Summer Cottage pt. 2

This last weekend I had the opportunity to go to summer cottage once again. Only, this time it was a bit shorter of a trip. We left on Saturday morning around 10am and left the cottage to go back home on Sunday in the afternoon. It was still a very nice short get away and as always I really enjoyed spending the time with my host family! I still was a bit tired and lacking my usual energy due to being sick so the day was taken pretty easy but it was still nice to just relax and enjoy the cottage lifestyle once again :) 

One AWESOME thing that happened during the day was that I went kayaking with my host dad Mika & host sister Linnea and while we were out on our little kayak trip we came across an island where there were  sheep! It was such a neat experience. We started to go "baaahh" and talk to them and they kept coming closer and closer until the point that they were about an arms length away. And so many came too! At first there was probably 3 or so but there ended up being about 8 of them! Even little baby lambs! I didn't have my camera with me (something about going on a kayak in the ocean with my camera just doesn't sound like the best idea) so I wasn't able to get any photographs but it sure was a really great sight to see!

In the evening I got to experience my very first Rapujuhlat. Not sure what it is? Here's a quick description 

"A crayfish party is a traditional summertime eating and drinking celebration in the Nordic country's. The tradition originated in Sweden, where a crayfish party is called a kräftskiva. The tradition has also spread to Finland via the Swedish-speaking population of that country. Crayfish parties are generally held during August, a tradition that started because crayfish harvesting in Sweden was, for most of the 20th century, legally limited to late summer." 

Our dinner table at the Summer Cottage :)

Now, of course.. we didn't have it be as extreme as most of the natives have it. There was no drinking involved (I'm an exchange student!) and we didn't really have songs and a big party like some might do, but instead simply enjoyed eating the crayfish and enjoyed each others company :) 

And YES I ate them! And YES I broke them open by myself!

Later in the evening we decided to make ourselves a bonfire and enjoyed watching the sunset. We had some trouble getting the fire to stay due to all of the damp weather we've had recently but we were still able to enjoy burning for awhile and it was really nice :) I also got to see one of the ferries go by on the ocean while it was all lit up and the moon shone above the ship, it was so beautiful to see! Sadly I didn't get any good photo's of it but the memory is definitely with me. I did on the other hand get some other good photo's from the night that I'll share now!