It's been a while

Firstly I would like to share some photos of the development of my weaving which I am learning here in Finland. I am really enjoying it and think I could have a talent in it if I manage to find somewhere back home that could train me in this area more.

It's been a long time since I last wrote and it is nice to finally be able to sit down with a clear head and relax.

Since my last post I have made two visits to Lapland, my first one was to a town called Kemi where I visited the famous snow castle, it was amazing, it was alot smaller than I thought it would be but I still really enjoyed going around it. I also made a trip further up north to a town called Tornio which is a connecting town to Harparanda wich is in Sweden. Here I made the quik walk accross the border into Sweden for a few hours, it was only a small town so I didn't do anything there. I made a visit to Ikea (as it origninates from Sweden it was a visit that had to be done, and quite touristy :o)) 

 My second trip up to Lapland which was 2 weeks ago was to a city called Rovaniemi it is based near the arctic circle and is also the home os Santa's office. I went up to visit Santa and also had to take the opportunity to stand on the arctic circle line as I know I will never do that again. this rip was a trip to make the most of the snow as down here in Southern Finland the snow has completely melted and it is quite sad as I really enjoyed being surrounded by the snow.

Imbetween these trips I have been very busy doing uni work but I luckily got the chance to go on an international students gathering trip at the end of march. I loved this trip and I must say it has been the best weekend throughout my time here. I went to a town called Pori where we spent our evenings at a night club and saturday we went to a town nearby called Rauma, it was a very pretty town. Here we worked in small teams trying to find a few well known spots in the town whilst competing in some small challenges. It was such a good day and I met a really nice girl from London who is spending 9 months in Pori (a lot longer than me). On this weekend I was able to meet a few more English girls and also some very friendly Finnish people, I enjoyed the opportunity to hear lots of stories on what people study and about the countries they are from, it was a very cultured weekend.

Since then I have been non stop working.  I only have a few more days left until I return back to the UK and although I look forward to being abl eto see my family and friends I am going to miss living here. I wish I made the most out of my time ehre and was able to get a chance to do all the travelling I wanted to do but now I have a reason to return :o)

Lots of love xxxxxx

Skiing - it really hurts

On Friday I started to weave and for my first time I think I did amazingly well, so I have started with a couple of pictures to show what I'm good at before you reach the part where I tell you about my skiing experience :o)

Finnish people seem to get stranger every day, on my long walk to university on wednesday when it was -7 I was wearing a lot of layers whilst everyone I passed was wearing short jackets and jeans etc but on a day when it was -1 a day where it can be quite warm people around me were wearing thermal gear, it all seems very strange to me how they are like that.

This weekend I went Skiing in Jyväskylä which is just over 2 hours away from Hämeenlinna on the train. On saturday I spent the day teaching myself how to ski on the kids slope, it was quite amusing how I was surrounded by children between the ages of about 3-9 who could ski perfectly then there was me a 20 year old girl trying to stop myself crashing into them, after a while I managed to get the hang of it and was quite proud of myself.

I spent the night in the ski resort hostel watching Finnish dubbed disney channel cartoons which was quite amusing and what I thought was the try outs for eurovision (their host is no where near as amusing as good old Terry Wogan).

Today I had a snowboarding lesson first thing in the morning which seemed to go really well I managed to stay stood up 90% of the lesson whilst learning how to direct myself, turn and also learning how to shuffle myself down the slope forwards and backwards (it's hard to explain but it was all good fun), once my instructor left me I headed back to the kids slope to improve on what I had just been taught, unfortunately the next few hours turned out to be the complete opposite of improving, every time I went down my board went the opposite way to what I was doing and where I wanted to go and I kept repeatedly falling over or crashing into children, I think I only managed to go down the very small part of the slope properly 2 times, it was fun trying even if I did bruise myself in the process. Later in the afternoon I went back onto the ski's progressing more and more, finally I plucked up the courage to go on the big slope (only half way up tho) I was doing really well until one unlucky time when somebody cut up in front of me whilst I was speeding down the slope, I tried to swerve around them but unfortunately I turned too far and lost my balance and ended up summersaulting and landing on my head, getting hit with my ski sticks in the process too, this was the final crash my body could take for the day so I had to retire early.

Although I am battered and bruised it was such a good experience and I hope to do it again one day in the near future.

xxx 

Ice Hockey

I went to watch an Ice hockey match on saturday, where the town I am staying in were playing.

It was so much fun, ice hockey is Finlands' major sport so a lot of people take the games very seriously, there are even cheerleaders and I thought this was very strange.

Even though I have seen ice hockey on TV and films I never realized how aggressive it was, people push and ram each other into the sides for no reason and there don't seem to be any rules.

Luckily Hämeenlinna won so it was a good ending. I would like to go see a few more matches whilst I am in Finland.

Yesterday was my first weaving class, I found it quite stressful as I didn't realize how much time and effort went into preparing and sorting out the machines and weaves, I just wanted to start learning how to weave but hopefully I will learn that next lesson.

I am really looking forward to going skiing on saturday and hope to take a lot of photos if I manage to stay stood up long enough.

xxx

Time to get busy

Today was yet another fun Finnish lesson, I was very eager to learn today and my teacher really appreciated this. I am not going to have another Finnish lesson for 3 weeks now as next week is a holiday, the following week I will be in lapland and then the week after that is yet another holiday (teacher training day) so I will miss having lessons.

On my way into university I stopped off at the betting shop and bought myself a ticket to watch an ice hockey match on saturday here in Hämeenlinna, I am not sure which towns are playing but I am looking forward to the experience and I hope to watch a match where some major cities are playing. I managed to yet again get student discount on my ticket so it was very cheap, I seem to be able to get student discount on almost everything here and they never ask to see my student card, the discount is unlike back in the UK, here I manage to save about 50% on most things so i really appreciate it as it means I can do more things.

Also today I have made my final arrangements to go skiing/snowboarding for 2 days in 2 weeks time I am really looking forward to it as the slopes are not too far away so I can always return if I like it, and I am spending the night in a hotel next to the slopes so I will be able to make the most of my days there.

The beginning of March I am going to be very busy as I won't have much time to rest between activities I have planned, I am really looking forward to it as I am finally starting to make the most of my time here and get around as much as possible.

xxx

A day in Tampere

Today I went to Tampere, on my way to the bus station in Hämeenlinna it was a snow storm which was great to walk in, although it was cold it is something I have waited for, for a couple of weeks.

On my arrival to Tampere there was snow everywhere it was so good to see white surroundings again after a short period where it had started to melt.

I went to a gallery/museum where I saw a weaving exhibition which I really like and it helped to inspire me for when I have my weaving lessons in march and I also saw a shoe exhibition which wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

After I saw these exhibitions I went to a small craft centre which was a disappointment as there was not much to look at or even buy. Once I had seen that I went to a very small photography museum which I thought sounded interesting but I was disappointed yet again as there were very little photographs. 

Although the exhibitions I saw were not up to my expectations I still had a really good day and got a chance to explore most of Tampere.

I think from now on I will go back to Helsinki when I am in the mood to look around some galleries as there are lots there.

xxx

I haven't really wrote for a while as I haven't done much, I've had days where I stay in my apartment to do work so don't get out exploring.

Yesterday was yet another fun Finnish lesson but I am getting worse and worse at pronouncing words, yesterday we learnt numbers and they are just impossible to learn so that is going to be my weakest area in my exam.

Last night I went to a house party as a Spanish boy who is in my Finnish class was celebrating his birthday, I had so much fun and met so many exchange students. I got talking to a lot of people and heard a lot of interesting stories as the night went on. In the beginning of the night I got into conversation with a guy from Afghanistan who seemed really friendly at first but all of a sudden he turned sour against me and was being really rude about England and the fact I was from there, it made me think about how rude some people can be but it's best to ignore it as they won't change their views on you so you can't try change it. It was quite upsetting to hear what the guy was saying but luckily I soon started talking to a lovely Finnish girl who made me laugh all night and we bonded straight away, we have exchanged e-mail addresses and are going to meet up a few times whilst I'm here which I look forward to. Also I met a guy from South America (I think) who was extremely funny and a girl from Estonia who I hope to meet up with again before I leave.

Anyway  apart from last night I haven't been up to much, as of this weekend I am planning a few trips to Tampere and Helsinki as well as my exciting trip to Lapland. I hope to get a fair bit of traveling done whilst I'm here as there are so many places I want to visit and so many galleries to see.

xxx

temperatures dropping

After my long walk into university (1 1/2 hour walk each way) for my Finnish lesson my body and muscles are starting to hurt, although the walk is worth it to see my extremely funny Finnish teacher I don't know how many more trips it will take until my legs say "no more walking". Most days I dread the 40 minute walk into town but once the snow starts to fall again I will thoroughly enjoy a long walk in the snow as it's so exciting to see the ground covered in snow.

Yesterday my teacher played a song by a Finnish country singer, the song so funny to listen to so it has become my new favorite song to listen to to cheer me up when I get bored.

The temperature here in Hämeenlinna has started to drop today as it is going to start snowing again soon. I was walking over the bridge over the lake and had a -4 strong wind in my face and I'm pretty sure I felt my nose and ears start to freeze over but I'm sure I will soon get used to it as it will be worth it to see pure white snow surrounding me again soon.

Today has been a strange day as I have struggled not being able to be there for the people I care about and say good bye to an old friend, times like these make me realize how lucky I am to be able to have this experience.  I am starting to make the most of my once in a life time chance here and I'm starting to plan a lot of traveling. I have started to organize my trip to Lapland next month as I am very excited about this trip and I know I will never get a chance to do it again. Experiencing a place where temperatures can drop to -30 will be a shock to the body but it will be well worth it.

xxx