Karkku Camp

Finally arrived in Finland after days in being trapped inside of a small airplane, and 3 hours of sleeping on a bus, I arrived at the Karkku school. Which is pretty much like a boarding school that is similar to a small town in Australia. It almost felt like home in Yeppoon, however there wasn't a coffee shop, within a 1 kilometre radius. Just small coffee machines everywhere.

After the 3 hour bus trip we were facing freezing temperatures outside and I, only had a THIN Jumper on. With the temperature 20 degrees below zero, I now know the feeling of not Feeling your toes, ears, nose, whole face for that matter, and fingers AND the door to the inside of the school was literally 3 metres away. I loved every second of the cold, because it was so knew. Once we had warmers clothes I was outside enjoying the snow, jumping into it, and digging in it like it was white sand on a beach.

I really wanted to make a snowman yet, it just didn't work, the snow would not stick together. This was apparently because it was TOO COLD, so my dreams of fulfilling the song from Frozen where crushed. Another bad thing was that My phone couldn't handle -27 degrees celsius, so I couldn't take pictures either. But all of this didn't ruin my good mood. I was very happy and also very jet-lagged. But it was only 5pm in the afternoon so I needed to stay awake for another 5 hours.

However, Staying awake was very easy with the company of my two friends William and Fergus, as well as the Rotex (there the people who have done exchange before), where we just talked until it was 10pm at night.

The next morning we woke up very early, I was super annoyed, and slightly tired and hungry. Luckily every Breakfast was a Buffet, so I was happy as larry when piling on mountains of salad, meat, sauce, and bread unto my plate. It was great.

Then we had our first lesson with Mimmu our Finnish teacher.

Did that for about 6 hours each day, sometimes more, but we got frequent breaks and I learnt a lot of Finnish, which is awesome. Also we got put into small groups of 2 to 3 people and given a rotex as a tutor.

Then after that we did the SAUNA. It was very interesting, not fun but really relaxing and almost comforting. And the boys and I, so Otto (Rotex), William and Fergus, all did the Finnish way. Though Otto was already Finnish, so he did it the Finnish way......

WARNING THERE IS SUGGESTIONS OF NUDITY BELOW

Anyway we went NAKED! BUTT NAKED! I had reached the ultimate form. It was truly a great feeling of removing the shackles of clothing and putting on display what my parents gave me. AND we also did Ovanto, which is the term given when you jump into the frozen lake. Let me just tell you, it was cold, the frozen lake was very cold. And I LOVED IT. I didn't jump into the lake naked though, because there where girls in the sauna next to us.

SO That was awesome, then we had snack, and then in bed by 10 where I slept like a baby until 5 am in the morning. Yeah my body was still getting used to the time in Finland.

Woke up, got dressed, had breakfast, had more lessons with Mimmu, and then we got to go SLEDING, which was so much fun. I tried going as fast as possible, but after about the third time going down the hill I may or may not have broke my sled. In my defence it was plastic, and I am 100kg of sexy.

After that I think we might have done the forest tour, where we got to experience many different activities in Finland Camping. Such as skiing, having warm Mehu, and trying to walk in snow boots, trying slow cooked salmon, cooking makara (sausage) on a stick like a marshmallow, and then eating that beautiful sausage, and then cooking and eating pancakes. It was fantastic. oh and also trying Ice Fishing. I may or may not have broke a fishing rod. But I didn't break the drill with which you create the hole with. Oh and we also got to wear these massive jackets that made us all look like Oompa loompas.

On the Wednesday we woke up, had lessons and then went to the nearby city called Tampere. It was super cool, we went on a tour of Tampere, and saw the churches and the tallest point of Lahti, it was super cool. Then we got to roam the city. Where Will, Gus and I, just looked for a really cheap food store that was Finnish. Where we found HesBurger, its like hungry jacks but finnish. Got to look at all the pretty lights, and also I wondered into a shop where it was a knitting place, there was wool everywhere. Once I got in their I really wanted to learn how to knit. On the way back we got to look at all the pretty lights, it was great. I loved it.

After the Tampere trip we had a small gathering with the KEO (the name of the school) students, and played lots of different games. I was very bad at all of them, and mostly tried but failed at winning the games, such as Musical Chairs, names games, more name games, did I mention the name game. Yeah I try really hard to remember peoples names but I am not the best, and kinda failed at those.

Other than that I got to be friends with many of the students where I was studying.

The next day we did more lessons and visited the candle church nearby the school. It was really nice, peaceful and it was a beautiful church.

After though, it was SAUNA AGAIN!!!! Yeah.

This time we went naked again, and then sung a sauna song. So the song goes like this

Lorentsia oi pieni lorentsia viene,

Milu sinut nahdaant saan!

Kon on Mannantai (monday)

Lorentsia ......

add another day

Keep repeating process until you reach sunday.

so when you have done saturday it looks like this

Lorentsia oi pieni lorentsia viene,

Milu sinut nahdaant saan!

Kon on Mannantai (monday)

Kon on Tiistai (Tuesday)

Kon on Keskivikoi (Wednesday)

Kon on Torstai (Thursday)

Kon on Peranntai (Friday)

Kon on Launantai (Saturday)

Kon on Sunnantai (sunday)

And each time we say a day of the week, we add more water to the hot rocks. IT GOT REALLY HOT. Like i made it to the last day sunday, but I got out on Keskivikoi. cause it was too hot.

On the last day we did lots of lessons and then had a cozy night where we performed different acts and songs such as Nutbush city, baby shark, and I got to demonstrate AIkido. That was a fantastic night. I had a lot of fun.

The next day we where preparing to go to our host families. I finally got meet mine, and they are super nice, and also not like how finnish people are said to be. Finnish people are said to like silence a lot, don't talk much and can be quite cold. However My family was warm and kind and we got to talk a lot. At about 12 I left the rotex and other Australian Exchange students and started the 2hr and a half trip to Lahti where I will stay with my host family.

I tell you, It was a great week.

Kiitos for Reading

Stay Awesome

Fletcher Kendall