Ellie's Exchange!

Marie :)

2010-07-01T18:28:00.002+03:00

Many of you have heard me talk about my friend Marie. Marie (my German) went to Raision Lukio with me all year and became one of my best friends. Today I had to say goodbye to her because tomorrow she gets on a plane and heads back to Germany. I just wanted to share with you guys some of the great memories we have together and why I'll miss this crazy girl so much. Love you Marie!

EUROTOUR!

2010-06-26T15:52:00.000+03:00

So Eurotour is over. Though I have slept a grand total of 30 hours in the past 2 days, I have still not fully recovered! The trip was incredible. 86 exchange students, 4 rotex, 2 rotarians, 2 buses, 9 countries, 18 nights, 12 different hotel rooms... total whirlwind.

During the trip, I made a scrapbook and wrote about all of the happenings. I will put pictures in it when I get home and I hope many of you will get the chance to see it. But, for now, I will use my journal entries to recount the trip to you! Word for word... Here it goes:

Sunday June 6- DAY 1
As per Rotary orders, we arrived at the Viking Line Terminal at 1pm for "check-in". After writing down our names and handing over a copy of our passport, we proceeded to wait until 7pm before doing anything else. We played cards and chatted and grew increasingly more anxious. At 7pm we put our luggage on the buses and then waited 1 hour more before boarding "The Isabella". In total, our group is about 90 people including 4 rotex and 2 Rotarians. We have 2 (very full) tour buses.
Our boat set sail for Stockholm at 9pm. We finally got to eat a great buffet-style dinner after waiting all day at the terminal. The evening was fairly uneventful aside from some dancing and the least bit of scandal.

Monday June 7- DAY 2
At 7am we arrived in Sweden. We got on our buses which ended up being assigned by Rotary. Driving through Stockholm was gorgeous. There was water everywhere and large boats and old European buildings. It was also a flag day, so all of the flags were out. Stockholm is much bigger than any city in Finland, and it was so nice to see. As soon as we got out of the city it was green rolling fields and trees. For hours. Granted, it was lovely, but it was also far from mesmerizing. We were all also particularly tired. Aside from 2 short rest stops (including a small candy factory), our next stop was lunch at 3pm. Long haul on the bus.
After our late lunch we made our way to the ferry stop. The ferry trip was only 15 minutes. There is also a bridge from Sweden to Denmark we could've driven. At the the ferry station there was a set of international flags that was really cool. It was also raining- small annoyance. We got tou our hotels at 6pm and had 1 hour before leaving for the evening. At 7pm we got our tickets and departed to Tivoli. Unfortunately the rides and such were extra cost, so we walked through and took lots of pictures. It's gorgeous. The whole place is prettily lit and so colorful with all the flowers. There is also a Hard Rock Cafe and a Build a Bear! On our way out we spoke to the guy working at the gate. He was probably in his 60s and very chipper. He started talking to us. He's travelled all over the world and also speaks Spanish. He thinks Helsinki is kind of boring and Finns are alcoholics! He was very nice though. It was a fun interaction because that wouldn't really happen in Finland. Apparently Denmark is one of the happiest countries! It has been lovely so far. Very looking forward to sightseeing in Copenhagen tomorrow!

(Oh my goodness my English is falling apart!!! That last sentence is appalling...)

Tuesday June 8- DAY 3
In the morning we took a sight seeing tour of Copenhagen. The city is beautiful. There are so many bicycles! There are bike lanes and bike boxes just like Portland. I love all the old buildings and the sea side. There are statues everywhere and we got to see the palaces. There is also an awesome new opera house. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see The Little Mermaid. She is currently at the World Expo in China. Usually there was a live video feed from the exhibit, but it was temporarily down. We did get to see Hans Christian Anderson's house however. After our tour we stopped in the center of Copenhagen for 2 hourse to get lunch, visit the walking street, and buy souvenirs. WE found a lovely bakery with sandwiches and pastries. It was a great lunch! From Copenhagen we travelled to Bremen. It took all afternoon on the bus and the ferry. After checking into the hotel and eating dinner, we went for a short walk. The particular area we were in was nothing special. There wasn't much to see or do, but we did have one funny interaction. A woman approached us and began speaking German. I said "sorry, English". She shook her head and continued in German. I said English again and she asked (in German) if we were German. I believe I said "Nein Deutch" or something to that effect. That was our Bremen experience.

Wednesday June 9- DAY 4
We left Bremen early and set out for the Netherlands. The scenery on the drive was minimal- big open fields. And impossibly flat. We stopped for 1 hour at a clog and cheese factory and we all felt so stereotypical touristy to be visiting a clog and cheese factory in Holland. It was a neat little farm place and fun to see. WE then moved on to Volendam where we had 2 hourse to walk around and souvenir shop. It was a lovely little town completely filled with tourists. We also ate lunch/dinner at a hotel there. Afterwards we drove into Amsterdam. WE got to take a waterbus tour that I quite enjoyed. Unfortunately it was raining quite a bit, but we learned a lot and I took a ton of awesome pictures. Then we visited the Anne Frank Museum House. It's a beautiful exhibit and I really enjoyed it. That was the full extent of our time in Amsterdam. For some reason they don't trust 90 high schoolers in Amsterdam... such a mystery. Our hotel was an hour outside the center. So far everything has gone well and no one has gotten into trouble. Tomorrow night we arrive in Paris! So excited.

Thursday June 10- DAY 5
Lots more driving. I think we're through most of the big drives for now at least. Our only real stop today was Brussels. It's a gorgeous city of course. IT's a great mix of modern and European old style and history. We did some nice sight seeing on our own that included a chocolate shop, meeting some tourists from Louisiana (with major southern accents!!) and some waffles of course. When in Belgium... At night we arrived in our hotel in Paris. Haven't seen much yet, but we will soon!

Friday June 11- Saturday June 12- DAYS 6&7
Friday morning we boarded our buses and set out for Versailles. I wish we could've spent more time there because it was so lovely. All the charms and romanticism without the noise and traffic. We went and took a tour through the palace. Goodness gracious the place is massive. The outside is clean and golden. It was amazing. Inside we got to tour the King and Queen's quarters. Most of the rooms looked very similar, but there was a lot of history to go with it. The place was packed full of people in every corner of the rooms. The best part for me was the gardens and gountains out back. They're huge and perfectly maintained. It was also beautiful weather so it was all great. We even met some Americans! (Of course). We then ate lunch and did a bus sight seeing tour of Paris. Of course we visited all the major sight ans heard their histories, but we didn't get to get out and take pictures because there was so much traffic! Our tour finished at the Eiffel Tower wehre we were given our tickets to go up to the top. We took the elevators up and the view was absolutely incredible. You can see all of Paris. On our way up we were talking about how cute it would be to see a marriage proposal and then we did! Oh goodness. One of the coolest things at the top in my opinion was that they had major world cities set up around the room with the exact distance to them listed. I really liked that. After we came down, I met an American (Californian) boy who was finishing his Rotary exchange in France. It was fun. After the Eiffel Tower, Lian and I joined the Mexican girls for a bit of sight seeing. We did a lot of walking, but we also got Starbucks! (First time in 8 months!). We also met some boys from West Point. It's amazing the people you meet when you leave Finland!
Saturday was our entirely free day in Paris. Lian and I picked a random church on the map between our hotels where we could meet. After walking in a lovely circle, I arrived at the church 20 minutes late. It was much more obscure than the map made it seem. Fortunately Lian arrived 20 minutes later and our day began. WE walked tons, visited Notre Dame, and then ate lunch in a cafe. Afterwards we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower to start our water bus tour. Though we had already seen everything, it was really nice to be on the boat and hear more about the sights and history. I love all the old bridges crossing the river. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous. We then made our way to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees. There were so many people there and so many expensive shops, but it was great to see. We spent most of the evening in and out of shops. We also ate some crepes of course (with Nutella and banana!). I'm exhausted now afterwards, but Paris is great. J'adore!

Sunday June 13- DAY 8
Today we left Paris early and started for Southern France. We spent the entire day on the bus until late afternoon when we arrived at the Chartreuse liqeur factory. We got a tour and watched a video. The factory is run my monks. Southern France is so pretty with all of the nature, mountains, and small villages. There was also a thunderstorm this evening. It's been decently warm but quite rainy.

Monday June 14- DAY 9
Today was another long day on the bus. Fortunately, it was through the Alps and Southern France so there was lovely scenery. WE ate lunch in Sisterone- a picturesque village situated perfectly in the Alps. The Tour de France will pass thorugh there on July 15th so the whole town was decked with flags. (mini Tour de France jerseys- Green, white, yellow, red polka dots) From there we drove to Grasse where we visited the Fragonard perfume factory. It was lovely and they sell perfume wholesale :) Our final stop was at our hotel in Cannes. We ate dinner and then walked to the beach. It wasn't super hot or big, but we had fun none the less.

Tuesday June 15- DAY 10
Today we were in Monaco and Nice. Driving to Monaco was beautiful. We drove through the mountains overlooking the Mediterranean. We saw the tomb of Grace Kelly, the changing of the guard, and the Grand Prix track. In Nice we had free time to go shopping and we also visited a candy factory. It was still rainy so we spent the evening in the hotel.

Wednesday June 16- DAY 11
Wednesday may have been our biggest day of driving yet. We left the hotel early and drove all the way from Nice to Verona- almost 500km. We had a very short time in Verona, but we managed to walk around and find the Romeo and Juliet balcony. From Verona it was another 160km to our destination- Lido di Jesolo in the North-East corner of Italy. We got settled in to our hotel and then visited the beach for a bit. Our hotel was right across the street from a gorgeous beach covered in sun-bathing chairs.

Thursday June 17- DAY 12
In the morning we boarded a boat and set out for Venice. In Venice we had about 4 hours of free time before our Gondola ride. We did some souvenir shopping and ate gelato :) It was interesting that all the tourist shops sold handmade glass in addition to the traditional masks. As soon as we went back for our gondola ride, it started raining, but it was warm enough to still be enjoyable. We spent the evening at a 16+ club together.

Friday June 18- DAY 13
FREE BEACH DAY

Saturday June 19- DAY 14
Today was another big day of driving because we were in the mountains. The tiny roads are not suited to accommodate tour buses. When we arrived at the hotel our hike was postponed due to inclimate weather, but all of us were happy to nap for a bit anyway. Later in the afternoon we had our hike in the gorgeous Italian Alps before returning to our remote hotel for dinner.

Sunday June 20- DAY 15
In the morning we left the Alps and set out for Austria. It started snowing coming out of the Alps and we were all appalled. Fortunately in Innsbruck it was just drizzling. We found a pizza restaurant to have lunch and got a few souvenirs before continuing our trip to Germany. WE ate a traditional Bavarian dinner complete with entertainment. After dinner we drove to Nürnberg where we spent the night.

Monday June 21- DAY 16
In the morning we visited a WWII Museum in Nürnberg. We only had 2 hours and I didn't get to see everything. The museum was very well done and very interesting with a complete audioguide tour. After the museum we drove to Berlin with a short stop for late lunch. We spent our last night in a hotel together hanging out. There was also a massive party in the hallways.

Tuedsay June 22- DAY 17
Today was the last day of the tour. We started with a guided bus tour of Berlin where we saw many of the important political complexes and the remaining old buildings and museums. We also saw a very cool Holocaust memorial designed by an American. It is an entire city block of different sized concrete blocks- it's fascinating. AFter the tour we went to a restaurant where I met Thilo. We had lunch together and then walked all over Berlin and talked. It was a lot of fun. At the end of free time we got back ont he buses and drove to Travemünde where we boarded the boat.

Wednesday-Thursday June 23-24- DAY 18-19
We spent Tuesday night on the boat. On Wednesday morning we had breakfast and lunch, passed out pins and cards, and signed many flags and books. In the afternoon we had the traditional oldie/newbie ceremony. We passed on all of the gifts and sang "Save Tonight" and "Good Riddance" with a lot of crying and hugging. WE ate dinner together before beginning the heavy partying and a very fun night. In the morning we said goodbye and boarded our buses home.

WHOO... Goodness gracious that was a lot of typing. I will update a bit more when I get around to posting pictures. I apologize for my poor English and am certainly grateful for the automatic spell-check on my computer. I also notice that my posts get less detailed as the trip continued due to my monumental lack of sleep. Anyway, I hope this gives you some insight into the amazing 3 weeks I just spent on EUROTOUR 10. The trip was a once in a lifetime experience with people who share a very special bond. I'm so glad I got the opportunity.

18 DAYS...
Love, Ellie

Inspiration

2010-06-04T23:30:00.000+03:00

I was about to write about Finnish sauna, but then I was struck by a much more interesting topic. My source of inspiration? A fellow Finland Rotary exchanger from Mexico, Mavis. On Facebook she wrote:
"One august afternoon, I left on an airport the most important things I own, my parents, my sisters, my friends, my country, my culture and traditions, my language, but I didn’t realize that I was carrying them with me all time; I left all I knew, all I could understand, all I love, to pursuit an adventure, a lifetime opportunity; now, I’m afraid, I have to face the same, leave on an airport my new parents, my new sisters and brothers, my friends, my new country, my new culture and traditions, my language ( ok, still working on that ), and that’s even harder to handle."

Unless you've been an exchange student, the feeling is virtually impossible to fully understand. The root of the whole thing is a dream: see the world and meet new people, learn more about other cultures, learn more about yourself, prove you can... it can be anything. But I'll tell you one thing for sure, being an exchange student takes guts. Like Mavis said, you leave the most important things you have in an airport. I don't think anyone leaves thinking they have the important stuff in their suitcase. You step onto a plane with no clue what your getting yourself into, praying you don't lose your passport. Praying you make your connecting flight and your host family's at the airport to get you, and feeling like a very small person in the world.

I thought I knew what it was going to be like before I left. There's no way anyone can equip you for the year. It is so much more wonderful and so much more terrible than anyone can tell you. There are days you feel on top of the entire world and days you can't face the thought of getting out of bed. Days all you want is that plane ticket home and days you can't bear the thought of leaving. In the end though, there is no doubt the experience is fantastic. But it always feels like the year could never end.

On Wednesday, a lady from the newspaper came to talk to me about being an exchange student. She asked me what were the biggest things that had changed about myself. For me, and I think for most exchange students, the biggest thing is appreciation. I appreciate my entire life so much more now. I appreciate my mother foremost. Without her I would not have survived this year. I appreciate my dad and Reed and my whole family life. I appreciate St. Mary's, and I definitely didn't see that coming. I appreciate my friends and rowing. I appreciate America for goodness sakes! In talking to other exchange students, we all say these same things. In talking to Marie (my German buddy <3 ) a while ago, she said that now she is proud of Germany, and before that's something she couldn't really say. Going away for a year gives you a whole new perspective on everything in life.

I love what Mavis says about carrying things with you the whole time, and it's so true. You can feel like it gets washed out, but you hold who you are with you. At risk of sounding cheesy, you can't take the Oken or the America out of me. That's there to stay wherever I go in life.

Now I have 40 days left in Finland. It hasn't hit me yet. I still don't really even believe I'll be on a boat to Sweden about to start Eurotour in 46 hours... I don't think the fact that my year is ending will hit until I get back from Eurotour or start to see my friends off at the airport. On one hand, I cannot wait to see my friends and family again. (Reed's already got dibs on the first hug). On the other hand, I can't imagine this experience really being over.

Today at school I was talking to Juho (a Finn who went on Rotary exchange to Canada last year). He said that being home is weird for about the first two months. He said it's about like when you started your exchange, but you're not expecting it to be like that back in your own country. The other thing he mentioned was that for a while you feel like everyone else has changed and then you finally realize that it's just you.

I plan on going on Eurotour and enjoying every minute of it before coming back to Finland to spend my last 3 weeks here. It'll be sad to say goodbye to all of the other exchange students that have had so much to do with my year here. We share something more than most friends because we've been together as family. Finally on July 14th I'll board that plane home to Portland and I'll leave a life behind forever. When I left Portland on October 30th, I knew I'd be returning to everything I left. When I leave Finland, I will never be back here in the same capacity again.

I believe this has been my most inspired blog post yet. I hope that you can make some sense of my thoughts and maybe understand an exchange student a little bit better. And maybe in conclusion, take a moment to be grateful for something in your life. It feels like the ending of Winnie the Pooh: "And so all good things must come to an end..." :)

Well everyone, take care. Lots of love from Finland
xx Ellie

100 chocolate chip cookies later...

2010-06-03T14:30:00.000+03:00

Hey folks! I've been busy busy around here. School officially ends tomorrow with exam back day and Saturday is the graduation celebration. There's been lots to do, but I'm afraid I have very little to show for myself. I've been to the beach on 3 separate occasions, done a little summer shopping for Eurotour, been to the movie theater with a couple different people, made carrot cake... fairly mundane things to be keeping me busy, but I've been having fun!

Today especially has been super busy! Though it's only 2 pm now. I had my biology exam this morning, then I went to the grocery store to get ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. My lovely mother sent me a massive bag of chocolate chips to gift upon my teachers for the end of the school year. I figured with the chocolate chips I had, I could easily make the recipe on the bag time 2 1/2. I was right... I certainly had enough chocolate chips. Word to the wise however... unless you have a MASSIVE Kitchenaid, make the recipe 2 1/2 times instead of making 2 1/2 times the recipe once. The bowl I used was barely big enough and the hand mixer tired very quickly...

In any event, I managed to make 100 cookies in 5 batches. This meant cookies in and out of the oven for over an hour AFTER making the cookie dough. It was a rapid fire process :)
Then there was clean up. Which means clean dishes out of the dishwasher, dirty dishes in. Meanwhile, Matti (my host father) is having a giant party outside. He asks me to make coffee and tea (of course I oblige) and then gets frustrated when I don't come outside to talk to his guests... all just bad timing I suppose.

But the cookies are all now wrapped up on pretty paper plates with ribbon and ready to be delivered to school tomorrow to my teachers. The kitchen is clean, my room is decently clean, and I have the laundry going. I'm surprised at how tired I feel after rushing to get through all of that and I'm now sympathizing with all the mothers of the world. I don't know how you guys pull it off with children running around...

On a different note... SUMMER! The warmth returned to Finland after a short absence. It's gorgeous and sunny and warm outside. It's been fantastic, and I'm certainly grateful to be wearing sun dresses and not jeans and scarves any more :)

Also Eurotour starts on SUNDAY!!! It's so soon. I cannot wait. It's also pretty surreal to think we're actually going and then our time in Finland is ending... Hasn't quite hit me yet. I'm not sure when it will! Maybe when we reach Stockholm... haha. I have converted a sketchbook into my Eurotour book. I'm going to chronicle our journeys and adventures and plan on adding pictures I take to it when I get home. If it turns out how I'm planning, It's going to be AWESOME. Just letting you all know in advance.

I think thats all the news for now. I may try to upload some pictures before I leave on Eurotour, but don't hold your breath. This might be my last post until after my Euro-adventure! SO EXCITED.

Before I go, USRowing Junior Nationals in Cincinnati is the weekend following this. The RCRC Varsity guys will be racing there, so everyone cheer for them!! GOOD LUCK ROSE CITY!
Also, congratulations to the Class of 2010 and all of my friends graduating. I wish you all the best.

Take care everyone! Enjoy your Junes and I'll talk to you all after EUROTOUR!
<3 Ellie

Happy Tuesday

2010-05-25T18:47:00.000+03:00

Hey friends!
Time for just a general update. This morning was just one of those mornings. Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about! I rolled out of bed in time to get to my 8am biology class. I made it to school with minutes to spare, only to find out we didn't have a biology lesson. I stayed at school and returned home after my English class feeling quite defeated. Fortunately for me, I got to go out and meet Lian and Rowan (my Canadian friends). We spent a lovely afternoon in the sunshine eating ice cream and swinging at the park :)

It's now an almost frantic countdown to Eurotour. We're all in a weird place where it feels right around the corner but also ages away. Oh dear oh dear. In any event, we're all very excited and are eagerly awaiting Sunday the 6th.

That's another thing entirely. June starts next week! June is officially what I would call a summer month. Without a doubt. Summer's here! Uskomaton... Unbelievable.

Clearly I have very little of importance to say right now. It was fun to reformat my blog a little (it looks much brighter now, no?), and I thought it needed an accompanying post. So to sum it all up... Happy Tuesday!

Love Ellie

Mikä Boogie- Fintelligens

2010-05-20T22:28:00.002+03:00

So I realize I hadn't introduced you to any Finnish music yet. A lot of new and popular music here is from the states of course, but there are also some Finnish artists- many of whom sing both English and Finnish songs. Anyway, this is possibly the most popular Finnish song of the year here (legitimately), so I thought I'd share it with you guys. Enjoy!

Monsoon Season, Eurotour, and the end of exchange?!

2010-05-19T18:52:00.003+03:00

Well, like I said last week, Finnish summer has finally arrived. From what I've heard, Finns rarely experience this madness we call spring... The snow melts... we have 2 weeks with temperatures in the low 10s C/ 40s F and then... BOOM! SUMMER! Along with our 4 day weekend came bright and glorious sunshine along with temperatures in the high 20s C/ low 80s F. (Please excuse my laziness with the temperatures... that's still the hardest conversion. 5/9 x (F - 32)=C?! or 9/5 x C + 32=F. Take your pick. NO THANK YOU).

Apparently, this influx of heat sucks in the storm clouds for weather that Georgia (my Aussie friend) deemed "very Asian". And she might be right. Sunday night it POURED. Monday afternoon Georgia and I were enjoying our ice cream by the river and it POURED. Monday evening I was out for a run and it POURED. As in buckets and buckets of rain Portlanders are terribly unfamiliar with. Fortunately for us, it stayed warm outside which made the rain even pleasant, though the ensuing humidity was a bit of a shocker.

This Finnish weather is all a bit much for me. Finnish winter is something I will avoid doing again at all costs, though my first taste of Finnish summer has been FANTASTIC. In other words, if you ever want to visit Finland, come some time between June and September. The rest of the year is...well... less than desirable for vacationing.

On another note, my exchange is almost over. 56 DAYS. That's an insanely short time. Now you're all sitting at home thinking that 56 days is a decently long time. 8 full weeks! But you're all severely mistaken. I have 3 full days of classes left at Raision Lukio. Then comes test week and our summer party. 2 weeks from Sunday I leave on Eurotour. I will be gone for 3 weeks! I wrote it all down in my planner the other day and this is what it looks like as per my notes...

06. Sun- 13.00 Viking Line Terminal
07. Mon- Arrive in Stockholm @ 7, Bus to Copenhagen
08. Tues- COPENHAGEN, arrive 19:30 in Bremen
09. Wed- NETHERLANDS
10. Thurs- leave 8.00, BELGIUM, free time in Brussels, --> PARIS
11. Fri- VERSAILLES + PARIS guided tours
12. Sat- FREE DAY IN PARIS
13. Sun- Paris --> Grenoble
14. Mon- 8.00 --> S. France
15. Tues- MONACO
16. Wed- -->Verona, arrive evening in Lido de Jesolo
17. Thurs- Venice
18. Fri- FREE BEACH DAY
19. Sat- N. Italy + Italian Alps
20. Sun- --> Innsbruck, Austria --> GERMANY
21. Mon- --> Berlin
22. Tues- guided tour Berlin (am), Free time (pm)
23. Wed- BOAT back to Finland
24. Thurs- Arrive Helsinki @ 6.45

WOOHOO! It's going to be insane. I have the full itinerary, but it didn't all fit in my planner. Also the days of the week should be in Finnish, but I didn't want you to be confused. Though I'm sure those are not your primary thoughts after reading about the fantastic trip that's planned! Aside from taking the boat to and from mainland Europe, our entire trip will be on buses. We have 80 exchange students going... kind of crazy! I cannot wait. I will be keeping a journal and promise to right you all long and rambling updates when I get a chance :)

After Eurotour, I will have 19 days left in Finland. NINETEEN. See, 56 disappears pretty fast. June 26th is Juhannuspäivä or Midsummer. From what I understand, it's a repeat of Vappu (1st of May), but possibly even worse! Ha. It should be fantastic. But then it's one goodbye after another until it's time for me to get back to the good old US of A.

And that, my friends, is how you turn 56 days into 0 in no time flat. Today is already my 202nd day in Finland. Thinking about it ending is so strange. As much as my last Physics class in Finnish will be a joyous occasion, the whole thing is very surreal. Thinking about waking up in my own bed again is perhaps the strangest thought, though I know it will be far from the biggest adjustment. Just always hearing English again will be a big change!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and seeing Portland again! Getting to cox a boat again will be awesome. I hope I remember how! Haha. Well, I hope you're all doing well and having lovely spring times :) OH! I almost forgot. Congrats to the RCRC crews at Regionals last weekend! The boys are off to the National Championships soon. Woohoo! Ok, take care everyone. Love, Ellie <3

P.S. I apologize for my English. Any eloquence I once had has been sadly diminished. Some of my sentences sound so awkward as I read them...

Beautiful Days in Finland

2010-05-13T18:15:00.000+03:00

Well, we can finally say that Summer is on it's way here. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. Our weekly exchange student coffee moved outside from our normal cafe seats to the sunny river bank. Sitting directly in the sun it must've been about 20 degrees! (about 70 F). It was awesome.

In the afternoon I had track practice and I was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt. It was almost hot! After practice I was standing in the center square waiting for my bus. There is a large display on top of one of the buildings that displays the time and temperature. It was directly in the sun and it said 27 degrees!!!! (80 F)!!!! Anyway, the sun here is gorgeous when it finally comes out. Also, the grass here is unbelievable. That sounds silly, but all of it is BRIGHT GREEN. And they don't do anything to it! All you do is let the sun melt away and wait for the grass to grow back and suddenly you have these lush lawns. In other words, Finland is GORGEOUS right about now.

Also, today is a holiday in Finland. It celebrates the Feast of the Ascension, I believe. It's the day celebrated by the church 40 days after Easter. I'm fairly positive that most Finns have absolutely no idea why this is a school free/work free day, but who turns down a day off? Most of them spend it with their families at their mökkis, which is precisely what we did. Finns translate mökki as "summer cottage". It's a small vacation home, usually along the coast, which almost all Finns have. They also visit them in the winter, but they spend the majority of their summers at these places. Most of them are tiny with "the necessities". Which of course includes a sauna. Some of them are larger and shared with extended family.

My school has chosen to give us Friday off as well, so I get a long and gorgeous weekend. I'm so excited to enjoy it with my friends in the sun, and I hope you all can do the same with your weekends. I know this weekend is NW Regionals for Rose City and the rest of the rowing bunch, so wish them all luck as well as a safe and fun weekend!
Take care.
Love, Ellie

More Russia Pics

2010-05-11T08:52:00.001+03:00

I filled up my Picasa so I've switched over to Photobucket. The St. Petersburg Pics are in 2 places. Here's the photobucket link. I hope it works!

Pietari/St. Petersburg!

2010-05-10T17:38:00.000+03:00

Well, it happened! After months of build up and waiting, our St. Petersburg tour is now over. 91 exchange students, 4 rotarians, and 3 rotex. 50 hotel rooms, 516 pictures, and seemingly endless hours on the bus. The whole thing was pretty incredible.

We boarded the bus in Turku at 7 am on Thursday. Picking up people all along the way, we made it to the border with 35 exchange students on our bus. Getting through the border was surprisingly easy. We had to go through 2 checkpoints- one to leave Finland and one to get into Russia. All we had to do was get our passports stamped at each point. Finnish people said that you would be able to tell immediately when you had left Finland and entered Russia, and they were right. On the other side of the border the roads were in worse condition and there was litter scattered everywhere. Most of the houses were also extremely run down. In my opinion it also had a sort of surreal beauty in that everything you saw bore the mark of Russian history and culture.

In the evening, we reached our hotel and ate dinner. We didn't have a special program that evening, so we got settled in and spent time with everyone, most of whom we hadn't seen since our Lapland trip. Our hotel was very basic. It was quite large, and I think it was directed at big groups. There were nondescript buffet style meals and hotel rooms. Our rooms were assigned by Rotary, and I roomed with Georgia, an Australian that lives in Turku. When we first walked to our hotel room, we couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure we walked almost a kilometer down a ridiculously narrow and dark hallway to get to our hotel room, and we also had some funny encounters with Russian boys our age. I would say that overall we greatly enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then departed to the Hermitage museum. There are over 3 million pieces in the museum from countless renowned artists. The collection was started in 1764 by Catherine the Great, however it was an entirely private collection until 1852 when it opened to the public. I'm not sure how large the museum is, but you could easily spend the entire day there whether or not you're an art fan. I wish we would have had more time because the whole thing is gorgeous. Even if you took the art out, the rooms themselves are intricately decorated on the floors, walls and ceilings. It's stunning.

After the Hermitage, we went and had a "Russian style lunch". That was the intent anyway. To me it didn't seem hugely different, but it was decent food. We ate crab salad, cabbage soup, meat with rice, and tea. After lunch, we made our way to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. The exhibits in the museum are incredible, considering that development started in the early 1700s. The purpose of the museum was to show other cultures and ways of thinking to the Russian people. It includes exhibits depicting every geographical area and their lifestyle. In addition, it has a very interesting exhibit about the scientific studies going on at the time. There were numerous preserved specimens of deformed human births from hundreds of years ago. Some of the exchange students were less than thrilled with this room, but I was amazed. Unlike the Hermitage, however, this museum building is less than spectacular and is filled with plywood display cabinets and the like. I'm not sure if it was once more impressive, but it was an odd contrast with the quality of the exhibits themselves.

In the evening we returned to our hotel for dinner and then got ready to go to the ballet. Due to an unfortunate turn of events, both our plan-A and plan-B ballets were not possible, so we attended a small performance in a lovely old theater. It was a mix of dances for different ballets. We all had had very high expectations for the Russian ballet, so it was a little bit disappointing, but it was still a nice evening.

Saturday we began our day with a bus tour. A guide from the hotel accompanied us. She talked about the sites on the way, and then we had a few minutes to get out and take pictures. We saw most of the well known sites in St. Petersburg from the open squares to the churches. It was pretty much take as many pictures as possible and then get back on the bus, but it suit our massive group of teenagers pretty well. After the tour, we had about 3 hours in the Nevsky Prospect to do as we liked. This is the central shopping district in St. Petersburg and it looks like most big cities. I was surprised at how many people were there before I realized that there are more people in St. Petersburg than there are in Finland. I spent the afternoon with Raysa (my Chilean friend from Turku <3 ). We didn't get much shopping done, but we managed to walk all over the area for the whole 3 hours. We took lots of pictures and had a lot of fun speaking in Finnish when we didn't want anyone else to understand.

Our program Saturday night was a Russia folklore show. We were all expecting the Russian folklore to be less than exciting, but we were pleasantly surprised. It was mostly song and dance with an underlying story. It was very well done and quite entertaining. I would definitely go see it again or recommend it to anyone planning on visiting St. Petersburg.

Sunday morning we packed up and got on our way. Getting back through the border was fortunately just as easy as the first time. We were all exhausted and bus weary when we arrived back in Turku last night around 8. It was quite a whirlwind trip, but it was a lot of fun. I'm now even more excited for Eurotour if that's possible.

As usual, the pictures are on Picasa (not all of them, I thought I'd spare you). I hope you enjoy them!

St. Petersburg!

Take care. Love, Ellie

Hauska Vappua!

2010-05-01T17:02:00.000+03:00

Vappu. A Finnish May day of sorts. As far as I can tell, it celebrates the beginning of Spring as well as school graduation. Don't try to tell the Finns that Spring started back in March! I believe it was originally a Finnish version of Labor day, though at this point in time, the official reasons for this holiday seem to be less than significant.

Vappu celebrations begin with Vappu Eve, the 30th of April. This is the party day. The biggest celebration occurs in Helsinki (the capital of course). However, Turku also hosts a large celebration along with several other towns around Finland. In Turku the celebration officially got kicked off at 6. The streets were packed full of Finns (I'm not sure where they all came from!!) sporting their white graduation caps and carrying their balloons and bottles of champagne. Some sort of speech occurred from the top of the hill, though I'm not sure who all listened. There was a lot of cheering and a lot of hat waving and then people all popped open their champagne bottles and the partying began.

From the hill, people scattered about the city, mostly to parks. I believe most families went to small parties in friends homes and some forewent the park scene, opting for bars or clubs instead. The primary purpose of Vappu for Finns ages 16-30 is to get very very drunk. So the craziness began! I spent the evening with a group of my exchange friends in one of the parks. As the people around us got progressively more drunk, more and more Finns came to talk to us! People that we've seen at school but have never said a word came up with large groups of friends and suddenly wanted to know all about us. Some boys I didn't even recognize came up and said "ELLIE!" as if we're the best of friends. A girl that I've never spoken to came up and gave me a hug. It made for an enjoyable and sociable evening.

Around 9:30 or 10 my American friend Tatum and I left to get the bus home. That was about the time when the drunkenness was crossing to the dark side and was becoming a bit overwhelming for the sober among us. Policemen were roaming the streets and the parks breaking up fights and there were already ambulances out. They even had a safety boat patrolling the river! Apparently people fall in every year, which I don't doubt. There is no sort of guard rail anywhere along the edge and people sit right there drinking... The whole night was certainly an experience.

Vappu day (May 1st) is a nation-wide holiday. Most Finns meet with friends and family to chat and drink a little more. It seems to be a very low-key day. There's a carnival in town that children and families go to, but I think for the most part it's just a day to be together and enjoy one another's company. The traditional food for this holiday is a pastry called tippaleipä and a drink called sima which is essentially just sparkling cider. There are also streamers (called serpentines I believe) that people often have around their neck and are currently covering our kitchen table and my host sister's rooms.

Anyway, I took a lot of pictures (about 160 between the hours of 6 and 7). I edited out half of them to share with you. I'd love if you commented on the ones you like so I can edit down to just the really good ones. Even if you can't, I hope you enjoy! Love, Ellie :)

VAPPU!

Mun Elämä Tässä Viikossa

2010-04-25T00:08:00.001+03:00

I anticipate that this will be a rambling post... I have titled it "My Life This Week" because I intend to write about anything mildly relevant that comes to mind. I believe I'm entitled to a few of these, and my blog has been pretty on point thus far.

Alright. This weekend is the Brentwood Regatta! (The big rowing race in Canada for juniors that RCRC attends every year). The varsity boats raced this morning in their heats and did great. They're both advancing to grand finals which race tomorrow morning. Wish them luck!

Next. New media. I just got a bunch of new music from Sienna (thank you Magee!). I'm loving it. I thought I listened to music a lot at home, but here I don't leave the house without my iPod. Between my bus rides to Turku and my trips to school in addition to in the evening when I'm doing homework and checking my computer, I'm listening to several hours of music a day. It's great to have new music! I've also been using the CD's from the library some and I have rekindled my love for the Beach Boys. It's hard to listen to "Surfing USA" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" without feeling instantly happy. Also, today I went and saw Kick-Ass. It was a little different then we had been imagining it, but it was good. There were some pretty funny moments and it was also quite enjoyable over all.

On to my life in Finland. Track. I've now had 2 weeks of track practice. It's nice to be running again and it's all come back pretty quickly. I really enjoy having the practices to go to and the girls on the team are really nice. School. We're now in our last "period". I'm taking Physics 4 and 7, Biology 3, English 3, and Math 10. It'd be nice if I didn't have the science classes, but St. Mary's said I should take them. It'll be okay though. There's hardly any school left! It's so strange. Just over 1 month. Then Eurotour. Then home. My computer desktop tells me I have 2 months and 20 days until I'm home. 81 days. That seems like hardly any time at all after being here 6 months.

Finland in general. First. The days are now strangely long. I know it's only April, but it's light early and it's light late. Especially in contrast with the long winter. It'll be weird to see what it's like in June/July. Next. Alcohol. Again. The Finnish people say I make it seem like all Finns are drunk all the time. And in all fairness, they're not at all. But I'm not used to seeing so much alcohol. There are people sitting at bus stops with bottles of liquor. In the middle of the day. And today when I was going home from the movie I saw so many people carrying cases of beer. Not 6 bottle cases. Like 24 can cases. Maybe I'm being too dramatic. I have been informed that such is the European way. It's just not what I'm used to at all.

I feel like there was something else I was planning on talking about, but perhaps there has been enough rambling for one evening.

Hope you're having lovely weekends/weeks! I'd love to get an email/comment/facebook message if you get the chance.

Take care! Moikka!

My Rotary Weekend and the Finnish School System

2010-04-20T19:54:00.000+03:00

Moi!

This weekend I was in Pori for the Rotary district conference. Pori is a small city on the coast about 150 km from Turku. In our Rotary district, there are 21 exchange students: 5 Americans, 3 Canadians, 5 Mexicans, 1 Brazilian, 1 Chilean, 1 Frenchie, 1 German, 3 Australians, and 1 Japanese. Our first assignment upon arrival (after eating of course) was to make up skits to perform for the Rotarians. We had 2 skits. The first was "On a Finnish Bus". We presented the different individuals you see on the bus: the foreigners, the drunk Finn, the Finn on their Nokia, and of course the silent and sullen Finns. Lian (one of the Canadians) played the exchange student. She first asked directions from the silent Finns in typical foreign fashion. "HI!!! My name's Lian and I'm an exchange student from Canada!!" ...silence... "I haven't been here very long and I don't speak Finnish very well. I'm trying to get to my Rotary meeting. Do you know where the Sokos Hotel is???"...Finn stands up and gets of the bus... Lian then moves on to another rider on the bus who happens to be of the Swedish variety. She tries to explain again and again where she's trying to go while he answers på svenska! PÅ SVENSKA! The Rotarians found this skit quite funny. Our other skit was about typical Finnish past times. AKA Nordic walking and Sauna. Our Rotary counselor there also had us sing a Finnish song about being heroes... none of us fully understood it, but the Rotarians seemed to appreciate the effort.

For the rest of the day we visited a Finnish board game factory and a swimming pool. In the evening we went to the cabins where we spent the night. They were lovely little cabins right on Finland's only true beach. Which is a bit like the Oregon coast. But it's pretty much Finland's only sandy beach. We didn't have any sort of program after that; just eating and hanging out together. Overall it was a pretty nice weekend.

Oh! I got a ride home with some Rotarians I hadn't met before. One of them attended U of O!!! Back in '61 or something crazy like that. Anyway, small world coincidence right there.

Alright. That was my weekend. My next topic of choice is the Finnish school system. I hope to enlighten you.

Finns start school during the year they turn 7. (i.e. if you were born in 2000, you start school in Aug. 2007). They go straight to 1st grade (no Kindergarten). 1st-6th grades are elementary school. 7th-9th grade is middle school, so they finish middle school at age 15 or 16. They have many many subjects in school. Chemistry, Physic, Biology, Math, Finnish, P.E., Art, Music, Religion, Geography, History, etc., etc. They are often taking almost all of these classes at once, with lessons 2-4 times per week. The normal groups start English in 3rd grade and Swedish in 5th grade. They then have the opportunity to add a 3rd language in the 8th grade, though this is not required. There are some special schools which provide language immersion in a variety of languages (English (most commonly), German, Russian, French, etc.). There are also some Swedish schools for the Swedish speaking Finns for whom Swedish is their native language.

Here is where the Finnish school system differs completely from the American. After middle school, students have many options.
1. Stop school and begin working.

2. Ammattikoulu- Professional or Vocational school
These schools provide job training, usually over about 3 years. They can study a variety of things from machinery to business. This is something resembling a junior college. I do not quite understand, but it's along those lines. These schools have certain grade requirements to get accepted (lower than those to get into Lukio) and are completely paid for by the Finnish government.

3. Lukio- College Prep
Lukio is a 3 year program that resembles a very difficult high school in the US. Lukio students take about 30 courses per year. They have a few base requirements in every subject, but most classes are chosen by the students in their areas of interest. They have to have a few classes in which they "make Abi" or master. It requires an absurd number of courses in that area as well as a test of mastery at the end of their 3rd year.
There are many different Lukios and many of them have a certain speciality (i.e. languages, math and science, art and music). Each Lukio has a grade minimum to be admitted (almost all require a B or higher average from middle school).

After Lukio (and occasionally after Ammattikoulu) the Finns get the chance to go to university. If accepted, their university education, like the rest of the Finnish education system, is free. The Finns are very proud of their education system, and it is one of the best if not the best in the world. In my opinion, the excellent systems in Finnish are largely a result of their small population. It's much easier to organize a country that's about the size of Colorado than it is to organize, say, the US. That does not in anyway discount the Finnish system, just puts a bit of perspective on it.

I'm hoping this whole account was informative and not too confusing. Explaining school systems is not an easy task. I have to talk about the American school system to some English classes on Thursday. I'm a bit nervous!

Well, I hope you're all doing well! Take care!

Moikka! <3

Oh Finland, Oh Finland

2010-04-16T12:06:00.002+03:00

I have thought many times about posting some things about Finland in general, but never quite got around to it. Today I finally got some time, and I discovered that I've been beaten to the punch! I found this blog written by an American living in Finland. He's humorous and I agree with just about everything he says. Plus it's just fun to read!

Finland for Thought

The most recent articles are regarding Finland's views of Sweden (think America-Canada), Estonia (think America-Mexico-ish), Russia, and America. They are must reads in my opinion. The one other post I really enjoyed was Finland is a lot like Mac, The US is a lot like windows which is also regarding Finland and America.

Perhaps one day I will post on these topics myself. I would certainly love to put my sarcasm to good use and write about Finland's perspectives on Sweden and Russia. Also about the absurdities of the Finnish language and Finnish national pride. My strongest opinions this week, however, are regarding the Finns and their alcohol, so I'll take a moment to share with you.

Finns love their alcohol. They're especially proud of their Koskenkorva and their beers. The drinking age in Finland is 18, though they all begin younger than this. It is part of all high school student's lives, and I would say it gets to most middle school students in at least a small way. Now after living through this horrid winter, I was ready to excuse the Finn's drinking habits. I assumed that the alcohol consumption greatly decreased in the spring and summer when it was much much lighter and not quite so cold. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The light and warmth is merely an invitation for the Finns to bring their drinking outside. Parks are now lined with groups of people openly enjoying their alcohol. It is not uncommon to see a Finn walking down the sidewalk carrying a large case of beer (18-24 cans) or a bottle of liquor (or several). So on your list of top drinkers, put Finns right up there with the Russians.

Here are two pictures I find particularly funny. The first one is classic right down to the Finnish Moomin coffee mug. The second is a play on the Finnish brand Nokia. Enjoy!

Springtime Pictures :)

2010-04-15T17:36:00.000+03:00

At first I though Finns were just trying to be sneaky. I mean, how many pictures do you see of the dark and grey that I've been living in for the past 5 months. But since I didn't take any pictures in the dark and the ick, I'm going to have to give them pardon. Now that the sun's out, I've taken some nice pictures from Turku. I hope you enjoy them!

March/April

EUROTOUR 2010

2010-04-08T15:19:00.001+03:00

From Ellie's Exchange!

Grass?! Sunshine?! Am I still in Finland?!

2010-04-08T15:15:00.000+03:00

Hyvää Pääsiäistä!! Happy Easter!!
I hope you all had a nice weekend and got to spend time with family and friends.

I think I'll take this opportunity to talk about Easter in Finland, since some things are quite a bit different. It begins with Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter). This is celebrated almost exactly like Halloween is in America. Children dress up (traditionally in witch costumes) and go from house to house carrying decorated willow branches. At each house, they say the following rhyme "Virvoin, varvoin, tuoreeks, terveeks, tulevaks vuodeks, vitsa sulle, palkka mulle". It essentially means "Health and blessing in the next year. Here's a branch for you, now reward me". The children then give one of their willow branches in return for candy. Also on Palm Sunday, many people begin growing grass inside as a symbol of new life. Easter weekend is celebrated Friday through Monday. It is a lot of eating traditional Finnish foods with family and friends. There are also chocolate eggs involved, though Easter egg hunts are not so popular.

I attended three large family gatherings and met lots and lots of new people. I'm not even sure why I met some of them. It was a so-and-so's grandfather's cousin's nephew sort of deal. And lots of traditional Finnish food. Heavy meats, smoked salmon, boiled eggs, potatoes, etc. I also met some of my host cousins, 3 girls around my age, and got a chance to spend time with them, which was really nice.

Last thing before I move on from Easter. Religion in Finland. Over 80% of the population is registered as Christian, and the government is heavily based in Christianity. For example, Good Friday and Good Monday are national holidays, and this is the first year stores can be open on Easter weekend. However, I would not say that religion is widely practiced in Finland. Very few Finns do anything religious aside from saying they're Christian and celebrating Easter and Christmas. It's very curious.

Alright. News. I have 3 countdowns I'm working on right now. The first is our St. Petersburg trip which begins May 6th! It's a whirlwind trip (only 4 days), but the itinerary looks fantastic. I'm most excited to see the city and also the ballet :). 29 DAYS. My next countdown is to Eurotour. I will be visiting 9 countries in just under 3 weeks. We go by ferry to mainland Europe and then do the entire tour by bus. 60 DAYS. The final countdown is to my return to the great Northwest: July 14th. 97 DAYS.

Finally, a brief update on normal life. Spring has finally come to Finland. It is warming up (50-60 F!), and most of the snow has melted away. This has left (can you believe it?!) grass!!! It sounds silly, but I haven't seen green in over 3 months, and it's glorious. Yesterday the sun was shining in full force and all the Finns have pulled out their bikes again. I thought it would never come.

School is fairly normal. Next week is test week again, and then we begin our final 6 week period. My schedule will be a bit crazy, but such is life. Yesterday I went and met with a track coach in Turku, and he said I could join his team. It's a team of girls ages 15-19. My first practice is tomorrow. It's too bad I didn't find them earlier, but wish me luck!

Those are my updates. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying spring.
Moikka!

2 Months Later...

2010-03-17T17:42:00.000+02:00

Hello Friends!
I realize I have not posted in 2 months, so I apologize. I will try to do better in the near future.

Of course many things have happened in the past 2 months, but I will swamp myself and all of you if I try to recount it. If you like, you can look at some of the pictures I've but up at http://picasaweb.google.com/ellie.oken
I'd also be happy to answer any questions you have about them, but for now I'll jump to the present.

About 2 1/2 weeks ago I moved in with my new family. I believe I have mentioned them before, but I will re-introduce you (especially since I can finally keep their names straight). My host father's name is Matti. He is a teacher at the special education high school as well as being involved in some local politics. He is also a member of my Rotary club. My host mother Anu works for a pharmaceutical company and travels a fair bit for work (though she's never gone long). I have 3 host sisters that live at the house. Essi (13) is in the 7th grade at the middle school and also a championship swimmer. Elena (11) is in the 5th grade at the elementary school near our house. She swims and plays soccer and generally has a lot of energy. She's super cute and helps me out a ton with Finnish. The youngest, Eeva, is 9. She's in the 3rd grade and also swims.

Moving was an interesting experience. It's a very humbling experience to feel like your life can be reduced to a couple of bags. It can also be tough to get settled in with a new family since both parties have to make adjustments and get used to each other. My host mom Anu has been very helpful and welcoming along with the girls, so that has been very nice.

Our classes changed at school the same time I moved as well. I'm taking Math, English, Physics, Biology, and Art now. After this, we have one school period left before summer! It's hard to believe how quickly the time has gone by, seeing as I have just under 4 months left in Finland. I'm hoping to spend it in sunshine, and spring certainly seems to be just around the corner. Last week was sunny and glorious, and though it's snowed a bit the past 2 days, the sun has come out once again and there's promise that soon I will be stepping out in flip flops.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying spring!
Moikka!

Back to School

2010-01-11T17:44:00.000+02:00

So I went back to school Thursday of last week. I started brand new classes with brand new teachers. This new period I am taking 5 classes. Physics 2, Chemistry 2, Math 8, Spanish 5, and English 5. So far I like all of these classes and I'm hoping it stays that way.

I also have Vanhojen Tanssit of course. Our giant performance is in one month! I'm actually really excited for it. It should be really really nice.

But on a sad note, the Aussies all leave this weekend. They've been here a full year now and must return. We get new Aussies in about 2 weeks, but it's still sad to see our friends go.

Not much other news right now. Those are the updates. Hope all of your New Year's are off to a lovely start. Those of you in Portland... please kiss it hello for me :)

Moi!

Media Update

2010-01-04T11:20:00.000+02:00

Holidays in Finland!

Winter Break

2010-01-03T18:09:00.000+02:00

Hello again.
Well, things haven't been particularly eventful, hence the lack of posting. But here are the events of the past several days.
First, Christmas. Christmas here is celebrated on the 24th, which I'll admit is very confusing. The first thing we did was visit Turku for the declaration of Christmas peace. This is a tradition occurring all over Finland. It came from the balcony of an official city building. I don't understand exactly who it was the read the declaration. Some city official. But it was packed! I'll upload some pictures and you can see.
We returned to the house for Christmas dinner. This is very similar to the dinner in the US. Ham, potato bakes, boiled eggs, cheeses...just imagine an American Christmas dinner with a little Finnish twist :)
In the evening Santa came. Santa is someone that Finnish people see every Christmas- also a confusing concept. Anyway, my host grandfather put on a Santa suit and brought all of the presents in in a giant burlap bag...
Roope passed them all out and they were all opened. Pipsa and Roope received many nice gifts from their parents and grandparents. I was very surprised at the number of presents I got! Pajamas, a sweater, chocolate, and a Finnish Christmas movie. It was very nice.
The next big event was obviously New Year's. For this my family and I (minus Roope) went to the home of my second host family. It was a nice event. It was really nice to get to spend some time with my future host sisters (Essi- 13, Elena- 11, and Eeva- 9). Elena is super cute. She doesn't quite get that I only understand slow and clear Finnish, but fortunately her chatter rarely requires my participation :)
Anyway, we played lots of games including Wii and Abba Karaoke and watched Mama Mia. I also had the privilege of watching Disney channel in Elena's pink Hello Kitty/ Hannah Montana room which I will be borrowing in about 2 months.
At midnight we went outside and set off some fireworks. It was absolutely freezing (below 0 F), but still fun. The festivities carried on until 3am when we finally got a taxi and made it home.

In terms of the rest of winter break, we spent 2 nights at my family's summer cottage on the ocean. It was very peaceful and relaxing, but there wasn't much to do since the weather was terrible. We did go to sauna and hot tub quite a bit though. Aside from that I went to a girl's night with Marie. Some Finns from school invited us, and it was quite fun. I've also been doing quite a bit of reading. There is a lot of snow (approx. 1ft-ish) but it's all plowed off the roads... the Finns seem thoroughly unimpressed by the snow though they say this is the most they've had in many years (along with being the coldest winter in a while).

Well, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Years! <3

Postcards From Finland?!

2009-12-22T19:14:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Onnelista Uutta Vuotta! Happy New Year! I hope 2010 finds all of you well.

As you probably know, I am currently in Southwest Finland (Raisio) on a Rotary Exchange. I am living with a wonderful family, the Lehtonens. They have two children: Pipsa (15) and Roope (13). I attend the local high school, Raision Lukio, and spend a lot of time with other exchange students in Turku (a large city nearby).

With Rotary in Finland, I will have the opportunity to go on two big trips in the spring. One is five days in St. Petersburg. The other is called Eurotour. It is three weeks traveling all over Europe with the other Finnish exchange students!

As you might imagine, these trips are very expensive, and I would like to ask for your help. Here is my proposal. Mailing a postcard to the US costs $3-4. For a donation of $5-10, I’ll send you a particularly awesome and personal Finnish postcard. The more you help, the more postcards you will receive, but any amount is helpful and greatly appreciated.

Please send donations AND your address to:

Lisa Oken

3730 SW Grover St

Portland, OR 97221

Kiitos Paljon!! Thank you very much!!

Almost Christmas...

2009-12-17T09:18:00.000+02:00

Hello again all!
As you can probably tell from my lack of news, things have settled into a routine- more or less.
A few things of note however:

Last week I went on a field trip to Helsinki for the day. The primary purpose for the trip was visiting the parliament. (We were with a government class). It was a fun day. We also got to go to the museum and see the Picasso exhibit for a short time. Unfortunately we didn't get much of a chance to look around the city. Of course all the Finns with us have been there a few more times. But the parliament building was very nice and of course we learned some new things.

I found an erging buddy!! Her name is Suvi Karppinen. If there are any rowing geeks out there, she does belong to the infamous Karppinen family :) For those of you who don't know, her uncle is Pertti Karppinen and you can look him up! Anyway, it has been great to be working out and to have someone to work out with!

This week at school is exam week. There are 6 classes in each term, so there are 6 exam days: Monday-Monday. My chemistry exam was difficult since it was in Finnish. I got to use a dictionary, but many chemistry terms do not make it in to standard dictionaries, so that was a little rough. I've also taken my English 7 final and my English 1 final. Lisbeth gave us a Finnish exam for the English 1 final, but the English 7 final was English and very easy. For me there are 2 exams to go: Math and Russian. Then Christmas break!!!

I'm so excited! I love Christmas! Finns do Christmas slightly differently in that their main celebration day is Christmas eve. That is when they open presents and have big dinners with the family and such. But for the most part their traditions are the same. They go to church and eat ham and things like that :)

I think that's all the news fit to print for now! As usual, if you have any questions or just want to say hi, send me an email or a real letter!!! and I'll respond as soon as I get a chance.
Heippa!

Pictures

2009-12-05T00:15:00.000+02:00

Alright, I finally got around to putting up Thanksgiving pictures.

Thanksgiving!

As many of you know, my camera broke in Lapland. Fortunately I have since replaced it. But this means I won't be putting pics up until I get them from my friends computers. Or, if you happen to be savvy, visit my facebook page and you will find all of my friends Lapland pics there!

Stay in touch!
Rakastan sinua! <3

Lapland Etc.

2009-12-02T16:02:00.000+02:00

Oh boy, Lapland. Where to begin?
I suppose chronological order, so the journey's genesis at the Turku bus station.

At 6:30 on Friday evening I climbed onto a bus in Turku with several other students from our amazing district- 1410! We didn't arrive in Lapland until 11:00 on Saturday morning, meaning the bus trip took about 16 hours. Yep yep. Don't tell me Brentwood's bad.

As our district of students goes, noise was prevalent and sleep evasive. We spent the time catching up and getting acquainted. Unfortunately, movies were not an option since the DVD player broke 10 minutes into the Lion King, but with 2 breaks at convenience stores and off and on sleep, the journey was quite manageable.

When we arrived in Lapland, we got off the buses and found our rooms. Our rooms were assigned in some semblance of alphabetical order...with a twist? In any event, I roomed with an oldie Aussie and Brazilian (oldie means they've been here since January and leave in about 6 weeks). Also another Brazilian and Nallely, a Mexican in my wonderful district :)

We were served lunch at our hotel/lodge and then we boarded the buses for skiing. Well, I wish someone would have warned me about the skiing before I had paid. I could have spent the afternoon tobogganing for free and had just as much fun. The ski slope was quite icy, so only the bottom half of one run was open. It was quite disappointing. However, I managed to cement some friendships with a group of girls in my district. This was not such an easy task since everyone has an extra 3 months on me.

We returned to the hotel to change clothes, warm up, and dry off. We then set out for our outdoor dinner. I must say, we were all skeptical, but the dinner was quite nice and was polished off with some great blueberry pie desert. Much to our dismay, our evening curfew was 10pm, which meant we had to head to our rooms shortly after returning from dinner.

The next morning breakfast was served at 7:30 and we were to be prepared for our chosen activities at 9. The options were another 5-6 hours of dismal skiing or snow sculpturing. For my new friends, Vicki, Brady, and Tatum, and I the choice was obvious. We formed a team and set about making the best snow sculpture EVER. It was a loverly loverly Christmas tree. A basic 3 layer tree which we froze snow ball ornaments to. I cut a star and presents complete with ribon out of ice and our Christmas tree was complete. Our competitors in the snow sculpturing were a pine cone (???), a toilet, a t-rex, a moomi (google image "moomin"- cutest things ever and very Finnish), a swan, and a dilapidated Finnish flag. We placed 2nd to the swan. Apparently ours was superior quality but was an easier design that lacked as much creativity. Darn it all. Our team was redeemed however by winning a bobsled race :)

When the skiers returned that evening we ate dinner and set about planning our evening program. Unfortunately this meant we had 90 minutes to coordinate over 20 Americans into a country presentation. My initial prediction? We would start with a few ideas then find a simple one. Not everyone will agree so we spend agonizing time arguing. When everyone gets so tired of arguing, we settle on the simple idea we had in the beginning. And I was right. One girl, Kelly, was particularly interested in the presentation and wanted to do the Cupid Shuffle. Most of us didn't care enough to argue, but there were a few girls who simply could not settle for the Cupid Shuffle. They suggested the electric slide which evolved to their plan for a multicultural dance presentation.............

Max (a Eugenian :) who went to Edgewood, Spencer's Butte, and South) and I began singing 50 nifty when someone suggested a song. We thanked our 4th grade choir class for teaching us the states in alphabetical order. Several songs were suggested including "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Max and I suggested "This Land is Your Land". It was written off immediately as cheesy and cliche until we realized that we could all sing it. We got through it- including the first verse and stumbling through the second. Though some were unhappy with the decision, all were tired enough that they consented. Thank goodness.

We managed to sing alright (though we forgot the 2nd line of the 2nd verse...oh well). Anyway, it was actually the most coordinated and coherent presentation (even if it was a little boring). The Brazilian oldie in my room said she enjoyed it because she had never heard the verses before and it was pretty. So HA. I count that as a win.

Our final full day in Lapland was a whirlwind. We met some Lappish and Salmi people who are the Lapland natives. They are quite similar to Native Americans for obvious reasons. There are very few left, but one older woman gave us a presentation. We went to a reindeer farm and a national park information center. Then we went on a dog sled ride and visited the 400+ huskies. We finished it off with a reindeer sled ride and a little bit of snowshoeing. (We did this in groups of about 30...not all 120 of us).

In the evening the Australian, South African, and lone Brazilian and Kiwi oldies put on a presentation. They gave some cool gifts which traditionally get passed on at Lapland and again at Eurotour. Vicki gave me a sweet Australian headband which she ordered me to cox in (she's a rowing geek too). In the end they all sang and started crying. It was really quite sweet.

We had an impromptu dance in a meeting hall until 11:30 when we were sent to our rooms. Everyone (particularly the oldies) was annoyed that the curfews were so early the whole trip. Even our main coordinator at the hotel thought it was a little strange that we were given such little free time on one of the few occasions when we all see each other.

On Tuesday morning we packed up the buses and drove 3 hours to SANTA LAND. Now this is the real Santa land. Almost all of Europe says that Santa lives in Finnish Lapland and Santa gets delivered many many letters there. There was a sign that said that Santa has received 13.5 million letters from 195 countries. For a donation of 3 euros to Unicef you could have 30 envelopes from Santa letter mailed from all over the world. They're so cool. One letter just says "Santa, North Pole" on the front. And it got delivered to Finnish Lapland without question :)

We then ate lunch/dinner together and set out on our way home. After some torturously long hours on the bus, we arrived back in Turku around 4:30 this morning. And so concluded our Lapland trip. Unfortunately, my camera is broken so I don't have pictures to share with you right now. But in about 2 weeks we are having a photo sharing party and I will share some choice pictures with you in time for Christmas.

I hope this finds you and your families well and in high spirits in preparation for the holidays!
Rakastan sinua!!!
-Ellie

PS. I've been here for a whole month now!!!

Thanksgiving and Lapland

2009-11-27T15:56:00.000+02:00

Thanksgiving was a huge success!
The Lehtonens and the Schreys both enjoyed their fabulous dinner, entirely prepared by me!
I'm very proud of all that I managed to accomplish. Mainly the turkey of course :)
I will load some pictures onto the same google picasa link as the prior two picture posts, so you can check there. I'll also probably post the link again when I'm finished just for good measure.

This evening I leave for Lapland. I am very excited. Spending 16 hours on the bus will be a little bit of a drag, but well worth it! I'm sure I will have lots of pictures and fun stories when I get home.

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and you and your families are doing well.
Wishing you the best!
-Ellie

Syntymäpäiväni!!

2009-11-24T21:51:00.000+02:00

So, in case you are unaware, today is my birthday!!!!
HOORAY! Haha.
Thanks to facebook, I have received countless birthday messages in a couple different languages. Also, 2 birthday cards from friends at school, a lovely card from Pipsa, and of course a card from Grandmother dearest :) who could never forget.
Lisbeth and Kata both gave me chocolate, and my family gave me a hat, mitten, and gloves. They also gave me a heart necklace that is in some way traditional Finnish...it got lost in translation. The heart gets engraved with my name, so it will be at the jewelers while I'm in Lapland.

Next item of business?? THANKSGIVING!
Today Anne and I visited the grocery store. We were easily able to find everything I need to make mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pecan pie. We even found the spices I wanted for the Turkey! Unfortunately, we couldn't find corn syrup...Anne's going to try tomorrow. We'll see though.
On Thursday I am going to 1 class. After that I have a free period and then lunch, so Lisbeth excused me for a cultural holiday :)))))
I will come home in the morning and spend hours and hours cooking. In the evening, the Schrey family (my second host family) will join us for a loverly Thanksgiving dinner.

On Friday evening, I leave for Lapland! HOORAY

Rakastan teita!
Heippa!

A loverly day in Turku

2009-11-21T22:34:00.000+02:00

Well, thanks to Kata and the weather cooperating, I had a wonderful day in Turku.
We visited a church from the 13th century that's absolutely gorgeous, a neat old market place, and walked along the river. Of course we also did a little shopping. At 4pm they turned on all the Christmas lights for the first time and there was a small parade with Santa following in a little train.
At the end of the day we went and saw "A Christmas Carol", which I thoroughly enjoyed (yes, it was in English).
Anyway, I put up some Turku pictures, so here you go!

Ellie's Exchange!

The Rain

2009-11-20T22:30:00.000+02:00

Rain, rain go away

Well, it's begun. It is increasingly dark. I invariably leave for school in the dark and through my entire first class it is just as dark as night outside. And around 3 or 3:30 it turns to night again. This has greatly disturbed my internal clock.

And now it hasn't stopped raining in 2 or 3 days. And I haven't seen the sun in 3 weeks.

It's dark. And it's wet.

At least it's not too cold- around 6 degrees C! But then again, if it were colder we might get our first snow...I'm holding my breath in anticipation.

It's the most wonderful time of the year :)

2009-11-18T17:23:00.000+02:00

I'm well aware that Christmas is still 5 weeks away (but who's counting?). But anyway, the holiday spirit is in the air, making it the most wonderful time of the year! And here's why.

1. I have lots of lights up in my room! And I mean lots! Of course I brought mine from home. Then Anne gave me a string of blue star lights that i have on my desk. And today Anne and Janne bought me another string of colored lights!!!

2. Anne and Janne put up lots of lights outside including small trees covered in white lights. It's so festive!

3. My birthday is in 6 days.

4. Thanksgiving is in 8 days. And I have BIG plans for Thanksgiving dinner. It's going to be wonderful.

5. I'm knitting a pair of mittens. Purple ones.

6. There are GIANT decorated Christmas trees in the mall.

So there you have it. It's so wonderful.

On to the rest of life. Vanhojen Tanssit started on Monday. If you don't know what Vanhojen Tanssit is (and even if you do) go to Google Images and find out. Then try to picture me in one of those dresses. Yep, in February it's going to happen! My dance partner, Aleksi, will put on a fancy suit and we will dance in front of hundreds of people who buy tickets to our ballroom dance performance. Aleksi is VERY Finnish. Tall, skinny, and blonde. Plus Aleksi is a fairly common Finnish name. He doesn't talk much- also very Finnish. Though today, he talked to me more- always a plus.

School is fine. I no longer have sport class. It seemed unnecessary, particularly since it starts at 7:40 Wednesday mornings. No thanks. So I'm taking 5 classes now. Which is pretty standard. Kathryn and Marie each have 4. I think most people take 4 or 5 and a few take 6.
Lisbeth is making everyone talk to us. She made it homework for all of her classes to come talk to us. Meaning maybe 25% of them do. Today in class we talked in front of everybody. In classic Ellie fashion, I shamelessly answered all of their questions. Example? We were asked what we were looking forward to doing in Finland. My first answer was "meet Santa!"

Which brings me to Lapland! I leave next Friday! (9 DAYS) It's going to be fantastic. The 14-16 hours on the bus will be a little rough, but we're going skiing and I get to see Reindeer! Also, we WILL be meeting Santa. Did you know that he lives in Finnish Lapland? Not the North Pole? You learn something new every day! Any Christmas wishes you want personally delivered to Santa? Just let me know :)

I also have plans this weekend. Friday night I will be hanging out with some people from school and spending the night at Kathryn's. On Saturday I'll go to Turku with my new friend from English class. We're going to look in all of the Turku shops and see A Christmas Carol. It should be fun.

I hope you are all well at home and getting in the holiday spirit! It's so cheery! I'd love to get mail- email or legit mail and hear how all of you are doing.

Moika!

Finally some pictures

2009-11-17T10:21:00.000+02:00

Ok, there aren't too many here. I honestly haven't taken that many. Raisio's a little city. You'd see a lot of streets and dying trees. I'll take more pictures when it snows. And in the spring- it's supposed to be really pretty.

For now here are a few pictures from the airport, of my new house and family, and a couple from Turku. Enjoy!

Ellie's Exchange!

I survived to Friday! :)

2009-11-13T17:42:00.000+02:00

Moi!

Well, I made it through the week! Things ran much smoother after my first day. However, after school yesterday I was totally exhausted. I'm very glad I didn't have such a long school day today (I finished at 1!) I also made some changes to my schedule. I am no longer taking Basic Math 5. That class was rather boring for me. My math teacher said I could change to her Advanced Math 11 class. I figured it out and I really should be in about Advanced Math 7, but she doesn't care. I will now be learning about number theory and the like. It should be very exciting. I had to drop French to be in this math class. So now, instead of French and Basic Math 5 I have Advanced Math 11 and English 7. Anyway, it works out (though I loved the French teacher).

Ballroom dancing class begins on Monday and I have a partner! We had a meeting about it today and the teacher asked the people without partners to stay behind afterward. There were a bunch of girls (maybe 10) and 1 particularly awkward boy. This boy walked in from outside of the room and asked me to be his dance partner...so voila! His name is Aleksi. He's very Finnish, meaning he doesn't really talk that much. Also blonde. Haha. But it will be very fun. We have class every Monday and Wednesday for 1 hour after school.

That's all for now. I hope you are all well!

Moika!

P.S. SEND ME MAIL!!!! Mailing a standard letter to Finland is $0.98 so it's not hard. Just use regular stamps! :) I will love you forever if you do.

To answer some questions

2009-11-10T16:23:00.000+02:00

Kim emailed me and asked me some questions. I realized once I had written out the answers that they might be of general interest, so here you go.

The most different...People. for sure. People here are not friendly the way people in the US are. If you're walking down the street no one makes eye contact or holds open doors or asks if you need help or anything like that. It's strange because I'm used to smiling at people I pass- especially at school and such.

Surprisingly different...the structure of school. I guess I assumed it wouldn't be that much different, but it's a lot different. In a year there are 8 6 week periods. At the end of each of these you take big exams that account for 2/3 - 3/4 of your grade and then you change classes. Also, everyone here eats school lunch. There are no lockers. Just little things that I wouldn't account for being different.

Homesick...a little. Not hugely right now. But my first school day was hard. Going to school with my host sister was great because it meant I automatically had friends (her friends). In high school I don't have friends and people are not as open or friendly as I'm used to. Also sometimes I just want a hug, but there's no one I really know well enough! (except the other exchange students, but they all go to different schools)

Super similar to home...actually, now that you mention it, the landscape. It looks very similar to Oregon. There are trees everywhere- it's very green. It's a little bit colder here, but very much the same. I wasn't expecting that.

I've been out of school for TOO long...

2009-11-10T16:11:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone!
Today was my first day at Lukio (Finnish high school). I found my first classroom (chemistry). I was super proud of myself. I sat down and I had the right book and everything. I introduced myself since I wasn't on the class list. All sorts of important things. It's chemistry 1 for their freshmen equivalent so it was a snap. We learned the element names and abbreviations- most of them are pretty similar.

My next class was math. My teacher didn't realize I wasn't on the list and therefor didn't realize I was an exchange student until about halfway through class. I was just trying to be quiet and go by unnoticed. Now in this class I had the wrong book. Mine was 1 level behind, but no big I figured. Math was also easy. We were graphing lines. I was twiddling my thumbs a bit, but also learning some Finnish terms, so we were doing okay.

After math I looked at my schedule and determined I had English next. I went to the correct classroom, but the teacher was wrong. I've met the English teachers and this woman wasn't one of them. Then she pulled out a Swedish book. Clearly I was in the wrong place. I raised my hand and told her so. She told me the principal would know where I should be so I excused myself from class.

I went to the office and found one of the English teachers to help me. Only THEN did I realize that I had been looking at my Monday schedule. Pretty much I spent the first half of the day in all the wrong classes. We managed to sort out my schedule and determine that I was supposed to be in sport, which starts next week. So I had a free period and no friends. I sat on a bench and watched people go to lunch.

My last two classes of the day were English and Chemistry (my REAL chemistry class). English class is okay. My teacher is making me do the work in Finnish instead. Really, this is a good thing, but I have to get used to the idea since I was expecting a free ride. And Chemistry is also good. It's very easy- still the class for freshmen. But my teacher (who happens to be my math teacher as well) taught sciences in English for 4 years, so she helps me follow the class.

So that was my first school day. Kind of a fail :)

On another note, I JUST ate my very last Almond Joy.
If you're feeling generous and would like to send me some- or letters or anything else- my address is

Ellie Oken
Tontinkatu 11
21260 Raisio
Finland

*I know I posted an address earlier. That was incorrect. This is the correct address.

Exchange Students are Awesome

2009-11-08T16:16:00.000+02:00

Alright. Where to start? I need to get myself organized.
On Friday, I met with Lisbeth, an English teacher at Lukio. She showed me around the school and helped me pick out my classes. They are as follows.
Chemistry 1
Basic Math 5
English 1 (The one is deceiving. It means they've been in English class only 7 years. Haha)
Beginners Russian
Beginners French
Sport class (only twice a week thank goodness. I tried not to take it and failed)

I start at Lukio on Tuesday, so I will no longer be going to school with Pipsa. I'll have to be on my own. I'm pretty excited and kind of nervous. Also, I have Ballroom Dance once a week. It's this thing 2nd year (juniors essentially) do. On the senior's last day of school in February there is a giant ball. People spend so much money on their dresses. It's absurd. Some people even buy the fabric and have theirs custom made. The most ridiculous I've heard is going to Thailand to have your dress made. Anyway, Pipsa's best friend's older sister already did it and said I could wear her dress. So problem solved.

Friday afternoon I went and bought all of my books for school. Rotary gave me a card for their account at the bookstore so I can get all of my books and school supplies. People here use totally different notebooks. They are the size of half a piece of regular paper. It is all graph paper for every subject. Each notebook is very thin like a magazine. It's interesting. And no binders. You glue hand outs into your notebook. It will take some getting used to.

Friday evening I left for Laitila. I was on the bus with about 15 exchange students. I felt bad for the other people on the bus because we were not particularly quiet. :) We arrived in Laitila after about an hour on the bus. From there we all piled into cars and drove 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere. It was legitimately the middle of nowhere. There were 20 exchange students and 3 rebounds there plus one Rotarian and his family.

There are a total of 21 inbound students in this Rotary district.
5 Mexicans
5 Americans
3 Australians
3 Canadians
1 German
1 Japanese
1 Chilean
1 Brazilian
1 French

First we ate and socialized and then we got ready for sauna. The sauna was a little bit of a trek through the dark woods. I told you we were in the middle of nowhere. Vicki (the Australian rower) and I started singing obnoxious Disney songs and of course everyone else joined in. After being in sauna for a bit, we would run to the lake screaming like a bunch of girls, jump in, jump out, and run back to the sauna. We did this several times. It's pretty awesome.

We went back to our lodge of sorts and had tea and cocoa and more food of course. We played pool and ping pong and stayed up until all hours of the morning. I went to bed around 3:30 or 4. The latest anyone went to bed was 6:15. At 10 we were woken up for breakfast. The rest of the day we ate and played games and had a Rotary presentation about the rules.

It was an awesome weekend. It's so nice to meet other exchange students! I have so many new friends now. In 3 weeks we are all going to Lapland on the ski trip together. It should be awesome.

That is all I have to report right now. If you guys have any questions you can email me- ellie.oken@gmail.com and I'll try to get back to you or post the answer here. Kylla. Ole hyvva.

Hello Again

2009-11-05T22:36:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was language class in Turku. I met Kathryn and Marie at Lukio and then we took the bus in to town. The bus here is so expensive- 3,20 Euros! For just a one way trip! Portlanders- you guys have it nice :) Anyway, from there we walked to a school where our Finnish class is. Our class is 20-30 exchange students from all different programs and countries. English is the default language for everyone. I met some really awesome people. Some of them are Rotary, so they will be with me this weekend in Laitila.

As it turns out, exchange students from other programs greatly envy Rotary students. For several reasons. Most of them obvious- Rotary is a scholarship program. Rotary provides an allowance. Rotary assists in paying for things like the bus and extra curricular activities. And Rotary just generally does a better job taking care of their exchange students from beginning to end. So I feel pretty special.

Class is 1 hour long, so this is what Wednesday looks for Raisio Lukio exchange students. Arrive at school at 9 (like every day- it's sweet). Attend your first 2 lessons. Hop on a bus around 11 or 11:30. Class in Turku is 12-1. Since the school day in Raisio ends at 2, there's no way you'll make it back for any school. This means that all the exchange students pile into a coffee shop for several hours. It's fantastic. Wednesday is undoubtedly my new favorite day :)

Moving on to today. Ha. I feel so settled in yet I'm clearly not because so many new things are happening to me all the time. Today I went to school with Pipsa most of the day. At the end of the school day, I skipped her Spanish class and came back home to do many important things. We went to the bank and put a bunch of time on my phone and got a library card and my Finnish identification.

This evening I went to my first Rotary meeting. Raisio RC has about 50 members, and about 30 at each meeting. It is all men. So it's just a little bit different from East Portland RC. But everyone was very nice. I introduced myself in Finnish. Mind you, it was very broken. I think I actually might have said "I is..." but oh well. The understood :)

I can't really speak Finnish, but I am learning lots and lots of words. I've been studying so now I know the numbers, clothing, colors, and days of the week. They will be useful when I can use them in sentences. Hey- cut me some slack. I've only been here 6 days!

Tomorrow I leave for a Rotary thing in Laitilla. It's not very far away. It's just for this Rotary district. In the letter we got, it talked about swimming in lakes and going to sauna. Which is apparently awesome. Thought I don't know about swimming in lakes. It was -2 C when I woke up this morning. In any event, I'll update Saturday night or Sunday when I get home.

Hyvaa Yota!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

2009-11-03T17:22:00.000+02:00

All of the sudden I feel my life is very busy. Perhaps this is not true, but there is much to do!

Last night I had a language class at Lukio. It is a beginning Finnish class that started several weeks ago. Needless to say, I am a little behind. However, I think I can catch up quickly. They are just finishing the verb conjugations, and I'm a pro at that! :)

And I made friends! There are other exchange students in my Finnish class. Kathryn is from Australia. She has been here for 9 months and speaks Finnish quite well. Maria and Jessica are from Germany, but speak perfect English (of course) and they have been here for 3 months. Kathryn and Maria both go to Lukio, so we'll be in school together. Yay!

Tomorrow I will go with them to Finnish class in Turku. It is a class with many exchange students, including some from Rotary, so I expect to make many more friends! It should be a lot of fun.

Today I went to school with Pipsa again. In 3 class periods I went to different English classes and talked to them about the U.S. They asked all sorts of questions which ranged from "How many lessons a day do you have in school?" to "Do you think Finnish boys are cute?". I seem to be quite the novelty around the middle school. :)

I have 2 other exciting things coming up. The first is a Rotary trip this weekend. I'm not sure what it consists of. It is one night and the information thing said something about swimming in lakes and saunas. Swimming in lakes? When the temperature is right on freezing? I'm not sure about that. But meeting the other Rotary students should be awesome. The second is another Rotary trip at the end of the month. It is 5 days skiing in Lapland! I'm super excited. To get to Lapland I have to take the bus from Turku overnight all night. But it should definitely be a great trip.

Lots to do again tomorrow, so I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon!

Love from Finland

Monday

2009-11-02T17:53:00.000+02:00

What better way to describe it? It was a Monday.
This morning Janne took me to the police station to register with Finnish social security or something of the sort. It turns out they need paperwork from the school, so I won't receive that until next week. And until I have it, I cannot open a bank account. So we're working on it.

After the police station, we went to Raisio Lukio, my new school. As it turns out, this entire week is testing, so I won't be starting until Tuesday. Instead, I started school with Pipsa. As it turns out, the American makes quite a spectacle. Once they had me identified, I seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Students who could speak English questioned me, and those who didn't questioned Pipsa. Poor Pipsa spend the day answering questions about me and translating.

At the end of the day, Pipsa had a special sports lesson in Turku. Her PE class rotates through different activities and today was circus class. Yes, circus class. So that was entertaining. But it means that I got to go to Turku. I didn't see much of it, and the parts I did see were not particularly exciting.

That is alright though because, starting this Wednesday, I will have language lessons once a week in Turku! I actually have my first lesson this evening at Lukio. I hope it goes well.

Happy Monday everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T04:03:00.000+02:00

Hello again! and Happy Halloween!

I wasn't going to post tonight, but since I once again find my self up at 4am totally unaccustomed to the time change, I decided to use my time.

First- Finnish Halloween.
It is not anything like American Halloween. At all. In fact, the only resemblance is the mention of a few scary movies on tv. Instead of handing out candy to costumed trick or treaters, the Finnish all visit graveyards of past family members. They light candles to place on the graves. It is actually very beautiful. Since it is completely dark so early, you could clearly see all of the lit candles all across the graveyard. We put 2 candles on the grave of Janne's father. As we were driving home, we saw a church with a cemetery that was entirely lit. Janne tried to make some reference to and Elton John song that was lost on me. It would have been applicable could he have gotten the lyrics right :)

Next- Fourth (and Fifth) Meal
In Finland we have the normal meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Except we eat dinner around 4. Later in the evening we drink tea or cocoa and have bread with cheese and ham or sweet rolls. Depending on how late we are up, we do this once or twice. It's curious, but I like it a lot. It also means we eat smaller meals, which works out fine for me.

One more thing before I go. Janne's started speaking to me in very basic Finnish. It's helping a lot! And Pipsa and I have been taking the dogs for walks and she teaches me Finnish words. I'm hopeful. Also, my Rotary youth exchange officer here said I will be taking language lessons in Turku! YAY! Hopefully I will learn Finnish quickly.

Alright, back to bed now. Goodnight!

Finland at last

2009-10-31T05:03:00.000+02:00

Hey guys.

Just wanted to say hi and give you a quick update.

Things here are great! Finland is so pretty. Yesterday on the plane they told me it was about 2 degrees in Helsinki. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that was celsius. I was relieved. Kind of.

It snowed a tiny bit, but not much. It didn't stick at all. It was also completely dark by 5. Which did not help my jet lagged self. I stayed awake until just after 8 then crashed. I would have gone to bed at 5, right after dinner, but that would not have helped me at all. I'm still a little off, seeing as it's just now hitting 5am.

So-on to my family. They are wonderful! Just as cute as I imagined in every way. Anne (my host mom) is a secretary part time and Janne (my host dad) doesn't work. I have yet to figure this one out since their home is GORGEOUS and they have both summer and winter cottages. All of these establishments include saunas of course. Anne said even individual Finnish apartments will all include saunas. I have been promised my first Finnish sauna today (Saturday).

Sunday I'm going with my family to lunch at Janne's mother's house. All of Janne's family will be there, and I'm very excited to meet them. Oh! All of my family speaks English. Anne and Pipsa are fluent, Roope understands everything I say (though he doesn't talk to me very much), and Janne can understand and communicate most things (Anne helps him). But unless they're talking directly to me, they speak Finnish. This is actually a great thing! We watched Finnish tv last night too. Only a couple hours in, but I'm hopeful I will learn quickly.

Before I go, one funny story from the airport. In Amsterdam, as I was going through security (AGAIN, ugh) a short man working at the airport asked kind of jokingly in particularly broken English if I was a princess. I said I was and curtsied. Then he asked me where my crown was and I told him I unfortunately had to leave it at home in my castle. It was a great interaction.

Hei Hei!

Leaving at Last

2009-10-21T03:08:00.000+03:00

I got the word today! I have a scheduled departure for Thursday October 29! 9 days away.
I'll fly through Amsterdam and into Helsinki, arriving on Friday.
I'm soooooo excited.

Also...big shout out to ROSE CITY! We (the girls 8) got 5th out of 74 at Head of the Charles this weekend!! We Nick Munched it. And to the boys, who started 76th and got 7th!!! So that's awesome. And we have joined a small group who can proudly say WE ROCKED THE CHARLES.

Some more news and my host family

2009-10-07T00:28:00.000+03:00

Well, last Friday I sent in my visa application! Yay! After spending several hours furiously doing paperwork, I got it done and mailed to It's Your World Travel in Seattle who verified all the forms and sent them along to the consulate in San Francisco. So it looks like I WILL be leaving around the end of the month! Hurrah!
And my host family. Yes. I have a 15 year old sister, Pipsa, and a 13 year old brother, Roope. (I told Reed I was replacing him with a new brother. But I would NEVER do that!) My family also has 2 dogs. I'm so excited! I've emailed my host mom a couple times. She and Pipsa are getting ready to go to Beijing for a week!! Yes, crazy. But all AWESOME.
So that's the newest news. (Note: thanks to Amelia I now know that "news" is an acronym: North East West South). You learn new things every day.
Oh, and one last side note: I'm going to Boston! Next Wednesday for Head of the Charles. GO ROSE CITY!

Guarantee Form Arrives

2009-09-29T05:35:00.000+03:00

YES! The guarantee form arrived from Finland today. I have host parents- Janne and Anne Lehtonen. I have a host club- Raisio RC. I have a host school- Raisio Senior High School. And a home address for when I arrive!

Tornikatu 11
Raisio, Finland 21260

It's all so very exciting. Unfortunately, school started the 11th of August, so I'm running a bit behind.
It's awesome. So that's where life stands right now. I will be filling out the visa application shortly and mailing it to the consulate. So it looks like I'll hopefully be out around the beginning of November.

SUOMI-FTW!

Raisio

2009-09-19T20:23:00.000+03:00

This morning I got word of my city. It is called Raisio and it is right outside of Turku!! (see southwest Finland). Raisio is small, but it is very near Turku, which is pretty darn big. Well, 3rd largest in Finland after Hellsinki and Tampere. Also, in 2011, Turku's the European Capital of Culture! as designated by the EU. And several major roads converge in Raisio. The Mylly shopping center is the highlight perhaps. That just makes me laugh. But it's the 2nd largest mall in Finland! Such good trivia right there.
I still don't know who my host family is, but I've been assured that they are in existence and they are excited for me to come! I'm very very excited! Though apprehensive about learning Finnish. I'll let you know how it goes.
Oh! Finland agreed to just use electronic copies of all of the paperwork. So the paperwork can be quickly processed and mailed to the Finnish consulate in San Francisco. It will take 4-6 weeks to get my visa, so I should be leaving around the end of October. Lets get this show on the road! :)

p.s. a HUGE thank you to Dan, Jeff, Sparky, Ed, Birger, Juha, and my parents for helping to make this happen

SUOMI. Yes, Suomi. I'm going to FINLAND!

2009-09-11T20:59:00.000+03:00

Hello friends! So, as of less than 20 hours ago I have a new destination- Finland! Yep. Dan, amazing as always, found me a spot in southwest Finland, and hopefully I'll be leaving very soon.

What happened? Well, with no word from Russia, and no response to Dan's inquiries, my family and I decided that we couldn't wait not knowing any longer. We knew that that might mean no exchange year, but that's what we had to do. But with some help from Dan and some incredible people in Finland the exchange is on!

I have purchased a Finnish dictionary and a map of Finland. We will see just how much Finnish I can learn in a very short period of time. More news to come when I hear about my city and host family!

Hei hei!

The Waiting...

2009-09-07T02:36:00.000+03:00

Well, seeing as the end of August has come and gone, and school in Oregon is about to start, I'm still waiting. Like last year, my paperwork is held up in Yakutsk. Meaning no visa. Dan (the best country officer EVER) is working and working to get my exchange on the road, and I'm still confident that it will get underway sometime in the near future.

Exciting news! Tolya (the Russian exchange student from Irkutsk) has arrived! He starts school at Cleveland this week. His English is phenomenal. I've learned a lot from him about Russia.

So what am I doing now? Well, I'm going to crew. Official practice starts Tuesday! And I'm spending time with friends before they go off to school. I'm practicing my Russian, and getting all of the things I need in order. Hopefully I'll have some good news soon!

Ya te loobloo! Do svidaniye!

Welcome!

2009-07-20T09:32:00.000+03:00

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. I hope you will all follow my travels in Russia (and send me an email from time to time).

A few preliminary details...
I hope to be spending my junior year of high school (2009-10) in Russia. This is with a Rotary International Exchange. And yes, Russia was my first choice. I heard from the president of the RC in Neryungri (go look at a map!)*, and it looks like that is where I will be spending my year. However, there are no guarantees! Idealy, I will leave in about 5 weeks, but I have yet to receive crucial paperwork to pass along with my Visa application. I will keep you updated.

In the mean time, I am taking Russian classes at PSU. It is an acclerated course, meaning that in another 2 weeks I will have completed a full 2 semesters of Russian in just 6 weeks time. It is difficult, but I am hopeful that it will help my learning curve when I arrive.

On another note, my sponsor RC, East Portland Rotary (the greatest club in the universe!), will be hosting a Russian! Tolya arrives from Irkutsk in the middle of August. I should get to meet him before I leave.

I'll keep you all posted as the process continues! Do svidaniye!

*http://www.siberiagym.com/map%20of%20russia/russia_rel94.jpg
Neryungri is in the East. About 500 miles east of Lake Baikal and 300 miles north of China.
Fun facts: Neryungri is in the Sakha Republic. The republic is 1/3 the size of the U.S. with a population of about 1 million. Neryungri (pop: ~70,000) is the second largest city in the state!