My name is Annalee Sekulic. I am spending my junior year of high school in Helsinki, Finland as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. This is to document the journey of a lifetime.
Friday, after school we drove out to the cabin. I like to refer to it as Sigvart's Castle because it is so noble. It stands so strong and just gives such a substantial feeling of life.
Meet Nellie, the great dog of the family
You can tell fall is here. All the plants everywhere are different colors. It look like someone repainted the whole landscape.
had to add my mark
About an hour after we arrived at the cabin, my host father told me it was time to go fishing. This meant we took the row boat out and went spear fishing. Nightime Spear Fishing. Yeah. It was so amazing because all of the stars were out and the fog began to come off of the lake.
I didnt spear a fish but I almost did.
yes. yes. yes. all the chocolate milk.
I spent the next few days just reading and writing. It was so relaxing. At one point I took the row boat out and just rowed around listening to music. We sauna and then went swimming in the below fifty degree lake. Seriously, these fins are tough.
Finished two books and I lost count of how many cups of tea. Also wool sweater and socks are the best.
Sade waved me down at one point to join. She took over rowing... best little sister? yes.
after sauna I wrote some more letters, and since there is no electricity it was all done by fire light
On the way home we stopped for coffee!
Above is this little town called Pummala. It is beautiful. We were on this huge bridge which went over a lake and we took the elevator down.
mhhh ruoka
We arrived home after dark and I can assure you that this place is completely different each time. Nature does that I think. It has to change to survive and it is beautiful in a different way each time. I think we can all learn from it. Change is perennial.
We went back to heaven this weekend. The cottage is the most peaceful place in the world. We spent the weekend hiking and sauna. I swam in 50 degree water. I picked mushrooms and looked at all the stars in the world I swear. I slept and boated. We explored and found old farms.
We did so much in the weekend but we also did nothing. I woke each morning to the warmest smell and folk music (my family has great taste in music) My Aiti had wool socks for me because I am not prepared for the coldness here.
We laid around for hours napping and reading.
When I mean peaceful, I mean the purest for of that word. There is no sounds except for water hitting the shore. There is no room for sound. The air is so so fresh, you cannot fill your lungs fast enough. There is no pressing to get things done and there is always tea warm and ready.
Meet Luis. He is an exchange student also but from Mexico. Luis is here through a different program but we have become best buds. He's stuck with me and I with him.
Friday was picture day and my phone went off and took a bunch of photos. I felt this was a good one which summed up my usual confused state. The picture days are very different. It is like a photo shoot. I felt famous!
After school we headed out and we arrived there around dark. Going across the water at night was like the scene from Series of Unfortunate Events, the one with all the leaches. It was an extremely Erie experience.
Some of the many deadly mushrooms. But spiders aren't poisonous here, so that's a plus!
The old farm we found. And not just a 100 year old farm hahaha no... Finland is really old. Think more like built 200 years ago, remains still from 1912.
Please note the coffee grinder. Coffee is a huge part of the culture. Just got home- coffee, out with friends-coffee, sad- coffee, happy-coffee, every meal-coffee
It is everywhere.
We then hiked for a few more hours. You can tell its fall already because the colors are changing and I can already see my breath.
In the middle of hiking we went to the shore for a break from the bugs of hell- moose flies.
After hiking we ate and napped more then went out boating.
My host sister buried me in the sand. It was so cold but hilarious.
On the boat ride in you could see the bonfire. I cannot express enough how dark it was that night. I have never seen so many stars. The weather was chilly but after the sauna it was so warm. We cooked sausages and just looked at the stars.
The last evening we hung out and hiked. On the ride home we watched movies and laughed. There is so much laughter in my life. Warm laughter in the chilly wind.
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