Home Sweet Home

BAHAHAHAHA. I'm sitting in my room in Finland right now!! It's wonderful, and I'll post pictures soonish. I promise. (again) It has a slanted ceiling with a sunroof, and you can see the forrest and a huge field from the window. The other window. There's a walk-in closet that I wish I could take back to Michigan with me. My sister put up the pictures that I had sent with my application, which added a touch of home. (Even though there are actually no pictures up in my room at home. Just empty picture frames that are wishing for pictures.) Also, my mother, Marti, put a miniature statue of Mary by my bed, along with Finnish chocolate and black liccorice and..well, something else. I don't know what it is, but it might be candy of some sort.



Anyways, a quick flashback for you.



I went to sauna yesterday for the first time. I was scared. Terrified, actually. Sauna is a room that Finns sit in for relaxation. There are benches, and a stove that they throw water on. The more water, the more steam, the higher the temperature, and the more they love it. Often, Finns will sit in the hot sauna and then run out and jump into the freezing cold lake or, in the wintertime, roll out in the snow.



The sauna is a place of reverence in the Finnish culture. Way back when, before technology and sanitary hospitals, Finnish ladies would go into the sauna to give birth. Afterall, the sauna is the cleanest place in the entire house. Also, administrators in the Finnish government used to have meetings with other country officials in the sauna. Why? Becuase in the sauna, you have to be yourself. You cannot be reserved or dishonest. Finns are their true selves while in sauna.



Oh, and did I mention this all happens while you are naked? That's right. No clothes.



Well, all of us American exchange students went in with our wimpy bathing suits, all nervous and anxious with anticipation. Every Finn that we'd heard from would rant and rave about sauna, but I don't think any of us could understand why anyone would want to sit in a room naked and sweat for fun. I certainly didn't.



but it was SO MUCH FUN. I was sitting there, dripping from the shower. After a while of sitting in the sauna, you can't be sure if you're dripping water or sweat. And then you lick your salty lips and realize it's sweat. After we sat in the shower for a few minutes (I think I was probably only in there for five minutes or so), we went and jumped into the Baltic Sea, and that's the best part.



Don't belive me? Well, you can just fly yourself over to Finland and see for yourself.



Anyways, today was the day that all of our host families came to pick us up from the hotel in Turku. We were all anxious and excited, and had no idea what to expect. They had it arranged so that the students wouldn't be able to see the families until after lunch, even though all of the families were sitting in the next room. It was infuriating, to say the least.

I was waiting for the elevator like a good, lazy American that won't go down two flights of steps, when I heard ''AIMA!'' It was Kaisla and Unna and Kari, my host sisters and my host father. They were late for the meeting, so I had a chance to see them before I was supposed to.

Luckily, it wasn't awkward at all. Even the ride home was completely ok. It was a two hour drive to the house, which is near Tampere, which is the second largest city in Finland. On the way, we went to see the theatre where Kari works (he is the director, and it is a huge place), as well as three of the churches where Marti works (they are ancient and beautiful.)

A quick story before I have to go--on the way home, Unna told me that we were having fish soap for dinner.

Soup and soap. It was delicious.