Exploring Finland

Berlin, Poland, Budapest, and Home... The End

2009-08-04T00:04:00.000-07:00

Berlin:

Abbie and I flew out to Berlin to meet Asha. We spent abour four days in Berlin but needed many more! I really enjoyed Berlin. Obviously it has so much history and character, so I really enjoyed learning more about that. Abbie and I arrived in Berlin a day before Asha. Our first day was so beautiful! It was kind of weird going from chilly Scotland to warm Germany. We really just visited Reichstag, or parliament. We actually just noticed the building from a far and decided we wanted to check it out. Little did we know it was the Reichstag. We thought it was cool because it was a pretty older building with this huge modern glass dome on the top. The glass dome was the coolest part because you could see people walking around it on the ramp. Turns out Parliament modeled it after the fact that they want to be a transparent government. You can actually see right through the building. It was really neat. I learned that Berlin has a lot of neat and meaningful architecture. So many monuments or even just buildings are so symbolic in their structure.For example, one of the WWII monuments is made up of four walls with a whole in the ceiling. The whole in the ceiling can be interpretted in any way one wishes, but our tour guide said the architecture was wanting it to be an open place where all elements (wind, rain, snow) can come in. I like that.

Berlin seemed to go by really fast. We went on the free walking tour, which was once again really informative. They just really give you a feel for the city. I bought some Birkenstocks! I think that was exciting for only me. But they were half the price they are in the states! I think one of the coolest things about Berlin for me was running into a friend of mine! Maryville is not a huge school, in fact it is not even a big school. Only 7 people studied abroad this past semester. Out of the 7 people abroad, I managaed to run into one! Sam Howell, who studied abroad in Milan, Italy was in Berlin too! We were even in the same hostel! I thought I was seeing things at first. I always see people on the street who I think I know. I just seem to see everyone's look a like around. I thought this was the same thing at first. Nope! It was Sam! How crazy and insane is that!! Brad and Amanda (who I travelled with the first couple of weeks) were also there. It was a huge reunion, at least for me. AND there was another guy from Maryville, TN in the hostel! He didn't go to MC, but that just means that three people in Berlin at this huge hostel were from good ol' Maryville, TN! I thought that was so neat.

Since I am writing these after my travels, I will try to just sum everything up and not go into too much detail (but sometimes I like details!). Another cool thing about Berlin was the traffic light. The green was this sweet communist farmer happily walking to work and the red light was a I assume a happy communist farmer not walking. They were so cute! Berlin also has a lot of graffiti. But instead of looking trashy it looks really artistic and gives the city so much character. The Berlin wall, or what is left of it, is of course covered with graffiti. Berlin also has a lot of parks, so naturally we took advantage of that.

Berlin was really neat and I really enjoyed the city. It is a city full of life and character, and you can definately feel it.

Poland:

After Berlin we went to Wroclaw, Poland. Although it looks like it spells out Wro-claw, it is more pronounced like Ratslav, or something like that. We were only in Wroclaw for one night to break up the long journey from Berlin to Krakow. It was such a sweet town though! One of the unique parts of the city is the 50 or so dwarf statues randomly placed throughout the city. That is right, you can do a scavanger hunt for cute little dwarfs! But they are much harder to find than you think! Each little gnome has its own story. We have not figured out the meaning behind them, but they were still so cute. I mean how could gnome hunting not make you happy? My favorite was the dwarf holding the sunflower! We didn't get to see all 50 sadly, but the 15 or so we did see were too cute. I know there is so much more to Wroclaw than dwarf statues, but that was basically my experience since we spent such little time there.

Next we went to Krakow where we stayed with a Polish family! My grandfather, who is Polish, has family living in Krakow. I had been talking with Agnieszka, the daughter for a couple months now on Facebook getting to know her. They were so kind and opened up their home to basically three total stangers. It was so lovely to stay with family and really get the polish experince. Plus, I think it helped that they were so sweet about everything. They cooked every meal for us in the three days we were there, lent us the brother's room to sleep in, and Agnieszka even showed us around the city! It was Abbie's 22nd birthday while we were in Krakow, and Mrs. Bohdan made her a cake!!! They were so generous and we were overwhelmed by their hostpitality. It was also neat for me on a personal level because they are my family, even if not blood related.

We went to Krakow's castle/palace that is really beautiful. It kind of makes me upset when cities call palaces "castles". It is so misleading. But this one was literally half and half. Krakow also had the largest town square in Europe!! That was neat. We also went to Aushwitz our last day in Krakow. I was not exactly looking forward to it, but I knew I needed to go. It was really intense and heavy to digest. I think the hardest thing for me was seeing all of the hair they shaved off of the women after the gas chambers and all of the shoes. There were so many shoes. Very hard to digest. I am glad I went, but as I keep saying, it was very intense.

To get to Aushwitz you have to take a bus of some kind since it is about an hour and a half drive. On the way there Asha and I (Abbie did not go because she is coming back...conclusion:it was just Asha and I) luckily had seats. There were a lot of people standing in the aisles. I think in most cases that is normal. However, this was a little mini bus that did not have much room at all. Although all the seats were full the driver kept letting people on! The way there wasn't that bad since Asha and I were not reallly effected by it. Well, on the way back we got screwed over! We were squinched up against eachother right by the windshield for over an hour! That s not safe! At first we just didn't have seats so we sat on the floor. But the driver kept letting people come on, even when there really was no room. That has to be illegal!

Budapest:
We took a night train from Krakow to Budapest. Luckily there was only one other person in the 6 cabin, so we had a lot of extra room. We were in Budapest for about 4 days. It was so amazing! We thought we were going to Prague, but the tickets were a lot more than we had budgeted for. The only problem with Budapest was that we had so much time. Since we thought we had so much time, we kind put off a lot of things until the end. The first couple of days we really just relaxed, I mean we were pretty exhausted from everything. Budapest is known for their thermal baths, so we definetly hit that up. We spent five hours at the baths! They were so cool and relaxing though. It was really just a bunch of pools, both inside and outside, that had different temperatures and purposes. For instance, one was really hot, another was realy cold, one was medinal, one had a current, one was for laps, and then they had a bunch of other ones with ranging temperatures. So there would be one really cold one and then one really really cold one. They also had saunas, but to be honest, I was not too impressed. It was nice to be back in a sauna though. I had missed the sauna smell. Another day we all went and had massages.

One day I spent alone walking around Castle Hill, which was on a hill over looking the city. It was so beautiful walking around! Asha and Abbie went to a museum I wasn't interested in, so it was kind of relaxing hanging out by myself all day. Another day we took a tour by boat, which mixed up our normal walking yours. Budapest was just so beautiful. It had a lot of green hills around the city, with a river seperating Buda and Pest.

Home:

Finally I flew back to Finland for less than about 10 hours. It was weird to fly back around midnight and it still be light outside in Finland. I was really excited to fly back in to Helsinki. Part of me felt like I was coming home. Hearing the Finnish accent and langauage again just made me smile. I was able to hang out with a couple friends and say some more goodbyes. The sun didn't set until 3ish, then rose again around 4ish, which was about the time I had to leave for the airport. But it was so weird because it was so much warmer and the trees actually had leaves on them! It was such a bittersweet feeling going back.

Then, I was finally on my flight home. I flew Helsinki to Vienna, Vienna to Toronto, Toronto, to Atlanta (I missed my flight from Toronto to Detriot, but luckily they were able to help me out), and then finally Atlanta to Memphis, where my family and Bean greeted me with American flags and a lovely sign. I also ran into someone I knew on the flight from Atlanta to Memphis, which was really weird. I do have to say it was weird being back into the States. But boy did I have a huge smile on my face. It was weird not having to have my adapter inorder to charge my computer, things like that. It was good to be back though. Bittersweet for sure. I just feel so lucky that I was able to spend 6 months of my life on such an incredible and life changing experience.

UK: London and Edinburgh

2009-05-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to the UK! I went to London for only about one night, and then now I have been in Edinburgh, Scotland for about three days. I went to London by myself and this was the first time I have ever travelled alone. I was a little nervous, especially about meeting people.

When I first got there, naturally I had trouble finding my hostel. I always seem to have trouble with this. Although I had a bit of trouble, I found it quicker than I would have say I was in a non-English speaking country. I was actually able to talk to anyone for the first time! I cannot tell you how weird and exciting that was. This was the first English speaking country I have been in since January. Yes, Finland was not difficult to get around, but I still did not speak the first language. For the first time I was really able to hear what others where talking about, read the newspaper, understand advertisements, and speak as quickly as I wanted to. I didn't think I missed it that much, but it felt so great and weird at the same time. It took a couple days to get used to to be honest.

So my first night I ended up meeting some people who I hung out with my entire stay in London. I was looking for an ATM around my hostel and I thought they were as well. I heard them speaking English in an American accent, so I just assumed they were staying at my hostel as well. Turns out they had nothing to do my hostel nor were they looking for an ATM. But it was three guys who has all studied together at Oxford University a couple years ago and were having a reunion back in England. Two were from New York and then one was English. They were very nice and even gave me a grand tour of the city the next day.

Since I only had one day in London I had to speed see. So I ate egg's Benedict, saw the London Towers, The Globe, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Parliament and Big Ben, a ton of double decker buses, rode the tube, and I even went to platform 9 and 3 quarters (for the Harry Potter fans out there) all in one day! I was very tired by the end. Everything was so amazing and I wish I had had more time to spend. I will have to go back to London. Big Ben was so huge and beautiful as well as the entire Westminster Abbey. The London Eye was really neat, but too expensive and long of a wait for me to ride. I tried to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe that night, but sadly it was sold out. How cool would that have been though? Buckingham palace was really pretty, but sadly I did not see any guards with the red outfits and funny hats. There were guards outside the Palace, but not the typical uniform. The tube, or metro as everyone else calls it was interesting. It was a lot skinnier than other metros, and an English voice speaks to you a lot. Mind the Gap is said over and over in some parts. I loved it. One of the main highlights though was going to platform 9 and 3 quarters at Kingscross. I don't know if that is sad or not.

That night I took a night bus from London to Edinburgh. Night buses suck, far more than night trains. This may be too much information, but my feet were actually really swollen the entire ride. I think my body had finally had enough after about two straight weeks of going non-stop. I think I half way slept through the 9 hour ride, but it was not a comfortable sleep. When I woke up and couldn't sleep anymore, I looked out the window to see the sun rising, rolling green hills, and sheep everywhere! Yep, we were in Scotland. Oh I was so excited!

I have been wanting to come to Scotland for a long time! I was a little nervous that my high expectations would just let me down. However, not only have I been impressed with everything I thought I would, but so many other things have impressed me too! I am not sure if that made sense.

Abbie and her mom picked me up from the train station in Edinburgh around 5:30am. We went back and had a cup of tea and a scone. It was so nice and so British, I loved it! Once I was able to shower and prop my feet up the swelling finally went down, which was really nice. Then we took a drive around the town so I could see a little bit of Edinburgh. It was so lovely! Most of the buildings are original and so beautiful. The entire city is also very green, with a beautiful garden in the middle of the city. There is also a castle!! We even drove up Arthur's Seat, which is a huge "hill" that over looks the city. It was so lovely.

The next day I took the free walking tour that I have taken in both Amsterdam and Paris. It was so great here! I went by myself, but ended up meeting two other American girls who had studied abroad in Europe this past semester as well. It was neat because we all were kind of going through the same thing.

On the tour we saw J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Hogwarts, which also turned out to be the school her kids attended. They called it the original Hogwarts! It was right next to a graveyard and is rumored to have been the source of her names for the book. Sadly I did not have enough time to check and see if it was true. We also went by the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote the first book!! They claimed it to be the original birth place of Harry Potter. So, in about three days I saw three Harry Potter things that I just found so fascinating and really neat(which makes me a dork...)

The Scots are known for their fried foods, so I had a fried Mars bar. Although it is something they are "known" for, everyone asked me what I was eating when I walked out of the chip shop. Plus, not one Scot I have talked to has ever eaten one. I guess they usually just get fish and chips.

Sunday we took a drive to the country to visit her parent's house in Perth. It was so nice and beautiful! It was only about an hours drive away, but the whole ride was just amazing. This country is so beautiful, I think I am in love. I saw more sheep, more rolling hills, a lot of farm land, cows, and those beautiful yellow flower fields for the oil I saw all over Holland. I was taking pictures left and right, which of course Abbie and her boyfriend seemed to find a bit funny.

Her parent's cottage in Perth was so nice and I really had a great time. We all drank tea and ate desserts together, and then took a walk around the country side. Once again everything was just so beautiful and green! Her grandparents were there as well. I think I did pretty well understanding the Scottish accent.

I am so sorry these posts are so long. Tonight is my last night in Scotland. I cannot tell you how nice it was to have a home to stay in and not a hostel. I feel so much more energized and relaxed at the same time. I don't think I realized how tired I really was. This stay at Abbie's came at the perfect time in my trip by being in the middle. I have had proper home cooked meals for the past three days, including a huge Scottish breakfast and steak.

Now I am off to Berlin where Abbie and I will meet Asha in a couple days. Back to hostels, cold showers, and limited internet time (which I think I am finding as a good thing since I didn't come to Europe to be on Facebook). I am not complaining though, I am actually really excited for the second half of my travels.

Italy

2009-05-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

Italy has always been a country I have wanted to visit. Italian food has always held a special place in my heart and tummy. Last week (I am writing these in order of the days I visited, but I am not posting them until a couple days later or whenever I have internet access) I finally was able to go. I wished I could have spent longer than roughly 4 days in Italy, but I guess I should take what I can get. Italy was amazing and everything I thought it would be.

The night train we took from Paris to Milan, Italy was bad but not miserable. It actually could have been a lot worse. The cabin was tiny with six beds (3 on each side like a triple bunk bed). Surprisingly I slept pretty well considering I was on the very top bunk. We arrived in Milan around 5am, meaning we were not able to actually see the city. Although I saw the outskirts on the train ride away, I wished we could have had longer to see the city. We took a four hour train ride from Milan to Pisa.

Pisa was actually amazing. There really isn’t much to do expect see the leaning Tower of Pisa, but I thoroughly enjoyed just the walk to find the Tower. The sun was bright, the grass was green, beautiful mountains were in the horizon (which I freaked out about. Man I miss mountains), and my favourite (I am on a British computer, so sadly it makes me spell things the British way. I apologize now in advance. Not that the British spelling is bad, it is just not how I spell it) part was the fact that clothes lines were hanging outside the window. It gave it such a neat feel. Pisa is pretty small, but we actually didn’t find the Tower as quickly as we should of.

On the way to the Tower we stopped at this sweet Pizzeria that had a terrace in the back. I was actually not too impressed with the pizza. I ordered olive and cheese pizza, but the olives had the seeds still in them. I know this sounds picky, but it is actually pretty hard to eat pizza with seeds in it. The meal was redeemed by the fresh pineapple I ordered that was delicious.

Finally we made it to the Tower. And you better believe it is leaning, it is leaning a lot. The pictures really don’t show it leaning as much as it was. It was really funny when we walked up because everyone had the same idea, to hold up or push down the Tower. I’m sure from their camera it looked legit, but from my perspective they just looked silly. Naturally we all did the same thing. I held up the Tower and even booty bumped it. It was cool to see what different poses you get. After about 30 minutes or so of just sitting doing different poses with the Tower, we were finally off to Venice.

After another four hour train ride of watching the beautiful mountains pass by and the sunset behind them, we were in Venice. And of course, once again, we had problems getting to the hostel. The blame should not be placed on us, but instead the non-reliable Italian bus system. After the bus came in between its said times while I was getting us dinner, we walked to the second bus station. There were these sweet guys at the bus station that could tell we needed help. They didn’t speak much English, but you could tell they wanted to help. They even offered me a bench seat when I sat on the ground!

Luckily we ended up on the right bus (only because we hopped on everyone that came by before they told us to get off and try ___, saying a different one each time). Again while we were asking he bus driver if he was going towards our street, this Italian guy came up speaking English. Turns out our hostel was right by his house, so he kindly showed us when to get off and exactly where to go! How nice!

We stayed at a camping site that also had cabins and tents. It was actually really nice. We had three beds with our own bathroom. The only downside was how far away it was from the main islands. We had to pay 2 € a person each time we wanted ride the camping shuttle to the islands. Yes it wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it not to deal with Italian public transportation.

Venice was absolutely gorgeous. No cars are allowed in the city, so all movement is done by either foot or boat. The canals run all throughout the city. The canals, bridges, and streets were all so cute, narrow, and small. Gondolas were riding all throughout the canal! Venice is known for its blown glass, which is just beautiful. There were tons of shops of just the glass. They made everything too. You could get clocks, watches, any kind of jewellery, and even a paper weight all with an original blown art design.

The great thing about Venice was the fact that we could relax. Unlike Paris, there are not a bunch of different sights you HAD to see. Yes there were a couple things you HAD to do, but one of the main things is to relax and enjoy the city. We sat by the canal a couple times to just soak up the sun and enjoy the atmosphere.

They claim that it is inevitable to get lost in Venice. We brought a map our first day, but ended up not bothering to bring it the second day. You could never find the streets on the map, and even if you found one street, you could never find the following one. After eating gelato (yummy!) we started to look for a good gondola ride. We knew it was going to be expensive, but we wanted to get the best one possible. We thought it would be best if we found one away from the crowd. Naturally we found them before we started looking and the moment we wanted one, no one was in site. We ended up getting lost more in the local area of the town. Venice is quite touristy (one of its few downfalls), and it gets a little too quiet when you go away from the crowd. Parts of it were actually quite nice though. I saw so many beautiful flowers on the window seal and a lot of laundry on the clothes line. I felt like I was able to see more of the local life in real life.

Finally we found our way and rode on the best gondola ride ever! We talked him down to 70 euros and not 80 (I know its not cheap, but it was split between 3 people). Our guy was pretty cool. He of course had his blue stripped shirt on with his straw hat and blue band coming down. The ride was so nice! The water was just a pretty sea foam green. We rode on the gondola for about 30 minutes. The last couple minutes we ran into some gondola traffic. One of the guys in the next boat has out his accordion singing “That’s Amore”. It was so cliché and cheesy that I just loved it! Who doesn’t want to hear about a pizza pie hitting your eye while in Italy?

To try and make this long story less long, Venice was perfect. It came at the perfect time on the trip. After tiring Paris, it was nice to relax. I love being in the sun and wearing a dress! The gelato, pizza, and pasta were all delicious! I loved Italy! I wished I could have stayed longer, but I guess that means I have to go back. That seems to be my theory for everything.

I only spent two nights in Venice. I left Brad and Amanda on the 13th to ride on a plane to London by myself (Don’t worry family. I am already back safe and sound from London and I will write all about the UK soon). Although on the plane ride over we flew over the Alps. I know I say this a lot, but they were simply amazing and so beautiful. I thought that was pretty neat.

My photos really don't capture the beauty, but I tried.

Paris

2009-05-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

Let me just start out by saying that I think French is one of the most beautiful languages, and I could just listen to it all day. Luckily I have been listening to it for the past three or four days. After Brussels we had some complications with out train tickets. I have a Eurail pass, which is a train pass for traveling in Europe. We had planned on going from Brussels to Luxembourg, a sweet fairy-tale country below Belgium and next to France. But we missed our first train to Luxembourg, which turned out to be a really good thing because they were sold out on tickets from Luxembourg to Paris. So we would have been stuck in sweet fairy-tale town with nothing to do. Instead, we went to Lille, which was also seen as Lille Europe (yep, little Europe). We were actually pretty excited about our trip to Lille, even if we were only spending an hour there. We repeatedly said Lille over and over in a French accent. You really just say a bunch of Ls. So it sounds more like “lull” with a lot more L than U.

Lille was nice, but you only needed about an hour to see everything. They had a really pretty town square with pretty churches. They were having come kind of display or contest of some sort with the theme XXL Europe. I thought that was a little ironic since it was being hosted in Lille. One of the first things we saw as we walked out of the train station was a bunch of giant babies that were half dinosaur… interesting right? It was actually really funny to see a beautiful older street lined with 10-12 feet baby human dinosaurs.

Finally we arrived in Paris, the city of love and lights. Paris was amazing. We only spent three days, but I wish I had do much more time to just soak everything in. Because we were a little rushed we went from one thing to the next a lot, not really having time to digest Paris.

The first day we had lunch on the lawn of the Louvre. We had French style hot dogs and some fries, which were both amazingly good! Then afterwards we walked to the Eiffel Tower. The walk was actually pretty long and the whole time I was nervous! We were trying to make the sunset, so I just felt like I was racing the sun the whole time. Finally, we got there. Wow. That is all I could say. It is so beautiful and large and amazing and… okay you get the point. So we sat on the lawn in front of it and watched the sun go down. It was so pretty in the day and even really pretty at sunset, but nothing beats the night time. It was all lit up with a perfect dark blue sky. Yes we had a baguette too as we watched the sun go down. Some people on the lawn had guitars, which gave it this really peaceful feeling. Right as we were leaving the whole thing began to sparkle! It happens on the hour every 5-10 minutes they say. It was so pretty!!! Then, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen happened. The full moon had been hidden behind some clouds. But when it came out, I was speechless. It was a perfect moment. I love the moon, especially the full moon. So to see it lit up all bright behind the lit up Eiffel Tower was perfect. We all just stood there speechless for a bit. It was simply surreal.

The next day we did a free walking tour with same company that we used in Amsterdam. Since Paris is so different and a lot bigger than Amsterdam, this tour was not as informative. It was nice once again to see another part of the city that is not as famous or cliché, but we did not get up close to a lot of the famous sites. After the tour we went to the Louvre where we saw the famous Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. To be honest, I was not as impressed with the Mona Lisa. It was behind this think glass surrounded by guards and a huge crowd. I personally enjoyed the Van Gogh museum much more, but that is just me. It was neat to see the Mona Lisa, don’t get me wrong. We walked around the Louvre for a couple hours and of course still only saw a blip of all the amazing art it holds.

After being worn out from the Louvre, we went up to the Montmarte, a famous church in Paris that has an incredible view of the city. Then we ventured over to Moulin Rouge. The street it was on was all about sex! It was way worse than Amsterdam. However, the actually Moulin Rouge was pretty cool. I actually met some Tennesseans who went to UT! That was pretty random and really cool. We ate out to treat ourselves while in Paris. We even were brave and ordered escargot. I really liked it, except when I realized I was eating snail! I think my favorite part was my Brie for dessert, yep, Brie was on the desert menu. So I ate straight up Brie… delicious!

The third day, our last day, we had to fit everything else in. We didn’t mean to wait until the last day to do everything, but by the end of the day we were just so exhausted we didn’t want to do anything else. Paris has so much! We first went to the Eiffel Tower so we could go up it. It only took about 45 minutes or so from the line to reach the top. It was pretty crowded, but I expected worse. The view from the Tower was incredible. This was also one of those surreal moments where I could not believe I was actually on the Eiffel freakin Tower! Amazing. Naturally we had a baguette on the tower as well.

We quickly rushed off to see the Statue of Liberty, which was tiny compared to New York’s. It was also unguarded and completely open for anyone to walk up. Next we went to the Arc de Triomphe, was also beautiful and amazing. I seem to be saying that about everything, but it seems to apply to everything. We wanted to see the Arc at night, but we ran out of time. I guess that just gives me another reason to come back. Finally we went to the Notre-Dam. This was the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot in Europe. Usually all churches are more or less the same on the inside. But the Notre-Dam was breathe taking on the outside and the inside, as well as huge!

Paris was wonderful and I would even say magical. I really enjoyed it. We ate croissants, baguettes, crepes, escargot, brie, fries, quiche, French hot dogs, and more croissants.

I took so many pictures of the Eiffel Tower, so there are just a couple above.

Bremen,Amsterdam, Brussels

2009-05-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well I can now officially cross a couple things off my To Do List in life. I can now cross off waffles and chocolate in Belgium, riding a bike in Amsterdam, seeing the Sunflower by Van Gogh, riding on a train through France, and eating a Bratwurst in Germany. I have only been traveling for four days, but they have been a fantastic and full four days.

Monday morning around 5am we left on a train from Helsinki to Tampere, Finland to catch our flight to Bremen, Germany. We were only in Bremen for about 3 hours, but I loved every hour of it. I saw spring officially for the first time all year. Yes, I saw a little blip of it in Stockholm, but Bremen was full on! I saw trees with full green leaves on them, I saw real green grass, and I smelled spring! I also wished upon my first dandelion, if you know me at all you now how much I love wishing on dandelions. Spring is so beautiful to me now since I was deprived of it for a while. I mean the smell of pollen was so amazing!! I’m sure all of you in the States are annoyed at those yellow things that fall on your car, but right now I could just lay in a pile of those and be so happy. The little things mean so much when those little things are absent for a while.

In Bremen we walked around a park for a while that led to this beautiful windmill surrounded by flowers in the shape of the city seal. It was so pretty!! Bikes were everywhere in Bremen (although not nearly as many people rode bikes compared to Amsterdam). Then we went to the city center where we ate Bratwurst with mustard in this tiny bun.

On the train ride to Amsterdam we saw some beautiful landscapes. It was full of fields and crops. My favorite was the yellow flower field. I am not sure what the flower is exactly, but they are everywhere, so bright and pretty. We (Amanda, Brad, and I…. that is who I am traveling with at the moment. They are an American couple from West Virginia. Brad studied in Helsinki and Amanda in Stockholm this past semester) also saw a lot of cows, some more windmills, cute houses, and then some more fields. I have really enjoyed riding on the trains from country to country. You really get to see some beautiful parts of the country.

Amsterdam was amazing. I loved it. So far it has been my favorite, but I still have many more to go. I completely misjudged it thinking it was all about sex and drugs. Yes, prostitution and pot are present in the city, but they are also present in any other city. We took a tour of the city and learned that it is all about tolerance. So while most cities try to hide the fact that prostitution and drugs exist, Amsterdam makes it legal to a certain extent. There are still many rules to them, and the city is slowly trying to make them illegal again. Nothing went away when they made it illegal a long time ago. It just went underground. So they made it legal so that they could regulate it and control it.

Anyways, there was so much more to the city than sex and drugs, also known as the Red Light District. Canals run throughout the city, lined with trees, house boats, and then long narrow streets. The houses are all compacted together and a lot are leaning slightly forward. While Bremen felt like spring, Amsterdam felt like fall. These leaves or flowers were falling off the trees everywhere, making it feel like fall. Plus, the weather was a little cool and windy with some rain. I felt like spring and summer was completely taken away and that I had gone through this time machine.

We ate a lot of food in Amsterdam. We ate their pancakes, which can have cheese and bacon cooked in them (amazing!!), Belgian fries in a cone with mayonnaise (we ate them in Brussels too), and these snacks called Stroopwaffels. They are these crispy waffles that have this syrup stuff inside. They are amazing.

The first day we just walked around the city and fell in love with the canals! The second day we took out free city tour where we learned so much about the city! I won’t put it all in here, but just know it is a city full of history and amazing stories. During the tour we were walking by the Red Light District. The guide kept telling us NOT to take pictures of the girls in the windows (the prostitutes) when we get there. He really stressed this, which stressed me out because I thought I was surely going be the one to take the picture. The girls get really mad and have been known to throw things at you. So, I told myself over and over again not to take a picture! Well sure enough I took a picture, but I did not mean to! Here is the story. I had no idea we were in the Red Light District. It looked just the same and we were on the side, so we didn’t see any actual red lights. So there was this sign in a window up high that read “You are Beautiful”. I really liked it. I thought it was sweet. So I zoomed in and took a picture…. But it was right above some girls in the window… yep…. They knocked really hard and kind of got mad. I was lucky to not get anything thrown at me. I really felt bad. I didn’t know they were there! I felt bad for the guide because he is the one who gets in trouble for it. Oh I felt so stupid. I knew I was going to be the one to do it!

The third day we rented bikes!! It was so much fun! The Dutch bikes have a back brake, so that was a little hard to get used to. We rode our bikes to a windmill on the edge of town, but we were too early for their open hours. So instead of taking a tour inside, we ate our lunch in a park by the canal. Then we rode our bikes to the Van Gogh Museum. Now, if you know me and my love for dandelions, then you must also know of my love for sunflowers. I love sunflowers a whole lot. So I was pretty pumped to see Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting. They also had a night exhibit that showed his Starry Night. Usually the Starry Night is in NYC, so the fact that we were able to see it was a big treat. We also saw all of his other paintings. I am not much of a museum person, but seeing Van Gogh’s original paintings of windmills and peasants and nature was so fascinating and amazing. Obviously the Sunflower was my favorite part and I even snuck a picture! I don’t know how long I stood in front of that beautiful painting, but I took my time. In all, Amsterdam was simply amazing. I even tried on a pair of wooden shoes. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it!

Thursday was spent in Brussels. We took the train which again had a beautiful view the whole way. We only spent one night in Brussels. But we saw the EU Parliament which handed a whole bunch of free pamphlets, maps, and information books. Then we went to the town square, which claims to be one of the best preserved in Europe. I think I can agree with that. The Cathedral alone was beautiful. I find it fascinating how intricate and detailed some of those building are. It was also weird to see such medieval buildings on one street and then a high rise on the other. I hadn’t seen a sky scrapper in a long time. There is a famous statue of a little boy peeing in Brussels. After searching for a while, we were a little disappointed when the boy was tiny. We were expecting a giant little kid. It was still cool and funny because it was a fountain where the water came out his pee pee!!! Yes I just said pee pee. We ate Belgian Waffles and a lot of chocolate!! I even got my waffle with bananas and chocolate on it. It was amazing. I am eating really well over here, but I justify it by saying I am embracing the culture.

I’m sure there is a lot I am leaving out. However, it is late, I am in Paris (I will write about that soon…. A couple countries at a time here), and I have already written way too much. So if you have gotten this far, thank you for staying with me this long. I am having a blast, being safe, staying away from Swine Flu, and soaking up every moment I can.

The pictures above should be described in the post.

Goodbye Finland

2009-05-03T15:27:00.001-07:00

This is it. My time in Finland is over. Wow did it fly by. I feel like I just got here! I mean wasn't it just yesterday that I went on the longest plane ride over here to this retirement center room??? How I am going to miss this silly room, and this cold windy city, and these awesome friends I have made. I am so excited about the journey ahead of me, but sad to be leaving this behind. I hate goodbyes! Today I have said too many. Luckily Facebook can bring us all together again. I just feel like it is the end of high school all over again. You know, when you know you are never going to see these people again? I'll admit that I cried today. Abbie, Asha, and I watched Grey's Anatomy (Like we do about everyday) for the last time tonight... the last time! We even bought 6 euro Ben and Jerry's to make it memorable. Luckily I am going to see them in Berlin in two weeks. But we will never be back in Domus (my building) eating chocolate and watching Grey's again.

Ok, so enough about my bittersweet feelings and emotions going on inside me. Let's talk about Vappu! Vappu is May Day. This is a huge event for the Finns! To put in a non-Finnish way, its when all the Finns come out of hibernation, wear bright colors, fill the city with HUGE balloons, and enjoy the outdoors! It was so much fun. It starts on Thursday(30th) and ends technically on Friday (1st).

The Finns get this sailor hat when they graduate high school, so this is the day they wear that hat. Also, university students usually wear these overall things that are really ugly actually but very practical. They wear them for special events. They also fill them with patches, kind of like the girl scouts vests. So, most people were walking around in their overalls and hats, but there were also cute old ladies with their cute husbands walking around in their hats too! Sailors were everywhere!

Vappu is a just a huge party on the streets of Finland. On Thursday there is this ceremony where about 7 or so people get hoisted up on crane in the air so that they can place a huge sailor hat on Havis Amanda, a statue of a naked girl in a park in the city. It was really cool. Then, after they party in the streets for the rest of the night, they wake up early to cookout in the park. The park was so crowded! We went with this disposable grill, which is the neatest and coolest thing ever!!!! Anyways, the Finns were much more prepared than we were. Some had actual tables, others had DJ's and mini dance parties, and then a lot brought their own grills. The park was so crowded, full of balloons and people in sailor hats and bright colors. Vappu is a huge deal for Finland, so it was neat to experience it here.

After everyone got burnt by the sun in the park, we grilled out again on the roof of our building. What we thought would just be a couple people turned out to be a huge gathering! It was great though just to hang out with everyone. I miss cooking out.

The weather is not warm, but its not cold either. Its about 50 F. So, Sunday a couple of us went to the beach and had a little picnic. The sand was actually out and not covered in ice! It was weird to be at the beach! I hate that I am leaving right when the warm weather is coming.

In about two hours I am off on a train to the airport where I will fly to Bremen, Germany. I am about to start my travels around the rest of Europe. Let me just say it is so bittersweet. I am so excited to see the rest of the world!! But, I am so sad to leave everyone. Also, I am sad to be leaving Europe all together in less than a month and to go back to the "real world".... but I am so excited to see everyone and to be back in TN with sweet tea and BBQ. A little side note: the Europeans/Australians call grilling out a BBQ, which is really confusing. I keep trying to tell them that you can have BBQ and have a cook out, but not every cook out has BBQ...confusing.

All day I have been packing and cleaning and saying goodbye. I guess this is real now. I am really leaving...

Above are pictures of my Vappu weekend.

Sunshine in Sweden

2009-04-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went with ESN, the organization for exchange students, to Stockholm, Sweden! We rode on a huge ferry (almost like a cruise, but not exactly)from 4:30 pm to 9:55 am when we arrived in Sweden. The ferry was fun but very crazy. We were in the worst rooms, you know the ones underneath the water! Yea, I felt like Jack from Titanic. I actually ended up in a room with three guys (which would never happen in the US! Guys and girls just aren't separated like they are at home). It was actually an accident that I ended up in that room. Anyways, The ferry was filled with live music, a lady with a mullet, amazing older couples who just wanted to dance, and me to watch it all! The live act consisted of three women in sparkly dresses and two men in matching tuxes. The older generation on the boat just wanted to get down and boogie with the sparkly people, and so they did. They would not let you get in their way either! The songs ranged from Finnish to Cher to Garth Brooks (which the Brit and Aussie claimed someone else sang. I think they were in denial of Garth).

As soon as we arrived in Stockholm, the jackets and socks went off and the sunglasses went on! It was amazing. I'm sure those of you back home don't think much of that. But after spending four months in a jacket and living in a city with wind and some sunshine, yea, I was very excited to not wear socks. Oh the little things in life. Asha, Abbie, and I just walked around the city. We found a park with green grass!! After lying in it for a while, we found another park! We also found a lot of cool playgrounds. I think each one we found had a castle and some crazy see-saw or spinning object in it. The second park we went to had the biggest and thickest blade of grass I think I have seen in a long time. Once again, oh how the little things make you so happy.

Our first day we really just walked around, saw the older city, ate a lot of ice cream, bought fruit from the outside stands, and sat by the water a lot to eat whatever we were eating at the time. Stockholm and Helsinki are very similar, but oh so different too! Both are on the water and both have little islands everywhere. But, Stockholm's city center was more surrounded by the water than Helsinki's. There are just so many bridges to connect the islands, meaning there are a lot places to walk along the water. It was so pretty! There were boats everywhere!

I am not trying to dis Helsinki. Its just that Stockholm was warm! Plus, everyone was out and about. The Finns claim this happens in the summer, but sadly I will not be here to witness that. Stockholm also had really beautiful architecture! Everyone who went came back with pink and red faces from the sun. Our poor skin hasn't seen the real sun in a long time. Okay, the sun comes out in Helsinki, but it just doesn't seem as warm as it did in Stockholm.

On our second day in Stockholm, we only had until 4:30 pm. Since we spent our first day in parks and walking around the city, we spent the second day going to the market and a museum. We went to the Nobel Museum. Sadly, we had to leave pretty Stockholm and get back on the ferry. On the way back we all stayed at the top of the ferry to be in the warmth and sun as long as possible.

It was such a nice break to be in Stockholm, especially not having to wear a jacket! I hate how pictures and blogs just don't do tt justice though. Now I am back in Helsinki, and it is actually getting a little warmer. Today I only wore a light jacket.

As for classes, I took a test today and I have an essay due at the end of the week. Other than that, I am through with classes! Once I finish this essay, I just have to clean my room and pack for my trip to Europe! I officially have all my plane tickets bought and my Eurail pass ready to go! It is so insane to me that this time next week I will be in Germany on my way to the Netherlands!

A lot will happen until that moment though. April 30th-May 2nd is Vappu, or May Day. It is a huge celebration for Finland. Someone once told me it was the St. Patty's Day of Finland... so I will let you know about that.

I have just put up pictures of lovely Stockholm.

Big Ole Time

2009-04-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have written. But I figured you wouldn't want to read about me attempting to study and getting distracted by Facebook and Surf the Channel (a site where you can watch almost anything you want for free! Don't go... it can be more addicting than Facebook sometimes).

Easter weekend was very interesting and different for me this year. We got a whole week of classes off, which was really great. I tried to spend most of it getting work done before my mom came to visit. Saturday I made a traditional Polish Easter basket with two of my Polish friends. We boiled eggs with onion peels to make then a brown/orange color (and then colored on them to combine my usual tradition of dying Easter eggs). Then, we covered the eggs in butter to make them shiny and put them in a "basket". Our basket was just a gladware bowl, but it worked. We also put frozen sausage, bread, salt, a sheep figure to represent Jesus, and some chocolate in our lovely basket. Then, we walked to the Polish Catholic church where we got our baskets blessed! Yep, that's right. I got a blessed Easter basket this year... very different from the Easter bunny. The church was packed, so sadly I did not actually see the blessing of the baskets, nor did I understand anything! The priest said everything in Finnish and Polish. Either way, we walked out of there with a blessed basket! I just thought that was so cool.

That evening we went to a big bon-fire that the Finns have every Easter. It was the biggest fire I have ever seen!! But all the little kids were dressed up as colorful witches. I won't go into too much detail about the tradition, but it has something to do with witches did a lot of bad things during Easter weekend, so the bonfire was made to scare them away. Now the kids dress up as cute little bright witches. The bonfire was on an island nearby.

Easter Sunday was very different from what I am used to. I mean this was the first time in my life that I did not spend it at home, going to church in a new Easter dress (which by the way the Europeans think it is silly that everyone gets a new outfit for Easter), and getting a visit from the Easter bunny (he just came late this year). I started the day off with eating our blessed basket of food and some really good Polish soup. Then, Abbie and I spent the rest of the day at the indoor waterpark! Yep, I spent Easter Sunday at the waterpark. It was a lot of fun though. I will say that the wave pool didn't seem as cool as it used too.

This Wednesday Mom came to visit! She stayed for 5 days. We had so much fun. It was really neat because we did a lot of things I had never done and had been meaning to do for a while. Her first whole day we just took a tour of the city. We were really lucky to have four out of five sunny days! The sun didn't mean warm weather, but it just makes everything a bit brighter. I showed her the harbor and the beach. Although I had been to both places before, I had never seen them unfrozen! All the snow and ice has melted, finally. It is still really windy though, which is what gets you.

We also went to the Opera. It was a Finnish opera about Finnish life. I thought it needed a better happier ending, but it was still fun. One day we also went to the zoo, which is on an island! We had an interesting time getting there. We rode the metro and walked a little ways to actually get to the zoo. However, to leave there was supposed to be a ferry that went back to the harbor. We waited for about 15 minutes next to the creepy Vulture cage, and then finally realized it wasn't coming. Then, we waited for the bus for about 15 minutes... and then realized we had the wrong time. So right when we decided to hike back to the metro station, the bus came pulling in. Let's just say it was an adventure. The actual zoo was really neat. We saw everything from pink flamingos to a llama that stared us down to reindeer!

Another day we went to the open-air museum that is an island that the Easter bon-fire was on. It was really cool. Its made up of different kinds of Finnish houses over time. It sounds weird, but it was neat. We just walked around the really windy island and looked at interesting wooden houses and barns. It reminded us a lot of Cade's Cove (minus the 11 mile loop).

Mom actually experienced the Finnish sauna twice! Although, one was a traditional public sauna in the city that was very interesting. It was really old and "authentic", but ended up just looking really creepy. It warmed us up from all the cold wind, so I guess it was worth the creepiness.

We ate out twice too! Which means I have eaten out twice in Helsinki in the whole 4 months I have been here. Helsinki is really expensive, so I just eat in and at the university cafeteria. The first time we ate at Memphis and the second time at a Finnish restaurant. I think the fact that a restaurant was named Memphis entertained us way too much. At the Finnish "ravintola" we had reindeer and salmon, which are both pretty Finnish.

It was great to see Mom and we had a "big ole time" as she would say. Now, I am back to normal life of attempting to study and get everything done. I leave for Stockholm, Sweden on Thursday. We leave on the ferry and spend two nights on the boat and one in Stockholm. Basically, I am going on my first cruise since the ferry is really just a big cruise. I'm really excited. Plus, rumors have it that it is a lot warmer in Stockholm than in Helsinki. Country number four, here I come!

Spring is here?

2009-04-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

March and April have always meant Spring to me, well at least the sight of warm weather. But apparently in Finland, this is not the case. March was freezing! Okay, we did see a couple +4 C days(39 F), but that was rare and only lasted for a bit. This cold weather has been getting a little annoying too. Yes, the snow is pretty. Yes, I enjoy wearing hats and scarves and cute mittens... but only for a couple months! It also doesn't help that everyone's Facebook statuses let you know exactly what the weather is doing. I have been jealous that all my friends are "loving this warm weather!" or "Going to the park to enjoy this amazing weather!". Okay, you get the point. At first I was pretty bitter towards Finland for being so cold and forgetting Spring should be here by now. However, now I have decided to take a different approach... humor with a bit of hope. April 1st was a new day in Finland. A lot of the bars and restaurants put out their outside chairs and tables. Plus, flower and fruit vendors are on every other corner of the streets. This is what I mean when I say humor... it was pretty cold the day everything came out. Today, however, I have hope. It started out as +7, then went to +8, and now we are at +10!! That is 50 F!!!!! Oh I am so excited. The sky is blue, the sun is out, it is a beautiful day! I have been walking outside with just a long sleeve t-shirt on! Crazy! The Finns are all bundled up still, which doesn't make any sense to me. I had to take off my jacket because I was dying from the heat. Anyways, lets just say I now have hope that Helsinki is ABLE to get warm. There were times I didn't think it was possible.

I know I haven't written in a while. Not much has been happening except my attempt to actually study. I say attempt because it is not going very well. I finally have work to do (I guess it was about time) and I can't focus to do it! Don't worry though, it is slowly getting done.

I did have upsetting news last week. My Australian friend Ashley who I had been planning to travel with decided to go home early. I was not only upset that he was leaving, but that I was without a traveling partner! I stressed out about it for a couple days, but have now worked everything out. I am going with Brad and Amanda, an American couple from West Virgina. We have decided to take a different route from before. Its rather strange, but it works. When I leave here I will have been to 16 different countries! That is insane to me! I mean what an opportunity I have! I feel so lucky. When I leave here I will have been to Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, England, Scotland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Phew, that is crazy! Everything is official too because I bought my plane tickets! I think I am most excited about warm weather and cheddar cheese!

Last night Abbie, Asha, and I went to the Opera! We only paid 11 euros for it as well since we got out student discounts and bought them the day of. I had to be there at 8:30am on my day off to get them, but it was well worth it. We saw Mozart's The Magic Flute. It was in Finnish with English and Swedish subtitles. I wasn't quite sure how they were going to pull off the subtitles in the opera, but they did it. They were on a screen at the top of the stage. It was nice because you didn't have to read the screen the whole time. Since they were singing and it is was in Finnish, one sentence lasted for a while. We really enjoyed it and felt very classy! Abbie and I sat in the balcony, but Asha had to sit on the floor since our seats weren't all together. During intermission we splurged on a white chocolate and coffee cake that were both amazing!

Last weekend someone threw a movie themed party in their flat. Abbie, Asha, Emma , and I went as the Pink Ladies from Grease. We just bought cheap pink shirts, wrote "Pink Ladies on the back", and put a scarf around our necks -simple. Everyone did a great job at dressing up! I saw Austin Powers, Apollo 13, Sarah Jessica Parker, Indiana Jones, Snow White, and Mitch from Baywatch. People get so creative! I even saw a Telly Tubbie!

So above are photos from the move theme party with Abbie and then Marg Simpson and our night at the opera.

Bean's visit

2009-03-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Adam Bean, my boyfriend for those that do not know, came to visit me this past week! He was only here for 4 days, but they were a fantastic 4 days at that. He used his dad's frequent flier miles, so he got a really good deal on his ticket. He arrived on Saturday around 3ish, so we had from then until Tuesday night when he left around 3 am.

Saturday we just relaxed and enjoyed being with each other most of the day. That night we went out for a little bit to watch a Rugby match between Ireland and Scotland.

This seems really weird, but it wasn't until Bean came that I think all of this became real to me. I mean I know I have been living in Finland for about 2 months now, but it became such a reality with Bean's visit. I know that seems crazy, but it is hard to explain.

Anyways, Sunday we went to this bay area on another side of town. It had this Winter Garden that was really pretty and the Olympic Stadium from 1952. There was this tower that you could go up and see the whole city.

Monday we went to Suomenlinna, the sea fortress. It was really cold outside, but it was also really pretty. It is made up of a couple islands. On the ferry ride over we were amazed at the ice in the water. It has been melting (slowly), so there were huge chunks of ice all in the water. It sounds lame, but it was actually really cool. Soumenlinna was really pretty and neat, with random underground passages and walls to climb through. Crazy.

Tuesday we took the train to the Finnish Science Museum. It was fun, lame at some points, but still fun. Although we went to this Planetarium video that we thought would be really neat, but turned out to be really weird. We made it fun though.

Since Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day we found this random Irish pub to hang out in. There was this "Irish" band playing live with a bunch of old people wearing big Guinness green hats, so we were entertained.

Now Bean is gone and I am back to reality. It was such a nice break with his visit and we had so fun together. It was nice to show him my life this semester, where I live and who I hang out with.

Not only was I sad today since Bean left last night, but I had to deal with my computer. Bean brought the Recovery disk I thought I needed to fix it. However, after talking to a couple HP people on the phone, I found out I didn't need it all along... meaning this whole month I have gone without a computer was pointless. I really just had to press F11 a bunch of times... yea.... I know. I think I lost everything too. I say think because I also think it is still on my computer. I am not sure, but I am going to try and recover all my pictures and files and music. I can handle not having my music since it is on my i pod, and I don't think I had any really important documents saved, I just want to get my pictures back. At least I haven't deleted any from my camera since I have been in Helsinki.

Good news is I have computer again!!

Bad news is my time here is almost up. I mean this is my half way point, but I have less than 2 months just in Helsinki. It is all going by so fast!

Above are pictures of Bean's visit.

Backpacking

2009-03-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

This past week was our "spring break" or really just the break in-between grading periods. My friend Asha and I went to Riga, Latvia and Tallinn, Estonia. This was my first time really backpacking through Europe, so I was really excited. We left on a train on Monday from Helsinki to Tampere. There is this really cheap airline, Ryanair, which flies out of Tampere but not Helsinki. Once we got in Tampere we had to find the bus station, and then take the bus to the airport. Luckily we caught everything just in time. So turns out the reason Ryanair is so cheap is because the airport was a warehouse! Our boarding passes were hand written and the plane looked just like their website - obnoxiously bright and flashy. Our flight was only an hour long, but they spent the entire time over the speakers trying to sell us stuff. It was very funny.

Finally we arrived in Riga!! We stayed at a hostel called Fun Friendly Franks. There were actually 4 other girls that go to school with us in Helsinki on the same flight and hostel too. Right outside the hostel was this bridge that was basically the Memphis Bridge and then some. That made me laugh, but no one else really got it.

The next day we explored Riga! The first thing we did was find the market. Wow was the market amazing! We bought a couple things for breakfast, and I don't think we each went over a euro. Helsinki is actually really expensive, so it was a nice break. Latvia isn't on the euro, but the Lat. After falling in the love with the market, we explored some important sites around the city. We stayed in the old city the whole time since that was where most of the tourist sites were. The old city in Riga was sweet, but not as sweet as Tallinn's old city. I do think Riga's old city is more incorporated into their daily live though.

Once we saw all the major sites, we went to the Museum of Occupation, which explained Latvia's history with the Soviets and Nazis. It was incredibly sad. The Russians occupied Latvia until the Nazis took over, which were actually seen as a saving grace for the Latvians. Then, the Russians took back over from the Nazis. It is so sad and interesting to hear of Russia's rule over the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania).

Ok, well after that we went to this sweet restaurant for lunch where I got, of course, meat and potatoes with sour cream. It is actually really good. I never thought sour cream would be my number one dipping sauce, but it's pretty yummy on almost everything I have eaten here.

We met some really neat people at Frank's hostel. One girl, Nell, is an American who lives in Poland teaching English. Then we met this group of Australians that were travelling. It was actually 3 Australians and 1 Brit they picked up along the way. They actually had this crazy guy in their room who ended up macing them!! I know, crazy right! Turns out that crazy guy was on the run from Lithuania for macing someone. In the end we all laughed and joked about it (well not the macer who was escorted out by the police). Slightly intense though.

So after our day and half in Riga, we headed off to Tallinn, Estonia. Yes, I have already been there, but only for a day. So we took a 4 hour bus ride from Riga to Tallinn. It was a long ride with only the view of snowy fields from the window.

After a very long bus ride, we finally arrived in Tallinn. Our hostel was this sweet homey looking place in the old town, very different from Frank's. We went out that night and explored the old city, which was so beautiful at night time! We found this sweet French restaurant (themed like the one I had gone to before). It very sweet with candles everywhere. We had mushroom soup and filet mignon! Living the high life. It wasn't as cheap as Riga, but we thought we would treat ourselves. We kept taking pictures of everything, so our server opened this other room for us to take pictures in. I thought that was sweet until I saw what it was full of... animal heads! ahh!!! We took a couple pictures then got out of there, or at least I wanted to get out of there. But it was sweet of her to do that. She thought we were such tourists, which of course we were.

We spent a lot of time hanging out in Riga that we were really worn-out when we got to Tallinn... so we actually watched a little TV! I haven't watched TV from an actual Television is almost 3 months! I mean yes I have been watching Grey's Anatomy a lot with Asha and Abbie on the computer, but that is different. We actually watched a little Grey's on this TV, haha, but only because it was on! We also watched a little Discovery Channel and ESPN America. The America part at the end made me laugh. It was the Alabama vs. Auburn basketball game! I was all into it (who would have thought I would have missed ESPN), but Asha didn't really care at all.

So after having a lazy night, we woke up energized for Tallinn! We decided to go for the market again since it is the cheapest way to get breakfast. We had to venture outside the old town to get there. The market wasn't nearly as amazing as Riga's and actually slightly creepy, but we still managed. We found this pretty park to eat in right next to the old city castle wall. We also found this amazing work out center. It looked like a playground, but it was an outdoor workout room! It was pretty crazy.

Although I had already been to Tallinn, it was also fun and different with Asha. We did the walking tour guide again, but in a different order than I did before. The sun actually came out half way through the day! Not only was the sun out, but it wasn't that cold either (I mean, it wasn't freezing like it always is)!

Finally after touring all of old city Tallinn and warming up in the sweetest tea room, we were off on the ferry back home to Helsinki. Please note that we used almost every form of transportation in just 4 days (we didn't use the tram though). The ferry ride back wasn't as entertaining as the one before, mainly because good ole Steve Webb wasn't there to entertain. However, we were pretty tired from everything, so the relaxation was nice.

Now I am back in Helsinki. It is actually snowing pretty hard today. I don't think that is fair at all considering it is 70 in Tennessee right now! However, I guess I should be enjoying the snow while I can.

Above are just some photos of me and Asha in Riga, Tallinn, and the neat outdoor workout area.

YAY for pancakes!

2009-02-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

For some reason I feel that Spring is right around the corner, but this past week has reminded me it is indeed still winter in Helsinki. It snowed on Thursday and Friday. It is not a pretty snow though. It is a very wet slosh snow that is gross when it hits the ground- not fun to walk in. Luckily today, Saturday, was sunny with blue skies!! I am telling you, you don’t realize how much you love those blue skies until you only see them once in a while. I did see some very white snow this past weekend. A group of us went to Porvoo, the second oldest town in Finland. It was really neat! We had to ride the bus about an hour just to get there, but the view on the way there was beautiful. The sun was actually out most of the day then too. It is just so pretty to see the sun shining down on the white snow. I have been very lucky to have 2 sunny Saturdays in a row.

Porvoo is actually a fishing village, I think… When we first got there we saw a lot of ice fishermen, which I thought was so neat! I know they are in the States too, but I have never seen anyone actually ice fish! I thought about joining one of them and learn the ropes on how to ice fish, but I thought that might just creep out a Finn to the max. It surprised me how ice fishing is a very individual sport. Everyone had their own section where they sat by themselves, even though they were only a couple feet from each other. We actually walked along the frozen river, which I think would be so pretty to see in the summer. I was a little nervous about walking on the ice, but the one of the fisherman told me he was 400% sure it was safe. We really just walked around looking at all the colored wooden houses, most in a dark red tent. It was a very sweet town I would say. I just find it so amazing that I walked in a place with so much history! I mean, yea, we have history in the U.S., but not like this. Just to think of all the memories and people who had lived there was really incredible to me. We also saw this really old train station in Porvoo. The side of the train said “Soumi” which means Finland in Finnish. That was pretty cool to me as well for some reason. Basically, I was like a kid in a candy shop in Porvoo, or really anytime I site see. To give you a picture of what sweet Porvoo looked like, it reminded me of Maine. I have never been to Maine, so I could be wrong. But it was like a little sea-side town, that supposedly Maine is actually modelled after. It was also more “Finnish” than the city of Helsinki is, or at least what we exchange students think of as “Finnish”.

I have been going to the sauna on a more regular basis now. I may have already written about this, but my building has free sauna nights. Guys get Tuesdays and Fridays whereas girls get Wednesdays and Saturdays. We actually have two saunas in the building, one with a pool and one without. The one with the pool is only open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The past couple weeks we have been going to both the Wednesday one and the Saturday one. I am about to reveal way too much information, but I have also been going naked! I feel so European, kind of. Every week it gets less and less awkward. If you know me at all you know I am a pretty modest person, so this is huge for me.

As for classes, I have not been writing much about them. That is because I have not been doing much with them. I mean I am going to class and doing my reading, but it is almost like a joke. The amount of reading I do in a week here is about one days reading at Maryville. Attending class I feel like is also a joke. The Philosophy class I am taking doesn’t end until April 30^th, but our professor gave us our exam topics this past week. He also said that we could turn it in as early as we wanted. So, basically, I could write my essay, turn it in mid March or something, and never attend class again… not very smart on the teacher’s part I think. Don’t worry all you parents out there reading this, I am going to my classes and doing my work - I am just realizing a couple loop holes in the system. It is really scary though to think that my only grade for the course is the essay or exam I turn in at the end of the period.

This past week was a little hectic for everyone exam and essay wise since it was the end of the first teaching period. Next week is our “spring break”. I only had only course end, my Intro to Film and Music course. I simply had to watch a movie, write about a couple musical cues in the film, and submit it via email. That’s it. I am done. Crazy, right? I still have my two other courses, Anthropology and Philosophy. Next week after break I pick up two more classes that I am really excited about. One is another Anthropology course, which is the whole reason I am at Helsinki, and the other is a Theology course looking at song lyrics in Soul, Jazz, Blues, Rock-n-Roll, and Gospel music. How neat is that?

Monday, the start of out break, my Australian friend Asha and I are going to Riga, Latvia and then back to Tallinn, Estonia for a couple days. This is my first real travelling adventure outside Helsinki!! I am so excited! I can’t wait to see more of Europe. I am getting pretty anxious though too see everything, which is becoming a problem. I just want to see everything, which is impossible for the small amount of time I have to travel. The whole month of May is free for me to travel, but I have a plane ticket back to Memphis on May 30^th – So I have exactly a month to try and fit in everything I can. As of now it looks like a friend of mine and I are going to the UK, France, Belgium, and hopefully Italy. We only have two weeks to try and see all those amazing places because I am going to spend about a week with Abbie at her house in Edinburgh. Then, we will go from Edinburgh to Berlin, where we will meet up with Asha. Our goal is to go from Berlin to Prague, and hopefully to Budapest… but I only have a week to fit in those places because of my plane ticket. In other words, May is going to be a crazy busy month where I am going to try and fit in as much of Europe as I can. But I am not even hitting Spain, Greece, or really any Eastern European countries besides the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Whew, enough about my future plans which may not be exciting for anyone but me. I know this has been pretty long like all my other posts, but I only have one last thing to write about – Shrove Tuesday. As you all know this past Tuesday was Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday…. Anyways, it is also known as Pancake Day (really crepes). I have wanted to learn how to make these crepes from scratch that all the French just whip out like it is nothing. So, Abbie and I invited a couple people over to my room to try and make these pancakes. We printed out a recipe, but we were banking on the French and Belgians to show us the ropes. Unfortunately, they all had their own way of doing it. We ended up with 2 French, 3 Belgians, 1 Italian, and 1 Estonian all wanting to use their own recipe. In the end we kind of combined them all, but they were really good. Abbie and I had the honor of flipping the crepes, which we of course did not get as thin as the Belgians would have liked. It was really fun, and they turned out pretty good considering Abbie and I flipped them, but I still do not how to make them! When I asked them how much they use for everything (which is also hard since I used cups, they used litres, and Abbie used grams), they said you just have to look at it… so yea, I don’t know exactly how to make them just yet.

In Helsinki, Shrove Tuesday was also celebrated by this huge sledding event. There was a competition to see who could make the best sled. We saw the coolest inventions. Many people had couches on skies, which worked amazing as a sled! Another group had a huge stereo on their sled. It was crazy! There were so many tents with free hot drinks, pea soup, and the traditional donuts for Shrove Tuesday, as well as a DJ, and hundreds of people sledding down this huge hill! We were also right by the ocean, so this other American named Brad, an Australian named Ashley, and I walked on the frozen sea. I was freaked out the whole time, but I still stood on it for a little bit. Then, we saw this huge crack in the ice! That was the moment I jetted off that ice and onto safe land. It was neat though to be able to walk on the ocean, even though I walked on the river that weekend.

The pictures above are of Joanna and I on the frozen river in Porvoo, a group shot in Porvoo, a picture of me with the cool Suomi train, Abbie and I trying to make crepes, and a cool sled invention.

Tallinn, Estonia

2009-02-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

Let me just start out by saying that my typed blog can in no way truly express the crazy day I had yesterday. I really don't think I have laughed so much in a long time. Before I tell you of my adventures yesterday, I'll tell you about my weekend. Although it was fun, nothing too special happened. Saturday afternoon Emily, Joanna, and I , all three Americans, went with a Finn named Hanna around the city. She wanted to show us a side we had not seen yet. We walked around this really posh area that had beautiful buildings. Then she took us to the ocean! We walked across this sketchy bridge to an island. It had a beautiful view. It was neat to see parts of the sea frozen. Hanna explained that due to global warming, there is not as much ice on the sea as usual at this time of year. To take a break from the cold and warm up a little, Hanna took us to this sweet restaurant where we chatted over a cup of coffee (or really tea and hot chocolate).

Saturday night there was a 70's party in another building. I think everyone studying abroad this semester was there, ok not really, but it was very packed. The Americans were used to the crowd, but a lot of the Europeans thought it was crazy! I guess they are smart and only have enough people at parties so that everyone can actually breathe.

Sunday morning a couple of us all had brunch together. Obviously groups and clicks have formed since the first week. Many of us really don't like that things have become clicky at times. So, the group I have been hanging out with decided to "bridge the gap" with a group of Belgium girls who are so sweet. They had never had a brunch before, so we tried to show them a proper Sunday brunch. The rest of the day was actually a really frustrating day for me. I hate going to church and getting upset. I think it has only happened once and that was when I was in Mexico. I have been going to this church since I have been here, but for some reason I had problems with Sunday's sermon. I won't go into detail, but he basically said the clever can't love Jesus. Ok that was really summed up, but that was his basic point. There were also these two guys at the service I have never seen before. One man had a briefcase with a large neon cross on it, and the other man had a jacket that read "Don't go to Hell, Love Jesus Christ" on the back.... yea. I mean that's cool if that's your thing, but that is not my thing (not the message of the jacket, but the way it is presented). So yea, Joanna and I left in a semi-foul mood. True we may have laughed just a little at the two guys, which lightened the mood a little.

Tuesday (yesterday) was a great day and a great adventure. Abbie, my Scottish friend, and I went to Tallinn, Estonia!!!! We rode the ferry at 8 am to arrive in Tallinn around 10:00. I just want to point out that I had to get up around 6:30 so we could be there by 7:30... that is so early! The sun wasn't even out yet! We did get to see the sunrise on the ferry though, which was beautiful. We also saw ice everywhere on the water, which was not so beautiful and slightly frightening, but a little cool at the same time. Abbie and I ended up sleeping away most of the ferry ride, which of course made time go by quickly. I also want to point out that because we went on the week day, we only paid 14 Euros for a round trip on the ferry to Tallinn... that's so cheap to travel to another country!

Once we arrived in Tallinn we headed straight for the old city, which is very touristy but very cute. Considering we woke up before the sun rose, we were rather hungry. Luckily we found this cute coffee shop called, Cafe Rose. I got a ham and cheese pastry and Abbie got a mini pizza, which was just enough to hold us over until lunch. Once we were fuelled, it was time to explore!

One of our friends lended us his tour book of Tallinn which had a nice walking guided tour. The old city was filled with cute building, cobble stone streets, castles, towers, neat stairwells, amazing churches, lots of themed restaurants which were weird, and a lot of souvenir shops. It was so neat though! It reminded me so much of a Disney cartoon come to life. I kept expecting Bell to pop out of some cottage window and start singing about books and being different. We took way too many pictures, many awkwardly by ourselves since there were only two of us. We also have so many of the same pictures - me in front of the neat door, then Abbie in front of the neat door... creative, huh?

We ended up eating lunch, or rather, we feasted, at Pepperjack. Yes, not a very Estonian name, but it was so good. Abbie and I had these huge booths that looked a little like a throne all to your selves complete with candlelight and a stained-glass window. The food in Helsinki, along with everything else, is so expensive. Although these prices weren't as cheap as wanted, it was still about the half the price of Helsinki's restaurants. This was actually our first time to properly eat out since arriving in Helsinki (Hesburger doesn't count). Between the two of us we had two starters, two mains obviously, and crème brulee. For our main we both ordered steak and potatoes with a mushroom sauce. As for our starters we ordered some "garlic bread" which was not garlic bread but still very tasty and some fried dumplings, both complete with of course a side dish of sour cream. Everything was amazing, and we were stuffed when we left.

The ferry ride home I think was actually the best part of the whole trip, well the last 2 hours of it at least. The whole time we had been camping out at the top level where it was quite so we could sleep. Little did we know that two floors down there was a ton of entertainment at the bar, just waiting for us. After we woke up from our nap on the way home, we decided to check out the bar. We heard the live music, and we thought it would be entertaining to maybe watch some drunk people... boy were we right.

The live music was Steve Webb, a man well past his twenties, thirties, maybe even forties who was still living his dream with died long black hair, and a gig on the ferry to Tallinn where he could rock out. When he took a short break, Abbie and I asked him where he was from since we were debating his accent. Turns out he grew up Whales, lived 20 years in California, and even lived in Arkansas for a little bit. Of course I told him I was from Memphis. He actually is on some Memphis online music station called All Memphis Music.com (He of course wrote it down for me). He was really nice. He even dedicated a Johnny Cash song to me. Abbie was a little jealous that I got a dedication and she didn't.

While we were talking to Steve, this drunk Finnish girl came up because she wanted her song to be played, some Finnish some that said "Good morning America". Neither Steve, Abbie, or I knew the song, so of course she sung it for us... Steve still didn't know it. When he finally slipped away from her, she put all her attention on us, lucky us. She could not get over why we were in Finland of all places. So she asked us a million questions, all the time apologizing for being so nosey. Finally I just ended the conversation by saying it was great talking to her. We thought that was the end of her, but we were wrong.

So after my Johnny Cash dedication, our drunk Finnish friend also got one. Sadly it was about some girl who walked home lonely because she was with someone but she forgot or something, I'm really not sure. All I know is I'm glad that wasn't my song. However, our awesome Finnish friend yelled when she got her dedication. Naturally I turned towards her to do a "YEA!" kind of motion. As soon as I did I regretted it, and of course Abbie wasn't too happy. She just said I had to stop doing that people because it gets me in trouble. Well, of course she came back over and started talking again about her dedication. Then she called me Yankee!!!! I was like, OH nonono, I am not a Yankee. Of course she didn't know about the whole North thing, she just thought she had offended me, which she hadn't. Well somehow we finally got her away as well.

So at this point we are laughing at all the drunk people who all wanted to dance but had some trouble. Then, Steve Webb started playing the John Lennon's "Imagine". This older drunk man apparently loved this song. He was kind of dancing and pointing to Steve Webb all the while singing and walking-seems dangerous, I know. Well of course I said, "That guy likes the Beetles, Wew!"... Abbie immediately said, "Oh No! You have got to stop doing that... the wew, why did you wew?" The reason she said all this was because the older gentlemen started leaning closer, and closer.... I started getting creped out. So I finally turned my head right when he went in for the kiss!!! Don't worry, he only kissed me jacket. Although Abbie was jealous about the song dedication, she wasn't too jealous about the kiss.

The adventure on the ferry did not stop there. When we were standing in line to leave the ferry, we had this mean older lady behind us. I think we were moving much to slow for here, even though there was no where to go. She kept pushing us out of the way. I had my hand on the railing, but not for long, because she pushed my hand off of it! We have decided a lot of the Finns just don't know how to form a line. We kept having people skip us and push and shove the whole time. I think when Abbie finally stood still and didn't move for a complete minute, the lady got the point. I of course just thought the whole thing was so funny.

So that was our Tallinn trip. It was a lot of fun, but the ferry at the end was the most entertaining by far! Above are pictures of me with the sunrise (had to have proof that I was up that early), some pictures from Tallinn, and a picture from the 70's party.

Esmie

2009-02-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

Once again, I apologize for not having written in a while. I will try to catch you up to date without writing a long novel. I think I last wrote about the ice hole, so that was two Saturdays ago. Not much really happened the week after. That Monday I ate with a couple Belgiums who made homemade pancakes (crepes) that were amazing! Apparently for the French it was some pancake holiday... I am not sure except to say that I did celebrate by eating a lot of pancakes. It's amazing how anything tastes good on them! I had one with lemon juice and sugar, another with jam (not jelly... that's important to everyone else but the Americans), and then a third with ice cream and caramel... all three amazing in their own way.

The first Wednesday of every month a couple museums have free admission after 5 pm. Asha, my Australian friend, and I went to the modern art museum. I cannot say that I am an artist, or even that I am a fan of modern art, but I can say that I had fun. I think Asha and I laughed throughout the whole thing. Our judgement of the art became whether we could recreate it or not. If we could do the same thing the artist had done, we considered it less than worthy. Our favorite piece of art was by far the American who had a piece of art entitled "Teaching a Plant the Alphabet". Yep, that's right, the "art" consisted of someone holding a flashcard to a plant and repeating the letter several times, all shown on an old television. It was awfully boring but very funny. At least it was free.

Friday was a very exciting day. Abbie, Asha, Emily, Joanna, and I all attended a sit sit. It is a traditional Finnish dinner I can only describe as a banquet, well kind of. It a formal dinner that consists of singing, games, a little bit of eating, and a lot of laughing. Everyone sat in the place assigned to him or her. We actually ate really good food, when we had time to eat. Our first course was tomato soup, the main course was mashed potatoes and reindeer topped with a cranberry sauce, and desert was called a reindeer pooped in the snow, in other words, ice cream with chocolate covered raisins on top. It was all very good. Eating Rudolph was a little hard I will have to admit. I mean Tripp tried to get me to eat deer for so long. In my opinion, reindeer is much worse to eat than deer! I tried to explain to the Finns and Estonians sitting around me. I think they got it when I finally described it as eating my childhood.

Although the food was amazing, we never ate it hot. About every 5 to 10 minutes the song master would start a song. Since this was an international sit sit (also meaning all announcements were in English), the songs were in Finnish, Swedish, Russian, and even English. I think one of the best parts of the night was singing "Yellow Submarine" and "Let It Be". For some reason, our song book liked the Beatles. So the structure of our night included a little but of talking to our neighbors, a little bit of eating, a lot of singing and interruptions, and a skit game that involved killing reindeer and an evil witch or something.... it was improv.

Last Saturday was the laziest Saturday I have had in a while. Saturdays seem to be our adventurous day where we explore... although the sit sit took a lot out of us. We actually just walked around and found this amazing park with an ice rink and a lot of snow. We built a beautiful snowwoman, named Esmeralda (Esmie for short). She is actually very environmentally friendly because we used our old veggies (re-using) for her body parts. Obviously a carrot for her nose, rotten leaves for her eyes, an old banana for her mouth and another one for her hair, and rotten apples for her buttons. She was very pretty. I also felt more complete considering I had been around so much snow for a month and had yet to build a proper snowman.

The last event I have to tell you about is actually very tragic and upsetting for me... my computer crashed on Monday. I have no idea what I did! It wants some recovery disk, but mom can't find it in my pile of junk back home. I don't think it would be that bad if it weren't my ONLY form of communication with everyone. My sweet friends are all letting me use their computers, and mom and I are working on it. It is just annoying that it happened so far away from home, where it's not that easy to fix.

Other than that, we have had two sunny days this past week! I actually saw the sunset for the first time in a very long time. That is exciting! I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see the blue sky, a round sun, and an actual moon at night. Right now it is actually snowing and really cold here, but perhaps the sun will come out this weekend.

Above are pictures of us girls at the sit sit acting very classy, a picture of Esmie, the beautiful sunset, and a picture of me at the museum trying to be artistic with the plants that learn.

Sauna-Sun-Sledges-Superbowl

2009-02-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my lack of blog posts this past week; I guess I have been busy. Since I have not written in a while, this blog may be a bit long… just know that I warned you before hand. So many exciting things have happened this past week. I won’t bore you with details from the weekdays, except to say that I really only went to class. Because my classes are so much later in the day than what I am used to, I feel like my days just fly by. I wake up, go to class, then come back to my flat, hang out, eat dinner, and go to bed. I really think I need to start waking up earlier in the week to take advantage of my time and the sunlight.

Now on to the exciting things- Friday we FINALLY went ice-skating in the center. I walk past it everyday and we have been talking about it for a month now (can you believe I have been here for a whole month?), and we finally went. It was so much fun! I think the coolest part for me was ice-skating in an outside rink, surrounded by the city.

Saturday we woke up early (10:30) to be adventurous and do something we were all nervous and very excited about (I was much more nervous than excited). We went to the sauna-ice pool. Let me explain. You get into your bathers (I love the Australian word for a bathing suit) because it is a co-ed sauna on weekends. Then, once you have rinsed off in the cold shower, a very crucial part of the process, you hang out in the sauna for while. Now, when I say sauna, I mean the hottest sauna EVER! It got up to 70-80 C, which is roughly 158 F!!!!! This may be gross, but once you have been in for a minute, you are not sure if there is still water on you or just your sweat dripping everywhere! GROSS! But you basically stay in there until you can’t stand it any longer. In other words, until you can’t breathe! Once you are all “saunaed” up, you run out into the -8 C weather, which I think is roughly 20 F, and you take a dip in the ice hole. Ok, let me just paint a picture of this ice hole for you. The water is frozen expect for a hole by the dock with a ladder you climb down on. The railing of the ladder is covered in ice. Since the water is frozen everywhere else, you see people walking on the ice all bundled up in their hats and gloves… just watching you in your bathers swim in the water…. It was so crazy. OK, back to the process. Once you have dipped into the freezing water, you waddle (you can no longer walk or run because you are so cold) back to the sauna. Unfortunately, because of the salt from the water, you have to rinse off in the shower again before you go back in the sauna. Cold showers feel the best for the sauna… What an experience. Krista described it as feeling good. I won’t go that far, but I will say it was so much fun!

We did this five times! We had heard from the grapevine that five times is crucial to get the whole experience. It was a perfect number of times as well. The first time I was just so nervous and thought it was crazy. The second, third, and fourth times I went, it was fun, funny, crazy, and intense. However, by the fifth time I went I was ready to be done. Apparently getting really hot in the sauna and jumping in frozen water wears you out, because all seven of us who went passed out when we got back. Who knew?

The last exciting thing I have to day about Saturday was that I saw blue skies and the actually sun. It had been three weeks since I saw the actual round shape of the sun. Everyday is overcast and cloudy. I didn’t realize how much I missed blue skies a shining sun in my eyes! On the metro ride to the sauna the sun was directly in my eyes. Usually it would have been an annoyance for me, but I just soaked it up! I also think the fact that there were blue skies and a shining sun when we jumped in the ice water helped a little bit.

Sunday was also a day filled with excitement. We went out with hopes to go the market, but discovered it is closed until March. Luckily, right by the closed market we saw a bunch of children sledding down a hill. Obviously, we were intrigued. On a side note, a sled in Britain is called a sledge, and in Australia, a toboggan. Anyways, we did not have any sort of sled, sledge, or toboggan, so we improvised with plastic bags-which actually work really well! These American business men from South Carolina came over to let us borrow their sled, I think we looked sad with our little plastic bags. For the record, we raced the sled and the bag, and the bag won. After our sledding adventure (which was so much fun and will be done again), we decided to warm up with some coffee. We ran into some problems after realizing that everything is closed on Sundays… except Wayne’s Coffee! Yep, that’s right, Wayne. There is also a Robert’s Coffee, but I think the Wayne’s has a better ring (shout out to the Washburn men).

Joanna, another American from Georgia, and I decided to throw a Superbowl party. It was a success, after a little improvising. We tried to make pigs in a blanket, sour cream and onion dip, and wings. The wings, chips, and dogs we found. Only the dip and crescents gave us trouble. We ended up making this ranch dip that turned orange (but tasted good) and went with hot dogs instead of blankets. The Superbowl didn’t come on until 1:30 am our time, but we started the pre-party at 10:00 pm. Since we don’t own TVs, we had to get a feed from some internet site, yes a little sketchy. I actually did not stay up for the whole game. Somewhere around half time, which was 3:30 am here, I headed off to bed. I actually don’t think anyone lasted until the end, but Joanna and I succeeded in our plan-to show the Europeans and Australians how Americans do the Superbowl-yelling, good but unhealthy food, and semi-silence during the commercials.

So, that wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. Once again, I will share some of the new words I am learning. Builder’s bum=plumber’s pants or plumber’s crack. I think just the fact that bum is used, just makes it sounds so sweet. Instead of butt cheek, which just doesn’t sound nice, Aussies and Brits say bum cheek. I think it softens it up when you replaces the t with an m.

Above are pictures of me and my friends showing off our amazing ice skating skills and poses, and shots from the sauna-ice hole. One is to show the distance we had to walk from the cabin to the water, and the other shows two guys (in their speedos... only the non European guys had on more material.... EEK!) doing flips into the water. My friend took a picture of me in the water as well as a video, so perhaps I can put that in my next blog.

Baby it sure is cold outside!

2009-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Although I love living here in the city, because it is something new for me, it felt really nice to spend some time in the woods this weekend. Seven of us decided to go to the Finnish National Park. We had to get on a train to Espoo, which was 30 minutes away, and then catch a bus from the station to the park stop. From the park stop, we had to walk 2 km until we actually reached the park-sounds simply enough, right? Well of course, we had problems. Getting on the train to Espoo was simple. Problems only came after we got off the train. The schedule we looked at, as well as the sweet man at the station, all stated that a bus would be arriving within 15 minutes of our arrival. Although it was cold, 15 minutes seemed bearable, considering we were planning on spending the whole day outside. Unfortunately, the sweet old man and the bus schedule we read were only referring to the weekday schedule. The bus does not run as often on the weekends, meaning, we ended up standing outside in the cold for a whole hour! Finally, the correct bus came, and we were on our way to the park!

The park was so pretty! There were snow-covered evergreens everywhere! Although there was a road with thin snow to walk on, I really enjoyed tramping through the thick snow on the side of the street that went up to my knee! It was so much fun. I think most of the time we all just walked along the road, marveling at the beauty around us. Yet, we had so much fun. The snow was actually very dry and powdery, making it impossible to build a snowman. However, we did manage to have a snowball fight with chunks of snow already in a ball for us.

Because the sun sets around 4, and we arrived around 2:45 due to confusions with the bus, we only had about an hour to play in the park. We actually only spent about half an hour in the park since it took us a little time just to get from the bus stop to the entrance.

We decided it best that we come back to bus stop at 4 because of the sun, even though the bus wouldn’t arrive until 5. This meant we stood still outside for another whole hour. It was cold in the park, but since we were moving and playing, it was bearable. Standing at the bus stop was ridiculous. Surprisingly, we ended up having a lot of fun. To stay warm and entertained, we ran up and down the main road, which seemed deserted… we played a couple games of telephone, I taught everyone WAH!!, and we played an Australian version of Big Booty that involved bunnies. Yes, we were frozen by the time the bus arrived (which we thought would never come), but we made it fun.

As soon as we got back to the dorms, we headed straight for the sauna, which is open for girls on Saturday nights. That actually felt so nice since we were bone chillingly cold!

After going to the park and seeing so much snow, the snow in the city just seems like nothing. Being at the park surrounded by the huge snow covered trees and large snow covered fields (or lakes, we weren’t sure) just seemed so surreal. Although I want to pinch myself that I am in Europe, the city just seems like home now. I think yesterday was one of the first times that it seemed too good to be true.

Today there was a Chinese New Year celebration in the middle of town. I have been looking forward to it all week… but it was not all I thought it would be. It was actually sleeting/raining/snowing, so that wasn’t fun to deal with. We watched a short parade and a couple of dragon and lion dances, which were neat. Then, later on, we went back for the fireworks, which were neat. It’s nice to go to free events!

Ice Skating Championships 2009

2009-01-23T06:26:00.000-08:00

SNOW! I love snow. It is just so pretty when it is falling in big chunks... and actually sticking. I heard TN got snow. I am jealous. I think it may have waited for me to leave the country to fall, but that is just my own theory. Tuesday it snowed about 5 inches, but the snow is still falling today, Thursday. The sad part is they scrape the sidewalks, meaning you don't get to walk in as much snow since it is all pushed over to the side. The good part about that is there are these huge piles of snow on the side of the road!

Something really neat happened to me yesterday. I was wearing a hat, because well, it is cold outside. Although, I took it off after a while because I was getting warm. I ran into someone I knew and we started talking, meaning I was only focused on the conversation. Because of my absent mindedness, I dropped my hat somewhere on my way to class. As soon as I noticed I went back to look for it, but class was starting. Throughout the whole 2 hour class I was sad I lost my hat, I’ve had it for years. It was my intro to Film Music class and we watched King Kong, so I guess I wasn't too distracted. Any who, on my way home from class my poor ears were so cold (I think just because I knew I couldn't wear a hat). I was very sad... until I saw this red thing sitting on the edge of a window. IT WAS MY HAT! I was so excited! It was nowhere close to where I thought I lost it. Sorry that was so long, it just made me so happy. I guess some nice person picked it up for me.

Last night a group of us went to the European ISU (Ice Skating Union) Championships. It was really neat. They were handing out free blow up clapper thingys, which of course I took. Naturally the loud American banged them throughout the night. I don't think anyone else knew what to do with them. We watched 20 pairs ice skate! The Germans, who I really liked because you could sense their love, won. The Russians took second and third. It was really neat. I felt like I was at a mini-Olympics or something. Because our tickets were not too expensive, we thought we would be in the nosebleed section... but we were on the 11th row! We had a lot fun.

We had to ride the train to get to the arena. On the way back we had to wait about 15 minutes for the next train... in the freezing cold. My theory was if I am going to cold, and there is snow, I might as well play in the snow. My whole time in Finland I have yet to really play in the snow (which in my opinion is very sad). I made a little snowman whose arms were made out of the Finnish flags we received at the arena. Although it was a little snowman, it made me happy. I don't think the people around had made many snow mans in their lives because they all gave me really weird looks.

My final story in this post will be about the Inauguration (sorry to all my non-Obama lovers who are reading this). My American friend, Duncan, and I decided to watch the inauguration in a Finnish Pub. I think it was silly for us to assume that if a Finnish pub were showing it they would turn up the volume for us. The inauguration gang turned out to be 5 Americans and 2 Australians. We walked around for about 30 minutes looking for a pub to show Obama. Finally, we ended up in a third Aussie's room where we watched it online along with a Brit. I thought it was a very exciting moment. It was neat to be watching it in Finland with 4 other non-Americans. To hear their perspectives and thoughts on everything was really interesting.

The pictures above are of the huge snow mounds (I also wanted to show the bar Memphis in the background), the group that went to the ISU Championships, actual skaters doing cool tricks, and then my little snowman representin' Finland.

Train Rides

2009-01-19T09:21:00.001-08:00

One of greatest things is to find snow outside your window when you wake up. That is exactly what I found when I looked out yesterday morning. Kritsa, my Latvian friend, made pancakes for us Sunday morning. What she calls pancakes I call crepes. They were delicious. We spread jam on the pancake and then rolled it up to eat. She woke up an hour before we ate to prepare the batter! It was neat to have breakfast in the morning with five others girls.

Sunday night and last night I talked my mom and Griffin on Skype. Although it was 12 am my time, it was only 4 pm for them. It was nice to actually talk to her. I think am getting sick of typing everything, which is bad considering it is only week two. When we were talking I actually asked her to point the camera towards the window so I could see the sun. Goodness, I miss it.

Sunday morning Joanna and I went to church at the same one we attended last week, the International Evangelical Church. The service was very different from the week before. Once again, it is not my usual form of worship, but I am enjoying doing something different.

This week we didn’t stay for coffee after the service because we had to rush off to catch the Ikea bus. Joanna, Diana, Krista, and I all stood out in the freezing cold for about 20 minutes until we gave up. Turns out Ikea is closed on Sundays, even though on line it shows the bus coming at 4. Slightly disappointed we would have to reschedule our Ikea trip, we went to Hesburger, the Finnish McDonalds, to cheer us up. Once again, I got the fried salmon burger, and once again, it was delicious. Luckily, this time, we sat at the fish tank. It actually creeped me out a little to be watching fish as I was eating fish…but I think just the excitement of sitting at the fish tank took over all other thoughts.

Today, Monday, I had class from 12-14. It has been weird getting used to the 24 hour clock verse the 12 hour clock. Once again, my anthropology class was very exciting for me! After class, I went with Abbie and her tutor from her orientation group to the Immigration police to register or something. I am not exactly sure what I was doing, I just knew it needed to be done. Before we went, I had to get photos taken for some reason. It costs me 6 euros to take 4 wallet size pictures! I had a lot of issues with the machine at first. I think I sat looking confused for about 2 minutes, then spent about 5 trying to use my coins that would only go in sometimes, then sat there for another 2 minutes looking confused at all the Finnish. Abbie and her tutor, who is Finnish, came over to help shortly after my second 2-minute block. Of course right when I was trying to show them that my coins wouldn’t work, they worked. Because I was just annoyed at this point, I missed the first flash. The second and third I smiled for, but I did not realize there would be a fourth… so I only have two good pictures.

I wasn’t too upset about the pictures because I had to board the train…. My first REAL train ride! I have decided, and my mom justified, that the metro doesn’t count. So, I could really count this as my first time. It was so exciting!! It was also snowing again today, meaning it added to the experience. Sadly, our train ride was for nothing because the office was too busy to help us. Although, I enjoyed simply riding the train. Weird though, we only went about 5 minutes by train away from the city, yet it was – 6 C there and only + 0 C in the center of the city. Above are pictures of the window outside the train, Abbie and I on the train, and a picture of my horrible snapshot.

I don’t know if I have already mentioned this, but each night one person makes dinner for everyone. Tonight Joanna is making casserole! M goal is to learn how to cook from everyone, that way when I come back I will be a pro. So far, I am not there yet, but it is only week 2. I have high expectations, I know.

We are all kids at heart, right?

2009-01-17T13:37:00.001-08:00

Another weekend in Helsinki, and as always, what an adventure. Thursday I had class on Existentialist Ethics. Yes, it is pretty intense. My teacher is actually American, and he even went to Vandy! I thought that was exciting. Thursday night we went to the international student party again. This one was much more fun since everyone knew each other a little bit better. We actually found a group of UK guys with one Australian. So there were three Scottish, one Irish, one English, and then one Aussie. It was so neat to hear all of them talk to each other. I think they may have gotten a little creeped out when I told them I just wanted to stick them in a room and listen to their accents all day.

Friday I did not have any classes, which was really nice. I woke up to the sun shinning right in my window. Back home I would have been upset, but I was actually really excited to see the sun! The past couple days it has been a little dreary. I miss the shinny sun. They claim it is setting two minutes later each day, but I don’t know about that just yet. It still seems to get dark rather early, which is about 4 in the afternoon.

Friday night we decided to see what the Finns do. Instead of the international parties we are used to, we went to Finnish club. I think it is really neat that you do not have to pay to get in, but you have to pay about 2 euros to check your coat and bag. When I say check, I mean hang them up with security watch. When you check your coat, you are given a card with a number that you must have in order to get your coat back. Every club and museum I have been to has this coat check. I find it interesting that even the classrooms have a couple coat racks. Since it is so warm inside, yet so cold outside, these racks are necessary.

While we were at the Finnish club, a couple interesting songs came on. First, a couple Finnish songs came on that everyone knew but us. Then, a techno version of Sweet Home Alabama came on. I thought was really neat, until another song came on that I simply freaked out about… Walking in Memphis, the really techno version. I think I embarrassed my friends because I was just so excited!! I mean, come on, how cool I that? I freak out when that song comes on anyways in the US; imagine how I was when I heard it in Finland!

Today is Saturday and we decided to do a little sight seeing. Since it is so cold (Ok I know it may be colder back home right now, but that doesn’t make it warm here), we decided to go to the Finnish Museum. It was actually really neat. They had a pre-historic section and a temporary section… But I have to say my favorite part was the children’s section. They had so many interactive things! They even had a fake horse you could hop on and pose with. However, the worker yelled at me, not because I was too old to be there (because I am still a kid, right?). She yelled at me for messing with the weaving machine. In my defense, there was a seat and pedals to press, so I did. We didn’t get to spend as much time because that section was closing. We decided to go back since the kid’s section had a lot more to do that we didn’t see. Once again, we all sat down for coffee/tea/hot chocolate and pastries. I really like that part of the European culture.

Since the school cafeteria closes early, we decided to all eat dinner together. Although only 6 of us went to the museum together, there were going to be 9 eating dinner. We ran into some friends at the museum. Only the original 6 lived in the same building, so we gathered what we had to make a pot luck. We ended up gathering two pizzas, pasta, salad, potatoes, and meat balls-not bad, huh? It was interesting to fit 9 people around one table. The rooms actually only have two chairs to go along with the table. I guess I should be thankful for any chairs.

Some other things I have learned since being here- “Trash” is considered “rubbish” in the UK. Sadly, I am infecting Abbie, my Scottish friend. The other day she said “trash”, and I think she has said “y’all” twice now. Also, Reece’s and peanut butter are American things. To me that needs to change, but no one else thinks so. There are so many other differences I am slowly learning. I am sure I will share more in my future blogs.

Late again

2009-01-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

The post before is actually from Wednesday, I could not steal the free wifi last night to put up the blog. Today I finally have the internet! Unfortunately, my Ethernet plug does not fit very well, so it only stays connected if I push it in! Very annoying.

Today was actually a frustrating day for me. I do not have an alarm clock since it stopped working when I plugged it in. I downloaded one to my computer, but the snooze is not very good. As some of you may know, a snooze is crucial for me to wake up, otherwise I simply don’t. Yesterday I used my phone alarm, but since it only goes off once, I did not hear it. Therefore, I set two alarms this morning because I had a Faculty meeting. Krista was also going to ring my doorbell in the morning when she left so I would not be late. Well, for some reason I did not hear the two rings of the doorbell this morning, nor did my computer alarm go off. Granted I did hear my phone alarm, I just thought I would lie back down for only a couple minutes… that turned into an hour!!!! I was horrified. Luckily, the teachers we met with and my tutor were not mad. I still felt so rude and awful!

We took a tour of the Faculty of Theology, which is really interesting. Since Helsinki is a large university, every faculty has departments, which are smaller divisions inside the faculty. In Theology, they have Biblical Studies, Comparative Religion, Church History, Practical Theology, and Systematic Theology. I just find that so exciting and interesting! Everyone keeps asking me what department I am studying in, but obviously, I don’t have one.

Abbie and I went to the Student Union to get Erasmus cards. They only cost 2 euros and they get you into many things free. The Student Union was so beautiful with a round staircase! It looked so European and historic. I have finally figured out how to post pictures. I am actually going to go back and post the corresponding pictures. I also rode in this elevator that reminded me too much of a Harry Potter portal or something at the Ministry of Magic. The "lift", as Abbie says, is behind this wooden door that you open, and then the elevator door opens. It was so neat and crazy!!!
I actually had to leave Abbie early to collect my card for me because I thought I had class from 4-6. I went to the class and the door was locked with the lights out. Luckily, I found this woman (everyone seems to leave really early and office hours are for a very short period of time). She actually walked through the building looking for this class with me! She talked to about three different people until we found out the class was cancelled. I was so disappointed, but so thankful to that sweet woman who helped me! I mean I am sure she had better things to do. She actually said she was just on her way out. I thought that was really neat. Although, I am still upset about that class. I was going to take The Dead Sea Scrolls and Study of the Scriptures… it sounded exciting to me. Because of the cancellation, I now have to fill it with something else. I was in the library for an hour just looking for another course! All the other courses either don’t fit my schedule or they are exam/literature reading courses. It was really frustrating this afternoon! I could not find anything to fit. I have a couple classes that might work, but I will just have to wait to find out.

My day was brightened by looking through the Helsinki Tour Guide Book. They have ice-skating competitions, DISNEY ON ICE, International boat shows, a Chinese New Year celebration with fireworks, AN AMUSEMENT PARK that comes for about a week, ballets and operas, which are rather expensive, and much more! It seems that there is something to do every weekend!! The calendar only went to the first of March, so the exciting events are to be continued as of now. Plus, we figured out how I can have the internet sometimes. I also talked to Bean on the phone for a little bit today. My day got much better after that.

Domestic?

2009-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of my two closest friends I have made, who I spend almost all of my time with.

Time seems to disappear when the sun goes down early. I am not sure where it goes, but I feel like my days just fly by. Today I did not have class, which was nice to get a little bit of sleep. Considering how much I love sleep, I have actually not been getting as much as I thought I would. Because I STILL don’t have the internet in my room, I stay up later because sometimes at night I can steal free wireless. I am actually really frustrated, or as some may say, I am gutted about it! Today I also finally received my monthly stipend for food. The cashier’s office is only open from 12-2, which conveniently is when I have class on Monday.
Today was my first big shopping trip in Helsinki for groceries. I actually bought some fruit and some veggies. I was really proud of myself… especially since it is all in Finnish. I did have to ask for help when finding butter. I couldn’t tell the difference between the cheese and butter. I also bought oatmeal, but Krista my Latvian friend calls it pourage (not sure of the spelling). So even though I feel like Goldilocks (not sure of the spelling either!), I will be eating pourage tomorrow morning. I did make a little mistake I discovered when I got home. See we have all been switching turns to make dinner. Tonight was my night. I made quesadillas (which no one seems to know what they are!) and potatoes. Funny Scottish term for today, Abbie pronounces them quasi-dillas. Anyways, I discovered that when I got home I did not buy potatoes…. I bought beats!! I felt so silly! Luckily, Krista had some real potatoes. By the way, I made everything successfully-one of my first real experiences cooking without something being frozen or a mix! Krista claims she is going to make us pancakes this weekend from scratch! She actually didn’t even use the term scratch, she just acted like everyone should make pancakes from eggs and milk and flour. I think that is so neat. Perhaps she can teach me and I can make for real pancakes when I come back for all you lovely people who read these blogs… perhaps.
At some point tonight, once again, it was colder in Cordova than in Helsinki by 5 degrees! We beat them on the wind though, 18 verse only 5. It does get pretty windy here. This may be too much info, but I was sweating on my way to the uni (slang for school or university) this morning. I had my coat unzipped and my gloves off. I saw a couple of the locals give me a funny look, although I may have been imagining it.
Back to the grocery store. Let me just tell you that it is difficult! Although I find it great that you had to provide your own bag or pay for theirs, it can get hard if you have a lot of items. Since you provide the bag, and even if you buy theirs, you have to bag it yourself, while at the same time finish unloading your cart, then quickly run over to bag, and in between pay for everything. The Finns never seem to have trouble, where as I feel like I am wearing a flashing sign that says I am an American because I have loads of trouble! Today I tried really hard too. I unloaded everything, what I thought to be, at lighting speed. Then I rushed over to put everything in a bag, but I was running out of room… and the lady behind me was getting anxious. I quickly paid and then had to go back to bagging. I think two people behind me left before I was done, even though I felt like I was going uber fast! I hope I can get that down, or at least smoother than I was today. No one said anything, I just felt bad for holding up the line.
I have picked up something new since being here; I am now drinking black tea. Before I only drank green tea and passion, and of course sweet tea. I know sweet tea is black, but it never tasted the same. I discovered that with a little milk, it is rather tasty. I feel very European drinking Twining’s Earl Grey, but they surprisingly don’t have the largest selection in the store. I don’t know if I have already mentioned this, but I find it really neat that instead of always serving coffee somewhere, it is coffee and tea. If you go to someone’s room, you will probably not leave without being offered some tea. I really like that since I am not a fan of coffee but really enjoy tea.

School is back

2009-01-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

Class started today for everyone at the University of Helsinki. I only had one class from 12-2, Intro to Social and Cultural Anthropology. The University sure does try to trick you though. The class says 12-2 (and Finns are usually punctual, so I tried to be early-which in my time would be on time), but all classes actually start fifteen minutes past the hour to give everyone enough time to get from class to class. Although that is sweet of them, I think it would be even sweeter if they just made the class start at 12:15. Anyways, I had so much fun in class today…. Yes I said fun. I have been wanting to take a course in Anthropology ever since I pinpointed this passion of mine. The book we are reading is actually written by one of the main anthropologists I am planning on using in my thesis. I think the whole class I just smiled and nodded. Not only was I enjoying every minute of the information, but also my teacher is Australian! That means I get to listen to a cool accent for two hours. Ok I guess I should stop talking about class, but just know that I really enjoyed it. Since this is a lecture course, we will have lectures once a week for two hours. We have two books we have to read before our exam. One book is required to read throughout the semester at your own pace, there are no assigned readings. For the second reading, you have a choice between two books that you take an exam on. It gives a lot of independence to the student. Wish me luck!
There is a restaurant here called Memphis! I was obviously very excited when I saw it. I looked at the menu, and it was very humorous to me. I am pretty sure it is talking about Memphis, TN (I thought at first it could be referring to Egypt) because the menu is all American. They have the Fourth Avenue Burger (not in Memphis at all) the New York Style Burger, the Chicago one…. And all these other cities and famous places , no where in Memphis. I don’t know if they are trying to play it off like they are, but I just found it funny. I assumed it would be about Elvis, Tennessee, or something.
The past two nights a group of us have just gotten to together to make dinner and then we all watch a movie. Last night it was August Rush which my Latvian friend brought, and tonight we watched 27 Dresses which I provided. I think it is going to be weird to start studying here. I know I have only been here exactly a week, but for some reason I feel like I have been gone forever. I think it is because I have just gotten to know these people so well here. Krista, Abbie, and I have been hanging out all the time. I feel like I have known them so much longer than a week. The point of my rambling is to say that since I feel like I have been here so long and I have not studied yet, it will be weird to make that switch.
I don’t know if I have already talked about all the new words I am learning. Since I am hanging out with a Brit all the time, I am learning some interesting things. For instance, the pound key is called the hash key. If you are gutted about something, you are upset with it. The hub is the stove. Rubbish… well we all know that one, but it is still funny. School is called the uni, duvet is pronounced doovie… ok that is all I can think of at the moment, but I am sure there is more to come.

Hesburger's fish!

2009-01-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

Once again, another day full of exciting and new, and of course interestingly done, things. We actually have created a saying, “That’s so Finnish”. We use it if something closes really early, or something costs a lot of money that shouldn’t, or really if something is done in a weird way. When I say weird, I mean uncommon for me, the Scot, and the Latvian-and we pretty diverse! The Finns just seem to do things differently. I have really enjoyed seeing the Europeans have a hard time adjusting too. Ok I know that sounds mean, but let me explain. Of course I, an American, is going to have a hard time. Silly America does EVERYTHING differently from the rest of the world. Recently I have learned that the UK does as well, so I don’t feel as bad. Anyways, I knew it was going to take a couple weeks to learn the new system. I think I just assumed that the Europeans would just everything. However, we are all learning very quickly that the Finnish culture is very interesting. An example of one of my adjustments is making eye contact. I always make eye contact with an person on the street and just do the “no teeth, hey how are ya, smile”. The Finns actually hate eye contact. Although I have learned this, I still smile at everyone I pass on the street, even though they act like I am not there. Basically, I have been rejected. Then I just feel awkward because I feel like I am staring at them. I mean come on, can they not tell? It is funny when someone does make eye contact with you. You just know they aren’t Finnish!
This other international student from Germany, Fabian, asked if I wanted to go to church today. He found this English speaking church that started at 2! So, me, Fabian, and the American from Atlanta who knows Anne McKee’s daughter, Joanna, all went to church this morning. Unimportant side note-it was the first time I have been outside without my snow boots. I was just wearing black flats (The Finns do it all the time), and I survived! I was proud, so I had to share. Ok, back on track again. We went to the International Evangelical Church. Yes, I went to an evangelical church. Let me just say yes it was different, and not what I am used to. A visiting pastor from Malaysia spoke about passion for Jesus. I actually really enjoyed the sermon. We sang hymns, which of course I was not used to, and I had to go to the alter for communion. I think that was the only time I felt a little uncomfortable. They served those plastic disc things that taste like Styrofoam and wine. Sadly, the thing that stands out most is the little kid running around the room at the end of communion. He was so cute and had so many coats on, he looked like the tire man! He even went right up to the start of stage…. And no one stopped him! Oh I could not help but laugh. I guess you had to be there, but it just seemed so out of place, yet no one seemed to react but me. After church we stayed for coffee and tea. I like Europe, they serve tea too! I felt so European when I was getting my tea too- the saucer, sugar cubes I you put in with a tiny spoon, and a side plate for bread! Then, the pastor made everyone who was knew stand up and say their name! AWKWARD!
For lunch I had Finnish fast food, Hesburger! It had a fish tank inside! Why, I cannot tell you. It was weird to order a fried salmon burger at a fast food place, but it was good.
Abbie and Krista are so sweet and washed my clothes today while I was at church. Sadly, they were having problems. The laundry room is 1. super creepy 2. full of weird machines I have ever seen before 3. very difficult. We had to dry our clothes for two hours and they still were damp. I have a line hanging in my room of my clothes!
Last night I talked to Bean on my new cell phone! I only 11 minutes, so sadly I ran out in mid convo. But it was really great just to hear his voice (sorry I am cheesy). For the past couple days we have been planning for me to come visit, but it isn’t going to work out. Although, just so everyone knows, he is having fun in Ireland and Whales.
I really feel like I doing freshman year all over again. Everyone is hanging out with everyone.
Although little clicks have formed, we are all hanging out with each other and meeting new people everyday. Today I met a girl from Knoxville who went to Farragut High school! I think was a little more excited about that than she was. A bunch of us just watched a movie tonight. This random guy named Howard (although he was Asian, so his name threw me off) just met us in the hall and watched the movie with us. It is just neat to me how we all stick together, even if we don’t know the person, because we are all going through the same thing.
One neat thing the Finns do is sort their trash! It is actually kind of pain to do with only two trashcans in your room, but I love it! They even sort it in the cafeteria. You have mixed waste (everything else), bio waste (food), paper, cardboard, and glass. They don’t recycle plastic, which I find really odd.
Since I don’t have a TV, I was unaware of the Russia gas incident. Thanks to those who were concerned and informed me of it (Heather Felton). I have not been affected directly. My room is never toasty and always a bit chilly.
My final statement today is about Tennessee. Whenever some new I meet finds out I am from the US (which always happens pretty quickly) they usually have a story about how they have gone there or want to or know some one….. Then they always ask what part. When I say Tennessee, they always go, “AHHH!” like it is the most exciting state or something. It is really funny. Most internationals know Tennessee for Whiskey and cowboys. Although you find those random ones who know almost too much about Tennessee. One person I met knew the names of two Grizzlies players. I could not even tell you one name of a player! If for some reason the person doesn’t know anything about the lovely state, I just say Elvis, and then they know.

The Finns love their saunas.... NAKED!!!

2009-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

What an adventure my first weekend in Helsinki has been. Yesterday I finally registered for classes, although it is really weird. I only have three classes this “term” which is until April, and then a whole new set of classes are available. I have a class on Monday, and then Wednesday, and then on Thursday. All of them are for two hours! We will see how that goes. But one of my classes goes from 4-6! How crazy is that. I also opened a bank account yesterday. I still have a lot more I need to do to get completely settled. Something I really noticed at the international party that I forgot to mention is how every dances differently! It was so cool just to watch every. Americans really just shake their but, but man, those other internationals had some moves! I tried to follow, but my body just did not move like that.
Today was a very busy day. At 10:30 Abbie and Christa came over for breakfast in my room (scrambled eggs…. classic) and then we went shopping for me to get a cell phone and Abbie to get a SIM card, which is much easier I must say. All the other Europeans just have to switch their SIM card. Now I have this Finnish phone (Samsung brand though) that got for only 28 euros! Not bad. I had to buy a SIM card too, but it wasn’t too much. I feel so much better now that I have a phone over. It was getting so hard to find everyone all the time.
After our electronic purchases, we went to the gym. I only paid 57 euros for a gym membership for 6 months! What a deal! We get really good deals with our school card. The gym had so many work out thingys that I have never seen before! Then… this is the best part… we went to the Sauna. The Finns are known for taking saunas, which they call sownas. They all go in naked, but we all had towels. It was so hot!!!! There were these coals that you poured water on that bring in more steam. At first it was just the three of us. But then two naked Finns came in and poured so much water in it! What they do is workout, then run through the shower (naked in front of everyone!) and then go in the sauna. After they are done they kind of take a quick shower again in the huge public shower. They even have blow-dryers in the changing room. I have never seen so many naked people, I knew I was in Europe. Considering how modest I am, I think I did well. I kept my towel on in the sauna, but I had to take it off to shower!!! Ahhhh!!!!! My European friends were just laughing at me. Ok, sorry if this is too much information, but it was a big deal. I mean for real, the Finns just walked everywhere naked!! Ok, well all over the ladies changing room.
I am still sick and I have lost my voice, so I sound like a man. Since many of you seem concerned for me, I will try to get more rest tonight. I am going to an English speaking church tomorrow, but it starts at 2! That means I can sleep in much later.
It is neat now when I walk into my room because it feels more like home. Everyday really just gets better and better, and I am getting closer with the two girls I have been hanging out with, Abbie and Christa.
I start classes on Monday! I am kind of anxious to see what my routine will be once they start since I don’t have them everyday. I guess I will just find out.
Last thing, update on the snow. It has gotten so much warmer here! I looked up weather in Cordova, and Helsinki was only a couple degrees cooler. That means the snow has all melted, but then it will refreeze into ice! Everyone is slipping on the street, kind of scary. I fell, but it was not bad and luckily no one else saw. But the snow is just shoveled into these huge piles on the sidewalk, some taller than me! The rest of the snow has turned black from dirt… gross!!!

Standing outside with my mouth open wide... ahh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,ahhh....

2009-01-08T17:36:00.000-08:00

Today (Thursday) was a great day! I hope I am not confusing you with these dates. Since Idon't have the internet in my room yet, have to write my blog at night and post it the next day. So many things happened. I had orientation once again in the morning. Thankfully that was my last day of sitting a room for a long time listening to long lectures about a million different things. One thing I did learn, however, is that Germans knock instead of clap. It is really interesting to put a bunch on students from different nationalities together, especially to see how they all react to everything. At the end of the each presentation we would all clap. Today I sat in front of Germans who knocked on the desk. So I told them I would knock along with them, where as they decided to try to the clapping. It is little things like that that I enjoy most.
It is official- I am picking up some weird accent! I want to say, “well are we going then (in a British/Italian accent emphasizing the then)?” instead of “are ya’ll ready?” Also, the Scottish girl said ya’ll today on accident, it was amazing! I have been hanging out most with the Scottish girl and Latvian girls. We all seem to get along really well, which is nice. After orientation and these tutor groups we have, I decided to treat myself to a little shopping. There was a second hand store on my home that I went in. I have seen a lot of the Finns wear this shawls as scarves, and it looks really cute. It is hard to explain, but they look warm either way. I went in looking for one and found a cream one for only 8 euros! I was pretty pumped.
Tonight there was a party for the international students. It was really fun and interesting. I actually felt really silly in the beginning. One of the girls said she was going to get some cider. I thought she meant hot apple cider. Later I found out it is an alcohol. I felt a little dumb about that because all the Europeans knew what she was talking about. At the party it was only American music played. I have found that a lot. For example, Norah Jones was playing in the store when I went shopping today. The theatres are also in English with a Finnish subtitle. The Finns say they like it this we way so that the voices are not dubbed over.
I am saving the most exciting news for last. . . IT SNOWED ABOUT 5 INCHES TODAY!! I was so excited. It was coming down so hard, I have never been in anything like that. All the cars and buildings were covered with snow. And it stuck to you! It did not just melt away as soon as it came on you. I saw an evergreen with snow piled on the branches, like on fake trees, it was so beautiful. I am actually really excited about the weekend because my friends and I want to explore so much! Today we also learned about the gym. They have aerobics, mind and soul classes (not really sure) skiing, snow boarding, and even dancing classes!
Not everything is fine and dandy though all the time. First, I am getting or I might already be sick. My throat hurts really bad and I am coughing a lot, as well as a runny nose. That has kept me up a night, so I have yet to good a full night’s sleep. I think the most I have gotten is about 2 hours or so. It is also really lonely when you back to your room at night. All day I am with people and doing things. However, at night it is all quit and kind of sad. The three other girls I have been hanging out with said they have the same problem. This is the main reason I wanted a roommate, or a flat mate as they say. There are dorms with 6 people living in them, each with their single rooms, but sharing a kitchen and living room. The only problem is they live far away so that they have to take a tram to school everyday, where as I live in the only dorm that can walk. It is still about a 20-minute walk, but it isn’t that far away. So guess I am lucky I don’t have to pay for a pass for the tram or bus everyday, which can get very expensive. I just wish it didn’t get so lonely at night. Good news is I am not the only one going through this. So we have all decided that when we feel sad, no matter what time of night, we can wake each other up to cheer up that person. I know that once classes start and I get more familiar with Helsinki, the loneliness will go away… I think I just want that to be now. Although I can say that this bond of loneliness has brought the four of us closer, so that is something positive.

Ikea... "Akea".... whatever!

2009-01-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is my third day in Helsinki. Today everything seemed to kick off. Orientation started this morning and lasted until the evening. That meant that I was inside almost all day, except the times I had to walk to another building. So… I only saw the sun for a couple minutes today. The sun rises around 9ish and sets around 4ish. The Finns keep telling us that the days will get longer. In Orientation all the exchange students gathered for a boring PowerPoint of semi-useful information. At one point in the four hours we sat there, a man came up and started speakin Swedish. That was the time that I tuned out and started reading my handbook, which is much more helpful to me. Then a lady came up and started speaking French. It was really neat to hear though. I have been hanging out with a lot of different people. Tonight a door was open, so naturally I walked in. When I told them I was from the US they called me a cowgirl! So the five people in that room came down to mine where I had about five people. We were making dinner. I think at one point I had about 20 people in my room! People coming from Belgium, Mexico, France, Scotland, Latvia, Estonia, Italy, and more I am sure. I just think that is so neat.
After Orientation I went with three other girls to…. Are you ready?.... IKEA!!! Only they all pronounce it “e-k-e-a”, so I am the one that looks silly. We had to take a bus, for free, that took us to the store. It was about 30 minutes away from the center of town, which is where I live. It was amazing! I can’t wait to go back in the States. I got way too many things for such a cheap price! However, I needed most of it. Now I can cook, or really try to cook. The problem is that I want to take all this cute stuff with me…. Except I really don’t have any room left. I guess I will tackle that in five months.
Basically, today was a good day. It has been hard trying to adjust to everything. I really haven’t slept the past two nights, and I am not sure why. But everyday seems to get better and better. I know my way around town more, and I am slowly learning how to pay with euros (even though I keep calling them dollars). I still do not have the internet, meaning I have spent a lot of time at McDonalds. It is hard though because when I do get it I have to check so many things, but I always seem to be limited for time.
Even though it is only the third day, I feel like I am picking up an accent. There are few here from America, so everyone else has a distinct accent from me. I am finding myself saying sentences in the rhythm they say it rather than my normal rhythm. Although, Christa, a Latvian, loves that I say y’all. She actually wants to start saying it because she thinks it is funny. I have also been surprised how many people know about Tennessee. They all comment that I don’t have the typical southern accent. I found that funny.
Although school hasn’t started, I still have a lot to do. I feel like I will never be done filling out paperwork for this trip. I have register, get a cell phone, register for the internet, get an Ethernet cord, get my stipend for food, open a Finnish bank account for the stipend, go shopping….. ok the list goes on. But you can get the point. There is just so much to do! It is a little overwhelming for all of us exchange students.

Finally in Finland!

2009-01-07T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am finally in Finland. My trip was really interesting. Luckily, I found everything ok and only one flight was delayed, but I did not have too many complications. I met people at each destination, which not only gave me entertainment but help as well. I flew from Memphis to Chicago, Chicago to Warsaw, Poland, and then Warsaw to Helsinki, Finland, my new home for the next five months. The flight from Chicago to Warsaw was crazy! I flew LOT, a Polish airline. Therefore, they said everything in Finland and English. I sat next to this Polish lady who didn’t know any English, and of course I didn’t know any Polish. Let me just say I made a lot of hand gestures when needed. I was lucky to have a man sit next to me (which reminded me so much of Mikey from Casa MAMi for those who know whom I am talking about. In other words, Rebekah and Ms. Kathy is you are reading this.) who answered the questions I asked. He had to be a patient man considered my question asking skills. The flight was 9 hours long!!! I crocheted, watched an awful movie with Richard Gere (not sure of his spelling) and this bed and breakfast place. Because the plot made no sense, I tried to go to sleep…. Which did not turn out very well. Although those neck pillows are good for flights, they still are not comfortable. The sweet Polish lady next me slept almost the whole time! I was jealous. Anyways, let me just I did not get much sleep. The food was gross too, it reminded me too much of Mexico! But, like Mexico, I was hungry so I ate. Once in Warsaw I met a couple exchange students as well, and my first Finnish person (besides Sanna). This flight was not very long compared to the other. Once in Helsinki, I met the girl that took me home. She also took home two other exchange students. Raful is from Poland (Grandpa I have told him too many times that is where you are from.) and Francesco is from Italy. Luckily we rode in her car to our apartments. Usually they take the bus and you have to walk from the stop to the building.
My room is small but very neat. It reminds me of a hotel mixed in with a retirement center. I will try to post pictures of it. On my way in I saw a girl wearing Virginia Tech pants, so I just American!! Her name is Emily, and I have been hanging with her a lot. We don’t have internet yet in our rooms, so she walked with me to the McDonalds down the street for free WiFi.
I have been meeting so many people. Ruful, Francesco, Emily, and another American names Joanna (who knows Anne McKee’s daughter!) all walked to the store today to get food. Good news about the store, you have to pay for bags. Luckily I brought my own! I have my own kitchen, but no pots or pans. Although, my first day my neighbor who is Malaysian lended me pot. There is also this room filled with things past exchange students don’t want, so it’s a free for all. I got a pan and an extra pillow (which I washed!) and some utensils and hangers.
I am sorry this is so long, I have just been through so much. The city is really safe, so I walked by myself to McDonalds earlier at 9:00 pm, which is unheard of back home. It is snowing too! Not as much as I would have thought. It is cold too though, but also not as much as I expected. They say it will get colder.
I just keep meeting more and more people though. Tonight in one room there was the boy from Poland, the boy fro Italy, the two Americans, two girls from Latvia, one from Estonia, one from Holland, one from Scotland, and then one from Japan. We have all just been talking about the differences. It seems, which is kind of obvious, that we Americans are going through the most culture shock. All the other Europeans have cell phones that work here, and most don’t need converters. One advantage we have is English. The whole international program is based on English. One of the girls was saying that she will have trouble reading for classes in English.
I think that is all I have to say for now. Tomorrow is Orientation where I will hopefully figure a little but more out about what I will doing this next semester.
Oh, one last thing. There is an ice skating rink in the middle of the town, which is really close to my apartment! I am looking forward to that.