http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Finland en-us Thu, 15 May 2008 13:41:16 BST Thu, 15 May 2008 13:41:16 BST 2 aamua reissuun Ei tss meinaa jrki pysy pss. Ylihuomenna siis alkaa virallisesti kesloma ja suuntaamme kohti Thaimaata. Melkein vuosi on vierhtnyt viime reissusta mutta tuntuu kuin oltais oltu paratiisissa palmujen katveessa eilen. Harmittaa jo valmiiksi ett vhn yli kolmen viikon pst ollaan taas kotona Lomahan alkaa mun omassa pieness pkopassani siit kun pstn le http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-276271.html I've finally gotten around to writing this entry. Now that I'm sick and all I have plenty of time. So on Tuesday April 8 I made the 5 hour train journey to Helsinki. I got there and met Mom at the train station. It took me awhile to find her being by the big brown doors is not very descriptive when there are about 12 sets of big brown doors. She was very happy to see me and of course I was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Vaasa/blog-275852.html Today I went into school at 11 then at 1130 met up with ten American 1417 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-273925.html Today I woke up early and made french toast for breakfast for everyone here are some pics...of me..looking like a total disaster cooking. in finland http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-273921.html Last weekend I changed host families Now I live with the Fagerlund family Tom Hanna yes tom and hanna are my host parents names AGAIN Nea my 14 year old sister and Anette my 18 year old sister Today we went to the Caribia spa in Turku to watch a Salibandi game It was great even though Naantali lost a couple of my friends from school played on the team too http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-273917.html As departure is only 10 days away it's about a time to start making exact plans for the trip and also find a new hopefully convenient and quick way to blog Interesting detail again is that most of the trip is completely unplanned...I expect some sort of panic message to appear here by 15 May http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/blog-273871.html Tomorrow I switch families so tonight we went out for dinner then had a jolly good time playing with my moving away gifts..which inclueded a classic...black rubber rat...some awesome lady bug hair ties...which i use almost every day a couple beautiful scrap book pages and a finnish cook book We went out to dinner at the Kylpyla Pizza restaurant in the spa hotel It was a TON OF FUN Defini http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-273867.html Today Ama Hanna aiti and I went on a Viking Line picnic cruise to Aland island aka half way to stockholm. We boarded the nine story ship same one from my trip to Stockhold for the vanhojen ristely in the Turku harbor at 8 am. We put our jackets up then found a nice place to sit on the sixth floor. We talked and bought steph a kiddie cup with a light stick inside my very own plastic cup http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Ahvenanmaa/Maarianhamina/blog-273589.html From Tallinn I took the ferry across the straight to get to Helsinki. The two cities lie only 80km apart and the crossing takes just under two hours. After boarding the ferry I took a nap and when I woke up about 1 12h later we were well still in Tallinn. Great I discovered that we had not even left the port due to some technical problems with the ship. After spending another good hour on t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-271782.html This past weekend was our rotary district conference in Turku We have 23 exchange students in our district but Ellen was in Germany so we had 22 of us Rick came over from Aland Friday night and stayed over with me at the Ahti's house. The next morning Lapa our treasure and Ossi picked us up and drove us over to the ICT building in Turku for breakfast and a meeting at 9am All the exchange http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-271442.html Helsinki and Turku http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-270574.html Kirjoitin tmn Osakassa ja olen nyt sittemmin muuttanut akirjaimia kirjaimiksi jlkikteenNiden 12 viikon aikana1 kytin hiirt oikealla kdell2 pesin kaikki pyykit sekaisin 40 asteessa3 olin alkupuolen espanjankielisessa EtelAmerikassa ja loppupuolen vasemmanpuoleisessa liikenteessMit ji mieleen1 Olen tosiaan visuaalinen ihminen luen sujuvasti japaninkielist bussilinjojen kart http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Tampere/blog-270062.html Tasta lennosta tulee mieleen lentoni Santiagosta Aucklandiin. Kone Osakasta Helsinkiin lentaa suunnilleen samaan aikaan kuin kone Santiagosta Aucklandiin mutta aika lailla vastakkaisella puolella maapalloa. Toinen kone lentaa keskella yota Tyynen valtameren yli 13 tunnissa aikaeroa 8 tuntia toinen keskella paivaa paaosin mantereen ylla 10 tunnissa aikaeroa 6 tuntia.Herasin kuudelta. Kavin hote http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-270060.html So after a night of pure bliss I awoke at 700am to have some breakfast and salvage my kit from the three lockers that I had benn forced to use by my new flatmates. From the ferry I walked into the centre in around half an hour and headed for the rail terminal. Ideally I wanted to cross into St.Petersburg for the early morning but I was told that the lunchtime train would arrive at 1030 local tim http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-269949.html Ama and I walked around A LOT this past week and visited Muumiworld We also went all around the harbor and Hanna Aiti found a guided tour for us around the harbor and old town It was a lot of fun and I LEARNED A LOT http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-269692.html Wednesday 23rdSlept really well on the soft bed with feather doona and pillows.We are off for more walking tours and nordic delights today. The designs are to die for and so are the prices gorgeous suits and all the clothing handbags and shoes. Just loooking. We think we have discovered why the French and other Europeans are thin and eat ony one chocolate not a whole boxful. The clothing i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-269155.html Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday April 23rd Day 1112Got into Helsinki. Flew in over spectacular Norwegian fiords and snow and glacier covered mountains. Over Sweden flatter and less snow and then Finland. 188000 Lakes 1.5 million in Helsinki. The taxi is a late model mercedes with full leather interior. All men over 50 seem to have a beard. It is cold about 0C. People very friendly and most http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-269153.html Hey everyone. Wow it's really been awhile. Sorry I guess I've just been busy. It's really hard to find time to write in here these days. Between school basketball and hanging out with my friends I feel like I'm always busy. Anyway here it goes. On March 11th I went to the theater and saw a really cool show. It was called Kvinna p halvtid PartTime Woman. It was what is known as physical http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Vaasa/blog-268954.html MONDAY 21s APRIL 2008 HelsinkiI'm spending just one week in Finland and in that time I wll be visiting Torpparinmki rrrroll the r's Comprehensive School in Helsinki. I hope to find out what it is that makes Finnish educational standards as high as they are and whether what I learn can benefit our practice back in Birmingham England not Alabama.Much of what I discover will come not only http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-268562.html Today we went to Laitila where Hanna Aiti's parents live We first went to Hanna Aiti's mothers house where we greeted the sunlight outside looked at her flowers starting to grow through the snow looked at old photographs ate chocolate eggs and had a wonderfully FINNISH meal Potatoes Lamb Silli herring eggs and salad Then we drove over to Hanna Aiti's fathers house where Kari and Marj http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-268294.html Today Ama and I spent from 1030 am 3pm cooking at the summer pizza kitchen at KalaTrappi my rotary restaurant. Ama had brought an ENTIRE suitcase full of tortillas cans of whole green chilies red chilie powder green chili powder guac and lots of herbs. As she cooked I was her sue chef running outside in the crazy blizzard to the main restaurant and getting whatever she needed They pr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-268212.html easter was crazy. so many easter eggs and so much family fun and love ama was with me she was visiting me in finland from March 20 throught April 2 she experienced it all So on Easter Sunday we went to Iska Tom 's mothers house my mummi who speaks swedish and finnish and inserts some funny random english words she is such a character and had a true easter meal. It was HUGE and mummi a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Naantali/blog-266023.html These pictures are from three different trips to Finland about 8 weeks total in 2008. If you like the outdoors then I can't think of a place on Earth that is better. The whole country is one big forest with many many lakes spread throughout. It is a runner's and hiker's dream with trails everywhere Most of the pictures to follow are from central and eastern Finland along with some pics aro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/blog-265843.html Nr Viking Line bestmde sig att locka kunder att storspendera p deras imponerade fartyg med 11 dck och 2500 hyttplatser med casino pub bar sauna minimart etc plus en invardrararbetskraft med uzbeker och afganer allt fr att klara av den tufffa konkurrensen rknade de nog inte med en sak snla folk som jag. Som deras nyblivna medlem fick jag ka gratis och t.o.m. en 4persons hytt d jag http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-264371.html Huomenta Kokemelt... Viimeiseen asti on pakattu sek laukkuja ett tnne muutettuja tavaroita kaappeihin. Kahdeksalta on sovittu ett Pappa tulee hakemaan meit. Mummu pukee tll Lauria Henkka voimistelee lattialla Juha pist viimeisi tavaroita talteen. Se on menoa sitten. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-261829.html It's cold. Very cold. Too cold. It's windy. And it makes it even more cold. To make things worse one of the biggest snow storms of the year supposedly hits the country. YippeeSo it's cold here in Finland. And everybody is saying to us it's been the so warm And the sad thing about it is that they're right. I read in the Finnish weather forecast's webpage that it has been the warmest winter ev http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Vaasa/blog-260452.html Tss vaan harjoittelen... Haluaisin jonkun www. osoitteen taimiten googlatessa lytyy t meidn tuleva reissu. Siis kun toisilla on ainakin tlle joku nimi... vaikka the reissu... niin miten sellaisen saa Ei kun yrityst ja kokeilua. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-260286.html Hmmm... aikaa tst matkasta on jo kulunut pari vuotta ja ollaan senkin jlkeen oltu reissuissa. Nyt vaan haluan kokeilla tt blogin kytt.... onnistuisinko ja olisko t nyt yleens kivaa.. niin ja pseek Zollekin kirjoittamaan. Toukokuussa kun meill on alkamassa uusi Unkarin matka. Siit voisi kirjoitella vhn juttua jota muutkin saisivat lukea... esimerkiksi Dobu Hanni Antti ja Mikko. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-257898.html Nyt sit Suomessa ilman kmpp massii ja duunii ja paskaa sataa taivaalta mut ei haittaa saatana Intian tuliaisina hengitystieinfektio ja rutkasti tarinoita joita ei ees jaksa kertoa. Mit ji plimmisen mieleen Intiasta Oliko hyv reissu Miten matka meniEn tied saatana eik vittu kiinnostaTmn blogin viimeisin sanoina haluaisin sanoa ett haluaisin sanoa mit kunnioittavimmin t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Finland/Etela-Suomen-laani/Helsinki/blog-257460.html