Weeks 5 and 6: Chilly Weather, Crafts, and a Tragic Event

I've read some articles on various websites on how to blog effectively and one thing that a few of the articles suggested was to treat blog posts similar to journal entries. I thought this may be good advice as journals are written in mostly on a daily basis and I am very bad at posting on my blog regularly, so this may encourage me to post more frequently. However, if I did treat my blog similar to a journal, it may look something like this:

August 30, 2014

Dear Diary Blog,

Today I decided I wanted to knit. I am now knitting a sock. I am using gray wool. 

-Abigail

August 31, 2014

Dear Diary Blog,

Today I have realized that I do not know how to knit a sock. It is actually a gray square.

-Abigail

September 1, 2014

Dear Diary Blog,

I still don't know how to knit a sock. It is now a slightly longer gray square. I suppose that would make it a rectangle now. 

-Abigail

September 4, 2014

Dear Diary Blog,

Today I bought a crochet hook. I am now crocheting a hat. That is something I do know how to do. 

-Abigail

And that, my friends, is why I shouldn't keep my blog like a journal. Also, as I mentioned before, I have never kept up a blog for more than a post or two, I have also never kept a journal or diary for longer than a month. Probably not even for longer than two weeks. Long story short, I am going to continue to post somewhat longer posts about once every week as well as posting on my vlog channel whenever I want to.

These past two weeks, the weather has gotten even chillier. And I've forgotten about Celsius again once or twice, causing brief moments of panic when I wake up and my phone tells me that it is currently 10° outside. It hasn't rained so much, but several mornings this week have been very foggy. Along with the change in the weather, there is also coming the change in the school grading periods. The first period of school is coming to a close and so my first set of exams in Finland are starting on Friday. This also means that I am deciding which classes I will take next period. Rather than trimesters with rather similar classes, my school here is broken into five grading periods in which different sets of classes are taken.

Many people who know me know that I really like frozen yogurt. Because frozen yogurt is amazing and delicious and is yogurt so it gives you the illusion that you are being healthy even though when it is weighed you know that there are probably more gummy bears than yogurt in the cup but whatever. Last Thursday, I went to the mall. I was planning on going to the same brand of cafe as I had before (see Week One!), but when I got there, I was informed that their frozen yogurt machine was broken. And that was a very tragic event. I ended up getting a donut (is it donut or doughnut? who knows...)* which was pretty yummy...enough about food. 

As you may have gleaned from the above Dear Diary Blog entries, I have been doing some crafts recently. At first, I attempted to knit a sock. It is still a slightly long square, or what some might call a rectangle. I have also been crocheting a hat. It is purple and soft and nearly half finished! I also decorated the piñatas for my brother's birthday this weekend. One is supposed to be a Lego person's head and the other has pictures of Legos on it.

*Apparently doughnut was first used in the early nineteenth century while donut was first used in the early twentieth century. Donut is considered a more American spelling, though in recent years it has also been used in New Zealand and the UK. Here is a Times article about this discussion.

Helsinki!

On Saturday, I took a trip into Helsinki to go to orientation for the students who are studying abroad...and I vlogged throughout the day; check it out if you want to!

Weeks 2 and 3!

I am quite bad, I've realized, at posting on this blog once a week. I have now been in Finland for three weeks. Maybe I will try posting smaller posts more often...

Anyway, these past weeks have been a bit colder than my first week here. It has rained a lot as well. Last Saturday, I went to my first wedding ever! You see, I, for seventeen years, I had never been to a wedding. And now I have been to a wedding. It would be really interesting to compare the Finnish wedding to an American wedding, but alas, I have no experience with which to compare the Finnish wedding to. The wedding was a really cool experience. It was in a quaint church and the reception was in the couple's family farmhouse. The decorations at the reception were very nice and they were elegantly natural. The cake at the wedding was a very traditional Finnish wedding cake with berries.

Throughout the weekend, I met a lot of people. A lot of my host family's extended family, both at the wedding and in the town where the wedding was. I met my host mom's mom and her partner, and my host mom's little sister. At the wedding, I met a lot of my host mom's cousins, one of whom lives in Germany and speaks English with a very British accent. The day after the wedding, I met my host mom's little brother and his dog, Milo. Milo reminded me of my puppy Lucy, except he was a little bit smaller. On the way back home, we stopped to eat at a traditional American restaurant, McDonald's. The menu here differs slightly from the menu in the US. Apparently they have a veggie burger on the menu. And a salad with pesto. I got a McFlurry but, rather than m&m's, which one would expect in an American McFlurry, it has Smarties--the chocolate ones, not the American ones. And I was reunited with my one true love: French Fries (even if they were McDonald's and not parmesan-truffle fries).

As I mentioned above, it has been raining quite a bit. This week, I realized a very stark difference between commuting to school by car and by bicycle. And that is commuting in the rain. When riding a bike, the rain touches you. And it makes you get a bit wet.

In my English classes, I haven't know the correct answer a few times on tests, class exercises, etc. because I am not British. I am American. And there are a few differences in the English that is spoken in the States and the English that is spoken in England--and Australia, where our text book is from.

This morning, I made an 'American' breakfast. I made pancakes and scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon, even though I do not eat bacon. My host mom and brothers made apple juice with the apples from the tree in the back yard. It was really yummy. For dinner, we made pizzas which were also very good! It is getting to be nighttime now and we are watching ice hockey. I don't quite understand the game, though this is the first game I've seen. I don't understand football either, and I've been watching that for several years.

Week One!

I have now been in Finland for a little over a week. During the past week, I have done many things and had several new experiences. Last Thursday, I left the United States and flew across the Atlantic Ocean to Finland. On Friday evening, my host family met me at the airport and brought me home. For dinner, we had delicious salad with fruits and smoked salmon. On Saturday, we went to dinner at a Tex-Mex restaurant a few towns over with some of my host family's friends. It was really fun! At dinner, I ordered grilled chicken with cheese fries--a very 'Abigail' choice. Sunday was a very fun and very full day. My host mom baked buns with the help of myself, Lennu, and Max. They were very yummy! 

Later that day, a girl from my school came over to hangout and we had tea and chatted about school and things and it made it easier for me to start school on Thursday, already having met one of my new classmates. Later, my host family and I met with a person from the exchange program to discuss my first few days in Finland. On Monday, we didn't do much other than stay at home and have a very chill day. I worked on my college apps for a bit and then went outside to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Tuesday evening, my host mom and I went shopping and I got a dress for the wedding that we are going to this weekend (I have never been to a wedding before...this may be one of the last times I can truthfully say that). While we were shopping, we also got frozen yogurt. It tasted...healthier...than the frozen yogurt than I am used to. It didn't have any unnatural dyes in it and it tasted like actual yogurt. But it was very good! And it has a mango sauce on it!

After the frozen yogurt and shopping, we went to the grocery store. And there I saw something that I thought was hilarious:

It is bacon. But it isn't just regular bacon. It is 'American'. The bacon is apparently part of the American flag. I'll just leave that there...

Anyway, the forests in Finland are filled with berries. Wednesday, my host mom and I went to pick blueberries. Unfortunately for us, it seemed someone had recently come through and picked most of the berries, so we didn't end up with very many. In the evening, I baked banana bread. But not just any banana bread. I made peanut butter banana bread. And it was super delicious. I was using a recipe from an American cookbook online, so I had to convert all of the measurements from the American customary system into metric. While I was making the bread, my host mom was a bit surprised by the amount of sugar the recipe said to use in this bread. It took a really long time baking but in the end it tasted very good. I liked it very much and I'm pretty sure my host family did too. 

Thursday was my first day of school. I was a lot more excited than nervous. I really wasn't nervous. Except for a little bit because of the language. I met some of the teachers and the principal before heading to the gym for the whole school assembly. I saw the girl I met for coffee and she sat by me in the assembly and introduced me to her friends. After the assembly, our class had a meeting with the English teacher where everyone introduced themselves (in English) and did some school work. For lunch, there was a fish soup that had dill in it. I thought it was pretty good. After lunch I met to decide on my schedule for the first period (and I think that my class schedule is now finalized after today). On Friday, I met the rest of my teachers and participated in my classes as best I could. 

Friday evening was very fun. I Skyped with my parents and sister for a little while and then after I signed off with them, my host family and I went to the river to go swimming. The water was a bit chilly, but I suppose it was very refreshing after the sauna. The sauna was a very unique experience. It was very hot. And then the water in the river felt very cold. 

Throughout this past week, one fact about myself has shocked many people. I am an American who doesn't like bacon (except for turkey bacon and vegetarian bacon, which, Emma, my host mom agrees looks like dog food). I don't like bacon. Or eat any pork. But I do, apparently, eat reindeer. And it was very good. For dinner on Saturday, we had mashed potatoes with reindeer stew and lingonberry jam. It was a very nice meal to have after a long day of working on college applications. 

Hello!

Hello! And welcome to my blog! On this blog you will find posts about my year abroad in Finland. Please note: I have never kept a blog for longer than one or two posts before because I think I am very bad at writing things the way they are typically written on blogs. Anyway I will be updating this blog once a week, though I don't plan on making a schedule for when I post (I am not planning on posting, for example, every Sunday at 11:00 EST; I will be posting whenever I feel like posting). Sometimes, there may be more than one post in a week. Like this week. I am making this post now (probably a post that will either be deleted on heavily edited later on) and then I am planning on posting a longer post on Friday about what I have done my first week here. You can also check out my vlogs at youtube.com/abigailhaupt. That's all, for now. I'll post more you later!