Quick Travel Notes

This month I have had the opportunity to travel to two cities in Finland--first, Helsinki, and then just this past weekend I went to Vaasa. I am glad I got to do this because it helps give me a better over-all impression of Finland. I liked Helsinki because I like big cities. I like their buzzing energy. I like the fact that there are people on the streets performing music and shows. I know that Finnish people usually don't like this and call them beggars, but, Finnish people don't really know what beggars actually are. I was enchanted by the opera singer and the man in a rainbow suit on stilts parading around the streets. When you tilt your head up to the sky in the bustling town centre, you will find yourself looking at a mess of thick black wires that look like a spider on caffeine had made a home there; these are the tram lines. There are basically four ways to travel in Helsinki--by tram, by bus, by subway, and by foot. I did all four in my 30 hours spent there, but mostly relied on my feet. 16 hours of running around Helsinki can really take it out of me, and it did. I don't like acting like a foolish tourist who stops at every possible dot on the map just because... but my 'guide' decided I was one and I wasn't comfortable with the thought of trying to navigate Finland's capital city by myself, so I attempted to grin and bear it. I do a lot of that lately. The stops I did like were visiting the three famous churches, going to the art gallery, and going to the aqaurium zoo. I love staring at aqautic animals, it is so relaxing. Plus, there is no fear of them escaping and killing you like there is at a land-animal zoo. Hey, it's happened! What I didn't like was "Scandinvia's biggest mall", "Scandinavia's biggest department store", and basically any lame shop I stepped into for no reason. Helsinki is expensive, and travelling to Helsinki is expensive, and I am out of euros now because of it. Thankfully I got the student discount on the bus ride to Vaasa, though the 3 mile taxi ride back to my host house kind of negated the savings.

Vaasa is a nice place. It kind of takes the best of both worlds as an intermediary of Kokkola and Helsinki. It has a buzzing, energetic town centre, but it also isn't super large so it isn't as dirty or crowded as Helsinki. I visited my slightly-distant relatives who live seven minutes outside of the city. They have two children, 6 and 4, and the whole family is adorable and level-headed. I will miss them a lot. I took pictures of them but I am not very well versed in formatting this blog, so it is easier for me to make picture posts separate from my regular blogs. So look for the Vaasa pictures sometime soon. And for those of you who have been wondering when I will be putting pictures up of my host family, I am sorry, but I won't be. I don't like them and I don't want to remember them. So that's that.

Oh, I also liked the market-places in Helsinki, where 'vendors' in booths were selling fresh fruit and vegetables and of course--pastries and bread! There are a few big market places like that in America, I've been to one in Pennsylvania, but there certainly are more of them in Europe and I really like them. It sure beats tv dinners.

It is only 3:50pm and it is already super dark here. I only have two weeks left. It has certainly been an experience, but not really a positive one. I just hope I get home safely. I miss everyone.

Picture Post

Sooo, I decided that I am too lazy to go back to my old posts and insert the relevant pictures--so here are some random ones! Above is a picture of the sign for the school I am working at. Here are some more from September:


Outside the school, where the students' bikes are

Just a nice picture from a beautiful day, on the way to the bus stop from the school

On the way to the school

In the back of the school, where the playground is

Through the Football Net

Sand on the playground

My favourite fall tree!

The ocean-side

A beautiful sunset from the back yard

Now here are some from early October:

War Memorial

Me with the captured English paddle-boat from the Crimean War

A view of the Town Center

I decided a giant church organ was a good place to stick my head

Part of the stained glass in the 'modern' Lutheran Church

The Old Church

This is how they used to give money to the poor

My Europeanification

And from the first snow on Halloween!

View from the driveway

Down the street

So happy I get to wear my new winter coat now

That's all I have for now. Enjoy!

Light and Cold

Last night it snowed, and this morning there was a light dusting covering all the yards as if someone had sprinkled powdered sugar over everyone's green grass. The clouds had parted and the sun was rising, shining brightly and sharply and adding sparkle to the white snow. Across the sky from the sunrise, a full moon glowed, stark, almost transluscent grey floating over a back-drop of pale blue sky. I stood at the bus stop, with the moon to my right and the sun to my left. The moon hung highly over the pastel houses; the sun seemed to be illuminating directly onto the colors of the houses rather than the structures themselves, and glimmering frost danced over the pinks, yellows, and blues of the homes in front of me.
It was a nice morning. A nice morning to just be.

The Little American That Could?

'Ello loves,

So it has been almost a month since my last entry. It's a hard one to follow up, I'll admit. I have endured sickness and being left behind and all sorts of other lovely things that have kept my mind pre-occupied with wanting to come home rather than blogging about my time here. This weekend I am going to Helsinki. Maybe I'll blog about it when I get back, maybe I won't. Heellloooooo despondency, right? Can you hear it in my written voice? Only a month to go... "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" that worked for Obama, did it not? If he can pull the train of America over a mountain, I can surely live through 4 more weeks here. There is some sarcasm in those last two sentences. I am all over the place. But I'm alive! Hi!!!