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I am using this blog to tell everyone what I'm thinking and doing beforehand, during and after my exchange year in Finland for 2011.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

First Rotary Meeting

I had my first Rotary meeting tonight, so I thought I would do a quick post telling everyone how it was! lol I just read that! a quick post! That sounds verrrrry unlike me :P


Anyway! I went to my clubs meeting today because the Inbound for our district, Ingrid, was doing a speech and showing the club a slideshow of her exchange and David though it would be a good idea if I came so I knew what I would have to do. I was really great to meet everyone from the club and to meet Ingrid, who's from Norway btw. She did a wonderful speech and its a shame shes leaving in a week because she seems like such a nice person, She goes to Brighton too, which is pretty cool. I got a little Norwegian flag pin and a what I assume is a Norwegian coin to pin onto my blazer! :D
It was cool to see how a rotary meeting works, us RYE kids not only have to accustom to a new language and a new country but we have to accustom to how Rotary works! We rose for the national anthem and there was a bell in the middle of the table which the president banged every time! I got asked lots of questions and was given lots of congratulations and it was a really nice night. Next week is the hand over dinner which is a bit more formal and apparently there will be a few more younger people there, so that should be nice!


My Papa died on Saturday, he was very sick and he passed away in hospital with Mum and Nanna nearby. I'm glad he is out of pain now. You don't realise how much you miss someone until you can never see them again :( I didn't go to the funeral though, it was too hard to get us all to Melbourne and back. I wrote a poem for him and Nanna brought it to the funeral. It sounded poetic in my head but it sounded kind off silly when I wrote it down, but I don't care, It said what I wanted to say perfectly.


Thank you for being a football genius

Thank you for your love of trains

Thank you for all your stories.

And thank you for videoing our mud pies, were sorry we tried to make you eat them.

Thanks for your jokes, that were so bad that they were funny

Thank you for all the times I ever spent with you

Papa, thanks for being Papa, the best one I could have asked for.

Love Julia


Turns out my previous statement about not being able to keep it sort has turned out to be a lie because I think I will go to bed now, I have a class party tomorrow and then a farewell assembly for the principal on Friday and an early finish and then...... drum roll please....... HOLIDAYS!


Heres us all when we went to see the pandas on Christmas eve, I'm the one with the funny look on my face.


This was last years Christmas
I'm gonna miss you Papa xoxo

6 comments:

  1. Hi Julia! :)) First of all; congrats for being sent to Finland. Haha. I read your blog all the way through and found out that Finland wasn't excactly your first choice. But I can assure you: it's gonna be the best year of your life! I just love hearing about people that will come here! First I thought that you wanted to come to Finland all along, 'cause you have a Finnish name. :) But yeah. I can't really make my point across here, haha. It's 1.37AM, so you might understand. Btw, I'm just a 18-year-old girl from Finland that always wanted to go on exchange but never had a chance. But it's okay. I just love getting to know people from all around the world and stuff. Umm, what else.. Oh yeah, you're pretty lucky to come in January 'cause you get to spend the whole summer here! But in Jan it might be really cold, unfortunately! I can't wait that you'll be in Finland, and I'm sure you'll learn Finnish perfectly of you just try! Okay this should be it, bye! :D

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  2. Hi there Jatta! Thanks for the Congrats! I love knowing the people actually read my blog! :P I absolutely can't wait until I can leave!

    It was always in my top choices, and yeh one of the reasons was because I have some distant relatives in Finland, i've never met them or spoken to them though but I hope I can find them when I'm over there. It will be awesome to experience the country of my ancestors, and it will be cool because my name won't stick out!

    In January its about 40 degrees in Australia and then I will go into the middle of Finnish winter! BRRR! ^_^

    I am still trying to learn Finnish and it is harrrrddd! I guess that even If i don't fully learn it, being in Finland will help me pick it up quicker than just reading flashcards!

    Anyway! Thanks for the comment! I'll be sure to ask you any questions I have about Finland!

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  3. Hey,
    Your blog has a certain feel to it. I can’t explain, but it must be your personality shinning through. It’s very nice.

    And your template is amazing. I love it! I’m still trying to find one I would like for my blog, or find someone to make one for me. But yours fits very well with your blog.

    Your first choice was US? If you want me to send you anything from US let me know! I’m completely willing! My first choice was Japan, so I know how you feel. But I think we’ve both moved on really well!

    One thing I notice is, you don’t have ad on your site. You should really use adsense. Look into it. I use it. So far I’ve made like $.50 USD. XD But not bad for not even being in the country yet.

    Speaking of which, why are you leaving in 6 months? Rotary must be different there. I think most people in America leave in a little over a month.

    And good luck with everything. 

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  4. Hey Michelle!

    Yeh my personality probably does shine through because I'm a bit weird :P

    My first choice was the US but only for a little bit. and At the time, I realize now, I was being a bit uptight and I guess I was pretty scared at being somewhere I couldn't speak English! It was all I knew at the time, I watch a lot of TV and well you know there's a lot of America on TV these days!

    I am soooo glad i didn't get sent to the US now! I've realized how amazing it is to experience another completely different culture!

    As for my template, I spent weeks and weeks and weeks and a few more weeks slaving over my blog trying to find a template to fit and making comments work, etc, etc and then Blogger went and released its new Template designer! ARRGHH I was soo annoyed! This template took me all of 5 minutes to whip up! So yeh I recommended using Template Designer! Its quick and you don't have to bother editing the HTML to make everything work right.

    Hmm Ad-sense? Do you need a Paypal for that?
    I might look into it! I tried to add a chip-in widget but you need a Paypal for that and you need a credit card for PayPal.

    Our School year runs from January to December and we have our big summer holiday over Christmas up until the start of February. So Australians leave at a funny time but we get the full 12 months unlike you guys who sometimes only get just over 10. It kinda sucks though because all the friends I make when I get there will leave me and then when I become friends with the next bunch, I'll have to leave them!

    Anyway! Thanks for the comment! none of family have worked out how to comment yet, so my blog is often quite alone :P

    GOOD LUCK TO YOU TOO!

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  5. You don't need to paypal to use adsense.

    My mother is the only family member to try and she only went on once. -_-; She lost interest very quickly. No problem, my blog is also only. The only people who comment are people I know in real life. I love my friends, but I was happy when you commented. It's nice for someone to find your blog and comment.

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  6. Yeh I know what you mean, I forced my best friend to do the "first" blog comment like it was some big deal :P and then I forced my cousin to comment but then I stuck my link on CS and I get a few more people here now :)

    I'm gonna get Adsense! It sounds pretty good. I don't really have to do any upkeep so even if i make $2 I win! haha I clicked on a few of your adds btw :) I always click the ads if i'm on an exchange site cos know I know how it feels to collect every single cent!

    hmm I just noticed, two comments on this post are missing! >:( It says theres 5 comments but only 3 are coming up!

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