What shall we do with 2nd Warhammer?

To the tune of "What shall we do with a drunken sailor". 

No actual song or lyrics (yet), but simply a notification I brought the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle to Finland with me. 

Already thinking of writing up lists in my spare time, generally Saxon/Viking themed armies. A lot of big, hairy guys with some nice, friendly axes. I'm thinking almost all axes, except for maybe a few skirmishing archers. No cavalry- all men are equal, all men fight on foot. Parity even in Miniature Wargaming. 

Maybe I'll be able to find some Finnish kids to Oldhammer it up with? I have no minis with me, but there has got to be a gaming club somewhere, right? 

Perhaps not though. I took another tour of my school and filled out my schedule today. The other kids just stare at the exchange students. Just like the U.S., minus the few perky suck-up types who cosy up to others so they can find a conduit for their opinion. 

I was told that I'll have to be the one to go out and make friends, but honestly, from the looks I got, I'm not sure if that's really on anyone else's mind. Perhaps not? Maybe I'm looking too far into the situation. Perhaps the stares today were of curiosity instead of "Not another exchange student... Six of them?". Regardless, I felt quite uncomfortable in the school setting, considering I've taken 6 classes (I only had to take five), and the classes are taught in Finnish. I'm taking remedial Swedish (only one they'd let me), mid level French, Music, Finnish History, "advanced" sport, and an English class. The English class was highly recommended for the first period, and it should be easy. Also, it should help in the reverse- I should learn more Finnish from the class. Hard to explain, but it makes sense to me. 

If it isn't obvious, Finnish kids intimidate me. I can't go in tomorrow with that attitude, so I guess I'll just walk in with a smile on my face, and be ready for the worst. 

Sorry for the insecurity. 

The worst:

Just a little dark humor to brighten everyone's day. 

So...

I blog when I've got time on my hands. 

This post will be more of random thoughts flowing in an outpour from my mind. 

Perhaps I should post things that are more interesting, instead of worrying about frightening my non-existent readers away? By that I mean real opinions and emotions of Finland (nothing bad, no worries). 

We shall see.

In Finland, the weather is kind of like my thought process: one minute sunny, then rainy and sunny, then just rainy, only sunny again. ADHD weather, how suitable to my mind. 

More people should read this-

I received an email stating someone left a comment on my blog. Which means at least one person reads this thing!!! 

Regardless, I'll get down to the narrative: it was my friend Justin who left the comment. I saw it was left with a google profile, so I checked out his blog. I found it highly entertaining for those of a moderate to liberal political lean, or even conservatives who like to think a bit outside the party line. Independents would perhaps be best suited. The blog is really a catch all in topic, but I found his political views to be edifying: I had thought I was the only one to think conservatives were given everything by the President. 

If you enjoy such musings, check it out: 

http://thejt33.blogspot.fi/?m=1

The title is in reference to Justin's blog, not mine. I don't care how many people read my blog to be honest. Youth exchange is not a shocking sensation or political musing- to most who haven't experienced youth exchange, it is an amusing anecdote. 

Get this:

My school has a sauna:

Settling in

I've begun to settle in, in Finland. Not sure of the previous sentence works grammatically, but any reader gets the concept, I would assume. 

I've left language camp- thank you to the Finnish Rotary and their associates at the camp who allowed for an enjoyable time filled with, well, a heck of a lot of soccer/football. 

My host family is very lovely, and I feel settled in somewhat. Obviously, I will have to overcome my own excessive awkwardness, yet nevertheless, I love it here. Finland is such a vastly different country from anything I have ever known. 

Somehow, according to my YEO Jari Valkama, 40,000 people are crammed into forests and valleys. And all of them get perfect cell service. Crazy. The Internet is faster here too. 

When I visited Helsinki, many of the buildings are older, yet in very good shape, but are not stylistic or aesthetic in any fashion. I appreciate the implicit philosophy in this: take care of what you have while it's there, and only upgrade when absolutely necessary. The same applies to cars, as they are ridiculously expensive here. I've seen so many 15-20 year old Volkswagens and Volvos that I'm almost used to such a sight. 

I think I'll like this culture very much. 

Tampere

I have certainly not posted in a while, but I must declare that now I am in Finland! I meet my host family tomorrow, after language camp is over. 

Yesterday, with language camp, there was a trip to Tampere. Tampere is a beautiful city, but very similar to North American cities nonetheless. Not to say N.A. Cities are ugly. 

Last Rotary Meeting

So today I attended my last East Aurora Rotary Club meeting for the year. I was not a regular, that's for certain, but it was nonetheless bittersweet as it cemented the fact that I am leaving in three days.