Safari

Heyaa!

I went to a trip around Australia for three weeks. Even tho I came back last week I haven't had any time to write this post.
The trip was the best. I enjoyed everything we saw and did (even the 11h bus drives). I saw a lot more than normal Australian would see in their lifetime so Im really grateful for Rotary for this amazing trip.
 My favourite places during the trip were Uluru and Cairns, both so different but very beautiful. I  enjoyed the diving/snorkelling in Great Barrier Reef so much. Cairns is beautiful sea city with a lot to see. Uluru was so magical. Its a massive rock in the middle of nowhere with really interesting details on it. Uluru is a sacred site for Aboriginal people, and they believe one of the ancestor beings created it.
 We also visited Melbourne, Adelaide, Great Ocean Road, Cooper Pedy, Alice Springs, Earlier beach and Byron Bay. we stopped in many small towns during the days, but I cant remember all names. Every city in Australia is different, but I don't have any I don't like.
I had such a good time, I made many new friends and amazing experiences. There was 44 exchange students from all over the world. I love every one of them. xx
Anyway, Im gonna chuck a lot of pictures to the end and I hope you enjoy.

Japan, Finlandx2

Anzac Day March

Germany, Spain, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Japan

Clara and opal

Serious

with Clara in Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon

Uluru is beautiful

Uluru and people doing the climb

Represent

Pretty girls

Camel ride

Jetta!

Amazing food in Cairns

Nightmarkets in Cairns

Millaa Millaa falls

Whitehaven beach

almost the whole crew

First day!

Where to find the exchange students?

A lot of new

Hello! My last few weeks have been really busy. A lot of schoolwork, enjoying life, watched a soccermatch, packing up, moving into last family, seeing  schoolfriends and exchange students and holidays. So I just started a two weeks holidays from school, I love it!!
My last weeks in third hostfamily were amazing, we did a lot of things! Mainly because they wanted me to enjoy and show their respect! It wasn't so nice to leave because I got along very well with them. But they promised to remember me always and I'm always welcome to visit them!
A bit over week ago I moved into my last family. Its crazy how fast time flies!! This family is really good, and I'm sure I'll enjoy my time! In this family I have mom, dad, two big sisters and one little sister. The eldest child doesn't live at home anymore tho. They also have a lovely dog called Chester. He is really cute and always up for cuddle.
We are going camping over easter with host family and then next weekend I'm going to the big trip around Australia!
Enjoy some pictures from the past few weeks xx

District 9670 Conference

Hi! I went to a Rotary d9670 conference in Dubbo. I had to leave Friday morning (at 10ish) to 4 hours drive inland to get to Dubbo. I travelled with Karina, from my Rotary club. The time went pretty fast with charting, listening to music and singing loudly. We arrived to Dubbo after two and registered to the conference. After registration Karina gave me a lift to the cabins where all the exchange students slept. I met some of the exchange students there and we just relaxed in our rooms. The girls ha two rooms of ten beds and boys had one. (We have 15(?) Students in our district). After six some of the Rotarians gave us lift to go to an old jail. There was "pre-party" for the conference. I met awesome Rotarians around our district and had a chat with everyone. We, exchange students, did a dessert from our countries beforehand (I did Pulla) and so we gave those to everyone. Everyone liked everyone's foods, which was very good. We went with a bus back to our cabins, after ten. I tried to get to bed early because I was feeling sick, but everyone came to our room to chat so it was a bit challenging.
On Saturday morning we woke up after sick, had showers, got breakfasts and then we he'd with the same bus to the Dubbo conference sentre. We had a important job with the flag parade, and it went well. We had a bit of tune to chat more with Rotarians as well as had a bit of a snack. There was really good guest speakers talking about interesting stuff. After lunch we went to a green room (it was in theater) to practise our coming performance. We did that for a while and then we went back to listen some more speeches. About two o'clock we went back to our cabins to practise more that performance and get ready for the night. Everyone had fancy clothes and beautiful makeups. A bit after six we went back to the conference centre to the District governors dinner. When the people came in we welcomed them and scanned their tickets. In the middle of the dinner it was our time to shine. We performed dance (the music was we all all in this together from high school musical) and a singed we are the world by Michael Jackson. I played piano (in wrong chords tho, haha)! Everyone was excited for our performance and they clapped and cheered to us a lot. It was good fun!! After the performance there was a band with some very good singers! We got excited and went in the front to dance!! There was also some Roatarians dancing with us. Just before we left to the cabins I met a lady who moved to Australia from Finland in 1968 and she could still fluent Finnish!! It was amazing and she also lives very close to me, so we are gonna meet soon!! We went to bed really late on Saturday, not a good idea.
On Sunday morning we had to wake up before six. We left to go to the Dubbo zoo at 6.30am. We had delicious cooked breakfast in the zoo (bacon&egg rolls, sausages and pancakes,  yummy) and then they showed a lot of the zoo. We got to pat a koala (so cute!!), snakes and different reptiles. And because the zoo is "open" we had to go with a bus to see a lot of the animals. We saw meecats(?), giraffes, zebras, monkeys, kangaroos, emus and a lot more!! It was so much fun. After that we went back to the conference centre to listen a few speeches more and to close the conference. The conference ended after one and we headed back home. I slept at least an hour in the car because I was so tired.
I had so much fun during the weekend and I already wanna go back!!
Also there was a man talking about mental health. He was talking about aboriginal mental health as well. Because we have to do a project in Aboriginal studies (we have to do a logbook and all that) he gave me inspiration to do the project about mental health. So when we had free time, I went and talked to him and he promised to help me!! He gave his details and also said he could gave someone from Newcastle as well. I love these people because they are generous!!
Xx Meri

Last weekend and King of the rangers

Hello again! Last weekend I went to Murrurundi with my mom, dad and sister Audrey. Myrrh run do is the town my hostdas grew up and it is two hours drive norht-west from Newcastle. We went to an event called King of the ranges. There were rodeos, jumping competitions for dogs, cattles, horse riding competitions and a lot more. We were there for both Saturday and Sunday and it was heaps fun! There also was little shops where you could buy things for horses, dogs and also art. They had really good cheap food like hotdogs, hot chips and sausage sandwiches!! On Saturday it was really warm, like +30 degrees but on Sunday it was only +20 and I was really cold! I don't know how I'm going to cope when I go back to Finland, haha!
Also couple weekends ago I went to Sydney with my family. We left home like 7 in the morning and we came back at 7 in the arvo. It was my second time catching the train with them all the way to Sydney! We met my host brothers (who is in Finland) host-family. They were really nice and typical Finns. I had struggles to speak in Finnish and everyone thought it was funny.
I keep telling people that I got six months left. The other day I realize that I've only got four months to go. Time goes so fast!!