I made quite a few friends. We all went in the Sauna and then jumped in the freezing lake, cooked makkara (sausage), and went berry picking. In all I would say I had a wonderful week. However, Saturday was a different story. This is when the strange feeling kicked in. It hit me.. -this past week was not a mirrored image of what was to come.

In fact, it was NOTHING like what was to come.  Reality... it can be a hard thing to swallow. I was the last exchange student to leave the camp and throughout the whole day found myself alone, because all the other exchange students were off with their families.. chatting away. My family came finally and there were 2 little girls (who are 14 and 11) and a man with red, puffy, curly hair and a matching beard. I walked up to them and introduced myself. They only nodded and told me their names. As it turns out, they speak NO english. They own a small farm or zoo with ostriches, a mule, sheep, goats, cats, rabbits, etc. WHAT A CULTURE SHOCK! I went from city slicker Sarah to field hand Saara. Heh. But its different..

It was very difficult the first night because they seemed very excited to have me, but they couldn't say anything! They pulled out the Finnish/English dictionary everytime they wanted to say something. For the past week I had loved my stay in Finland, and I never had any trouble speaking to the Tutors. Now all of a sudden I couldn't even ask for a drink or say that I wasn't hungry. I started getting teary-eyed and decided that it would be best just to go to sleep, since I had been lacking it. So, on my first day in my host family (I am sad to say) I plopped on my bed and went to sleep. Sunday was better... Today (monday) I stayed home and watched movies. And tomorrow is my first day at school. I am VERY nervous. But I am determined to find classes where I can actually learn Finnish.. so I can talk  to my family!

I hope everyone is doing well!