SVERIGE!! (A.K.A. Sweden (A.K.A. Ruotsi))

The past three days I had the amazing opportunity to go on a cruise to Stockholm, Sweden. It was some of the best 3 days of my exchange! The trip started on Monday when we drove to Helsinki and boarded a pretty big boat.

It wasn't quite as big as the Disney cruise,

but it was still really nice!

There was several stores to shop at on the boat too!!

The weather was really great all three days!

 The cruise traveled overnight to Stockholm, so on Tuesday we spent the whole day in the city. We dedicated most of our time to shopping, but we did have a chance to walk around the old part of Stockholm.

Most of the buildings are this pretty orange color.

Stockholm is, apparently, known for really narrow streets. 

This is definitely true. 

It is a gorgeous city, nonetheless.

Our next stop was the coolest Urban Outfitters ever. I didn't even know Urban exists outside the USA, but it does. AND it is so cool. It was built inside of an old theater and they tried to keep as much as the theater atmosphere as possible. 

The sign reminded me of the Buskirk Chumley in Bloomington.

Wendy, You would have LOVED it :)

We also bought some chocolates before heading back to the ship.

Here is a mixture of the rest of the pictures from the trip.

These lions are all around Stockholm.

The bright star is Jupiter or so I was told.

MEEEEE!

The sea is pretty cool.

 SO as you can see I had a really wonderful trip. Thanks so much for my host family for taking me!! It was a great way to spend my winter break! Also, a thanks to Stockholm for making it such a great trip. I hope we meet again. 

WANHAT :D

The past week has been absolutely crazy. It involved being pelted with candy, wearing a ball gown for 8 hours, and being awake for 24 hours straight. Not to worry, all of this was done with good reason :)

Thursday was Penkkarit, or the 3rd graders last day before their break. All of the third years get the spring off from school so they can focus on studying for their matriculation exams. On their last day before break, they dress up in costumes,

Make fun of teachers,

trash the school,

and ride around the city in giant trucks while throwing candy (hint: when I got hit).

It was a really fun day that I wish we had in the United States!!

On Friday it was my and all of the second year's turn. Wanhat is comparable to prom in the United States, but it's actually a lot different. For the past six weeks I took dance classes along with my classmates at school to learn different kinds of waltzes and traditional dances. Then on Friday morning we performed the dances for our school and our parents. The dance is to celebrate the 2nd years becoming the oldest in the school. (Wanhat or vanhat translates to olds.)

I woke up at 5:00am to get my hair done.

There was 40 bobby pins in my hair!!

It was a day of many selfies.

We looked pretty funny sitting around in our formal wear.

The next several picture are just different parts of the dance. I hope to eventually find a video of the whole thing, but until then these pictures will have to do:)

\

The night after the dance was the after party! It was nice to just hang out with all of the people I had worked so hard with. The after party went until 4am, so I was pretty tired the rest of the weekend! I am so glad I got to participate in this Finnish tradition. 

Last thing is for those of you who live in Bloomington and are currently on your 4th snow day. This is the road outside my house. As you can see its covered in about an inch of snow and ice, and it's been that way since December. SO stop complaining about the roads not being cleared fast enough and learn to drive safely in the winter. AND GO TO SCHOOL.

Happy 200 days in Finland to me :)

Tampere!

This past weekend I decided to go on another adventure. One of my really good Canadian friends lives in Tampere, Finland's 3rd largest city. I figured it was about time I went and visited her. I have technically been to Tampere before (we went during Karkku), but I never got to see much of the city. After quite a long train ride, I made it to Tampere and joined my friend for a weekend of fun. We started the day off eating at a really lovely vegetarian restaurant.

The food was amazing!

After eating, we headed to the Pyynikki tower. It was an lookout during Finland's civil war.

The walk to the tower was up a really steep hill.

My exchange weight did not help me climb it. I was exhausted, 

But it was worth it! The view of the frozen lake was beautiful!

A candid shot in the wind.

More frozen lake :D

 As you can see in the pictures below, it is clear that Tampere is a very historic city. It played a big role in Finland's civil war. The buildings look much older. I really enjoyed the historic atmosphere.

The city center.

An Old Factory 

After some exploring and shopping, we headed to the Vapriikki museum. As museums go, it was a really great one. 

There was an exhibit on Christianity in Europe.

I dressed up as a pilgrim. :) 

An Exhibit about Finnish things 

An exhibit about the Finnish Civil war. 

A Natural History museum

A Hockey hall of fame

And an Exhibit about Toys

The museum had a lot of the information also in English, so I was able to learn a lot!! :D

We finished off our weekend by having an international food day. We were joined by a German and a Japanese exchange student. We cooked and ate all day!

North America made some Fruit loop bars

Pocky from Japan

In the end, we had a lot of food.

I think in the end we had pancakes, Japanese stir fry, potato dumplings with apple sauce, fruit loop bars, and several other sweet things. Like always with time spent with exchange student, we had a lot of fun!

Until next time!