A Whole Lot of Water

I originally planned for this blog to be a collection of intellectual comments on how Finnish and American society differ. I wanted it to really be an insight into the good and bad of both cultures. I now realize that most of these intellectual thoughts aren't going to come until much later in the year; I may even be home by the time I am able to analyze both cultures.. I'm currently on this 'exchange high,' everything is so new, different, and wonderful. Being in awe of everything I see makes it really difficult to stand back and compare the two cultures. So until I can come up with some smart thing to say... Here are some pictures of what I have been up to.

We went to the nearby city of Imatra and saw them open the dam.

A LOT of water was unleashed

And it looked awesome.

There was also a castle in Imatra.

It was built in 1903.

It has now been turned into a hotel.

There is a lot of lake around here

So there is a lot of lake pictures.

But that's okay

because the lake is beautiful :)

I went to my first Rotary Event

It was a lake cruise that went through the canal that connects lake Saimaa to the sea.

I got to meet several of my hosting club's members. They were all wonderful!

The canal has several 'locks' which are basically boat elevators.

The boat elevator

Every day is an absolute wonder here :) I can't wait to wake up every morning and start a new adventure.