Sunday, March 14, 2010

Loma!



The ski hill on one of the windy days

Last week I went with my host family to Yllästunturi, a ski resort in northern finland, for the hiihtoloma, or ski holiday (the Finnish version of spring break). It was a lot of fun, and I took plenty of pictures :D And while it was a ski holiday, I spent my time there snowshoeing since my ski skills aren't really up to par. The snow may be starting to melt back in Minnesota, but its still holding on here, and my whole leg sunk into it more than once on my snowshoe adventures in the Finn-forests.



In the top picture, I have my tired face on. Veera, my host sister, was apparently not fazed by skiing though.


The cafe I got my coffee from, after snowshoeing up to the hill.


Satu, my host mom, is the smiling one trying to take my picture in the back.

The Finn-forest!


Another picture of the hill :)


Some Finn-forest scenery.

Hope this holds you all over for a little while :P
I move next weekend to my last host family, which is crazy. I'm going to miss the Valkeinen's a lot, but the Hendricksson's seem pretty cool :) I think it should go well! And there's soo much going on to keep me busy for the short four months I have left, its gone by so fast.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Snow Castle


So, this weekend I had two fellow American exchangees up to Kemi to stay over. It was a ton of fun, and on top of it, there ended up being a Rotex trip to Kemi's Snow Castle on the same weekend. So, we had plenty to do :D

The map above is the layout of this year's castle. They change it every year, and it take about a month to build.




Entrance hallway :)



The two 'icy bears' guarding the castle, as our tour guide told us.



One of the normal hotel rooms, they cost from 120 - 170 euros a night per person. And they are not very warm, haha.



The honeymoon suite, for the people that get married in the castle's snow chapel. Doesn't it look nice? Haha. Apparently around 30 couples a year get married in the chapel.



The snow chapel.



The snow stage, where they have mostly kid entertainers.


Since we were in Kemi, I got to act as the tour guide once we left the castle and finished our day of wandering the castle and tubing down the hill behind it. I guided everyone to San Milano, Kemi's best pizza place, which was a lot cheaper than the snow castle's restaurant. Yay!

After pizza, the other exchange students went back to their host cities by train, and Anna, Grace, and I all went back home and had a movie marathon while thawing out our feet.

This weekend was a ton of fun, and tomorrow is my birthday (woo) so I'm expecting it to continue for a while :D