Sad News :(

Hello Everyone,

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Things have been very busy and weird for me as of late, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm coming back home to America soon. I don't really want to get into the details, but AFS has decided to send me back for personal reasons.

It's a little difficult to think of what to type, but I'd like to say thank you to everyone who supported me through all this, from getting ready to actually being here! A lot of it has actually been pretty difficult for me, but I definitely had fun and I'm glad that I got to have this experience, even if it was cut short.

I'm not sure if this'll be the last blog post, but either way thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed seeing what I was up to and looking at the pictures (which if you missed are both here and here)!

Moi moi!

Today Stuff

Sorry I haven't been posting recently! Things have been very hectic for me lately, and I haven't had much time or energy to write blog posts. I'll get into all that stuff at a later date, though, it's kinda complex and I want to wait until everything's settled down to explain it all.

Today was an interesting day, though! I got locked in one of the piano rooms at school and then skipped the last half of the school day to get my hair cut.

In music class, there was a guy there doing a presentation (I think he's in a marching band?), but since it was in Finnish, my teacher said that I didn't have to stay and could go into one of the other rooms and play piano for a while if I wanted. Obviously, I said yes, because I hadn't played almost at all in the past two months, and I'd been wanting to practice more anyways.
It was really fun and I played for about an hour and a half! I wasn't able to print out any of the new sheet music I wanted, but that was fine since I still have some of my older sheet music with me. Once I was done, though, I got up to leave and the door was locked! Even though it locks from the inside, it was jammed, and I couldn't open it, which frustrating for both obvious reasons and also because it was the class before lunch and it's always annoying when you miss part of lunch.
In the end I just ended up fiddling with the lock and knocking loudly on the door until one of the janitors let me out. It was a little annoying, but also kinda funny, so I didn't really mind.
And then after lunch my host mom picked me up and took me to go get my hair cut! I actually mentioned wanting to get it cut on Tuesday, I think, and I was planning to do it after school one day, but she scheduled one for me after lunch and so I ended up missing my last two classes! I think they were supposed to be geography and art, but that was fine by me. We're currently drawing the same vegetable over and over in art class with different art supplies, so it's not very exciting. Or entertaining. It's very boring, actually.
My hair turned out alright, though. I wanted to try a new style and it didn't really turn out quite like I wanted, but it still looks pretty good on me. I'm still a little displeased and weirded out whenever I walk past a mirror, but I think it's mostly because it's different than what I'm used to. Either way, it'll grow out, so it's fine. No pictures for now, though, sorry!

So yeah, that was the interesting stuff for today! Hopefully things will settle out soon and I can post again, but until then!

Moikka!

1 Month Already!

Wow!
It feels like it went by so quickly!

The past couple of days have been really fun and interesting, so I'll talk about those!

Yesterday was the start of end-of-term exams, so after I took one of the English ones, I could go home. But I didn't! I ended up going into Pori on a shopping trip! (with permission, of course). The bus dropped me a little ways from the mall I was going to, but while I was walking there I found an electronics store with Sonic the Hedgehog outside of it! I also had to cross the bridge that spans the Kokemäenjoki (River)!

It was a grey day yesterday.

Primarily, I was looking for a new backpack and earbuds (my previous ones wanted to keep riding the bus after I got off), but I was also sort of looking for a new jacket. Unfortunately, I didn't find any good earbuds and the backpack I was thinking about was almost 80 euros, but I did find a nice new jacket! It even has zipper pockets so my phone won't fall out! Also, I got more school supplies. Because you can never have enough notebooks and folders.

And then there was today! There was a sort of gathering at the new sports center for the club Isä's a part of, and my host sister and I went to help out! We kind of wandered around for a bit because no one needed any help at first, but we ended up selling a bunch of raffle tickets! I couldn't buy any because I left my wallet at home, but she ended up winning three things, so that was cool! There was also a lot of food there, I had a waffle, pulla, a little cinnamon roll, and a small slice of a cake with some kind of berries. Not all at once, though.

So far I think tomorrow's going to be fairly quiet, I'm thinking of drawing some and writing and mailing a couple more postcards. My school schedule is going to change after this week, though, so that'll be kinda weird!

Oh, but I'm thinking of maybe answering the same few questions at the end of each month, just to kinda see what I'm thinking at the moment. So here we go!


What's been your favorite experience so far?: It's kinda dumb, but one night after church youth group, I finally got a chance to look up at the stars, and there's so many! I think it's both because there's less light pollution and the air is cleaner, but you can see a lot more than you can in Washington D.C. It's so pretty!!
What's challenging at the moment?: I'm a little homesick, but other than that it's making friends. I'm an introvert, so it's a little difficult for me to be outgoing, but I really do wanna talk to a lot of people at school, so I'll try my best, even if it's a little awkward in the beginning!
What's a new sentence you've learned in Finnish?: Minä puhun Englantia ja vähän Suomea! Also, mun lempiväri on sininen.

AFS Arrival Orientation

Oops, I got a bit caught up in other things and didn't get to write until now. Sorry!

Anyways, the Arrival Orientation was last week, and it was lots of fun! Everyone that went was in the Turku region for AFS Finland, so it wasn't all the kids staying here, but there were still a good 22-23 of us. I left Friday afternoon to get to Turku, and we stayed in a nice sized cabin until Sunday!

From Pomarkku, the bus ride to Turku is about 2 or 3 hours? I'm wasn't really keeping track, but it took a while. Once I got there, I hung out at the little bus station store with a girl from Turkey and a guy from Italy until one of the volunteers showed up and we went outside to wait for the rest. People arrived pretty quickly after that, and we then got on the bus to Rymättylä, which is where the campsite was.
We had a nice hike up to the cabin, it was a pretty good distance from the parking lot, so everyone was glad once we were finally there. We didn't have the keys, though, so we played a couple group games until the volunteer that had the keys got there to unlock it for us. Everyone put their things in their rooms, and after that we went back out to have dinner and do more icebreaker type games.
Finally, around 9 or 10, we had free time and were just able to hang out, it was really fun! There was a piano-sized keyboard (meaning it had all the keys a regular piano has) and me and a few others messed around on it, and a few groups split off to just hang out in our rooms and talk about stuff.

I think we were talking about politics here?

Mostly we talked about differences between our countries, like food, weather, holidays, politics, and a bunch of other smaller stuff. I also had my first Kinder egg! The chocolate part was really sweet, and I'm kind of glad it's only a thin shell, but my toy ended up being a minion. Eventually, conversation died down and a volunteer came by and told us to go to bed, so we ended up going to sleep around 1 in the morning.

The next day, we woke up and had a little time to hang out before we had to hike back down to the parking lot where the main building was for breakfast, since most of it was a cafeteria. There was a pretty good spread of food out, and I ended up with porridge. Once everyone had eaten, we hiked back up and went over to the dock by the cabin, just to look around a bit.

The Baltic Sea!

We played a few more group game kind of things before the volunteers let us have outside free time, and we wandered around the woods for a bit before we found a nice little place by the water where we sat for a while. Most of us just sat and enjoyed the view of the sea, some skipped stones, and then this also happened.

After we'd had lunch, we had the actual sort of orientation stuff, going over rules, what to do in certain scenarios, who to contact if you have problems, etc. To be honest, it was kind of boring, but I understand why we had to go over everything. All the different orientation stuff took about 2 or 3 hours, so by the time we were finished, it was time for supper!

Finally, after dinner we had a bit more orientation, and then we got to go to the sauna! It was a separate building a little ways away from the cabin, but it was really close to the shore, so a lot of us also ran to go swimming after getting out of the sauna. I didn't because the water was really cold, but I did stand in it for a bit!

Since the girls went first, we had to get out after a while so the guys could have a turn, and in the meantime we started the fire going in the outside fireplace. Someone had also brought one of the portable speakers, so people were taking turns playing music while we waited for the guys to get back.

Fire!

Once all the guys finally did get back, though, it was getting dark, and most of us danced to the music and a volunteer brought out sausages, corn on the cob, and marshmallows for us to roast. There was also limbo and the kind of reverse version where you have to jump over the string/pole and it gets higher each time. It was lots of fun, but my feet were sore by the end since I was only wearing socks and the patio was made of stone.

I can't really remember what time we all got to bed on Saturday, but it was probably earlier than the previous night, so that was nice.

Finally, there was Sunday! We had breakfast (porridge again), and a little more free time and orientation, then lunch, and then we started packing up! We also had to clean the whole cabin, so we also took out the trash, vacuumed, and put everything back where it was supposed to be. Once the park guy came by to inspect the place and make sure we'd done everything, we hiked back down to the parking lot to wait for the bus.

And then we were on our way home! Once we were back in Turku we all exchanged long goodbyes and promises of talking later on facebook and such, and then the few of us who were going to Pori broke off to wait at the bus station. Our bus wasn't scheduled to come for a half hour, so we stopped at Hesburger for some food, and then got to the bus right on time!

Most of our small group got off the bus before we got to Pori, so I was the only one actually getting off there, but I didn't mind. And finally, I made it back and Äiti met me at the Pori bus station and drove me back home!

So yeah, that was the Orientation! Yay!

Two Weeks - Lukio!

Now that I've spent a couple weeks here, I'll talk about school! It's already a lot better than American school, so that's something. Each day's schedule is different, and you only have three or four classes in a day. Most of the time, school starts at 8:30 am for me, but on Wednesdays it starts at 10. And school days also end at different times for each student! Usually, school ends around 2 pm for me, but there's one day where it ends at 3:30 and another where I can go home at 1! It's really cool, and makes things less repetitive, which is nice.

I'm really happy with my classes, too! I have psychology (mon), all three grades of english throughout the week, art (mon, wed, thurs, fri), finnish history (tues, wed, thurs), sports (tue), geography (tue, thurs), and music (fri)! Most days it's a nice little group of classes, but Monday has two different english classes one after the other and Wednesday has the same art class for two blocks straight.

Oh, but there are also little differences that I think make it better than American school! The very first thing I noticed was that like in homes, you take off your shoes once you're inside, so you go through the school day in socks! It's really nice and surprisingly way more comfortable! It's also a fairly small school, so I think I've met all of the students already, though I don't really know too many people's names. Lunches are free, too! And a lot better than American school lunches, it's kind of like a buffet!

I didn't take a lot on my first day out of caution, but it was really good!

I also have Finnish lessons on Mondays and Thursdays, but they're in Pori and they start at 3 pm, so I have to miss art on Mondays and history on Thursdays to make it on time. My Finnish class only has 4 other girls, though! We're all exchange students, but only three of us are AFSers. One of them was at the orientation over the weekend, too, but all that'll be in the next post.

Notes from Finnish class! Also I got a cute pencil sharpener at Tiger.

Today started my third week of school! Lunch was mashed potatoes, salad, and sausages. My favorites are on Thursdays, though, sometime's there's pannukakku! It's different from American pancakes, but it's still really good!

I'll probably do my next blog post tomorrow, since a lot has happened, and it's gonna be about the AFS arrival orientation! Woo!

Moikka!

First Days!!

Yay! There's a lot that's gone on since the 19th, so I'll start from there.

I actually went up to New York on the 18th with my mum and dad since we didn't want time to be an issue, and we stayed with some family for the night. Then, the next day we went to the AFS orientation site, and mum and dad dropped me off (we had to say goodbye before I could join everyone), and I had to wait a bit in the lobby with a couple other AFS kids since I got there early.

Guess what series I'm finally reading!

Orientation lasted until 4 pm until noon the next day. Most of it was going over stuff, and a few things were new, but it was overall fun. I got to talk to the other kids going to Finland (there were seven of us, including me), and some who weren't, and that was nice too.

On the 20th, we were the second group to leave (you left at different times depending on what country you were going to), and all the regular airport business went fairly smoothly. The AFS chaperon couldn't come with us past security, so we had to find the gate and do everything else by ourselves, which was kind of weird for me since I've never done major travel without an adult-person there. We did manage, though! We got food and found the gate in plenty of time!

Here's the post on my photography blog, if you'd like!

Boarding went smoothly, and we all sat together (except for the two of us who were only doing semester stays). The plane was one of those big ones with a middle isle, which is where we sat, so sadly I have no cool window pictures. We did have the little screens on the back of the seats, though, and there was one little app thing that let you see outside of the plane! (one was from the front and the other was beneath).

The flight was pretty long (7 hours?) and we ended up taking off late since we were either 11th or 12th in line for the runway. I didn't get very much sleep, I mostly dozed on and off, but thankfully the flight was fairly uneventful.

It was very strange getting off, since it was around 9 in the morning when it was 2 am at home, but once we got through customs, we met our host families! Only my host sister, Belinda, was there at the airport, and we took several buses to Pori where my host mother picked us up, and we drove home where I met my host father! It was very exciting, and so far we all get along, so I'm very happy!

They then gave me a tour of the house and everything around, which was cool. After that, though I was pretty tired, so I slept for a while and woke up just in time for dinner, which was really good! (sort-of meatballs, mashed potatoes, and caramelized onions!)

The next day (yesterday), was my actual first whole day in Finland! I woke up pretty late and had fresh blueberries for breakfast, and then relaxed for a little bit, and then we went shopping! I found some of the next Harry Potter books at a thrift store for 2 euros each, but they're still the english versions, not the Finnish. 

This was the first picture I took with my new phone, haha.

Next we went to the electronics store nearby, and I looked at phones since my old one wouldn't work here. Unfortunately, the kind I was looking for was out of stock, so we ended up going to a mall that used to be a factory! I was actually really tired by the time I'd gotten my new phone and everything, so we stopped at the donut shop across from the phone store.

We looked around a little more after that since the donut gave me more energy, but we then went back home, where there was more relaxing and I had a little nap.

In the evening, though, I got to go to the sauna in the summer cottage that's out at the end of the backyard! It was reeaally nice, but I wasn't able to stay in it for long because it got too hot for me. Then Äiti (Finnish for mom) had a couple turns and then we watched TV in the cottage with Isä (dad) for a while before we all went to bed.

And now it's today! I actually was able to get up at my normal time today, and I read for a while before I had breakfast. That's pretty much it for now, though, I just had lunch, and I think some people are coming over later today, but yeah! I haven't done much photography or drawing yet, but that's alright. Oh, and school starts tomorrow! (for me, at least. apparently it actually started last week).

Aaaaa!!!

19 Days To Go!

I'm actually getting a little nervous now, but I've been gathering everything up and getting all the last little things done! I even have a list of all the different things I need to pack, but I'm also kind of torn between packing only what I need and as much as they'll let me take, haha. My Granny lent me a suitcase that's actually kind of big, so I think I won't have too much trouble fitting everything in.

My departure date is on the 20th, but I'm going up to New York on the 18th to visit with some family. From what I've heard, the flight will probably be close to 9 hours, and apparently I'll be getting there at around 9 am, but I'm not entirely sure since that would mean take off would be at midnight. The whole flying thing is mostly what's making me nervous, as I've never really done it in a big group without family before. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly!

In other news, if you're following my photography blog, you'll see that I got my residency permit early-mid-June! It's a little ID-like card, but it came in two envelopes! There was the big one that we filled out beforehand so they could mail it back to us, and inside that was a Moomins envelope, it was really cute!

Also pictured is some of my gemstone collection.

Oh, and I've been writing back and forth with my host family a lot, too! I'm going to be living in Pomarkku, which is about three hours north-west of Helsinki. It's a fairly rural area, which I think I'll like because it's quieter and there's more space. (Also I really like nature photography, so I'll get to do plenty of that). Aside from my host parents, I also have a host sister who's a year older than me and a host brother, but he lives in Thailand with his wife. I'm fairly optimistic that I'll get along with everyone, but especially my host sister since we both like the same kinds of things.

But yeah, 19 days! Wow!

Photography Blog!

So I've finally set up my separate blog that I'll be posting most of my pictures on, and that can be found here!

Of course, it doesn't have anything on it at the moment, but it'll pick up at the beginning of next month. So until then, there's not much to look at, but feel free to look around!


Oh, and another very important thing; yesterday I'm learned who my host family is going to be! But, that's all I'm going to say for now. I've sent them an e-mail and am waiting to hear back from them, so I'm saving that blog post for when they've replied, which will hopefully be soon!

That's it for now!
Moi moi!

A Collection of Recent Stuff

A whole lot has happened since I last posted, and since I haven't talked about anything yet, I figured I'd shove it all into one long post! (especially now that I've finished my 10 page report for school and have time).

So! First of all, we got the check from Ledo's, so now we know how much was raised at the fundraiser. We were going to go back for it as soon as they knew how much it was, but we kind of forgot about it and ended up going about a week later as part of dinner.

Thankfully, they brought the check to us as soon as we sat down, and it came in a plain little envelope (which I didn't get any pictures of, oh well). Now, originally, the manager had said usual fundraisers made around $100 to $150, which was actually a pretty good amount compared to the few little bits of selling baked goods I'd done at school. But, I opened the envelope, and the check was made out for $240! Woo!

We haven't done any other fundraiser-type things since then, but I'm hoping to be able to get a summer job at one of my local used bookstores. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how easy it'll be since I'm also taking my next English class this summer, too.

Anyways, the next thing is that I applied for my residency permit! I ended up having to take a day off of school, since I had to visit the Finnish Embassy in DC. My mum and I took the metro to the station we had to get off at, and we were going to catch the bus the rest of the way there, but the only one going that route switched to being "Not in Service," so we ended up taking a taxi. Which was weird, especially since I'd never been in one before.

The embassy itself was pretty nice, though! It was easy to tell it apart from the other buildings next to it, and it also had a bunch of ivy growing up it, so that was cool, too.

Look, you can see the ivy!

We had to be let in, since the door had a lock-thing, but once we got through that, we didn't actually go anywhere past the little lobby-area place. It was kinda cool that we could do everything there, even the fingerprint stuff. The whole trip took a lot less time than we'd thought, which was really nice, and we just went back home afterwards. I also got a few little books on Finland while I was there too, so I ended up reading through some of those on the way back.

The last major recent thing that went on was that yesterday I went to one of the Pre-Departure Orientations! A lot of it was going over stuff that I already knew, but it's good to have it repeated so I don't forget. There was stuff about how communication works with your family and friends back home and how often it should be, and then also how much you should pack (since apparently everyone always overpacks), and what to do in certain situations.

There were a few little group activities, but I didn't really talk to anyone a whole lot past the "So, where are you going?" stuff. It was still fun, though, and I was the only person there going to Finland, and even just a Nordic country in general!

Anyways, a few of the smaller things that have been going on are just regular life stuff, I guess. This next week at school is gonna be finals, so I have a bunch of tests and stuff. I've been putting off my Finnish lessons for a while since school's been pretty busy, but I'm definitely gonna start those back up again once school's over! Oh, and like I said earlier, I'll be taking the first half of the english class I'd be taking next year, since I don't think it's offered in Finland.

I'll be setting up a smaller blog soon that'll be mostly for photos soon, but I'll still post some here. It'll just be where all of my photos will be. That said, it won't update for a couple months, since I'll only be preparing and packing and such.

Oh, and I still haven't found out who my host family's gonna be yet, but that's alright. Hopefully, I'll find out soon enough!

So yeah, that's it for this time! Moi moi!

Fundraising!

So, a couple of days ago I hosted a fundraiser at Ledo's Pizza! It was pretty nice, there wasn't anything too flashy, but we printed out a bunch of fliers and they stuck them on pizza boxes, and I handed some out at school, too.

That's my dad on the right, and if you look closely, you can see the flier on the door!

We got there at about 5pm so we'd be able to greet anyone we knew who was coming for dinner, I have my backpack in the picture because alas, homework stops for almost nothing. Also because I wanted to bring my sketchbook and other art projects to work on in the meantime.

My Dad's current boss was already there with his family, so we sat near them and talked while waiting for food (Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with them).

A little later, one of my Dad's previous bosses got there and joined us at the table behind ours.

Posing for pictures is an art that I have not yet perfected.

After we'd been eating for a while (I ended up with the chicken tenders because hey, they're good), a couple of my Dad's old coworkers, one of my Mum's current ones, and also my Mum's aunt and her daughter showed up! We ended up sort of taking over that little section of the restaurant, and it was kind of fun sitting at all the different tables and talking with everyone.

Me with my mum's coworker, Suzanne.

And then me with my great aunt and her daughter!

Since we got there pretty early, we mostly chatted with everyone else once we were done eating, even though I had to take little breaks to work on homework and such. No one else I recognized showed up, which was fine (a lot of my friends told me they'd ordered at school the next day), and towards the end I got everyone's addresses so I'll be able to send them postcards and other cool things from Finland!

Things wound down at about 7:30, so once everyone else had gone, we headed back home. The manager said we'd find out how much we'd get on Monday, which is today, so hopefully it'll be in the mail!

So anyways, yeah! The fundraiser was a lot of fun, and to both Ledo's and everyone who came, paljon kiitoksia!

An Introduction

Hello! My name is Micaela McDaniel (I go by Dannie), and in about four months, I'll be leaving D.C to study abroad for a year in Finland. My application was accepted at the beginning of this month (April 2015), and I'm really excited to go!! I've always loved traveling, but I've never been outside the country before, so this experience will be extra special!

Saying I'm excited to live somewhere new and different is definitely true, but doesn't capture all of why I'm excited. I've been curious about other cultures since as long as I can remember, and I especially wanted to become a part of one. I hadn't really known much about Finland until I first starting seeing pictures on tumblr, and they were absolutely beautiful, so I started reading up a bit more on it. At that point, though, I hadn't realized that studying abroad was a thing I could do, so I kind of tucked it away under "Really cool places I'd like to go sometime." But then, some time later when one of my friends was talking about their own experiences studying abroad, I realized that it was a thing I could do, and after finding AFS and looking at all the places I could go, I remembered Finland!
I've already gotten the question of "Why Finland?" multiple times, and aside from it being a really beautiful place, it sounds like it would match my temperament and preferred climate pretty well. (I love the cold, or, at least when I'm prepared for it.) Of course, I've only read about what it's like in Finland, so it'll be interesting to actually see what it's like. My family's also really big on hiking, so I'd love to get to walk some of the forest trails! And also, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go to Muumimaailma, so there's that, too.

By the time I get back, I hope to have learned and become a part of a different culture, gotten a fairly decent grasp of the Finnish language, and also have become a part of a new family and gained new friends. And since it was one of my friends that inspired me to look into studying abroad, I'd also love to inspire and teach other people to do so as well!
And of course, I'd share my own version of American culture with my host family and friends, and I'd especially love to cook for them, since me and my mum enjoy cooking together for ourselves, as well as for others. It would also be fun to help people practice their English, if they're interested, of course.

However, studying abroad is also very expensive, and the tuition for studying in Finland is $15,200, and that's a lot! Thankfully, plane fare is included, but things like a residence permit and living expenses aren't, so there's quite a lot of money that I have to gather. I have started gathering, though! I've been selling some of my baked goods at school recently, and last summer I saved everything I earned from a job working for a family friend. Since that job ended at the end of the summer, I've recently been looking for another one at a local plant nursery or used bookstore. So far, I've gained a decent amount, and of course my family is willing to pitch in, but we still have a good ways to go before we reach the goal.
If you'd like to pitch in, AFS has a sponsor program, called Sponsor an AFSer! As quoted, "This is an online fundraising tool provided by AFS to allow potential sponsors to make easy, secure, and non tax-deductible to my AFS program fee."

So yeah, thank you so much for reading, and if you'd like to sponsor my AFS program, remember to click the Donate Now button to make the non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account!

Moi moi!