Published in public newspaper... in BOTH countries!

This morning I received a text from both my host mom & dad from my first host family saying "Congratulations! We're so proud of you!" having no idea what they were talking about I sent a quick reply to their text with a "Thank you..... but uh, what are you talking about?" My host dad responds with a link and tells me to check out the local news... I had made it into the paper! Just recently, there was an article published in my local newspaper in Rantoul, Illinois about my exchange thus far. I had emailed the publisher and asked if they would be interested in writing anything and got a response with a list of questions to answer. I then did a small interview with questions asked about Finland via email. Soon after, this article was published in our towns weekly paper, front page! If you wish to check out the article, click here:
http://m.news-gazette.com/news/education/2013-02-04/rantoul-teen-living-finland-year.html

And so, apparently somehow (don't ask me how, because I have no idea) this article was view by somebody working in the local news here because I just found out that they also published this article in the local news here in Finland. It's the same article that was originally written by the News-Gazette of Rantoul, but they also wrote a bit of a description themselves. Feel free to check out the article here:
http://www.iltasanomat.fi/ulkomaat/art-1288537702990.html?pos=ok-nln

Overall, I just have to say I'm quite surprised by the amount of publicity everything has been getting! I mean honestly, I've been blessed with so many different opportunity's during my stay here and this is just one of the many. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen! The point of these articles (and this blog post) isn't to boast about my exchange being incredible -- though trust me, it is! -- but really, I just want to spread the word about the entire exchange student community. It's such an incredible opportunity and everyone should have the change to participate in it! So once again, THANK YOU, everyone!

Kiitos paljon kaikille! 

Xx, 
alisa nicholle