Thursday, October 13, 2011

Four Girls and Magic Jeans

Well it is time again for me to put aside my precious, tv watching, book reading, time to update my now 14 followers, and other possible readers on my current adventures in Finland. Yes, don't judge but I totally get excited when I get new followers or comments. I love to look at my stats and find that hundreds of people have read my blog from all over the world. The only problem is that now all my Finnish friends read my blog so I can't make fun of their dressing habits anymore. There is no particularly monumental event in the past to weeks to focus on, so I'm going for a write what comes to mind approach.
Probably the biggest thing that is starting to change is that I have gotten a bit of a social life. It is hard to believe how little you get out as a foreign exchange student because it seems like they are always doing something. That may be so, but it really takes time to build the relationships where people actually invite you to do things. At the same time I believe some culture shock is starting to hit me. It took a while to notice this, but a lot of things that fascinated me in the beginning are now just normal. The taste of salmiakki is no longer cool to like, it just leaves a nasty aftertaste. We have been through an entire rotation of lunch food so I'm no longer trying new things, I am just eating enormous amounts of salad and bread to compensate for the fact that I dislike a lot of school lunch foods. Riding a bike to school loses its appeal when it is 40 degrees farenheight and your adorable fingerless gloves are leaving your thumbs numb. Mostly there is too much time to get anything done. It seems like anytime in the past when I am really busy with school work and activities that is when I get the most work done. Now that I have virtually all day to get my half of an assignment done I never seem to find the time to do it. In orientation they tell you  not to isolate yourself, but what is there to do when you have nothing to do?
My exchange friend L from Germany came over last Friday to spend the night and that was a lot of fun. We made macaroni and cheese (she's an herbivore) a delicacy I have waited to long to make. Then we watched Date Night and Four Girls and Magic Jeans. It is better known in English as The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, but that is the literal translation of the Finnish title.
I have finally gotten my mother to send me a care pakage full of what I'm sure is lots of wonderful licorice free american candy. I'm really excited to share it with my finnish friends and to hoard all the chex mix for myself. Now I can show them what I mean when I tell them that their juice boxes here taste like pixie sticks and water.
Lastly after today and Friday I have nine days of Syysloma (fall break) full of travelling adventures which should give me something to write about. This weekend I'm going with my host sister up to Oulu to stay with her cousins and then next week I'm going to Helsinki and Stolkholm. I look forward to updating you all and hopefully taking some great pictures to make up for the fact that I haven't taken any in a true Maggie fashion.
Remember to follow my blog so that the numbers increase my self confidence and that you are always free to send me fan mail full of chex mix and cheesy goldfish!