Ok, so about a month has passed since I wrote last, and this month has been slightly less hectic, but still filled with adventure and such.

First off, I spent a weekend at my hostparent's summer\winter cottage in Ruka, which is basiclly a ski resort town outside of Kuusamo. It was rainy and cold, but that was to be expected at this point. Most of the weekend was spent socailzing with the neighbors there and going to sauna, but one day the weather did clear up slightly and I went for a nature walk with the neighbors there while my host father duck hunted. The scenery was beautiful, though it was raining still slightly so I couldnt bring my camera. We went through the forest and saw many rapids and waterfalls, and wild berries growing in the brush on the ground. Eventually we were almost to the next stop on the trail and I wanted to go ahead and see it, and the little kids that were there were getting tired, so i was instructed to go ahead by myself and they would wait back at the first checkpoint. to make a long story short i followed the wrong trail on the way back, got terribly lost and scared, and ended up seeing a large billboard informing me i was nearing the russian boerder. knowing i was going the wrong way, i turned back and eventually found them, but not without seeing a wild cow graizng in the mountain on my way back. No one seems to beleive me about the cow or the sign, but i know what i saw. The drive back to oulu that day was uneventful, but we saw severl Poron, or Reindeer, and they looked really cool and not too similar to white tailed deer. I wanted to see a moose, but i guess i didnt have that kind of luck.

Other than that I have just been living life here, not going on any special excursions to tell abouut or anything. Ive made some pretty good friends, and got to join in on their fun, and observe Finns in their natural habitat, which seems to be a basement playing dungeons and dragons. Conciderd odd in the USA, but here its only slightly strange. I finally met up with the other exchangers in oulu last tuesday, Peter from Austrailia who has already been here 8months, and Macky, who is from Wisconson and came over when I did. They were fun, and it was good to see them and see that other people are here too going through the same things. Though meeting Peter was somewhat disheartening, because he still dosent speak Finnish that much, and is on the last legs of his exchange. Thats what I've heard from many people who have been in Finland actully, and not cutting them down, because I can kind of see that happening to me too. I try to learn it and study and go to Finnish lessons, but its so hard to practice it because the Finns know so good english and get frusturated when they cant understand you, so they just speak in english. Including my host family, though Im making an attempt.

As for the weather, which Im sure everyone is curious about, its not so bad when it isnt raining while one is trying to ride a bike 3km or so in the freezing rain. It is getting darker sooner and is pretty much overcast all day, so I never see the sun anymore. Finns say it'll be less depressing once the snow comes, but I dont see how so. The average temp in my city now is about 7 C.

Other than all that, Im trying out for a play today, which is supposed to be a satire making fun of Macbeth mixed with Hamlet. I want to be the fool. The play is, like so many other things, in English language, but what can you do sometimes? Two weekends from now is the district meeting with the other exchangers in Northern Finland, which will be fun I guess. Something to look foreward to at any rate.