kakskukuus - 26

Oh boy, the big huge post. Let's get started. So friday, ah, nice and short. I didn't leave the house until 9 30 and when I got to school I had art for an hour. Art is a wonderful subject, I am so glad I am taking it. My art teacher, although crazy, is so creative and she creates such cool stuff. It's all so random ! Lunch was really good. I don't remember what we had, but I think it was good, really good. We spent the whole lunch trying to avoid some stalker kid of Annina's, thattt was hilarious. And I met Piia's ex-boyfriend who was really sweet. And thennnn, I got picked up and we headed for Helsinki. The three hour ride went by really fast, I didn't sleep, I drew. I have found a sudden passion for the pencil. I drew fruit. :] And a baby elephant ! "Ihaana elefanti piene" cute little elephant. When we got to Helsinki we drove on every road possible looking for parking. Eventually we parked by the water and had to be picked up by Maija's older sister Hannah [han - like han solo from star wars] and driven to the boat. When I say boat, I mean ship. This thing was HUGE. It was called the Mariella and it was the biggest thing I've ever been on. When we got on we went down to floor five where we found our room. Yes, our room. Because we were sleeping on the boat ! I though that we would stay in a hotel in Sweden, but no, you sleep on the boat. And eat on the boat. And play games on the boat. And oh my goodness, everyythinggg was on this boat. Including a tax-free grocery store ! Friday night we hung out on the deck a lot, it was so windy, but so nice. There was a big seating room called the "Fun Club" which was a bar and had a stage and what not. So we, Lauri, Maria, Anna, Maija, Janne and Kristiina, Hannah, and myself, sat in chairs and listened to drunk people try and sing while others danced. Quite entertaining :] We had dinner around 9 00 that night and boy was it interesting. Finnish people love to eat, a lot. They start with four rounds of appetizers that look like this: unleavened bread with reindeer meat; seaweed, mayonaise, and onions; pork neck; liver; etc. And then you have the main course. Maija, Lauri, Hannah, and I all got hamburgers, but there were lots of other "finnish" courses as well, but I wasn't that brave. The adults stayed in the restaurant until around 11 that night, just eating and eating and eating, it was crazy ! We had breakfast at 10 the next morning and arrived in Sweden around 11. When we got to stockholm we just walked around and shopped for like five hours, visiting random old buildings, but I took lots of pictures and some videos, I'm sure you'll feel like you're actually there ! We went back to the boat around 4 ish and just walked around for a bit. Maija and I were addicted to "joker poker" the arcade game, I was so lucky ! Dinner that night was a lot better, we went to the buffet and were allowed to choose our own food, so that was nice. There was some really good, cooked, reindeer meat, I really enjoyed it. After dinner we did some more touring of the boat and its many adventures, losing our money, winning it back, gambling is a terrible addiction. Later that night we got all dolled up and headed up to the "Fun Club" again. This time Janne, Kristiina, Maria, Maija and I all went up and danced. It was probably the most embarassing thing I have ever done, but so much fun ! A couple of boys came over and sat next to Maija and I and started asking us how old we were, if we'd go sing with them, etc. I of course don't speak finnish, so the boy I was talking to just kept repeating "I'm sorry, my english is crappy." And other variations of that, ahaha. We finally got tired of the "Fun Club" and turned in for the night for some much needed sleep. We woke up this morning around 8, showered, and had a delicious breakfast at 9. We spent the rest of the morning packing and cleaning our, reallyyyy messy, room and arrived back in Helsinki around 11. And then we began our three hour trek back home stopping for coffee and cake somewhere inbetween. I think I would like to own a bed and breakfast when I grow up. That would be so much fun I think, having your house be a little hotel :] How cute...anyways, so we got home around 3 ish. I didn't do much except upload and edit pictures, which you can view at www.flickr.com/ilovepaige345. There are more pictures that I will put up in a later post, but the ones on my flickr will be prettier and more of the artsy fartsy type. I decided that I felt hugeeee from eating so much this weekend so I went on a nice bike ride to the edge of the lake when Petra called ! She asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride, and I of course said yes seeing as I was already out and riding :] We went all the way to Heikilä which is a bit outside Palokka. We visited all the beach spots and played on a playground for awhile. When we went back we took the long way and rode all the way around the lake. We probably rode about 15-20 km in all. It was really nice out, aka not raining ! But it was so pretty, everything here is so pretty and greeen, I love it. And now I am off to webcam my wonderful family ! Hope you enjoyed this super long post, pictures coming soon !