Sam's Return to Finland

This will be my final post on this blog. After what has felt like a lifetime, I am finally returning to Finland... once I first complete a school trip in the Netherlands and Denmark! At the University of Oregon, my group of 20 will observe why the Netherlands and Denmark rank so high in bicycles and public transportation. A requirement for my trip is that I daily update my blog once I am over in Europe. I hope that you will all follow my blog and see all of my new adventures! http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/samuel.copelan/1/tpod.html

Viimes kuukaudet Suomessa/ Last Month in Finland

What can I say, everything is just perfect. The weather has improved a lot since the last post almost 3 months ago and everything is just fine. I'm sorry that I abandoned this blog for the most part, but that was because I would rather be living my life than telling about my life. Honestly, I have no idea how incredible the Finnish Spring and Summer have been. At Midsummer/Juhanus, the sunset was at 11:30pm and the sunrise was at 3am, with constant light inbetween for the dark hours. Below is a picture of the archipelago in Southern Finland at midnight. As you can see, it never gets dark in Finland in the middle of Summer, even if the sun is gone.

School ended on June 2nd, Saturday and I am now officially an abi/senior! Below is a picture of me and the exchange students from Colorado, USA and Japan giving our final goodbye speeches

The day after the last day of school, on June 3rd, I left with about 90 other exchange students in Finland and Estonia for a Eurotrip! We traveled through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, and Austria in 2 and a half weeks. Eurotour was fantastic, and below are a few photos.

My friends and I made human pyramids in almost all of the countries that we visited. Here is our pyramid in Copenhagen

This is me on the 30km dike in the Netherlands

Inside the Palace of Versaille

At the Arc de Triumphe

My friends and I were just eating French baguettes under the Eiffel Tower when a crazy Frenchman, dressed as Captain America came by. I ran to him with my American flag, and then we all took photos by the Eiffel Tower. Incredible story!

Me in Sisterone, France

Monaco!!!

Venice

At our hotel near Venice. I apparently camouflauge into the beach!

Hiking in the Italian Alps

Hanging in Innsbruck, Austria

Heading back home to Finland: Right are some of the many islands on the Finnish Coast

This is not a very long post, but just letting everyone know that everything is great!

March Already

My last post was over 100 days ago and I have no idea how to catch up on every amazing thing that has happened. I have been to Lapland (land above Arctic Circle) twice; once with Rotary of Finland and Estonia and once with my host family for Christmas and New Years. Up there, I have eaten reindeer, downhill skied, reindeer and husky sled rides, 9 minutes of daylight each day, quick trip to Sweden, learning to lasso reindeer, and enjoyed the land that looks like Narnia.

Then in January, I switched host families. Rotary Organization gives every student 2-3 host families, that way we get to experience multiple perspectives of life in our home country. It was sad to leave my first family, but I love my new one a lot, so everything is fine. It has just been a lot of fun getting to know my new family and doing family activities with them. This is me walking the dog across the frozen lake with my brother.

February was a great month, and started out great with my birthday on the 1st and my brothers on the 2nd. We had a small celebration at home with cake that looked like American Poptarts and relatives coming over. One big event was the Wanjoen Tanssi, the large formal dance in Finland. I danced with my partner and it was a great time! Many practices and time looking for a suit, but everything turned out well and it was a great evening. We also had a week off of school so that the country could have a skiing holiday. We went to central Finland to Grandma's and skiied and skiied and skiied. I was even able to go down all of the black levels and do jumps and land them! Not bad for my 3-7th days ever skiing! I also did some cross country skiing across the lake by our house.There are no pictures of me skiing on this trip, but I have plenty from other trips. To get there we had to pass over a lot of lakes and bridges.

March so far has been fantastic. I have started up a new hobby: Ice Swimming. Yep, every Tuesday and Thursday I go ice swimming (and sometimes bring along friends) in the lake with my host father. I was the kid who swore to my parents I would never do something so 'dangerous' as that, but who would have thought it would be so relaxing? Swim for a bit ( 5-15 seconds) and then go to sauna to warm up, and repeat. One evening was fantastic and great, because as we swam a herd of swans flew onto the lake and were swimming in part of the whole with us. Then they got out onto ice and i saw them run across the runway, the icy lake and then take off, just like an airplane. Its also so quiet and tranquil and that is another reason why I like it. We also had a Rotary ski trip, which my brother was also able to go to. It was a fantastic day. Also I went to a great TPS-Pelicans game with the Turku Exchange Students. Everyone thought that the highly ranked Pelicans would beat TPS, but we came through with a 4-2 win! It was incredible!

There have been so many other fantastic things that have happened; classy movie nights, sledding days, great days at school, rotary presentations, snow snow snow and -25ºC weather, but there is no way I can explain it all on a post. Stay tuned for my next post!

100 Days with my first Family

Today is the 100th Day mark being with my first host Family. Also, there was frost all over Southwestern Finland for the first time so far. I just came back to Lieto from Laitila to have a fun exchange student weekend. I'm trying to let you all know how it is going, but no news is good news. If you don't hear from me in a while that is because I am doing fine and adjusting well to Finnish culture. I need to be spending less time on the computer anyways. Below are some pictures from the weekend.
This picture is my 'Family Portrait'' of the Rotary Exchange Students from my school. The Oldies from South Africa and Australia are in the background and a Newbie from Colorado is next to me.

Below are some of the exchange students at dinner time

3 Month Mark; ja en voi habla any langauge!!

Well it's been an interesting few weeks. Some really good things have happened such as being able to play soccer with some people from school on Friday's after school, and some bad things such as loosing my English skills, sun rising later and setting earlier joka päivä, ja no snow yet!! I'm now at the point where I have lost my English skills, completely forgotten Spanish (and when I speak it Soy gringo) and can not speak Finnish fluently (yet, I am learning quickly!). Anyway there is nothing completly new going on, I just thought that I would post because today is an important day (exactly 3 months talla Suomessa) and because I needed a distraction from my Iceland paper I am writing in Geography class. Attached pictures are from my trip with host family to Helsinki. The last photo was my art project in Painting Class. we had to draw ourselves as a chair so I chose an American La-Z-Boy and lots of Finnish leaves that are beginning to cover the Americanness of the couch? Symbolic? Maybe a little bit...

Finnish Tongue Twisters

This past week has been cool (and also cold) for several reasons:

The first is that everyday here in Finand, we lose five minutes of daylight. Doesn't sounds like much, but every 12 days we lose and hour of daylight!! Sun currently rises at about 7:48 AM and sets at 6:28PM!

The second reason is because I have been taught a lot of Finnish Tongue twisters. I can already say Päärynäjäätelötötterrö (pair icecream cone) and can almost say "Vesi hiisi sihisi hississä" (A water monster hisses in an elevator). Here is a list of other Finnish Tongue Twisters. There are translations into English and also pronounciations on some of them. I recommend checking it out if you have some spare time

Täsmälleen 2 kuukautta/ Exactly 2 Months

October 7, 2011

Today marks the 2 month 'anniversary' of the day I was a confused exchange student walking from the Lufthansa aircraft and into Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Wow does time fly! I remember the details, the exact feel of the airport, the way that the people were staring at us, everything so clear as if it was yesterday. Today was a great day. I came home from school after buying a Finnish jacket and got a Finnish haircut (short). I thenwalked to Vanhalinna and relished the beauty of the gold and red autumn leaves and the coming of the rain storm. It was magnificent.

Anyways, I have done a lot since my last post in September. I was also able to go and visit my brother's elementary school again. At this school, they have shoe police that make sure that each child has wiped off their feet before entering the building. Once inside, students must take off their shoes before going inside. Once inside, they must stand up when the teacher walks in and say good morning. Lunch in Finland is free (and has been ever since WW2). Lunch on that day consisted of sausage stew, bread, vegetables, and strawberry yogurt for dessert.

The exchange students here are awesome. We have done a lot together, such as Ikea Trips, Downhill go carts at Hirvensalo, trips to the Turku Cathedral, and also to Turku Castle.

One of the most notable was that I personally met Princes Daniel and Princess Victoria of Sweden. It is a VERY long story (ask my parents if you want to hear it), but in the pictures below, you can see my hand giving Victoria my Rotary Youth Exchange Card with a message on the back and me talking with the princess. Photos taken by Hannah Sartor, Exchange student from Michigan.

By the way this is my class picture. Can you find me?