Currently I am at the Crown Plaza Hotel in NY for my orientation. (Before they ship me off to Finland!) I have met the 6 other people who are traveling to Finland with me and we are already becoming friends. I am rooming in a huge, beautiful hotel room with a girl named Emily who is also doing a gap year to Finland. She is, however, living with a host family in a more rural part of Finland, much farther north. My day started out with an hour long drive to the airport. In the car with me I had my Mom and Dad, my brother Max, our exchange student Tommaso, and my friend Amanda. After a very tearful, but sweet and funny, goodbye, I headed through security and towards my gate as a solo traveler. I had an hour and a half to kill, so I went to the store, bought some overpriced headphones and some water, and then went and studied Finnish for the remainder of the time I had. My flight boarded. It was an easy trip, only an hour and a half and I had an amazing seat. Second row!! The only thing that could have made it better was if I were next to the window. Oh well! Once I arrived at the airport I had to walk for a half an hour in the heat with all my luggage to get to the meeting place. It was tiring, but once there we played ERS until the bus got there and I started making some friends! The orientation so far has been pretty fun, much more exciting and less boring than I thought it would be. Typical ice breaker games and get to know each other jargon was entertaining, as usual, but we were all ready to get started. At this point I can’t believe I have another day of orientation before I can leave. I am so ready to get on that plane! Finland here I come!
