Getting into a schedule now (August 29)

I've been pretty busy since my last post! Rugby every monday and thursday night! We have a tournament coming up on the weekend of September 8th and 9th! Im very excited to play some games with this team! I also took a trip last Thursday with my host sister and her friend to the town of Turku, which used to be the capital of Finland. (the picture is an old church in Turku) I also met the parents to my host mother, and went to the famous iittalaa glass factory! I also went to the local pool this weekend with some of my exchange friends!

Turku was an incredible city with a ton of history, I'm so glad i got the opportunity to enjoy such a beautiful city! We went shopping in a huge shopping establishment as well as walked around the large city! There is a river that runs through the middle of the river that boats travel up and down.

On Saturday I met my host grandparents! They didn't speak any english which made hand motions, pointing and pictures our tools to communicate. They were extremely nice and welcoming! We ate so much food there because my host grandma kept bringing out more and more food. Then we went and picked apples in their back yard. It was a lot of fun and great to meet them! Saturday night I was invited to a party too with a bunch of Finish kids so I was able to make some new friends too that day!

Some exchange students and I on Sunday we went to the swimming hole! It has a high dive and two lower spring boards. There is also an area with jets and water features for massaging and playing with! It was a lot of fun and we are all glad we decided to go there.

I've been have a great time here so far! I do miss home but I feel like that is completely normal, and it is getting easier everyday to be away!

Enjoy today and be safe!

First week of school and Weekend at the summer cottage (August 20)

Hello Again! I have been extremely busy since my last post! I finished my first week of school last friday on the 17th, then I headed up to the summer cottage with my host mother and father for a relaxing Finish weekend.

On Friday at school though something interesting happened, there was a fire drill! However it was unlike fire drills that I am used to back home. While I was in the restroom I heard an announcement in finish and so I listened for any words I recognized and only heard a few, not enough to figure out what was being said. As I was walking back to class I ran into the principal of the school and he said to me "Gunnar right now is a fire drill so get out of the building now!" Without hesitation I found the nearest door and walked out of it to find the entire school watching that one door. As soon as I stepped out of the school I noticed a teacher press a stop watch then look at me. So I was the last student to leave the building. I just looked at her and said "Sorry I am an exchange student" and gave her a big American smile and walked into the group and tried to find someone I recognized.

After that day of school was over I headed home on the bus and then packed for the weekend at the summer cottage! packed everything except I forgot T-shirts so the whole weekend I had to borrow some from my host dad, turned out to not be a problem because he bought 45 of the same T-shirts last time he was in Thai Land and they are all at the cottage. We spent the weekend relaxing in the wood heated hot tub, going swimming in the frigid lake and sitting in the sauna! We did make a trip to IKEA though to pick up a chair for the cottage on saturday and that took half the day. Who knew IKEA was a day trip, I guess thats how they do it over here, we even ate lunch there. On our way back we stopped at an old car museum and that was really interesting. There were some similarities between the evolution of cars in Finland and America as well as some differences that I noticed. I was able to sleep until 12 every day and I enjoyed that a lot!

Tomorrow is my first rotary meeting so I need to polish my presentation tonight. I am very excited to meet all the people who are responsible for giving me this unbelievable opportunity here in Finland so I can show them how greatly thankful I am to be here!

Be safe and enjoy today

First Day of school (August 14)

Had my first day of school today! It went well, I have 3 other exchange students I know in my grade. I had school for 3 hours today total and one hour was eating lunch and another hour was a concert by the Zambian vocal collection. We all had great fun on the private tour we got. The school has 500 students and 5 floors. It is a high school, however here high school is only three years long.

Yesterday I went to that rugby practice I mentioned and it was a ton of fun! The average age of the team is probably 30, but only a few of them have played before so although they all have tattoos and are mostly bigger than me its hard to find them intimidating when they are always asking me questions about the rules, because this will be my 6th year playing.

I went longboarding as well yesterday for about an hour and a half around the neighborhood, it was a nice way to explore the area. I went 3 kilometers to the closest grocery store, walked around then headed home. It was a short but fun ride!

Be safe and enjoy today!

First few days (August 5 - 13)

Went to a language camp and met over 100 other Exchange students from around the world who will also be spending there year in Finland like me. That was a huge bonus because now I have connections all over Finland through other exchange students. It stays light here till approximately 10:30 (picture was taken at 10 PM over looking the lake the camp was on) every night and the sun comes up at around 4:30. During the language camp we visited the city of Tampere, which is the third largest city in Finland. Also during the camp we went in the sauna almost every night, we went from the 80 C sauna to the 15 C water which is a drastic difference!

My host family is extremely gracious and thoughtful, which makes it much easier to call this place home for the next few months. They have two daughters so I am there first boy, and I think someone told them boys don't stop eating because they are always putting food in my face and asking me if i hungry. We went to their summer cottage for a little bit the other day and me and my host dad went and checked his crawdad traps. We pulled out around 25 of the little buggers!

I start school tomorrow! I am excited but also very nervous! My job is going to be to make a bunch of good new friends. We will see how that goes with how quite all the Finns are. Good news is I found out there is a rugby club in my town though! However I can't plan on making friends my age through the club because it is a mens club and I think the youngest person on the team is 25. But the first practice is tonight at 7, so we will see how it goes.

I am very excited to begin my adventures in Finland, however I do miss plenty of people back home in Minnesota. But 10 months wont seem long at all, just yesterday it feels like my first day of high school and that was over 4 years ago, so 10 months is just a blink!

Be safe, and enjoy today!