Last Weekend

I had really nice weekend! On friday my family wanted to take me to corn maze. It was huge and it took hour and a half from us. I would have been complitly lost there without my hostdad, it was night and so dark... I still had fun and after the maze we took hay ride. There was different games, activities and some food outside of the maze (if you didn't want to go... haha)

Left to right: Morgan, Nathan, Jenna, Alyssa, me and Rich

Hay ride

 Nathan called, haha

Saturday we went watch Alyssa's soccer game and then ran to Walmart get some halloween stuff. I had my first motorcycle ride with my dad and it was awesome... It just feels so cool I could do that all the time. Actually here in Pennsylvania you don't have to wear helmet while riding, it's really scary and weird! Later that day we had Nathan's girlfriends halloween party and whole family was invited. Everyone had to dress up and we made dessert for the party, they turn out really great! 

That is chocolate pudding, ''dirt'' is oreos, marshmallow pumpkin and ghost

 Doing ricekrispie treats

Pumpkin ricekrispies on the right!

 Love bonfires

Food coma

On sunday I slept late and after I woke up I finished my english presentation. About 2pm we were ready to go see my representative (aluevalvoja) to her house. I love her she's sweetheart!! Before that we went to Wendy's get some lunch and I loved their soda machine, haha! We were home maybe after nine and I tried to go to bed early - as always... My weekend was good and it felt somehow longer? That doesn't happen very often so I should be glad. Here is some pictures that I took while we were driving.

Leaving...

 We drove thru the military cemetary, it was really pretty

Happy monday everybody! Almost tuesday...

Terkut mummille ja ukille!

-Ella

Second month

2 months in Pennsylvania...  I don't know how I should start, first thing that confused me is that two months from now is almost christmas. And then is new  year's eve, what? When I'm thinking how fast these two months went it scares me to imagine time after new years.  It always goes really quickly, and now I'm here!!

I really do like my family. We get along really well, they're caring, we have so much fun together and I can be myself around them. I really enjoy being part of this family and that's exactly how I feel, I'm one of them! I love that they're joking all the time but they still know when to be serious.  I think we've got much closer after month and it's neat to see that.  First month was kind of getting know everyone  and adjusting  to be here. Now, I feel more like home, this is not just some place I'll spend next 8 months. Believe or not, at first it was hard to say  "I'm going home " or "We're going to our house".  Now house where I live feels like my home and it's nice to say so.

I played soccer this fall and actually I still do.  We made it to districts and it's the first time ever our  soccer girls made this far. Our first game is on monday and I am really excited.  Our team has had dinners together, breakfast and we also raised money for us by washing cars!  I love when we are doing things like this together and we'll have more.  I feel our team is close and everybody support each other. I have got good friends because of soccer, so I can't  recommend enough to start playing sports while your exchange year.

My everyday life is nice, no doubt. I don't have much homework and usually it won't take long (=because every other day I have two studyhalls "läksy tunti".) when I'm back home after school we eat dinner together and share things that happened. I really like to help my parents here with food because it's good time to talk about everything what is on my mind. I always try to go to bed early, but it usually doesn't work because a) I always stay up hanging out in the kitchen talking or b) our day was just really long and busy. There is five kids in our family (including me) so we have always something. Now, when soccer season is over our life calms down, haha. Last two months we had soccer games every week, sometimes we had almost ten in a week! All the kids play soccer and my older sister plays softball. Sports definitely keep us busy!

School is going okay! Tests/quizzes are much easier than in Finland because usually we have multiple choise tests or matching. Some words are harder for me and I have no clue what they mean, but I try to learn them! Spelling isn't that hard though. In Finland teachers were really strict about english words and their spelling so it's quit easy to write them correctly. However here it seems to be harder for students. That's why I love finnish. You write it how you pronounce it.

 I am really happy right now I love to be here and I try enjoy every day. Time goes soo fast and I have so much things that I want experience while I am here. 3rd month started today and we'll see what happens. On sunday we had pumpkin carving and dinner with soccer team. I carved my first pumpkin and I'll totally do that next year it was really cool.

Have a great week!

-Ella

'Merica!

Here is some foods and drinks that are popular here. I have no clue why I wanted to do post like this, but here we go! There is bunch of other things too, but these came my mind at first.

Ranch;  So this salad dressing is everywhere, literally everywhere! People dip their pizza and vegetables in it, subs, wraps, wings, celery and then there is ranch chips and seeds... I could continue this list so long. I think ranch tastes same as caesar salad dressing? Am I wrong? You can get that from any place you'll go. I think it's OK, but you don't have to eat it with everything...

Snack food; I think we have no "snack" culture in Finland, or maybe we do but it's not so big thing. It's called ''välipala'' but usually we just eat for example bread, yogurt or fruits. We don't have certain foods that we're eating. However, here, we have peanuts, chips, candy, crackers (too many), pretzel sticks and snack packets... People take these for lunch (which feels funny) or eat them after school. I've learned to eat them, but I still can't eat pack of chips after soccer game... It just feels really odd.

Pop tarts; Yes, It's a tart/pastry and you'll toast it in a toaster. Although, many people eat them ''raw'' including my siblings here, but I won't do that. There is bunch of different flavors and people eat them for breakfast or whenever... I just love them. Quick and easy!

Gatorade/Powerade; It's a recovery drink, but people here drink it like a soda, which is good thing though. It's littlebit more expensive than soda but way healthier. So usually all athletic people drink it because they don't want to drink soda... They have many different flavours and sizes.

Iced tea; Is reeeally popular here! There is so many different kinds that it's always hard to choose. I think everyone drink it. My favorite is raspberry tea, yum!

Apple sauce; This is the weirdest thing in here at the moment. I'm just so confused, anyone with me? So people eat or drink apple sauce from little plastic cups (like yougurt cups, but smaller). And applesauce just reminds me of jam. Maybe I should taste that.

Tater tots; They're pretty same as french fries. It's made from deep-fried, grated potatoes. They're softer and different size as you can see. Tots are really common at school lunch. 

Pumpkin/spice; At the moment pumpkin is really popular because it's fall time. From candles to all the foods. Cookies, coffee, candy, pies etc... They started to sell pumpkin staff already in August, haha. Americans just love it!

Chocolate milk; My little sister loves it! Sweetened cocoa-flavored milk, delicious! It's pretty expensive though, I don't know why. We can get that also at school lunches.

HOMECOMING 2k15

Pictures before homecoming dances.Thank you all!  After homecoming students usually go ''after parties'' with their friends, aaaand that's why many people left so early... Eventually I decided to go home with Justin, Jordyn, Braden and Jess. Also my younger brother Nathan had some friends over. We ordered pizza (also cookie pizza!!??) and watched a movie. Our homecoming theme was 20's and it was really cool. You could see how much work people had done for decorations and whole dances! It was lovely to dress up nicely, do your hair, nails... Usually I'm too lazy for that, haha. Love to see people wearing dresses and ties, it just feels so classy! We need homecoming, Finland. Now pictures.

 Left to right: Morgan, Nathan, Jordyn and Justin

 Fam <3

 Morgan, Sophie and I

 Love you!!! SOCCER TEAM

 Jess and I (and some creeper)

 Jordyn <3

 Lovely Sarah!

Family pic

Awwee,, Justin, Jordyn + Braden, Jess

-Ella