Rosalyn - Finland

A photo from near where I stayed with my host family in Loimaa, Finland. 

I stayed on a farm with the Jumppanen family with their animals; 5 cats, a dog, 2 horses, 2 ponies and 3 goats. I also stayed with Jaylee, one of the other youths, from America.

During my host family stay: 

• We visited a 'dancing club' nearby

• Went to the Sarka museum, an agricultural museum 

• Played mini-golf 

• Visited an old mill 

• Went blueberry picking in the forest on the Jumppanen's land

• Spent the day at Turku castle where we met quite a few of the people going to Naantali camp 

• Visited their summer house

• Played a 12-hour game of Monopoly, New Forest edition (the gift I gave them)

At camp:

• Played cards whilst waiting for everyone to arrive and had a tour of the camp, which was sat on the edge of a hill by the beach on a bay

• Went swimming and sauna lots of times during the 2 weeks

• Learnt to play golf

• Played games, volleyball and some Finnish games

• Went on a day-boat trip to watch the tall-ships (that only happens once every four years in Finland)

• Celebrated Finnish Christmas

• Went on a 3-day boat trip around the archipelago and visited 3 different unique islands

• Visited Naantali, Turku and Uusikaupunki

• Went on a 6km walk 

Going to Finland was one of (if not) the best experiences of my life and I am so lucky I was able to experience it. I miss the people I met probably most of the time since I returned home. I think I will want to look back on the time in Finland for the rest of my life and, most likely, it will always either make me smile or cry when I do look back (maybe both).