#Entry 1

Hello! Today marks 172 days until my birthday, the date of which I expect all of you to know, and probably the same amount of days until my departure. For those of you who don't know what's going on, you have a serious amount of catching up to do. Last autumn, I applied for an exchange year abroad through Rotary. I was chosen as the candidate for the Merikoski Rotary club here in Oulu and approved by the district in November. A couple of weeks ago I found out that I will be going to the States and last night I got a wonderful email from my country coordinator in the US and found out I will be going to the district 5100, which includes the northern half of Oregon and a small part of Washington.

When I found out I was going to the northern or western parts of States I was secretly hoping I would get to go to a cool state like Oregon. As appealing and commonly praised states like Florida and California are, I have already visited both in large amounts and long for something new and different. As a complete control freak does, I started maniacally googling everything there is to know about Oregon last night and I am hands down already in love. The hiking and other outdoor activities Oregon has to offer are amazing and the nature is mesmerizing. It's been a while since I last went hiking, but as I look back at wondering in the woods at a skiing resort in northern Finland with my former exchange student Mackie and think about all the fun that we had, I cannot be anything but hyped for all the new adventures to come.

The next 172 days prior to my departure will hold a lot of preparations and training to get me through this crazy yet fantastic experience I am setting myself up for. My district here in Finland, 1400, will organize two training sessions here in Oulu for us OB's (outbounds) and there will be a third national training session compulsory for all the OB's in Finland in a city down south called Lahti. The training includes revising the Rotary rules, the most renowned being the 4 D's -no drinking, driving, dating or drugs. We will also get personal lessons from our Finnish country coordinators on the cultural differences between the two countries and get to purchase our official Rotary blazers.

As most of you aren't that interested in the preparations I won't blabber any longer about that but if anyone is interested in applying, the process or just generally curious, comment below and I'll answer to the best of my abilities!

Here's a couple of photos of the nature in Oregon to help you put what I just said into perspective:

This photo is from Crater Lake, Oregon. It is a national park in the south.

I'm not sure about the exact location of this sight, but it's in NW Oregon.