The last weeks

12 -28 june

And more

On the 12th I just slept pretty long and I spent a lot of time reading, made a little walk in the evening.

The 13th was pretty much the same, and so was the 14th. On the 15th I slept pretty bad, so I was pretty tired. In the evening I went to seurakuntatalo, that was nice again. After another bad night another tired day on the 16th, the weather was still pretty warm, but I made a little walk anyway.

On the 17th my host mom and I made the food for that day, macaroni with ham and eggs, like we eat it in the Netherlands with my family. It turned out pretty good and it was so much fun to make :)

On the 18th the weather changed to rain and all, so I spent most of the day inside. I did take a walk, though, it's just a good way to get outside for a bit and have some time for yourself.

The 19th the weather was so bad that I actually stayed inside all day, so I read for quite a while and spent some time behind my laptop.

The 20th was exactly 10 months since my arrival in Finland. Wow.. During the day I packed one post package, 10kg. Apart from that I didn't do much, took a little walk, etc.

21st: Exactly one week left. Talked a lot with my host mom, played some piano. In the evening my contact person had invited me to their summer cottage, it was very nice :)

On the 22nd there was the AFS picnic on Suomenlinna. So after I bought some souvenirs I went to the ferry and waited for the others. It was very nice and I had a good day. After Helsinki I went straight to seurakuntatalo. Last time.. It was very nice again.

On the 23rd Milla had her birthday party, so during the day I went to buy her something and in the evening we were at Anna's house for the party. It was great once more.

The 24th was the day I had my goodbye party. Quite some people who came for a little while, and it was great. We played some Ultimate Frisbee, Joona was dumped in the little pond, we had food, etc.. In the evening there was a midsummer fair or so, it was so much fun and I bought a great cowboy hat ^^

The 25th I slept quite long, I was so tired. In the evening I packed another package for the post, and after that Juho and Elisa stopped by for a little :)

On the 26th I started packing my stuff. Quite a task but it all ended fine. Later we went to drop the packages off at the post office, both were exactly 10 kgs!

The 27th, the last day.. Cleaned up and packed some last things, wrote a 2 page essay in English and half a paper in Finnish to leave for my host family the next day. Then on to the store for 7 blocks of Fazer chocolate and 2 bags of salmiakki. The neighbors came over in the evening, that was nice.

And on the 28th it was time to leave. Got up in time, and my host dad drove us to the airport (He came back from his work for that!) and said goodbye at the parking lot because he was very busy at his work. At the airport we had to find the AFS group that was waiting at the same gates, so I could get the last information and all. There I said goodbye to my host mom and sister. So weird, to know that you're not gonna see them for a loooooong time.. Many people cried a lot at the airport but I didn't, somehow right now it finally starts to hit me that the year is over so yeah..

The first flight I had to be on, from Helsinki to Munich, was delayed with 40 minutes. It sucked, because that made me miss my connecting flight from Munich to Amsterdam.. I was transfered to a later flight when I arrived in Munich and the plane was gone already, so I had 2 hours on Munich to do nothing.. Ended up buying a book :) The flying itself was quite nice, on the 2nd flight we had some turbulence, but all together it was nice.

When I finally arrived at Schiphol in Amsterdam, my bag came by quicly at luggage claim and I could go find my parents. They had been waiting for quite a while as well already and were happy to see me. It was nice to understand everything around me again and see all the familiar faces and things. After a sandwich from V&D boulangerie we went to the train to get home, and before we drove home from the train station we went to MacDonalds for icecream/chicken nuggets. When we got home it started thundering quite hard and there was a very nice storm.

Upon walking into my room I saw this:

in my whole room that was the scene. A very warm welcome from my friends :) I was so tired that I slept like a baby.

Then the weekend after there was the summerfest in my village, it was great fun and a good way to see everyone again and get back into the group. A weekend of partying, and this weekend again with my parents celebrating that they've been married 25 years now. I'm still tired, and still working to settle here again, find out what my place in the friend group is now, all that stuff. It's weird to be back home, but also it's good, it's fine.

Some songs for now

Switchfoot with This is Home

Lange Frans & Baas B with Het Land Van.. (The land of..)

Sonata Arctica with Everything Fades to Gray

This was my year in Finland :)

Thanks for reading about it.

'Anouk

Week 39, 40, 41 & 42

15 may - 11 june

Sunday the 15th, slept quite long and then Alex & I got the guitars over to the part where we slept and made some music. Around 5 o'clock we brought all the stuff back to my room and then we went to the centre, ate pizza and waited for Aki to pick us up to go watch the icehockey finals at Elisa's place. Finland - Sweden. Had a great evening, and Finland won!! So it was a very good day :)

Monday I started out with the English speaking course, and then history, jump hour, the other English and music class. When I got home, around 5, I noticed how tired I was. I lied down, and the next moment it suddenly was 9 o'clock.

Tuesday I had the English speaking course again, and that was it, hung around a bit and played some cards until it was time for Ultimate Frisbee, and after that Hesburger and going home.

Wednesday I started with history, then a jump hour where we played cards, then English and then another jump hour, after that music class. I got a lot of friends to write on my Finnish flag!

Thursday I went to school for lunch, worked on a presentation and then on to Helsinki with history class! The excursion was okay, as far as I understood what was going on. After that Alex and I went to Helsinki for some souvenir-shopping! Bought quite a bit already, but I have to go get some more.

Friday was exactly 9 months since I arrived.. Wow! I went to school for lunchtime, finished the English presentation, then I had a jump hour where I played some cards, and then in English speaking class Jenny, Sara and I had our presentation. It went pretty good. Then Hesburger and on to seurakuntatalo, it was nice and I got some more people to write on my flag!

On saturday the 21st I just slept pretty long and then went for a walk and got icecream :) Apart from that I didn't do that much, played some guitar, played some piano, etc..

On sunday it was a bit the same, read quite a bit and played some piano, took a walk, etc..

On monday I had my last classes.. 1st hour I had the English speaking test with Kristiina, it went pretty good! After that history, it was pretty okay, and then a jump hour. Played some cards, and then English class. In the last hour I had music class, where I got some more names on my flag. And that was my last class on Vihdin Lukio, ever (most likely). It's weird..

On tuesday I still got to school, I didn't have any classes but I still wanted to go. Played cards for almost the whole day and had a lot of "this could be the last time we do......" moments with Alex.

On wednesday I slept pretty long, then took a long walk. Spent the rest of the day behind my laptop and guitar, and watched quite some Supernatural episodes.

On thursday I played piano for quite a while when I was home alone, and eventually I went on a walk.

Friday was much the same. In the evening I went to seurakuntatalo, had a good evening again. After that I had to start packing for..

AFS end of stay camp. Got there on saturday morning. We had a lot of 'sessions', where we basically talked about the year and about going home and what's gonna be different and what's gonna be the same. Of course we also played a lot of games and we had the talent show, where we played a mix of Scandinavia and the World and Harry Potter. I ended up playing a German Snape xD Then we talked most of the evening, and the next day after breakfast and another session we had to start packing again. After that another session and some more games. At 4, after a lot of hugging everyone and all that stuff, I got picked up and the others left to Helsinki with the bus. Had a great camp, but I was very tired.

Monday the 30th I had my test, English. It went alright. After school to the store with my host mom, I needed a nice & neat top. After that I just relaxed at home, made some sudokus :P

On tuesday I made a nice walk and watched a bunch of Supernatural episodes. Played some guitar too.

On wednesday I went to Linnanmäki with Alex. It was great! First we ate pizza in Helsinki, and then we eventually found the park. We went in most of the rollercoasters - I told Alex to ignore all of my reasons to not go xD - and got very sick after one attraction. Oh, and the water coasters were fun, but by the time I got home, a couple of hours later, I was still soaking xD

On thursday I recorded the last backing vocals with Juho, Pietari and Alpi. It was nice, but there were so many mosquitos!

Friday was the day to pick up our grades from school. For the speaking course I got a 10, and graded in C1+2 for fluency, that's the highest possible from the course I think! For the other English course we didn't get a grade, but the test looked pretty good too. In the evening I went to seurakuntatalo, we grilled. Was nice :D

Saturday there was a graduation ceremony at school, where we off course went to watch. It lasted long and it was really warm inside, but it was nice to see. During the day Alex and I went to Elisa's graduation party, it was nice, very fancy! And in the evening we went to Anna's school's-out party! It was so nice and I had great fun!

School is now OFFICIALLY over, it's so weird. It means I'm almost going home..

Sunday I used to catch up sleep, then I took a walk, it was so warm! So I got icecream. There were pancakes for lunch!

Monday I slept quite long, and during my walk I noticed that it was freaking hot again. Apart from that some guitar and computer.

Tuesday was another lazy day, this time I was smart enough to take my walk in the evening, it was still quite warm, but a whole lot better this time!

On wendesday I started out pretty lazy too, but in the evening I went to seurakuntatalo - the youth evening is on wednesdays now it's summerholiday - had a nice time again. Played Imago for most of the evening :)

Thursday was lazy again, I updated my PSP and played guitar and sat behind my laptop. In the evening I took another walk, but it was still very very warm.

On friday I went to Jenny's place, had a nice day. We talked a lot and she showed me Tumblr. Got home around 5, ate, and read a bit. It's still quite warm but we did get some rain.

And saturday I slept late again, I was home alone most of the day so I played quite some piano and guitar, great! For the rest I didn't do too much, took a walk around 7, still very warm.

So, music for those 4 weeks!

First, Requiem by Ben Konstantinovic:

Second, Lange Frans & Thé Lau with Zing Voor Me:

(Dad, if you can't hear the words, it's worth it to look up the lyrics!)

And last, 2 songs by Glee:

For Good, sung by Rachel and Kurt:

And I feel Pretty/Unpretty, sung by Quinn and Rachel:

2 weeks to go, so the next update might be from Dutch ground again.

'Anouk

Week 35, 36, 37 & 38

17 april - 14 may

So, long time ago, sorry.

Sunday the 17th of April was a pretty normal day, went on a walk but didn't go too far because it was a bit warm for wearing a jacket.

Monday the 18th I started with English - speaking course, then history, and then in the jump hour I went for new in-ears for my MP3. After that normal English and music. After school nothing special.

Tuesday I started with the English speaking course again, and that was is. After lunch I went to Citymarket with Alex and Helena, I ended up buying an amazing new ziphoody - bright yellow! :D

After school Ultimate frisbee, outside. It was windy but it went pretty well :)

Wednesday was exectly 8 months since I got to Finland! First history, then 3 jump hours because there was no English class, and then music. After school I - once more - didn't do very much.

Thursday I started with history, after lunch, we ended up drawing "Albert" in there.

Friday was a free day, and I went to record some more with the Spark. Had fun, everything is recorded. I sang a high B! Apart from recording I didn't do much more.

Saturday I could go riding a bike! After 8 months! Amazing 8D Apart from that I didn't do much again xD

Sunday I went on another ride, after that I had to go with them to the hall to bring some stuff or so. Apart from that nothing much again.

Monday still free, so I went on another ride :) A bit later they came home and Anniina started a whole story about how dangerous bikes are and that I absolutely need to wear a helmet. So I decided not to ride a bike and try to make them change their minds.

Tuesday the 26th I started out with English speaking course, and that was it for the day. After school again Ultimate, was nice :)

Wednesday I started out with history, then a jump hour, then English. And then we could go collect grades from the last testweek. I got an 8 for psychology! After that music class, and after school I hung around in Nummela with some friends.

Thursday I went to school a bit earlier to work on the history presentation with Alex, which we had after lunch. It went allright.. After that English, pretty boring. After school I didn't do much.

Friday again early at school, this time because that was my only option to get to school. Hung around for a bit, and my first - and last- class was the English speaking course. We watched a part of the Royal Wedding :) In the evening I went to seurakuntatalo, had fun :)

On Saturday I hung around at home for a bit until taking the bus to Nummela, to spend Vappu at Anna's place. We drove around for a bit and ended up going to Hesburger at 1 AM.

Sunday I didn't get up too late, went upstairs and found Anna's parents in the kitchen so I could take some breakfast. After that I went to practise with the Spark.

Monday the 2nd I started with English speaking course, then history, then in my jump hour hanging around a bit, then the other English class, and then music. After school I rode the bike to the center - yes, they decided I can go without helmet! -, it was nice. Apart from that nothing much.

Tuesday again English speaking course first, then 3 jump hours, and then on to Ultimate, went very nice again :D

Wednesday I started out with history, then a jump hour, and then English. Then another jump hour and then on to Espoo to play at Alpi's school with the Spark. It wasn't anything big but it was nice to do :D

Thursday history and English. After school home via the stables. Then to the store with Tuula to buy some stuff for Saturday, and after that just the normal stuff.

Friday I went to school for lunch, then a jump hour and then English speaking course. After school I went to seurakuntatalo, we got cake! Also partly followed the Germany-Finland icehockeygame, Finland won :)

Saturday May 7th was my birthday! I had a 'little' picknick with some friends, which ended up lasting 7 hours. We're hardcore 8) Again, cake, and a bunch of snacks, it was absolutely great. When I went to take a walk, about an hour after I got home, Juho just came home and decided to walk with me and we had a good chat :)

Sunday was mothersday, so Markus and Outi came over for lunch. Was a good lunch :) After that I went for a ride with the bike, and made a walk.

Monday I started out with English speaking course. Then history. Then lunch and a jump hour. I tried Alex's longboard, easy and so much fun! Then English and music, and I ended up hanging out with Alex 'til 8 after school :)

Tuesday I only had English, and after school they took me to the shopping centre. It was pretty boring but I did get an almost 1000 page book and I bought This is War from 30 Seconds to Mars :)

Wednesday I started with history, then jump hour - English - jump hour. I tried longboarding again, we went to the store and played cards. After that music, was pretty boring. At home I took a walk, nothing more.

Thursday I had history and English, and after school I took a walk, that's about it.

Friday was Friday the 13th :D Went to school for lunch, then a jump hour, and then English speaking course. After school hanging around with Alex for a bit and then to seurakuntatalo, where we watched the Finland-Russia icehockeygame. Finland won & made it to the finals!

Saturday was - of course - the Eurovision Songfestival. Alex was over here to watch, and afterwards we went to the other part of the house to sleep. Didn't get much sleep, of course, but we had fun!

And that's it :P

Some music still :)

My Chemical Romance with Na Na Na:

30 Seconds to Mars with Kings and Queens:

And, last, the Foo Fighters with Best of You:

'Anouk

Week 32, 33 & 34

27 march - 16 april

So, the 27th internet was dead, I ended up watching quite some Supernatural episodes, playing the piano and reading for a psychology test.

Monday the 28th was a schoolday, German and history classes. At home internet was working again so I updated all my stuff and hung around a bit.

Tuesday German - jump hour - psychology - jump hour - Ultimate Frisbee. Ultimate was great, but my feet were pretty dead because I had bad shoes.

Wednesday history, and then, via Il Punto, on to the intersport for running shoes. After that eating a bit, sitting in the library and on to Finnish class.

Thursday was the last lesson-day of period 4, I had psychology and history. At home nothing special, made a walk and watched some Supernatural.

Friday I had a psychology test, I think it went alright. At home nothing special, but in the evening I went to seurakuntatalo, that was nice.

Saturday I hung around a bit, made a walk to the store for new money on my cellphone and stuff. Didn't do much apart from that, finished watching the first Supernatural season.

Sunday again nothing much, but Jenny got me to start watching Glee as well, next to Supernatural xD

Monday I woke up with a sore throat and a very runny nose, so good thing I could stay at home. Oh how I love testweeks :P Didn't do too much, felt pretty shitty.

Tuesday I woke up feeling worse, adding a headache and the throat by then pretty much dead.

Wednesday luckily I felt a lot better, so I could go over to Jenny's place as planned. On the way there Kim called and reminded me of the fact that I had Finnish class that evening xD It was a nice day, Finnish class was alright.

Thursday another pretty easy, lazy day. Didn't really do anything, and Friday started out the same, until I went to seurakuntatalo in the evening. Had a good time

On Saturday I made a little walk, and went to Kim's place in the evening, we made cookies :D It was nice, and they cookies tasted pretty good :P

Sunday I went skiing with Alex, the snow was pretty great. It was the last time, most likely. Apart from that I didn't do very much.

Monday the last period of the schoolyear started. I didn't have to start until 13.10 so that was nice. I had English and music class.

Tuesday I started out with a speaking course of English, and that's it for the day. At 14.00 we started Ultimate, and after asking Alex also joined. Apart from that didn't do much. Jenny gave me the Supernatural season 2 DVD box so I can watch them :)

Wednesday I started out with history, then jump hour - English - jump hour - telling the music teacher I couldn't go to the class that day because I had my last Finnish course - and on to eat and go to that last Finnish course. It was alright, no more Finnish classes now.

Thursdays I don't have to start until lunchtime, so I went to school for lunch, then history and then English. At home nothing special.

Fridays another day that I don't have to start 'til lunch, so after lunch I had nothing and then English speaking course. After that I went to eat pizza with Jenny and then on to seurakuntatalo for the evening. Part of the group watched a movie inside and I joined the group that just went outside to make some fun :P

And then yesterday making a walk, picked up icecream. It's pretty warm, spring's here :) Apart from that not too much again xD

So, music for the past 3 weeks :P

First, The Afters with Light Up the Sky. Great song, amazing video :)

Then, Christina Perri with Jar of Hearts:

And last, this funny vid xD

(Totilas was the competitionhorse of Edward Gal)

See you next time :)

'Anouk

Week 29 - 31

6 - 26 march

Okay, sorry it took me a little while, last sunday I was busy and then yesterday the internet was dead but now I'm here with a new update :)

On sunday the 6th I didn't do that much, took a little walk but that's about it.

Monday was a bit more productive. First German, then history class, and then 2 jump hours. After that English and then on to Vihti Ski with Alex. There was some slalom competition or so, it was pretty crowded. But the snow was good.

Tuesday I had German again, then a jump hour and after lunch psychology class. Lunch was pretty good :) With psychology we watched an interesting documentairy about the importance of language, and it was based on sign language. After school choir.

Wednesday first history, and after that I was done, but I hung around at school for a bit with different people, then get dinner with Alex before going to the Finnish course.

Thursday another pretty useful day, first psychology, then lunch, and then history. After school skiing again :)

On Friday first psychology, and then a jump hour and German. After school I didn't really do that much.

Saturday we went to Lahti to see cross country skiing and ski jumping. Cross country skiing wasn't that interesting but ski jumping was pretty cool to see. After the prices and stuff there was a fireworkshow, it was beautiful.

Sunday I took a little walk again, bought a present for Riku, and in the evening we went to the stables, for the rest I didn't do much.

Monday first German class, and then history. In the evening I went to Riku's birthday, it was nice and I met some new people.

Tuesday again German then a jump hour and then psychology. After school I went to watch the Ultimate Frisbee team before Choir started. Ended up choir didn't start, and they convinced me to play. It was fun.

Wednesday another long day, first history class, and then nothing 'til Finnish class. Just hanging around with some people and getting dinner, that's about it.

Thursday psychology class and history class, and then home already, watched some TV and stuff, nothing interesting.

Friday was a fun day, first psychology, then jump hour and after that German. After school I went to seurakuntatalo with some friends (It's like, the church hall. They hang out there on fridays on the youth evening), it's nice and a good place to meet new people!

Saturday was an average weekend day, made a walk, sat behind my laptop, made music, etc.. It was snowing pretty hard :)

Sunday was exactly 7 months since I got here! Alex, Tiina, Anna, Lotta, Milla and I made pulla, tasty little bread-ish-things that you eat with the coffee (Koffiebroodjes in Dutch). It was great fun and very tasty!

Monday again starting with German, after that history, and after lunch back home already. Dinner was great, pancakes! <3

Tuesday was a good day. First German ofcourse, then jump hour and psychology. After school I went to play Ultimate Frisbee again, this time prepared with my sporting clothes and all, it was great fun :)

Wednesday, of course, my muscles were on fire. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! Like, I didn't even know I have all of these muscles xD First hour I had history, and after that hanging around with random people until I went for dinner with Alex, and then to Finnish class. We got a ride from Anna who just got her drivers licence on that day!

Thursday still painful muscles, but when I went skiing with Alex and Riku after school it wasn't a problem (Better than walking, actually) The snow was fantastic and we had great fun. I made one very nice fall on the black slope, I guess that's what you get when you forget to break xD But it was great.

And then Friday again, first psychology, then jump hour and German, and then with Juho and Taija to Taija's house for a little while, before going to seurakuntatalo again. Had a good evening once more :)

And Saturday I was homealone for a little while, so I practised Pirates of the Caribean on the piano :)

Music for these weeks:

The Eldar, by Blind Guardian:

You Don't Know, by Milow

And last, Smooth Criminal by David Garrett

See you all next update :)

'Anouk

Week 27 - 28

20 february - 5 march

So, here I am again =)

Sunday the 20th was exactly 6 months since I got here! Time goes so incredibly fast, and it's only 4 months left (less, by now..)

Didn't do much that day, just enjoyed my free time :P

On Monday we left to Turku, and from there we went on a huge ship for a mini-cruise to Stockholm! It was AMAZING, I saw Antti Tuisku live, he's really good and the show was great! Also it was just great to go around the ship and see everything, the sea was frozen, incredible! I had never seen that before.

The next day we took a look at Stockholm from the upper deck of the ship, and then went for breakfast. The food on the ship was really good :) At some point we went to "Anskun Tanssikoulu", where Ansku, Antti's dancepartner in Dancing with the Stars, gave a dancing clinic. It was fun to see, and after that Antti and Ansku gave out autographs. They both signed my Finnish Flag :D

That was the last day of the cruise, and in the evening, after more exploring, we went back home.

On Wednesday I was pretty tired, but we went on a little cross-country ski trip and apart from that I played some guitar and sat around a bit.

Thursday I made a nice walk, the weather has been great. In the evening there were Idols and House on the TV, but the House episodes are a year behind here so I already new what happened :P It was nice to see tho :)

Friday another walk, and apart from that once more not much. Holidays are great :P

On Saturday I went on a walk once more, but I explored a bit and took a new route, it was very nice and the weather was great again!

Sunday went pretty much the same..

On Monday a new period in school started for me. It had started before the holiday already but I was in Lapland so yeah.. First German, then history, and then 2 jump hours before English in the last bar. It was a long day, but not bad. Exactly 4 months left in Finland.

Tuesday was another normal day, German-nothing-Psychology-nothing-choir. We were with 3 people at the choir, not much.. And we had to explain the sheet music to the music teacher.. Quite a sad case I think xD I also got a 8-9 back for English last period :D

Wednesday was another looong day, started out at 8 AM with history, followed by 3 jump hours, and then English. After school straight to Finnish class, and I was back at home around 7 PM

Thursday I had only 2 classes as well, psychology and history, but this time they were connected so I could go home after them. And then around 4 back to Nummela to go skiing with Alex. It was fun, did some small jumps :P Everything felt a bit slow after Lapland tho xD

Friday I had psychology and German, and after that again skiing with Alex. In the beginning the slopes were quite icy, but it got better when it also got a bit darker. In the daylight it's hard to see the ground, so some parts, especially with ice, can be quite scary xD You have no idea where the bumps are! O.o' At the end of the evening there was some heavy snowfall :D>

And then yesterday I went to Pietari's place, where we recorded my vocals for about one and a half song now, it was so much fun and it's just great to be working with music like this :D In the evening at home we watched a Bond movie :)

So, music for this weeks :P

First, Welcome to my Life by Sunrise Avenue, it's a beautiful song I think, and also the video is great!

And then, for the Dutchies, this brilliant sketch by de Vliegende Panters :D

See you all in 2 weeks!

'Anouk

Week 24 & 25 & 26

30 january - 19 february

So, prepare for a looong post xD

Sunday the 30th of January I made a little walk to the center, bringing in empty bottles xD Apart from that I didn't do much

Monday I had Music-English (Got a 8 and a 9 back for the book test and vocab test!)-Spanish and an hour of nothing. In the evening I went skiing with Alex again, had a lot of fun.

Tuesday the 1st of February the test week started, but I didn't have a test so I spent some time in front of the TV, in front of the laptop, playing guitar, etc..

Wednesday was the English test, wasn't very hard. The teacher told me that I could fill in the Dutch translations for the words, I was a bit worried about the fact that I couldn't remember some Dutch words anymore x'D In the evening I had my Finnish class, was okay again.

Thursday I didn't have a test, so I went to Alex's place, and then skiing with Alex. The weather was quite shitty, but we had fun anyway.

Friday I had my math test, and after that I went to Alex again. We didn't go skiing because of the weather this time, but it was nice to hang out there a bit. Around 3 Kim came to Nummela as well and we spent some more time with her.

Saturday was a quite normal day again, a bit computer, a bit guitar, etc..

Sunday the 6th I made a walk again, made a loooot of pictures, because the weather was beautiful and I walked a new route.

On Monday I had to clean up my room a bit, didn't take too much time actually :P Then another walk. Preparing for Lapland a bit :)

Tuesday I first had my Spanish test, wasn't that hard only my vocab kind of dissapeared x'D

After that Jenny came over here so we hung around a bit and made some music.

----LAPLAND----

Okay, Wednesday I first had school but after that it was putting my stuff in a bag and on to the train in Helsinki. The train ride was long, I think that, due to delayed trains, we spent about 14 hours in the train X_X Spent most of the time in the train part with all the other AFS people, but I did get about 2 hours of sleep in my bedbunk xD

On Thursday we arrived in Rovaniemi around 12.00, and then we went with the bus to a museum about Sami people, Lapland, Greenland and Rovaniemi. It was nice but everyone was so tired x'D After that to the store and then on to the cottages, still quite a busride.

Friday we went to the Amethyst mines, first we heard some stories and then we went into the mines to search stones ourselves, I got some nice stones, this is the best one:

And then we had to walk back to the bus for a bit, it was beautiful!

Saturday we went to the slopes, I went snowboarding and it went quite nice actually. Spent the whole morning doing that, untill I made a beautiful faceplant just before lunch at the end of the skilift, messing up my knee xD I went down but it didn't really work for I couldn't break or turn anymore =') So we were brought back up hill with the snowscooter to go for lunch! Tried skiing but that didn't work either so I went back to the cottages with the lunch bus. And hell I'm glad I did! I saw a reindeer walking around there, just 5 meters away from me! It was so beautiful and cute :3

Sunday we went to the slopes again, skied for a good while, my knees were quite okay but my muscles were on fire xD It was a lot of fun tho, the slopes are beautiful and I found the perfect slope for me there xD

It was cold, as you might be able to see x)

In the evening we had the miss Lapland show, where we had to dress up the guys as girls and then choose the best one :P It was great fun, and I do have some pictures but I'm not gonna post them here, I'm sure you can find good pictures on facebook tho, there are plenty of people with good cameras.

Monday we went skiing again, but it was so cold and the big skilift wasn't operating so it was quite boring as well. We went back with the lunchbus and hung around a bit. I played chess, and I'm terrible at it. But it was fun. In the evening we saw the Northern Lights! It was so beautiful, really really cold, but fantastic!!

I didn't sleep much that night, about one and a half hour, on the sofa.

Tuesday was the last day already, we packed everything and got it in the bus, and then went to Santa's Village! It was great, everything is very very expensive tho. I got the picture with Santa Claus!

We went in groups so it'd go faster and probably be cheaper.

After Santa's Village it was on to the Reindeer Farm, where we could go a round on the reindeer sledge! It was great fun, but incredibly cold xD

After that back to the train station in Rovaniemi, at 18.00 the train I was on left, and it was delayed again so once more 14 hours on a train. I slept more this time, since I fell asleep while talking at some point I went to my bedbunk quite on time and fell asleep almost instantly, to wake up in Helsinki and stress out because I had to get out :P

When I got home I ate a bit and then slept the rest of the day.

----END OF LAPLAND----

Thursday I went to school to see the ABI's (3rd years) leave and throw candy, it was fun, they were all dressed up and went to their old schools in the back of trucks. Later that day we brought Anniina to the bus to go to her St. Petersburg trip.

Friday again to school, I didn't have any classes but I hung around with Alex a bit and then went to watch the Vanhojen Tanssit, where the 2nd years dance to celebrate that they are now the oldest of the school (As far as I understand it at least :P) It was fantastic to see, everyone was dressed up great and all the girls had beautiful dresses and got their hair done and everything! They didn't have enough guys tho it seemed xD

And then yesterday another lazy day, watched some sport, talked with my host parents in Finnish a bit (!) and spent some time at the laptop. Anniina came back from her St. Petersburg trip.

Music, for 3 weeks so 3 vids =')

First: Pink with Raise your glass

Second, Sum 41 with Pieces

And 3rd, Hurts with Stay

See you all in 2 weeks! Sorry for the looong post :P

And mom, I made photos! Good huh :P

'Anouk