New Town, New Team, New Adventures

After a week and a half of being here in Kangasala, the two other Americans and I moved upstairs to a bigger apartment, have spent the better part of this week getting settled in to the new digs (however I am still sleeping on a mattress on the floor...hopefully a bed will be arriving soon) and continuing to explore the town and city near by. The weather has been more than bearable in the past couple weeks with temperatures dropping to about -2 degrees celcius at most. Practices have been pretty good however, the mentality here is different then my last team. The trainings are a little less strict and discipline can be lacking at times. I try to keep the mentality that I had with my last team, believing that someone is trying to take my spot giving myself motivation to work hard at every practice and eventually in every game. Its not that I "have" to think that way in order to work hard but it doesn't hurt. I believe the coach here has faith in me and trusts me to do the right thing. I just hope that I can deliver this weekend. I have been thinking a lot lately about how I need to just release the timid Whitney within. To let go of the immense pressure I put on myself whenever we begin to play, to let go of the fear of being yanked out of a game, letting go of the mistakes I make during a match because no matter what happens there will be a few. When I feel like I am needed on a team, I tend to play and lead better, so heres to hoping for the best, cheers!
This past weekend I went out for the second time since I have been in Finland (amazing I know!). However before we could have our fun night out, we had to endure a 3 hour long practice that afternoon, awesome. Once that practice was over, we were able to relax, make some food, get our make up on and get our butts to the city for some much needed and earned fun. Becca (roommate and fellow South Bay local), Erica (teammate), Kahwika (on the Tampere mens team hailing from Hawaii), and Dustin (another fellow Californian also playing on a team out here) went to a bar called Ale for some "cheap" beers ("its 9 dollar beer night", if you know where this quote is from you'r a champ!) and then on over to a club called Kuuba for some off the wall dancing. Unfortunately our other roommate Lauren was so tired that she passed out around 7:30pm and said she was done for the night,  hopefully next time. I am pretty sure the Americans and one Finish girl took over the club that night. At one point we developed a rally circle and jumped around for a solid minute yelling into the middle of the circle. Bottom line, we all had a really great time, and everyone went home with busted ear drums and a little sway to their step.
Sunday, Becca and I went to the Sauna down the back street from us on the lake to sweat off the night. The idea was to get really hot in the sauna first and then jog down to the lake, hop in and then jog on back to the sauna. We did this twice since we were not used to the traditional 4-10 times... The first time we went in up to our knees and the second up to our chins. Screaming the entire time as we dipped our soar bodies into the lake, taking relief and de-numbing our skin in the sauna after. It was truly amazing to see some people swimming laps in the water. I guess there comes a point when you just can't feel how cold it really is. My goal is to let go of the railing and tread water for at least 10 seconds before I go home. It starts to hurt after a while being that cold. Becca and I left the sauna house feeling refreshed, hang over free, and ready for a nap. That night all the roomies and a teammate went to the American Diner in Tampere. Best day after partying food ever! To finnish the meal we all ordered pancakes with ice cream, however these pancakes were small, thick, buttery, and dusted with powdered sugar.....perfect. Great end to a great weekend.
Our new place is starting to look more and more like people actually live in it. Club members arrived with our washing machine, a couch, two big rugs, and the hopes of another bed. So spirits are high in la casa de california natives. Tonight we have video and then practice, I am excited and pumped to rip it up tomorrow at the game and show the people who didn't believe in me that I can play well. Wish us luck :)

PS The pictures are of the sauna place and the church in Kangasala built in 1800. Enjoy!

"Lap pool"