District 1390 Conference

I attended the Rotary District 1390 conference this weekend. It was held at a recreation facility known as "Pajulahti" which is located only 3 minutes from my home. About 20 Rotary exchange students in District 1390 participated, coming all the way from Tampere and Jyväskylä. It was a fun weekend, organized mainly by Rotex students. We played sports and games and took a sauna of course :)

I didn't take any pictures but my American friend Kathleen uploaded some on Facebook.

Below we are playing a friendly game of football (we're in Europe, remember?). I think we spent more time getting the ball out of the lake than playing the game. I'm in the orange sweater and jeans!



Here we are playing a game with Finnish words to improve our language skills. It necessitated rows of seated people.



We had a campfire and made "lettu", a traditional Finnish "iltapala" (evening snack) that is basically a pancake with jam on it.



All in all it was a fun weekend with some of my exchange friends. Now there are no more organized Rotary conferences or trips until the Lapland Tour starting November 30th! Until then, look forward to some pictures of the Penttilä residence (they are coming I swear).

2 Trips To Helsinki

I made 2 trips to Helsinki this weekend!

On Friday night I took the train from Lahti to Helsinki (one hour ride) to meet some other exchange students for a dinner, chilling, and a fireworks competition. We had a great time and also did some sightseeing...



This is one of the main attractions in the city: Helsinki Cathedral. In one of my earlier posts on this blog I detailed some of it's history and as you can see, it's very impressive!

In the above picture (from left): Anna Dorra (Finnish rebound who went to Japan), Gabriel Quin (Inbound from Australia), Elli Fiedler (Inbound from Germany), David Jakob (Inbound from Germany), Me.

And of course, my footbag is always on hand... or in pocket!



Unfortunately I didn't take any (good) pictures during the fireworks! But they were great, there was a lot of people there!

Today (Sunday), I went into Helsinki with my host father, Hannu, and to meet Barb and Harry Norris (family friends who are on a European cruise) but first we went to Suomenlinna (translates to "Finland's Castle") which is a series of islands in front of Helsinki. An extensive military outpost was built there in 1748 by Sweden in response to Russian expansion and has played a key role in defending Finland in times of war. Now there are 850 people living on the islands but it still serves as an excellent tourist attraction.



BOOM!



Hannu and I met Barb and Harry at noon at the Cathedral. They also brought some of their friends from the cruise and I got to see a teacher from my elementary school, Mrs. Templeman, which was a cool surprise! The stuff in front of us is my tennis racquet, shoes, books and stuff from home mom sent with them, thanks again guys for carrying my stuff all over Europe! And thx mom <3



Here's a great shot of Harry, Barb and me in front of Helsinki Cathedral.



I had a great weekend and Helsinki is an amazing city. Since it's only an hour away from Lahti by train, I'll be travelling there often with my families as well as with other Exchange students for Rotary-organized events.

Coming up: pictures from the Penttilä residence (I promise!) as well as from the Rotary Finland District 1390 conference happening on Friday and Saturday.

Blazer Update

A shot of me in my post-language camp blazer. I just took this picture now and it's almost 11 pm so I look a little tired.




Remember back in July when I posted the picture of my blazer after the Grand Rapids conference in Michigan? This is what I said:

"I also participated in the pin exchange - take a look at my blazer now!"

And here is the photo:



Definite improvement!
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Short post for today, but tomorrow night I'll be in Helsinki with a group of exchange students for Finland's national fireworks competition! Look for photos to be posted this weekend!