Homecoming spirit

I guess some of you are not familiar with homecoming, since we don’t have that in Finland, I will share my information with you. The first and the most important thing to know is that homecoming is a lot of fun! If you have a chance to go, promise me you won’t miss that, okay? I was wondering where the name is coming from, so I found out that the today’s homecoming is a little different than it used to be. Back in the old days, it was a tradition of welcoming back the students who already gratuated from school. Everyone would have a reunion and they would all come back home for the weekend. So that’s where the name is coming from. Nowadays homecoming is just a celebration and a time to pump up the school spirit. Either way, homecoming is awesome and it should be in Finland too!

Homecoming is always celebrated in the autumn. It’s like prom, but a smaller version of that. During the week we had spirit days, so we all dressed up to school. We had a bonfire on monday to get everyone excited about the dance which was on saturday. The dance was the big deal. On friday we also had pep-rally and a homecoming parade on the main street and then at night the traditional homecoming football game. Our highschool did pretty well with all of that and we had a good teamspirit.

The spirit days:

Monday - America day

Tuesday - Western day

Wednesday - Pajama & toga day

Thursday - Throwback 

Friday - School spirit

Monday:

 

Tuesday:  

Wednesday:  

 Middle school had an injury day! Mike did casts for the kids
   

Thursday:  

Friday:  

The bonfire on Monday: 

There was a DJ and everyone was dancing!  

Experiencing America all the way! Toilet papering houses (just like in the movies, but more fun!)  

The parade:   

The football players
 

Homecoming game on friday:
Student section Our dance on the halftime Team photo and then there is Mike  

I wanted to make a separate post from my princess day so the pictures from the homecoming dance from saturday are in the next post! 

Chicago - The Windy City

A week ago I fell in love again! And this time more than in New York, believe it or not. For me it was love at first sight. Walking on the streets of Chicago convinced me that I definitely was a city girl. I had heard that Chicago is like New York but smaller and with nicer people. I don’t have enough experience to say which city has nicer people, and it depends on one's opinion. All I know is that Chicago is one of my favorite cities in the world now and that I have to get back down there someday. 

Very early on saturday morning, a bus full of exchange students started their trip to the Windy City. I have to mention that in the morning when Mike took me to the meeting place, it was snowing! I couldn’t belive my eyes, it wasn’t even a week since we were sunbathing with Veera! When I told that to my littlebrother Nathan, he just said: ”Oh Heini, welcome to Wisconsin!” It took us four hours to get there by bus and we enjoyed the first day sightseeing in a double-decker bus. On the deck it was quite chilly but I didn’t care. I wanted to breath the Chicago air and feel the City. Everything looked so good to me. 


Sightseeing  
The Bean, my favorite   
Feeling the chilly Chicago air  
Skyline of Chicago  
The skyscrapers  
The Flamingo  
A happy tourist  
On the top of Chicago!  
Italy, Spain, Finland, Sweden and Germany  

I only knew one person before the trip, but it wasn’t a problem. I made good friends with the girls around me and shared the hotelroom with them. At night we had a pool & pizza party and we exchange students had a great time together. The next day was dedicated to shopping in the Woodfield mall, which had nearly 300 shops in it. It's not a surprise that I really like shopping, so it was like a paradise for me. Even we only had 4 hours to shop, I think I did pretty good job in there. Can’t wait to see what Mall of America will be! 

Having fun with new friends  

Fall is in the city 

Lovely Jule from Germany

Blue Man Group

Would you park your car there?

The highest building in America

There is only a glass between

The result after 4 hours shopping

Really enjoyed my time in Chicago!  

Last week was our homecoming week and on saturday we had the dance. We all dressed up so nicely and I felt like a princess that day. I will make the post from that as soon as I can, so be patient. I am sure it will be worth waiting for. Take care! <3

My world is a happy place to live in

Hi guys! Sorry for being silent with this blog, I have had so many things to do that I haven’t had time to write a new post. I think the silence is kind of a good sign, because it means that I am having fun here. And that is a sure thing! I really enjoy being with my host family and we have done many great things together. More than a week ago we did our very first road-trip. We were supposed to just go apple picking, but we found many interesting things along the way. We stopped in a popcorn shop. It was huge and I can't believe how many different types of popcorn they had there. Continuing on our trip we went on a train ride and literally took the most out of it (laughing and singing + no hands!) When we finally got into the apple fest, I tasted my very first apple donuts. They were to die for! It was very nice to pick apples with my lovely family. There were also lots of pumpkins, because Halloween is coming (can’t wait to go to the haunted houses)!



Sisters having fun
  

The Connolly kids (one, two, three, four)




Suddenly got shorter in the popcorn shop with Mike 

 Hannah is adorable, she loves pumpkins

Alyssa is so cute! 5 bucks for a pumpkin, not bad


A beautiful sunflower
 

A labyrinth in the corn field! We found the way after all.  

The result of apple picking for 15 minutes. Team work!  

Alyssas 10th birthday party was great! It was nice to have the grandparents coming over. The only difference that I could find from comparing the American birthday parties to Finnish ones would be that the birthday boy/girl gets a bite straight from the cake! I can only imagine how hilarious it can be with a creamy cake. 


Dinner "Hmm, what should I wish for?" The tradition with the birthday cake, yum!

Unfortunately the party didn't end well. I am very sorry to tell you that the police somehow found me again and took me away from the house to the car. Can't believe how that happened, I am in trouble this time. Okay, just kidding, but I did meet the police again and he did came to our house. The cop is a friend of Mike and he just came to see him. 


Never want to be on the back seat of that car  

He got me, I admit it
 


Pictures tell more than a thousand words right? So here you go, some pics from the past week! 


Football Friday! It was a neon night Sunbathing with Veera. It was 28 degrees outside! Nathan's football game Watching the Green Bay Packers win (football)

Grandpa is so funny!
 
New hair! (jk, I have the rest on a ponytail)  
Our Maple tree in the morning (I was still sleeping, Heather took this one) Our house is on the back Such a beautiful view from our road-trip, I love Autumn!  

I was in Chicago last weekend (loved it) and now we have the homecoming week. The pictures from Chicago are as great as the city was and I can't wait to post them here. My home sickness is going away and I am very happy to be here! Hope you guys are okay and have a nice week!