I don't even know where to begin!
Austria, Italy, and Finland all in the past month.. All of them were such amazing adventures! I guess I'll start at the beginning; Austria :)

I was in Austria for 6 days with the host mother from my brother and sister when they went on their exchanges. They live IN a ski resort, so that was pretty awesome! For most of the week it was just me and Eveyln (the mother), but on second to last night Jörg (the 19 year old son) came home! I only got to ski twice in the week because of the weather! The first two days I was there, it snowed 3.5 feet!! But when I did have the chance to go out, it was absolutely
 amazing.

                                                             AUSTRIAN ALPS!

It was a breathtaking view :) On Friday, it was time to head on out to my new destination; Lake Consistence, where I would be meeting up with my family for the night, then the next day head to Italy :D 

The train ride was about 10 hours long, and finally after a long day, I made it just 20 minutes before the Burgdorfs arrived! We had a nice dinner in our hotel (with a great view over the lake!) then headed bed! It was a long day for all of us. 

Then just like that we were on our way to Italy! A short 6 hour ride, then hellooooo Santa Caterina! It is a really tiny village that is literally only for skiing season. Picked up our skis' and went to our first dinner! We ate dinner every night at the hotel, and it was ALWAYS four course meals! Always. four. courses. Salad, pasta or soup, meat/fish, dessert! Thank goodness we went skiing 5 hours a day everyday! ;) This wasn't just a normal skiing vacation, there were about 300 other germans there at the same time we were! We all got together the next day and got split up into our skiing groups. Of course the kids, teens, and adults were all split up, as well as the snowboarders (Lena). It took forever for them to decide who goes in which group, but finally we got it all sorted out. Then it was time for lunch! A cute little place called Bella Vista right on the mountain. It has been said they have the best pizza for miles around, so I of course had to try it! and OH MY WORD. It was so delicious!

 We also would eat lunch there everyday. I'm telling you, there were not many options. Our ski class met after lunch for our afternoon ride until about 3:30. This would be the routine everyday! Either morning or afternoon ski class (rotated everyday), lunch at Bella Vista, free time or ski class, go back to the hotel and free time before dinner! It was amazing. I learned so much in my ski class, and my teacher was so cool. My favorite part was probably all of the SUPER awesome food... We had it all! On the last day I even had tiramisu for lunch, and I thought I was in heaven. The weather was always unpredictable, we only had about 2 really good days with sun. All the other days were foggy, snowing, or windy (or all three!) That of course is not the best ski weather. One time it was so bad, I almost lost my ski teacher when we were doing a drill! We stayed in Italy for 9 days (saturday-sunday), and drove home on Easter sunday. I was a little sad that we had to drive home on Easter Sunday, but we stopped in a cute little town called Bomio for an Easter Parade. It was so precious! They but little babies, bunnies, chickens, and all sorts of things like that in little wagons and baskets, and parade through the town until they reach the church. There, they all share an Easter meal from all the bread and cheeses that the wagons have inside. The parade was one of my favorite things that we did in Italy. I never wanted it to end. 

The 10 hour drive home, and you would have thought that my adventures would end there. Ya know, take a break, go to school, all that good stuff. But no.. Ohhhh no. You could say, that was just the half of it ;)

FINLAND EXCHANGE!

From the time I got home on Easter Sunday, I had exactly 3 days to unpack and repack for Finland! My trip lasted 10 days, I traveled with a class from my school, and stayed with a host family. The whole reason I got to go on this trip is because my host dad (Jürgen), is the organizer from the German side of this exchange, and he managed to get me into the program! I was really fortunate. My host family was really cool, they have 3 daughters; Minka, 16, also my roommate for the 10 days I was there, Evellina, 7, such a cutie! She was so excited that I was there, and everyday we would have "english lessons" where she would bring out her Finnish-English books and we would write words down together :) She wanted to learn so bad, it was precious! And then a 3 year old who's name I have completely forgotten... D: But she was also adorable! I really had a lot of fun with the little ones. Just like babysitting.. I have missed it! Some of the coolest things I did in Finland were;

My first "school day" (also my first day) Minka and I were SO tired because our plane had landed the night before in Helsinki (the capital of Finland) at around 12:30 and we didnt get home until 2 am. So Minka just asked the teacher if we could go home early from school and sleep. And the teacher just said Yes! All we had to do was get the permission from both of Minka's parents and the teacher was ok with it. CRAZY! Just because we were tired. I love Finnish schools. ;) 

On the weekend I watched Minka's dog show, went shopping in Helsinki with some of the Germans and Finns, and hung out. :D Sadly, I found out that they don't have ANY reindeers in the south of Finland. I was so disappointed! But sure enough, they ALL have saunas in their houses. 

Monday we went to a few Finnish companies, and had normal school. 

Tuesday was Helsinki day! It takes only about an hour with the bus to drive to Helsinki, and when we got there, we started right up with the program! First a tour of the Finnish Parliment House. There I learned that in Finland, the colleges pay YOU to go to their schools! The students get 500 euros a month, and don't pay ANYTHING for school!!! I was completely blown away. I also learned that they love having foreign students.. ;) Hey, I think I could live in the freezing cold winter of Finland, if my college PAYED me 500 euros a month ;) Speaking of the weather, let me just say it was typical Finland. It did not warm up at all for us German visitors. During the day it was about 30-40 degrees, and at night it was always below freezing. It even snowed!! TWICE! I was amazed, the first time that I have ever seen snow in April... Check that off my bucket list. Anyway, back to our Helsinki tour, after the Parliament house, we took a nice city bus tour, and saw all the things to see.

 
                                                                                                                        Miss Finland 2012!
On the recorded voice guide, it kept telling us how pretty and nice everything was in Spring and Summer.. All I could think was "well that's just fantastic that we are here in APRIL, and it is snowing." I'm pretty sure April is definitely supposed to be a Spring month. ;) Oh well. Helsinki is a really beautiful capitol, even with snow ;) After the bus tour, we had free time. Shopping of course. We were even lucky enough, and in one of the malls, Miss Finland 2012 was there! A great photo opportunity :D

Wednesday was another regular school day, and we went bowling in the afternoon. Some great bonding time with the Germans and the Finns! I didn't really know any of the Germans before we came on this trip, and only one or two of the Finns that were also in Germany last year on exchange. We had so much fun that night, and it was really good for me because then I had the opportunity to make even more friends :)

Thursday; ESTONIA DAY! A super duper added bonus to the Finland trip. Because Tallinn (capitol of Estonia) is so close to Finland, only 2 hours with a fairy boat, we got the opportunity to make a day trip there! We went on a guided walking tour around the old and some new parts of Tallinn. It is SO cute there! We didnt really have a lot of time, because of the all the bus and boat rides. It ended up being that we only had about 4 hours total in Tallinn. 2 with the tour guide, and 2 hours free time. We ate, did a little shopping, then before we knew it we were back on the boat again! I was a little bummed because we really didnt get to see everything from Tallinn and all the cute little things.. BUT I made up for it. I found the coolest mittens EVER. I am still totally in love with them, even after all this time. They are hand made in Estonia and 100% wool. Bummer that it is the absolute end of winter in Germany.. but still! They are presh!

                                                          The Germans in Estonia!

Friday was our last full day in Finland, and we all went to an interactive science museum :) It was cool, and afterwards I had to stay with Jürgen and his "host family" because Minka had a dog show she had to go to in some far away town :p So I had everything packed and ready to go! With Jürgen there is also a girl my age, Janina. And we spent the rest of the day and evening together. I experienced my very first Finnish Sauna!! It was AMAZING. They had a hot tub and the sauna all ready for us. The coolest part was that it was super cold outside, so when we got TOO hot, we just took a nice little break in the snow ;) I have to say that that was one of my top favorite things I did in Finland! And definelty my favorite picture ;) 

Saturday we said Moi Moi to Finland, and greeted the incoming German spring quite nicely. I had such an amazing time throughout those 4 weeks. Made some of the greatest unforgettable memories and met such awesome people. I can't say that I had the time of my life, because my WHOLE exchange has been the time of my life. <3 I am so so so so blessed. It blows my mind to even think about it. I am super pumped for SPRING! And even more memories :) 

PART 2 COMING SOON. 

My german adventure continues, it has been 2 weeks back here and it has been some of the best time! German Springtime is gorgeous <3 Autostadt, Berlin, and warm weather. :)