomi, and Jasmin came to pick me up at the airport. The sun was still a little low and the tall bottomless pine trees that are found in Finland were covered in snow. It wasn’t a long way to their house and we made small talk during the time it took. When I got to their house they showed me the rooms and I went in mine and began to unpack.
While I was unpacking, my host brother Joonas and his fiancée came and introduced themselves, and we all sat down to drink tea, eat sandwiches and later played different Xbox games, talked, and drank soda. When Sari and Tomi came back we went on a walk. It wasn’t as cold as I would think it would be, but when we stayed out for a long time it felt like the cold was burning instead of freezing. Sari then left to pick up my other host brother Kasper after our walk and I met him before going to bed.
Ice Skating and Snowy Adventures
The next day I woke up early at 5am but laid in bed till much later. Kasper went to school and Sari went to work so it was just me and Jasmin. We both ate breakfast and then watched some tv and played another video game together. During our time playing, Tomi’s sister and her husband visited with their dog and we talked and had tea together before returning to our game.
After a long time of playing video games, we went ice skating on a frozen football (soccer) field. For dinner we got Subway in the town nearby, it had snowed all day but we simply drove over the snow covered road which is something never done in Connecticut.
The day after that I spent with Jasmin again and she led me to the school along with her friend. After showing me the way to the school, we played with Sari’s friend’s dog, Bella, in the snow. She loved to dig at the ice and try to catch the snow in her mouth. We also hid Jasmin in the snow and told Bella to try to find her. After a long time of playing in the snow we returned Bella to her house and walked home.
First Day of School in Finland
The day after that was my first day of school, I woke up early and got ready and then waited for Jasmin. Her friend came and we all walked to school together a little before 8am. The cold temperature froze our eyelashes and hair making it look white.
When we arrived at the school we waited in the hallway and I met more of Jasmin’s friends and waited for my school counsellor to come find me. In my Finnish school each grade is broken up into separate classes of students. The students in a class all have the same teacher and subject at the same time and therefore mostly the same schedule besides electives.
My counsellor helped me pick some electives and then called down four of the students from my class. We all walked around the school together and then went to my math class which was almost over. I met my teacher and was introduced to the class before the bell rang. I followed the four girls to their lockers and then we went to gym. Since the temperature was so cold we stayed inside and had gymnastics; the boys and girls are separated in gym at this school.
Once gym was over we walked to their lockers and then to our physics class. I got to sit with some them because there was an open desk. My teacher checked homework and then went over it in Finnish with the students. Half way through the period, we went to lunch leaving our stuff in the classroom. When we finished lunch we went back to the class and my teacher had everyone introduce themselves along with a fact about themselves in English which some were happy to do and others reluctant to use English.
At the end of school I waited by the door for Jasmin and talked to one of the girls I met while waiting for her. We talked about going shopping sometime in the town close by together along with the others. Then I found Jasmin and we walked home. School had ended at 12:45 but some days it’s longer.
We didn’t do much for the rest of the day except I did my physics homework using google translate to understand it.
