Terve...

So we had a pretty good ice/snow storm here in the northern U.S. yesterday. A lot of the trees here look like the ones in winter time in Finland. :)

I think that my Finnish is improving... I mean I at least hope so. I know the colors (most of them), days of the week, basic greetings, and I can count to one hundred. I would say that is a pretty decent accomplishment. I'm excited to find out where exactly in Finland I will be going to. I've read a little on Turku, Helsinki, Tempere, and of course Lapland. It will probably be a while before I find out though...

I received a book yesterday from the rotary called: The Exchange Student Survival Kit. I think that it's fairly helpful. A lot of situations in the book are ones that I hadn't thought of. Being prepared is a good thing!

My mom got a little freaked out though when I was reading her things out of my exchange book. She also got a little sad at the thought of not seeing me for 8 or 9 months. I know it will be extremely hard, because I'm so close to my mom, but I know it's going to be a great experience. I just tried to explain to her that I would e-mail or call her quickly everyday if it's possible. I think she worries about my safety too, but Rotary is known to be a very safe program, and I feel safe going with them.

I am just so ready to embark on this experience, but I know I have to be patient and enjoy my last year in American high school. It's like I'm a senior when I'm really only a junior. I feel like a senior though, I just don't get to participate in all the cool things the seniors do! Haha, oh well! I'll give that up next year to go to Finland!

I'm glad that my friends and family are very supportive about me going to Finland. I told my friends and a few teachers at school the day after I found out that's where I would be going, and they were all very excited for me.

Buttttt, other than thinking about my exchange not much else is new. Just going to school and trying to enjoy it...hah! I've been thinking a lot lately of college too, which is a little bit haunting. It's so hard what to choose for a major! These are my possible majors (or minors..who knows?): International Relations, International Business, Global Studies, French Language, and Art Management. I am leaning more towards International Relations with a double major in something else (Maybe International Business?) and a minor in French. I would really love to work for an organization like the UN and be able to be involved in the world and travel. I hope that by going to Finland I will have a better idea of what I want to do.

Well I better get off of here...I want to mess with my blog layout.

Näkemiin!

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It's been a while...

I haven't posted in a long time, so I figured it was about time that I did.

I recently found out that I am going to Finland for my foreign exchange. That was definitely a shock to me. I thought "What's in Finland?" because I hadn't really any knowledge on the country. I've done a little research though and Finland seems like a wonderful country. Also I have seen some amazing scenery online....it's beautiful! The lakes, forests, and especially winter time scenes. It's a good thing that I love snow!

I am anxious to go to a country that many people around where I live don't know about. I don't know much about it myself, and that's probably the most exciting thing. I am really worried about the language though! I've heard it's hard, and it looks it. I ordered a Berlitz book today on Finnish Phrases and what not, and I hope it really helps. I might look into Rosetta Stone, even though it's a little pricey for me, in the hopes that it offers Finnish.

I talked to my district guy today and I have an orientation in March. These next few months will really be exciting, especially because I can get my drivers license next month! (And my orientation of course!)

I've also been trying to raise money for my trip. For Rotary I have to raise around $4,000 but I'd like to raise $6,000 for personal expenses and everything. I currently have raised around $2,000, which I'm pretty happy about. I think my next funraiser will be selling pizzas? I'm not sure yet. My mom is pretty much in charge of my fundraising and my money. She has helped me so much.

Well, I'm going to go and see if I can find a good website to learn Finnish.
Hei!
Which is the only word I can currently remember, and it means hi...
haha...:)

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Fundraising

Yup, tis the season to begin fundraising. I am doing many things to raise money including: sending letters to businesses, selling candies/foods, and having my own little candle party. My mom is helping me a lot with this, and so is others from my family. I am so thankful, because it would be so hard to do alone. I also got most of my application done, I just have to get the medical stuff filled out and tweak my student letter.
Other than that, nothing else has been new. In my history class we have to do this huge portfolio project on a country of our choice, and I chose Spain =]. So that I can learn as much as I can of it, which would be helpful if I get to go there.
Well this is quite a short post, but nothing much to talk about.
Bye, Adios!

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I'm a Spain Hopeful

I officially got accepted into Rotary yesterday!!!!
Very exciting! I was a little bummed about not being able to go to Italy, because even though I could take Italian classes I have none of the language right now.
Butttttttttt........Spain is my first choice now! My official top 3 countries are Spain, Denmark, and Sweden. All of them sound great, but I would really love to go to Spain.
Anyway, I got my application in the mail yesterday as well. It's fairly long I suppose. 15, 20 pages? Around there.
I need to start fund raising. My mom is helping me out a lot =]
I am so excited! It seems like such a long wait from now until August. But then again from the time that I had my first idea of being a foreign exchange student (which was back in May) to now went fairly fast.
I can't believe that in one year from now I'm going to be living in a different country! Ah it's so great!
Haha I tell people about my foreign exchange sometimes because I'm so excited but I try not to talk about it too much, even though I could probably go on and on and on.

I can't wait to find out my country that will be for sure, which might take a while.
But nonetheless, my point here is that I'm uber excited!

Yeah. And tomorrow is Friday, which always makes everything better of course as well as making me more hyper =].

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Hey!

So this is my first post! I am going with Rotary (hopefully!) on foreign exchange for my senior year in high school!!! Which would be the 09-10 year. I don't know which country I'm going to yet, since I'm not that far into the process. My choices are Italy, Spain, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Norway. I really hope I get Italy, but I really like the other countries too!

But I just had my Rotary district interview today and it wasn't that bad at all. I read some about the Rotary interviews on the Culture Shock Forum and I kind of got a little afraid. At my interview there were only 4 students there including myself, and the 4 rotarians that interviewed me were extremely nice.
So I'll post more later, I'm going to mess with the layout and everything of my blog =]


Oh, and I'll actually name my blog to where I'm going when I find out, which might not be for a while, but that's okay!

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