Finland

Hello everyone.        This will be my last "weekly post" since our weeks here are about to slow down. We have been playing 2 games a week for the past 3 weeks...and now it slows down to one game a week. Yes we are 6-0!!! It has been tough (especially this last week). It is the best start in club history and we are all very excited to get better. We are playing so much better than when we started playing just 1.5 months ago.        If any of you are wanting to watch some of the games, just inbox me and I can tell you how to view it. None of our games have been live streamed on TV, but they have had live score (with detailed rally info). Our game this past Friday, versus Kuusamo, was probably the best we have played yet. Then yesterday versus OrPo was not our best game, but we prevailed and pushed through together . We were the underdogs in the league so it is really cool to be playing well. I like that we are determined to get back in the gym ...

It has been a minute, hello!        Well, I wanted to write the blog last week, but I also wanted to enjoy every moment with my dad being here. So in this blog, I will sum up the last two weeks for you. (which by the way have been pretty cool)        So to start off, on Tuesday September 24th, my dad flew here! Alexis, Mav, and I drove to Jyväskylä to pick him up after one of our practices. While these two weeks have felt like a long time, when dad left Saturday night, the two weeks then felt so fast. He got to witness the first four games of league, including my first pro game. He must be a good luck charm since we are starting off 4-0!        --Which is by the way the best start that the club has had in 15 years. So to sum up our games, we won the following: Pujio 3-0; Nurmo 3-1; Vampula 3-2; and Kangasala 3-2. All games were different atmospheres, and the two games that went to 5 sets were back to back. We got to sta...

Hello hello! Week 8 has wrapped up and it was different week for us. You all have been asking about what the town is like, gym, stores, etc., so I finally made a video to show you the town of Pihtipudas! The link is:  https://youtu.be/Qioc7IYaxyY        We had our friendly game vs OrPo on Wednesday (9.18). We ended up winning 3-1. While Pihtipudas is located slightly below mid-Finland, we still have a little bit of a drive to every opponent that we play. OrPo is one of the closer trips that we will make (about 3 hours). The weather here has dropped within the last week, so the highs have been around 40 degrees F, while the lowest has been around 28 degrees F.        We had an off day on Thursday so we celebrated that by taking a drive down to Jyväskylä. Pilvi, Mav, Alexis, and I went to see the scary movie IT: Chapter 2. After working at a movie theater for almost 2 years, it was weird to compare. The theater was small (maybe 40 seats),...

Week 7 is in the books.        I think this has by far been one of the best weeks here. It seems that the days are going faster since we are having friendly games at the end of the week. This week of practice went by super fast. We hosted a mini-tournament yesterday with Pujio and WoVo. We won both games 3-0, and it seems that things are really starting to click out on the floor. Both of these teams will be our first opponent during league play. This upcoming Wednesday, we have our last friendly game versus OrPo.        The league starts in a little less than two weeks. To further explain to those that don't understand how it works overseas: You have a league that you are in (aka conference) in which teams are dispersed around the country. Our league is  Mestaruusliiga Women .  We have a total of 11 teams in our league. We will play everyone in our league close to 3 times each. Our "league" season lasts from September 27th to Ma...

Moi from Finland!        Week 6 is in the books! This week consisted of receiving fresh mushrooms and eating freshly made Finnish pancakes/waffles. We received mushrooms at practice and split them up among the team. Alexis and Pilvi cleaned and dried them in the oven. It takes about 6 hours at a very low heat to dry them effectively! I am not a big mushroom eater, but Alexis said they were good. The pancakes were baked in the oven and are not as fluffy as the ones back home. The waffles are softer and more thin than the ones back home as well. We ate these with Nutella, home-made whipped cream, and jam!        The tournament we had was located in Kuusamo. We got on the bus around 1:30pm on Friday for departure. I was a little surprised at the bus, being that it was nicer than the ones we would take for my college volleyball travel trips. It was a bigger bus with leather seats and many rows.        The drive was about ...

Hello!        Week 5 here in Pihtipudas is over! It has been a total of 37 days since I arrived here. 37 days of lots of volleyball, new foods, new friends, and new emotions.        I am currently sitting in the kitchen typing this as Mav and Alexis make 'Apple Crisp.' It will be my first time having it so I am excited. I have decided that Mav is the team mom in the fact that she is always baking something and offering it to us haha. Alexis is the philosophical one and always listens and wants to help. There are more to name, but I am surrounded by good people here; for that I am so thankful. Update on the Apple Crisp:        Yesterday, August 31st, was the first (friendly) game of the season versus Orpo. We played a total of 5 sets to 25 points. It was really nice to finally play a game in our gym. According to the club, the turnout for the friendly-game was way more people than expected. I am glad to see what we ne...