Day 23.

It so doesn't seem like i've been here for 3 weeks, more like 10 gazillion years. Haha.

Finland was AMAZINGGGG.

My trip-

We took a train from Hamar to Oslo, about an hour or so.

And then we took a plane from Oslo to Stockholm.

And we got to Stockholm around 6 or 7, and then we took a bus from Stockholm to somewhere to get on a HUGEEE boat. haha. We ate supper on the boat, and then spent the night on it also. I think that all together we were on the boat for 12 hours.

And I'm not sure where we got dropped off at, I think it might have been Abo, but I'm not sure. And we walked 15 mins...

To some smaller boats, and they took us to Nagu, for a second breakfast, and then we went to this little random island for lunch (fish soup) and then we went to another random island, and I got to experience the Finnish Sauna (WEIRDDDDD) so that was some good experiences. And then we went back to Nagu and I spent the night there.

[random place we ate lunch at]

[place with the saunas]

[what i saw every morning :)]

[this is the "parking place" at the house i stayed at]

And then on Saturday Night there was a festivile where they said "Farwell to summer" so that was really cool to experience. I got to paint little kids faces. And that was more that histericle. I kept laughing and then kids were looking at me all crazily, and I couldn't figure out how to draw a butterfly, it was really sad.

And they had dancing and some random stuff, but I really liked that town, THEY GAVE HUGS!!! haha. that was really nice. And then this lady got up and taught everyone how to Salsa, and it was so cute watching everyone. There was some old people trying to dance and that was soooo cute.

And then they lit the "signal fire" to say "good bye to summer"

And this is some of the girls that I hung out with. The girl to my right, your left, was my host sister for the weekend, Catalina. Her birthday is the same day as Rebecca's (random fact). But they were all younger than me by about 2 years. But it was still nice to hang out with them. I had a blast. And then we went back to Emma's house (the one on the end, your right) and I stayed the night there. It was so funny cuz they all were taking care of me cuz I had no idea what was going on, and I was so tired, so they gave me food and a pillow and a blanket. :)

And after the lighting of the fire, they had a fire show. Here's part of it in a video, but the pictures didn't really turn out, and I don't think the video is very good either because it was so dark. But I'll try putting it on here.

Annndddd, it didn't work. I think it's too big. anywayys.

Overall it was a GREATTT experience. I know I'm leaving things out, but I forget them.

I'm the definition of Loser today. I'm sitting in a corner table by myself. Oh how it feels like freshman year all over again.

I actualy think I'm supposed to be in class right now. Hmm. So I should get off of here I suppose.

Love yall bunchessss!!! :) <--that's me smiling.

Day 22.

I apologize for not having anything on here for the past few days. I write them, but the internet on my ipod wont connect for some reason, so it wont send them.

I'm still in Finland. It's been a really good experience. It kinda hit me the other day that I'm going to be here for a year. It's weird to get that feeling that you won't see home or your friends or your family for a WHOLE YEAR. And then I started to get sad, so I pushed that thought aside.

Finland has been really nice though. I love it. There is so many trees and so much water. I really like to boat. It's fun to just be on the water and feel the wind on your face. I have tried to take a lot of pictures, but it is hard to take a picture of something like this. I'm adding Finland to my list of places I might want to move to though.

Last night there was a festivile, that was really fun. I haven't yet loaded my pictures to my computer or I would put them on here. I will do that on Monday on my break at school I suppose, so there will/should be pictures of this trip on here by Monday. Everyone in this town is so nice though. It's more like home here. You can talk to strangers on the street, and it's not a big deal. Nagu is the town. It has a population of about 1,000 people and Catalina (my host sister for the weekend) told me that pretty much everyone knows everyone along with everyone's buisness. So that reminded me of Bushland. Hahaha. They celebrated the ending of the summer though, and lit a fire on the water that was like a "signal fire" and then after that they went and there was a fire show, and thats kinda hard to explain because yeah, but I have a few pictures of that too. It was really cool to watch though. I got to face paint. That was really funny, because I cannot paint pictures on kids faces. It was really sad and I laughed A LOTTT, but then again, when do I not laugh a lot? Lolll.

I will add pictures to this blog on Monday. :)

But I need to go get ready for the new day. We are going shopping today, so yesss. Mwahaha. Hope everyone at home has a wonderful meeting. I'm thinking of yall.

Love yall,
Emily

Day 21.

I love Finland and I love boats.

Pictures later :)

Day 20.

So these are actually written on the day it says they are, I just don't have Internet so it can't send it and publish it.

So yeah, this boat is big. It's fun though. We are on it for 12 hours, well we get to our destination in about an hour and a half. I had a lot of sugarrr. Ahhh. It's funny because here I've begun to eat a lot of sugar/things I normally don't eat.

Aw I keep dreaming that I'm home. And then I wake up, but that's okay cuz atleast for a little while I'm with everyone, even if it just is a dream.

Welppp, gotta get up to go to breakfast. Yayy :).

Ahhh I just used a for reals outhouse. It was scary. So I've been on boats for majority of the day. People use boats like we use cars. Cuz there is so many islands, you can't really use cars.

The scenery is awesome though. My grandparents would loveee it here, just might be too cold. I almost froze on the third boat ride, but they gave me a blanket, and I survived.

Oh, I've figured out where I'm going to live-Finland. I'm just gonna move here and buy me an island. Haha. Seriously. People buy islands here like they are apartments, it's pretty tiight. Yeppp.

Saunas are awkward.
Fish soup is good.
Scandinavian boys are cute.

Day 19.

Packed and ready to go. We leave in two hours :).

Haha so Libbe (my counclers wife) just walked up to me, (we are in the train station) and she goes, "I think I'm the closest one to your age...and I'm OLD." I laughed. I'm not sure how old she is, but I do know she is a grandmother. I look so out of place, because I am the only one here under the age of 45, I think. Maybe 50 lol. Yeahhh this is gonna be fun though :)

The flight was good. Now we are in Stockholm. We will take a charter(?) bus to the harbor and then a boat to Finland. And we will be on smaller boats for all of tomorrow going random places. Or something like that :).

Oh, majority of the population in Norway smoke, because you can smoke at age 16. It's kinda gross. I'm allowed to smoke, I think that's weird. Mwahaha. I'm dumb, and yes I know that.

Oh goodness, I'm ooberly sleepy today, not sure why though. Lollll.

Mwahaha. I just had my day made. So were on the bus, so it's around 22 people, and like I said, I'm the only one under 45ish, and so the bus driver guy turned on some music. So it's me and 21 older people jamming to the Backstreet Boys. Mwahaha. I hope I'm not the only one who thinks that is HISTERICLEEEEE. :]p

Day 18.

I'm lost.

So I apologize about not writing like I said that I would last night, but I got lost last night also, and by the time I got home I was tired, and yeah.

Sooo...my experience so far, this is the drawn out version. Also, sorry but no pictures for today.

Day one: (Sunday, Aug 9)
I was really kind of excited. It didn't ever actually hit me though that everything was actually happen. I didn't cry any, and it's funny because I look at the pictures from the airport, and I am smiling so BIGG, cuz I was happy to see everyone, I don't think that I knew what I was getting myself into. Haha. Oh, and I had NO bags/clothing except for an extra pair I had packed in my carry on and a pair of pjs.
Day two: (Monday, Aug 10)
I got to Norway, and I was kind of in my zoney mood. Where I kind of am really sleepy but laugh a lot. And I met Arild and Libbe at the airport and they took me to Ivar and Berit's house where I was going to stay for the first two weeks. And there they fed me CAKE. I didn't really want it, but I wasn't quite sure how to say "no" since I had just gotten there, so I just ate a small piece of it. But then they had another cake we were supposed to eat, but I didn't eat it. And then I went to bed.
Day three: (Tuesday, Aug 11)
I went to the police station to try and get a number, or that's what they call it. I think it is kind of like a social security number or something like that, but I didn't understand. I still haven't recieved that yet. Oh wait, maybe it's for the Visa. I'm not sure anyways. I went to the police station. And then we also went to go see if we could find me a cord that would work here, cuz my computer plug wouldn't work with my converter thing, so we just ended up buying a new cord, and I also got my cell phone. It was sunny on this day. And I was still tired, so I went home and slept for a while, and then went to Anja's going away party. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, and that was good, except I wasn't really hungry. I got to meet a lot of her friends, and that was nice. One of her friends, Ingun, attempted to teach me some Norwegian, but that was hopeless...pretty much. Then a little later I went home and slept some more. Well tried to sleep anyways. Most days I didn't go to sleep until around 4 a.m. That is about the time that the sun comes up here.
Day four: (Wednesday, Aug 12)
I got my luggage this day, and slept all day too.
Day five: (Thursday, Aug 13)
I went to my school, and got a tour there. That was really nice, the other two foreign exchange students were there, so we all kind of just walked around amazed by the size of the school. Haha. We got to choose our classes, so we did that, and then I went home and slept. I also got sick on day five. But it was all good. I think that this was also the day that I went to Arild and Libbe's for dinner. We had fish. It was good.
Day six: (Friday, Aug 14)
I slept until around six or so, and then I went to Eli's house (Anja's mother) and then we biked down to the peer. Oh, I almost died. Hahaha. I think that Americans should get rid of cars and just bike everywhere. They would all be more healthy and feel better I think. There was a fashion show down there though, and that was really fun. There's pictures on my day six post.
Day seven and eight: (Saturday-Sunday, Aug 15&16)
I didn't really do much. Just slept.
Day nine: (Monday, Aug 17)
I started school. I actually wasn't nervous until I realized that I had to actually go to classes that were going to be taught in Norwegian, and I didn't have ANY classes with ANYONE that I knew. But people helped me out and I was able to actually get around and go where I needed to go, so that was nice. School on the first day only lasted about an hour to an hour and a half though. So that was interesting.
Day ten: (Tuesday, Aug 18)
School again, but I got out early because my teacher wasn't there. They don't have subs here. They just have people come in and tell the assignment, and then you go do your own thing. It's crazy. But I like it. I went on a bike ride with Eli, and then I went to Robert's (my host brother) and then we went to town and just kinda chilled and ate pizza, so that was really nice. This was the first night that I wasn't homesick.
Day eleven: (Wednesday, Aug 19)
I met the last two families that I will be living with. Neither of them have kids. So they told me I will be spoiled. Hahahahaha.
Day twelve and thirteen: (Thursday-Friday, Aug 20&21)
Thursday I went shopping with the foreign exchange students, and then Friday I don't remember what I did.
Day fourteen: (Saturday, Aug 22)
I rode with my third host parents to Oslo, and met the friends, and then went to their house.
Day fifteen: (Sunday, Aug 23)
I got to go to meeting. I didn't understand what was being said, but it was still just nice to be there. Afterwords we had lunch and so that was good. And we just talked with the friends around the table. There isn't many but it was still good. And then they took me to the train station and I rode my first train home. And then that night I went and moved into my new house. That was nice.
Day sixteen and seventeen: (Monday-Tuesday, Aug 24&25)
Just went to school. Tuesday I hung out with the other foreign exchange students. Except for Jean-Baptist. So that was fun. We talked about homesickness, but how much it will be worth it in the end.
Day eighteen: (Wednesday, Aug 26)
So yes. School started late, so I took the 9.35 bus to Maxi (aka the mall) and then I was supposed to walk from Maxi to Katta (aka my school) but I accidently went the wrong way and walked around for an hour looking like an idiot. But I had a really good laugh about how stupid I must have looked. I asked for directions twice, but the people only spoke Norwegian, so that was hard to understand. So that has sort of motivated me to learn Norwegian. Oh, did I mention it was RAINING?? haha it was pretty funny.

My host Mom gave me an umbrella today. It was sad, I didn't know how to use it. lol.

So that pretty much is it until this week. I leave tomorrow for Finland. And I "get to experience the Finnish saunas" is what everyone keeps telling me. haha. So yes.

Love yall,
Emily.

Day 17.

Rode the bus again this morning. I don't like all of the buses and stuff haha it's really confusing. I leave for Finland on Thursday. So that'll be fun :).

Yay I'm in a Norwegian class for kids that don't know Norwegian!!

I think tonight I will write about my whole experience on here, after I get home.

Day 16.

Got moved last night. I love my new home. :)

Today was good. English is fun. I really like it. And Spanish is easy cuz it's just kinda what we did last year.

Day 15.

I'm here is Oslo. The sun is very bright. Almost as bright as noon at home. It helps me stay awake though.

Last night was nice. The friends are very sweet. They have four kids, but only three of them are home this weekend. Um the oldest, age 14, isn't here this weekend. Very cute kids though.

There isn't any carpet here. Majority of the houses, wait, all of the houses I've been to all have either wooden floors or tile floors. I miss carpet haha. But most of the floors are heatable, so they stay warm in the winter.


I had a funny dream last night, very interesting. Haha. I just remember one part, but that part was really funny.

Well gonna get up and get ready for the new day. :)

Meeting was wonderful, I didn't understand anything, but it was just nice to be able to be with the friends. It was a very small meeting, 7 took part and then there was 4 kids under the age of 10. So that was nice. We are having lunch now here with the friends. The littlest girl, Celine, reminds me of a mix between Kai and Olivia. She is very cute and talks a lot to me. They told me that she thinks she is speaking English when she is talking to me, so they don't understand what she is saying either. The second oldest daughter, Julia, is helpful, she speaks good English, as do most everyone. Pauli took notes for the meeting, so I have those :) and Wenche gave me a Norwegian Hymn Book, I still need to find a Norwegian Bible. Oh, their house reminds me of Randaaa. It's very modern and extremely well organized. It all looks nice and planned out. It's very pretty. Lots of art. :)

I'm on the train. Trains are scary. Haha I'm probably going to end up at the Notth Pole. Haha that would be funny. Anyways...yeah. I had something I was gonna add on here but I forgot what I was gonna put. Oh yeah, do we have trains you can use for transportation in Texas??

Day 14.

Headed out to Oslo to visit the friends today! :D

I will try to take pictures. :)

Hope you have an amazing day.

Oh, today is gorgeous. Sun is shining and the few random birds are singing :)

I am in a tunnel!!! Ahhh! So cool. Haha. Were in Oslo underneath a rock mountain. Mwahahaha. About to meet the friends :)

So we made it here to their house. Oh my, it is beautiful. Very bright and modern, I love it. I hade smoked salmon today, which is raw salmon, smoked. It was really good though.

Day 13.

I think I have my day numbers off. But I'm not sure.

IT'S FRIDAYYY!!! And as much as I do really enjoy school, I will be so happy when I can sleep in tomorrow. :]p

Hmm I've enjoyed the week. I had a realization last night. I figured out that there's nothing I can really do about being homesick, so whenever I am a little homesick, I think about what a good day I've had, and for now, that's working. :)

I also figured out what makes me EXTREMELY tiired- sitting in a two and a half hour Calculus class being taught in Norwegian. Hahaahahaha. I laugh at myself a lottttt.

I met my last two host families on Wednesday Night, and then I also met my second host Father yesterday night. I haven't yet gotten to meet my first host parents, because they are on vacation in Bolgaria. And that is spelled totallllyyyy wrong, I think. I did meet my first host brother. He is very nice, and if his parents are like him, I know I will enjoy my stay there. Actually if they aren't like him I will still enjoy my stay. :)

I leave tomorrow for Oslo to stay the night with the friends and then be there for meeting on Sunday. I'm extremely happy for that.

I went shopping yesterday. The mall here is bigger, but everything is so much more expensive. I found a shoe store that Randa would loveee, along with some shoes that reminded me of her, but I didn't know her shoe size. :(. But that's okay, maybe another day.

Oh, I had Spanish class yesterday, and it was actually the first class I understood. I think I will actually become fluent in Spanish this year, because they speak it fluently in the class. I feel so dumb at school, but enjoy it.

I think I'm going to the beach tonight with Sarah and some of her friends for a barbaque or something like that with her church, I'm not sure. But I suppose I should get up now and get ready for school.

:).

Hmm so I was a little late to school today, but it's okay because people are always walking into class late. Very relaxed. I reallyyyyy enjoyed English today the teacher is very nice and Jean-Baptiste is in my class. So that's nice to have another exchange student in atleast one of my classes. :)

I'm on my almost 3 hour break, so I'm chilling in the library working on homework. Yayyy! :)

Random question: what are you supposed to do when you get at Charley Horse?

Day 12.

Photography class today!! :)

Bahaha I asked someone the other day if they had a dollar menu at McDonalds. I just realized how stupid I sounded.

Day 11.

Yesterday was good. :)

I'm so happy, I get to go to meeting on Sunday!!

Today was funny. I got to school and went to my locker, and there was a lock on it. And I hadn't put a lock on it the day before haha. Andddddd, all my books were in my locker. Luckily Sarah found the person who had taken my locker and found my books for me. Yayyy!!! :)

And I found out I have math for like 3 hours tomorrow. Ahhh. It's iight though.

Oh, everyone here wears skinny jeans. Even the guys. It's weird.

I think I want to take a bike ride today!! Oh, I'm losing weight!! Well I think I am, my pants don't fit me anymore, I need a belt to keep them on.

Pictures, just for Mom:

The house I'm living in now. I move out on Sunday though.

The Kitchen.

The small table.

The Living room.

The random table.

The Dining room.

The Stairs.

My bedroom.

My Bathroom. (The shower is the thing on the Mirror.)

My School. (this is only the main enterence. The building as a whole is about 3 times the size of Bushland.)

A typical classroom.

wow. I just realized I was jamming to Britney Spears. Bahaha.

The Local Hamar Church.

Me and Idun.

Me.

Me again, with my transportation.

I've begun to bike. I love it.



The Lake: (sorry all of these are so much alike.)

p.s. wish you were here to see the scenery yourself. but I will try to put pictures on here for you since you cant.

love,

Emilyy