I can't believe this year is almost over.  The time seems to be
flying by so quickly.  I've been in Finland now since August 6th, so
that's just over 6 months.  Some days it feels like I've been here 2
weeks, some days 2 years.  Only four more months and I'll be back in
sunny Florida giving my "So now I'm home" speech for my Coral
Springs/Parkland club.  But I know the next four months are going to go
by the fastest because of all the trips and activites planned.  It's
kind of depressing to think about having to leave all the friends I've
made here, but I'm also looking forward to seeing my family and friends
in Florida again.  But this is how the next few months will play out...
      In April, we'll take our trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, we have
the annual finnish/swedish language test, and a big rotary conference.
In May, I'll be displaying a photo exhibition up at the old mine in our
town featuring all of my own photography dating back from the beginning
of my exchange year.
In June, we'll take our eurotour.  We'll go to 9 countries in about 20
days driving around northern and western europe by bus.
And in July, I will be going to Spain to visit a really close family
friend.  The trip will be from the 1st of July to the 12th.  And then
on the 16th, I'll be on my way back to Florida.
      I switched host famiies at the end of February.  This is my final
host family and they seem to be more fun than the others.  This family
consists of two really nice host parents, 2 awesome host sisters(16 and
19), 2 cool little host brothers(9 and 13) and another host sister(30 I
think) living in Helsinki.  One thing i really like about this family
is that there are so many relatives.  Seriously, like half the kids in
my school are my host cousins and they don't even know it.  We also
have a dog and cat who like to fight.  And we just got another cat so
the relationship between the animals is like a civil war with three
different sides.  I think throwing in that new cat might not have been
the best idea, but at least she's sweet to us humans.  And we might get
another cat!  If we do get that one, I hope it at least doesn't sleep
in our room.  "Our room" meaning my host sister and my room.  We share
one.  My new host family's house is quite different than the first two.
  The first was an apartment in the center and the second was a house in
the center.  This one is a house in the finnish countryside.  It's
about 13 or 14 kilometers from my school and the center of town so to
get to school, we either take an hour long bus ride or someone drives
us, which only takes about 15 minutes (the same amount of time it used
to take me to walk to school with the other families).  Speaking of
school, I'm taking new courses.  Now I'm taking health, geography 2,
english 6, and art.  And I'll also be starting a photography course at
the trade school on March 20th.
      Back in February we had this dance called the 'Vanha Tanssi',
meaning 'old dance'.  It's more of a performance than a prom-like
dance, though.  We practiced about 10 different dances with partners
for about 3½ months and everthing came down to the three performances
in February.  I think it was the last thursday of February...school was
the same as everyday.  But it quickly changed to being ''special'' once
I got home.  At 5pm we had the first performance at the sports hall. 
So, at home I had about an hour and a half to take a shower, have my
hair done, do my make up, and put my dress on.  All that was done and
at around 4:30, my partner picked me up to go to the dance.  At 5pm, it
was time to dance.  The dance went pretty well.  But this wasn't the
'real' dance.  It was the dress rehearsal for parents and whoever else
wanted to go.  It ended at 7pm.  Friday was the real day.  We got up at
around 6:30, I took a shower, my host sister's friend came over and her
and my host sister did my hair.  I only had about 10 minutes to finish
getting ready after they were done with my hair.  At 9am, my partner
and another boy, named Arto, picked me up and we went to the sports
hall for the second of three performances.  It ended after about an
hour.  That dance was mainly for the lower schools and I guess whoever
else wanted to go.  After that, another pair, Pekka and Anna, and my
partner and I went to our school for the cocktail party.  When that
ended, we had about 2 hours to go to schools and nursing homes and such
to visit little kids and grandparents and show them our dresses.  So we
went to a school called Kuusjärvi.  There were about 3 other couples
there and we thought we'd just show them our dresses and they'd ask us
questions and stuff.  Wrong.  They made us dance there.  And it was to
different versions of the songs we practiced so the whole 'dance' got
messed up.  But it was ok, they didn't really know how it was supposed
to go anyways.  We went to a couple of other schools and then back to
the sports hall for the third and most important dance.  That dance
went the best and was the most fun as well.  It ended at around 3pm I
think and at 5 we had the after party.  That turned out
pretty....interesting.  But the dance was so much fun.
      But other than that, life in Finland has been life.  The prices
are still high, the temperature is still low, I saw a finnish play with
my host club, but school is still school.  We're still on our 'ski
break', but it ends on Monday...which is the day after tomorrow...tuo
sukkaa tosiaan.  Next week I'm visiting my exchange student friend (Lisa
from Germany) in Savonlinna.  And just like every other month, this one
is going by equally as fast.  So, I guess that is what's been going on
so far.  Oh, and I saw the new outbound pictures are up!  You could not
imagine how excited I was to see those pictures!  But I was
dissapointed to see the orientation wasn't held at Indian Hammock. 
But, ok, that's my life in Finland up until now.
Nähdään kaikille!
Moikka!
-Jillian Flon, outbound in Finland