Eva Nea Riikonen, so that's my full name. My mother wanted to christen me as Linda after her grandmother, but my father got his way and I was christened Eva. I was born on January 3rd 1980 in southern Finland in a city called Hyuinkaa. We didn't live there for a long time before we moved again, again, again, and again. So the time I came here I'd already lived in 8 places. No matter when or where we moved, I was never lonely because I always had my sister Nella as my friend. Of course, we fought a lot when we were younger, but we always loved each other. I still e-mail her at least once a week.

Coming to live with the Hayes in Stanhope was a bit of a chock to me. It is so different here than where I came from. My home city in Finland, Rauma, is a beautiful seaside city in the southwestern part. I think that it is a nice sized city to live in: 37,000 people makes it big enough that you can goof around and have fun, but still small enough to be comfortable and safe.

My school has 365 students and it's one of the four high schools. In Finland, you graduate when you're 16 and after that, you can decide between high school and vocational school. That might be one reason why our school policy is more free.

In the summer before coming here I was into a lot of activities. I worked 5 days a week selling magazines by phone (believe me, you don't want to do it). I had karate practice three times a week, I roller-bladed on the ramps, and I was also in a theatre production in which I danced. We had to dance without shoes and I guess that is where my love for not wearing shoes came from. Of course, in the weekends and some special days, I always went out to party with my friends. Usually in the summers I came home after 3:30 AM but 6 AM was still normal.

I hope you like reading about my life before America. If you want to know more about my home country, I found a couple of addresses that you might find useful.

Finland maps and photo tour of Finland's largest cities

Lots of Finland info plus Finnish words and phrases

If there is still more you want to know about me or my country, you can always come to me and ask or e-mail me (evaneko@hotmail.com).