BUSY TIMES

Time flies, as they say. I haven't really had time to write anything here, for I haven't even had time to skype with my family! (now I have. priorities.) My life has been real excitement while I've been here, and I'm enjoying it every day. It's crazy to think that I've been here for two months already!

The only time I was sort of terrified was when I had to fly all on my own from Houston to Salt Lake City (I had always had the company of other exchange students on my former flights), but it was all good. The only thing that went wrong was that I wandered off to the wrong terminal in SLC, so it was a bit awkward for me to meet my host family like that. But that's just me. It would've been a miracle if something like that hadn't happened.

My host family is great. I'm afraid I'm not good at showing it to them, but I really like it here. Naturally it can get a little tiring with six younger siblings, so I do enjoy my hours alone as well. They're all amazing, though. While being here, I have realized how much I like cooking, and I'm always happy to cook or bake something Finnish for them (and for myself obvs).

SCHOOL

Our school's theme this year is "wake up", and it means that we should all start living life the fullest, and involve in as many things as possible. And that's exactly what I aim to do. I'm already in the school musical Music Man, and I auditioned for our school's improv team, sort of. I only did it for the credit, but it sure was fun.

My classes for this half of the year are psychology, a cappella choir, theatre, US history, math, team sports, foods, and language arts. I love every single one of them. The teachers are so much nicer than my high school teachers back in Finland. Also, I've recently formed a conscious love for pscyhology, which is great. I've always found it fascinating, but now I'm just all about it. This may be attributed to the awesomeness of my teacher, and that I got 100% on both of my tests so far. And a ton of extra credit for being a know-it-all. I just love it, okay?

It is incredible to be part of such wonderful choir as the A'capella choir. Thank you all so much for donating money for us. I couldn't be more grateful. If everything goes smoothly, I may be singing in Disneyland California and going to Universal Studios Hollywood in April. Eeks!

MOUNTAINS

I've already been to two hikes, although they were pretty much the beginner level kinds, I think. It was fun, and they made me realize how much I love the mountains. Even the view from our house is gorgeous because of them, not to mention what it's like when you go a little higher up. Me and my friends are planning on going on a hike sometime, and I'm super duper excited to take pictures of the beautiful nature. The company wouldn't be bad, either. I love you, guys!

CHURCH

The church is quite different from our church in Finland. The first hour of it is not, but what we don't have are the lessons and Young Women's afterwards. It's great, though. It's a good chance to spend time with your friends on Sundays, as the rest of the day should be spent with the family. Honestly, I like it. Especially the youth activity on Wednesdays is great, it reminds me of our church activity back in Finland. Of course life in a religious family differs from what I'm used to, but my host family is lovely and understanding, they don't make me do anything if I don't feel like it, or try to change my beliefs, it's all good. I agree with most of the things I've heard and learned about this religion, but I'm just EVL and not LDS.

FOOD

I wasn't planning for this to be one of my subheads, but I just gotta. Luckily, I get to stay with a fairly healthy family, so I won't come back to Finland weighing 400 pounds (hopefully). The school lunch doesn't look too appealing to me, so I've been bringing my own lunch every day, which I'm kind of getting tired of. Not that I have to bring it myself, because it's awesome, but that it's almost the same every single day. The only difference is basically if I will have grapes or an apple that day. If anyone has any easy lunch ideas that I could possibly make the day before, please speak. I guess I'm just picky. I don't really like cold food, unless it's salad or something like that. And salad gets gross very quickly. Oh, what am I saying, I just need to go to Walmart, and I'm sure I will find something new.

TRIPS AND EVENTS

There are so many things that I've done, it feels exhausting to even think about writing all that here, but I'll do my best. I would've posted this like a month ago, but this was the one stopping me. I procrastinate, even though I know it's bad and I shouldn't. Honestly, I'm just going to word-vomit all I can think about this subject or I will never get to write on my blog again. If you want to know more specific information about something, please don't hesitate to leave a comment here or just text me or something.

The things that stand out the most are obviously the things out of the ordinary. Some of those amazing things have been our trip to Idaho, and Bear lake, Utah State Fair, a BYU football game, and our school's homecoming game.  A welcome dinner for exchange students, a walk for children's cancer, a Finnish reunion, plenty of barbecues, our drives to the mountains, a visit to Downtown Salt Lake, our school's assemblies, a drama club social, our musical rehearsals, free cookie fridays, and ugh, just everything. I don't think I even have anything ordinary to compare to, not yet at least. It feels like there's always something going on. For example, we have our first choir concert tomorrow, and on wednesday we're leaving for our trip to St. George (super excited!!).

But now, I'm tired. First I had rehearsal till 5:30, came home to eat, and then we went to a pumpkin patch to get us some pumpkins. It sure has been another fun day today, and I'm excited for tomorrow. + I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like this whole text is lame and full of grammar mistakes and I will probably have edit this later, but we'll see. Next update will be about St. George, so be prepared! (it should take less time to write than this!)

Noniin kiitos nam suomea. Tä koko teksti mitä kirjotin enkuks oi jotenki mulle hirveetä väkisintyöntämistä, enkä tiiä mistä se johtuu. Ehkä ei oo ollu vaan mun kielipäivä tänään, ken tietää. Luulis nyt kun on käyttänyt kaks kuukautta englantia jokapäiväisenä kielenä, et olis suht helppo kirjottaa jotain niin yksinkertasta kun et mitä on tehny. Mut sit oon kans huomannu et moni tääl ei oikeen välitä kielioppiasioista, ja tietyt tavat sanoa asioita on tarttunut muhunki. Esim. ei täällä kukaan sano "there are" vaikka oliski kyse monikosta, vaan sanotaan vaan there is /there's. Pikkujuttuja, mut silti.

Kaks kuukautta!! Mun piti tehä sellanen postaus et "kuukaus täällä jeejee" mut, kyl te tiiätte mut. Niinku mä mitään tekisin ajallaan. Mut se on ihan okei. Oon pystyny keskittymään tärkeempiin asioihin, enkä jaksa stressata tästä bloginpitämisestä.  Tä on vähän niinku päiväkirja mulle, jonka vaan jaan mulle tärkeille ihmisille. Ja se on ihan ok, jos ei joka päivä (viikko, kuukausi...) tänne kirjottaiskaan. Stressistä vielä, mul ei sitä oikeen oo? Pitkästä aikaa mun elämässä tuntuu ettei oikeestaan tarviikkaan stressata joka asiasta, ja et on ihan okei jos ei tee kaikkea täydellisesti. Ja tiiättekö mitä. Se tuntuu hyvältä. Mun mielenterveys kokonaisuudessaan on paljon parempi kun mitä se oli ennen kun lähdin, ja moni asia tuntuu paljon selkeemmältä mulle. Tykkään.

Tykkään kans tosi paljon näist ihmisistä keiden kans saan olla, en olis osannut toivoa parempaa host-perhettä tai kaveriporukkaa. Ollaan niin samanhenkisiä mun kavereiden kans, ettei uskonnol siin kohtaa oo mitään merkitystä. Täs al kuva yhest ihanast kikkarapääst ku heiteltiin väriliitupulveria toisiamme päi.