August 2

     Today I had lunch scheduled with my YFU support person; we were to meet in front of a bank downtown at noon. We went to eat at a Thai restaurant, which made me somewhat excited, as I had never had Thai food, although after eating it, I concluded that it tastes like Chinese. Anyways, we spent about an hour or so in the restaurant, eating and discussing my stay in Finland, our travels, and anything that would come to mind. It was nice talking to my YFU person, but after 1, she had to go back to work. We exchanged farewells and I thanked her for buying me lunch and then I continued to walk around the city. In the center square, there was a French market, selling items such as backed goods, crepes, churros, candy and fudge, pickled foods, soap, deli, and bags, shoes, and jewelry. The lines for all the food stands were outrageously long, so I take that the baguettes that everyone were buying must be delicious.
     Eventually, I returned home after 4 to signal that I was still alive (I temporarily lost my phone when I went with Sandra to that family gathering a couple days ago, and thought it was lost forever, so we disconnected it. It was found the next day, but since it costs 10€ to reopen the account, we decided to just keep it closed since I would be leaving on Sunday anyways.) and then I went back to town for an hour or two. When I came back, Anita's mother and her sister with her set of 5 year old twins and 2 year old were home, as Anita was driving them to the airport the next morning. I also skyped my mom.

Jul7 28

     Today we woke up pretty late and had a brunch. I stayed at home reading, and then went to the garden with Anita to get vegetables for dinner before going downtown around 3pm. I don´t really do anything special downtown, just walk back and forth on the main road, go into different stores, although each time I go to town, I venture out father from the main road and central square. Nevertheless, I hopped on the bus to go back home at 5:45  since we agreed that everyone should be at home at 6pm to eat and met Sandra on the bus (Sandra was with her friend Saana running; I declined the offer to go because it was too hot. I think it was in the low 80's. :).) Anyways, we got home, ate, and then went out again to a department store so that Sandra could buy make-up (since she left her cosmetics bag at her relatives when we went a while back). When we came back home, I decided that I would go out for a jog since it was cooler than in the day. After I came back, which was before 11pm, I stayed up a while longer and then went to bed.

July 15

     Today Arely (one of the other exchange students) came over from somewhere about 2 hours east of Tampere. We met up in downtown Tampere a little after 12 (although it did take a while to find eachother). We, for the most part, walked back and forth on the main street until about 6. And actually, we had a lot of fun: we talked about our experiences so far, sat by the lake/river, walked around the different shops, and ate food. Also, in the center of the town, they were giving out free pizza if you played a game, free drinks if you took a picture, and crackers if you just walked passed them (for advertisment), so we spent some time there :). Anyways Arely had to drive home with her host mom and sister at 6 and we said goodbye to eachother. Then I walked around a bit before I boarded the bus back to Pispala (the neighborhood where my host family lives in Tampere). OH and I must not forget to mention that this was the first time that I rode the bus to and from downtown alone, so I was just a tad proud of myself. Anyways, while I was riding the bus home, I met this nice fellow that moved from Iran to work for the red cross in Finland; we talked a bit. And then I came home, ate, read, took a walk alongside the lake (which was very relaxing), and then went to bed.