Sydney

Actually I was in Sydney one week ago, but I haven't been able to send a post about that trip earlier.  So,  when I arrived to Australia (It was a early morning) my third host mom picked me up from the airport.  We ate a little breakfast, walked on the harbor bridge, went to the opera house and took a lot of photos :D  

Aussie lover,

Liisa

p.s. Today I saw the first kangaroo of my life, so cool!! :D

School

Schools here in Australia are very different than schools in Finland.  I’m going to make a little list where I’ll tell some differences, and after that I’ll put some pictures about my school uniform and the school building.

So,

-          In Finland school offers a warm lunch,

-          In Australia you have to bring your own or buy it (It’s quite expensive and is more like a snack)

-          In Finland you can wear whatever you want,

-          In Australia you have to wear a school uniform

-          In Finland all of the schools are public,

-          In Australia there are public schools, catholic schools and private schools

-          In Finland all schools are free,

-          In Australia you have to pay school fees

-       In Finland you go to school by bike or scooter or walking or take a public bus (and so on),

-       In Australia either your parents will take you to school or you’ll use school bus

-         In Finland there are no limitations about how do you look,

-      In Australia (of course not in every school) it’s not allowed to use nail polish or make up or dye your hair

I’m not sure if I’ve told that already, but I will study in catholic school in Singleton.  Next you'll see my school and my school uniform. 

Pullover

Shirt

Skirt

In school we also have to use black leather shoes, so we bought one pair for me.  Those are just normal black leather shoes, but because I usually don't use shoes like that they are a new thing for me, too.

I started school on Thursday (so I've been there for two days :D), and so far it has been very nice.  People there are really friendly and helpful, so I've felt myself welcomed.

More than happy,

Liisa

p.s. I just moved into my first host family and I LOVE them! :)))  My room is really nice and the best thing; I got four sisters!!!  But now I have to get some sleep, I'll tell you more soon!

Long time no see

I finally got an internet, so I think now is the good time to tell you a bit more about what I did in Singapore. :)

WEDNESDAY 20.7.2011

We arrived in Singapore at five in the morning, and after meeting our guide, we went right to the hotel to have a breakfast and a little bit of sleep.  We had free time until seven o’clock, when we headed to the night safari.  The night safari in Singapore is the world’s first and so far the only way to see animals in zoo when it’s dark.  There were a lot of exotic animals like hippos, giraffes and elephants and besides that there were also a fire show. 

Safari and the whole evening were quite nice, but I was extremely tired so I was happy to get back to the hotel after ten o’clock…

THURSDAY 21.7.2011

After few hours’ sleep at nine o’clock we took a bus and a guide with us and headed to different ethnic parts of the city.  We visited Little India and Chinatown and saw different temples and other historical sights. 

Our tour lasted until one o’clock, and after returning to our hotel we had some free time to buy things and get to know the city.  At three o’clock we had our first seminar, where we basically discussed about things.  So instead of being very official situation, the training was really familiar and we were free to ask questions.   After that training session we were free to go to the shopping malls or do whatever we liked.

FRIDAY 22.7.2011

At ten o’clock we had our second training session, just same thing as earlier.  After that we went to the Singapore River, where we had a little sightseeing tour by bamboo boat.  The rest of the day we spent in Sentosa Island, which is a little island nearby Singapore.  There are loads of things to do, but now I’ll tell you what we did and what places we visited.

First we used cable cars which took us from Singapore city to Sentosa Island.  After that we saw pictures from Singapore’s history and visited the Under Water World.  Merlion is some kind of symbol in Singapore, so we saw two big Merlion statues during the day.  In the evening we were in the 'Songs of the see' show, which was really amazing.  It's maybe hard to realize when you see those photos, but everything was just water and light, amazing!  After that we had an interesting dinner in Hot Stone Restaurant, but unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from it.  This night was our last night in Singapore, and maybe the last time together.  So we spent a lot of time just talking and laughing.  I’m going to miss you, my new friends!!!

SATURDAY 23.7.2011

We didn’t have to wake up early, because we had only few things to do.  We checked out from our hotel at midday and after that we had free time.  My flight to Sydney left in the evening, but we went to the airport after four o’clock.

That's it this time, I'll write more soon!

Super happy,

Liisa

Singapore

We had a little orientation camp in Singapore, so I came to Australia yesterday.  In Singapore instead of only studying we saw the city, were in really interesting places and saw loads of different cultures, too.  

Life and weather in Singapore are really different, but I liked the country a lot.  I've never been in Asia before, so I didn't know what to expect. People there are so kind and friendly, that, coming from Scandinavia, it was at first hard to get used to it.  

I'm not in my host family yet, because I'll stay this week with one lovely couple.  We'll organize my things, but after that I'll go to my first host family.  The couple don't have a internet I could use, so I can't write or send pictures after this.  When I go to my first host family I'll send photos about Sydney and Singleton.

In this post you can see couple of pictures from Singapore:

We learned about culture differences, and that's why we visited three different temples.

Greetings from the other side of the world,

Liisa

T-O-D-A-Y-!

I'm leaving today.  TODAY!  I still can't believe it, sounds so unreal!

I've been packing couple of days, and now I'm almost finished.  (Just almost, because I'm sure I forgot something...) It's unbelievable hard to think what do you need during the next year in a place where you haven't been. And what makes this whole thing even harder is that all of those things which you decide to take with you must fit to one suitcase which maximum weight is 20 kilograms. Phew, what a crazy task! :D

I have to wake up at 4.00 am, because I have to be at the airport 6.30 am. The departure time is 9.30 am, but I guess we have some kind of a meeting there. 

We'll see where from the next post is, because                                                             

from today, it'll be one big adventure!

Bye bye,

Liisa

My farewell party

I organized my farewell party tonight, and the whole evening was really amazing.  I didn't want typical teenage parties, because I don't really feel like they are my thing.  So, I decided to do everything my own way!

I invited my eight best friends to my place, and I baked many kinds of delicacies.  As you can see from the pictures below there were chocolate rice krispie cakes, cheesecake with chocolate decorations, chocolate cake with chocolate topping and frozen chocolate mousse cake.  (At this point it must be quite obvious that I like chocolate... :'D)  When we had eaten enough, we watched one of my favorite movies. :)

What can I say?  This evening was perfect and I love my friends. :))

Wistful,

Liisa