Two Months Down, Ten to Go

Two months have come and gone here in Finland, and I can hardly believe it. Everything is happening so quickly. I have just started the new period at school, so I will share my new class schedule. It once again isn't too busy. I hope that by next period I will know enough Finnish to really have a full schedule.

GE=Geography, SU=Suomi, Teks=Textile, ENA= English

Geography on Wednesdays is replaced with a Finnish cooking class. I take it with the other exchange student and a bunch of younger kids. I really love learning how to cook and spending time with younger kids!

For my textiles class, I'm going to learn to knit. I always thought that knitting was pretty much the same everywhere you go, but nope! The way they knit here is way different from how people in the United States knit. It's way faster too! Hopefully in a few weeks I will be sending all of you handmade scarfs and socks!!

As you can see, I have very few classes. This leaves me with A LOT of free time. I'm hoping to start practicing yoga. I have practiced in the United States for several years and really miss it. So far, I haven't had a lot of luck finding classes that work well with my schedule, but I'm hopeful that I will find one soon. NOTE TO THOSE WHO LIVE IN LAPPEENRANTA: If you know of a yoga place or really anything that will occupy my time, let me know!!!

Enough about the future, I am sure all of you are wondering what I have done the past two weeks. I've gone to Helsinki, Lahti, and my host grandparents, I've taken two huge tests, and I've had a lot of fun.

Both the Helsinki and Lahti trips were mainly for shopping and eating. Nothing too eventful, but both trips were a lot of fun.

The past weekend I visited my host grandparents for the second time. I ate the best apple pie I have ever had. It may not look like much, but it was absolutely amazing.

Heaven

In a previous post, I visited the wetlands near my host grandparents house. We once again visited the wetlands. This time we picked cranberries.

We got about a bucket-full by the end of the morning. Not a ton, but it was nice to be outside moving.

In the wetlands, there is a huge rock. Of course, we had to climb to the top of it. The view was gorgeous!

 Then, Lätty decided to join us. I'm not entirely sure how she managed to get up the rock. We were all so worried she wouldn't be able to get done. After much worry, Lätty got down faster and easier than everyone else.

Everyone on the rock :D

My school finals went really well. I only had two: English and Finnish. My English final was easy and a lot of fun. It was a speaking final, so I just got to sit and talk for half an hour!! My Finnish final was pretty difficult, but I think I did pretty well. I will find out tomorrow, so fingers crossed!!!

Its been an amazing two months, and I can't wait for more adventures to come! :D