My Last Rotary Tour, Lapland!!

Well on the 30th of November, I got on board a bus for the long 15 hour ride to my final exchange student trip. We all travelled to a place called Muonio which is on the part of Finland that looks like an arm. There was a river next to where we were staying and on the other side was Sweden. We arrived at Muonio at about midday and had a couple of hours to get settled and find out some information about where we were staying before we got back on the bus and headed for the ski field for the afternoon. I decided not to go skiing, instead I went taboganning down the hills. You would never believe how much fun this can be with the right group of people.

The trees are in Sweden.

The first night in Muonio most people decided to do the sensible thing and have an early night. We were all really tired after the bus trip. On day 2 we had the choice to either go skiing/snowboarding for the day or make ice sculptures. So of course I decided to make ice sculptures.

Carolyn and BK filling a container with snow so we could make our ice sculpture.

We ended up changing carving locations. Carolyn and me making out figure in the wall.

Nat, Me, BK and Carolyn sitting infront of our final product.

A famous Finnish children´s character, Mummi, and our ice sculpture.

The area where we were staying.

After our first day of activities, we had our first ´cosy night´. Santa came and visited us quickly before we were entertained by some of the local bands. We also had an opportunity to perform our own acts if we wanted, so the Australian´s decided to sing the National Anthem and the song Bloke.

Santa Claus

The next morning we visited a reindeer farm and a National Park. We got a talk on the Reindeer year which was really really boring. But we then got to go feed some reindeer´s. For a little bit there I was scared that the reindeer would bite my hand and I kept accidentally dropping the food before the reindeer got it.

Feeding the Reindeers.

In the afternoon of the same day we had lots of fun activites planned for us. The first one my group got to do was a reindeer ride. These reindeer´s were crazy and I actually had to control the reindeer by myself. For some reason the man who was in control of the reindeer´s didn´t jump on the slede, instead he thought it would be fun to let me steer. I can tell you now, it wasn´t. The reindeer´s started running really fast and I thought all the girls behind us in others slede´s that were attached to ours were going to die. But it didn´t earn us all our own Reindeer licence. After the reindeer ride we strapped on some snow shoes and went for a 1km walk to our next activity. The walk was really fun because so many people ended up falling over and its not very easy to stand up in these shoes. Our next activity was a Dog Slede ride. Although a lot slower than the reindeer´s, this ride was also lots of fun. After the dog slede we jumped on some snow mobils and headed to where they keep all the dogs. This area really smelled so I decided not to hold a dog becuase they smelt aswell.

Steering the reindeer.

My slede partner and my canadian newbie, Mary.

Another group heading off on there Reindeer ride.

The area where all the activities were held. It looks like a fairytale.

Nat and me in our snow shoes.

Sitting in the slede that was pulled by the dogs.

Nat and me with our helmets on that we had to wear on the snow mobils.

After our activity afternoon, it was time for our farewell. Before this all got underway though, a traditional lappish man came and sung us some songs. As you probably can imagine, the farewell night was very hard on everyone and there were lots and lots of tears shed.

The Lappish Man

The group of exchange students who I arrived with(hehe you can´t see me in this picture).

The next morning we headed off nice and early for the long bus trip home. Overall it took about 15 hours to get home and I didn´t arrive home until just before 4am the next morning.

The place where we stayed.

Some cool ice sculptures.

On the way home we got to stop for an hour at Santa´s village to buy some souveniers. Lots of people also managed to go see Santa and put in there Christmas list.

Santa´s Village Sign

Some boys of the Arctic Circle

Me, Nat and BK infront of a big Chrismas tree.

BK and Carolyn with some funny ear warmers on.

Me, Nat, BK and Carolyn saying our Final Goodbye.

More Snow Pictures!!

Well these pictures I took when I got home from school. It is so funny to look down the street because there are so many people trying to clear there driveways in order to get there car out. Hehe.

My house

My School

The side of the house

My street

Outside my house again

We Now Have Snow.....arghhhh

Well I woke up Saturday morning to look outside and see my host brothers car covered in snow. That´s right, snow. After days of snowing now the footpaths are well and truly covered. Although I have been told it will melt soon and ´winter´won´t actually start properly until the end of November/start of December, luckily.

My host brothers car Saturday morning!!!

The backyard!Outside the house today!

And at 4:45....it is seriously this dark already!!

Also on Saturday I had my big finnish exam. Didn´t go aswell as I had hoped but that´s life I suppose. I took the easy one which everyone also thinks was really hard. I will find out in about 2 months though how I went.

My Trip To Estonia!!

Last weekend my host family (host parents, host sisters and one host brother) took me to a small country near Finland called Estonia. It only takes about 3 hours on a big boat to get there so it is very close. We had lots of fun on the boat and I think we only got about 3 hours sleep.

Juuso, Me, Reetta and Riinna

Juuso´s face when Eva and Esa were dancing!

Us girls with our glowing arm bands!

A building in Estonia!

Me with a police man outside an old Scotish pub!

And an old church!

My host sisters and me!!

Just a couple of random photos of my host sisters and me. As you can tell they are twins.

Reetta and me!

Riinna!!!

My Parents Trip to Finland!

Well on the 4th of October I travelled to Helsinki airport to go meet mum and dad. I don´t think I could describe just how excited I was about seeing them. The whole train trip there just didn´t feel real.

Mum and dad!

My host families out to dinner with mum and dad!

Lauri´s parents with mum and dad!

Mum and me!

I think they had a great time, it was really good to see them after so long. Everyone got on really well with them and I think they got quite a few invitations to return.

My nephew´s and new neice

This entry really doesn´t have much purpose except to show off my sisters cute children. On September 18th she had her first baby girl, Amiel Cate. Although I am yet to actually see her she looks really cute in all the photos I have been send.

Being away from my new nephew´s this year is proving to be really hard since everytime I see a photo of them they both seem to have grown so much. I remember before I left when Isaac seemed so little and was still crawling round the room and now he is looking so much bigger and even walking. It is so weird to think that Daniel will be starting school next year. I still remember getting a phone call from mum saying Bec had had a little boy and now she has 3 children. Time really does fly by these days. I think all of them are as cute as each other and being away from them as been so much harder than I could have ever imagined. As hard as it will be to leave Finland, I can´t wait to see them and see how much they have grown and changed.

My big cute boy Daniel!!!

Little Isaac!!

New baby Amiel!!! She is so small

Third and Final Host Family!

Well I have now moved to my final host family. They live about 800m from school and downtown which is really good. I have now been living with them for about 11 days and already they have made me feel like part of the family. They are a really nice family and I am loving living with them. I have included a couple of pictures of them. Everyone in the first photo doesn´t live at home although most of them do. The guy in the white shirt is the oldest and he lives out of home but in Lappeenranta aswell. The older women in the blue and black stripe shirt is my host dad´s mum who was visiting for the weekend and the girl with short blonde hair in the grey jumper lives in Espoo with her real mum but comes and stays here one weekend a month.

This photo is of all of us girls. My host mum was joking around when we had it taken saying it was ´Miss´competition.