April 21st Spring in Finland

I've been having so much fun here since my last blog post! I have taken a second trip up to Lapland in Northern Finland, I have been skiing a few times but mainly I have just been enjoying the presence of the sun! For almost 4 months I saw the sun only a handful of times, and now it is out and shining every day!! I really did not realize how important the sun is to my over all mood until it came back out and put a big smile on my face! One thing I was missing from home was all the cool places I knew of to relax and watch the sunset, so I started going on adventures to find places like that here. As you can see I found a good one overlooking the castle in my town. I also was privileged enough to get to see the Aurora Borealis of Lapland, or the Northern Lights.

My Spring Break!

While everyone else was soaking up rays in some tropical "paradise" I was hanging out with my great host family and enjoying mother nature at her finest, deep in the Arctic Circle! We were all staying at my host family's cottage, which is almost at the top of Finland! Look on a map before you doubt how gnarly that is! I was relaxing and taking as much in as possible, going for walks each day and exploring as much as possible. One of the days we drove to visit my mother land, Norway. Unfortunately it was the only cloudy day we had on our entire trip, but we made it a good time! It was weird to think that at any given time I could be running into an aunt or uncle or cousin! Another day while we were there we went to a reindeer farm. That was the second time I have visited a reindeer farm but it was just as interesting as the first. One of the most memorable things I was able to do on my spring break arctic adventure was hold a wolf dog puppy! I dont know what it was about the little fella but I think knowing that one day he is gonna be a huge meat eating machine was pretty cool. Wolves are my favorite animals so to hold a little wolf dog pup was truly remarkable for me! Besides holding the baby beast, the northern lights I was lucky enough to see was my favorite part of the trip! We first saw them early in the evening and they were pretty remarkable, then we kinda stopped checking on them and went to bed. In the night I had to tend to some business outside cause there was no toilet in the cabin and boy was that a surprise! After finding a perfect tree that needed watering I realized it was really bright outside for being 3 in the morning and I looked up and saw the most colors I have ever seen in the sky! No picture can do them justice! It was truly being in the right place at the right time, I ran inside grabbed my camera and snapped that picture and a few minutes passed and they were back to just green lights. What was so crazy about them was I could actually hear them, there was a buzzing sound along with a kind of ocean wave sound. It was an out of this world experience!

I am heading to St. Petersburg, Russia in a few days so ill be sure to post about all the happenings there. Unfortunately my adventures here in Finland a dwindling, which makes me sad. I have learned more than any book could ever teach me here, it has been an inspirational and eye opening experience to live here. It is not over yet though, so until my next blog

One Love
Be Safe
Enjoy Today
Smile Often

March 14th

Well it has been almost 3 months since my last blog post, so I apologize for that. I always tell myself that I will update my blog more often but I never seem to get around to it. It has been an extremely busy  3 months, that is for sure. From Prom in January to the Ski World Cup last week, I have been jammed with activities and new experiences. Oh and my parents came to visit me for my Winter Break which was super fun!

Prom here is way different than the prom we have back in the states. Here in Finland we spent nearly 3 months preparing 7 or 8 dances. We learned how to Waltz and Tango along with a bunch of other classic dances. All the girls wore ball gowns and had their hair done very nice and all the guys wore tuxedoes. I felt like I needed to break into song every time I walked into a room cause I looked so official and I felt like Frank Sinatra! It was my first time wearing a tux so it took some time getting used to how high up my pants were. After getting ready though everyone from the school went to this dance hall and performed our dances, because I had two partners I had to perform it twice. It took about an hour each time we went through all the dances, which means I was dancing for 2 hours! There was 2 schools doing all the dances too, so there was probably 500 nervous kids dancing in the same room which quickly increased the temperature so it was SO HOT! Tuxedoes dont breathe either so I was dying by the end of it. Then it was picture time, so in all the pictures its after we all danced for 2 hours. I was kinda tired by the end to say the least. Then the next day was chaos! I had to go to 4 different younger schools to show off my new moves. Then ended at my current school to show the younger students what the dances look like. Finally when it was all said and done I had danced 7 times in 2 days. Then there was a huge after party with everyone at this event place that the schools rented out for all of us, it was super fun!

Then soon after the Prom, my parents came! It was incredible seeing my parents after 7 months away from them! I had this weird idea that it was going to be kinda odd seeing them and interacting with them after being away for so long but I was so wrong. As soon as I saw them it felt like I said good bye the day before, my Dad and I started talking about the difference in weather between Finland and home while my Mom chatted away with my host mom. We spent the first night exploring Helsinki and just enjoying each others company, even though we got lost and ended up eating at a Mexican chain bar/restaurant we still had a blast! The next day we took the train up to Hameenlinna, the city I live. My parents and I had dinner with both my host families so my parents could thank them for keeping me in one piece. It was extremely odd combining part of my life from Minnesota with my life here in Finland. When my parents met my friends here it was super fun for them to put faces to all the names in my stories I have told them! The next day we went back to Helsinki. We went to a fortress called Suomen Linna, it is an island off the shore of Helsinki. We walked around that for a while then went and met up with my homie Blaine who is from Colorado but lives in Helsinki for some dinner. The next day we left for Vienna, Austria!! We have good family friends who live in Vienna that we were staying with, so we were able to get a great private tour of one of the most beautiful cities ever! The first day there we just chilled and hung out cause we got in kinda late and we wanted to be well rested for our upcoming adventures. The second day we explored Vienna on foot all day! It was great seeing all the old architecture and history! The next day we woke up, had breakfast then jumped on the plane back to Helsinki. The rest of that day we spent in a small bar just talking about memories and the future it was a great relaxing evening spent with my two favorite people in the World. Then they left at 4 am the next day. Overall though it was such a great time spent with my parents!

I had one day after my parents left before I went 3 hours North to a city called Jyvaskylla to play snow rugby! It was the most fun but grueling sport I have ever played! The field was made up of chunks of ice and snow the size of basketballs when we first arrived so they brought in a bulldozer to break it up into volleyball size chunks. It was super fun though, because there were teams from around the world there. We had 4 games and lost them all but had a great time playing them. Then the after party was super fun! The tournament rented out some club in the city for all the rugby players to enjoy good food and dancing! The next day though I could barely move, but it was totally worth it!

Last weekend I spent with one of my best friends here in Finland. Her name is Marissa and she is also from Minnesota, its funny because we met here in Finland and connected on a Minnesota level. On Saturday in her town was a World Cup ski competition, with cross country skiing and ski jumping, so we went to that together with some of her Finnish friends. It is a nice change of pace when we hang out cause its like being in Minnesota when we are together. The ski competition was crazy though, absolutely insane how far the ski jumpers go! It was way cooler to watch it in real life than on tv.

Until my next blog
One Love

Surround yourself with positivity
Smile everyday
Live life the way you want to

Christmas and New Year in Finland (January 14th)

It was a busy holiday season here in Finland during the end of 2012 and beginning 2013. Many things have happened since I last wrote on my blog: I had Christmas at my summer cottage, brought in the New Year with many great friends, and lastly, I have recently moved in with a new host family.

Christmas at the summer cottage was so enjoyable and relaxing! The second day I was there I was able to going skiing at Sappee, a small but fun ski resort right by my summer cottage. It was so great starting the holiday season doing what I love. The next few days leading up to Christmas consisted of sleeping, going to the sauna and hot tub, shoveling snow, and preparing for the big day. On Christmas Eve we hung out and watched a Finland tradition on TV. The rules of christmas were read at 12 o’clock sharp. Then we ate a lot at dinner and went to the hot tub and after we opened presents! I worked up the courage to go swimming in a hole in the ice that we made during the day! It is something that is very popular here, kinda like the Polar Plunge or an ice dive. On Christmas day my host grandparents came to visit, which was very fun. I was also able to Skype with my parents back home and watch them open the presents I sent them. I even got to see my mother tear up while reading my card. It was hard being away from home on Christmas but it was made easier by spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day up at the cottage with such a great host family who made me feel so welcomed and loved.

Before I knew it, it was New Years Eve! It was such a fun night to spend here in Finland. I went to a good friends house to celebrate the end of 2012. We played games and sang karaoke, it was so much fun! After that we went to the center of town which is a meeting spot for all the kids to get together and have a good time while celebrating the past year and bringing in the new one. It was so fun to celebrate the bringing in of 2013 with my friends and almost all the kids from my school. 

Right now I am writing this blog from my new bed, in my new home. I spent the first 5 months of my exchange with the Rihkanen family, and I could not have asked for a better family to welcome me to Finland. My new home is an apartment in the middle of town, and I mean the middle! From my living room window I look out at the town center. It is very convenient being within walking distance from mostly everything. This new family is just like my other host family. I have a new host mom, new host dad and a new host sister who is 20, just like my other host family and also like my family back home! Oh and how could I forget Ines, the chillest little dog ever! I feel right at home already and I have only been here for a couple of days. I can’t wait to get to know this family better!

2012 was a terrific year, although it was filled with some extreme sadness and hard times, it was also filled with celebration and happiness throughout the year. I started 2012 in my home town in Minnesota with my best friends, and ended it in Finland with many new friends that I plan on keeping close to for years to come. The start of 2013 has been great, and if it’s any representation of the year to come I can’t wait!

For now, One Love
Be safe, live for today and maybe ill see you tomorrow

December 11th (Lapland and Trade school)

Wow!! It has been way to long since I've updated my blog! My apologize to all interested in my journey here! I will keep more up to date from here on out! Lots has happened since October 18th! For example first snow fall, I was very pleased to see the same kind of snow here as back home in Minnesota! Also I went on a week long trip to Lapland, which is in Northern Finland. I went on this trip with about 125 other exchange students from around the world, who are all doing what I am doing here in Finland! It was an absolute blast of a time! Met some pretty awesome people and got to work on my Australian slang, I've almost got it down! I went christmas shopping and realized it cost an arm, a leg as well as a small fortune to ship anything of any size back to the states! All and all I have been really enjoying my stay here, each and every week I feel like I am making new life long friends here, and that is something I can not be more thankful for!

Here we go! Trip to Lapland!
It started with an outrageous 16 hour bus ride, in a bus jammed with 45 exchange students! Exchange students are a loud bunch of individuals making it very challenging to get any sleep over the entire ride! Once we got there it was -20 degrees C which I think is about 0 degrees F, so not to bad at all however one of my good friends who trekked here from Mexico was not so thrilled on this temperature! He kept asking me questions like, "Hey dude, is it normal for my nose to kinda hurt? Inside when I breathe there is ICE!? Is that okay?" and when I asked him if his feet were cold he smiled and looked at me and said "Nope, I have 3 pairs of sox on! Screw style man its cold!!!" However everyone seemed to be having a great time! I went skiing for 2 days while up there, it was barely skiing by my definition. There were 2 T-bars going up a single run, thats it. I was just excited to be skiing with my friends though.

The third day I was up there was a day I will never forget! It started with going to a reindeer farm and feeding reindeer and learning about the old and new ways of the farm! Super interesting! Then we went to this nature place and watched a video about the animals that live in Lapland! Also very cool! Then here is where it gets really interesting! We went to lunch, had meatballs, my favorite! Then we snowshoed about half a mile to a reindeer track where we got to ride behind reindeer! Sounds fun but it was actually kinda scary, cause they were semi-wild reindeer and there was no one leading them, they were suppose to just follow the trail! Then we walked some more to a Husky Farm!!! There were 400 huskies there! We were fortunate enough to get suited up and go for some rides on the sleds behind them! Such an amazing experience to be pulled by such cool animals! Got to see some puppies too!

The next day we got to go to meet the big man himself, Santa! Every kids dream, not even joking the real santa lives in Finland, look it up! I'm not crazy! Santa is real! Didn't get to meet any elves though, kinda bummed about that! It was really cool though! There were probably 15 gift shops in this 2 block area! To get your picture with the big guy too, they were asking for your life savings! So i just told him what I wanted, asked if I had been naughty or nice, even though I knew the answer! Then told him I would see him in a few weeks and that was that! Then hopped back on to the bus and drove to dinner. All 125 exchange students got to eat at some hotel place and then say our goodbyes. It was tough because some of these people I may never see again, and thats a big thought to rap your head around when your saying goodbye to someone! It was tough but once back on the bus it was fun and games for the next 16 hours until I got home!

I just realized while looking back at this post how many exclamation points there are. I guess I am just very excited to be here having so much fun! I'll get a new blog posted about how my Finnish Christmas goes!

For now, One Love
Be safe, and Enjoy Today

Traveling! October 18th

Hello again! Just got home from traveling to Helsinki and Stockholm! It was a great time and I wish I had more time to spend in both those incredible cities! I also had my last rugby game of the season this last weekend which was bitter sweet for sure. It was one of the most fun games of rugby I have ever played, and I also scored a couple times however I got pretty beat up and maybe cracked a few ribs. I would do it all again though for such a fun game! The reason I was able to travel this week is because I am on my fall break. Which is a random week in the middle of October where we don't have school. I don't really understand it but I am not complaining!

I went to Helsinki on Monday with my host family in the morning. We drove around looking at all the sites a foreigner would appreciate and enjoy. We went to the Olympic stadium from the 1952 summer Olympics. That was extremely interesting and its all original with wooden benches and no cup holders in site! Then we went to Stockman a department store with 8 floors! That was absolutely insane! We spent 2 hours in there and I was just walking around taking in how massive the place was the entire time. It has 3 restaurants in it, and I am pretty sure it was connected to a hotel! Oh and the parking was all underground and I think 4 different levels! I guess they do it big in Finland as well! Then it was time to board the ship. So we stood in lines for about an hour doing a bunch of different things before we could board. Finnish people really like standing in lines I guess. Once on the ship though it was very relaxing. There were different performers and stuff throughout the evening but other than that it was pretty mellow. I got to see last years winner of Finnish Idol perform, Diandra Flores, which was really fun! There was karaoke and many other fun crew ship like activities. Only downside to the cruise was the size of the cabins, I could touch the walls with both hands and 4 of us slept in there! But the beds were surprisingly comfortable.

Then before we knew it we were waking up in Stockholm! We went from the boat straight to the Metro so we could see old Stockholm first. The third picture from the top is a picture of old Stockholm, it reminded me a lot of Paris actually. The streets were very narrow and all the buildings were really old and esthetically pleasing with cool designs in the masonry. We walked around there for a while then made our way into the center of Stockholm. That was a lot like other big cities, big name brand shops everywhere mixed with touristy gift shops and local restaurants and pubs claiming THEY are the best. It was a lot of fun seeing another country though, I wish I had more than 6 hours to see it though.

We got back on the ship at around 4 and had a huge buffet dinner followed by of course a nap! Then the night began with some karaoke! There were two night clubs on the ship, one on the very top of the ship and one in the front of the ship. We pretty much moved in between those two clubs the entire night going from show to show. It was so much fun, I met some of the singers from the earlier shows, most of them were Russian but one was from Florida so that was super fun! I hung out with him and we talked about America and our experiences over here in Scandinavia, he was a real cool guy! By the end of the night my cheeks hurt from smiling so much and my stomach hurt from continuously laughing, I would call that a successful evening! Then we got back to Helsinki the next morning had a casual breakfast and headed home. It was a great experience traveling to these two great cities and I hope I can go back again soon.

For now keep smiling,

Enjoy today and be safe!

One Love

October 3

Since my last post its been nature nature nature! I've gone up to my summer cottage twice and spent a weekend exploring the nature around my house here! There is so much unexplored nature here in Finland it blows my mind! It is truly amazing what mother nature has created! I have noticed that the best way to think over any serious thoughts I have is by taking a stroll through the incredible woods near my house, it clears my mind right up and puts a smile on my face from ear to ear! I also had my first district conference this past weekend, which was extremely fun! I have been taking Finnish lessons twice a week so I am slowly picking up the language I think. Yesterday I played hockey in my sports class for the final test, and luckily my Minnesota roots pulled through and I wasn't the worst in the class! Each and every day I have been having more and more fun here! Still miss Minnesota but I think Finland will be a good home for the next 8 months!

The summer cottage is one of the best places in Finland I have been since I have been here! It is truly the most relaxing place in Finland! There is no agenda there other than remembering to keep putting wood in the sauna and hot tub ovens. Its just a place to go and think and relax, and I'm good at that! I went up there with my exchange buddy from California named Connor and we rowed across the lake to an island to explore, also went on some crazy cool walks during the day. At night we made raging bonfires and sat and sang songs by them, it was a good weekend. Then the following weekend I went up with my exchange friend from Colorado named Blaine and we went mountain biking all day Saturday at the ski resort by my summer cottage! That was a blast! That night we had a crab feast which was super good and really fun! We went on a really long walk that sunday around the summer cottage reflecting on our day of biking! I hope to go up to the cabin soon!

This weekend was the first district conference! Super fun seeing all the other exchange students from my district! We went to sauna and had a bonfire and went frisbee golfing! It was less than 24 hours long but so extremely refreshing hearing everyone else's stories of there exchange!

This week has been testing week so I have only gone to school for a couple hours, because I don't need to take the tests in most of my classes! Which has allowed me to go for runs almost everyday and explore more around my house! The sun has also showed itself a couple times this week which seems insignificant but when I have not seen the sun in roughly 2 weeks because of all the cloud cover it is very refreshing to see it!

I'll try to blog more frequently now!

Be safe and enjoy today, One Love!

September 10th

Since my last post I have been extremely busy! I went to a finish wedding that was both quite boring but also very fun! I also went on a field trip with my school to another town in Finland, where we visited some interesting design museums. This weekend I had a rugby tournament too. It didn't go as well as I would of liked but it was very fun!

There are some things I have been getting used to here that I have not been mentioning in my blogs. I forget to mention these things because they have just become second nature to me. Each morning I am woken up at around 6:30 or when the sun comes up by a rooster pheasant squawking outside my window! They are everywhere in my neighborhood! Also because I am not allowed to drive here I have to rely on my finish friends to get me places. I have become friends with a lot of my host sisters friends who is currently on exchange in New Mexico, and they are mostly girls. This leaves me riding on the back of girls mopeds 3 to 4 times a week! At first I felt extremely emasculated riding on the back of a girls scooter, but after being here for only a week I realized no one cares who is riding where because your all going to the same place!

The wedding I went to was pretty interesting. The service was pretty long or at least it seemed that way because it was in another language that I can barely understand. The reception was cool though, it was not like American wedding receptions though. There was only dancing for the last 45 minutes of the reception and it was all slow dancing, which isn't really my cup of tea. Pretty much the entire reception consisted of eating, talking, walking around between tables then eating more! I think there ended up being 5 total courses!

I was just interrupted while writing my blog by smoke seeping under my door to my room! Then I heard my host dad stomping around the house saying some not so choice words, and when I opened the door to my room (which leads right into the family room) I was greeted by the house being filled with smoke! They tried to start a fire in the fire place but something happened so the smoke wasn't going up the chimney but straight into the house! That made my average monday night pretty exciting!

Back to the wedding though! After the first 4 courses of really good meat and potatoes and salad and other delicious greens was the desert! The desert consisted of cake, coffee and Konyak! That was an interesting mixture! After we finished desert my 20 year old host sister and her cousin and I walked around the town we were in and went to a couple of clubs to end the night! It was overall a fun weekend and an enjoyable wedding!

Last week was an average week of school, nothing to special. However on tuesday last week I helped the principal to my school teach a gym class how to play softball! He thought I was the most qualified person to help him after finding out I played baseball for 8 years. It was a lot of fun though! Tomorrow with my rugby club we are helping the principal teach another gym class how to play rugby! The principal is so cool! One time he called out in the middle of the lunch room to me and the other exchange students asking us to join him for Finish baseball after school, and when we looked hesitant he yelled at us "Be there or be square, dudes" so we all decided it would be fun to join him! Finish Baseball is a crazy sport, I cant explain the rules so look them up if you want more details!

The rugby tournament was three hours away so we had to leave at 8 in the morning to make our noon game! I road up with the captain to our team and two members of the Finish army that play on our team so I heard some pretty cool stories on the way there and learned a couple of new finish words I probably wouldn't learn in school. We ended up playing 3 games as a team but I played 4 because another team was short players. I met some cool guys at the tournament, one guy from New Zealand, and a couple more from France. One thing I will never get sick of is the connection shared by rugby players world wide! I played pretty well for not having played for 4 months, but I do still feel each of the games!

Yesterday a fellow Minnesotan exchange friend came from a neighboring town to visit me and my buddy Connor from California here in Hameenlinna. We walked around the huge public park here called Aulanko, and explored the castles built in the 1800's with in the park! It was great fun and nice to see another Minnesotan! I'll never get sick of big Minnesota hugs!

Hopefully my next blog post will be sometime at the beginning of next week but we will see.

For now, Live life and be safe!