Making progress!!

Claire Lu's college app essay spreadsheet. It's even color-coordinated! I avoided screen-shotting each college's name for privacy's sake, but I'm sure you can still discern several schools just by reading the prompts. 

Oops

My goal is to have the entire first column in green by the end of this week! I have two school that I'm completely finished with (the two schools I'm deciding on early-ing to) but I'm still wavering.

Amherst DIVOH 2014!

Ahhh I just got accepted to Amherst College's Diversity Open House!! I applied in July and apparently they only accept 90 students out of ~1,000 so I'm extremely honored! Basically, Amherst will fly me out (for free) from San Francisco to Massachusetts and I'll stay on the Amherst campus for the duration of the program (October 18-20), not only learning about the academic opportunities Amherst offers but also the extracurricular activities. There will be a ton of sessions sprinkled throughout; I'm especially looking forward to some of the panels that'll feature the Dean of Admissions and other members of the Admissions Committee. On the last day, I'll get to sit in on several classes and experience being a true Amherst student!

E-Book!

Hello everyone,

I have very exciting news- I'm considering publishing an e-book about my experiences in Finland! I've already received an ISBN code and I'm currently compiling my blog posts and refining the content.

I'll definitely update everyone soon when everything is finalized.

Thank you to everyone who has followed me on this life-changing journey!

Update on my life coming soon!

Some Pictures From my Last Day!

Camilla, Chalotta, me, Kari, Vikke, and Ann-Christine! Vikke looks a bit grumpy but he's still adorable!

Outside the front door. Ann-Christine was griping about how heavy Vikke was!

'

"Family portrait"! Vikke looks regal, like a royal lion.

Thoughts

It's difficult to wrap around my head the fact that it's been over a week since I've come back from Finland.

In my spare time, I love flipping through photos on my camera roll, reminiscing about baking pullas for the first time in my life, relaxing in front of the beach at the summer cottage, visiting all the enlightening museums in Turku, smiling with Camilla and Ann-Christine in Stockholm...

But sometimes, even small things remind me of memories of Finland. A deck of cards on the desk in my bedroom brought me back to the first night I played "koira" (a Finnish card game) with Marja, Suvi, Ida, and Camilla in the summer cottage--and simultaneously detesting, dreading, and falling in love with the strategic mind war. A picture of a reindeer on a magazine cover brought me back to the time I wandered about in the Helsinki flee market, before our ferry departed to Suomenlinna. Hunting for a souvenir, my eyes quickly latched onto an adorable, fuzzy reindeer with the Finnish flag embroidered on its miniature sweater. Going to the grocery store with my family brings me back to the time Charlotta and Camilla were teaching me all these Finnish grocery words, from "sipuli," or onion, to "karkkeja," or candy, in the "Majakka" store next to our cottage.

Such nostalgia.

Day 42, 43, 44: Last Days

On Tuesday, we drove 2 hours to visit Marja's sister, Kaarina, who lives in the town of Loimaa. Kaarina, who is 70, lives by herself with her loyal cat, Tassu. As I looked out her window, miles and miles of meadow land met my eye. The brilliant yellow rapeseed plants provided an illustrious contrast to the shining blue sky. She cooked us a wonderful and satisfying lunch consisting of some quintessentially Finnish dishes, which I've unfortunately forgotten how to spell. Before we were about to leave, she offered me a pair of her hand-knit woolen socks. I was very moved, as we had not known each other for long yet despite this, she extended her compassion and graciousness to me.

On Thursday, I went to Sarkaniemi, one of Finland's largest amusement parks, in Tampere. Before going to Sarkaniemi, my family and I walked around the city center and along the river, admiring Tampere's architecture. By sheer luck, I ran into another FUSYE scholar, Emma, who lives all the way north in Ala Vieska. What are the chances of running into a FUSYE scholar in a city as huge as Tampere? What's even crazier is the fact that she lives in Ala Vieska, which is about 6 hours north of Tampere, and I live in Rauma, which is 2 hours southwest of Tampere, and we just happened to be in Tampere on the same street at the same location at the same time! After eating lunch at Rosso and chatting a bit with her host sister Ida, we headed our separate ways. Overall, Sarkaniemi did not disappoint. Because the lines were no where near as long as Great America, Six Flags, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, or Disneyland, Camilla and I got to experience all the rides we wanted to! Some of my favorites were Tornado (the most ridiculously intense roller coaster), MotoGee (a roller coaster in which the seats are shaped like motorcycles--I almost felt like I would be flung off over the handlebars!), Log River (we sat in a log and then braced ourselves for a huge plunge, getting soaked along the way), Trombi (a roller coaster ride in which you lay on your tummy while getting tossed and turned and flipped), and High Voltage (Sarkaniemi's newest ride--basically you're strapped onto a seat that's attached to a claw arm structure, and when the ride begins, the claw arm begins to flip and spin you around. I would not recommend this ride to people who get easily dizzy). One of Sarkaniemi's main attractions is their Angry Bird land, where all the rides and food stands are Angry Bird themed and there are Angry Bird play structures scattered around the area.