Back to Tampere

In February it was back to Tampere for a weekend get together with the awesome Rotary exchange students in D1390. It was also a time to meet the newbies who had just arrived in January.

After traveling by bus two hours from Lahti I met up with the rest of the other exchange students from my district who were able to make it to the winter weekend. Alot of people couldn't come, but it was nice to see everyone who was there and I met too newbies from Australia too.
On the program was a walk across town to the puunikki torni to eat doughnuts, have lunch and wander around town, and play lazer tag.

After eating our delicious doughnuts, we climber the stairs or some took the elevator, to the top of the pyynikki torni which over looks Tampere. In the distance you can see another torni-tower and the city center is a bit to the right and down. Even though it wasn't a clear day, from all directions ontop the tower you could see quite far.

Here we are in front of the tower. It was a nice day to be in Tampere because it wasn't so cold and there wasn't as much snow as in Lahti. It's also kind of funny because the last time I was in Tampere was way back in August when we had a day trip here as part of our orientation the first week we were in Finland. It also happens that, I was there for my second time just one day early of 6 months since I had visited that last August.

After going up the tower we decided to go sledding. Each of us recieved a garabage bag and we were able to use those as sleds. Some people went down on top of the bags, others sat in the bags and went down. If you sat in the bag, it was sure to rip because of your feet and then you would have to go on top of it. Sledding was so much fun! I had lots of snow in my pants and up my shirt though afterwards so I ended up being a little bit wet, but luckily didn't get at all cold.

One of the cathedrals in Tampere as we walked back around town and back to the center.

Approaching the old Finlayson factory, which produces all sorts of different Finnish designs from prints on curtains to cups, etc. Just below that building we went into another one to play lazer tag.

Megazone (lazertag) is so much fun! We split into three different teams, and I was on the team with all four of us girls. We then went and played against each other. It was so much fun, but a bit hard because there were a bunch of little boys playing at the same time as us, and we didn't even have time to find our base by the time the game had started. Oh well, it worked out well.

Some buildings near the square. We had time to wander around and then have lunch where we wanted too. After visiting and getting to know some of the newbies more, it was time to go back to our own cities.

We all walked back across the river and then a few of us walked to the bus station while everyone else went to the train station. I went to take the bus back.
I forgot to check the times for return so I ended up missing a bus and having to wait an hour extra than anticipated. In the end, everyone else left which wasn't too bad. But then it turned out that the bus that came wasn't the right one so I had to wait another hour yet. In the end it worked out just fine though and I didn't mind the extra delay so much because I could at least just wait inside the mall which was just down the street.

The street map for Tampere nearby the bus station. It was such a fun day, but a long one too. I am really glad I made the trip and hope to one day go back to Tampere to see more of the city. 

Messilä For the Day

In February I also went skiing at Messilä one weekend with my host family and some of their friends who were visiting. It was a lot of fun, and nice to finally get to check out the local ski area which is not far away in Hollola.

There are a few different slopes to go on and a terrain park too. This picture is from one of the bunny slopes, so there are also steeper ones too. It was a lot of fun, but earlier in the day I had a bit of trouble because I couldn't really see with the flat light. So I just went down the slopes hoping I wouldn't hit any bumps or ice because I couldn't see it. Luckily no falls.

It was a lot of fun and the views were stunning. The slopes are set up so that they are all facing the Vesijärvi and giving a birdseye view of it at that. Absolutely a beautiful scene.

Here is a picture that shows more of the lake and also the lifts. In Finland at most ski areas, they don't have chairlifts like we do in the US, but instead an anchor-like plastic structure that rests behind your legs and pushes you up the hill.

Here is the place where you can buy tickets for the slopes. There are several different places all around that you can eat, some of which are at the bottom of the slopes. It was a lot of fun at Messilä and I hope to one day go back and go skiing there again.

The Making of Verilettu

In case you may have forgotten what verilettu is; veri-blood, lettu-pancakes. That's right, blood pancakes, yum. And back in February my host dad taught me to make verilettu from scratch.

Here is everything needed to make the pancakes; blood (usually cow veri), flour, milk, a can of beer, fresh onion, and some different spices and things.
The last time I had eaten the pancakes way back last year with my first host family, I had gotten nightmares because I was so frightened from eating them. This time when I made them I didn't get any nightmares...but I still was a bit scared to touch the blood and eat them.

Me mixing some of the different ingridents together and holding the container that held the blood. You can buy blood at any grocery store here to make your own verilettu or of course if you go hunting you just need a bucket to collect some yourself.

Flour, onion, a little milk, and blood. All mixed together really well before it is too be cooked.

Here is the container. As the picture on the container shows, it is specially to be used for verilettu and on top of the pancakes are lingon berries which are traditionally eaten with the pancakes.

Once the batter was all mixed up, it was time to cook it. I used the wood stove to cook them. There was a pan that had circles to form the pancakes. Just drip and little of the batter into each circle and be prepared to turn them quickly. Using a wood stove cooks things very fast because it is so hot. Not only do you have to be fast in turning them, but it is really hard because the heat really affects you too, I could hardly stand in front of the stove at all, but got the job done.

And so we have verilettu all cooked and ready to go. It is super easy to make verilettu, so if you can come up with the blood in the US maybe I will make you some...or then again maybe not. Either way, if you ever get the chance, it is something different to try, then don't taste bad, you may just need to get over your fear of what they are made of.

Stars In The Stadium

I am still trying really hard to finish updating all of my posts. I know I am a few months behind, but I am going to work to get all caught up when I have the chance so don't give up on this blog, just stay tunned and more will follow with time.

At the end of January, the Lahti Sports Complex came to host a stop of the World Snowboard Tour; Stars in the Stadium.

Bright and early I went to the stadium with some of my exchange student friends and we were set to watch all of the various finals (semis, quarter, etc). Ultimately we would be outside for about 10 hours or more.

They built a ramp and then the snowboarders would go off a jump and then come down on the otherside towards the crowd after disapearing for a few brief seconds.
It looked like many of the riders were having quite a lot of trouble with the ramp, because although from this image it looks like it's a straight drop down, there is actually a ledge just above where the rider can be seen going down. This ledge caused problems because the riders would go down from the top, stop at the ledge, and then finally go, and there just wasn't enough length to get really, really good speed for a jump.

Here I am during one of the first events. I had several layers on, but was so cold. That was the first day in Finland I really expirenced the feeling of freezing even though it wasn't very cold at all, only about -8 degrees C.
Because it was so early, there were a few heat lamps but none were turned on, and there was no place to go inside, nor could we leave. It was worth it to wait all day and see everything, but even moving around we were absolutely frozen. Luckily they did have a stand with free coffee that would warm us somewhat. I have never been so cold in my entire life, and definately learned to be more prepared. It was worth it though!

As the hours wore on, there would be many different concerts throughout the day in between the different rounds of competition. I was a bit disappointed, because for some reason which I couldn't understand from the Finnish commentary, the lone American rider decided to not compete in the semifinals even though he qualified. Anyways, the most exciting concert came before the final.

The musician; Cheek, is a famous Finnish rapper and he is very good. It was an amazing concert! If you want to check out Cheek, some of his best songs our; "Syypää sun hymyyn,""Kyyneleet," "Anna mä meen," and "Liekeissä."

From left to right, Charlotte (Germany), me, Emily (Mexico), and Jair (Mexico). Earlier in the day Ailey had also come and we were also with some Au Pair's from Germany. It was so much fun and I really had a great time at my first ever professional snowboarding contest.

Everyone is ready to watch the championship for the Stars in the Stadium snowboarding competition. In the final there were four competitors each with three opportunities to try to stake a claim for the podium. Things started off pretty shaky and I was wondering if anyone would actually land a run, because everyone kept falling. At last some good runs were laid down and a champion was crowned.

It was really cool to watch the snowboarding jumps and tricks performed live in front of me. The atmosphere was nice too. The competition happened to be at the same time as the Winter X-Games back in the USA, so most of the top athletes were competeing there, but there was still a good roster of different pro boarders here.

After the competition the winners recieved medals and the slope style champion (Korpi) was crowned. It was a good night and after that there were a couple more concerts to end the night. 

A Day in Helsinki with the Last Aussie

While most of the Australian exchange students left on the 12th, some of them stayed five more days and would come to leave on the 17th of January.
Monday the 14th, I took off school to go to Helsinki with Ailey, Charlotte, and Tess, as our last get together before Tess had to go home.

While everyone else took the train, I rode the bus to Helsinki so I got there much earlier than everyone else and walked around quite a bit to pass the time until they arrived. This picture is of the square right in front of Helsinki Cathedral. It was quite a cold day and about 9am, so there weren't too many people out and about in the capital city other than people bustling about the main streets on their way to work.

There was even an ice skating rink set up in the middle of the city near the train station.
When the others arrived, we met up and wandered around the city just seeing the sights and just wandering around. There weren't really any plans other than for lunch and Tess wanted to do a bit of shopping before having to leave. It made it nice though, because we were just able to take our time and move about as we wanted to.

We passed by a frozen harbor where there was a guy sitting on a chair next to a boat, ice hole fishing. It was almost funny because it was in the middle of Helsinki, but I guess that's just how it is in Finland.

Just beyond the boat and the fisher, we walked over a bridge covered in locks and stopped to look at many of the different locks to read the names and dates on them.

This is the Bridge of Love. A lock to symbolize commitment and love forever. It was really cool looking at all of the different locks, but we couldn't help but wonder. How many of the relationships are still working? And do people ever take the locks off if they separate? You are supposed to throw the keys into the water so that it is permanently there.

One of the main reasons for going to Helsinki was because we all wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had beer-batter fish and the food was delicious!

From left to right, Charlotte (Germany), Tess (Australia), Ailey (Scotland/America), and me, eating at the Hard Rock. It was so much fun, and as it should be, the music they played was great! Definately a nice lunch, and not too expensive either.

After eating, we walked around the entire restaraunt and looked at all of the different memorablia. There were CD's and clothing and instruments and letters and all sorts of different things from famous musicians. Some of the things belonged to John Lennon, Madonna, Cher, U2, Bob Dylan, etc., there were so many different things. On the ceiling there were parts of song lyrics written too. It was so cool!

A picture of the inside of the Hard Rock Cafe. It was really nice looking and the staff was international and very friendly.

It was a great meal to end a fantastic day. In the end, it was sad saying "goodbye" to Tess because she was an amazing oldie, but I will never forget her, and who knows we may meet again.

Wintertime + Megazone

In January, winter was still in full swing, in the beautiful snow covered land of Finland.

One afternoon after school I got together with some other exchange student friends and a couple friends and we went to megazone. Or in other words, we played laser tag. It was so much fun!

A picture of a pile of snow with the vesijärvi in the background. My favorite place in Lahti, would definately have to be the harbor. It is peaceful and beautiful no matter the season.

Some water that has frozen. There are many of these around Lahti, and some look really blue and are quite enchanting.

A map showing the pathway around pikkuvesijärvi. While there is still the main path to walk on, there are also many tracks for cross country skiing too.

A bridge connecting pikkuvesijärvi to the vesijärvi. "Pikku" means "small" in finnish, so pikkuvesijärvi, is just a sort of large pond that separates off from lake vesijärvi.

I walked with one of my friends up to the train station, and on the way there I passed by this statue. I believe it is in rememberance of a war hero, but I may be mistaken because I can't remember for sure.

Lahti's town hall, which sits atop a hill and can be seen from the rest of the center. It's supposed to be very beautiful inside even though I have never been there. One day I will go.

My host brother plays a lot of ice hockey, so to help him practice more, we created an ice rink in the backyard thanks to freezing water. It was fairly smooth and nice. I got a few hockey pointers on how to hold the stick and shoot, but I don't think ice hockey is really my sport. The skates hurt my feet too much and you need to have really good balance and concentration.

At Lahti's sport complex. A few days after this picture was taken, there would be a huge snow boarding competition inside the stadium.

Just across from the tori (the square) and my bus stop. A statue, and up on the hill, the town hall. I love looking at the town hall when the sun is behind it, because it's windows make it look translucent when the light shines through.

The ski jumps look so beautiful all covered in snow. Even in the summer time, ski jumpers can still go down the jumps, but at the bottom is a huge swimming pool open to the public. This is at urheilkeskus which is by the sports stadium and has many, many tracks for walking, running, and cross country skiing.

Here is the jump set up in the middle of the stadium ready for a stop on the World Snowboard Tour: Stars in the Stadium. It was to be an exciting an fun snowboarding competition with music and friends.

Suomi is a land with four seasons, and even when the lands are cold and covered with snow. The sun still shines and there are blue skies. Finland truly is a beautiful country.