New address

My new address is Pyydystie 6 45150 Kouvola Finland

Uusi Perhe! (New Family)

So yesterday I moved in with my second host family. And I just have to say, that I am an absolute champ at packing suitcases. I was able to fit all of my stuff into my suitcase and my backpack, and then I also had my saxophone case and music bag. I  feel like to have more then that would just be unneccessary. But that's just me. My new family's last name is Rauta, which I guess also means road. Juha is my host father and Satu is my host mother. Satu works at the bank, and Juha has his own plumbing\electric buisness. My room is his old office, but they fixed up really nice for me and I absolutely love it! It's very cozy, and there's an awesome couch that I'm sitting on right now. New favorite spot. I always make sure to hang up my dreamcatcher immediately after moving in, to bring something familiar.
       Anyways, they are super nice, and they speak really slowly in Finnish and use lots of hand motions so I understand. Hopefully I will be able to speak mostly Finnish at home, so I will learn alot better. I also have two host sisters: Annika and Tiia. Tiia is the same age as me and Annika is two years older. They are are also super nice, and really excited to do stuff with me and help me out. And then there is Rasmus. He is a 3 year old St. Bernard, and he is an absolute beast! Now he's starting to get used to me, but yesterday he was freaking out. But in a good way. He was just really happy to meet me, so he kept jumping on top of me and hooking his legs around my knees to tackle me. But he's pretty awesome. I'll put some pictures up this weekend of the new house and all.
    The new house is on the complete opposite side of town, so to get to school I have to go through these tunnels that go under the railroad tracks. It's also a lot further away then my last house, but I don't really mind. Give me lots of time to think.But I probaby won't be walking to school very often, since I'll be able to get a ride with Annika most days. And soon it will snow, so I don't know if I will be able to ride my bike.
     In two days I go to Lapland! So excited.

Hyvää Thanksgiving!

Moika Kaikki (Hello all),
I hope everyone has\had a wonderful Thanksgiving, or if you're not American, I hope you had a good day:) I spent this Thanksgiving making cookies, and I stayed home watching movies and knitting because I didn't have class. Nothing too exciting to report, just have some regular goings on here in Suomi. Next week is test week, so it is basically a week off for me! I have a russian test tomorow, and I am taking the english and history exams next week.
The weather here is...annoying to say the least. For a few days it snowed a little bit, but now it's just back to rain and sleet. DX Hopefully within the next week it will start to snow more.
Next week I move to a new host family! It is exciting because I get to move and meet new people, but also kind of sad because I have to leave my awesome family I have now. But it's all good. I'm really excited because my next family has a really big dog! I miss dogs. But it will be weird to have to speak Finnish to him...
Also next week I am going to LAPLAND!! For those of you who don't know, Lapland is an area in Northern Finland above the Arctic Circle. It also extends into Norway and Sweden. I will be leaving on Saturday and coming back the next Thursday. This trip is a Rotary sponsored trip for all Finland exchange students. We are staying in a hotel in the town of Muonio, and will be doing all sorts of cool stuff like skiing and reindeer spotting. I will be learning how to snowboard!

In January I will be going to Poland with some students from our school. I guess this is something they do every year with this one school in Poland. They are sister schools, so when we go there, Polish students will come to Kouvola. We will be staying for four days, but at this point I don't know much about it. There is a meeting tomorow, so then I will find out more. I am also making my new schedule tomorow.

Syysloma (Fall Holiday)

So two weeks ago I had my fall break so I didn't have school for a week. It was pretty awesome. I made apple crisp with a friend, and for the first five days I layed around and did absolutely nothing. Then on Wednesday, my host family and I went to the Sokos resort in Juankoski. It is home to the largest underground nordic skiing track! It was really cool, but unfortunately artificial snow has the consistency of fresh powder...Not fun. And I guess it's this major training facility for professional nordic skiiers during the offseason so there were TONS of old skiiers that were better then everybody. And future olympians that were about 9 and kicked everybody's butts.
     The course itself didn't seem that big, but in reality it was about the size of a track, so four times around was a mile. And you didn't just keep going in circles. Everytime you finished a lap, you had to double back onto a different lane. It was good, because it kept it from getting too monotonous.

So, some more information on my current classes. I'm taking 7 classes, but the schedule is different every day so I'm pretty dependent on my written schedule.

                Monday              Tuesday                 Wednesday             Thursday                    Friday


8-9         IC                       German 1                  Math                      German 1               Russian 1
9-10       IC                       German 1                  Math                       German 1              Russian 1
10-11      German 1            AH                           English 8                 Music                    English 8
11-12      Russian 1            AH                           Russian 1                Music                    English 8
12-13     AH                       Math                       Music                      AH                         IC
13-14     Music                  English 8                  IC                            Math                    Math
14-15     Music                  Russian 1                 IC                            English                    AH

Key: IC=International Communications; AH= Ancient History
  And then I have Finnish class on Wednesday.
    My favorite class is Russian. I love the Russian language, and I'm actually able to read it now. Before, I would just stare at the paper thinking " I don't think this is actually a language", Math is as always a struggle. Probably more so just because it's in another language.... English is rather boring, because I'm in the highest class, and it's mostly just nitpicky rules that nobody cares about and don't really matter. International communications is a neat class. But mostly the teacher just talks to me about the way the things are in America. But I don't mind. I actually enjoy telling people about America, because I want to convince people against this negative image they see in the media. The most common thing I say to people is "We're not all like that"! Damn you Jersey Shore....
    Europeans have a hard time comprehending just how massive America is. That's another thing I have to stress alot. America is as big as Europe. The individual countries in Europe are as big as states.
    Everything is still going good. Planning on moving to my second host family in a few weeks. Weather is SUPER foggy. I feel like zombies are going to burst out of the shrubbery at any moment and start attacking people. That or a serial killer. But I've always like this weather....

Finlandia.

Sunday Night News..

So, not much has happened since my last post. Probably the most exciting thing is that I got my hair cut. But that was pretty dramatic I guess. I am proud that I was able to communicate in both Finnish and English, and that I didn't end up bald. :D Tomorow I have to give my presentation at the Rotary meeting, and I can only hope that I don't unwittingly offend everyone. In other news, went to the movies on Thursday; was going to see Rare Exports, a Finnish movie about selling Santa Clause (The trailer has lots of explosions!), but due to technical difficulties, had to go to Friends with Benefits instead. Was pretty good, and I had an awesome time.
FINNISH WORD OF THE DAY:   Perkele = Satan
-Can be used to express great distress or anger
-Is also in old Finnish bibles
Common Example:
"Perkele!!"
Note: When using this word, one must roll the R to the greatest extreme. You must sound like a cat when saying this word, like a true Finn.

Small Request

Can someone tell me what kind of bug this is?

If you read my blog, it would be really nice to know. That way, I could post about things that more people might find interesting, and it would just be nice to know who reads my blog. so if you do read, please subscribe or something. Kiitos!

Just another day in Suomi...

My current reading level...Fml..

For All My Confused American Readers...

Just for clarification:
Erja Mölsä= My host mother; she teaches soldiers how to drive trucks
Vesa Mölsä= My host father; retired
Veikka= My host brother
I attend lukio which is basically Finnish high school
I can barely tell the difference between male and female names sometimes, and some Finnish names are also words so it gets super confusing....

Random Post About Nothing!

My host parents

I am desperate for American slang, since no one here understands me whenever I use words like "fo'shizzle",so I am just going to use as many slang words as I can to get them out of my system. You are all just going to have to deal with it.

'Sup peeps, not much going on this week. Today I went to Rotary and listened to a presentation about Finnish real estate. Was good practice for learning numbers!
    Just got back from my first wind band rehearsal. Nicest people ever. Honestly. My mouth hurts like no other though since I haven't played in so long, but I had SO much fun. I hadn't realized how much I missed playing. I just get this big kick out of working in total harmony with a group of individuals to make something completely breathtaking. I've always been amazed at the balance in a music group. Each individual has such a major role in maintaining the balance, while still putting in a personal touch. And when you get 25 people together who absolutely love what they're doing, of course it's gonna be awesome! I'm playing a tenor sax, and I have no idea who's it is. Some guy just gave it to me at the start of rehearsal (He didn't speak a lick of English), and another guy told me to take it home at the end. Okay...It's kinda old, but it's in really good condition. Everyone was so nice and helpful, it was like I joined some gigantic music family. They were so legitly happy to have me there, and it was cool to get musical instructions in Finnish. Word of the day- Bumpa! (It means Coda in English)
    Tomorow I am trying my hand at ARCHERY with a school friend. Hopefully I won't maim or kill anyone. Also I have language class.
    Wednesday I have language class, and before that I am meeting with my future host sister Tiia for coffee. She doesn't speak much English, but I find that I am getting super good at Charades, so we should be all good,
      Thursday I am going to Movie day in Kuusankoski with some school friends. 3£ movies!
     Friday....I am doing something...But I don't remember what it is...
Anyways, I am busy with stuff.
LOVELOVELOVE

Finnish Grafiti (No, I have no idea what it says...)

Mushrooms...

Community college where I take Finnish lessons

Ice hall

My school

My school...Zoomed

Library

Finnish ATM..Otherwise known as OTTO

   
     

Birthday: Lokakuu kolme

Birthday goodies from family!

 Erja made me a cake (best cake EVER)...

Birthday food

Pics of my house....And stuff in my house....

 Bike "Closet"

 Complex

 My Room!

 My kitchen

..Finnish Keyboard

 Closet

My Awesomely Intense Rotary Blazer!

It's Fall!

Saturday morning...and I was up at 8 am....Wow. I think it must be the weather, my favorite kind of weather- crisp air, strong winds making leaf tornados, and a stunningly blue sky with not a cloud in sight. I have always loved this time of year, have always loved the smell of woodsmoke in the air, and the feeling of the wind on my face and running through my hair. This is mittens weather, and I am so ready to have pink cheeks and a numb nose. This weather always reminds me of drinking warm apple cider, eating apple pie, and going to the pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin for carving; not to mention Friday night football games, making leaf piles, and drinking large amounts of concentrated hot chocolate with friends. This is truly my favorite time of year... Going to go spend the whole day outside and take advantage of this lovely day!

Karkku Language Camp and Our visit to the city of Tampere