Merry X-mas!

So, a little Christmas update. I know it's kinda late but I couldn't find a good moment to record a vid earlier so yeah.

This is for the Dutchies:

So, yeah, here they appearently start celebrating Christmas on the 24th.. And the tree also goes up at the 24th (Instead of 2 weeks earlier or sth :P)

And for all of you:

Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta!

'Anouk

Week 16 & 17

5 - 18 december

A week late, but I'm back 8)

So, december 5th was in the Netherlands ofcourse Sinterklaas, but here they don't know it, so there was nothing special about the day.

December 6th was Finland's independence day, so no school and good food. In the evening there was this important ball or something with important Finnish people that I didn't recognize.

December 7th was a normal schoolday again. After school we had choir, it was fun but the music teacher seems to be getting more and more of a joke.

The 8th was a normal schoolday, nothing special really.

At the 9th we went to the police station after school to give them my birth certificate (Which they copied) and stuff so I'm legal here, and after that we bought me a new pair of jeans.

At friday the 10th I went to a party in the evening. Had a great time, made some new friends, etc.

In the weekend there was the AFS Midstay camp. It was so much fun. We talked a lot ofcourse, and we lied in the snow in the middle of the night to look at the stars! It was so pretty. Ofcourse I was very tired afterwards and it took me a few days to catch back on sleep xD

Last monday was a normal schoolday, started out with music, but we could leave after 15 minutes because the teacher was busy. (Why didn't he just stay away '-_-) Apart from that another normal day.

Tuesday was another normal day + choir, and so were wednesday and tuesday. Tuesday after school there was an extra choir repetition, there were exactly 4 people, and the teacher. But we sang a lot and it went well.

At friday we watched a movie during French (French spoken with Finnish subtitles, guess how much I understood xD), and in the long break there was a ham bingo. Didn't win anything, but it was nice :P

And then yesterday we went to Helsinki to do some shopping, I bought a new book, The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman, and I'm halfway the 500 pages now already :) It's great!

Music for today, 2 songs.

First, Jumala by Apulanta. Jumala is Finnish for God, and the song is great!

And second, a Christmas song in Finnish from the CD Raskaampaa Joulua.

Me Käymme Joulun Viettohon, sung by Tony Kakko.

Enjoy and see you all next week!

Oh, and Dutch-speaking people, don't forget to check the blog again this week, a little surprise for you might appear for Christmas ;)

'Anouk

Antti Tuisku's freestyle dance

So, here's the vid of one of the dances they did in the finals, the freestyle. In the beginning it shows from when they were practising, then the dance comes, and then they start talking in Finnish and giving points and stuff (Giving points come at 9.05, if you want to see)

'Anouk

Week 15

28 november - 4 december

And another week has ended :P Time flies

Last sunday I just had a very very lazy day. In the evening we watched the Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa finals, the Finnish Dancing with the Stars, Antti Tuisku won, and the dances were great! (I might link to a video of the finals later, but I can't find them now xD)

Monday was, well.. Empty. Went to school, that started late because in the morning there were still tests, so I would only have Spanish that day. I arrived at school to find out the Spanish teacher wasn't there '-_- So Juho, Rikku and I went to the music room and made some music, it was fun :)

Tuesday then I could start with the first lessons for this period. First music, then French, maths, an hour of waiting, and then choir. Nothing too special.
Wednesday was a normal schoolday, English, Spanish, jump hour, French. After school we went to K citymarket and there we found Alex and we had some pizza and waited for the Finnish class to start. It was, according to facebook, also Hug a Finn day, I found 11 Finns who agreed on getting a hug xD

Thursday was first Spanish, then English, maths, nothing, and the final repetitions for the presentation on friday with choir. Or at least, that was the planning. There were still about 3 people who didn't know the text (C'mmon, it was in Finnish and even I knew it without needing the paper!) and their melody, and it didn't sound good enough according to the principial so we couldn't perform. Shitty

Friday started with another normal schoolday again, I had maths and French, and then we were off school early because of the independence day celebration. I went to the store with my host mom to buy wintershoes and wintertrousers, and we looked at some christmas stuff, fun :)
In the evening there was a "pikkujoulu" party at one of Anniina's friends place. It's some kind of pre-christmas party and it's lots of fun!

And yesterday I took it easy again, spent quite some time behind the piano, trying to learn new songs, for the rest I didn't really do anything special.

Oh wel, and today is not over yet so that'll come next week :)

Some music for today: Racoon - Love you more. It might be an old song but I still love it :P


More next week :)

'Anouk

Week 14

21 - 27 november

So, last sunday. Lazy day, didn't do much interesting. We watched Kuorosota in the evening and that was great, and then Tanssii tähtien kanssa, the semifinals. It was fun.

Monday, testweek continued, German.. That went, well.. Better than maths, but still not that great xD I think it's more broken Dutch than actual German :P Then I went to Jenny's place for some time and then to the choir. The teacher was 20 minutes late -.-' But it was fun. And at home I could read a bit because Jenny lend me a book :) The Philosopher and the Wolf. Great book.

Tuesday I didn't have a test, so I spent some time reading, and then off to choir again. Again practised quite a lot. Apart from that I didn't do much interesting again xD

Wednesday I had a music test. It was easy, and I was done in 20 minutes. But I know I have at least 1 mistake. Didn't remember what one word meant.. xD

Thursday was, apart from another choir repetition, again quite empty. Some standard stuff, computer, TV, read a bit more.

And friday, yet once more, choir :P It sounds so much better already, it's great. After choir I finished reading the book, impressive story :)

And yesterday I took it easy in the morning once more, slept horrible xD Spent some time watching TV, surfing the internet, etc.. In the evening I talked a bit with my host mom and that was great. Ofcourse with a lot of pointing, gestures and sketching in the air, because my Finnish is still horrible xD

Also, yesterday was 100 days since I got here :)

Music for today, Mad World by Gary Jules

More next week. And I'll try to make a good picture again xD

Week 13

14 - 21 november

Hey again.

Last sunday was a very nice day in Turku, we walked around, and saw a lot. Walked around in Muuminworld, awesome! It was really great to see the city and to go into old places and stuff. We went into an old church, it was stunning, and into a castle that used to be lived in by the Swedish queen, it was a museum now, and it was very interesting :)

Monday was another schoolday. Music - should've had German but there was no teacher - jump hour where Alex and I kept Jenny of her homework - French. Nothing too special. At home an average day too.

Tuesday was again normal. After school there was the choir, very nice. Practising Finlandia Hymni, and did some other songs.

Wednesday schoolday was.. Well, empty. Should've had German but there was no teacher - jump hour - French - maths. Then home, nothing special, and then we went to the new Harry Potter movie! Great movie :D Despite the fact that I didn't see or read anything anymore after the 2nd movie, so I was a bit lost on some points ("Dumbledore is dead?") Won't spoil anything for you people who still might go to see it, tho ;)

Thursday there was no school, so I just spent some time on the laptop, behind the TV, playing guitar, etc.. Watched a cooking programme with Marco Hietala. Didn't understand much of what they were saying but it was very funny nevertheless :D

Oh, and in the evening I started in a new journal, the old one was full :)

Friday I had a maths test, didn't go that well, but yeah, I need to have 3 tests in my testweeks, so I had to make it. After school one of the trees in the garden got decorated with lights :D Very pretty.

And then yesterday it was 3 months since my arrival here :D Easy day. Took a walk to the center to bring in 15 empty bottles (3 euros :P), slightly screwed up my heels tho, wearing doc Martens xD In the evening we watched fireworks in Nummela, very pretty :D

To stay in the Harry Potter mood, a vid on the movie :) (Made by Jenny)

More next week!
Bai

Week 12

7 - 13 november

So, last week..

Sunday I took it easy, computer, puzzels, some homework, nothing special.

Monday I went to school again, looooong day; 8.00-16.30 school, then quickly home for dinner and then to my AFS contact person. Was very nice, ate blueberry cake, talked a lot. Around 21.00 I could finally sit down in my room and do something for myself :)

Tuesday another quite normal schoolday. Music, maths, art :) Then I had some time to spend, so I went to the store and I found Euroshopper Speculaas! :D And then I had choir, we practised a lot so that was very nice.

Wednesday was exactly one year since my grandma passed away. It was a bit hard to not be at home at that day, but ofcourse I just went to school, and after that I had Finnish class so I had enough to put my mind on.

Thursday was.. Interesting? Appearently Vihti's government doesn't give the school enough money next year, so we all had to go to the schoolyard and they were filming and stuff, well, it was interesting. :P

And friday was pizzaday. Really. In the long break we went to the pizzaria with about 10 people, was very nice :) And then after school we went to get pizza again xD Was still nice, but a bit much.

And then yesterday, again just a relaxed day. Laptop, TV, guitar, etc.. Nothing interesting really xD

Some music for this week, this time Avril Lavigne's "Slipped Away", I think it's a good song to remember grandma with :)

New update next week ;)

'Anouk

Week 11

31 october - 6 november

So, last sunday there was a nice long night because the clock went back one hour :) I actually learned how to knit last sunday?! (And I still remember ö) In the evening we watched some Dancing with the Stars (Finnish version), and it's still a lot of fun :P And I had to write a story for English, so I wrote it during the day, I think it ended up quite well.

Monday was a normal schoolday, but after school there was another AFS meeting, very nice again. This time the presentations were about Ecuador, Columbia, Chile and USA. Nice presentations again, and next month it's my turn O.o' (But I'm starting to get ideas :P If you have anything typical Dutch that you think I should tell about, please tell me! I'm gonna forget so many things xD)

Tuesday was again a normal schoolday, I thought. But then I figured that when I should've had maths, I had my jump hour, and when I was supposed to have my jump hour, I didn't have maths but we went to see a presentation from the 1st years.. But it was fun, biggest "WTF is going on" moment so far in school I think, but fun :)

After school I had choir again, was nice too. In the evening at home my stomach started hurting more, so that wasn't so nice.

And it was Anniina's b-day ^^

Wednesday my stomach was still hurting, so I stayed home from school. Also having a bit a hard time because I'm thinking of grandma a lot, almost one year ago ._. Didn't go to Finnish class either. Thursday I didn't go to school either, and Friday I stayed home as well. Starting to get better here tho. Friday evening a long call with mom, that was very nice too :)

Yesterday still not 100%, but really getting there. Monday to school again. apart from that nothing special :P

So, music for this week. A fantastic string quartet, with a great show around it!

Canon de PAgagNINI

More next week!

'Anouk

Week 10

24 - 30 october

So, I'm here again xD

Last sunday was the last day of the holiday, didn't do so much, computer, TV, puzzlebooks, played some piano, etc..

On monday the schoolweek started again, so I started with music. It was all explaination but it was mainly stuff I already knew so that wasn't much of a problem. At home I didn't do much again, read a bit, played some guitar, etc..

Tuesday was another normal schoolday, after school I had choir, that was fun. We did some new songs, mainly Finnish. And we started the Christmas songs! :D

Wednesday was another very normal average day :P It was really nice to see that we're doing something I had last year with maths now, tho! But now I learned to solve the formula in another way. It's fun. Then we had to spend quite some time in Nummela before we had Finnish class, so we walked around a bit and ate something.

Thursday was different, I didn't go to school because I felt really crappy. It started with just not waking up, and by the time I did wake up I had a massive headache and my stomach was hurting too. Well, didn't miss that much. French teacher wouldn't be there so I would only have art class.

Friday I went to school again, another normal day. Math teacher found a Finnish-English list of matematical terms, usefull. Apart from the fact I don't understand half of the English terms either xD So I have to look for an English-Dutch list, I guess.. For the rest nothing special again.

And then yesterday, weekend again. Didn't do much, watched some TV, made some sudoku's, played some piano, did some stuff on the computer. Overall quite an average week, but that was nice too :P

So, some music for today.

I've been listening to this song quite a lot lately, Casomai by Laura Pausini. I think it's great!

I'll be back next week, bai!

Week 9

17 - 23 october

Sunday was a quiet and easy day, mainly spent my time making puzzels, playing guitar and scrolling around the internet. In the evening we went to the stables, and the dog went with us, that was nice:P

Monday was another typical holiday-day. Sleep long, don't do so much. Took a nice and long walk tho, to the center of Vihti. Took the touristic route, what resulted in me at no point having no idea where I was, but just kept walking "Eventually I'll recognize stuff". It ended up I was on the right way so that's nice.

Tuesday was, again, a lazy day. Piano, guitar, computer, TV.

Wednesday we went swimming. It was.. well, different from what I'm used to. And no swimshorts allowed ö It was quite nice, but not as much fun as it usually is with friends. In the evening more TV! Also, it was the day I was in Finland exactly 2 months!

Thursday was great. First we went to the store because I did have neat clothes, but no neat shoes xD Then lunch, a quick shower and a littlebit of computer before we left to Helsinki for the opera! It was AWESOME 8) Really really nice experience!

The opera was called Pohjalaisia

(One of the characters, Antti)

Friday was again nothing special. Made a nice walk to the centre again, and made a quick stop at the store to bring in 16 empty bottles and get chocolate xD

Saturday was again a very very lazy day. Nothing special, apart from the fact that I've been thinking it was sunday untill I found out it's saturday at 22.30 (Thx Fay xD)

Some music for today, a very interesting collaboration from Wibi Soerjadi and Di-rect. Very nice song :)

Holidays are over now, so next week's gonna be normal again.

'Bai!

Week 8

10-16 october

Hi all =)

Another update for you. Time flies, it doesn't feel like 8 weeks.

So, last sunday was quite easy. We went to the stables for some time, started to learn a new song on the piano and watched some TV.

Monday was a long day. We had to leave at 7 because we had to go to school by bus. I had music, where the teacher first was surprised I knew the basic chords for guitar, and then was surprised again that I'm not some genius wonder-kid that can play everything on piano, or something xD Strange guy. Then I went to German, the extra class that I decided to take to kill some more time. Not too hard, but yeah. Also French and English, and I got home around 16.30 I think. And in the evening we watched Mr. Bean on the TV 8D

Tuesday was not such a special day, after school I had choir, that was nice again. I have to practise a Finnish song now, so I'm not struggeling with the lyrics every time we sing it :P

On Wednesday I had Finnish class after school, it was quite nice, and the teacher mentioned that the level will go up a littlebit now, so that's good news.

Thursday was a nice day. First normal classes, French, art and German, and then we got our grades for the testweek back :D

I have a 9- for Spanish, a 9+ for English and a 4 for maths :P But I expected a bad grade for that one. It's quite hard to follow maths classes in Finnish.

On Friday I got another grade back, for art, an 8 for my painting, unexpected high. I think it's not such a great painting, but yeah, I'm happy with it =)

And then yesterday we went to the horseraces, it was really nice, but quite cold (Even a little bit of snow at the end of the day! :D) and after that we went to the stables, we were there quite long because they had to fix something. When we eventually got home we got some pizza and we ended up eating pizza at 21.00 xD But it was good. And after that we watched the Princess Diary's 2 =)

Sorry, no pictures for you this week :P But ofcourse I have some music =)

It's the Finnish song I have to practise for choir =) (Glad I have a whole week of holidays to practise)

Ultra Bra - Minä suojelen sinua kaikelta

'Anouk

Week 7

3-9 october

Last sunday we celebrated Seppo's b-day =) Went to get some pizza, and then saw his working place, really nice O.o' (He leads building projects), and then in the evening some TV, was a nice day :)

At monday I had an AFS meeting in Helsinki (Again, yep), so after school we went to AFS, was really nice. There were presentations about Italy, Turkey and Thailand, nice to see, interesting to learn about these countries :D I think my turn to tell about the Netherlands is in december :P But I'll have to do it alone since I'm the only person from Dutchland here xD

Tuesday was again a normal schoolday, after school I had choir, where we suggested to do some songs from the music book, so we started working on Dreamer (Ozzy Osbourne) and the Phantom of the Opera :D

Wednesday was Finnish-class day, meaning that after school I stayed in Nummela and didn't get to be home untill like, 8 PM. Went through the months, and practised a bit.

Thursday was a special day. First I had school, art and French. After school a quick look at the laptop, and a bit of TV, and then to Helsinki Hartwall Areena! The Icehockey game between Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricanes! Anniina supported Minnesota, but I didn't really care about who won, it was just so great to be there and see it all live in that huge arena!

I also got a really pretty NHL Finland premiere shirt 8D It's so nice. The Carolina Hurricanes won, I think they were good but I don't really know because I don't know anything about icehockey :P

It was really a great day!

Then on friday I had to give a presentation about the Netherlands, for a lot of people, but it went okay I think. When we got back home eventually the package from home arrived, finally! About one month late, but I have my stuff now :)

And yesterday a friend of Anniina came over, and we watched a movie (Amistad), very impressive, and a good movie I think.

Now, some music for you again. I found this on youtube yesterday, a guy who made a great tribute to Star Wars. I hope the subtitles work here, but I'm not sure :P And I hope they automatically switch to the right language, cause I guess not all of you understand Dutch 8)

See you all next week!

Moi!

Week 6

26 september - 2 october

Hei hei

An update of my week again :)

On sunday I slept quite long, and then I watched F1 on the TV :) And in the evening the Finnish "Dancing with the Stars", not such an interesting day, but it was nice.

Monday I had another test, English, quite easy, especially the essay. Found out some stuff on the piano after school, and in the evening we watched Mr. Bean. Hilarious, as allways xD

Tuesday was another easy day. No school or tests. We talked about holidays, and I learned about Viking Line and Silja Line, cruise ships :P

Wednesday was the last test-day. Spanish. Easy, but nice. When we got back home we took a look at Anniina's bike. The thing isn't used for years, and the tires are dead xD Don't think there's much hope of quickly being able to use it :( Shame, cause I'd like to go cycling around some time, I miss my bike ö

Oh, and I have curtains in my room since wednesday! They're really nice :D

(Yeah, that's my laptop.. :P)

Thursday the new period (Jakso) in school started. I had 1 (!) class that day, extended French for people who've been taking extended French classes for 6 years. Quite damned hard xD But yeah, I think it's better than being really bored because the other French class is the absolute beginning. But we'll see.

Friday was a more interesting day if it comes to school. I had art, maths and music. The music teacher is still annoying, it seems I'm becoming the standard "Anouk, can you sing this so the rest of the group knows how it should sound" victim.. Not so great when the song is in Finnish and I'm messing up the words xD

And today I had a great day in Helsinki, it was an AFS day, and we held "The Great Helsinki Race", which my group lost glorious! We were slow, spent half an hour at McD's because we were hungry, and didn't care so much about winning, but more about being complete idiots, having fun, and complaining about the paper sending us back and forth through Helsinki xD

Was a really great day, met new people, seen new places, made nice pictures and did funny things.

And at the end we went to the square in front of a beautiful white church, and on the square are bears from all the different countries. Ofcourse I made pictures with the Dutch bear! ^^

Me and the church Me and the Dutch bear 8)

And ofcourse some music for today. It's a very addictive song, by Koop Arponen. The winner of the Finnish idols in 2008. His mother is Dutch, his father Finnish, and he spent most of his life in England.

Moikka!

Week 5

19 - 25 september

So, here I am again :P One day late, sorry. I forgot about it (A)

Last sunday, we went to my host grandpa and grandma, as I already mentioned last week. We got up early, still later then planned, tho xD First we went to Seppo's father, that was nice, and we picked berries. A lot of them. Really xD

After that we went to Tuula's mother. The sisters & brother of Tuula were there as well, and all with all it reminded me a lot of my own grandma, that was a bit though. But it was a really nice day, and really nice to meet all those people. Even tho they don't speak English xD

Monday was exactly 1 month after I arrived in Finland, 20-09-2010! It was a normal schoolday, and after that we went straight to the stables. At the stables I showed Tuula some things in the Finnish - Dutch - Finnish dictionary, and there is also a map of the Netherlands in there. She was shocked over how small the Netherlands is :P

Tuesday wasn't much interesting either. Normal schoolday, last day before the testweek started.

Wednesday was the first day of the testweek. Meaning that I didn't have much to do. It felt like weekend xD In the evening I had Finnish class, that was nice again :)

Thursday I had a Maths test, harder then I expected in English, but yeah, I managed and it's more about making the test than having great results right now :P I was finished quickly compared to the others (They have 2.5 hours to make the test O.o' So long), so I went to the store and found Reckoning Night (Sonata Arctica CD) for just €13,-! So cheap! After school we bought curtains, and then we had a very interesting pizza at ABC.

Friday was an empty day again. Slept long. Played some guitar but my fingers are starting to hurt, I play quite a lot xD In the evening we went to the stables, and the farrier was there at that moment. Really nice to see :P

Yesterday was a day of not-so-much again. Sleeping long, watching some TV, laptop, etc..

Oh, there was a musquito that I had to kill, that was interesting. They are so fast O.o'

Today I will include with next week because it's not over yet :P

Oh, and I will start noting the dates I write about on top of every blog entry from now, so I don't have to find out where I have to start writing each time xD

Music for today:

Van Canto - Magic Taborea. I know I already showed you some Van Canto, but this is a new song and it's very addictive :P

See ya all next week!

'Anouk

Week 3 & 4

Okay, hi all

I'm sorry for my lack of update in the last week, but I first had camp in the weekend, and then I was really tired, and then I got a light flu and felt pretty crappy too xD It just didn't exactly go as I planned it, but I'm back now with an überlong update about 2 weeks =D

Week 3:

So, on the 17th day, Sunday the 5th, I had a relaxed day. Playing some guitar, been at the stables pretty long (Okay, that was quite boring, but whatever :P), etc..

On Monday we made the schoolphotos, that was interesting. Find out where you have to be, together with 3 other exchange students, in a Finnish school xD But we found it with some help, and it was okay.

Tuesday I watched Wit Licht, for a presentation in music class, beautiful movie! In the evening I watched NL-FI soccer game. The Netherlands won, ofcourse 8D Was fun to see, especially because I was the only one supporting Dutchland xD

Wednesday was the day I had to present in music class. Went quite okay, told some things about the music in Wit Licht, and about Marco Borsato as a singer in general.

On Thursday we had a little test, where I got 24/28 points without even having the book xD So I already have a + for the test in the upcoming testweek :)

Friday was quite an ordinary day, school (including 3 hours of nothing, I bought candy for camp :P), and at home making some music :)

In the weekend there was AFS orientation camp! It was so much fun :D We played some games and had 'sessions' with the campleaders, in little groups, where we talked about problems that could come up. Was good to talk about ofcourse. And I talked with so much other people and it's so nice :D On the second day there were 2 more sessions, and we got the results of the "talentshow" we had the day before. We won 8D Then we played more games, in one of them I slipped (on stones & sand), opened up one of my knees, and one of my hands, nothing too bad. Then we got home, and as soon as I lied down I was asleep, to wake up 5 hours later, realizing that the whole house was sleeping and that I should probably change to pajamas, brush my teeth, and continue sleeping :P

That week I looked up quite some stuff from Kopspijkers, with some hilarious songs in them. This is a sketch with 'Bush' singing You were always on my mind.

Week 4:

Monday I was still really tired. In some classes it was very hard to stay awake (A). After school some regular stuff, guitar, TV, laptop.

On Tuesday we went to the store to bring back the little bottles and get money for them.. 10 bottles.. €2,- (A) After school there was choir, where my throat got pretty messed up. In the evening Anniina helped me with making my schedules for the coming periods.

Wednesday was a long day! First school, then we went to the police station to fill in some things. After that Finnish lesson :D I like it :D Can't wait till my Finnish starts looking like something :P

In the evening we watched a concert for a good charity on TV, that was quite fun :P

On Thursday we had another jump hour, and I decided to get new money for my cellphone.. WHOA what an adventure ö We went to R kioski, and I was like "Hi.. I need new money for my cellphone, from DNA." and the woman was like "Okay, do you want it on receip or *something*" and I was just like, what's the easiest? And I had to give my number, and she did something in the computer, and a few minutes later I got a text message (In Finnish) that I in school got translated by someone, saying the money is on my cellphone :D I love it :D

In English class we got our essays back, I have 88 out of 100 points, and a big compliment from the teacher!

Flu was getting better today, throat wasn't on fire anymore, but my nose was still running.

On Friday there was the 3 hours of nothing during school again. We went to K citymarket, and I got the brilliant idea to buy a Finnish magazine, just because Tarja Turunen was on the cover. After school we bought a FI-NL-FI dictionary, so now I can start translating the article xD

When I was chatting with Iivari we tried to translate the title, "Olemme Marcelon kanssa halihiirulaisia", but we couldn't find halihiirulaisia in dictionary and internet dictionary. Iivari knew that "hali" means hug, and "hiirulaisia" means mouse, tho. We ended up having a huge laughing attack because we were imagining Marcelo Cabuli (& Tarja) hugging mice xD

(The title is just saying that Tarja is very happy with Marcelo, we found out later. Anniina told me "halihiirulaisia" is a word to show that you're very happy and lucky or sth)

And then today we went to the car stores to buy a car for Anniina, after that we went to the stable to hear that Vesku (one of the horses there) died due to colic, yesterday :(

And I just heard that tomorrow we will go to my host-grandpa&grandma, and we leave at 7.30 AM O.o'

The song for this week is "White flag for peace" by Disco Ensemble:

Next week I'll be updating again!

Moika :D

Week 2!

Moi again!

I'll give you an update about my week again :)

Last saturday was a relaxed day, slept till 10, then breakfast and I ended up watching some comedy on my laptop and playing some games while listening music. After that made some music, and then we went to some restaurant or something, pizza-kebab-place, had pizza, was nice. The evening was watching Finland vs. Sweden, a lot of fun to see! They're so fanatic here :P

Sunday was fantastic, we went to Helsinki! Awesome city, big, and I've seen some important buildings (And made pictures!)

(Government building) (Finlandia building) (Mannerheim statue)

We also went to the island Suomenlinna, nice, old, castles, and beautiful sights

Monday the 2nd week of school started, after music class I ended up talking with the music teacher (He figured out I play instruments & sing), and he's going to try if he can fix a violin for me, oh, and I'm in the choir :D

The choir was on tuesday, after school. Seems to be nice :) First song we'll do is Fairytale by Alexander Ryback, and I'm with the soprano's, as expected :P

But before that I had my schoolday, and with art we now have to copy a painting of a famous painter, I'm copying a painting by van Gogh :P

Wednesday wasn't much special. School-Hesburger-music shop to check out some guitars-making a little walk in the village. Nice place, really :)

Evening ended with panic for a big moth flying into my room, and me trying to kill it with a towel.. *ahem* I succeeded and could go to sleep in safety!

Thursday was a normal school day, and after school to the stables, Markus had to show off with his new machine, some kind of mini-tractor. Awesome thing! :D

Friday was an empty schoolday again, art - 3 hours nothing - maths

Maths was easier to follow this time because there were more numbers and less words :D

When host-father got home he played some piano, nice :P He has this book what he tried to play from, but left hand is hard for him, but we ended up playing a song, and then listening to the other playing one, and so on :P

I start missing my own comfortable bed, tho, this one is not as soft as my own :(

And today we went to a horse show with only Finnish horses. Beautiful animals! It was quite cold, but that didn't make it less fun, I made almost 400 pictures O.o'

Then when we got back home, host-mother came back home with the guitar! :D We decided yesterday that they would buy it and it stays here when I go back home. It's a really nice black steel-stringed guitar :) Spent the whole evening playing :D

So, some music for this week. Very addictive song, and very funny videoclip :)

Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer

See you all next week!

Moika :P

The first week

So, hei all :P

Beware, very long post coming up :P

I'm here in Finland now, one week since I arrived. It's wonderfull, there are so many trees and hills and I absolutely love it!

When I arrived I first dropped off all my stuff, then we ate something (Really tasty :D), and then we left for the stable. Wow.. Really nice stables, there are 4 horses, and it's at Markus' (host-brother who doesn't live with his parents anymore) place. Really nice house too :P Their sauna has some sort of window, that makes it possible to watch TV from inside the sauna (And they have boxes installed in the sauna itself!).

I also tried the guitar, it's pretty good :)

When we got back home I was very tired.

2nd day we went to the "Vihti Market", where they showed some things of old Vihti, it was really nice. I met some of Anniina's friends, and I bought a necklace with an axe:

I also bought a Finnish simcard, so it's a bit cheaper to stay in contact with Finnish people.

At the end of the day we went to sauna, very warm X_X But very nice too :) (And we wore bikini's, fortunately!)

On the 3rd day we went to the Golf Club, but first some time at home, I didn't go with my host family to the stables that day but instead updated some things on the computer and made some music. After that we went to eat at the golf club, and watched the results of the club-competition. We also went to the store, they sell Euroshopper Energydrink! IN BIG CANS! Really really happy!

Then monday.. School! I just talked to someone who introduced us to the system and stuff, and then we walked around with some students, made my schedule (I follow Spanish, English, maths, art and music :D)

After school I started my computer to put some more music on my MP3, played some games, answered some mail, and then completely collapsed. I was so tired.

On the 5th day I had the first lessons, I started with maths, long maths, 3rd grade, switched it to long maths 1st grade (When I showed my host sister my schedule she was like "How can you be in 3rd grade long maths?!", but yeah, I didn't understand anything from the information that was given about the courses, so I just picked some things), maybe in Dutch I could've done 3rd grade long maths, but even in English it'd be a big problem already I think :P

Art was really nice, the teacher explained a lot in English =)

Then wednesday, I started with Spanish, and that was good, I recognized things. It's 1st grade Spanish, so it's almost all familiar to me, and it's really good to see something that I know =). English was good too, and music was a presentation in Finnish, and then we could leave. I have to make a presentation about Finnish movie music with 2 other exchange students. Then 1st grade maths, already easier to follow, but maths really doesn't make sense when you don't understand the story around the formula's '-_-

Thursday was quite relaxed, after school I made some music, and then I watched some videos on my laptop =).

And yesterday, well, yeah.. I don't really know what to think about it. I started with art, we are making our mind out of clay, or something :P It's quite fun tho. Then 3 hours of having nothing to do at all (What resulted in going to the shop with Alex, having school-lunch, and then walking to Hesburger with some people :P), and then we watched the 3rd grade vs. the rest soccer game, that was quite fun.

In the evening 2nd time sauna, heat is becoming easier to handle. And now weekend, time to rest and relax :)

Some music for today, Vitas - Opera 2, very interesting artist with a great voice :D

Take care all, and I'll update you later again!

'Anouk

Almost leaving!

So, just 2 nights and I'll be heading for Finland! I leave at friday, we leave the house at last at 5 AM, to take the train at 5.30, and then we'll be at Schiphol around 7.40 or so. Then I'll have to get my tickets and stuff, last information, from someone from AFS, and then saying goodbye to my parents and off to the plane!
I can't wait, my stomach turns in fear when I think of it x'D I'm pretty nervous for the flight, first I fly from Schiphol to Frankfurt airport, and then from Frankfurt to Helsinki. I have 2 hours in Frankfurt, so that should be more then enough. The whole point is that this is going to be the 2nd time I'll fly, the 1st time I have to change plane, and the 1st time without my parents.. Srsly, traveling by train is already a problem for me because I stress out x'D

But yeah, let's assume everything will be going fine, and I'll reach Helsinki, with the right plane, in one piece, and relatively calm. Then I'm in freaking Finland! And I'm going to see my host family for the first time and everything is going to be so freaking awesome! 8D Really, I'm exited as hell!

Yesterday was a loooong day of cleaning up my room, damn.. A loot of work x'D A lot, really. It's actually neat now, almost scary :P On the cough we collected all the stuff I'll take with me, cough is full now ^^'

But, I'm off, going to pack the presents! 8D

But first for you some music. I found this awesome and very cute vid on youtube, enjoy ;)

Andrea Bocelli singing a lullabye to Elmo in Sesame Street

Take care, and you'll hear from me from Finland next time!

'Anouk

Family + holidays

So, hi again.

Holidays have started some time ago already, and I'm spending a lot of time with friends. We already went swimming a few times, and at the moment I'm at a friends house, where I slept over last night, always fun =)

A week ago I got a mail from AFS, that they found a host family for me. I'm so happy with it! The family lives in Vihti, it looks like a nice place, and what I've seen in the profile is that there are a lot of things there. The family seems to be very nice and in the profile I could see that they are very active and musical! I have mail contact with them now, and I found out that the daughter has the same favorite band as I have, Sonata Arctica!

Well, I don't really know what more to write, apart from me being very happy with the family :P But ofcourse, some music to end the post.

Sonata Arctica this time, a video from Lowlands, with the song Replica. One of my favorites.

The big AFS-meeting

It's been quite a while, but here's another update =)

Yesterday I went to Elst, there was an AFS-meeting with everybody who's going to another country with AFS NL. Also the people who were in the Netherlands with AFS were there, it was part of their final camp.

It was really nice to see all these people who also have a year in another country in the planning. Although I'm the only one that goes to Finland with AFS NL (I have no idea about other countries x'D But as far as I know there are people going from other countries), you still have something in common, that same feeling. There is sort of an instant click :P It's great!

We talked about a lot of things, seperated in different groups. There were 2 groups filled with people who are going to the USA, and one group for South-America, I think, and then the group I was in, "the rest", 1 or 2 for New Zealand, 2 for Australia, 2 for Japan, 1 for China, and me, the one for Finland :P

We talked a lot about things that can happen to you. What do you do when it really doesn't work out with your host family, things like that. They had some examples about difficult situations, and the last thing we did was making a little play about one situation, to show how you can solve the problem.

I can tell you about what we had.

You are in the USA, and you're on a party. The moment you arrive, one of your friends offers you a beer. What do you do?

The first thing we came up with was, wel, when your host parents are okay with it, why not.

But then we realized this:

In America it's forbidden to drink alchohol when you're not 21 yet. If you drink, and you get caught, you can go to jail, or you can be sent home, your choice. That choice is pretty easy, but it's not fun to be sent home before the end of the year.

We eventually decided that it would be best to don't take the beer, and explain that you don't want to be sent home and stuff, so they understand it and won't pressure you to drink alchohol.

It's all quite logic, but it's good to hear/see again, because it's so easy to forget.

It was really an interesting day, I made some new friends, I learned a lot, we got some information to take home. And everybody is now even more eager to go to 'their' country.

I can't wait, I wish it would be august 20th already!

But yeah, it's not yet, to kill time I focus on learning some Finnish already. ( http://donnerwetter.kielikeskus.helsinki.fi/finnishforforeigners/parts-index.htm)

And ofcourse music. Here is another song for you =) It's from a really great band, Van Canto, they only have a drummer and 5 vocalists, and they make all the keyboard and guitar and bass sounds theirselves.

This song is called "The Last night of the Kings", and it's without drums. I love it!

A little update

So, hi :P

Here a little update on all the shizzle going on. Not that much tho..

On the Finland part, nothing changed. I'm going to have a little party in the last week before I leave or so, to make sure I say goodbye properly to all my friends, and apart from that, I really don't know how things are going to be around it all.

I'm going to focus on the coming testweek first, and after that I'll see what's next. We need to figure out what I'm going to take with me to Finland (At least one guitar, and my laptop, I think x'D But the problem is more, how much clothes should I take, what kind of clothes, etc..)

ATM I'm really busy with a lot of music, tomorrow I'll go to the studio to record 2 songs for music class, 1st a song a friend and I made ourselves, and then I'm yours from Jason Mraz. Can't wait! I'm really looking forward to actually have a studio version of our song, that I can show to people (OMG LOOK! I HAVE A CD! 8D ... *ahem* Yeh..)

Last friday we had an awesome concert with choir. I think all the students of our choir teacher did something there, and with the choir we did 3 songs (Sweet goodbyes, a song one of the girls from choir wrote, and Three Little Birds), and in the end we did Soothe Me with the band, the choir, and all the students. It was really great, it felt so awesome to be on that stage, just, doing what I like best!

And, talking about music, there is one song I'm totally addicted to at the moment, it's from Epica, a Dutch symphonic/gothic-metal band. Great song, Feint.

Anyways, take care and see you later!

'Anouk

The start of Living in Finland

So, hi people,

I will start with introducing myself to you. I'm Anouk, I live in a little village in the Netherlands called Donderen, and I'm 16 years old. My big passion is music, I sing a lot, played the violin for some years, and thought myself some guitar and piano. My favorite bands are Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, Stratovarius, Children of Bodom, Bullet for my Valentine, stuff like that, metal, like you might have noticed already.

And then, because of all the music I listen to, comes one thing that became such a big interest to me, Scandinavia, Finland. And that's what this blog wil mainly be about. I'm going to Finland for about 10 months, living there with a host family, going to school, learning about the language and the culture. I can't wait!

The idea came because I know a girl, she's from Argentina, and she's been here in the Netherlands for one year. I had a lot of contact with her, over the Nightwish forum, and later over MSN, when she told me she was coming here we started making the craziest plans and stuff, and it was great. We ended up meeting each other at the Sonata Arctica gig, december 10th 2009, at Paradiso, Amsterdam.

It was so nice to meet her, and my parents were like "Well, you're always talking about Finland, and your teacher said that this would be the ideal moment to do something like that because you're not bound to one place yet, so, why don't do a year like that as well?"

And, yeh, that was how it all started I guess, we started looking up information, and we ended up with AFS, an international organisation that does these High School programmes, and also volunteer work in other countries, for adults.

When I get back from Finland, maybe we will be a host family ourselves, I think that would be great, but first in row is now my own year. It's already confirmed that I'm going, AFS Finland accepted me, and now it's just waiting for the place I will be.

Welcome to my blog, and enjoy =)

'Anouk