WHERE HAS TIME GONE???

Time around here has just gone way to quickly.....I suppose I have been fairly busy lately and so I havn't updated my blog for ages but what seems like a better time to do it than now seems as though my sister wants to have a party and doesn't really want me home :P

Now that school has started again and this first term has almost finished I have started/continued doing lots of things. At school I am taking 2 English courses, 2 Maths courses and Sport. My school days are pretty good as they are not too busy which is nice. The musical I am in is also practising away busily with rehearsals on both Wednesday and Friday afternoons. It's coming along well so will be fantastic to perform the shows for everyone in October!! I have also started up Finnish lessons with Tess and Georgia from Australia. The lessons are lots of fun and since starting them I have found that my Finnish has finally started getting better. Wish I could have done the first course with them when I got to Finland...

I have also been travelling a bit with my host family around Finland we have been to Lapeenranta where my host mums parents lives so we visited them and then before we came home again my host sister Venla and I went to the Flow park (A high ropes park) and completed the courses there :D It was lots of fun though I think its easy to say Venla is more of a monkey than myself!!! haha

Last week it was Liisa and Erika's 18th Birthday's so to celebrate a friend organised a little surprise party last night for them. We hired out the room in Bar Bulmer's where the night started finishing up in Heilis around 4am haha. It was a fun night!! amazing to think we are all 18 now and that I got to celebrate Liisa's 18th actually with her (seems as we were both in Australia together 7months ago) :DD

I'll post again soon this time 

Danika xx

The berries...

THE PHOTOS... 

  The berries straight from the bush 

 cooking the berries 

The final result!!! 

FROM BUSH TO JUICE

Today I went with my host grandma, dad and sister picking 'wine berries' from our summer cottage. The berries are not so sweet and not the nicest to be eaten straight off the bush instead they are much nicer when turned into juice. We collected 4 full buckets of the berries from the cottage after which we sailed back home to my host mum who was making the juice. To make the juice you put all the berries straight into a large juice making pot on the stove which you add some sugar and rhubarb in with the berries, before leaving on the stove to boil for 45mins. After boiling you empty the juice that you have made into hot bottles with lids so that the bottles when cooled with the juice inside seal so that the juice stays fresh for a long time. :D We have currently made around 20L of the juice and have around another 10 or 20L to make tomorrow!!!
I shall post pictures of this tomorrow because now I am off to bed. 

I'm very sorry it has taken me such a long time to write up about my Euro tour... But anyway here it is...

Day 1 – Cruise from Finland to Sweden

We all met in Turku docks where we all boarded our cruise ship Isabella who was taking us across to Sweden. The food on the ship was amazing, there was a huge buffet with a whole range of foods from salads, seafood, meats, cheeses, bread and a number of deserts like tiramisu, brownies, ice-cream. After dinner we headed up to the conference room where we had an introduction evening getting to know the bus drivers, Rotarians, rotex, and students attending the tour. After this meeting we had a little time to explore the ship before heading to bed for the early wake up we would be getting in the morning as we arrived to Sweden. 

Day 2 – Sweden to Copenhagen Denmark

Today consisted of mainly driving as we drove through Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark. In Sweden we stopped off at “FRANSSONS POLKAGRISTILLVERKNING” a lolly shop. This lolly shop had won a Guinness world record in 2003 for the world’s largest lollypop weighing 2158.7Kg.   After visiting the lolly shop we left Sweden and made our way to Copenhagen.   We arrived in Copenhagen that night and had the night to explore Tivoli the theme park in the centre of the city. The night was so much fun I was high on life with a friend running around all night from ride to ride. We got an unlimited ride pass. 

Day 3 – Tour of Copenhagen to Bremen Germany

Me at the Little Mermaid

This day consisted of having a bus tour to explore the beautiful city of Copenhagen by day. We stopped to have a look at the sites such as the Little Mermaid, and Amalienborg (the palace), and we saw other big sites of Copenhagen such as the new opera house and Royal playhouse and the canals with us stopping off in the main shopping street where we had lunch and was able to have some free time exploring the city for ourselves. During the free time I bought some strawberries with one of my friends in which we ate one the deck of the ferry we caught later in the day leaving Denmark and heading to Germany.

Once in Germany we headed to the city of Bremen where we would be spending the night in our hotel, the only thing is that we got caught in a traffic jam and so the trip took us around 4 hours rather than the 2.5/3hrs in which it was supposed to be. When we finally arrived in our hotel we had a few free hours to look around the city. During this time a friend and I went to discover the city, here we found the main shopping street, where they had some museums, art galleries and also some parks around it. On our walk back to the hotel we met some of the exchange students who were living in Bremen whom had met up in front of the hotel with some members from our group who they knew already. 

Day 4 – Netherlands

Today we got to visit the clog and cheese factory in the Netherlands. At the clog part of the factory we learnt about the machines used in which they make the clogs with and also got to see it in action taking only around 5 minutes for one shoe to be made. The cheese factory had a section where we could see the steps they use to make the cheese from scratch, as they explained the different times to wait in order to create different types of cheeses such as Gouda which is aged for usually around 5 months. After seeing where/how the cheeses are made we were able to go into the shop, where we were about to try all the different cheeses they make at the factory.

After visiting the cheese and clog factories we headed to a little town Volendam where we had a little free time to look around the old little city and then have dinner at a restaurant, before we headed to Amsterdam where we visited the Anne Frank House and went for a tour by waterbus through the canals.

Day 5 - Brussels 

Walking tour of Brussels for the morning, after which we had lunch and then actually met up with some of the exchange students living in Belguim, so we went and chilled during our free time with them. Catching up and being awesome as all exchange students are. 

After a morning exploring the city of Brussels we headed off and that evening arrived at our hotel in Paris. We had a little free time to find ourselves some dinner before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Day 6 – Tour of Paris

This morning allowed for us to explore the wonders of Versailles, we used the audio guides through the palace and then had time to wonder around the magnificent gardens. After exploring Versailles we all headed down the road where we all had lunch together and where we were all allowed to have a glass of red wine with our lunch, which was chicken and vegetables with a chocolate muffin for dessert.

After our amazing morning in Versailles we all headed back to the buses where we met our tour guide again who this time was going to take us on a bus tour around Paris. We first stopped for photos infront of the Eiffel tower, before heading back on the bus to see the other wonders of Paris such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Champs-Elysées, etc.

Once the bus tour came to an end, we were given our tickets for the River Seine cruise. The cruise lasted for an hour after which we had free time until 11 pm, having to find our own way back to the hotel ourselves. Heading off in a group we found a little cafe where we had some dinner before we climbed the Arc! The view from up top was spectacular, with a 360⁰ view of Paris. After a wonderful look around at the view from up the top we headed back down, to have a look at from down the bottom and then heading to a little cafe for a coffee and tart at a little French cafe, before walking back to the Eiffel tower catching the metro back to our hotel. 

Day 7 – Free day in Paris

Peter, Sarah and I decided that today would be a perfect day to explore the area around the Moulin Rouge area before having a picnic. We found a free walking tour around this area in which we went on. We started at the bottom of the hill at the red windmill heading up the hill learning the history of the area before ending up at the Sacré-coeur on top of the hill. During the tour we found out where the bakery which was awarded the prize for best baguette in the whole of France 2010 was we decided to get some baguettes and strawberries and head to the Eiffel tower where we had a picnic. After our picnic we headed off to the Notre Dame, though we just missed out on going up to see the gargoyles, so instead we walked around the area before heading back to the hotel to get ready for our free night we had to enjoy in Paris. During this free night my group and I wandered around the Champs- Elysées area and the Eiffel tower area which were so different by night.

Day 8 – Driving to Grenoble

This day mainly consisted of driving as we left Paris and headed to Grenoble, a city which is situated in South-eastern France at the foot of the French Alps. When we arrived people could go swimming in the pool before dinner. After dinner we had a little free time to chill before heading to bed ready for tomorrow. 

Day 9 – Alps

It was time to leave the city and head up the mountains! Today we got to wind our way over the Alps on our way to Nice. Along the way we made 3 stops. The first stop was at a beautiful small French village in the middle of the Alps called Sisteron. We had a little time to explore where my friends and I wandered up the hill to an old castle which we were able to see the view of the whole village from the top. This area was so beautiful with none of us wanting to leave after our lunch there. Unfortunately we had to leave the beautiful village, getting back on the busses on our way. The next stop was at a petrol station where we could get some snacks if needed and a toilet break before heading back on the bus before the last stop along the way before reaching Nice. The last stop was at a Parfum factory in Grasse. Here we were fortunate enough to have a tour around the factory before heading to the shop to get some great deals on some of their perfume ranges. After making our purchases (me getting a new perfume for myself), we once again climbed back onto the bus to head to our hotel that evening in Nice. Once we arrived and all had dinner together we had a little free time to go and explore, so most people headed off to find the beach where we all went swimming. The only thing about the beach in Nice is the lack of sand, rather it being pebble/rocks which made it rather painful to enter and leave the water when swimming. Other than this however the water was beautiful and definitely worth a dip.

Day 10 – Free time in Nice heading to Monaco

As we had a free morning to explore Nice, I went for a walk around with 2 other Aussies where we found a patisserie shop where we got some macaroons, before finding a street market where they sold all sorts of fresh fruits, vegies, spices and many other things. After walking around the city we headed to the beach, where we could lay in the sun for a while before heading to the buses for our trip to Monaco. 

Day 11 – Verona

We were all taken as a group to the spot where Juliet’s balcony is, so that we could all post our letters to her and place our gum on the wall before we were given a few hours to explore the city of Verona and get something for lunch in our own groups. As we are now in Italy what’s better to have for lunch than a pizza and some gelato for dessert. YUMMO!! After exploring the city of Verona we headed to our hotel in Lido di Jesolo, which was located on right on the beach allowing for us to spend our free time swimming if we wanted.

Day 12 – Venice

Venice was one of the cities which was on top of many people’s places they were most excited to visit (as well as Paris of course). Whilst waiting for our waterbus to arrive to take us across to Venice we had a little time to have a look around the touristy shops around the area. The trip was around half an hour from there to Venice, so we were able to pick up a few tips from our tour guide who spoke to us during the journey across. When we arrived we followed our tour guide who took us to the place we would be getting our gondolas from. From here we formed groups of 6 to share a gondola with for our 20min tour around the canals. Once everyone had finished their gondola rides we headed to the glass factory where we were able to watch a glass blower make a jug. After watching the demonstration on how they make the glass, we had the opportunity to look around the shop at the different glass products they make. After our tour we had 4 hours of free time to do what we wanted around Venice before heading back to the hotel that afternoon for some more free time and a game of beach volley ball. 

Day 13 – Free day in Lido di Jesolo

Today we relaxed at the beach swimming and laying on the day beds in the sun. I ate lunch at a restaurant and then had some more gelato :D

 Day 14 – Dolomites hike

We headed off for a morning drive through the Alps where our next hotel was. We arrived at the hotel around 11am, after which we unpacked and cleaned the buses (It was my day for bus cleaning, before putting our things in our rooms and getting changed for the hike which we were going on that afternoon. Once we were ready we headed back to the buses, where we met our guides and drove to the spot we were starting the hike from.  We were told that it was going to be cold for the hike so we all had on our jeans and jumpers, though it turns out it actually wasn’t hot, in fact it was around 30⁰C!! Most of us were so hot on the way up, but we all made it to the top, where we had time to sit in the shade and relax looking at the stunning view. We stayed up the top for around 40mins before heading back to the bottom where we met the buses which took us back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we had a shower and got changed and relaxed before dinner, with some people playing cards, others giving people massages and others signing people’s flags. Dinner time came though to everyone’s surprise it was a 5 course meal which took us a bit over 2 hours to have.  It started with a salad, soup, pasta, roast meat and vegies, and finally dessert. When dinner was finally over we had a little bit of free time, which I spent with a whole group of people in someone’s room talking. Around 11.30ish it was time to head to our rooms for the night. 

Day 15 – Austria

Unfortunately we only had a few hours in Austria for lunch and a little walk around (the temperature was around 34⁰C and almost had me questioning if I was Australian as I thought it was so hot). As it was a Sunday there wasn’t too much open around so firstly we went to the tourist information shop where we got a map of the city. They suggested that we go to the top of the mountain and have a look at the view from up top, though we decided not to as we didn’t have enough time. Instead we went for a walk round and found a nice little cafe/restaurant for lunch. After the delicious meal we went for a walk to explore some more of the city. We found the river that ran through the middle so we followed this with the amazing mountains behind and we found the little shopping street, where we stopped to have a little look round and get some souvenirs and snacks before grabbing a gelato and heading back to the bus. Leaving Austria we made our way to Garmisch-Partenkirhen where we were having a special dinner. The restaurant was a decorated little cottage type house, and during dinner we had a Bavarian entertainment with music and traditional dancing, which was great to watch. After our dinner and the dancing had finished we once again got back on the bus and drove to Nurnberg where we stayed for the night. 

Day 16 – Nurnberg to Berlin

Today we visited the Nurnberg war museum. The museum was interesting to visit though as I didn’t realise that it was actually the same building in which Hitler campaigns were actually held, I didn’t take as much interest in it as I would have if I had know this beforehand, though it was still interesting to visit. After looking through the museum we got back on the bus and drove to Berlin. That evening after a bit of free time we went to the conference room where we had a farewell party all together. The party was really nice, and the oldie/Newbie gifts were handed out to each other. It was such a lovely night although it was sad to think that it was our last night altogether. Tomorrow we would be spending our last day together before heading back to Finland where we might not see each other again before people go home.

Day 17 – Berlin and home

 The morning was spent on a guided bus tour around Berlin. Here we got to see the main sights including the wall. After the tour, it was time for lunch so we were dropped off in the centre where we went to the Mövenpick restaurant where we had a lovely buffet type lunch. After lunch we had a couple of hours to do what we wanted, so my friends and I walked around having a look through some of the shops and the different things in the main area we were in. After our few last ours together looking around it was time to get on the bus one last time and head to the airport for our flight back to Finland. The flight was good, with most people talking and getting the last signatures on their flags before arriving. At the baggage collections it was the saddest and worst part of the trip as it was time to say our final goodbyes to everyone, whom we may never see again. 

2 buses

9 countries (Sweden Denmark Italy Germany Monaco Austria France Netherlands Belgium)

17 days 

90 exchange students

AND ONLY 5 DAYS LEFT TO WAIT :DD

5 DAYS TO GO...

Only 5 days left until there will be around 89 exchange students, 2 busses and 2 and a half weeks travelling europe....I am so excited words can not describe how I am feeling right now as I have been waiting for this trip to come for so long and now that it is actually here, it doesn't feel real :D 

Will keep you updated about the tirp. 

EURO TOUR...

In 20 days time I with around 90 other exchange students will be embarking on our 3 week Europe trip. I am now even more excited than before as we just received our itinerary  for the trip it looks amazing. The trip is going to be so much fun I cannot wait for it :D 

BRING ON EURO TOUR 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The countires in which we will be visiting during the tour include: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy and Austria. I will keep you informed about the trip!

Summer Cottage...

The Summer Cottage

This Saturday I was invited to my first Summer Cottage so far. Most Finnish people have a summer cottage where they visit regularly during summer times. Summer cottages are usually on the lake and are a place to just relax, sauna and swim. 

This time I went with the Salminen family to help them clean and get it ready for summer. By cleaning I mean raking all the leaves up and digging up rocks from the ground to make the ground more even to walk on. I tried elk for the first time for lunch as we had elk soup. It was really nice! Then we had smoked fish for dinner with Finnish sausage, and potato salad. Was delicious :D It was a wonderful day visiting the cottage with them and to Finnish the day off what better way than with a sauna!!! 

10 weeks old

The smoked fish we had for dinner

FINLAND DURING APRIL...

Another wonderful month has once again been and gone. The year is going so quickly and there is still so many things I have yet to do.

MY BIRTHDAY

The cake Jenni made me

April brought about many wonderful experiences. It started off with me celebrating my 18^th Birthday. Jenni made me a cake which was a jam sponge layer cake, which she decorated with the word ONNEA which is congratulations in Finnish. My birthday fell during the middle of test week at school although luckily for me I didn’t have a test so I was able to stay home and have a lovely day with Anne. We went out for dinner to the restaurant in Heinola where I was able to have a steak. It was so good!!!  After a busy first week of April, the month was only just beginning.

                                                                                     EASTER TIME!

One food that comes out around Eater time is Mämmi. It is made of rye flour, malted rye and dark molasses. It is one of those foods that you either love or hate. It looks rather disgusting as it is a dark brown/black colour and is rather gooey. But I didn’t mind it when I had it with vanilla cream.

For Easter I went to Oulu which is 8hours North West of Heinola. To get there I was lucky to be able to get a lift majority of the way up by a friend of Anne who was going up North for Easter as well to visit her family. When we arrived in the little city of Pihtipudas, the place her parents lived, I was invited to their place for dinner before getting the bus the rest of the way up to Oulu.  The dinner just kept coming. First of all we had the main meal which consisted of Finnish meatballs, mash, watermelon salad, salted raw salmon and bread. After dinner we had a Finnish smoothie. It’s served in a bowl as you eat it with a spoon, as it has berries and other things in it.  After I thought I was finished I was given a glass of Jaffa (a Finnish soft drink a little like fanta) whilst the coffee was being made. Once the coffee was ready I sat back at the table for karjalanpiirakka with egg butter, pula and an Easter egg shaped frozen chocolate cake thing, with a cup of coffee. After all this food it was time for me to leave and go to the bus station. Though as I was leaving I was given 2 little chocolate blocks, a bottle filled with Jaffa and some more Karjalanpiirakka for my journey on the bus. After a 3 hour bus trip from Pihtipudas I had finally made it to Oulu and met the other exchange students already there. In Oulu we walked around the city and caught up with each other again as it had been ages since we were all last together.

At the tori police with Rachel and Vanessa in Oulu

DISTRICT 1390 CONFERENCE

On the 14^th to 15^th of April I attended with the 40 other exchange students in district 1390. During the weekend we listened to some presentations and speeches (which were mainly all in Finnish so I didn’t understand majority of them), about different things that clubs of the district were doing both locally and internationally. At the conference there were 5 guests from a Taiwan rotary club who were at the conference gaining information which they could then take back to their local rotary club. In the afternoon of the Saturday the exchange students in groups went across the road to the architectural design museum of Jyväskylä. After a visit of the museum we returned to the hotel where we were staying to get ready for the governors ball which we were attending that evening. Before the ball we attended pre drinks (where we had a berry frappe) where we shook hands with the governor.  After this we entered the dining hall where there were 3 long rows of tables all set nicely. The exchange students all sat in one row where we had a lovely dinner consisting of an entree and a main and a dessert. After dinner we watched a comedy performance by a Finnish group, which was then followed by some dancing.  After the ball the exchange students headed back to the hotel where we all chilled together catching up again to end a wonderful day. The following day we had a few more presentations before a closing ceremony before it was time to say goodbye to all the other exchange students and go back home.

ANZAC DAY

I wasn’t able to attend a service or anything so I decided to make ANZAC biscuits for my friends and school and for Anne and Jenni to try. Everyone really enjoyed them

               A SUNSET IN HEINOLA AT 9PM TAKEN BY ME ON THE 30^TH APRIL 2012

ST. PETERSBURG RUSSIA!!! 

(I know its a bit late though thought you might be interested about it)

The big thing that came to finish off the busy month of March was the TOUR TO RUSSIA! It was only a 4 day trip but it was so much fun. We visited different museums such as the Hermitage and the anatomy museum of creatures, saw the winter palace, column of Peter the great, some of the 27 draw bridges of which Saint Petersburg has during our tour around the city, as well as shopping along the main street and some more shopping in a market in the part of Russia which used to belong to Finland before the winter war, on our way home. During the nights we spent in Saint Petersburg we lucky enough to go to a folklore performance in an old palace with traditional Russian dances and dress. The last night we were in Russia we went and saw a Russian ballet about the life of Johannes Sebastian Bach. The ballet was good though it wasn’t a classical ballet like swan it was more contemporary dance but it was still wonderful to see. 

Bus buddies for the trip
Peter, Lurdes, Cindy and I 

Peter and I at the Ballet 

Winter palace  

A few of the many Russian dolls in the shop

3 MONTHS IN...

I know that I am 3 months late to start a blog but you know what they say 'Better late than never!' So here it goes...

My journey to Finland started on the 22nd of January 2012, I flew out of Australia with 13 other exchange students from my district as we said goodbye to everything we knew, to begin our year abroad for an opportunity which ultimately will change our lives forever. 

3 months in and I am already able to say that I have already had some of the most amazing experiences possible and have met so many wonderful and astonishing people from all over the world! I have been places that I before only ever dreamed about visiting, I have experienced a whole new culture and way of life and have woken up to how different the world can be if we get out and actually experience it for ourselves. 

Swimming Hole in the ice

Some of the things I have experienced already include:

Winter Palace St. Petersburg Russia

• Swimming in an ice hole
• Rolling in the snow 
• Finnish sauna
• Finnish school's 
• Visiting St. Petersburg Russia
• Experienced temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius
• Meeting people from all over the world
• Mämmi (a traditional Finnish Easter food which is made of rye flour, malted rye, and dark molasses)
• Ice fishing
• Finnish food (consisting largely of bread, potatoes, milk)
• Seeing the Northern lights from my bedroom window
• Salmiakki (salty liquorish)
• Visiting Helsinki, Oulu, Lahti, Pihtapudas, Karjalohjan, Tampere, Karkku plus more
• Wanhat (Finnish prom for the 2nd graders)
• Penkkarit (Final school day for the 3rd years)
• Vappu (1st of May celebrations)

This is just some of the many wonderful things I have done so far. If I was to mention it all you would be here for days just reading about it all. I will let you know the many more experiences I am sure to have throughout my year in Finland.