Tomorrow I will have thirty days left in Finland. I can hardly believe how fast the time is flying. Last week I was very homesick and now I feel as though there is so much for me to do before I leave. I am trying to figure out if I will be able to go to the Åland Islands-as I was telling my mom about my potential plans, I realized it sounded like a crazy idea. Its not cheap and it requires a lot of traveling and not a lot of time. I am going back and forth about this. Do I want to spend the money and jam a trip into a short amount of time? Or do I want to take the chance that I will be able to do it someday, this time at a more leisurely pace? I wish I knew for sure...*sigh* oh well. Like these are real problems anyways! You all are probably rolling your eyes or something equally overdramatic;)

Looking at my calender has also inspired me to make the most of my time here and to stop thinking about how I miss everyone. It would suck if I spent all this time doing nothing but missing because then I really would miss something! So. Yesterday, after it rained and the blue sky was full of big white fluffy clouds, I decided it was high time to get lost. I think some of you out there might know this (certainly if your last name is Butorac and Bob and Darby are your parents) but one of my favorite things to do is to get lost! I remember moving to Virginia when I was five and getting lost (someone might have called it having an adventure!) all the time. Oh what fun! Discovering roads that wound and wound (those were the best) and listening to music and singing along with my sisters, brother, and our mother. Getting lost was the best way to orientate ourselves to a new area and they are some of my favorite memories.

Today I got lost and wound up at a lake about 4 miles away from my apartment. According to someone I work with, the lake is about 240 kilometers wide. In the summer you can take a steamboat from one end to another. Needless to say, it was gorgeous. I was very jealous of the folks who live on this lake. From my side of the shore, I could smaller islands where one or two houses sat, waiting to be used. I was even more jealous of these people:) I took a lot of pictures of the lake and the woods surrounding it and noticed that Spring had finally come. Everything around me was either white, blue, or green. It was absolutely beautiful!! This made me very happy.

I was sad to leave the lake behind, but I figured I needed to start heading back to my neck of the woods. I found a road that brought me to Lake Jyväskyläri and I went across the bridge to the marina below. All the boats that just a week ago had been stuck in the ice were now floating in rather choppy early Spring waters. I am so excited to get on one of the steamers to go on a boat tour. That won't be possible for another week or so though.

Alas, my time has grown short and there is much for me to do before it runs out all together! Hope you all are well. I love you!

P.S. Pictures will be posted *hopefully* in the next day or two. Hope you all can wait until then:)