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...