Finland vs. Azerbaijan

Yesterday, I attended a football (soccer!) game in Helsinki with some friends. The game was between Finland and Azerbaijan, a tiny country bordering Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran. The game is part of the qualifying round for the World Championships and was held in the Olympic Stadium used in the 1952 Summer Olympics games in Helsinki.

Below is the logo of the 1952 Olympic games.



Now here is my picture of the stadium and the tower.



It was tough to get a good picture in the crowd so this is the best I have! The two guys on my right are my friends who brought me, along with the girl who took this picture! The guy standing up is Matti Siiteri who went on Exchange to America a couple years ago and is now the president of Rotex in Finland. Oh, and they handed out free "Suomi" scarves at the entrance.



The game is underway! Finland was wearing white.



A better shot of the game.



Finland wins!

The Finns are very passionate when it comes to football. It was great participating in the cheers when Finland had the advantage... and the curses when things weren't looking as good :) Same goes for ice hockey: I attended a game in Lahti last week and Finns are always on the edge of their seats, contesting every bad call and supporting the home team as much as I've ever seen!

And as a general update: this is my last week here in my first host family! I switch to my next family, the Erkamo's, on Saturday morning. They live 12 kms outside of Lahti so I will need to take a bus. It doesn't change much though, since I already take a bus home everyday while I live with my family now.

I am going to post pictures of my host family's house soon! Stay tuned this week for that. Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment about the blog's new look! Do you like it? Anything I should change to make it easier to read? Does the page take too long to load on your computer? And do you like the centered images and text in this post? Your input is appreciated!