Hyvää Joulua//Last blog post of 2015

So this will be 2 post in 1!

Christmas 

Christmas here is celebrated on the 24th whereas back home we celebrate on the 25th, so this Christmas was spent a bit differntly. I woke up on the 24th, ate breakfast, and helped my host family set up a tree, took a shower, then went to Christmas Church. Pretty much the whole town go to the main church in Nurmijärvi for a little Christmas service, I didn't understand much but there was prayer, singing, and preaching. After this we returned home and shortly after left for my host grandparents house in Kalukkala for Christmas dinner and to open presents. Chrismas dinner consited of Turkey, many types of casseroles, meatballs, salad, a type of cream from Greece, and ham. After we ate dinner, we opened presents their tradition is that the youngest goes and gives a present to someone from under the tree one at a time. Both Nea and I handed out presents and recieved our own. I'm so thankful for my host family for being so kind for opening me into their home and giving me gifts for Christmas. It set in that this Christmas will the first of the next 4 or 5 Christmases away from home, so I did get a bit of homesick (okay a lot of homesick) but I enjoyed it and the new experince is worth it.



My last post of 2015.

This was one damn of a year. Soooo much has happened this year! I'm so grateful for Rotary, for my American friends, my Finnish friends, my exchange student friends here in Finland. I was accepted into two differnt exchange programs to two differnt amazing contries! I left my home and family, I came to this new country with two large suitcases and a carryon, and I made a life here I'm a bit afraid to leave. I've been accepted into my dream school, I've been homesick, and I've been the happiest I've ever been. This was my last year as a minor (plus nine days into 2016 but I won't count it really) My past 17 years of life have been great but I have many many years of more life to live, so I won't say  these have been the best years of my life because I've just started living.

Pictures of the day I left at the airport

 









Signing off for 2015,
Hailey

Ruka

On December 17th, at about 4:30pm I started on a 9 in a half hour trip back to Lapland to a place called Ruka!

It was about -20 degrees celsius while we were there (-4 degrees Fahrenheit)

My host sister and her friend had their training, as they are  downhill skier's, in Ruka so my my host family decided to take a trip there. We drove Tuesday evening and arrived a little after 4 am on Wednesday after having car trouble because of the cold. I think by 11:30 everyone was up and a little after I walked a bit around the little ski village in Ruka with my host mom.

That day I reliesed I was sick and of course it happened while I was there. That day I didn't go skiing but just hung out in the apartment. The next day, I woke up with a very sore throat and a runny nose, but I wasn't going to let that ruin my day. At about one I went skiing with my host dad over on the kiddie slopes because after my one day of skiing in Muonio I didn't feel pro-enough to concur the big hills.

The view from the bottom of the hill

I'm so thankful for my host mom who went to the apteeki (pharmacy store) and got me throat lounges and a powder hot water thing which numb my throat. Friday my throat was feeling better but nose was still running like it was running a marathon. At about 12 I went skiing again with my host dad on the hill for basically people who are to advanced for the kiddie hill but not ready for the harder slopes. On the way there since it was on the other side of the mountain my host dad and I rode the lift to the top of the big hill where all the slopes led off from and skied down to the basically big kid hill. I was honestly ready to shat my pants because I was sure I would ski off the hill to my death. I made it down in one piece and skied for about 3 hours and then we took the ski lift back to the top and skied down to the hotel. I had to have a teacher help me because the first slope down was steep and all I could see was death haha.

The lift that dropped off at the 'next step up form kiddie hill' hill

View from the 'next step up from the kiddie hill' hill

 My host dad dropped me off an hour later back on the other side so I could ski a bit more, and I fell so many times, it was funny until I went to the kiddie slopes and fell and sat like five minutes trying to get up. after about 2 in a half hours my host dad skied over to that side and we rode the lift up to go down one slope then skied back to the lift that would take us to the slope that would lead back to the hotel. My host dad had to help me like the teacher did earlier because I was still afraid of going down that part.

My ski card was good night skiing which started at 7:30pm so at about 8 my host sister, her friend, and I went skiing. We did the beginner  trail because only one life was up and the other slopes were way to difficult for me. Low and behold so was the beginner trail from the top of the hill to the bottom. My host sister and her friend helped me learn to ski, the first time went good and the second time when I was trying to turn I skied into my host sister and we both fell. Ahh! I had a fun time.

The next day we packed to leave and left for our 9 1/2 hour trip back to Numijärvi! I had a swell time and enjoyed being able to ski for a second time. Also there were lots of British families, it was so cute to hear the little British kids speak with their accents!

-Hailey

Lapland Trip

One of the three trips Rotary offers is the Lapland Trip, which we ride a bus up to Muonio and spend 3 days up there until coming back on the fourth day. The Lapland trip was from November 28th to December 2nd!

My third host parents took me to Hyvinkää bus station where the bus I would be riding would pick me up. Also at that stop was Kellar, from Ohio, and we met up and talked a bit and got back in our cars since it was so cold. We were waiting for our bus to come for over 30 minutes, it was already 15 minutes late thats when Kellar got a call from the Rotex and we found out that bus we thought wasn't our bus was actually our bus. We boarded the bus to find out we were the first one's and we could choose any seats we want. So like the bad kids we are we chose the back haha!

We made stops to: Hammenlinna, Tampere, Oulu and other cities in between that I don't remember. This with 2 breaks took about 17 hours! The bus ride wasn't too bad, we had a lot of fun, music, and food haha. At one in the morning we did have to change buses because our bus's fifth and sixth gears were broken. Once we reached Muonio at like 10 in the morning we were greeted with snowballs from the other exchange students who had arrived before us and we went to our rooms to put our suit cases down. I shared a room with Maddie (Canada), Mariam (Mexico), and Jana (Germany)! We had the lucky greatness to have the last room at the end of the hall which means there was a lot of walking involved to get to our rooms! Haha!

Day One:

• Arriving in Muonio
• Snowball fights: Not long after we arrived most of us went outside and threw snowballs at each other and sled down the hill, this lasted for 30 to 40 minutes!
• Enjoying the Lappi life: Nothing else was planned for the day so we just caught up with each other as we haven't been together since Karkku. We played games, ate, and

Day Two:

• Skiing in Olos: I had never skied before so I knew it would be interesting! It took me four hours until I could get the handle on it, but unfortunately I stayed on the little baby slope's because I just was not advanced enough for the bigger slopes! Most of us already knew how to sky or snowboard but then you have the rest of us who have never tried. Even if I didn't go all the way to the top or become a pro in the five hours we had, I still had a lot of fun! P.S Ski boots hurt sooo much!

• We went to a local school that evening where different countries did dances or performances to the locals and a few groups of girls also did dances for us. It was nice to show the local community in Muonio the craziness of us exchange students, and I hope we inspired at least one person to become an exchange student. 

Day Three:

• Went to a Reindeer Farm: At this Reindeer farm we learned about Reindeer farmers and the history of this farm. We also learned about how Reindeer was used for warmth  and food and how resourceful the Sami people are of Reindeer. (Sami people are what the people who lived in Lapland are called. Similar to Native Americans.)
• Fed Reindeer: They were so darn cute!! There were so many Svens!
• Went Reindeer Sleighing: In the evening we walked in snow shoes to the Reindeer riding place. We rode reindeer in a little circle, and it was absolutely amazing!
• Went Husky Sleighing: After Reindeer sledding we went Husky sleighing! It was also just as wonderful! And being able to see all the wonderful dogs! At this Husky farm (?) They had over 400 dogs, there were so many! They were all so cute also!
• Had Reindeer for dinner: That night we had Reindeer for dinner! It didn't taste much differently then other meat. I'm so sorry Sven!
• Had a party that night since it would be the last time we are all together since our oldies leave next month: At 6:30 we had an evening program, where Rotex did some things, a Sami man came and sung us orignal songs and chants, and then our oldies sung us a few songs and then from 8 to 12 we partied!

Day Four:

• Went to the North Pole in Rovaniemi: We left the hotel at 9, I believe, and left for Rovaniemi! It was a 3 hour bus ride until we got there. In Rovaniemi we stopped at Santa's Village aka The North Pole, and were given about 2 hours to explore! It wasn't as magical as I hoped it would be, it was very commercialised and not very spectacular. But I did get my passport stamped with the Artic Circle stamp!
• Saw Santa
• Left from Lapland to come home (Got home the next day at 5 in the morning)

This is a summary of my Lapland trip! I had so much fun! Thank you to everyone who helped make it so much fun and to my lovely oldies who will be gone soon. Also thank you too Lee and Bill from my district back home for helping me go on this amazing trip!

Here is a short video of pictures a few video's from Lapland! Not all these pictures are mine so thank you Neeky, Marie, and Mariam <3

Click here to see the video!

-Hailey

Thanksgiving

This post is a bit overdue but I've been in Lapland on my Lapland trip (a post will soon come about that)!

Obviously they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so I brought a bit of America to Finland on the 26th. I'm such a bad cook, I was really scared about how everything would turn out! I made Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, tourtiere, and devilled eggs.

I made the pie's on Wednesday and woke up at 8 on Thursday to start my turkey. I had to watch a video on Youtube on how to make the turkey since I've never made one before so it took me an hour to prep it compared to the supposed to be time of 20 minutes. I then made mashed potatoes, devilled devilled eggs, and then lastly the mashed potatoes. I was cooking from 8 to about 5:30 with of course a bit of free time in between. Cooking wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I didn't have the typical appetite I usually had at Thanksgiving.

At 7pm my friends (Veera, Neea, Julia, Vera, and Emmi) and also my host grandparents came over to celebrate Thanksgiving with me! They were so sweet, they brought me boxes of chocolate and ate the food I cooked haha. I also made little hand Turkeys similar to the one's we made in elementary school. This isn't a very good post but I had such a good time! I'm so thankful of getting to have this experience and being able to spend it with four wonderful families and friends!

Sata Päivää Suomessa

Tänään on minun sadas päiväni Suomessa!! Se ei tuntuu, se tuntuu ikään kuin minä olen vain ollut tässä varten (like) kaksi viikoa. Minun suomi on huono ja se voi  surullinen ajoittain mutta minä olen yrittää :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Translation:

Today is mine 100th day in Finland!! I do not feel as if it has been that long, I feel as if it's been maybe 2 weeks. My Finnish is bad and it is upsetting though I am trying :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I was applying to colleges and trying to find colleges here in Europe to attend, I saw many uni's in some countries asking for a IB diploma or I would need a year or two of college before being able to transfer. There is an IB program at Hampton (high school) and I was in 8th grade and didn't know much about this IB thing, so I disregarded applying. Then 9th grade rolls around I learn more and wished I apply. If I had gone to Hampton so I could (hopefully) get an IB diploma, I know my life would be very different then it is right now. The summer of going into my 10th grade year is when I knew I wanted to do a high school exchange, I don't really know what pushed me to do it but it was something I knew I had to do. All summer I waited for the apps for the government exchange programs to come out I also spent my summer months finding a Rotary club to sponsor me. When school started on the first day I was really hoping that we would have an exchange student but my school is so diverse and so many people you would never be able to tell. Going to lunch that day a friend of mine told me we do have an exchange student and that one of the girls on the field hockey team is hosting her. I was quite happy, I would actually meet an exchange student for the first time. I believe meeting Carina and becoming friends with her, really made me relies that I truly wanted to be an exchange student. I knew what people would call a far land fantasy wasn't actually one, and exchange is reailty. If I had gone to Hampton, I wouldn't have been at Bethel. I know that my dream of becoming an exchange student would have died off and I would not be where I am today, I would not be writing this post telling you that I have been away from the United States for 100 days, I would not be able to write that little three sentences in Finnish, I wouldn't be myself.


There's no moral to this story nothing more than a story I am telling you that I myself thought about recently. I really want everyone who has every thought of becoming an exchange student, don't let that flame inside of you perish.

Here's somethings that I have learned while being here

• Don't compare your exchange to others who you are on exchange with
• I did this quite a lot in the beginning and still find myself doing it at times and often have to stop myself. Everyone's exchange will be different, there's no need to compare their's with yours. Your exchange is what you make it.
• Try everything
• I've had times at school when I really questioned what I was about to eat and 85% of time I enjoyed it and other times, all I can say is that I'm glad I tried it
• Love your oldies!
• There's not much to say because you should seriously cherish the time with them because before you know it, it's January (or June/July if you arrive in January) and you're going to miss them like crazy
• Have fun
• This is supposed to be one of the best things in your life, have fun!! Though don't break the D's!

I remember in elementary school getting to the 100 day's mark was a fun time and usually included activities, but it was always fun. Getting to my 100th day mark here in Finland, it amazes me how fast time actually does fly. I still lets say have over 200 more days left but making it to the 100th day mark is still a reason to celebrate.

The view from out the window in the living room

Here's a throwback to Orientation in March with all the Rotary exchange student's from Virginia!

Also here are the links to the blogs of the other two wonderful outbounds from my district!

Abby, is currently in Denmark: http://abbieindenmark.blogspot.com/

Brianna, is currently in Chile: http://chileanbrianna.weebly.com/

-Hailey

It's Going Down, I'm Yelling Timber

The reason my title of this blog is lyrics from a Pitbll featuring Ke$ha song is that I am experiencing the downward of my curve of my exchange


Something you are told before you leave for exchange is the exchange student cycle:

This represents the lows and highs that, chances are, we will feel during exchange. I am feeling that I have come down from honeymoon and I am currently at the Conflict/Culture Shock stage. Basically I am at the low of the low right now. It's not that I'm not happy it's just there are time when I really truly miss being home, being with my friends, working, driving, and such.

Last night Fel asked us (for a friend)how we felt now here in Finland and Perry, an American here on exchange who is in Estonia said this and this just summarizes the feelings I am currently going through:

"I feel I'm not myself anymore. Both for better and worse.
I feel sick some days and I feel alone some days but it's so addicting to feel new and different, it's amazing.
I feel like a child
I feel like I can't do anything
I feel like nothing is holding me back
I know I could just go somewhere in this country and be back by dinner, yet I don't know what to do/feel confident enough
I feel like I'm in a dream, but one that I could get hurt in
I feel special, yet so insignificant
I feel like I need a hug but no, lost the desire for one. And plus that's not the culture
I feel like I have friends, but they arn't real friends
I feel so patriotic
I feel like I have no home
I feel cold and on my own
Yet then I see I have true friends and feel like I'm not alone
I feel like I could cry every day
I feel like I have no tears
I feel like I'm fucking up everything
I know I'm fucking everything up
Yet I feel like it doesn't matter
Yet I know this year is the most important thing to my life
I just feel different
Simple as that"


This past month has been great overall. I've changed families, I've gotten accepted to the college of my dreams, I explored a bit more of Finland, I've had Starbucks, I've grown.

Emmi, I, and Tuuli the day I changed families

Olivia and I

Emmi and I

Neea, Nora, and Veera

Emmi, I, and Neea

Helsinki Cathedral

My 2nd Host Family and I

Halloween isn't very much celebrated here so Charline and I went to Helsinki walked around a bit and went to a party at Hard Rock Cafe. I did get a bit homesick during this time, as nothing was festive there were no Halloween decerations nor any Halloween movies playing during October. It was just more or less a regular day.

This upcoming month includes Thanksgiving and my Rotary Trip to Lapland, I am very excited for these things but I know also that I will feel a bit homesick on Thanksgiving. 

Until next time, 

Hailey