My host family and I left Friday after school and started our road trip. We stopped half way and spent the night in a little village, and then continued the following morning to arrive at our destination in Kipisjärvi.
On the way, we stopped and went to a little kirppis in Ylläs. There were cars there that were selling things from their trucks; and they were selling everything from socks to jewelry to food. We walked by the food, and I saw some people selling pies and goods like that...they were even selling canned bear meat!
We bought some little pastries as a snack for our long drive, and I thought were cute little Pulla...but when we got on the car, I bit into one...I realized that the brown stuff inside was NOT cinnamon!!!!
Maybe you can relate if you've ever taken a huge bite out of something, only to find that it tastes exactly opposite of what you thought it was...You can imagine what my face looked like.
You're probably wondering what that brown stuff was...It was actually meat! It had the texture of dried crumbled bacon, but it tasted totally different. I had NO idea what KIND of meat it was.
What was I eating?!
I asked my host mom in Finnish what it was, and she said that it was some kind of wild bird...
So I indeed ate a pastry with some kind of wild bird meat in it.
It wasn't bad though...I honestly thought it was pretty cool that I had no idea what I was eating; and I ended up eating 2 more.
I still can't describe what it tasted like, but I think it was good?
I still haven't really decided yet...
We stopped again a few hours later to take another break, and we stopped at this little shop. Outside of the shop, there was the Finnish flag and the Sami flag; which was really cool.
Inside the shop, traditional Sami music was playing, and they had Sami dolls for sale, and drums, and dream catchers and knifes...stuff like that. We bought munkki and mehu, and we took a little break before we finished the rest of the trip.
We finally arrived where we needed to be in Kipisjärvi, and we stopped at a little K Market. It was FILLED with Norwegian people; and The line was crazier than Costco!!!!!
We decided to go to the store later, and it was amazing because in the parking lot of the little grocery store, I could actually SEE Sweden AND Norway.
How amazing is that?!
We drove a short way to Norway, and we stopped at the boarder between Finland and Norway to take pictures. We continued driving past the boarder, and into Norway; and to be honest...it was absolutely gorgeous.
My host mom, host sister and I standing at the border of Finland and Norway.
As we drove into Norway, There were mountains all around us, and fall colored trees covering them. All you could see were these gorgeous red, orange, and yellow trees covering these HUGE mountains all around you. You could actually SEE water running down some of the mountains in trickles, and you could see lakes of huge bodies of water below the mountains, into the valley.
And this was the scenery you could see for miles and miles and miles.
It was literally stunning and jaw droppingly gorgeous.
Looking around
Walking around
Standing by a waterfall... in NORWAY!
It made me wish that in school in the USA we would learn more about different countries.
It made me actually feel almost a bit embarrassed at the fact that literally the only things I knew about these countries I have visited in the past few weeks is where they are located, their capitals, and the languages they speak.
Although these countries may not have world famous cuisine, and huge tourist attractions...I have learned that they are rich in natural and organic beauty and culture.
I almost feel as though their beauty is a total secret to the rest of the world...
I feel mighty special to have had the opportunity to come to Finland; and I know that I mention this in EVERY blog post... but that's because it is absolutely TRUE.
How fortunate am I to learn a unique language that prior to coming to Finland, I have never heard before?
How fortunate am I to learn about a culture that I never knew.
And how fortunate am I to come live in a country that I barely knew about.
By coming on exchange to a county that I did not know about; it is giving me learning opportunities each and everyday; and it gives me the opportunity to educate people back home in the USA about a country so completely foreign to them.
Finland is not a country that is talked about often in the USA; and looking back, it's actually hard to believe that I didn't know very much about Finland before I arrived...it makes me wonder about when my exchange is over, if people will be able to relate to my stories I tell them or understand what it is like and the experiences I am having.
Today I had the opportunity to go to my first Rotary meeting for my hosting Rotary club. I was a little scared at first, but it went okay. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wore my Rotary blazer and brought my business cards and my pins with me. I also brought my laptop, because I was going to give my first Rotary Presentation at tonight's meeting.
I went to the meeting with my host dad, and I met the Youth Exchange Officer of the Rotary club. We started the meeting casually by getting a light meal, and chatting together. My hosting Rotary club is rather small, and it is an International Club. There are many Rotarians that share different cultures and Nationalities in my Rotary club. It was a small meeting, and there were only 9 Rotarians at the meeting; and they use English as a mutual language for their meetings.
I gave my presentation, but sadly...the internet did not work in the building where the meeting was being held, and so my presentation did not work out as well, and go as smoothly as I would have liked it to, unfortunately.
I told my Rotary Club about myself and my state and my country; and it went well for the most part. They asked lots of questions, and it was nice to finally meet my club. I think it went well, and I am hoping that I made a good first impression!
Over all this weekend was pretty great; and hopefully the rest of the week will go just as well!
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