Moi.

Moi. So, I haven't wrote in a long long time. So, I figured I would write again. haha. It's still all good. Other than there is like 2'' of snow here. And it was -10'C here. :(. Soooo cold. And it gets dark at 4.15. But, other than that it is amazing here. My school is still going good. I am making more and more friends the more I talk in other english classes. I dont know what I am going to do when all my friends leave in Feb..... All alone with 1st and 2nd graders... I asked 2 of my teachers about how I will do my final and my biology teacher said she will see if I even have to take it. And for my math final all I have to do is the homework. All because I will be in LAPLAND for final week. Lapland is in 2 weeks! I am super excited. I get to see everyone again and my oldies! yay! It is going to be amazing. I switch families in 22 days.... I'm kinda nervous. Even thought they are great.... This first family is like my second family. They have done so much for me. And it is just going to be weird leaving them. We found out my younger host brother is allergic to dogs... So we had to get rid of our dog. It has been a week. It is so weird without him. He was so good. But, so mean sometimes. haha. No, really he was so nice. Everything had been going so fast. I can't believe that it has been over 1 year since my first overnighter. And tomorrow is 1 year since my interview.... It's just so crazy. I'm thinking of doing a ''day in the life of me'' pictures for a slideshow. I think it would be neat for everyone back home to see what it is like here. I think I will do it when I get my laptop. THAT IS ON IT'S WAY! haha. well, I am going to go. I will write when I get back from Lapland. :)

Random

Well..... What can I say. I love Finland. It is absolutly amazing. Other then the weather. It's cold, cloudy, and dark, and..... SNOWING..... Well not in my city. But tonight it is suppost to. I am not happy. It is not suppost to snow until November. But, no not in Finland. But, its ok. I still love it here. This week I don't have school. We are on Holiday. Its pretty sweet. My school is amazing. I love it. I am actually able to make alot of friends. They are pretty cool. I am taking the ACT in 2 weeks. Kinda nervous. But, I know how it is going to go. So... it should be good. I am going to start applying for colleges.... oh yay! haha. Its going to be a long process. I cant believe that I am actually almost done with high school. Its unbelieveable. So crazy. But, I have to get through this year first. I know I can do it. We are going to Lapland at the end of next month for a trip. Its at a HUGE ski resort. I dont know how to ski. Oh yippy. But there is always something to do. And I am going to learn how to ski. It is going to be a blast. One last time with our ''oldies'' before they go back to their homes. Its will be hard. They are all so cool. And now they have to go. But, it will be fun. Well, Im going to go. Ill write back soon.

2 Months.

Well..... I can now say that I have been here two months already. I know it doesn't seem like it at all. But, it is. :) I haven't written for a while because I have had alot going on in my life. Some good some bad. But, each one of them have made me a stronger person. Lets see...... About 3 weeks ago my host family thought it would be a good idea to meet my other families. And it was a great idea. They are all super nice and I feel like I will have a good year with each of them. They are all so welcoming and stuff. I am going to meet my host sister in my third family today for coffee. Im excited. Let's see. Two weekends ago I went to a church campout in Lempälää. Its about 20 miles from where I live. It was a good time. We all went to bed around 12.00 and stuff. Then at 2.30 I woke up to someone getting out of bed. I was like ok.... whatever. Then I looked out the window and noticed that there was an orange glow coming from the window. Then the kid who got out of his bed started to yell fire, fire, fire. The building what was about 10 ft. from ours was completely on fire. We are lucky we made it out of ours in time. It was probally the scariest thing I have had to go through while on exchange. Everyone is ok.... Just in shock. On a happy note. I had finals this week for my term. I feel pretty good about them. I had spanish on monday and I feel good about it, english on tuesday, (it was acutally pretty hard.) for sports we went and played laser tag. And I finish my political science final. finally. I am so happy to get out of that class. my teacher is anti-american and was extremely rude to me. I am happy I dont have to see him for class again. Next term starts next week. I am taking English 8. (One of the highest), Psychology 9.1 ( One of the highest) Math 1.2 (The first years math.) and Biology 2.1 ( The second years biology.) This may be one of the hardest codes I have to take. But, I am up for the challenge. I feel that I can take on anything after these two months. I know I have along way to go. But, I feel good about it.

Weekend in the country side.

Well, This weekend we went up north to the countryside. It was very diffrent then here in the city. There were lakes everywhere, and the view was amazing. We went by train on Friday to go up to the summer cottage. We left around 3 pm. and got there by 6. The train was pretty cool. I have never been on one so it was a new thing to me. It was a great ride. We get to the summer cottage and that is where I met more of my hostfamilies surfamily. They were really nice. And they had a little dog that played soccer. It was pretty neat. Then We went and had dinner. It was AMAZING! It was sometype of steak and whatnot. It was really good. Then we went back to our cabin and just kinda hung out. It was a real relaxing time. The lake in front of you and just sitting on the dock taking in nature. It was a great time. Then we had coffee and just sat and talked. It was really nice. After that we went to bed so we could be rested for the next day. I woke up to someone drumming on their stomach which was making a lot of noise. It was my hostbrother. Bored. I am not a morning person. I did not like being woke up by the sound of drumming. Then we got dressed and showered and left the cottage and went to the family reunion. I had no idea who any of these people were nor did any of them speak alot of english. So.... I just sat there until the ones that I did know and that could speak english got there. Then I had a good time. It was really nice to get to meet other people in the family. We were drinking coffee when I got my first political question of the year. It was from my host brothers cousin. She is studying english at a university and is interested in american government. I felt kind of cornered by the question. I was getting pounded by so many facts that someone didnt know the other side of the story. I didnt like this at all. I just kinda gave my side of the story and said that she was entitled to her own opinion and that was mine. After that the day went smoothly.

Sleeping. Sleeping has been ok. These past couple nights I have had dreams about home. Things I couldnt fix. But, mostly dreams about my family, this is so hard. I miss them so much. I go from seeing them everyweeked to not seeing anyone for 3 weeks. And I still have a while to go. I dont know if these dreams are just a phase or what. I dont know. All i know is that it is so hard to sleep sometimes. I hope it gets better......

2 weeks

Well..... I have been here and the verdict is..... I love it! It is so beautiful and everything is so relaxing. I had my first day of school this week. It was interesting. The headmaster made the exchange student from Jersey get up and tell the school about our lives. Well.... first off. My school has 700+ people in it. I know I know. I do musicals for 900+ people. But, this is completly diffrent. The lights are on and you can see everybodys faces. That may be one of the scariest things that I have had to do here. I did it though. After indroducing and talking about me. We left for homeroom. I had so many people look and stare at me because I was diffrent. But, I knew going into this that it would happen. When I got outside the gym I had 3 past exchangee's come up to me and talk to me. It was nice to know that there were people there who I could talk to and things. They are all really nice. We went to homeroom where once again everyone was staring at me. But, the teacher knows that I am not from here. So, she translated in english for me. Thank you! After that we went to eat lunch. It actually was not that bad. Then I was done with school. I finish between 11.00 and 1.00 everyday. It is so diffrent then back home. After I left I went to my hostparents work...... I got lost. I was 1.5 hours late. I was alone in a foregin country and not knowing where I was going.... Not a good mix. I was instantly homesick then.. It was probally the worst day I could have. Homesick is not a good feeling. You feel sick to your stomach, you are very emotional and you just want to go home. After I got home I wrote to my mom. I was in tears the whole time. I couldnt hold it in. It was setting in that I was going to be gone from home for 10 months and I wouldnt be able to see them the whole time. It was the worst feeling that I ever had. I still feel it a little but, not as bad I did. Thank god! I know that I am not alone in the homesickness thing. But, it feels like you are. I think that my hostfamily could tell that I was. I dont know why, but, I think they could. I just ate and then went to bed after. The next day was great. Still felt a little sick but, not like I did. Thats good. Yesterday was a good day. School was ok. My spanish teacher knows no english just spanish and finnish, she is from chile. But, i told her that I understood spanish and she talked to me in spanish. thank you for making me take spanish for 3 years back in the states. I ate one thing that I would never had thought of.... reindeer. It was actually really good. It tasted like a very expensive steak. haha I went to youth group that night. it was good. I didnt understand anything. But its ok. I just listened to the music. After youth group we went to eat. It was really good too. Why is food here so good? After eating and trying to teach my friends english (went really well ha ha) When we got home we played ps3. I ROCKED AT SOCCER! 5-0 I WON! haha. then we came back in and i talked to my mom for a while. wow how i miss talking to her everyday. But, I guess this will do. Peace.

Im here!!

After a long 20 hours and one week. I made it to my host family. I had to go to Karkuu for a week long camp that is why i have yet to post a blog here in suomi. I really like it here. it is nice and everything. The camp taught us about the culture and the language. which is actually really easy.... I was really shocked. my host family picked me up today. they are really nice. we went to the lake and swam and then went and got icecream. after that i went and got dinner. then we ran a 4k. well now it is 11.00. i will write later.

TOMORROW!!!!

Well these past few weeks have been ok. I called my host family today. My host dad answered the phone. He was not real sure what to say because he doesn't speak very good english. So he told me to call back in 10 mins. I called and my host mom answered the phone. Her voice was so relaxing. I cannot wait to meet her. And the rest of my host siblings.
Last night we had a final party for me and my family. I was fine until my aunt gave me a scrapbook. I turned to the second page and broke down. It was a picture of my grandmother who passed away. It was the hardest thing to look at in a while. I stopped crying and then we ate. And then the goodbye came..... I said goodbye to my grandpa... cried. Then came my cousin. It was instant tears. We are so close. She is like one of my best friends, we have gone through everything together. I love her. Then we went into the parking lot so I could say goodbye to everyone. My cousin was at work so her husband put her on the phone..... we were talking (while I was still crying.) and then she broke down. I had to pass the phone off. Then came the rest of my and my aunts were the hardest ones to say goodbye too. They are the best aunts anyone can ask for. I love them all sooo much. And I said goodbye to everyone else. I balled like a baby. I am not going to lie. Me and my family are SO close I could not stand the thought of leaving them behind. I cried the WHOLE way home. And when I got home. It was even worse. It is one of the last times I will sleep in my house for the next couple months. But, they will be the best that I can think of. I leave tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

It's coming so soon!!!

Hello again. Well I cannot believe how fast this all has been coming to me. It seems like not that long ago I was a guest at my first overnighter. And now I am Leaving in 16 days!! It is all a rush to me. I met so many exchange students that are going to Finland too I am so excited. My going away party is coming up and I know that it is going to be hard to say goodbye to some of the people that I have grown so close to over the years. But, that's the way life is. People come and people go. And the good one's stay. I got my luggage today. So, I am finishing up my cleaning spree and then it's time to start the packing. I cannot wait to go!! Well I am going to finish cleaning... I'll write soon.

Näkemiin ja Hyvää yötä!! = Goodbye and Goodnight!!

First Blog!!

Hei! This is my first blog that I am starting! OK a little about me.... I'm Ryan. I am going to on exchange to Tampere, Finland!! I am SO excited. I am going with Rotary Youth Exchange. I leave August 1st!! It's so soon... I'm kinda nervous. I have talked to all three of my families.

I am going to attend Sammon Keskuslukio. There is about 800 people in it. Sammon Keskuslukio is the biggest school in Tampere. It is specialized in sports. Which is really exciting.

I cannot wait until the day comes when I meet all of them in person. They all seem really nice. And I cannot wait! Well I'm going to go. Ill write soon!