It has hardly dawned on me until now, room halfway torn apart and cramming in as much time as i can to see friends and be with family that I will be leaving to Finland for a year. In TWO days! Rotary has given me along with many others such an amazing opportunity that I am extremely grateful for, not to sound all Hallmark or anything, but this really is going to be a life changing experience and I can't wait. I will be staying with the Nieminen family is Vaasa, with my mom, dad, two brothers, and sister, and their dog Pate! Upon arrival I will go to a week long language camp (I will be learning Finnish, and Swedish. My school speaks Swedish, while my family speaks Finnish!). After the language my family will pick me up and two days after that I start school. Can't wait!

Naramata Weekend

As some of you may know, next year I will be studying abroad in Finland through Rotary youth exchange! I recently found out the town I will be staying in is Vaasa, which is north of the capitol, Helsinki. I just got home a little bit ago from Naramata weekend with my Rotary district 5060 in Canada. It was a weekend full of preparation for the year to come telling us what to expect, what we need to do, information for our parents, etc. We also got to hear a lot from inbound/rebound students which i found extremely helpful. Of course it was fun to see all the students in my district again, although sadly is was probably the last time i will see most of them again until our rebound conference more than a year from now. I am very anxious to find out more information like when I leave and my school. I got my host families email the other day but sadly it backfired both times i tried to send it, so I will have to figure that one out soon as I am anxious to be in contact with them!