First Host Family

      So I reliesed that I never wrote about my first host family! I've known who they were for almost two months now, I just never got around to writing a blog post. Whoops!

     My 1st host family are the Valkama's! They live in Rajamäki which is like a county for Nurmijarvi.

 I will have 4 host siblings in my first family! My host siblings are; Tuuli who is the oldest and she is currently going to uni in Helsinki, Juusi who is the 2nd oldest, he just graduated from high school, Ville who is 13 and my younger host sister Emmi! 

     I ONLY HAVE 42 DAYS LEFT!!! I can't wait for language camp and to be with and meet all of the other inbounds! I'm ready for the crazy memorable days, the long fun nights, the cold winters where it's so cold I will be missing the humid Virginia weather. 

     

     I saw this on Tumblr and it's accurate as hell. It's.....

The Daily Thoughts of a Future Exchange Student

Me:  Holy shit I'm going to another country for a year

Me: What will it be like meeting my host family...

Me:Oh my gosh what if my host family doesn't like me?!

Me:*brushing teeth* *squeals* *jumps up and down* OMG IM GOING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY FOR A YEAR, I'M SO EXCITED, YAY

Me:What the heck did I do, I'm leaving for a year.. Oh my gosh *initiate all the what if questions*

Me:What will school be like... *nervous/ excited emotions flow through*

Me:What will the language barrier be like? How will we communicate? Oh my gosh

Me:*giggles randomly out of the blue at least once every hour* HAHAA OH MY GOSH A NEW CULTURE, LANGUAGE, COUNTRY, FOOD, WAY OF LIFE.. AH SO EXCITING

Me:I can't wait for the challenge one I've never experienced before. Bring it on.

• 
  

This pretty much sums up my life right now haha

Until next time,
Hailey

50 Päivä

Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.

I only have 50 days left and I feel no where near ready. I still have so much to get done!!

So recently on Sunday, June 7th I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends as she heads back to Finland. Vilma is such an amazing friend and I miss her so muchhh :( Now waiting until August so I can finally see her again!

It’s crazy how close you can get to someone in such a short amount of time.

SINCE IT’S BEEN FOREVER SINCE I LAST UPDATED…

I found out I will have four host families!!! Which is one more then normal but thats one more family I get to have who will be there for me when I need them and one more family to help me with my horrible Finnish. Haha!

And on to my Finnish. I’m using the app called Word Dive, it’s helping me greatly with my Finnish(which is still sucky but heyy give a girl a break). Though my pronunciation is shaky I’m getting use to the Finnish language.

Speaking of Finnish people, this past weekend I played in the Virginia Beach sand soccer tournament. On the first day, Saturday, my mom and I were walking down the Boardwalk and as we were about 30 feet away? (I’m not good with distance) I saw what I thought was a YFU sign with their symbol but my mom was like no I think that is UNC (they had a UNC tent) but I was sure it was YFU. As we got closer, sure enough it was a YFU tent set up. I went up and talked to one of the counselors I believe and told her I’m headed to Finland (but with Rotary ^.^ haha!) She told me that there was a Finnish girl there playing on the YFU exchange student team. Of course me all excited, I met the Finnish girl, her name is Anna and she lives outside Helsinki so I will definitely be seeing her while I’m over there! (By the way my team was undefeated and 1st in our group which meant we moved on to the semifinals but unfortunately we lost but hey I glad we made it that far :) )

It still hits me hard that I’m leaving in only 50 days. I haven’t even applied for my residence permit yet! It seems as though no one has my guarantee forms, so I can’t even submit the application for it which is making me crazy!! So until I get my residence permit it means that I can’t book my ticket. There’s so much going on I’m worried I won’t be able to goo!

but 50 days.

50 days left in America

50 days left with my family and friends

50 days left till I board the plane that will take me halfway across the world for 11 months

it’s scary and dunting but also exciting and enthralling

Here’s to the last 50 days!

Hailey

Decisions

   

Recently in the past week I've had to make some hard decisions on where my life will go.

    On April 6, 2015 at 4:46 pm I received an email from YES Abroad telling me that I had been selected as a finalist and that I would be headed to the Philippines! I was beyond ecstatic because I didn't feel that my interview was amazing. What I think helped me reach finalist was my amazing group! So not counting Bethany as no one has contact with her, everyone in my group became a finalist!

Georgie- Oman

Natalie- Philippines 

(She got accepted into NSLIY China and took that)

Tlell- Turkey

Bethany- (Ahh no one knows!)

    So over spring break I had to really make a tough decision on whether I wanted to go to Finland as planned or take this amazing scholarship to the Philippines. Sunday night I wrote my email to YES abroad to let them know I was declining the scholarship. It was hard for me because holy shit I was awarded a prestigious scholarship! But I think I'm a better fit for Finland!

    I don't have much more news other then next year to ensure I graduate on time I'm taking US Government and English 12 online and (still have to hear from my Finnish school) Physic's at my Finnish school.

Until next time!

Hailey

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Home=Nurmijärvi

 I have some exciting news! I know where in Finland I will be living, what school I will attend and one of my host families!

The amount of happiness inside me is crazy! Okay so now on to the good stuff! 

Nurmijärvi, Finland!!!!

So that little red spec is my town! I've fallen in love with Nurmijärvi and I can't wait till August 8th to call it home! It gorgeous and it's only 30 minutes away from Helsinki!! 

Nurmijärven Yhteiskoulu!!

Here is my wonderful school! I can only imagine (and hope) of all the wonderful friends I will make while I am there!! I can already tell that I will love it!

Host Family!!!!

Yesterday (3/29/2015) I received an email from my host family!!!! I wasn't expecting it! I thought I had been forgotten about! Haha! So this is the house of one of my host families! It's not certain that they will be my first host family but they are definitely a host family of mine! They're house is so beautiful! They seem like wonderful people! I will have three older host siblings they are 23 (twins) and 17! Annika is the 17 year old (she is older then me by like 2 days! Haha!) she will be spending the year in Florida! Oh the warmth she will have while I'm freezing my butt off!

As of right now I have 124 (or 123) days till I leave the US to head off on my amazing year! I have language camp from the 2nd of August till the 8th then I will finally meet my host family and head off to Nurmijärvi!


This is major news to my life and I'm so thankful for Rotary for giving me this opportunity!

Hailey

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Email: hakoger1998@gmail.com

IT'S BEEN FOREVER!

       Okay, so the last time I updated was like 50 years ago February 15th! Which was over a month ago! I'm so sorry ^.^

Well this past month quit a lot has gone on...

February 27th 

        I was notified that I'm a semi finalist for YES! This makes me quite happy because I wasn't selected as a semi-finalist for CBYX and I got selected for YES, they only choose 110 semi-finalist for 65 finalist spots. YES is my backup for Rotary, so if something bad happens and I am unable to go with Rotary and I am offered to be a finalist with YES then I will go with YES :)

March 7th

        I had my outbound orientation!!! I got to meet all of the other Rotary exchange students from Virginia which there is about 7 of us and I also met the other two outbounds from my district! Though no one else is going to Finland, I still had a blast! I also FINALLY met Abby!! (I know I already said I met her but I finally met her! 

March 16th 

          I attended my sponsor club's meeting! I spoke and told them about myself and my exchange. They were all super nice and I can't believe I have such a wonderful club! Also a few weeks ago my club donated $1,000 to my gofundme fundraiser (which if you click here you can also go donate) I had an amazing time!

March 20

(I know this is tomorrow but hey)

         Tomorrow I leave for my interview with YES! All 110 semi-finalist come to Chevy Chase where we'll be until Sunday and have interviews and workshops and also lots of free time! I'm pretty excited that I hopefully have a French interview! I can't wait ^^

Hopefully soon I'll be hearing from my host family that I'm still waiting for!!! 

-Hailey

Follow me on social media:

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Email: hakoger1998@gmail.com

Sain Tietää Vyöhykkeeni!

  ^^ Finnish is so cool thanks, Vilma for the translation^^

Isn't she so cuteeeee! Hahah!

Anywho! What my title means in English is..........

                               
                                                   I HAVE MY DISTRICT!!

I'll be heading to district 1420!

Helsinki is located in my district!! So I could be placed in/near Helsinki! Also my district is also in Estonia so I do have the chance of being placed in Estonia, which would be cool also :)

I'm so glad to have my district! I got it a lot earlier then I expected, so I was caught off guard this morning when I checked my email and saw it there!

"Exchange is change. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colorful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most if all constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, house, school, simply everything." (Vilma picked this out for me <3)

-Hailey

Follow me on social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hailieghbugg

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hailey.koger1

Email: hakoger1998@gmail.com

And My Country Is.....

FINLAND!!!  I got my country notification tonight! I'm so excited! In 5 months I will be heading to Finland, and I'm honestly so grateful for this opportunity! I want to thank my sponsor club; the Yorktown Rotary Club and everyone in my district who helped me!

-Hailey