THANK YOU

As you may know, I always to try to post stuff on a day that has some meaning to me. Well, today's my and my mothers and my mother's mother's name day, so what a better day to post than today. This post has a few updates on my life, and I don't have a lot of pictures to show you, but I tried my best. Also because I'm tired and want to go to sleep, I may add some things here later... I feel like I always say that, but never do. Oh well.

h a l l o w e e n :

In stead of Halloween being just one night of the year, here it was the whole month of October. I trick-or-treated for three times, and I didn't even go on the 31st! The first time that I recall was when we went to this nursing home my host dad's mom is in, and the little kids got to go trick-or-treating. The second time we had a Ward Halloween party, which was super fun, especially singing songs from Hamilton with my friends. Good times, man! And last but not least we all went to my host dad's office's halloween thing, and there I got the most candy I've probably ever had in my life.

On the actual Halloween night we went to a Haunted House with a bunch of my friends, and let me just tell you... That was legitimately one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life. Even though I was aware they can't touch me and I'm perfectly safe, and there's nothing to worry about, I still screamed when a clown with a chainsaw ran up to me. Shout out to Tiani for being my teddy bear to hold on to, and sorry I made your hand hurt.

m u s i c m a n :

We started practicing in the middle of September(?) and our closing night was on the 21st of November. This was an amazing production, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. I had the most fun, and I'm really going to miss seeing all my friends after school pretty much every day. I still have all the songs stuck in my head, and I'll probably remember some lyrics for the rest of my life. I want to thank everyone who made this possible. I'm so thankful for Mrs. McGuire for not losing her faith in us when we didn't know how to shut our cakeholes off-stage, and didn't remember the notes she gave us. I'm so thankful for the pit and the tech and my fellow cast members, I had a blast.

The performaces were so much fun; I had forgotten how much I loved performing to people. The little performances I've had in theatre have been fun, but because there will be a grade to it, I've been more anxious about it. Now I didn't have to worry about grades or any other meaningless things like that.

t h a n k s g i v i n g :

I'd say my first Thanksgiving was a success. I can definitely say I overate, and I heard someone say that Thanksgiving is, in fact, a celebration of overeating. I know this isn't the truth, but for me it pretty much was. I didn't hear a word about the actual reason Americans (and Canadians) celebrate Thanksgiving. It kind of surprised me when I realized that Thanksgiving isn't really that big of a deal we were told it was. My host mum even said that Thanksgiving is often overlooked when people get so excited for Christmas. Now, I remember that we were told in school that Thanksgiving is the biggest celebration of the year for Americans, and that it's even more important than Christmas. That statement is now debunked, for sure. Everybody's crazy for Christmas. Well, everybody in our school is crazy for Silver Rush, but only some people were crazy for Thanksgiving. I sure liked it, though. The food was good, and I was lucky enough to get three feasts. I ate more mashed potatoes and turkey that I've eaten in my whole life. And gravy, and stuffing, peas, corn, and yams. And pie! Pumpkin pie, apple pie, peach pie, pumpkin cake, cheese cake, and I made Finnish apple pie. Everything was so yummy, I need to make that stuff next year for my Finnish peeps.

On Friday it was officially time for Christmas; Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, Christmas songs, and we even watched the Elf that night. Man, I love that movie. Now I just want to quote it all the time. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

f r i e n d s :

I fall in love with my friends even more every single day. I am so grateful that I happened to move here in Utah, and go to Riverton High School; it has been amazing. I've had a couple of movie nights, and I'm hoping more to come, because it's so much fun. We watched a scary movie at Grace's, and played a murder game called Body, body, and I've got scars on my knees to prove it.

I saw the first Star Wars (episode 4) for the first time at Lilly's house, but the only thing I remember is Pancho, Han Solo's luscious chest hair, and Lilly and Faith making Chewbacca noises throughout the film. Austenland was pretty good, too. But the best thing about that night was that I got to pet a real-life cat for the first time in three months, and I'm not going to lie, I almost cried when I first saw Lilly's cat. I didn't tell her this, but I really had to convince myself that it is not appropriate to go to someone's house for the first time and start crying over a cat. Yes, I had tears in my eyes, Lilly. Happy tears. Baby kitty is beautiful, and so is Momma kitty. It really bugs me that I'm not able to be with the three little kitties my mum, stepdad, and little sister got. I just love cats so much. Also dogs; don't even get me started on how much I love and miss my doggy.

t h o u g h t s :

I AM SO FULL OF LOVE I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BURST. I don't know where to direct all this. I don't mean that I have a special someone that I fancy, because I don't. I just love everyone that's in my life right now. Everyone is just so beautiful and nice and urgh what is life? Surrounding yourself with loving, kind-hearted people that radiate positivity will make you happier than anything else in this world will ever be able to. At least that's how I feel. I'm so grateful for all of you people. I just want to bake everyone a pie to congratulate you for doing an amazing job of being a human. Nicely done.

Fun fact: I just went to see Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them with Aspen and Lilly, and I'm like dying of awe. It was everything I ever needed and more. Thank you J.K. Rowling and David Yates and Eddie Redmayne and everyone who was part of that masterpiece.

Nyt on Amerikkalainen Halloween ja kiitospäivä koettu. Eikä oo kyl mitään valittamista. Enemmänki et haluisin ens vuon Suomeen samoi fiiliksii ku tääl oli, eikä ketään varmaan haittais jos marraskuun neljännen torstain illalliseks tehtäiski perunamuussii ja kalkkunaa sun muuta. Jo ennen tänne tuloa ajattelin et "Amerikassa kaikki on isompaa", enkä voi sanoo et tä ajatus olis muuttunu millään tasolla. Nyt oon kans huomannut et amerikkalaiset pitää paljon enemmän hauskaa ku suomalaiset. Ainakin noin yleisellä tasolla, mun mielestä. Tästä esimerkkinä kun olin kerran tällases yliopistoinfotilaisuudes, 80% ajasta nä kaks esitteljää puhus vaan kaikist hauskoist aktiviteeteist ja loput ajast ite siit opiskelust. Täytyy kyl sanoo et jos amerikkalaisen opiskelijan elämä on tollast ni vähä tekis kyl mieli tulla tänne yliopistoo. Mut, käytännös maksuton opetus kyl pistää paremmaks noitten hintojen kanssa. Yh, dollarit vaan vilisee silmissä. Ainii ja toinen esimerkki: nää seurakunnan aktiviteetit on superhauskoja! On ollu elokuvailtaa ja kaikennäkösii paardei ja kerran käytiin ampumas toisiamme lasereilla (?!). Elämäni parhaimpia iltoja just tossa.

Tääl on nyt kiitospäivän jälkeen joulu ihan loistossaan, ja mäkin oon sortunu kuuntelemaan joitakin mun lempparijoululauluja (Varpunen jouluaamuna, En etsi valtaa, loistoa, That's Christmas to me, ah), vaikka lupasin itelleni odottavani joulukuun alkuun. Hankalaa se on, kun talossa on neljä joulukuusta, joulukoristeita on joka kulmassa ja jouluvalot hohtaa ulkona, joululaulut soi yläkerrassa ja perheleffaks valittiin the Elf. En malta odottaa! Oon kans suunnitellu itsenäisyyspäivän kunniaks pukeutuu tyyliin suomenlippuun koulus ja kirjottaa tänne pikku suomipostauksen, joten sitä odotellessa!