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!

Getting more American every day

Last weekend I got to know the cottage culture here in America. I can say that it is much more fun than ours in Finland! Or maybe it is just the Connolly’s and their awesome way to spend lazy weekends, I don’t know but I loved the lakehouse. It is so beautiful down there on the Apple Canyon Lake in Illinois. Heather’s parents live there during summertime and they were happy to have us visit them. It was very nice for me to finally meet my American grandparents from Heather’s side. We had a lot of fun on saturday and I got to see many new places (f.ex. the restaurant where the lovestory of my hostparents began) 

The "Ghetto board" (Almost) Niagara Falls with Mike and Nathan Not a bad place for a lovestory! Boating "Trust me, I got this"      

In the evening we got a nice bonfire down on the fireplace. We ate hobo dinner (fast&easy for camping) outside and for dessert we had s’mores. They were awesome!! You grill a marshmallow, take a piece of chocolate and two crackers and put everything together. Messy but delicious. The next morning I tried real American pancakes (they put butter on top!!) with the suryp of course. We also had a breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs and cheese inside) and it was good. Still miss the rye bread though. Porridge - which they call oatmeal - is very good in here! I feel like getting more and more American every day and I am sure that a piece of my heart will always stay here. 

The Cozy Connollys Preparing the hobo dinner The famous Smore's, yum! Like I said, messy but delicious  
The beautiful bonfire Hot tub under a sky full of stars, even saw a shooting star! 

Last friday I had my very first cheerleading in the football game! I can’t say that I know all of the cheers and chants but I did my best. I didn’t know the school song (it comes when there is a touchdown) so I was just smiling, clapping and trying to look cute while the others were cheering. Our team made a lot of touchdowns (my bad) and we won the game. 

Getting ready for the game! My team The winners are coming!  

Last week we had a country singer Tyler Barham coming to our school. He started by posting youtube videos and after a music competition, he is getting more and more famous every day. The concert was very good and he totally got my heart into country music. 

"Just to see you smile, I'll do anything" Him and I 
 

Last weekend we were eating with the other exchange students! I have got close with them and I am very happy about that. We spent an hour in a supermarket just laughing to all the silly things that they have here in America. We also found quite many thing from Italy and Germany! I also found one product from Finland which was soft liquorice from Panda. 

Giorgio from Italy (food came finally!) The beautiful Main street of Platteville

On saturday we were shopping for a homecoming dress for me with Payton and Akshay. The day was a blast, I had such a great with them. And I did find the dress too!! I am so excited about homecoming now and I can’t wait to get dressed up! After the shopping we watched a horror movie at Akshay’s and when we were leaving we heard some strange voices from the carage. We all got very scared and we just ran into the car. I still think the movie was a great idea and afterwards the situation seems just funny. 

 Bella says: "Please stay and pet me!" Me and Payton happy in school with our Badgers shirts
 
 Chinese after a long day, Akshay and Payton  

On sunday I went to Dubuque again but this time with my hostmother. We had very nice time together while shopping birthday present for Alyssa. I also found a little purse which is the perfect for my dress! I don’t have shoes yet but luckily I still have 3 weeks before the homecoming dance. 

Sneak peak! Isn't it beautiful? Here it is!!  

Tomorrow is the day when my babysister is not a baby anymore. I think I have to come up with another nickname starting from tomorrow. Alyssa has her 10th birthday and I heard we have a nice cake waiting. Can’t wait to see how they celebrate birthdays here in America! Bye!