Tampere

So this past Thursday, the teachers gave us the afternoon off our lessons to practice our Finnish in the " wild" as they call it, otherwise known as Tampere- Finland's third largest city. It was a nice break from the usual five hour a day plus two hour lecture lessons. Once we arrived to the city, I was taken back by all the colors and the mix of old/modern. It was beautiful. First we took a guided tour of the city and they took us to a few points to look before a storm came in. We were lucky because we were able to watch the storm roll in from over the lake.

When we were driving up, I lost track of the number of sail boats

Alaska and Ohio!

After the tour was when the fun happened. I stepped off and all I heard was "OHIO!!!!!!!!", and I was actually picked up and they ran with me. They, as in the oldies (exchange students from the southern hemisphere). I knew them from the airport and we became friends... But really good friends... I then spent the day with them as they taught me the nuts and bolts of Finland. I even got a Finnish guy to teach me how to skate board! We watched a mime show and tried new foods.

Seen above is the rare account of Anna skateboarding

Belly dancers!! One had a tambourine! Music is everywhere and so are street performers!

Exchange student selfie!

Finland is quiet. Aussies are not. This makers for a memorable day... Even the sprinting through the streets to catch the bus (the public square had dancers we had to watch!)

The Flight

Ah! I have been here for a day! This is crazy! Even though I am tired and my head hurts- I wouldn't change this for the world. It has been pure magic.

I  must say that saying goodbye was tough. Before we left for the airport my sister joked that I shouldn't wear mascara... she was right. I thought I had it together... then the 30 minuet count down began. When it was time to say goodbye, my mother, father, sister, and liz smiled and hugged me. Walking though the gate it hit me. That was the last time I would see them for a year.

When I got to my seat, the man sitting next to me asked me what was wrong and of course I explained. He joked with me saying how they probably already broke out the beer!! He spent the rest of the time joking with me and he reminded me that this will be the year of my life. Right when the plane took off, I looked down. If you know me then you probably understand that I am sentimental and to be honest I watched until I couldn't see the ground.

After two hours we arrived in Atlanta. I got off and was determined to find my next terminal and fast. I took this strange subway creation and once I found it I also found an exchange student going to Finland. Her name is Felise and she is from the Bahamas. We are now good friends.

We then stepped onto the plane for Amsterdam, we faced the dreaded fact of the 8 hour flight. But it didn't take me long to hit it off with the lovely lady sitting next to me, Suzanna. She either loved my plane jokes or felt pity (let's go with the first!) She was going home to visit family in Denmark and she taught me Dutch, we watched movies together, and she helped teach me about long flights/how to survive them. She's a gem. She even made the food seem better. Suzanna held my hand on the landing and we just laughed because I AM IN EUROPE!!!!!!!

Amsterdam exchange selfie of course!

The lovely Suzanna

My reaction to an 8 hour flight

Felise and I then headed across though customs and money exchange (by the way euros are strange) and we met a girl from Canada heading to Finland as well. Exchange students become close friends fast. THE BATHROOMS ARE CRAZY. THEY FLUSH WHEN YOU CLOSE THE DOOR. PROFE ROSIE WAS RIGHT. THE BATHROOMS ARE STRANGE AND THERE ARE TOO MANY BUTTONS.

We met up then with kids from Paraguay, argentia, USA, Canada, and a few others. We passed the time by playing Egyptian ratsmack and talking in each others languages. It was a blast. We boarded and there was about 20 exchange students on this small plane and we were all talking over the seats. Looking back, it must have been crazy to not be an exchange student on that light. After we took off, I fell fast asleep but I was lucky enough to wake up right before landing. I looked out and it hit me. There were tons and tons of lakes.  As we got closer I saw the lines on the road were white and all the trees are pine trees. But the amount of lakes!!

First view of home

We finally all walked off, grabbed our bags (mine was there! the peanut butter!!) The Finnish airport as scary quiet. All you heard was the bags rolling. And the Brazilian hahah:) When we left baggage, we were greeted by Rotary. then we waited till 7 with the other kids who arrived earlier. I met the most amazing kids. We all then left for Karkuu. I already know more than I did in the months preparing.