South African Finn

I've always had a fascination about the USSR its history and how it is now, more especially I was very fascinated with Russia its history and the present. I recieved a great opportunity to go to St Petersburg Russia( the city that was the Capital of Russia before Moscow) on a Rotary tour. Needless to say St Petersburg has ALWAYS been one of the destinations on my travel list. I had the great privillege of being able to go and experience it for what it has to offer. Two Days before the departure I was facing some health problems with people asking me is it really necessary for me to go in My condition, and honestly I couldnt care how I felt this is Russia after all. 24 March 2016 the big day came bags packed, heart excited feeling a lot healthier and simply impatient to get going I finally left for Russia. It was so great meeting other Exchange Students (my oldies namely) and of course reuniting with my fellow newbies. After countless stops at authority points checking our docume...

For those that know me personally know that I have 2 left feet and a body harder than an iron rod. I however took the bull by the horns and asked to participate in my schools Vanhojen Tannsit(Wanhat Dance in English) which is for the 2nd graders of senior high school as they about to become the school seniors( the 3rd graders are finishing school and writing their matriculation exams). Knowing that this was a risk the headmaster initially objected to me doing the dance because the learners had already been practicing for over a month now. However I still tried, practicing on my own learning all the dance moves. A week before the dance finally getting a dance partner, I got the green light to do the dance. Learning 10 dances like the Waltz and Tango in 3 weeks is not something that can be easily done I however did it and on the 18th of February( which also happened to be my brothers birthday) was the first performance of the dance. With all the ladies in the big beautiful gowns and gent...

13 February 2016, at Mesillä Lumikeskus at the Gamus Family Day I learnt how to snowboard. One of the scariest yet coolest experiences of my life. And once again I was with Jurppa with Kasperi(my youngest host brother) joining us on his ski's. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153931969999539&id=671809538 Once again a great day in Suomi!

While all my friends are preparing to move out of home and start the adult life at their various universities, here I am thousands of kilometers away in the warm weather of -5°C making my way to Kannak sen Lukio along with my host father ,Juri, or as we affectionately call him Jurppa ( and no that name was not of my choosing I was told of it my first day here). We arrived at school and had a meeting with the principal after choosing my courses that are to start after 2 weeks because of the pending test week. For those that know me know that art isn't my strong point I however chose it as one of my courses. One would think school would be similar it however gave me the biggest culture shock since my arrival. Including the amount of stares received but hardly any greeting, I took the power into my hands to greet people but the number of scared looks I received scared even me. The amount of trust that is between teacher and student is amazing even to an extent of calling the teachers ...

17th January a day after arrival in this wonderful country. I head off yet the airport to meet other exchange students and head off to Karrku for a week long orientation camp. It was amazing to meet other crazy people who took such a life changing decision. We were greeted by our 'Oldies' who wished us luck for the week and the year that's ahead of us. All of us came from relatively warm countries and had the same sentiments about the cold Nordic weather but we couldn't be happier. As the week starts the temperature goes to a chilling minus 22 degrees. The week of learning began. We did various activities through out the week such as sauna along with avanto(which I didn't do cause when I got to the lake my body was freezing). I learnt how to ski and on Tuesday we went on hike to the forest and spent some time on the frozen lake. We had tour to the beautiful town of Tampere on Wednesday, and had a candle service at the Karkku church on Thursday. The highlight was ...