American Pizza or not?

not

but we will get to that later

Friday was a lovely day. It was just a good last day to a nice week. School was lovely but then afterwards my friends (exchange student kiddos) met up to go see Annake perform with her Viola. Anneke is from Colorado and we are really close now. She lives in helsinki also so we see each other fairly often. It is really awesome because she was my roommate all the way back at Karraku!

The school day consisted of me falling asleep with Luis's jacket later realizing he captured the moment on camera. Also, I was super motivated in French. not a big deal but yea. My goal is to be able to order coffee in as many languages as I can. 

I came home after school to find a package from home in front of my door! Inside was everything I would need for thanksgiving. I always held thanksgiving with importance but nothing like I do now. I am realizing, especially since Halloween pasted, holidays are a family time in the States. Whether you realize it or not. But now I have a different family. And my mom wrote me a book basically on how to throw the perfect Halloween.. seriously. I also got some kick butt hats from my aunt, Oberlin Heritage news, and my grandma's cookies. I am a happy kid.

We met up and went to the performance. It was held at this little music school over in Espoo. She performed so well.

Walking out I realized how much we have a life here. Like, we have friends which we visit their performances. We have school and know how to do our banking. We get our medicines and things we need. It's one of those things where sometime you have to stop and realize it is happening.

Afterwards we went out to the American Pizzeria here in Helsinki. It was a let down. It was not american pizza. But at least we were together.

 You could tell by Anneke's stages that she was happy... then very sad.

Liz came back home with me and spent the night. We watched movies, learning along with the Finnish Subtitles. Thank goodness for Netflix. All in all, Friday was a success.

Kerava Rotary and a new addition of: Adventures with the Aussie

Kerava Rotary!!!!

Wednesday I went in for one class and then caught the train before lunch to go and give a presentation to one of my two rotary clubs- Kerava. This is about a 15 minuet bike ride from my house but since I went by train a Rotarian picked me up.

Felt the need to show my locker at school, not everyone has a locker. Please note the heels, American flag, and english text book.

One of the most beautiful views when walking to the trains at Pustiola.

This is a funny story... so I didn't really want to be super fancy at school so I decided to get ready on the 20 min ride to Kerava. This resulted in me hiding in the last dimly lit train car, a strange look from the conductor when he walked by, and a innocent passenger walking into the last car looking at my chaos and then switching cars. I feel like this won't be the first time this will occur.

The meeting went well. It was nice to give the presentation a few weeks in so I could talk more in detail about the differences and the similarities between cultures. It also helped because I was able to poke fun at my Finnish mess-ups which made them all laugh. I am not the only exchange student in this club. There is also Milly. She is an oldie (def- exchange student which arrives in january, is here for 6 months of my exchange and then I become an oldie and teach the new exchange student.) I am super lucky to have her. She has actually been there for me since I got off the plane, before now that I think about it. Milly has taught me the ropes of the Finnish Exchange World, especially since we are the capital district there is a lot to learn. She was there for my presentation and afterwards we hung out.

more coffee always

kiss us, we are exchange students

After finding all the tourist information we could, a break was needed at the local exchange student hang out- really shady 5€ pizza place on the west side of helsinki. 

only 5€

We saw a rotary wheel in the window of an apartment. We got there attention. 

We sprinted through the rain to the only starbucks in Finland. They wouldn't accept my gift card. Ah. 

I ordered it in Finnish. Be proud.

 On the way home we went to all the thrift stores which are housed under the train station. The rooms are really small and thrown together but you can find some really cool things.

This just reminded me of home!

Our motto of the year.

I got home all cold and wet, the only weather Finland will offer us, but filled with joy. I find it so interesting how the exchange student world works. It is so much more detailed than one would even know. We rely greatly on each other I have found. There is an instant connection because you understand even the little details the other is going through. And the stories. Oh the stories.