Issue#1.4 The City of Rovaniemi

After I woke up that morning I decided to call my mom, but I found out that my cell phone doesn’t work here. I had to use my host dads and type in all these complicated numbers just to get through. After talking to her I felt kinda down. My host family wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t like the shower (I know it silly but still..) Then Mari suggested a trip into town, on her motor scooter!
The ride was refreshing, just what I needed. It was fun to zip through the forest roads, with the wind whipping around you. We have to go over a bridge over the Kemijoki to get into the city, its quite a big river. It takes me more than a minute to walk over it by foot. We parked in the city and then walked around for a bit. It was around 5:00 now, but ALL the stores had already closed! Mari told me that shops close late on the weekdays, and really early on the weekends, which I thought was a bit bizarre.
The town is bigger than I thought it would be, but still a lot smaller than what I'm used to. There are some things about it that make it feel very European, but its really hard to pinpoint what…Mari showed me the two shopping centers and showed me some kids from school that we had run into. She also showed me some places where she usually shops or hangs out. Then after a few hours we climbed back on her scooter and headed out.

She took be by some other land marks. The library, theater, and town hall, all designed by Alvar Aalto. Then we went across the bridge again and too my new school. It looked cool, shaped kinda like a rectangular horse shoe 2 thirds of the school was for the ‘middle school’ and the rest was for ‘high school’, which was the side I would be going to starting on Monday!
She then took me around and showed me several other land marks, like a grocery store that was closest to our house. Then a little red bar/convenience store and some of her relative’s houses, and a few other things. I was completely lost. I had no idea where we were, or even what direction home was, and what direction the city was. There were no mountains to help me orient myself either like in Denver. I took me a while, but I got to know my way around pretty well.
The next day was a lot like the last. We went into town, but one again everything was closed. Then Mari took me to her mom’s hose. Her mom lives in the center, with a view of the theater/ library complex. She lives in an apartment building with a really cool old fashion elevator. She was nice, she knows English, but was very out of practice in speaking it. We talked for a while over coffee and pulla. (Finnish coffee cakes) We promised to come back again for dinner some time, and to meet one of Mari’s cousins.
In the evening we headed home. I took the opportunity to unpack my room. My host dad had finished constructing my desk, and it now sits in one corner of my room, opposite a little dresser for my clothes and a wicker basket to store my beading in during the day. I unpacked my suitcase putting all my clothes away and putting my few other things in the drawers of my desk. That done, I went down for dinner and stayed up a while longer watching TV (!), and then off to bed. Tomorrow I would have my first day in my new school!