NC & Kiawah

4.8

After an early awakening I was ready to go explore Storm Eye Institute, of which Thomas asked us to prepare ourselves that it's going to be really boring. And it was. It was an 2-hours epxploration of an eye hospital, that Lions had sponsored. After this we got a chance to do some shopping in downtown Charleston. The shops were extremely expensive and I didn't really find anything. In Starbucks I drank the most expensive ice tea in my life, but it was admittebly also the tastiest. Charleston itself was really a beautiful historic city, the kind of city you rarely see in the States. About 5 o clock Thomas' dad came to pick us up and to take back to Kiawah Island. We played some games and talked with Thomas, and his mum made us a delicious supper at 10. AND YES, I broke my camera! I dropped it to concrete and it ripped. I squeezed the pieces back together and forgot that I ever had dropped it: it looked perfectly fine. In the evening we tried to take some group pictures with Thomas' family, and I discovered, that the button you press to take picture was not there anymore. It must have got lost during the accident. A becoming engineer, I, fixed the camera with a pin and some tape. We managed to take few picture after some laughs. :)



3.8


I don't have anymore diary notes, so I'll just try to remember. First morning in Kiawah.. I wake up just before 11 and went to shower. Thomas was still at work so we left for beach with Thomas's dad and Henriikka. We went to see the club for Kiawah's residents and 5 stars extemely luxurious hotel, The Sanctuary. I've never seen anything that fancy in my life. This country is really full of the most extremes. It was just.. amazing. Thomas came from work just when we went back to the cottage. We went cycling and climped to a small tower, trying to spot some alligators with no success. Thomas took us to club's pool to cool off, as a suprise I couldn't stand the heat. We were the only ones at pool, so it was all ours! Then we went back to the cottage and asked 100 times the question "what can we do?". Finally we played some games and talked. I taught Thomas some Finnish card games and he taught me some American ones. Late in the evening we went to to one of the only restaurants in the island, which was a really typical, noisy american sport bar. The food was just excellent. Back at the cottage we conversed until late in the night.

It makes me so sad to write about my time in South Carolina, I'd pay anything to get back..

2.8

In the morning we had to face a long and tiring drive to Charleston, the historic city in the coast. In Charlosten we were let to introduce ourseves in Lions Club AGAIN. After that we went to row to Cypress Garden! I've already got used to that kind of swamp lanscapes, so they don't make me so excited anymore. Still, it's always beautiful.

From the back: Miguel, me, Pauline, someone and Shania. (NB! THE PATRIOT the movie is filmed in the background)

It was time to meet our becoming host familys, where I was meant to spend the following 3 days with Henriikka. I was told that they are lawyers, they have 17 years old son, a cottage in Kiawah Island and house in downtown Charleston. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, the man comes to pick us up driving a white Mercedes. Good sign. It was some half an hour drive to Kiawah Island. When going to the island you have to drive through a gate, where you need some kind of a permission so that they let you in. The summer houses are really fancy, they must cost like millions of dollars. No wonder they don't let everyone in. At last we stopped in front of a quite normal cottage. But I don't care, I really don't need a million-dollar-cottage to make myself comfortable! We met Thomas and his mum, they both were really nice. They were really an American retro family. The air condition was broken so we went to terrace to converse. We were really in the middle of a jungle. That's what Kiawah Island is: a real jungle with deers and alligators in your back yard! It was some 28 degrees even it was a night. In the middle of the night the air conditioner switched on, so it made it easier to get some sleep.

Country roads, take me home...

1.8

Early awakenings are terrible. I was just too tired to eat any breakfast, and slept the whole few hours drive to Nantahalla, North Carolina. There I saw the mountains of North Carolina, truly stunning view. First time in my life I went to real American school bus! It was crappier than I have thought. No air conditioner or heater and the walls were just a thin sheet-metal. In schoolbus we travelled to a stream to do some white water rafting. Girls went to one boat and boys to another. The water was freezing, maybe about 10 degrees. The weather wasn't warm either, because we were so high in the mountain and it was foggy. We were so numb on our way down the stream, even more numb because we had some water fights with the guys and Pauline got drug to water. Some brave ones even jumped to the water from a big rock. Rafting was quite cool, but I'd have preferred more action.




Back in the campus I took a quick shower and we left to introduce ourselves in Greenville Lions club. After some pizza and introduces we left for downtown Greenville to check the night life. They had some jazz festival going on and lots of people hanging in the streets. We weren't there too long, since the "shepherds" thought it's somehow dangerous to be out there, and we left back to Spartanburg. We all were upset. Freya and Shania were meant to meet their host family, but especially Sally was against to staying in Greenville. But I liked the city, it was beautiful, unlike most American cities. Back in Spartanburg we played Uno until midnight.

Beatrice and Emmi. Sally and Jim the Shepherds in the background

Camp Stuff

The whole week has passed in a blur and yearning for America. The school tastes like a wood and I haven't been inspired to tell anyone about what had happened in America, it's just too much to tell and I haven't found words to describe it. Finally, I pulled myself together and I'll tell something about the last week...





29.7
The evening in Spartanburg. The others returned from Wal-Mart and we gathered to play Uno. The game proved a bit tricky, because of INTERNATIONAL RULES :D Every country has their own rules, so we tried to follow the American rules. We played until 1, when Jim asked us to go to sleep, since we were so noisy. We continued the game in our bedroom few more hours, until we all were just too tired to play and be quiet.

30.7




Early awakening, we drug ourselves to vans and took turn to Lake Joccassee. That was probably one of the coolest places so far. :) First pit stop was a water fall, where we took few (dozen) pictures. Then we hiked our way through the forest up to the hill. The road was extremelly rough, especially without shoes. In the halfway we took our clothes off (of course we had swim suits) and went to natural jaccussee, a cave to where water showered from small holes. The water wasn't very warm like in a real jaccussee since it came from the mountain, but very refressing. Never forget the climate in South Carolina: it is always HOT, HOT, HOT. At our end point there was a natural water slide, a cool thing where you get hurt easily, but if you aren't afraid of small bruises, it's a lot of fun. I mean, it was kind of a strongly streeming river, or a race, that we slided down using nothing else but a small plastic mattress. It looked quite scary, even dangerous, but it was mostly just fun. Some got hurt, but it was worth it!

The natural water slide

The next thing to do was lunch. We parked our boat to a small beach with a group of Americans. They showed us a place where we can do some cliff diving, it was more than 5 meters free fall to the lake. One of the scariest things I've done in my entire life!! But at the same time, full of adrenaline. First you have to climp a bit, which is dangerous, since it's hard to get a proper grip of the slipery, sandy and wet cliff, and if you fall, you're gone. I still feel it on my toes when I think the situation: jumping from the cliff and for few seconds you feel nothing under your feet. AWESOME!!

Me in the air

On our way back we ate some hamburgers in the boat. A quick shower at campus and we were on our way to Spartanburg to eat some pizza in a fancy restaurant. Yes, food again. Well, there are few hours between lunch and supper. The pizza was excellent, but a bit too small and I even shared it with Henriikka, because American pizzas are normally everything but small. Back to campus and we played Uno. Also Zolo tried to join us. What ever we asked from him, he answered: "who...? me?!?? you?!?! he?!?", which was kind of funny, but at the same time, very understandable: he is just 13 and has studied English for only 2 years, while we are at the age of 17-18. Zolo got new nicknames: ZI and SISU! :D (our international friends didn't enjoy Finnish candies.)

At home :(

So here I am, at home. I'd pay anything to get back to South Carolina, I've never missed anything this much. Right now I'm just too tired to write about what happened in the last week, when we didn't get an access to computer. I added some pictures that were on my camera, the rest are in memory card that got lost with the suitcase in New York. Hopefully I'll get it back as soon as possible!