Back to School

Have gotten into the swing of Finnish school.

Wednesdays are now a really long day as I have an 8 til 3 school day then 3 hours of Finnish lessons from which finish at 19:10 so my brain resembles jelly by the end of the day haha

The awkward moment when you ask the person next to you what you need to do and they cant explain so ask their friend then the whole room goes dead silent to listen to the English speaking girl ask for help, hmmm no pressure haha

Had my first language studio lesson in English (where you sit at a booth with the headphones and mic etc) we did a test and I got a question wrong!!! I'm a disgrace to my people! aha but 29/30 ain't bad :P

Have been practicing my Finnish - was sitting with Hanna and Annina and read a text in Finnish about a guy discribing himself and his daily life and I translated into English and got about 90% right! so... GO TEAM! :D

Made the apple and blueberry crumble for my host fam. - it was a hit :)

Got sick and had to have a day off school but am all good now.

Host family held a dinner - whole heap of ingredients put on table and then each person gets a little pan, you put cheese on the bottom then what ingredients you want then another piece of cheese - was sooo goood ! Got an easter egg which needs to go into witness protection or something coz my host dad keeps trying to eat it haha

Also it is really wierd when pets dont understand English, I expected it in people but forgot about pets! My host dogs just look at me like 'uh-huh, the crazy Aussie is speaking English to me again, how can I put this poiltely?... I. NO. SPREKON. ZE . ENGLISH!' *walk off and do what they want* but I know some Finnish words they know now so they have to start listening now :P

One Week Holiday

The 1 week holiday seemed to fly by! Didn't get the chance to go downhill skiing as my host parents both had work but it's all good becuase it gives me a new experience to try next winter :)
Helsinki trip:
Left for Helsinki on Friday morning, got as far as Loviisa (roughly just under an hours drive) and the oil pressure in the engine stopped working correctly, recommended not to drive another metre so I went on a guided tour of the cafe in the petrol station 'and on your left you will see a variety of foods available and on your right, the drinks' ahahaha Had a hot chocolate and pulla then Olli arrived in the other car and we all went home, car was towed.

Had lunch at the Thai restaraunt with Hellu then went to Maddi's and stayed the night. Had sauna, had Finnish lessons from Maddi's host granddad then Maddi and I made an absolutely amazing apple and blueberry crumble.

Our creation

Was picked up mid morning for take 2 of going to Helsinki :P actually got there this time haha We went on a quick driven tour of the city, apparently it is more beautiful in the Spring/Summer because the snow on the sides of the road and paths is brown from the salt and sand put on it so it isnt slippery but for me it was still very beautiful because the arcitecture and set out is so different from anything in Australia. I saw the Olympic Stadium, Opera House, National museum, Modern Museum of Art, Presidents residence, the ship I will be going on to Sweden with my host fam. (exciting how I can just pop over to Sweden for the weekend :P ) the marketplace and so on... Then we went shopping in the city centre at Stockmann (equivilent of David Jones or Myer except an 8 story building!!) and in surrounding shops, didn't buy much, mainly some souvenirs to send home. The funny thing was my host fam. didn't see anyone they know but as we were leaving a heard an excited squel and was suddenly being hugged - turns out Laura (another exchange student i am friends with) was in Helsinki as well! it was really good to see her and funny that the Finnish people don't meet someone they know in a Finnish city but the Australian does haha

Did a Body Combat class at the gym (not actually fighting someone but with kicks, jumps, punches etc into thin air) was a raelly good work out except I was always 2 steps behind everyone else because all the instructions were in Finnish ahaha but it was still good.