August 6th/Tempere

Today was a big day.

We went to Tempere. It is a city here in Finland, the 3rd biggest city in Finland actually. We left at 1pm and the ride to Tampere was only about 40-45 minutes long. Once we got there we wait about 15-20 minutes for our tour guide to finally show up. Was she came we spent about an hour in half sightseeing with out tour guide on our bus. After we were done with that we were given until 6 to walk and explore Tampere. I went with Amanda, Olivia, Alexis, Amanda and Brandi. Olivia and I needed to use the atm so we could get money out but we didn't know where it was. First we went up to one lady and she didn't speak much Finnish only Spanish so we failed at that, then I went up to a younger lady and she was able to tell us where the ATM (Otto) was. We get there and our cards do not work!!! They don’t have a chip and since theres no chip we get no money. So there was a McDonalds on the corner of where our bus was so we stopped there and got fries (reminded us of home), this is where we spilited it was now Olivia, Amanda, Brandi,and I. We tried to use our Finnish to order butttt that didn’t work out to well. Once we got our fries we went to go sit down and was sat  down next to a lady and her daughter who were in line in front of us. I assume she heard us talk about how their was no more ketchup so she gave us 3 packets and that was supper nice!!! She was really sweet! After we left Mcdonalds we walked around and got ice cream (I had 10 euros with me from when I got starbucks in Amsterdam) then went into a Finnish mall where we tired another Otto which failed again. We then walked around for a good 45 minutes. We were back in the city square where we saw the camp leader and asked her about our cards and she told us where a bank was. So Olivia and I ran about 4 blocks to the bank to exchange our money which only took a few minutes so we had about 15 minutes until we needed to be back.  Which was great! After our trip to Tampere, we had dinner and I went back to the dorm house to take a shower. Then I went to the lobby and imported my pictures since I was here and then wrote my first day blog post. Then Olivia and I went swimming in the lake it was about 60 degree’s and it felt pretty nice haha. We went up to the sauna twice but just to get under the hot water in the shower room then went back down to the lake. At about 9 we came back and she took a shower and I got dressed and headed to the lobby. At 9:30 there was a Tea/ Macreana Party, and they were playing Brazilian and Mexcian music, it was great! I did dance a few times but then at 10:15 as we were about to do the Cupid Shuffle the Rotex shut it down and we had to go to bed. Where I currently am and now Good Night.

-Hailey

August 4th

Today started with being woken up at 7:15 by the Rotex, to get ready for the day and breakfast. I did my hair, brushed my teeth, and got dressed. We did head count then headed out to breakfast, where we were met with the usual breakfast. Which is bread, butter, a type of jam, milk, juice, water, porridge, and cereal. I don’t quite remember what I had.

We were done with breakfast by 8:17 so, we waited in the lobby until it was time to go into the Hall where we would be told today’s activities. So the info for todays activities was at 8:45 and after that we headed to lesson, where we dealt with the alphebet and numbers. Finnish letters are quite hard for me to pronounce since they are nothing like French and German (well the G is prounoced very closely like the German pronunciation of G). We played a few games and had khaki break ofcourse.

After we finished all of our lessons, we had a lecture to go to which today was “School in Finland”. Where we were told about their education system and how their school works and stuff. After the lecture we had dinner which was pretty good tongiht. After dinner a Rotary guy came to talk to us, but it was only like 7 minutes. Following that Olivia and I walked around Karkku and took pictures (which are below). After pictures we came back to get ready for Sauna and then I released I lost my phone and couldn’t find it, I took all my clothes out my suitcase and my room was a mess but luckily I did find it. It was under one of my suitcases -.-

Tonight our evening snack was crepes by the lake. They were pretty good. I talked to more new people. Then at 8:30 it was my groups turn to head to the Sauna! We were in the Sauna from 8:30-9 tonight and of course it was amazinggg. Then I came back and had a shower and went back out to the lake/sauna area and hung out for the last 30 minutes.

Today was great!


-Hailey

August 3rd

Today we had a great alarm, our tutors in our dorm house. We were woken up at 7:15am  where we were given 45 minutes to get ready for the day and for breakfast at 8. For breakfast I had “hall”, where before we went in had to take off our shoes, and had our info talk/lecture about rules and the schedule for the week or day, I don’t remember.

After that we went to our langauge course! One of the practices was we had to grab a paper off the word, it had a picture and the Finnish word on the bottom, and it had start with the first letter of our first name. Mine was Hattu. We then went outside and stood in a circle where we had to say the people’s before us name and Finnish word they had, then say our own name and Finnish word. It was very similar to the icebreaker we did at my CBYX interview. We then went back to class where we listened to a song and started a bit on the lesson. The lesson was mostly grammar but it did help quite a bit. We then had a khaki (coffee) break and went back to class. After we were done with classes for today we had a lecture on the “Finnish way of life”. Then we had a lecture about the Sauna! 

So the best thing that happened today was that I went to the Sauna. Everyone from my group and I all went naked. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but the Sauna is amazing!!! I recommend anyone who hasn’t been to a Sauna before go! It was great!  Like this will be my favorite thing to do here in Finland. Also after we were in the Sauna for 20 minutes we went and jumped in the “lake” (it’s actually a river)  and we were there for about 3-4 minutes then went back to the sauna for the last 5 minutes we had left. 

That’s mostly all I did today! It was really great, and I’m already loving these days at Karkku.

-Hailey

First Day

Okay so I arrived at the airport at about 9:15am along with my Mom, sister, aunt, and baby (not so baby) cousin. I was met there by Susette and her husband then we went and checked my two bags and went up stairs. Also as I was walking into the airport I forgot my Blazer at home so my wonderful Aunt went back and got it for me. Up stairs I met by Ashley and later on John, we talked and took a few photos then my aunt was back an hour later and we took pictures of me with the rotarians and I got a few with my family. 

  The Rotarians left and my family and I went to go eat at the Burger King for lunch. After lunch it was approching 11:45 so I said my final goodbyes, got a few more photos, and finally left to go through TSA. I didn’t think I was going to cry I was too happy and excited to cry. When I reached the sign that only let ticketed passangers pass that point (for TSA) I turned around and started bawling. It came all at once. It had finally hit me that I was leaving. 

  Once I back at my gate i had about 10 minutes until we started boarding and the thought that was going through my head was “What the hell am I doing?” I’m pretty sure that thought came to my mind like 50 million times since then (I later found out that I wasn’t the only one who thought that). I boarded my plane for my flight to Alanta which went smoothly. Once I landed I only had about 50 minutes till my flight left so I was really trying to hurry. I got someone to help me but he only helped me up to a  point then i waited like 7 minutes for someone else but she was at the other end of the airport so I just left because I was at the point where I knew where I was going. I went down the escalator and caught the train it took about 3-4 minutes to get from the A concourse to the F concourse. Then I had to take two different escalators to get to the F floor I needed, then I got there and of course my gate is all the way at the end of the floor. So I ran because I could see there was only about 6 people left and I wouldn't make it if I walked, then I got in line and bam. Their system crashed. It took bout 30 minutes to get it back up which makes me upset that I was such in a hurry. But i knew my luck, that that would happen.

  My flight from Alanata from Amsterdam was okay. The guy next to me was a bit big, the lady in front of me put her seat all the way back, and the man behind me was playing a game most of the flight and he hit the screen that was on the seats really hard, so it felt like he was kicking it. We landed at Amsterdam at about 5:15am and then I met up with Sophia and Ian who I was also on the flight with. We had to go through customs and then as we were walking to our gate, we ran into McKenna and we all walked back to Starbucks where Ian and I got a drink. They spelt my name Kayley haha. We sat down and just chilled and then sometime later Sophia went and got something to eat. Then after Sophia ate we went to our gate where we sat with 4 other rotary exchange students who were also headed to Finland, then slowly more cam and we built up to 10 of us. 

  My flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki was horrible. I got the worst cramps and I felt like i was going to die. But luckly it was only like 2 hours. Landing in Helsinki was great! It felt nice nd so surreal that I was finally in Helsinki after 17 hours of traveling I was there! 

Once we were finally off the plane we waited about 5-10 minutes for our luggage to come out on the carousel. Some of us got the carts because we just had too many bags for us to roll. Once we got our bags we left the terminal (?) and were met by Rotarians and our oldies <3 We were led to this sitting type place were all of the other inbounds who had arrived before us sat and we were able to meet lots of others! After about 30 minutes it was time for us to head to the bus that would take us to Karkku! I sat in the back with Maddie from Canada, McKenna from NY, Sanne from Holland, Sam from Canada, and a few others who I don’t remember. The bus ride from the airport to Karkku was a 2 in a half hour drive so it did suck quite a bit but we tried to make the best out of it.

After talking and naps and such we finally arrived! We got off the bus and headed in to have a little something to eat. After eating we were given our key and took our bags too our room. I was in room 12 with Kellar! We unfourtuntly got the smallest room, we both had four bags, and the room had a bug problem >.<  We sorta kinda unpacked and went back to the lobby where there was wifi! We didn’t have anything planned for the rest of the day so since people were still arriving. I took shower and hung out in the lobby most of the day/night.

-Hailey

0...

Not going to write much today. I need to get some sleep for tomorrow!

Today I said many goodbye's

One of my consolers here in the states, bought me a new suitcase, so now I have two checked bags! She also bought me some more gifts for my host families. I'm very grateful and appericative!

Now I am offically all packed!

-Hailey

1..

Today I got quite a lot done,
     

1. I caught up on sleep
2. Cleaned my room
3. Made triple sure everything was packed 
4. Fixed my pins 
5. Ate my last dinner at home for a year

That pretty much sums up my day but now I'm just waiting until 12 am which is in an hour to say 

"I leave tomorrow for exchange!"

Tomorrow I am seeing one of my friends for the last time and then tomorrow evening I'm going to Busch Gardens with my cousins and aunt until they close. So yay!

Here is a picture of my pins that I promised!

Until tomorrow! 

-Hailey

2...

I UNPACKED everything from my bag because it was 5 lbs over weight (crying on the inside). Instead of using space-bags like I was I just rolled up all my clothes and managed to fit everything in my carry-on and my checked bag and I also took out a lot of clothing :( . I haven't weighed it yet but I shall tomorrow!

Today I also went to Busch Gardens to turn in my uniform and get officially cleared out :,(

I Alsip made new pins! I will post a picture of them tomorrow! They are very cute!

I know I keep saying this but I can't believe it's almost time for me to leave!!

It's still amazes me how far I've gotten and how far I still have. I'm very excited to meet all the other inbounds and go to Karkku and meet my family and start school! Which starts on August 11th and thats super early for me. Considering that I'm used to starting school on the first Tuesday (Tiistai) of September which always follows Labor day.