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Published: October 20th 2007
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Me!
Me on the beach Saturday night. It was very cold! By the way, most of these next pictures are from Saturday night on the beach. So, if any of you remember me mentioning this in my other blogs, on the Saturday and Sunday after I returned from my school trip I was supposed to go to an Inbound camp in Oulu, Finland. So, here's some stuff about that weekend.
So, on Saturday morning, after my 1 hour of sleep, I woke up at 5:00 AM. I ate a big breakfast and packed some snacks for the train. I didn't want to have to buy food at the train stations, but I wouldn't get to Hailuoto, the island near Oulu where the Inbound camp was, until like 3:30, and obviously I would have to eat again before then. So, I made myself some sandwiches and my hostmom had bought me a chocolate bar for a snack. How nice! Then, a little before 6:00, my host mom drove me to the train station and I got on my first train of the day, which left Vaasa at 6:22 AM. My first train was going to Seinäjoki, only about an hour from Vaasa, where I would then switch to a train going to Oulu. I tried to sleep but at the same time I was worried that if
Alfredo
This is Alfredo from Mexico. He can't speak any English, but he seems very nice. I fell asleep I would miss Seinäjoki and then I would have some big problems. So, I basically drifted in and out of sleep for an hour. I got to Seinäjoki at about 7:30. My train to Oulu wasn't coming until about 9:30 so I had two hours to kill. I was soooooo tired and I knew that if I didn't eat or drink something I was going to fall asleep. So, I went to the cafe in the train station and bought a hot chocolate. I drank that very slowly, trying to take my time and keep myself occupied. After that I wandered around the train station until my next train came. On my way out of the train station I noticed a little patch of snow on the ground. I had heard it had snowed in Vaasa on Friday and I guess it snowed in Seinäjoki too. Then I had about a 3 hour ride to Oulu. I tried to sleep this time, but I think the caffeine from the hot chocolate had woken me up. So, I basically just laid down with my eyes closed for a few hours. I also ate a little bit since I
was pretty hungry. I finally got to Oulu where I had to meet this guy named Visa-Matti. He was the guy who organized the camp. I guess he was a Rotarian although he looked awfully young to be one. All the Rotarians I have met here are like 50 or 60 and he could not have been more than 30. Anyway, I guess he was just there to make sure I got to Oulu all right and then to make sure I caught the bus to Hailuoto on time. However, I had like an hour and a half until my bus to Hailuoto left so he bought me some lunch. I was starving! Then I got on the bus. It was another hour and a half to Hailuoto. Again I didn't really sleep because I was afraid I would miss my stop if I did. When I finally got off the bus some more Rotary people picked me up and took me to the beach where everyone was staying.
When we got to the place where the camp was, I first went to my cabin. I was staying with Erica, from New York, Merika, from Australia, and Isaure (sp?)
Me and Bryan
He always makes the strangest faces in pictures. from France. After talking to the others for a bit I found out that I hadn't really missed much by coming late. They said that the night before they all saw the Northern Lights, which I really would have liked to see, but other than that they hadn't really done anything exciting. After a bit we all went down to the beach to play some "fun" games. We actually did do some fun stuff, but it was FREEZING and we were down there for like 3 hours. We played this one game that was really fun where we all had to stand in a circle and hold hands. Then, the first person starts by touching the person next to them's foot with their foot. Then that person has to move their foot which has just been touched to touch the foot of the person next to them. It sounds really dumb, but after it goes around the circle once or twice people end up in very strange and painful positions and it's very funny. I think a couple people were even doing the splits.We played another game that was sort of like duck, duck, goose, but instead of one person
having to tag the other both people run around the circle in opposite directions and try to get back to the seat first. Anyway, after a while of playing games it really was freezing cold and my feet started to go numb. I really could not feel my feet. Finally they let us go back to our cabins before dinner. When we got inside I took off my shoes and my feet were like paper white. They were so cold. And it wasn't just the cold, all the sand in my shoes had been like rubbing the bottom of my feet, so my feet were like raw and cold. It really sucked. So, to combat the situation I put on my super warm socks that I had luckily brought along. Now these had to have been the dorkiest socks I had ever seen, I kind of think my host mom or host grandma had made them. However, I put them on and they were soooooooo warm. I know I'm kind of sounding like Dad here, but I think I really need some wool socks. Anyway, eventually the numbness went away and I was all happy again. Then we ate dinner
Uhhh....
These are the kinds of pictures you get when it's dark and you can't really see what you are taking a picture of. I have no clue what is going on in this photo. and after dinner we played more games. It was really boring. Then at about 9:00 they let us go do whatever we wanted. I was in my cabin with the other girls when we heard that there were some people going down to the beach. So, Erica and I decided to go down to the beach and check it out. On our way to the beach I looked up at the sky and I couldn't believe how many stars I could see. I have never seen so many in my life. It was really amazing! When we got to the beach we found that it was pitch black and freezing cold and there wasn't much to do there. However, there wasn't much to do in our cabin either. So we stayed down there, most everyone else was there too. We were really bored so we started taking pictures of each other in the dark. It's really funny because when it's pitch black and you take a picture of someone the flash totally blinds them and you get some funny pictures. After awhile we all went back to the cabins and I eventually went to bed around 1:00 AM. I was
Jacky
At least I think that's his name. He's from Taiwan. actually quite shocked that I had stayed up so late.
On Sunday morning I woke up at around 7:30. I was soooooo tired. Then I went with the rest of my cabin to breakfast. After breakfast we basically just all went to pack up our stuff and then hung out until our bus left at 1:00. Then I took the train back at about 3:45. There were 7 other people on the train to Seinäjoki with me: Rachel (USA), Christine, Erica, Mallory (AUS), Paulina (MEX), Dannin (PHI), and Julian (GER). We didn't have seats next to each other so we all went and sat in the dining car. We got to Seinäjoki and then Christine and I took the train together to Vaasa. We finally got to Vaasa and I went home and ate, I was sooooo hungry, and then collapsed into bed, I was soooooooo tired.
So, that's the story of the camp in Oulu. It was alot of fun, but I was incredibly exhausted. I asked Merika, the girl from Australia, if they did these things often, but she said they didn't. It's really too bad because it's alot of fun and they do them all
On the Train
Apparently Julian's very happy about something. the time in America. I think they should do them here too.
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Mallory
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MALLORY!
oh no I bet that made you so sad when you met Mallory. I'm positive it did. I just got off the phone with you for 35 seconds. I'm glad I got to hear your voice. I miss you!! It sounds like you are having a wonderful time. And ya, you did sound like Dad about the wool socks :-) You look so pretty in your pictures!