Finnish Day!

Yesterday we had a very Finnish day. Finnish you say? But isn't everyday a Finnish day in Finland? Finland is Finnish you know... no. Everyday in Finland is Finnish, but yesterday, we made and ate all traditional Finnish foods. I started out by helping my host mom make pulla which is sweet bread with cardamom in the dough. There are so many different types of pulla you can get here, but it is all with cardamom. And it's so good. I'm definitely going to miss the baked things here in Finland. 

It's a pulla boy!

This type is called 'Boston Cake'

Next up on our menu for the day was REINDEER. Yes, it took me this long in Finland to finally have reindeer. I knew I would have some pretty upset friends at home who would be disappointed if I came home not having tried reindeer. The way we had reindeer was with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam. Might seem a little foreign (well...) to some people to have berries with meat and potatoes, but it's actually really good. 

For a dessert, we had a very traditional Finnish something. It was like a pudding made with berries and rye flour. Usually it is eaten with milk or cream poured on top. It was good, but not my favorite. 

The color is awesome!

Last night after all my taste-tests, I headed off to my friend Lex's house for her birthday party. I met more of Lex's extended host family there. I got to hang out with Emily and Tristan (other Americans staying in Tampere), Lex's host brothers Samppa and Teemu who I'd really gotten to know this summer, and Teemu's friend Sanni. Along with Lex of course. It was nice to have time to be a loud teenager. 

On the way home from the party, at around 11:30, it seemed really dark outside. I hadn't really noticed the change in light until last night. When I first got to Finland, it was still bright out all night long, but now since it's getting closer to fall it actually gets dark after eleven. It will be hard adjusting back to dark nights at home, because here when it's its darkest in the summer, the sky is still a deep blue. 

And with talking about night time, I must get to bed. Tomorrow is my last full day with my host family before I start the rest of the scholarship trip in Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia. I'm getting mixed feelings about leaving. But I'm just going to try to go with the flow. They really are my second family now.