News from the Arctic Circle

  Hi.

  YES, I acrossed the Arctic Circle.
  Last Wednesday I went to north. I took the train (like the smalest train ever), until Seinäjoki and after I changed the train to Oulu. 7 hours to see a friend that lives in Raahe. It was very nice to see her again.

It's the first time that I saw a train with only two wagons.

  She pick up us to take a little walk around Oulu, but the weather it was so bad and the ice on the floor melting that we decide to go "home". Raahe it's about one hour from Oulu. She lives in a farm, it's very nice place, with a lots of space and animals (only cats she have seven). At night we played Fishball.

  At morning of the next day we wake up very early to take the train to Rovaniemi. I slept almost all the trip, so I don't remember so much, but when we arrive in our destiny everything was white. Rovaniemi it's not a very interesting city. Everything goes around the tourism: Santa Claus, Northern Lights, Arctic Circle, Reindeers.

  There I visited the ARKTIKUM, the museum about the Arctic. That actually was very interesting, but very expensive (8€)

  After eating the lunch we went to the shopping center (me following the girls) and after that we went to the house of the real Santa Claus. There you also can across the Arctic Circle.

 Welcome home little kids!

 Also Conan O'Brian had visited Santa Claus. 

If you see this that means that you  are in the Arctic Circle.

  The photos are the worst part, almost you don't have the choice "Sorry I don't want". A woman comes, and starts to speak, and speak, and speak, and never stop, and show all the prices and the photos and the video that I didn't knew.

  After walking around in some souvenirs shop we went to some ski place to see the views of Rovaniemi.

  After we went home.

  On the next day we wake up quite late. We went to Raahe and we lunch at Subway. After we saw some second hand shops where I bought some socks for three euros (and usually costs 15€).

Keskusta

This is the street with a lots of second hand shops.

  After we came home by bus. In all the journey I was more than 20 hours between trains, buses and cars.

  On Saturday I went to sauna, next to the lake. I enter there and I swore for never more, I never was in such cold water, but the people of the house were extremely nice.

  Yesterday I made ice skating. 

  Now I can see that i made already all the three things of the title of the blog.

Suomi-Ruotsi-Suomi

   Hello Hello,

  In two weeks a lot happend, the hour changed, i've been in another country, snowed and the days are incredibly short.

  Let's start with my trip to Stockholm and Helsinki.
  Well, I arrived in Helsinki central station around 09:30 on 17th of this month and I was ready to explore the city.
  At morning i visited Kiasma, the Modern Art Museum and after the National Museum of Finland. We tried to enter in the Parliament, but we couldn't.

 Inside and outside of the museum. Half of time I was like "What the hell, how they can consider this art?" and the another half of time I was like "WOOOOOOOOW".

 And this is the Parlaiment.

Here is the National Museum.

  After eating (in McDonald's of course), we went to Ateneum wich is the Art Museum. Then we visited one of the icons of Helsinki, which is its Cathedral. It quite big, and it's almost exactly the same in all the sides. The next stop it's Uspenski Cathedral wich is the Orthodox Cathedral. For curiosity, it's the biggest Orthodox church in Western Europe. 

Find the differences.

 Before going to the Cathedral we saw this bridge of love.

Et Voilá

This is Havis Amanda. Havis Amanda this are the readers.

  I took the boat to Stockholm. I sang in a karaoke, and after I slept.

  I woke up and I was in Sweden. The archipelago of Stockholm it's very very beautiful, full of summer cottages (I think that were summer cottages) before enter in the city. I ate the breakfast of the boat, it was so wonderful, and I was so full after that I don't even needed to take the lunch.

  Around 10 o'clock i was in the city. I love Stockholm, and you can't visit the city in only one day. It was so so windy OMG, I don't remember to be in a place with a wind like that, and because of that I was freezing.

  At first we visited the Gamla Stan, which is the old part. There we visited a lots of churches and the Nobel Museum. I didn't liked so much to visited the museum.

 Oppan Gamla Stan

 The most interesting in the museum it was under the chairs because they are signed by the winners.

 The City Hall where they give the Nobel Prizes.

 We just walked around to see the city.

 I just loved to visit this: Vasa Museum. It's about a boat that sank a few centurys ago and it was recovered. It just sailed 1,5 km and fell into the depths.

 Because we were late and far away to take the boat we took another boat to be faster. (wiered)

Moikka Tukholma.

  On Saturday we went with my host family to see the Sibelius Monument and Temppeliaukio kirkko, and also "walk" around the city by car.

Sibelius Monument. This man is the creator of the national anthem.

 They also called to this church the Rocky Church

  At afternoon we visited the tower of the Olympic Stadium (in 1952 it was in Helsinki), where you can see a good view of the city. We also visited the Natural History Museum. Before coming back to Jyväskylä it starts to "snow" and we enter in some church. 

I recommend.

And this is the church that I don't even found in the touristic maps.

  In the away back everything was white, it really snows there and I was in the other part of the globe with sunshine. Because of the ice, now i can hear a diferent sound in the cars because of the winter wheels.

  Tomorrow I will tell you what I did this days. Now I'm really tired.

  Bye, Hei Hei, Adeus.

Holidays of Fall

  Ahoj,

  OMG, I'm in a crisis of news to publish. Well, now I'm in holidays of Automn during one week, this is a thing in Portugal could exists. But well, let's start with what I did.

 More than one week ago the exchange students we went with our tutors to walk to Vesilinna, the water tower in the city center, and where you can see all the area around Jyväskylä (and also a museum of natural science that I didn't saw already), and after we went to the American Dinner which is a a restaurant close to Kompassi in an American style. The hambuguers were very big, so that compensate the price (for us was very expensive but for the Finnish was very cheap for the normal price). It was a very nice evening.

 This are the views in opposite sides of the Tower.

This is inside the restaurant.

  Last week happened the Olympic Games for the first graders meet each others. In their groups they make some activities and they need to have some theme and dress according to that theme, and the group with the best costums and best pontuation in the games wins a package of gums. They also need to do some "performance" to convince that they are the best. Some groups were poor, 70's style, army, zombie, others with clothes to go to the beach, and bodyguard that protects some royal couple. The function of the exchange students were choose the best costum and we choose the last one. 

  Sometimes I think that the school in Portugal is just boring, we don't have this kind of activities. They have a lot in this school and Finland have the best educational system in teh world. Happy and active students, better education. Stange motto.

Here they are doing some games and some performances. The last was the winner.

  Last Thirsday I participate in a course of cuisine of the world, and that day was Spanish food. We made tortilla and pimientos assados and some drinks. Very good food. It was in Lyseon, the oldest school in Finland. The old part of the building is very beautiful and they call to the libray Hogwarts, for its aspect. Because of the age of the school, some people have some health issues (specially breathing problems) so the school will be closed next year.

Like in all the High Schools in the world also this one have dead animals in the corridors.

  This weekend one friend came to visit us (me and another exchange students) here in Jyväskylä. She comes from The Netherlands and she is now in Raahe, next to Oulu in the north.

  I show her Vesilinna because at morning she saw with anothers, some parts of the city, and after we went to do ice skating. This was the third time that I made that, but it was in that moment that I fall for the first time (twice!!!!!). After we went to eat in a buffet. On the next day we went to see Alvar Aato Museum (for free, and the last time I paid 4€) and the campus of the University of Jyväskylä. We walked around Jyväsjärvi, after to SOKOS to buy some food , and to end, Matkakeskus to her take the bus. 

  Has been here incredibly cold for me, and sunny. Tomorrow I will do my journey of visiting Helsinki and Stockholm in 3 days.

Jesus, I'm gonna die soon here!

  HEI HEI.

(P.S. in the beggining, "Ahoj" means hello in Slovak and also in Czech)

Hat, scarf and gloves? Check!

  Terve,

  Kyllä, last week didn't happend anything special, it's very cold now (what means that i will go only by bus to school), and I almost don't see the sun for long days .
  The most interesting thing that happend last week was the City of Lights, where Jyväskylä have in some points of the city a different lighting and some shows related to light.

 Here is in Kompassi.

 The City Church at the Church Park (this sounds wierd). 

And this two photos are from the river side (for me was the best part).

  And Sunday I visited my "host grandparents" in Kuopio. They are very nice people, and I ate very well (it was there a salmon with 3 kg!!!!!!!!!). During the journey to home I thought that Finland is more beautiful in Autumm, all that colours, yellow, red, orange... . At Kuopio I visited the Puijon Tower, it's very tall, and where it is makes fill even higher.

 If you go there, you can see this.

This placard explains better the evolution of the Tower.

 Kuopio area. Yeah, Finland is definitely the country of 1000 lakes.

  Yesterday I was in a café in Keskusta, and in the middle of nothing a man starts to talk, and after a finnish girl said me that was the opening of a painting exhibition. I was like, WHAAAAAT?, because that really didn't looks like that.

  And today I did for the first time ice skating, I DIDN'T FALL ANTYNIME!!!!!!!!!

  And this are my very interesting news.

  Moikka