Packing!

Well, I finally had my going away party- and I have to say that it was actually pretty fun. :)

Im not normally a party kind of person, and I generally don't like all of the attention of parties- but it was good to be able to spend one last night with all of my friends together. I even had a little basket with notecards so that people could write me little silly notes of advice or just random things that they wanted to tell me. It was pretty hilarious reading some of them, and I have to say that I had to guess a little bit to try and see who-wrote-what. ;)

Today I officially received my Visa/ Residence Card and final flight itinerary; which means that this is all really happening for real! Its crazy!!!

This morning I made my packing list, and it was actually kind of hard to decide on what I was going to take with me. I want to bring a lot, but at the same time I want to leave my bags as empty as I can, so that I can bring home a lot without having to ship it back home or pay for extra baggage at the end of my year.

I decided to create a little post about the whole process of packing as an exchange student and what its like. (At least from my point of view...)

So far the whole process of it is an absolute pain. You have to create your packing list, and then from there decide on what you will eliminate from your list, and what you will bring. (Clothes is the hardest part for me. I like my clothes. A lot. And therefore, I do not want to eliminate any from my packing list. BUT, unfortunately, I have a lot to pack, and so it looks as if the odds are not exactly in my favor.) :(

I am packing two different suitcases, and I am checking one and bringing the other with me on my flight, along with my backpack. So, I need to put all of my liquids and such into my larger suitcase rather than the smaller one. (Which wasn't my idea, because I wanted to put all of my liquids into my smaller bag.) :P

Anyways, back to the packing list...

I tried to sit down and really, REALLY think about what essentials I needed to bring with me; and what I couldn't live without for the next 11 months. (Other than clothes.)

•  Point-and-Shoot Camera.

• My Nikon camera

•  "Thank You" cards

•  A photo album of my friends/family and place I live

•  Family and American recipes

• American Foods and Candies to share  

•  My pillow pet

•  Rotary pins for other exchange students

• My dance shoes

•  Plug Converter

• Guitar manuscript paper and my capo

• Journal

These are just a few little examples that are on my packing list. Its weird though, because packing up your bedroom into two suitcases just feels...weird. I cant find another word to explain it! (It has been over an hour, and the only thing in my suitcase so far is a T-Shirt...)

I am super excited to go on my exchange, but at the same time its a little scary thinking that this time next week, I will be sitting in a classroom full of exchange students in my same exact situation at language camp in Finland. And then this time in two weeks, I will be in Oulu sitting in a classroom full of Finnish students going to High School, attending class.

Its weird because I have realized that while my friends are out shopping for new calculators and pencils, and receiving their school schedules for the Fall; I will be already living in another country, attending High School in a language I don't speak, learning a language that I have never actually studied before, and living with a family who I haven't met before.

Its a little scary.

Maybe even more than a little bit.

But I am more excited than scared, and I know that this will be an amazing adventure!


“The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone, is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.” ~ Albert Einstein

One Week Left

A week from today, (well...Saturday is technically in 10 minutes, so I will just go ahead and say today.) I am leaving on my exchange.

Tomorrow I am going to the Newberg Old Fashioned Days Festival and making pancakes at a Rotary Breakfast with the two Rebounds who went on their exchanges last year from my sponsoring Rotary Club. I am super excited to be able to talk to them about their year abroad and their experiences; so I am super excited to be able to go and hopefully talk to some of the Rotarians and of course the Rebound Exchange Students. Maybe if I'm lucky ill be able to see some of the kids from school again before I leave at the festival!

A Rotarian made us all different colored shirts with our names on them (I asked to get my Finnish name on mine so I could take it with me to Finland.). The shirts also have our Host Countries printed on them, and the year we studied abroad. Unfortunately, I have been a leader at a church youth girls camp this past week, so I haven't gotten the chance to see my shirt...but I am super excited to get it. :)

On another note...I finally have my ticket booked for my flight! I leave Portland, Oregon on August 3rd, and I will arrive in Helsinki, Finland on the 4th. I'm glad that my flight itinerary is the same as the other Outbound Student in my district going to Finland. It will be fun to be able to start our adventures off together. And who knows, maybe we will find some other students going to Finland at the airports we stop off at! ;)

Tomorrow I also have my going away party. Which is sad and exciting because I will see friends I haven't seen all Summer; but at the same time its sad because there will be friends there that will be graduated and gone by the time I get home. I am excited to see those friends who will be graduated, but at the same time I am sad that we are headed separate ways so soon. As for my other friends, I am excited to say, "See you later!" and be able to come home and see how different we both are the next time we see each other. :)

I actually found myself a little book while I was cleaning out my bedroom that I have begun to put friend's email addresses and home addresses so that I can write emails and letters to my friends while I am gone. I thought it might be a good idea to make myself a little contact book before I left so that I could keep track of everything; and hopefully I will be able to get a few contacts tomorrow at my going away party.

On a good note- even though I am sad that I am leaving soon, I am glad that I will be able to see my good friends one last time before my adventures begin; and I am glad that I have spent this last week with my youth group young women at Girls Camp as a Youth Camp Leader. It was really fun to be able to spend this time with my friends, and in a way, I feel like it is a good ending to the beginning of my adventures; because sometimes you have to say, "Goodbye" to someone to say, "Hello" to someone else. :)

Hopefully these next 7 days don't fly by, so that I can really enjoy these last 7 days before my crazy adventures begin! :)

(Don't get me wrong, I am totally excited to go! I just feel as though I am not quite ready to jump into it all yet. So, hopefully in this next week I can get the final touches of packing done, and say goodbye to my friends, and spend the last few days with my family...then I will for sure be ready to hop on that airplane to begin my new Finnish life!)

Preparation for Finland!

I officially have 17 days left! (Unfortunately though, I still don't have my visa. BUT; im hoping that it will come in the next week or so.)

I am starting to officially get ready for my exchange. Yesterday I made 150 pins! (Rotary Exchange Students create pins to trade with other exchange students and such to put on each other's Rotary Blazers. I like to think of it as Halloween filled with memories, since you give exchange students a pin from your bag of many pins, and you go around trading your pins with everyone else who is doing the same thing haha.)

I also went shopping the other day for some more shirts and stuff to pack in my bag. (I know that Rotary encourages you to buy that sort of stuff in your host country; but Finland is so expensive and im paying for all my own clothes for my exchange.) However, I am going to buy my warm coat and clothing in Finland; because I have no idea where to buy a jacket that could keep me warm in -30 degree weather!

I still have so much to do before my exchange; and unfortunately it seems as if time has officially run out with my friends. Next week I have a Church Youth Girls Camp that I am being a leader for (YCL- Youth Camp Leader.), and then for my last week in the States, my grandparents are coming to say goodbye to me and spend time with me and my family before I officially take off for my adventure; which im super excited for!

But at the same time, I realized that I still have my going away party; and hopefully some of my friends will show up to the party, and say, "See you later." :)

Things are really starting to get crazy now that I realize I REALLY have to start getting everything organized and set up for me to go. It made me realize that im ACTUALLY leaving soon, and that I ACTUALLY have to get things organized to be ready to go.  I started making myself a, "To Do" list; but it seems to get longer and longer every time I look at it...

The top 3 things on my list for my exchange for now is:

 Firstly, getting my room organized. (I am sure my mom is going to eventually realize that she will miss my room always being a disaster!) ;)

Secondly, gifts for my first host family. (They are amazing so far! I have to get them things to thank them for hosting me, and for emailing me everything I know about my host city, Oulu and their awesome family!)

And Thirdly, making the rest of my pins... (I still have around 150 MORE pins to make, since so many Rotary Exchange Students come to Finland each year...and I am kind of selfish and want to make extras in case I meet other people that I want to give my pins to: Like teachers who help me, students at my school, friends...you get the picture.) :)


Im just hoping that for now I have time to get everything else that's on my list done!

30 Days Until Finland!

30 days from today, I will be on an airplane flying to Finland!

I will officially be an exchange student in 30 days, and I will get the chance to meet over 100 other exchange students who are also flying to Finland on the same exact day as I am! Unfortunately though, I don't have my visa yet for my exchange. (Fingers crossed it will come soon!!!) And I am aware of only one other student who will be in District 1400 in Northern Finland...hopefully I will meet others at language camp. ;)

 Ive been thinking about my exchange, and about leaving; and tomorrow I am going to Bend, Oregon with my parents as a last family vacation before I leave on my exchange. A lot of people don't think im afraid to go on my exchange- and Im honestly not anymore, because I know that I made the choice to go to Finland, and that im going to the perfect country for me, and my first host family is amazing and very kind for letting me live with them!

BUT- I would be crazy if I wasn't a LITTLE bit scared to leave my country, school, and family behind. I mean, who wouldn't be nervous to live a year abroad?!

I officially started planning my going away party, although I am a little disappointed because so far not a lot of people can come, and I was really hoping that I would be able to see a lot of people before I left. But at the same time, I don't want to seem selfish!

I understand that Summer is crazy, and that people have their own plans. I am just hoping that my best friends are able to come hang out for one last time with me before I leave on my exchange. But I know that I am not leaving forever, and that it wont be a goodbye; just a, "See you later." :)

My blog is probably a little on the boring side as I am only posting as an Outbound Student, since I haven't left for my exchange yet. But I know that I will want to record the things about my Pre-Exchange as an Outbound, so that later I can read about the silly things that I said or felt! (Maybe you feel the same way reading about the silly things I post.) :)

Exchange Students!

I thought I would just post a quick update about this past week.

This past weekend, I had the chance to host some exchange students! It was pretty fun, even though they were only with me for two nights. (Which is pretty short for exchange students!) However, They were on their last Rotary Trip with their districts, which was a train ride across the USA.

My mom and I picked them up at the train station in Portland, however their train was a good three hours late...apparently their train ran over a guy wearing headphones and riding a bike- so they had to stop for a good few hours to...well...I think you already know the ending to that story. :P

Anyways- we hosted a girl from Sweden named, Sofia; and a girl from Germany named, Leonie. They were SUCH sweet girls, and it was a lot of fun since I am still an Outbound. We took them to Multnomah Falls, here in Oregon; and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. I never get tired of seeing it. :)

Me, Leonie, and Sofia

 

A view of the falls.

My mom, me, Leonie, and Sofia

 

Oregon is so GREEN!

 

Leonie, Sofia and I

 

 

It was great to be able to talk about their exchanges, and they even gave me advice about my exchange- which was great! It really helps a lot to be able to talk to people who have been in your situation. It just made me a whole lot more excited for Finland! :D

 

Before we took them back to their train station; we had to take them to Voodoo Doughnuts...its a Portland thing. ;) However, it was REALLY fun because even though I have lived in the Portland, Oregon area for almost all of my life; I have never been there. And it was so fun because they were so excited about it!

 

It was super fun to be able to spend the weekend with exchange students. After all; Ill be one of them in a month! Its hard to explain...you have a lot in common with exchange students once you have really gotten to know the life of an exchange student. It has made me miss my Inbound friends who are two steps ahead of me and already home from their exchanges.

 

30 days until Finland!