Sign In
Stephanie VonAncken
Hey All! Im Stephanie! I am sixteen years old and i'm on Rotary foreign exchange in Naantali, Finland! I arrived at the beginning of August 2007, and I am loving every minute! My finnish friends are the most wonderful people. They hang out with me at school, and help me practice my finnish! I have gotten SO attached to my host familes, they have been fabulous and I can honestly say I love them! They have done so much for me, and kept me my happy self! Oh! and of course I cant wait until they come visit me in New Mexico! I attend Lukio (high school) in Naantali, and take the usual classes, ie. bio, english, math, art, and now we have the vanhatanssia (the old dances) every Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4! It is a blast learning all the old dances! Every Monday evening I attend a finnish course for foreigners in Raisio, and Tuesday nights I play in the Raisio orchestra! I get homesick on occation, but I am pretty good at distracting myself, I get over it really quickly! I know that my family and friends will be there when I get home, so I try not to spend too much time thinking about them, I only have one year in Finland, and I want to make the BEST of it!!!goodmorningfinland
Travel Blog Posts
Santa Fe Opera night!
Published: August 19th 2008North America » United States » New Mexico » Santa Fe
August 10th 2008
Tonight mom, sean, emi, ama, and our friends Michelle and Rod came up to Santa Fe with us to tailgate and go see the Santa Fe Opera!!! LOVED IT!!!!... read more
UP TO THE TOP OF THE SANDIAS!!!
Published: August 19th 2008North America » United States » New Mexico » Albuquerque
August 9th 2008
So today the family got together with Unlce mo as our guy in charge, and we rode up to the top of the Sandia Mountians up the TRAM!!! it was great. at the top was the first time since ive been home that it was cool enough to wear a sweatshirt. I LOVED IT!!! its WAY TO HOT HERE!!! IKAVA NAANTALIIIIIN!!!!! :(... read more
GO Albuquerque ISOTOPES!!! (BASEBALL GAME!!!)
Published: August 15th 2008North America » United States » New Mexico » Albuquerque
August 9th 2008
This evening we (meaning Sean, Emi, Richie, Lauren, Dad, Uncle Mo, Mo's friend Shelly, Emil, and Pop-pop) went to an Isotopes baseball game!!! It was pouring rain when we arrived and we had a rain delay for a while so the game didnt start until REALLY late! But during the delay we got to watch the Olympics opening ceremony on the big screen TVs around! We ate hotdogs, and cotten candy, and Dip-n-dots...it was great!... read more
August 7th 2008
So today I decided it was time to serve the smoked fish....I even ATTEMPTED to make roses out of the pieces like Tom Iska did for Juhannus...I can honestly say....im NO professional...but it did look like a flower!!! :)... read more
BACK TO NEW MEXICO! USA!
Published: August 14th 2008North America » United States » New Mexico » Corrales
July 31st 2008
So here I am back in hot, dry, brown NEW MEXICO! Im whiter then my entire family...who have been beautifully tanned in Mexico this summer, and I am quieter...what? quieter? ha. ha. NOT! So Tom iska and Hanna aiti palenius picked me up from the Ahti house this morning and drove me to helsinki. We ate my last ruisleipa sandwhich, and pulla and TRIPPI in the airport, and stuffed eight bars of Fazer sininen into my already overstuffed suitcase! After escaping and tricking the "russian" woman working at check-in, and getting through security with my rotary blazer FULL of those crazy pins, I took my last picture with my cell phone of a real stuffed reindeer in stockmanns. I rolled my carry-on over to the one empty seat near my gate and sat down next to ... read more
Merimasku Day! Last day of school!
Published: June 26th 2008Europe » Finland » Southwest Finland » Naantali
May 29th 2008
Today all the second graders met at school at 9.00 am and carpooled over to one of the beaches on Merimasku island! I went with Aikka, Maiju, Jori Anssi, and Henkka, and we got a little lost getting there, but it fabulous! We were on the dock the entire day eating snacks and hanging out! some kids even went swimming! i got a sunburn! :( first...and hopefully last of this summer! It was great being with everyone together one last time though!... read more
Omena Saari! Rotary Meeting on the Island!
Published: July 7th 2008Europe » Finland » Southwest Finland » Naantali
May 28th 2008
At 4.30 today Joonas and I walked down to the harbor and met up with at least 30 of my rotary men boarding two big yachts! We got on the smaller blue one with Jappa driving, and boated (or would you say sailed..even if we didnt have a sail?) out to Omena Saari (literally "apple island"), for my rotary meeting! We had makkara (sausage) and all the rotary guys drank a lot of beer, and we went to sauna and Joonas and i played darts and explored the island and the beach! It was an absolutly perfect day and night, even on the boat trip home i couldnt stop watching the sunset! ... read more
May 26th 2008
After a LONG day of shopping for summer clothes in Turku with Doro (germany) I rode my bike town to lonasluoto where Joonas was in charge of teaching some sea scouts how to sail in those little one man boats! I was taught also and raced the little scouts around the bay!... read more
Lily. Visiting Markus' work! :)
Published: June 26th 2008Europe » Finland » Southwest Finland » Naantali
May 25th 2008
Today Joonas came over around 12 and we went picnic shopping together, then he went home to grab some supplies, and I ate a special fish lunch with the family. At 1 Joonas drove Anette and I to Turku where we met Markus at the Lily on the river where he works, and sailed out to Vepsä island for the day! ... read more
American Boys in Naantali!!! New England Colonials!
Published: May 8th 2008Europe » Finland » Southwest Finland » Naantali
May 19th 2008
Today I went into school at 11 then at 11:30 met up with ten American 14-17 year old guys! Basketball players from New England! With two volenteer coaches, and Scott, the man in charge. I introduced myself then guided them to lunch. We all ate together until the other students started arriving, then they all split up and we put one at each table! They gave some presentations in a couple of our english classes, then we headed back to the trailer where they left their bags and the adults, and the guys came with me down to the harbor! We hung out there for a while buying some snacks at Merisali, and walking around Muumiworld, getting tans...or hoping to, and just chilling in the sun. Then everyone met back at kaivohuone at 4 so the ... read more
Tot: 0.142s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 11; qc: 79; dbt: 0.0641s; 1; s:apollo w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 6.5mb
© 2013 TravelBlog.org & Bloggers