Finnsgiving

     Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends. Since my family is on another continent, I had a great day with friends. As turkey is somewhat rare here and most American thanksgiving food is not available at restaurants in Äetsä, we made some great food in Miias house (the redhead). So, thank you friends, thank you family, and thank you rotary for making this possible

 Doctor Who swag- I <3 David Tennant T-shirt, Dalek and Tennant Bibliography.

 'Rolly, polly, oh my god that's delicious'

'Food for all, also Doctor Who on computer infront of us'

Finnish Supermarket

I need to thank my mom for supplying the idea behing this long belated post. Supermarkets such as the K market that is pictured here are not immediately that different from American ones. It is big, has many items and a whole section devoted to candy:

Then you start looking at the brands, things are a little different here. Instead of Oreos (Of which there are none in finland) there are "Dominoes" instead of snickers there is Suklataa baari (Chocolate bar) and most depressingly none of the chocolate is Hershey's. Also things say "American" that are obviously not American

 Trust me, it is not American Dressing!

However, there is also a magical candy bar that transcends everything else. The Tupla bar is a combination of chocolate nougat and a type of nut that is places on a twinky-like piece of cardboard and sealed two to a bag. It is wonderful!

'I am to Noah what the ring was to gollum'

Turku

This post will be about the day trip I took to Turku, Finlands third largest city and one of the coolest ones I have been to so far. The trip there was nice, it was a quiet buss ride with a cool driver. He was playing reggae the whole way there. In Finland, you can take a bus anywhere. The bus system is much more sophisticated than in America and you can have a bus card or pay in cash. In Finland, there are no checks.

 Once I finaly got to the city, I whipped out my camera- so many sights and so little time!  This guy was painted on a building. I was trying to get to the centrum- a big square in the middle of town and got a little lost, no worries though. I just got better picture opportunities.

 First thing to do- Find a Hesburger
it is like Finnish Mcdonalds but better and is the reason Finland is the only country where Mcdonalds can't turn a Profit. Another reason is that in FI, people like to buy products made in Finland, this passive nationalism, I think, is one of the main reasons for Finlands success despite its size

A Big Bell- I am sure there is some significance to the bell- I just don't know it

 A Squirrel- Probably no significance other than cuteness, still worth mentioning though, these are the normal squirrels in FI, they are darker and have diffeent ears than their American brothers

Restaurant called Smileys, was cheap but good. (I ate half a Pizza)

NOOO

It turns out, I am in Finland

FUN. In Helsinki

     This tuesday, me and my host sister hopped on a buss and went all the way to the capital to see the current #1 band on itunes: FUN.

We got there very early and met up with some other exchange students in Helsinki and did a little touristing. Helsinki is very beautiful.
Then we got in line.

About an hour and a hot chocolate later...

 We were in. Here you see me (right) an alaskan named Katy (Center), and My sister, Jenni (Left).

Then the opening band started playing

They are called Walk the Moon and they were amazing. They has a great sound and seemed generally impressed by the amount of enthusiasm that we had, It was their first time in Finland and whey where loving it!

Then the lights got dark and 

FUN!

Tampere "Trecon 7"

Short post: On saturday I went to tempere and there happened to be a comic-con type festival-here are pictures. It cost 15 euros to get in so i didn't but people went outside in their costumes and stuff for pictures and stuff, I was amazed at how mant people I recognized.

Host family rap up!

I wanted to let you know what I've been up to this week!

   I went shooting with Vesa-My host dad. He used to be a shooting instructor so it was all very safe(Mom). We shot at targets they where very far away and I hit the bull eye a couple of times. It was much less scary than I thought it would be! I kept the casing from my first bullet as a souvenir.

I Had blood sausage! The finnish version is rice and cow blood and is a very hearty food. we bought it is a market in Vammala and it came with a wine 

berry jelly

I saw a play! It was in finnish, so I had to guess what was going on but I realized that it all was understandable! I have really learned monta suomea, minä olen tosi hyvän! 

I have made many foods! Mostly baking though. Here is a slide show of food, Enjoy

     I will really miss Yli-Hongisto but they will still be at school and at rotary meetings and I will see them often. 

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Some New Pictures

          It is a lot of fun to take pictures in Finland, everything is so green and my camera works well. The first picture with me in it is from this ancient church we went to while at the Karkku camp. I took the one with all of the signs at Tampere square. Tampere is the second largest city in Finland and is about 45 minutes away from Äetsä. The last picture is from the forest in the backyard of my house.

(I know-A forest in my backyard, how could boredom have even been invented with a forest in your backyard!)

I'm in the newspaper and a pretty sunset!

A very cool opportunity!

Performing at Karkku!

On the last day of the Karkku camp, I performed at the "cozy night"- an international talent show. Almost all of the countries did their national anthems and people did various acts from reading poetry to dancing to a short play. Here is me doing a diddy on ukulele!

A Week In Karkku

Hello World

            I’m posting this from the Karkku camp in Finland! I arrived here after a very pleasant bud ride where some of my fellow North American Rotarians (US, Canada and Mexico) and I met with some of the exchange students from the rest of the world. We had been waiting for the Frankfurt-Helsinki flight and had met in the Frankfurt Airport where we had set up camp with our carry-on luggage. I was very nice to have instant friends in the airport and be able to let my guard down.

            The Chicago-Frankfurt was brutally long! There were good movie selections along the way like the Hunger Games and The Avengers. Luckily, I had an aisle seat so there was room to stretch my legs and no one to hop over to get to the bathroom. Unluckily, however, was the man with a laptop next to me! He must have had the best battery life on his computer because for the entire journey he was flashing me with his laptop screen. Sometime in the middle of the night, he decided to put away his laptop, produced a book, and turned on the overhead light.

            So I am in camp and well, it turns out that the name Sastamala applies to the entire area and my particular part is called Äetsä. I went to sauna. And even cooler, Karkku (Where I am now) is in Sastamala! I am learning a lot of Finnish and will post once I get to my first Host family!