Sunday, August 22, 2010

It's hard to believe I've been here for a week now.. and been away from America for two.
It's weird to say, "good bye America, bye Germany, see ya soon Finland... hello, Estonia"
Seriously, sometimes, when I look out the window it seems I'm just in Michigan, a few hours from home. But in reality, I'm barely understood, confused, tired, excited, happy, sad, laughing..... yada yada yada. so many emotions.

My host family is so nice. They keep me very well fed. haha. Sometimes too well fed. I make sure to put my dish in the sink before they tell me to take anymore.. if I wait, then I have to keep eating. ITS EXHAUSTING! hahaha.
These past couple of days have been big ones in Estonia and the town of Rapla. 2 days ago, there was a national song festival over the tv. It took place in multiple towns all over the country, but we all sang the same songs at the same time. They had a live view from Tallinn and a large group singing and dancing there. Yeah, I got to see a folk dance that everyone knows.. from 2 year olds to very old men that shouldn't really be jumping around. it made me little nervous. haha. In the same day the Rally in Rapla started. It goes on for days. It lasted in Rapla until yesterday. The road by my house was closed, the cars were whizzing by, tearing up the grass. We watched from the Forest. :) so estonian..
The other night, my host family had me watch a film called the Singing Revolution. It's a documentary about.. well the Singing Revolution. It was a great film, you should see it. And yes, it came out in the US a few years ago, so you Americans can learn about Estonia, too.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Home sweet home...

This week has been a full one. A week ago today, I and about 15 other students flying to Helsinki made it there safely. We made it there in Helsinki at 545 or so.. then we had a 3hour drive to Karkku, its where our camp was held.
So this was the wait in Frankfurt. We were all starving so many of us got sausages and pickles, because we could only use debit cards. No one had euros for vending machines. Anyways, the sausages were awesome and the mustard was so different! It has a different taste.
Now, I don´t want you to get any ideas... this was not the funnest camp ever that all of the finnish rebounds talk about. no! well maybe if you´re learning finnish, but I and 5 others were learning Estonian, so we were left out of a lot of things at the camp. It was a little pointless of going, we often joked about how it was like a concentration camp.

This was my dorm. my room was on the second floor, on the far right. I shared it with a girl from Washington state. She was pretty nice. She was learning Swedish and Finnish both.
So during the torturous language camp, we drove an hour to a bigger city of Tampere. There we had a few hours to shop. It was exciting for the Estonian group because there we met our new member, Juan. He is from Colombia and he had missed the first couple of days at the camp... lucky.

Russian Orthodox? I think so..
Probably Lutheran...

Ok, I'm not going to lie. Finland is beautiful. This was the lake that our camp was on. It was so nice to go boating for language class. =)
On the way from Karkku to Helsinki. So we could catch the ''ferry'' to Tallinn.

At the language camp. We were learning the body parts. They decided to have to 2 Americans draw the body parts, when the others said them out loud.

Now I'm in my host family's home. It's so nice. I live out in the country side, but it's peaceful. My teacher at the language camp, Sille, lives in Rapla also. I think I'm going to hang out with her fairly soon. Yay, a somewhat familiar face!



The class on the lake. We decided to skip class and go boating. It was rough getting started though. haha.

This is my and my host sister, Margit's room.

First view of Estonia (TALLINN!!!!)

This was the map of the ferry. ITS HUGE!! There were many shops on board. There was a nice perfume and jewlery shop. Everyone tries to buy the perfume there because it's tax free, so much much cheaper.

Friday, August 6, 2010

My last few hours. AH!

As you can read from the title, I'm in my last few hours. I'm supposed to leave the house in 6 hours.. dang. I should really sleep. But this good, now I'll be exhausted for my flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt. I want to sleep then.

As usual, I'm not prepared.. I think I finished packing, but I'll have to check it once more to make sure I have all of my basics at least. :)

Then I should tidy up my room... I know my parents don't want to deal with it.

Today will start a new chapter in my life. I want to turn the page already and start!

Actually, this will be my first time flying. I have 2 flights by myself. I fly from Moline to Chicago and Chicago to Philadelphia by my little lonesome. Let's hope I can find my way around! But in Philadelphia I'll fly with about 15 other exchange students. I'm the only one staying in Estonia, the rest are staying in Finland. But when we go to the language camp, I'll meet the 5 other students going to Estonia. :)
So basically, I'm ready to go now! Maybe not completely... I'm still chilaxing in my pajamas listening to Depeche Mode, but I think you can catch my drift. I'm excited!

So all I have to say to the Americans reading this,