I'm home!

Yesterday was the end of language camp and my first host family came and picked me up. My family consists of mom, leha, dad Juha, sister Juulia (18) and brothers Miika (20) and Samuel (16), and dog Pate. Juulia has just gotten home from exchange in Australia. The whole family speaks english very well, Finnish at home, and the kids speak Swedish at school but the whole family speaks Swedish as well. I hear it is hard for English speakers to catch on here because everyone speaks English so well, so i have to remind people to speak Finnish/Swedish with me. And i'm practicing Rosseta Stone every night.

Tomorrow I start school, In the IB program, I hear most classes will be in English, i'm not sure if this is good because maybe my credits will transfer, or bad because I won't have as much time to practice my languages. Last night Juulia and Samuel took me out on the families little boat around the water, which is in my backyard. I also met two of Juulias friends. Oh, did i mention their house has its own sauna, and is very nice, well it is. Both grandparents are very close, and they each have a summer cottage about 30 min from here the family goes to, with more saunas! Today I picked berries with Leha, we are going to make juice from them. I forget the names in Finnish, they don't know the English names and i've never had this type of berries before. They are very good! I'm exited for school, and biking there each day. The Finnish lifestyle is a lot healthier than that of many Americans, EVERYONE bikes here.