LAPLAND 2014

   

This is going to be a pretty long post, but I will try not to bore you :D

On November 28, I left Eurajoki and started my journey north to spend 4 days in the Arctic Circle with about 150 other exchange students from around the world. Nearly every exchange students currently in Finland (and some in Estonia) came on this tour.

I got on Bus 1 at 8:30 pm in Rauma and was ready to begin the 14 hour trip. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. We listened to lots of music and ate lots of international candy to pass the time.

We hung Christmas lights in our bus

On one of our breaks we saw some weird light in the sky (no not the northern lights :( but something weird...)

Finally we arrived at Harriniva at around 11 am. We brought our things to our rooms, ate lunch, and then saw the most beautiful sunset.

Across the river, where those trees are, is Sweden :D

Latinos! Gorte as Santa

One of my favorite pictures hehe 

Then we had a short meeting about the plan for the trip and the rules and such.

Zoey's beautiful hair + Sam

Then we went off to pick up our ski/snowboard gear for the next day. 

The slope at night

We had dinner outside in this beautiful place lit by candles. I don't have pictures because it was dark and we were there for a really short time. We ate salmon soup and pancakes.

The next day was spent at the slope! 

From the top

I decided I was going to try snowboarding. I have never done it before so needless to say I was pretty bad. After a ton of time spent on my butt, I made it down the small part of the slope without falling. I was pretty pleased with that and exhausted :D and to quote my good friend Zane, "I'm from Florida. This snow stuff really sucks."

The "Kolme Kaveria" (like 3 Amigos). First time seeing Ian since camp! 

One of the coolest things of this day was watching the French guys ski. They were going down backwards, on one foot, spinning in the air, and we're just insanely good at it. 

That night we went to a school nearby to perform some international things for them. USA ended up doing a little dance taught by Fuliece, a girl from the Bahamas. 

These aren't really good photos of us but oh well

The Mexicans

Only one New Zealander...he got some help for his dance though.

The Canadians were my favorite :D

A few brazilians 

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner.

A beautiful Giulia and Pilo

Valentin, Adele, Vania

Ella and I are serious about our juice

Our super messy room

Roomies.

Mackie and Lexi (models)

Fabio

Shortly after I went to take a quick shower when I was interrupted by an "Urgent Meeting in Room 321". So basically the oldies created a "Newbie Olympics" for one boy and girl from each district to compete in. I was the girl chosen for district 1410. The first event was a crazy three legged race through the snow in which my partner and I won! We then all went to sauna and everyone congratulated 1410 on the big win ;D

Anyways the next day was spent with reindeer, huskies, and snowshoes. 

Lucas, the best German 

"Don't climb on the snowmen"

Haroldo, snowman, and I :D

Sam's first snow angel

I was quite comfy :)

The looks of pure exhaustion..

White reindeer :o

They were so cute!! Even though later that night we ate them for dinner...

We made a quick stop at the bridge between Sweden and Finland! I have now been in two places at once

Sweden

And Finland!

This is an ice hotel that's being built. It's really amazing!

Sophie and Bianca

Being our last night of the tour, we had a little party in this hut near the hotel. Once everyone gathered inside, we started off with some traditional stuff. The oldies who had received a gift in June from their oldies now had to pass them on. There were a few gifts such as a book of finnish for the person who spoke the best finnish, a sword for the tallest person, and a mallet for the two best friends. These gifts have been passed down for years and years and are super important to our Finnish exchange culture :). 

Sorry the pit in the middle is in the way of the picture, but Carlos receiving the book of finnish.

Corentin receiving the guitar for being the most musical.

Hugo getting the skateboard for "craziest".

Me receiving "the blanket" from Sophie :D. I didn't expect to get any of the gifts so I was really surprised!

Then the most important gift of them all, the hat. This hat is awarded to the person who tries their hardest to be friends with everyone and truly loves the exchange. It is the person who will be the biggest role model to their newbies. It was given to Jeremy a kid from France, who truly deserves it :D

Sam giving away the beloved hat <3

After the gifts, it was time for all of the oldies to come sing us the song that was given to them from their oldies (Count on me by Bruno Mars) and then give to us a new song (Daylight by Maroon 5). 

After the songs everyone cried and hugged eachother for a really long time and it was very emotional. But then we all pulled ourselves together and spent the night dancing and singing and being happy :)

Final day. Everyone packed up and got ready to head down to Rovaniemi and spend a few hours in Santa Claus Village.

Jandles, Sam, Milly, and I with the REAL Santa.

Santa you're scaring me

We can't take them anywhere

Then we began the journey back home. It was truly an amazing experience I will NEVER forget. 

Kiitos paljon, rotarit ja Rotex annoitte meille upeimmat matkaa. En koskaan unohda näitä kauniita kokemuksia.

Here are some clips i took of the trip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnUDpHkPzo

I have some more pictures I might add to this post later, but this is it for now :)

Thanks for reading