Snowy again today, but not as cold. I spent most of the day working on my thesis (I am in school after all).
Every year Helsinki hosts the documentary film festival DocPoint. It's been running all week and today was the final day. Alex and I went to a screening of a German/Mongolian film called The Two Horses of Genghis Khan. It was really beautiful and also quite funny at times. It was neat being in a movie theater in Finland, laughing along with all the Finn's at a German/Mongolia movie. It was also very helpful that the movie was subtitled in English.
I found out afterwards that it was directed by the same person who also made one of my very favorite movies, The Cave of the Yellow Dog (also Mongolian. I love Mongolia. Plus, the kids in it are REALLY cute).
At the movie theater they had one of those bulk candy bins where you can just take a bag and fill it with whatever mixture of candy you want. I went a little crazy and now I feel sick. And the theater had two levels, so you could sit on the regular ground level or up in the balcony. We didn't realize there was a balcony until it was too late, but next time I'm totally hitting that up. And they had really plush, wide, comfortable sets. That was my first movie theater experience in another country!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sight seeing, part kolme (3)
Although the sun never really came out today, the snow lightened up a bit and the temperature was in the teens (as opposed to below zero), so I took the opportunity to spend most of the day outside. If I would have known it was going to be "nice" today, I would have taken a train into the country. But by the time I emerged, blinking in the outside world, it was too late. So I just explored Helsinki.
My mission was threefold (apart from just seeing the sights): Find a yarn shop so I could get supplies to make a decent hat (my fleece hat from when I worked at the Biltmore Estates is just not cutting it), find somewhere with a greater selection of brewing supplies and get stuff to make an IPA (the store where we got the other stuff only had lagers, not the most forgiving type of homebrew), and find a set of chopsticks (I know, that's not very Scandinavia, but it just feels so weird to eat some things with a fork).
Mission one was a total success! I found a really nice yarn shop in the "Design district" of the city.
The design district:
And the yarn shop I found!
Here's a fancy little coffee place in the middle of the park:
"Restaurant" [author's note: This wasn't part of the tour. I just added it myself]
The Lutheran Cathedral. The grandest thing I've ever known a Lutheran to build.
My mission was threefold (apart from just seeing the sights): Find a yarn shop so I could get supplies to make a decent hat (my fleece hat from when I worked at the Biltmore Estates is just not cutting it), find somewhere with a greater selection of brewing supplies and get stuff to make an IPA (the store where we got the other stuff only had lagers, not the most forgiving type of homebrew), and find a set of chopsticks (I know, that's not very Scandinavia, but it just feels so weird to eat some things with a fork).
Mission one was a total success! I found a really nice yarn shop in the "Design district" of the city.
The design district:
The Design Forum of Finland (I don't really know what that means):
And the yarn shop I found!
It was wonderful. The Finn's really love to knit. Most of the hats and mittens you see people wearing are handmade, so their yarn shop had a great selection of natural fiber yarns of all different colors and textures. I was surprised by how (relatively) affordable it was too.
I left very happy with yarn and needles to make a hat.
After that I went on a "walking tour of Helsinki" from my Rick Steves' Scandinavia book. It only took about an hour, and most of the stuff I'd already seen, but at least I can say I've hit most of the highlights now. And here's a virtual tour:
Esplanade. A park with the city's main shopping boulevards on each side. Back in the 1800's this was where the city cows would graze. Imagine!
Here's a fancy little coffee place in the middle of the park:
Havis Amanda, "Daughter of the Balitc." I'll have to check it out in the spring time when it's actually a fountain:
"Restaurant" [author's note: This wasn't part of the tour. I just added it myself]
Floating hotels [part of the tour]
Czarina's Stone. The double-headed eagle of imperial Russia. Man, the American eagle only has one head. We need to work on that.
[I added this myself too]
The City Hall. Originally built as Helsinki's first hotel.
The Lutheran Cathedral. The grandest thing I've ever known a Lutheran to build.
But still not quite as grand as the Russian Orthodox Cathedral:
Thanks Rick Steves! That was a good time.
I still had two tasks left to accomplish. Finding an IPA kit turned out to be a complete failure. The chopstick mission is debatable. I ended up going to Stockmann Department Store (the Finnish version of Macy's or Harrods) and found a deli where they were selling ready-made takeout sushi, and swiped a pair of those disposable chopsticks they have setting around like plastic straws. Maybe I can sand them down and oil them or something...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Warm soup and bread... my lifeblood
Not a whole lot has happened in the last couple days. It's been COLD (highs of -5℉ and blowing snow) so I've mostly just been getting to school as fast as I can in the morning, then getting home as fast as I can in the afternoon. I tried to go thrift store shopping the other day, but it was so cold we literally could only walk a few blocks before ducking into the nearest shop and attempting to get feeling back into your nose. But I did pick up a new jigsaw puzzle.
Pinky is coming to visit me during my spring break, and we had been planning to go to Russia during that time. But it turns out that a Russian Visa is one of the most difficult (not to mention scary) things to acquire in the known universe. And it's completely impossible to get one if you're a US citizen residing in a third-party country (which I am). Since Russia was out of the question, we went with the obvious second choice: Turkey. So our Epic Adventure now includes Estonia and Turkey (considering they're so close together and all)
View The Modern Odyssey in a larger map
We're still trying to come up with a good name for the trip. Something along the lines of: Baltic/Balkan Modern Odyssey, or From Sea to Shining Sea (Black to Baltic), or Епично приключение. The details are still being worked out.
And it turns out I'm getting two Russian suitemates next week. So it's kind of like I'm going to Russia anyway!
Pinky is coming to visit me during my spring break, and we had been planning to go to Russia during that time. But it turns out that a Russian Visa is one of the most difficult (not to mention scary) things to acquire in the known universe. And it's completely impossible to get one if you're a US citizen residing in a third-party country (which I am). Since Russia was out of the question, we went with the obvious second choice: Turkey. So our Epic Adventure now includes Estonia and Turkey (considering they're so close together and all)
View The Modern Odyssey in a larger map
We're still trying to come up with a good name for the trip. Something along the lines of: Baltic/Balkan Modern Odyssey, or From Sea to Shining Sea (Black to Baltic), or Епично приключение. The details are still being worked out.
And it turns out I'm getting two Russian suitemates next week. So it's kind of like I'm going to Russia anyway!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
2nd Monday
Another Monday that I anticipated to be crazy, but actually turned out pretty chill (as is the Finnish way). I had class from "ten until two" (in actually, 10:15-12:00). At 12:15 we had to attend an informational meeting about the Atlantis program. We just had to talk a little bit to prospective students from Helsinki who might be interested in enrolling in the program. We gave our contact information in case they wanted to ask us any questions about our experiences, etc. Apparently I was a little overzealous about having people contact me, and came across as being needy. I just wanted to meet some Finns!
After our 1.5 hour lunch (when really we shouldn't have had time for lunch at all. Ah, I love Finland) we had our "silviculture influences on greenhouse gas and biogeochemical cycles or whatever the finnish translation is" class. This was the one where we were supposed to join in with the Finnish groups last week, but no one wanted us. The professor started class by saying, "I believe last time I asked for the foreign students to be in groups with Finnish students, but it seems they weren't able to join any groups. So what we are going to do is have them just join in with an existing group. Where are the foreign students?" We raise our hands. "Okay, who can take these people into their groups?" No one says anything. We look around and kind of wave. After a long time the professor says, "Okay, lets do this differently. Let's just go through one at a time. Let's start with you. What's your name?" He points to Mark. Mark kind of stands up and says "Hi everyone, my name is Mark." "Okay, who wants Mark in their group?" Dead, awkward silence. "No one is leaving this room until everyone has a group." We said afterwards that it's a good thing none of us have self-esteem issues. This could have been quite a blow. Instead it was just ridiculous and funny. Finally he had to just put us into groups. Now all I have to do is track down my group and get them to talk to me...
The last time I went grocery shopping (which I'm a pro at now, btw) I saw they had really, really cheap, home brewing kits. And since beer is SO expensive here I realized this would be the way to go. So that evening we attempted to make a batch of beer. All the directions for the kit were in Finnish. And after a painstakingly long time trying to type it all into Google Translate (which doesn't handle Finnish very well, plus we didn't have any of the å, ä, ü keys we needed) we decided to just wing it. We figured we were all science majors, plus Jaime (Mark's girlfriend who had arrived the day before) had a mycology textbook, and we read all the sections about yeast. A few hours later it started bubbling, so I would say we are pretty good Instinctual Beer Brewers.
After our 1.5 hour lunch (when really we shouldn't have had time for lunch at all. Ah, I love Finland) we had our "silviculture influences on greenhouse gas and biogeochemical cycles or whatever the finnish translation is" class. This was the one where we were supposed to join in with the Finnish groups last week, but no one wanted us. The professor started class by saying, "I believe last time I asked for the foreign students to be in groups with Finnish students, but it seems they weren't able to join any groups. So what we are going to do is have them just join in with an existing group. Where are the foreign students?" We raise our hands. "Okay, who can take these people into their groups?" No one says anything. We look around and kind of wave. After a long time the professor says, "Okay, lets do this differently. Let's just go through one at a time. Let's start with you. What's your name?" He points to Mark. Mark kind of stands up and says "Hi everyone, my name is Mark." "Okay, who wants Mark in their group?" Dead, awkward silence. "No one is leaving this room until everyone has a group." We said afterwards that it's a good thing none of us have self-esteem issues. This could have been quite a blow. Instead it was just ridiculous and funny. Finally he had to just put us into groups. Now all I have to do is track down my group and get them to talk to me...
The last time I went grocery shopping (which I'm a pro at now, btw) I saw they had really, really cheap, home brewing kits. And since beer is SO expensive here I realized this would be the way to go. So that evening we attempted to make a batch of beer. All the directions for the kit were in Finnish. And after a painstakingly long time trying to type it all into Google Translate (which doesn't handle Finnish very well, plus we didn't have any of the å, ä, ü keys we needed) we decided to just wing it. We figured we were all science majors, plus Jaime (Mark's girlfriend who had arrived the day before) had a mycology textbook, and we read all the sections about yeast. A few hours later it started bubbling, so I would say we are pretty good Instinctual Beer Brewers.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Suomenlinna
Bronson Bullock, the professor who set up the Atlantis program at NC State, has been living in Sweden for the past few months as part of the international exchange. He wanted to meet up with all of us over in Finland, so on Saturday he took Me, Mark, Alex, Paige, and Maija (who is our coordinator over here) out to Suomenlinna, along with his wife and son. Suomenlinna is an inhabited island fortress with a very interesting history (as I learned from the museum on the island).
View Larger Map
I won't go into the details (you can read about it here if you're interested) but it was built by Sweden, ruled for a century by Russia, and finally became part of Finland when they gained their independence in 1917. Nowadays people live on the island, it's a popular place for picnics in the summer, and you can just wander around and explore the massive fortresses.
We all met up at the ferry in Market Square in the city. It was a COLD day. I think the high that day was only -2⁰ F and it was windy. The ferry to the island was amazing! The sea was completely frozen so an icebreaker had to come through to clear a path. It was the bumpiest boat ride I've ever been on. You could feel all the ice hitting the sides of the boat. I took a video:
It was crazy.
I took lots of pictures on the island, so to conserve space I'll only put some of the highlights up here. To see them all, check out the photo album:
It was really incredibly amazing. The frozen Baltic Sea was one of the most spectacular things I've even seen. If the rest of my time in Scandinavia turns out to be terrible, it still will have all been worth it for that (although I doubt that's anything I need to worry about).
Right now I'm looking out my window and it's snowing lightly. They are the most perfect looking snowflakes I have ever seen. They are gigantic but still delicate with immaculate snowflake form. They look like they're cut out of paper or in a cartoon. Like the opening scene in Elf.
View Larger Map
I won't go into the details (you can read about it here if you're interested) but it was built by Sweden, ruled for a century by Russia, and finally became part of Finland when they gained their independence in 1917. Nowadays people live on the island, it's a popular place for picnics in the summer, and you can just wander around and explore the massive fortresses.
We all met up at the ferry in Market Square in the city. It was a COLD day. I think the high that day was only -2⁰ F and it was windy. The ferry to the island was amazing! The sea was completely frozen so an icebreaker had to come through to clear a path. It was the bumpiest boat ride I've ever been on. You could feel all the ice hitting the sides of the boat. I took a video:
It was crazy.
I took lots of pictures on the island, so to conserve space I'll only put some of the highlights up here. To see them all, check out the photo album:
 |
| Suomenlinna |
It was really incredibly amazing. The frozen Baltic Sea was one of the most spectacular things I've even seen. If the rest of my time in Scandinavia turns out to be terrible, it still will have all been worth it for that (although I doubt that's anything I need to worry about).
Right now I'm looking out my window and it's snowing lightly. They are the most perfect looking snowflakes I have ever seen. They are gigantic but still delicate with immaculate snowflake form. They look like they're cut out of paper or in a cartoon. Like the opening scene in Elf.
First week of school continued
I forgot to mention I got a roommate on Tuesday: Paige from Indiana. She is in the Atlantis program as well, but she is from Michigan Tech instead of NC State, and she is studying plant biotechnology not forestry. She is doing her European exchange in the reverse order of us. She spent all last semester in Sweden and is now finishing up in Helsinki.
On Thursday I had class on campus for most of the day. Eating lunch in the cafeteria is the best thing ever! Not only is it a beautiful, relaxed atmosphere with real glass glasses, ceramic plates, and wooden chairs, but the food is incredible, and at €2.50, it's cheaper than making your own lunch! You get a glass of either milk or juice (I always go with Finnish sour milk), one of the main courses of the day (so far all have been very tasty and healthy), unlimited potatoes, rice, bread (dense wholegrain bakery bread), salad, and fruit. After only one week, it still seems too good to be true, and I end up loading my plate with way too much food. Then I feel full and sleepy for the rest of the afternoon. Unless I end the meal with a cup of Finnish coffee!
In the afternoon I ran some erronds. I bought a new Made in Finland pillow, since the one they supplied in my flat is more like a bag of cotton balls than a pillow. In the evening I hung out in the "Club Room" with some of my suitemates. The Club Room is just a room in the basement of my building with a pool table, a TV, some books, and some awesome posters of Finnish flora and fauna that I really want to steal. I watched Simpsonit (The Simpsons).
Friday I had a 4 hour lab in my Ecological Modeling class. We are using a software program called Powersim where you can basically model differential equations, adding and manipulating as many variables as you like. We made some growth model simulations for leaves, stems, and roots in a stand. It was pretty intense and complected, but also a lot of fun. And those 4 hours (or 3.5 minus a coffee break) absolutely flew by.
That night I took Paige to the city center to show her around and help her get acquainted with the bus system, etc. I also set up my tent in my room, since it's so much cozier to sleep in than having to look at my rather bare walls. It was pretty challenging to get it to fit, and I have a feeling the housekeeper will make me take it down. And I'm sure everyone now thinks I'm very strange as well.
On Thursday I had class on campus for most of the day. Eating lunch in the cafeteria is the best thing ever! Not only is it a beautiful, relaxed atmosphere with real glass glasses, ceramic plates, and wooden chairs, but the food is incredible, and at €2.50, it's cheaper than making your own lunch! You get a glass of either milk or juice (I always go with Finnish sour milk), one of the main courses of the day (so far all have been very tasty and healthy), unlimited potatoes, rice, bread (dense wholegrain bakery bread), salad, and fruit. After only one week, it still seems too good to be true, and I end up loading my plate with way too much food. Then I feel full and sleepy for the rest of the afternoon. Unless I end the meal with a cup of Finnish coffee!
In the afternoon I ran some erronds. I bought a new Made in Finland pillow, since the one they supplied in my flat is more like a bag of cotton balls than a pillow. In the evening I hung out in the "Club Room" with some of my suitemates. The Club Room is just a room in the basement of my building with a pool table, a TV, some books, and some awesome posters of Finnish flora and fauna that I really want to steal. I watched Simpsonit (The Simpsons).
Friday I had a 4 hour lab in my Ecological Modeling class. We are using a software program called Powersim where you can basically model differential equations, adding and manipulating as many variables as you like. We made some growth model simulations for leaves, stems, and roots in a stand. It was pretty intense and complected, but also a lot of fun. And those 4 hours (or 3.5 minus a coffee break) absolutely flew by.
That night I took Paige to the city center to show her around and help her get acquainted with the bus system, etc. I also set up my tent in my room, since it's so much cozier to sleep in than having to look at my rather bare walls. It was pretty challenging to get it to fit, and I have a feeling the housekeeper will make me take it down. And I'm sure everyone now thinks I'm very strange as well.
Friday, January 22, 2010
First week of school
This is terrible. It's been 5 days since I last wrote. I'm totally failing my New Year's resolution already... But it has all been for good reasons: classes have started and I've been busy hanging out with my New Friends.
So when we last left off, I was freaking out because UH had changed it's course schedule since December, and a lot of the classes I had been planning on taking had straight up disappeared. Mark, Alex, and I (everyone who came over from NC State) were up until midnight on Sunday trying to come up with a new schedule. We all ended up in the same classes, which is great for figuring stuff out, and will be good for studying since we all live in the same building. So the courses I'm taking for this term (the semester is divided up into 2 terms) are: Ecological Models of Growth and Yield Dynamics, Multi-Attribute Forest Planning, and Metsänhoidon Vaikutukset Kasvihuonekaasujen Päästöihin ja Biokemiallisiin Biertoihin (which I believe translates to something like Silvicultural Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Biogeochemical Cycles, but its doesn't have an official English name). And although we had to pick out the classes we wanted to take, we still didn't have our student ID numbers, so we couldn't actually register. We decided that, come Monday morning, we would just show up at the class and hope for the best.
If I may interject briefly: I just found out that Finland doesn't sell alcohol after 9pm. This is an annoying fact that I wish I would have known about 40 minutes ago, or at least before venturing out into the -17 degree weather. grrrr.
Monday morning arrived and we left in the dark before dawn (about 9:30) for our 10am class. Our class schedule was such that we had class straight from 10-2 and then from 2-4. Quite an intense day, and we ate a huge breakfast in preparation for having to skip lunch. We were relived to find that our two classrooms were near each other, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem getting from the first class to the second at 2:00.
It's 10:00 and we are waiting outside the door of the classroom for Ecological Models for Growth and Yield Dynamics. And then it's 10:05. At 10:10 other students start showing up. At 10:15 the professor arrived and the class began. It turns out in Finland (and I think all of Europe, but I'm not sure) they use something called "academic time," which means that all classes start 15 minutes after the listed time, and end 15 minutes early. It's also assumed that classes that span lunch time give you a solid hour to go eat. So our 4 hour class suddenly became a 2.5 hour class. Not bad.
That first class was pretty uneventful (lunch was terrific!), but it was that second class we were all a little worried about. According to the course catalog, it was only offered in Finnish. But Alex swore someone had told him they would be teaching it in English this year. We were all counting on that. We showed up at 2:10 (feeling like hotshots for knowing about "academic time") and took a seat at the huge circular table in the classroom (Group Discussion style setup). As more and more people arrive it become clear that EVERYONE else in the class is Finnish. This is not looking good. We start to talk among ourselves about what we should do in the awkward event that the class is in Finnish. We would just have to get up and leave, which would be quite obvious given that everyone is sitting at the same table and all. The professor comes in and says some stuff in Finnish to everyone. We all look at each other and brace ourselves to stand up and walk out. But then he says "Now, this class is supposed to be offered in Finnish, but I've had a request to teach it in English. Is there anyone here that wouldn't be able to understand if I spoke in Finnish?" The three of us sheepishly raise our hands. "Okay, 3 people." He says, "Now let me just ask the Finnish students how they would feel about that." Although Finnish is the hardest language in the world to try and guess at, it was pretty clear that they were not happy. The professor then announced to everyone, "I will teach it in English, but the native Finnish speakers may ask me to repeat anything they don't understand, and can turn in their reports in Finnish. Now I know some of you are not happy about this, but it will be good practice for your English skills." Terrific. So now everyone hates us because an advanced level course that was supposed to be in Finnish will now be in their second language thanks to us. A great way to make friends your first day of school. To make matters worse, the professor announced at the end of class that we would be working on a project in teams of two throughout the course, and he wanted the "non-Finnish students" (i.e. us) to be partners with the Finnish students, since they were more experienced with what we were doing. It was total "New Kid At School" syndrome. Everyone immediately paired up with their friends (as I probably would have done too), and in a matter on seconds, we were the only ones left without partners. We had to go up to the professor after class and say "We couldn't find anyone to be partners with..." He said at the next class he would make an announcement, and maybe we could just be the third member of a group. Poor us. But this Greenhouse Gas class (as we call it since there is no way we are saying Metsänhoidon Vaikutukset Kasvihuonekaasujen Päästöihin ja Biokemiallisiin Biertoihin), was also supposed to met the next day from 10-2, but the professor went ahead and canceled the next meeting and gave us a reading to do instead. We were thinking, "Wow, this is going to be a heck of a reading if it's supposed to replace a 4 hour class period." It turns out to be 6 pages. And those 6 pages are the only assignment/homework I have from this entire week of school. Yay Finland! After our taxing first day of school, we decided to splurge and treat ourselves to some Finnish wine. Plus our class the next day was canceled. Why not party?
On Tuesday Mark and I went into the city to run some errands. I opened a bank account at Nordea bank, and we went to the UH bookstore, hoping to get some school supplies that said University of Helsinki on them. This was very disappointing as the only thing they had was a lanyard for €4.90. I almost bought, but then made the wise decision not to. I can't remember what I did that night now. I KNEW I should have stayed more on top of this journaling!
Wednesday was Multi-Attribute Forest Planning class. It feels so good to be taking classes again that I'm actually interested in! I took so many notes. The Finnish students don't seem too engaged. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I was definitely the ONLY person who asked any questions in any of these classes. But I'm really excited about the pace of all of them; Challenging and interesting, without feeling overwhelming. After class we had a few hours to kill before a meeting with all the Atlantis students and coordinators to go over logistics. So I had my first cup of Finnish coffee. Woo boy! That stuff is strong! Now I know how the Finn's get through these dark cold days. I felt like I could run a marathon (apart from the fact that I'm still using a cane and have a good limp going on). The meeting was funny since it told us everything we had already figured out, but none of the stuff we were worried about. Like they showed us how to browse for classes in the course catalog (if we hadn't already figured that out by this point we'd be in rough shape), but didn't tell us how we could actually register for these classes, since it just said "registration period has ended" every time we tried. Oh well, no one seemed too worried about it.
That night we went to Baker's again with the huge group of European embassy/lawyer people who I'm becoming very good friends with. Then everyone went to this Finnish karaoke place. I had my doubts, but it turned out to be really nice! A small cozy place with a wooden bar and a very Nordic feel. I spent almost the entire time talking politics and getting the European perspective on things. It was very interesting. I really like all those people a lot. I can already feel I'm definitely going to make some lasting friends here. I would go out every night if the cheapest drink you could buy wasn't $9. And they don't even fill the pint glasses all the way up...
Okay, I still have 2 days to get through before I'm caught up, but it's after twevle, so I think I'm gonna call it a night.
Hyvää yötä!
So when we last left off, I was freaking out because UH had changed it's course schedule since December, and a lot of the classes I had been planning on taking had straight up disappeared. Mark, Alex, and I (everyone who came over from NC State) were up until midnight on Sunday trying to come up with a new schedule. We all ended up in the same classes, which is great for figuring stuff out, and will be good for studying since we all live in the same building. So the courses I'm taking for this term (the semester is divided up into 2 terms) are: Ecological Models of Growth and Yield Dynamics, Multi-Attribute Forest Planning, and Metsänhoidon Vaikutukset Kasvihuonekaasujen Päästöihin ja Biokemiallisiin Biertoihin (which I believe translates to something like Silvicultural Effects on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Biogeochemical Cycles, but its doesn't have an official English name). And although we had to pick out the classes we wanted to take, we still didn't have our student ID numbers, so we couldn't actually register. We decided that, come Monday morning, we would just show up at the class and hope for the best.
If I may interject briefly: I just found out that Finland doesn't sell alcohol after 9pm. This is an annoying fact that I wish I would have known about 40 minutes ago, or at least before venturing out into the -17 degree weather. grrrr.
Monday morning arrived and we left in the dark before dawn (about 9:30) for our 10am class. Our class schedule was such that we had class straight from 10-2 and then from 2-4. Quite an intense day, and we ate a huge breakfast in preparation for having to skip lunch. We were relived to find that our two classrooms were near each other, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem getting from the first class to the second at 2:00.
It's 10:00 and we are waiting outside the door of the classroom for Ecological Models for Growth and Yield Dynamics. And then it's 10:05. At 10:10 other students start showing up. At 10:15 the professor arrived and the class began. It turns out in Finland (and I think all of Europe, but I'm not sure) they use something called "academic time," which means that all classes start 15 minutes after the listed time, and end 15 minutes early. It's also assumed that classes that span lunch time give you a solid hour to go eat. So our 4 hour class suddenly became a 2.5 hour class. Not bad.
That first class was pretty uneventful (lunch was terrific!), but it was that second class we were all a little worried about. According to the course catalog, it was only offered in Finnish. But Alex swore someone had told him they would be teaching it in English this year. We were all counting on that. We showed up at 2:10 (feeling like hotshots for knowing about "academic time") and took a seat at the huge circular table in the classroom (Group Discussion style setup). As more and more people arrive it become clear that EVERYONE else in the class is Finnish. This is not looking good. We start to talk among ourselves about what we should do in the awkward event that the class is in Finnish. We would just have to get up and leave, which would be quite obvious given that everyone is sitting at the same table and all. The professor comes in and says some stuff in Finnish to everyone. We all look at each other and brace ourselves to stand up and walk out. But then he says "Now, this class is supposed to be offered in Finnish, but I've had a request to teach it in English. Is there anyone here that wouldn't be able to understand if I spoke in Finnish?" The three of us sheepishly raise our hands. "Okay, 3 people." He says, "Now let me just ask the Finnish students how they would feel about that." Although Finnish is the hardest language in the world to try and guess at, it was pretty clear that they were not happy. The professor then announced to everyone, "I will teach it in English, but the native Finnish speakers may ask me to repeat anything they don't understand, and can turn in their reports in Finnish. Now I know some of you are not happy about this, but it will be good practice for your English skills." Terrific. So now everyone hates us because an advanced level course that was supposed to be in Finnish will now be in their second language thanks to us. A great way to make friends your first day of school. To make matters worse, the professor announced at the end of class that we would be working on a project in teams of two throughout the course, and he wanted the "non-Finnish students" (i.e. us) to be partners with the Finnish students, since they were more experienced with what we were doing. It was total "New Kid At School" syndrome. Everyone immediately paired up with their friends (as I probably would have done too), and in a matter on seconds, we were the only ones left without partners. We had to go up to the professor after class and say "We couldn't find anyone to be partners with..." He said at the next class he would make an announcement, and maybe we could just be the third member of a group. Poor us. But this Greenhouse Gas class (as we call it since there is no way we are saying Metsänhoidon Vaikutukset Kasvihuonekaasujen Päästöihin ja Biokemiallisiin Biertoihin), was also supposed to met the next day from 10-2, but the professor went ahead and canceled the next meeting and gave us a reading to do instead. We were thinking, "Wow, this is going to be a heck of a reading if it's supposed to replace a 4 hour class period." It turns out to be 6 pages. And those 6 pages are the only assignment/homework I have from this entire week of school. Yay Finland! After our taxing first day of school, we decided to splurge and treat ourselves to some Finnish wine. Plus our class the next day was canceled. Why not party?
On Tuesday Mark and I went into the city to run some errands. I opened a bank account at Nordea bank, and we went to the UH bookstore, hoping to get some school supplies that said University of Helsinki on them. This was very disappointing as the only thing they had was a lanyard for €4.90. I almost bought, but then made the wise decision not to. I can't remember what I did that night now. I KNEW I should have stayed more on top of this journaling!
Wednesday was Multi-Attribute Forest Planning class. It feels so good to be taking classes again that I'm actually interested in! I took so many notes. The Finnish students don't seem too engaged. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I was definitely the ONLY person who asked any questions in any of these classes. But I'm really excited about the pace of all of them; Challenging and interesting, without feeling overwhelming. After class we had a few hours to kill before a meeting with all the Atlantis students and coordinators to go over logistics. So I had my first cup of Finnish coffee. Woo boy! That stuff is strong! Now I know how the Finn's get through these dark cold days. I felt like I could run a marathon (apart from the fact that I'm still using a cane and have a good limp going on). The meeting was funny since it told us everything we had already figured out, but none of the stuff we were worried about. Like they showed us how to browse for classes in the course catalog (if we hadn't already figured that out by this point we'd be in rough shape), but didn't tell us how we could actually register for these classes, since it just said "registration period has ended" every time we tried. Oh well, no one seemed too worried about it.
That night we went to Baker's again with the huge group of European embassy/lawyer people who I'm becoming very good friends with. Then everyone went to this Finnish karaoke place. I had my doubts, but it turned out to be really nice! A small cozy place with a wooden bar and a very Nordic feel. I spent almost the entire time talking politics and getting the European perspective on things. It was very interesting. I really like all those people a lot. I can already feel I'm definitely going to make some lasting friends here. I would go out every night if the cheapest drink you could buy wasn't $9. And they don't even fill the pint glasses all the way up...
Okay, I still have 2 days to get through before I'm caught up, but it's after twevle, so I think I'm gonna call it a night.
Hyvää yötä!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
eep!
Here it is, 10:30 on Sunday night. Classes start in the morning. I went online to look-up the location of my classes, and they were not there. It seems they have done a lot of rescheduling since the last time I looked, and the courses I was planning on taking are no longer offered. I just met up with the other people in my program and we are trying to figure out what to do.
I don't have much time, so here is a quick summery of my day:
I LOVE Finnish sour milk.
I also love listening to audio books and working on my puzzle.
I am ready for it to be sunny.
And here are pictures of what I ate:
Oatmeal with dates, raisins, sunflower seeds, peanut butter, flax seed, cinnamon, and villi (a kind of Finnish yogurt).
Sour milk, rye bread, and pea soup with dried peas, onions, potatoes, allspice, and topped with mustard (that's the way the Finn's like it).
Okay, now to get back to stressing about this school thing....
I don't have much time, so here is a quick summery of my day:
I LOVE Finnish sour milk.
I also love listening to audio books and working on my puzzle.
I am ready for it to be sunny.
And here are pictures of what I ate:
Okay, now to get back to stressing about this school thing....
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sight seeing, part 2
Well, the party last night was a success! We had about 20 people over with 8 different countries represented. There was lots of different kinds of food and drink from all over (including cola+red wine, which is popular in Spain), and general merriment was had by all. I would have said that the fun party turned my day around, and was enough to cancel out the 4 hours at Immigration Services earlier, but the last thing that happened that night was I closed the door to my room; from outside of my room; with the keys still inside; and the doors in this building lock automatically. So at 1:00am I had to wake-up the caretaker (after knocking on his apartment door for awhile I eventually had to go outside the building and ring the buzzer, pretending like I had been out and forgotten my key), have him unlock the door for me, and worst of all, pay him 20 euros (it costs 10 during working hours, but 20 on nights and weekends. Considering it was only Friday, I had no other option). So that kind of ended the day on a sour note. I'd say overall though it still came out in the black.
This morning I went on the "Survival Shopping" tour of Finnish grocery stores. For the most part, it wasn't very informative. I did learn that Finland has something called sour milk that I'm excited to try, and the weird toothpaste style tubes of food are as I imagined: caviar paste. "quite good on bread with hard boiled eggs" said our tour guide. Mmmm....
I experienced a strange coincidence today. Two in fact. The first one happened while I was waiting for the shopping tour to begin. There were about 10 of us who went on it out of all the thousands of new students at UH. The majority of them were undergrads and knew either other already from sharing dorms, etc. So they were talking and I was kind of just standing there waiting to get this over with so I could get on with my day. Then one of the girls turned to me and asked, "Where are you from?" I had kind of spaced out and didn't realize at first that she was talking to me. I collected myself and reply, "uh, the US. North Carolina." "Where in NC?" she asked. Not wanting to admit Raleigh had been the last place I had lived I said, "Asheville." "Oh," she said, "I know Asheville. I went to school there. Have you heard of Warren Wilson?" I almost just felt like, "okay, I'm throwing in the towel. Universe, what are you trying to do to me?" What are the statistical odds of talking to someone in the Helsinki Metro station, and finding you went to the same college of 800 people, in Asheville, NC? Totally improbable, that's what. Turns out her name was Jane and she had been at WWC all last year but transfered (although she said not because she didn't love it there) and had just started at UH. She had been on Landscaping crew.
The other coincidence I had (which is not nearly as improbable, but was exciting for me nonetheless) also happened on the Metro (maybe I should start taking the Metro more often). The shopping center we had done the tour at was in the far eastern outskirts of Helsinki. And since I had never been in those parts before, I decided to do some exploring. I was aimlessly riding around, looking casually out the window, when suddenly I saw this!
And this was on my return trip home. People ice skating at the Central Railway Station square in downtown Helsinki.
This morning I went on the "Survival Shopping" tour of Finnish grocery stores. For the most part, it wasn't very informative. I did learn that Finland has something called sour milk that I'm excited to try, and the weird toothpaste style tubes of food are as I imagined: caviar paste. "quite good on bread with hard boiled eggs" said our tour guide. Mmmm....
I experienced a strange coincidence today. Two in fact. The first one happened while I was waiting for the shopping tour to begin. There were about 10 of us who went on it out of all the thousands of new students at UH. The majority of them were undergrads and knew either other already from sharing dorms, etc. So they were talking and I was kind of just standing there waiting to get this over with so I could get on with my day. Then one of the girls turned to me and asked, "Where are you from?" I had kind of spaced out and didn't realize at first that she was talking to me. I collected myself and reply, "uh, the US. North Carolina." "Where in NC?" she asked. Not wanting to admit Raleigh had been the last place I had lived I said, "Asheville." "Oh," she said, "I know Asheville. I went to school there. Have you heard of Warren Wilson?" I almost just felt like, "okay, I'm throwing in the towel. Universe, what are you trying to do to me?" What are the statistical odds of talking to someone in the Helsinki Metro station, and finding you went to the same college of 800 people, in Asheville, NC? Totally improbable, that's what. Turns out her name was Jane and she had been at WWC all last year but transfered (although she said not because she didn't love it there) and had just started at UH. She had been on Landscaping crew.
The other coincidence I had (which is not nearly as improbable, but was exciting for me nonetheless) also happened on the Metro (maybe I should start taking the Metro more often). The shopping center we had done the tour at was in the far eastern outskirts of Helsinki. And since I had never been in those parts before, I decided to do some exploring. I was aimlessly riding around, looking casually out the window, when suddenly I saw this!
Now to most people, this probably doesn't look like much. But I instantly recognized it as the Roihuvuori Water Tower that I've been pretty obsessed with (as for as water towers go) for some time now. I knew it was in Finland, but I had no idea where! If I would have been on anything besides a subway I would have jumped out right then and there. I got off at the next stop, but by that point I couldn't locate it. But I will try again! When Pinky comes to visit me in March we are going to do a tour of water towers in Nordic and Baltic Eurasia . Look for the coffee table book coming to a store near you.
Now, to view a photo journal of the rest of my sight seeing today, click the link below:
 |
| Eastern Helsinki |
And this was on my return trip home. People ice skating at the Central Railway Station square in downtown Helsinki.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Mid Friday post
Ugh. I can safely say today has been the worst day I've had since arriving in Finland. But it's not over yet! There is still time for it to improve and we're having a "party" tonight. So if it's anything like our last "party" (see post entitled, Settling In) you know it will be a good time! And why was my day so bad, you ask? Four hours in Immigration Services.
Immigration Services is just how you'd probably imagine it to be: A room that is way too small, packed with people, seating for only about 1/4 of them, not even enough wall space to lean against, and nothing to read except the different types of resident permit application forms. Not even Finland can make Immigration Services stylish and efficient. It was just incredibility boring and uncomfortable. There was a little girl there with a baby doll speaking some language I couldn't place (Greek? Hebrew?). She was running around this tiny room yelling at everyone quite clearly, "(expletive deleted) you!" This was accompanied by a hand gesture, just in case you thought you just misheard her. Although slightly disturbing, this was at least entertaining, given the situation. So after 4 hours of "queuing" I finally got to see a Immigrations Officer. This was not nearly as intimidating as I'd been expecting. It was just some early 20's Finnish guy in a cubical. He took my forms, looked at them a little, and then asked me if I had proof that my scholarship money had been given to me (you have to have a certain amount of money for the permit to show that you're financially able to support yourself in Finland. Like anyone could ever have that much money, ha ha). I told him I didn't and that it was just being given to me in payments, and he said, "Okay, just write a statement of that." And I was like, "You mean right now?" And he said, "Yeah, just write it on this piece of paper." So I wrote,
I took the train to get to the police station, which was fun. It was fast and smooth (but I was only on it for about 10 minutes). Now I just need to take a ferry and I will have used all the public transportation options in Helsinki (taxi, bus, tram, train, and metro). It's practically like I'm a native!
I just rearranged the furniture in my room (aka, moved the twin bed to the other wall), and now I'm about to put up the pictures from the nature magazines I got yesterday. I don't have any scissors though, so we're going to go with the "torn edge" effect. I'm supposed to make something for the "party" tonight, but I don't know what to make, and it's so hard to buy things here, and I don't really have much cooking equipment, whine, whine, whine. But I should probably get on that.
Immigration Services is just how you'd probably imagine it to be: A room that is way too small, packed with people, seating for only about 1/4 of them, not even enough wall space to lean against, and nothing to read except the different types of resident permit application forms. Not even Finland can make Immigration Services stylish and efficient. It was just incredibility boring and uncomfortable. There was a little girl there with a baby doll speaking some language I couldn't place (Greek? Hebrew?). She was running around this tiny room yelling at everyone quite clearly, "(expletive deleted) you!" This was accompanied by a hand gesture, just in case you thought you just misheard her. Although slightly disturbing, this was at least entertaining, given the situation. So after 4 hours of "queuing" I finally got to see a Immigrations Officer. This was not nearly as intimidating as I'd been expecting. It was just some early 20's Finnish guy in a cubical. He took my forms, looked at them a little, and then asked me if I had proof that my scholarship money had been given to me (you have to have a certain amount of money for the permit to show that you're financially able to support yourself in Finland. Like anyone could ever have that much money, ha ha). I told him I didn't and that it was just being given to me in payments, and he said, "Okay, just write a statement of that." And I was like, "You mean right now?" And he said, "Yeah, just write it on this piece of paper." So I wrote,
"I am receiving my scholarship in payments and I have enough money to finance my stay in Finland. - Kesi Stoneking 15.1.2010"He said, "great," I gave him 125 euros, and that was that. I asked him when I should expect to receive the permit, and he said, "I'll get it sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, and then it should be about 5 or 6 months." "5 or 6 MONTHS?!?!" I asked. "You mean like after I've already left Finland?!" He said, yeah, probably. And that I would have the receipt that I applied for it and that's all I really need. I thought "Okay... it's your country." Basically I guess they just wanted some kind of record of me, and more importantly, 125 euros. Not quite the way I'd been expecting it to go down, but I'm not complaining. I guess it's one of the perks of being an American.
I took the train to get to the police station, which was fun. It was fast and smooth (but I was only on it for about 10 minutes). Now I just need to take a ferry and I will have used all the public transportation options in Helsinki (taxi, bus, tram, train, and metro). It's practically like I'm a native!
I just rearranged the furniture in my room (aka, moved the twin bed to the other wall), and now I'm about to put up the pictures from the nature magazines I got yesterday. I don't have any scissors though, so we're going to go with the "torn edge" effect. I'm supposed to make something for the "party" tonight, but I don't know what to make, and it's so hard to buy things here, and I don't really have much cooking equipment, whine, whine, whine. But I should probably get on that.
Paperwork and things
No trip to the police station today.; another day as an outlaw. My plans were changed early this morning when I received an URGENT email from the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (the next stop in my Atlantis program). They said they just discovered that we needed to apply and register TOMORROW and submit a ridiculous amount of paperwork (which had to be "signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters" (Douglas Adams, 1978)) if we wanted to attend next fall like we were supposed to. So I spent a good part of my day trying to get that all worked out, only to get an email later on that they had been mistaken and it wasn't due until April. *sigh of relief* It would have been ironic to be registered for classes in Sweden for next fall considering I'm not even registered for the classes here that start on Monday and probably won't be for a week or two (seems they had forgotten we would be here this semester so we're not yet in the system). Ah, the joys of being the first group of people in a new program! So by the time that got all sorted out, it was too late to go to the police station.
Instead I went on a mission to buy: a wallet (mine is not Euro compatible which results in wads of cash being stuff in various pockets), an English-Swedish dictionary (so I can try to read the books I got from the library), and envelopes (for obvious reasons). I went to the Kamppi shopping mall, which has 6 floors and 150 shops. Each floor was kind of a different theme, with the "teenage" stuff on top and lots of places for them to hang out. There was even a bowling alley! But the baby/kids floor was my favorite. Some of the toy stores were really neat. Unfortunately, everything in Finland is incredibly expensive, so I did most of my shopping at the equivalent of the Dollar General. I'm kind of disappointed that almost everything I'll have bought in Finland will have been made in China (no offense China. I had not problem with buying your stuff when I was there. It was also much cheaper in China...). But I got a fake leather wallet for 7 euros and a pack of legal sized envelops for 3.50. While I was walking around the mall I found a stand with lots of used books and magazines on it. There was no one around and no prices on anything, so I assumed they were free. I picked out 3 magazines called "Suomen Luonto" (which according to Google Translate means Finnish Nature). I will finally be able to put pictures up on my walls! Next, I went to a Barns and Nobel style bookstore. They had a sale section and I got a puzzle for 50% off.
I'd been wanting to do a puzzle for a while now, and I figured it could also serve the duel purpose of decorating my room a bit too. These Moomin guys seem to be a pretty big deal in Finland.
Finding a English -Swedish dictionary did not prove to be easy. They had a ton of dictionaries, but I couldn't find a Svenska - Engelska one. Of course most of them were Suomea (Finnish) - something, but they had tons of other languages as well. They even had a Italian - Arabic dictionary! Now, I'm not implying that Italian or Arabic are in any way inferior to English or Swedish, but really. How often is an Italian in Helsinki and they think "I need to learn Arabic, stat!" or vice-versa. But Swedish is one of the official languages of Finland, and nearly everyone learns English. I just seemed logical. So I asked someone, and they found me one in the back. So now I have a dictionary.
Helsinki has a metro, but I'd never taken it so I decided to give it a whirl. And it was pretty much like you'd expect a metro to be. It only has one line so it's very easy to learn, but not usually that useful to use. Although waiting for the train underground sure bets standing at a cold bus stop. I do have to say though, it was cleaner then I even thought possible for a subway. Oh Scandinavia and its people who care...
Instead I went on a mission to buy: a wallet (mine is not Euro compatible which results in wads of cash being stuff in various pockets), an English-Swedish dictionary (so I can try to read the books I got from the library), and envelopes (for obvious reasons). I went to the Kamppi shopping mall, which has 6 floors and 150 shops. Each floor was kind of a different theme, with the "teenage" stuff on top and lots of places for them to hang out. There was even a bowling alley! But the baby/kids floor was my favorite. Some of the toy stores were really neat. Unfortunately, everything in Finland is incredibly expensive, so I did most of my shopping at the equivalent of the Dollar General. I'm kind of disappointed that almost everything I'll have bought in Finland will have been made in China (no offense China. I had not problem with buying your stuff when I was there. It was also much cheaper in China...). But I got a fake leather wallet for 7 euros and a pack of legal sized envelops for 3.50. While I was walking around the mall I found a stand with lots of used books and magazines on it. There was no one around and no prices on anything, so I assumed they were free. I picked out 3 magazines called "Suomen Luonto" (which according to Google Translate means Finnish Nature). I will finally be able to put pictures up on my walls! Next, I went to a Barns and Nobel style bookstore. They had a sale section and I got a puzzle for 50% off.
Finding a English -Swedish dictionary did not prove to be easy. They had a ton of dictionaries, but I couldn't find a Svenska - Engelska one. Of course most of them were Suomea (Finnish) - something, but they had tons of other languages as well. They even had a Italian - Arabic dictionary! Now, I'm not implying that Italian or Arabic are in any way inferior to English or Swedish, but really. How often is an Italian in Helsinki and they think "I need to learn Arabic, stat!" or vice-versa. But Swedish is one of the official languages of Finland, and nearly everyone learns English. I just seemed logical. So I asked someone, and they found me one in the back. So now I have a dictionary.
Helsinki has a metro, but I'd never taken it so I decided to give it a whirl. And it was pretty much like you'd expect a metro to be. It only has one line so it's very easy to learn, but not usually that useful to use. Although waiting for the train underground sure bets standing at a cold bus stop. I do have to say though, it was cleaner then I even thought possible for a subway. Oh Scandinavia and its people who care...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Week one in Finland
Today marks one week since my arrival in Finland, but it seems like I've been here much longer. I get frustrated when I can't find my way around the city as much as I'd like to, but then I realize it's only been a few days that I've actually been exploring here, and then it feels like I'm actually doing quite well.
I was supposed to get a residency permit for Finland before I left the US, but to do that you have to send your passport to the Finnish Embassy in Washington, and it can take up to 12 weeks. I didn't receive my acceptance letter from the University of Helsinki until about 4 weeks before I had to leave. So I was just hoping with all my might that I could get it when I got here and they wouldn't try to deport me or hold me in one of those little rooms at the airport and Bill Clinton would have to come rescue me or something. And so for every point in my trip that could involve customs, I held my breath and tried to look like the kind of person you would welcome into your country. When I got off the plane in Austria they stamped my passport (it says WIEN SCHWECHAT) but didn't ask me where I was going or how long I was staying or any of the questions I had spent the whole plane ride thinking of elaborate answers to. And then, since my flight from Austria to Finland was all within the EU, there wasn't so much as a "Tervetuloa to Finland! Have some herring and a Nokia phone." Nothing. But not having this residency permit is still hanging over my head, and it's preventing me for getting a lot of things done for fear that I will be "found out." So I spent today getting all my documents in order, cash out of the Otto (atm) to pay for it, and passport pictures taken (16 euros = $23 for the worst photo of me ever taken EVER). And tomorrow morning it's off to the police station to hopefully get a permit, and not just turn myself in.
I also hung out at the main City Library in Helsinki for a while. I checked out some really cute children's books in Swedish (I figure I'll just stick with learning Swedish and not even bother with the Finnish). Now I just need a Swedish - English dictionary so I can figure out what they say...
It's been so gray the last couple of days. It makes it really hard to get up and out and do stuff during the couple hours it's actually "light" out. It also doesn't help that pretty much everything is only open from 10-3. It's like the whole city just kind of hibernates during winter.
Apparently I'm not the only one who's been having a hard time with the old grocery shopping thing. The University is offering a Shopping Survival Tour on Saturday. The advertisement reads:
So I will soon be a Finnish shopping master! But even so, I made a pretty nice dinner from 100% local and cheap Finnish food:
I figured out how to post the laundry movies. I really wanted to combine the separate videos into one continues movie, but I decided taking hours trying to learn how to merge video files wasn't the best way I could spend my time in Finland. So now there is part 1, 2, and 3.
Not quite as exciting as I had hoped, but nonetheless, I now have clean clothes.
I was supposed to get a residency permit for Finland before I left the US, but to do that you have to send your passport to the Finnish Embassy in Washington, and it can take up to 12 weeks. I didn't receive my acceptance letter from the University of Helsinki until about 4 weeks before I had to leave. So I was just hoping with all my might that I could get it when I got here and they wouldn't try to deport me or hold me in one of those little rooms at the airport and Bill Clinton would have to come rescue me or something. And so for every point in my trip that could involve customs, I held my breath and tried to look like the kind of person you would welcome into your country. When I got off the plane in Austria they stamped my passport (it says WIEN SCHWECHAT) but didn't ask me where I was going or how long I was staying or any of the questions I had spent the whole plane ride thinking of elaborate answers to. And then, since my flight from Austria to Finland was all within the EU, there wasn't so much as a "Tervetuloa to Finland! Have some herring and a Nokia phone." Nothing. But not having this residency permit is still hanging over my head, and it's preventing me for getting a lot of things done for fear that I will be "found out." So I spent today getting all my documents in order, cash out of the Otto (atm) to pay for it, and passport pictures taken (16 euros = $23 for the worst photo of me ever taken EVER). And tomorrow morning it's off to the police station to hopefully get a permit, and not just turn myself in.
I also hung out at the main City Library in Helsinki for a while. I checked out some really cute children's books in Swedish (I figure I'll just stick with learning Swedish and not even bother with the Finnish). Now I just need a Swedish - English dictionary so I can figure out what they say...
It's been so gray the last couple of days. It makes it really hard to get up and out and do stuff during the couple hours it's actually "light" out. It also doesn't help that pretty much everything is only open from 10-3. It's like the whole city just kind of hibernates during winter.
Apparently I'm not the only one who's been having a hard time with the old grocery shopping thing. The University is offering a Shopping Survival Tour on Saturday. The advertisement reads:
"Do you feel confused every time you go grocery shopping? Did you buy sour milk instead of regular milk? Are you interested in getting to know fair priced products and ingredients in Finland? We'll be going to Itäkeskus store and taking you on a tour of the most important products: dairy, vegetables, fair trade, organic food, spices and tips on cheap cooking. You will also receive a sort of Finnish-English food dictionary for products that don't have english names on their packaging and such."
So I will soon be a Finnish shopping master! But even so, I made a pretty nice dinner from 100% local and cheap Finnish food:
Potatoes, carrots, "food peas" (which I'm still not sure what they are), onions, parsley, chives, yogurt, and butter. And Finnish rye bread.
I figured out how to post the laundry movies. I really wanted to combine the separate videos into one continues movie, but I decided taking hours trying to learn how to merge video files wasn't the best way I could spend my time in Finland. So now there is part 1, 2, and 3.
Not quite as exciting as I had hoped, but nonetheless, I now have clean clothes.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Visit to Viikki Campus
Today was filled with all sorts of escapades, which leave me with lots to talk about, but very little energy for writing. So this will be more of a photo essay.
I spent most of the day exploring my new campus. It is so nice! I would almost say it's nicer than Warren Wilson. Almost. If someone could just move all the buildings from Viikki to the Swannanoa Valley, and give Western North Carolina a little more snow, and less rain and ice in the winter, that would be ideal!
I took too many pictures to post on the blog (you'd be scrolling for hours), so I'm just going to put a link to my Picasa web album. There are comments and stuff on the pictures there:
Other news that happened today: I did not get a humidifier (and spent about 3 hours in the "Hyper-Market"), but I did get a cell phone. So now if you want to call me in Finland my number is: 0466181706. But don't because 1: it would be really expensive and you should just call me on my skype number instead (540-908-3493). And 2: I don't know how to work my phone because it's all in Finnish! And the words in Finnish are so long they don't fit on the screen so they have to abbreviate them and therefore I can't look them up! Even the two simple choices: "yes" and "no," and "select" and "back" took me forever to figure out (and your Finnish lesson for the day: kyllä, ei, valitset, and takaisin). But what I'm selecting and what I'm saying yes to, I have no idea. And one of the main things I need this phone for is as an alarm to wake me up in the morning. So I kind of set something I think, but it's probably going to be one of those things that goes off every hour, and I won't be able to figure out how to turn it off. This isn't the last you'll hear of the phone, I can guarantee.
And for the laundry (because I know everyone's been waiting all day to hear how my laundry experience went), I did do it, and me and my clothes survied, but that is all I can tell you now. I took a video of the process and can't, at the moment, figure out how to post it. So I keep you in rapt anticipation for a while more...
I spent most of the day exploring my new campus. It is so nice! I would almost say it's nicer than Warren Wilson. Almost. If someone could just move all the buildings from Viikki to the Swannanoa Valley, and give Western North Carolina a little more snow, and less rain and ice in the winter, that would be ideal!
I took too many pictures to post on the blog (you'd be scrolling for hours), so I'm just going to put a link to my Picasa web album. There are comments and stuff on the pictures there:
 |
| Viikki Campus |
And for the laundry (because I know everyone's been waiting all day to hear how my laundry experience went), I did do it, and me and my clothes survied, but that is all I can tell you now. I took a video of the process and can't, at the moment, figure out how to post it. So I keep you in rapt anticipation for a while more...
Monday, January 11, 2010
My first Monday in Finland
It is extremely dry in my room. I've filled every shallow container I could find with water and placed them all around my room, but I don't think it's helping much. I even cooked a big pot of beans with the lid off for the sole purpose of creating steam. I think tomorrow might involve a trip to buy a humidifier.
I had another orientation today. This one was just with the College (Faculty, as they call it here) of Agriculture and Forestry. It was pretty boring and useless, but I still really like the feel of this place and the people are nice, friendly, and laid-back. And they were so excited that we (Alex and I) were American! Apparently they have never had an American in their college before. At first they thought they had, but then they realized that was a Canadian. I am so good at creating diversity wherever I go (Society of American Foresters Diversity Ambassador 2008, woot! woot!). But then during the talk about "being a leader in your field; taking the knowledge you learn here and bringing it to the world, etc, etc," the speaker pointed to me and said, "just like when President Bush left in your country and now we will have to see what kind of a leader Obama will be." And I was just like, "um, yeah." Awkward.
I got two new suitemates today: Conny from the Netherlands, and Fleur from Estonia (who I'm pretty sure is a descendant of Galadriel's and probably competed in the Triwizard Tournament. Oh, and her job: she plays the harp. Professionally). They are both really nice and I'm excited about getting to know them more. And maybe I'll even be invited to Lothlórien for the weekend!
And now for the pictures of the day, entitled:
Over the sink in my apartment is a cabinet with wire drying racks instead of shelves. That way you can wash your dishes, put them to dry, and close the doors. You don't have to look at them and the drips just fall in the sink!
I know what you're thinking... "Those clever Scandinavians..."
The hot water pipes in my shower somehow lace themselves into this functional towel rack. But this is a multipurpose towel rack! Not only is it a great place to hang your towel after a shower, you can also warm your towel on it beforehand! And it keeps the bathroom nice and toasty.
Once again... "Those clever Scandinavians..."
Brace yourselves; tomorrow's entry is going to be one for the record books. The theme, "doing the laundry." And if that doesn't sound exciting to you, or you think I'm kidding, I have one word for you: centrifuge.
I had another orientation today. This one was just with the College (Faculty, as they call it here) of Agriculture and Forestry. It was pretty boring and useless, but I still really like the feel of this place and the people are nice, friendly, and laid-back. And they were so excited that we (Alex and I) were American! Apparently they have never had an American in their college before. At first they thought they had, but then they realized that was a Canadian. I am so good at creating diversity wherever I go (Society of American Foresters Diversity Ambassador 2008, woot! woot!). But then during the talk about "being a leader in your field; taking the knowledge you learn here and bringing it to the world, etc, etc," the speaker pointed to me and said, "just like when President Bush left in your country and now we will have to see what kind of a leader Obama will be." And I was just like, "um, yeah." Awkward.
I got two new suitemates today: Conny from the Netherlands, and Fleur from Estonia (who I'm pretty sure is a descendant of Galadriel's and probably competed in the Triwizard Tournament. Oh, and her job: she plays the harp. Professionally). They are both really nice and I'm excited about getting to know them more. And maybe I'll even be invited to Lothlórien for the weekend!
And now for the pictures of the day, entitled:
Those Clever Scandinavians
I know what you're thinking... "Those clever Scandinavians..."
Once again... "Those clever Scandinavians..."
Brace yourselves; tomorrow's entry is going to be one for the record books. The theme, "doing the laundry." And if that doesn't sound exciting to you, or you think I'm kidding, I have one word for you: centrifuge.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Trip to the grocery store
Today's entry was supposed to be called "Sight seeing, part 2," but when you are traveling in a foreign country, sometimes things don't go according to plan. That's my excuse for the fact that I slept in, didn't feel like going out for a while because somehow it was simultaneously foggy and -15F (which made for awesome frost on the trees. pictures later on. we have to go in chronological order here), and I ended up spending 3 hours at the grocery store. So this post is now called "Trip to the grocery store." See what a flexible traveler I am?
Up until now, my attempts at food purchasing have all taken place at the Alepa grocery store across from my apartment. Alepa is a chain of grocery stores all around Helsinki. Here is a picture from out my window since I am already in my pajamas and don't want to go outside:
[I totally just felt like a sniper leaning out of my open window in the middle of the night aiming at something unseen. but no one seemed too concerned. I guess they don't have too much trouble with snipers in Finland.]
Just to show how well my Finnish is coming along, I feel like I can pretty safely say that the name "Alepa" means something like "savings store," or "discount store," or something like that. And I'll tell you how I know that: I've notice that lots of stores have signs saying "Ale" on them, and (since I've already deduced that it doesn't mean "beer") I'm assuming that means "sale" (I know, it seems too obvious). So I'm thinking that Ale + pa means something like "place of savings." Pretty good, ay? Anyway, back to The Story.
Although the Alepa is conveniently located, it doesn't offer much of a selection. So I went on a search for a better grocery store.
After some time hiking from bus stop to bus stop and getting rather lost (this is when I realized not all the buses run on Sunday) I found a big shopping mall type place that had both a "K-Market" and an "S-Market" inside of it. They were directly across from each other (the check-out lines kind of spill into the center of the mall) and from what I could tell there was no obvious difference between the two. I ended up choosing the "K-Market" (K for Kesi, although I guess I could have just as well gone with S for Stoneking...).
The K-Market was much more like what I'm accustomed to in terms of a grocery store than the Alepa had been. There was your typical produce, frozen foods, dairy section, etc, etc. Grocery shopping usually takes me awhile anyway because of all the weighing of ethics vs health vs frugality stuff. But shopping in Finland added a whole new element to the matrix: figuring out what the heck each thing was. There was an entire half of an isle with nothing but these giant toothpaste like tubes, similar to what you can sometimes find tomato paste in, although bigger. They all had pictures of ships on them, but besides that there was nothing recognizable to me. I'm afraid to think that it might be some kind of fish or meat paste. I don't know if I will ever be brave enough to find out.
So this is what I ended up purchasing:
Somewhat clockwise from left to right, beginning with the familiar spaghetti, we have (or at least I think we have):
1. Spaghetti (although it actually says "Spagetti")
2. Black pepper (after my previous attempt to buy pepper, which turned out to be allspice)
3. Salt
4. Beans that I could not identify, but now am pretty sure are un-split split peas
5. Rice
6. Sunflower seeds
7. Pour-able Finnish yogurt
8. Rolled oats (täysjyväkaura, if you remember from before)
9. Organic peanut butter that cost about $12
10. Sugar
11. Fresh parsley (doubles as a house plant and is from Järvikylä Estates which has ties with Shenandoah Growers where I had my first job)
12. Cinnamon
13. Olive oil
14. Hot sauce (at least they call it hot. I haven't tasted it yet, but I'm betting it's pretty mild)
15. Soy sauce
16. Raisins
17. Dates (a humongous bag)
18. Coffee
19. Vinegar
20. Vegetable bouillon
21. Green tea (behind the kiwi)
22. Kiwi (in front of the green tea)
23. Adzuki beans (K-Market's dried bean selection was limited and strange)
So there you have it. That was most of my day. And now for the pictures of the frost on the trees like I promised:
Looking up at a pine tree:
Up until now, my attempts at food purchasing have all taken place at the Alepa grocery store across from my apartment. Alepa is a chain of grocery stores all around Helsinki. Here is a picture from out my window since I am already in my pajamas and don't want to go outside:
[I totally just felt like a sniper leaning out of my open window in the middle of the night aiming at something unseen. but no one seemed too concerned. I guess they don't have too much trouble with snipers in Finland.]
Just to show how well my Finnish is coming along, I feel like I can pretty safely say that the name "Alepa" means something like "savings store," or "discount store," or something like that. And I'll tell you how I know that: I've notice that lots of stores have signs saying "Ale" on them, and (since I've already deduced that it doesn't mean "beer") I'm assuming that means "sale" (I know, it seems too obvious). So I'm thinking that Ale + pa means something like "place of savings." Pretty good, ay? Anyway, back to The Story.
Although the Alepa is conveniently located, it doesn't offer much of a selection. So I went on a search for a better grocery store.
After some time hiking from bus stop to bus stop and getting rather lost (this is when I realized not all the buses run on Sunday) I found a big shopping mall type place that had both a "K-Market" and an "S-Market" inside of it. They were directly across from each other (the check-out lines kind of spill into the center of the mall) and from what I could tell there was no obvious difference between the two. I ended up choosing the "K-Market" (K for Kesi, although I guess I could have just as well gone with S for Stoneking...).
The K-Market was much more like what I'm accustomed to in terms of a grocery store than the Alepa had been. There was your typical produce, frozen foods, dairy section, etc, etc. Grocery shopping usually takes me awhile anyway because of all the weighing of ethics vs health vs frugality stuff. But shopping in Finland added a whole new element to the matrix: figuring out what the heck each thing was. There was an entire half of an isle with nothing but these giant toothpaste like tubes, similar to what you can sometimes find tomato paste in, although bigger. They all had pictures of ships on them, but besides that there was nothing recognizable to me. I'm afraid to think that it might be some kind of fish or meat paste. I don't know if I will ever be brave enough to find out.
So this is what I ended up purchasing:
Somewhat clockwise from left to right, beginning with the familiar spaghetti, we have (or at least I think we have):1. Spaghetti (although it actually says "Spagetti")
2. Black pepper (after my previous attempt to buy pepper, which turned out to be allspice)
3. Salt
4. Beans that I could not identify, but now am pretty sure are un-split split peas
5. Rice
6. Sunflower seeds
7. Pour-able Finnish yogurt
8. Rolled oats (täysjyväkaura, if you remember from before)
9. Organic peanut butter that cost about $12
10. Sugar
11. Fresh parsley (doubles as a house plant and is from Järvikylä Estates which has ties with Shenandoah Growers where I had my first job)
12. Cinnamon
13. Olive oil
14. Hot sauce (at least they call it hot. I haven't tasted it yet, but I'm betting it's pretty mild)
15. Soy sauce
16. Raisins
17. Dates (a humongous bag)
18. Coffee
19. Vinegar
20. Vegetable bouillon
21. Green tea (behind the kiwi)
22. Kiwi (in front of the green tea)
23. Adzuki beans (K-Market's dried bean selection was limited and strange)
So there you have it. That was most of my day. And now for the pictures of the frost on the trees like I promised:
Looking up at a pine tree:
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Sight seeing, part 1
Today was the first sunny day we've had since I've been in Finland, although the high was still only 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Apparently, this has been the coldest winter since 2003, and the most snow they've seen since the 1960's. It's a good winter to be in Finland! But since it was nice and sunny today (for the few hours the sun is actually up) I took the opportunity to really check out the city.
First, I went on a tour of the Finnish National Parliament. Apparently they hold the record of having the newest parliament building in the world, and the first country to have women in parliament. The tour guide was very dramatic about everything. I've never heard anyone talk about wall-to-wall carpeting with such suspense!
The Session Hall:
They think pretty highly of the Finnish physique.
The dome of the Session Hall. The tiles are made out of compressed sugar cane pulp for better acoustics. Crazy!
The cafeteria of the Parliament. The tour guide made a little joke about "this is where all the real politics take place." She was pretty pleased with herself for that.
The view to the city from the hall:
After the tour I walked around for a while. It's nice to be in a city that's so safe you can just get lost without having to worry about wandering into "the wrong neighborhood."
Vanhakirkko. The oldest church in Helsinki:
A park where people were sledding:
The sun setting over an industrial section of the harbor (the boats you can see are frozen into the ice)
After that I took the tram around the city and out to a few of the islands, but it was too dark to take pictures. You'll just have to trust me that it was lovely.
First, I went on a tour of the Finnish National Parliament. Apparently they hold the record of having the newest parliament building in the world, and the first country to have women in parliament. The tour guide was very dramatic about everything. I've never heard anyone talk about wall-to-wall carpeting with such suspense!
The Session Hall:
They think pretty highly of the Finnish physique.The dome of the Session Hall. The tiles are made out of compressed sugar cane pulp for better acoustics. Crazy!
The cafeteria of the Parliament. The tour guide made a little joke about "this is where all the real politics take place." She was pretty pleased with herself for that.
The view to the city from the hall:
After the tour I walked around for a while. It's nice to be in a city that's so safe you can just get lost without having to worry about wandering into "the wrong neighborhood."
Vanhakirkko. The oldest church in Helsinki:
A park where people were sledding:
The sun setting over an industrial section of the harbor (the boats you can see are frozen into the ice)
After that I took the tram around the city and out to a few of the islands, but it was too dark to take pictures. You'll just have to trust me that it was lovely.
Settling in
The last few days have been busy, productive, and snowy. Yesterday, I left the flat early with one of my suite-mates, Alex, who is in the same program as me from NC State. He arrived in Helsinki before New Years, so he had already figured a few things out. We took the bus into the city-center and I got my travel card, tried to open a bank account (but didn't have the right documents), and got a library card. The library was having a book sale and I bought a neat little field guide to Reptiles and Amphibians in Swedish for 50 cents. It was snowing really hard, so it was difficult to see anything. The city is pretty calm and easy to get around in (although the buses are kind of scary with all the ice on the roads). The feel is a nice mixture of really modern, contemporary places, and older, Russian style architecture. I couldn't really take any pictures since it was snowing so much, so those will have to come later. After we finished our errands downtown, Alex and I went back to the flat for lunch, and I went to the grocery store across the street to buy some food since I hadn't gotten any yet. This proved to be more difficult than I had expected. First, everything was REALLY expensive. And, because of the Finnish language, it was almost impossible to tell what anything was. I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out which box contained oatmeal. And if that seems silly, here is an example: The Finnish word for "oat" is: kauranjyville. But the word for "wholegrain oats" is: täysjyväkaura. And the word for oatmeal is: kaurapuuroa. And instant oatmeal is: pikakaurahiutale. And when you see them all together like that, you can see that the root word is "kaura." But when you're reading a sentence like this: "Valmistetaan hyvälaatuisista pikakaurahiutale jyvistä, jotka puhdistetaan, leikataan, esikypsytetään ja litistetään ohuiksi hiutaleiksi" that doesn't stand out so well. So I got some potatoes and carrots and boiled them Eastern European peasant style (no fats or seasonings). Yum.
Then, Alex and I went to check out our new campus. And it was AMAZING. I won't go into the details now because words wouldn't do it justice, but lets just say that it looks like there could be flying cars going by at any moment, and one of the buildings has a wrap around, glass covered, tropical garden that you can eat your lunch in as you look out at the snow. Pictures to come.
My other suite-mate, Anna, works for the German Embassy in Finland. And every Thursday all the Embassy people go to Baker's for 1 euro Champagne happy hour (which is incredibly affordable). So I went and met them there. Everyone was very nice and friendly, but when they decided to leave there and go to a karaoke bar, I decided it was time to go home. You can only have so much culture in one day.
The next day I started orientation for the international students at the University of Helsinki. It was pretty much like every other orientation (6 hours of sitting in a lecture hall listening an inspirational welcome speech from the president, and presentations on how to use the library), but they definitely did their best to make it interesting. And there was even an entire presentation on the correct way to recycle (very different from NC State, where there isn't a single recycling bin in the whole Wood and Paper building. Not even paper recycling). About 90% of the exchange students are European, with the rest from North America, and not a single one from Asia, Africa, or South America. This is also the complete opposite of my previous program at NC State. I'm getting quite a diverse education.
That evening Anna made Salmiakkikossu (a Finnish drink made from vodka and salty liquorice) and we had a "party." The "party" ended up just being two girls from Spain who got very drunk and got in a huge fight over something none of us could figure out, and then one left and the other one stayed. It was awkward.
Then, Alex and I went to check out our new campus. And it was AMAZING. I won't go into the details now because words wouldn't do it justice, but lets just say that it looks like there could be flying cars going by at any moment, and one of the buildings has a wrap around, glass covered, tropical garden that you can eat your lunch in as you look out at the snow. Pictures to come.
My other suite-mate, Anna, works for the German Embassy in Finland. And every Thursday all the Embassy people go to Baker's for 1 euro Champagne happy hour (which is incredibly affordable). So I went and met them there. Everyone was very nice and friendly, but when they decided to leave there and go to a karaoke bar, I decided it was time to go home. You can only have so much culture in one day.
The next day I started orientation for the international students at the University of Helsinki. It was pretty much like every other orientation (6 hours of sitting in a lecture hall listening an inspirational welcome speech from the president, and presentations on how to use the library), but they definitely did their best to make it interesting. And there was even an entire presentation on the correct way to recycle (very different from NC State, where there isn't a single recycling bin in the whole Wood and Paper building. Not even paper recycling). About 90% of the exchange students are European, with the rest from North America, and not a single one from Asia, Africa, or South America. This is also the complete opposite of my previous program at NC State. I'm getting quite a diverse education.
That evening Anna made Salmiakkikossu (a Finnish drink made from vodka and salty liquorice) and we had a "party." The "party" ended up just being two girls from Spain who got very drunk and got in a huge fight over something none of us could figure out, and then one left and the other one stayed. It was awkward.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
First day in Helsinki
I arrived safely in Helsinki around midnight last night with all my luggage and enough information for the taxi driver (in his leather seat Volvo) to take me to my new apartment. I could tell the Fins were some tough folks right from the start: After landing on the snow covered runway (and sliding a bit), instead of driving the plane to the gate, they just wheeled up an ice covered ladder and everyone climbed down and walked across the snow packed runway like it was no big deal. There is so much snow here! All the roads and sidewalks are completely covered. Plows come by every now and then just to keep it smooth. Here are some pictures of my neighborhood:
This is my apartment building. Each suite has a balcony that is covered in glass to keep the snow from coming in.
This is my street.
The fire station.
The path behind my apartment that leads to the coffee shop. There are usually lots of kids sledding on it.
Today is Epiphany which is a national holiday in Finland, which meant everything was closed. I hadn't had a chance to buy any food yet, so I wondered around for quite a while before I found a convenience store type place that was open. I bought some ramen like noodles (I was afraid they would be herring flavored, but they weren't) something that I hope is yogurt, but I haven't tried yet, and my first Finnish beer (for 3 euros. gosh golly that's expensive):
This was one of the only items in the whole store that had writing in English on it. And since Finnish is not a romantic language, there is no guessing at a word. Which is why I washed my dishes after dinner with floor cleaner before realizing my mistake.
My room. Needs some decorations.
But check out that storage space!
Part of the common room. Note the non American sized TV.
This is my apartment building. Each suite has a balcony that is covered in glass to keep the snow from coming in.
This is my street.The fire station.
The path behind my apartment that leads to the coffee shop. There are usually lots of kids sledding on it.
Today is Epiphany which is a national holiday in Finland, which meant everything was closed. I hadn't had a chance to buy any food yet, so I wondered around for quite a while before I found a convenience store type place that was open. I bought some ramen like noodles (I was afraid they would be herring flavored, but they weren't) something that I hope is yogurt, but I haven't tried yet, and my first Finnish beer (for 3 euros. gosh golly that's expensive):This was one of the only items in the whole store that had writing in English on it. And since Finnish is not a romantic language, there is no guessing at a word. Which is why I washed my dishes after dinner with floor cleaner before realizing my mistake.My room. Needs some decorations.
But check out that storage space!Part of the common room. Note the non American sized TV.
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