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Published: November 13th 2014
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I'm sitting here in the Helsinki airport listening to everyone repeatedly say yo yo yo yo yo into their cellphones, and I realized that I was heading off for another adventure without even documenting the last. The last few weeks have been such a blast! I have made a lot of new friends and I've been doing a lot of fun things.
A couple weeks ago, I went to St. Petersburg and it was such an amazing trip! Not only is St. Petersburg just ridiculously beautiful but the people on the trip really made it what it was. I was lucky enough to share a cabin with Marleen, Mirte, and Jitte on the cruise ship that we took to St. Petersburg from Helsinki and back. The cabins were so horribly small! I kept bumping my elbow into the light switch when I was dressing in the morning. The cruise ship was really cool but most importantly there was SUSHI. Burritos and sushi have been my life's purpose basically two weeks into getting here and I was able eat delicious sushi twice on the ship. I get so desperate for sushi, I have even gone to the department store
in the city center to get the sushi you can find in the deli that comes in those little plastic containers. It was awful, but I ate all of it anyways and felt entirely unsatisfied afterwards. It was like poking at the wound that has been created from my lack of sushi consumption. But then the ship happened! So I guess I should let it go.
ALSO. WHERE ARE THE PUMPKIN BASED TREATS?
This Oregonian can't handle being deprived of pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin chai cookies. I never thought I would be so basic but here I am.
Anyways, other than food in St. Petersburg (which was delicious and cheaper than Finland) and other than vodka (which was flowing) we experienced a bit of culture as well! Of course we went to the cathedrals and hermitage and blah blah blah but Jitte and I also signed up to attend the Russian ballet! We went to see Swan Lake and it was awesome! I've never really experienced professional ballet before and I think Russia was a great place to do that!
Basically, it was an amazing trip and
it ended too quickly.
After coming back from St. Petersburg, I had a pretty big project due for one of my courses so I was home for a short hour before biking to school and meeting with my group. I also only had a few short days of a lot of decorating and homework assignments before my HallowBirthday Party. Liza and I created the ultimate decorating team and we worked on making my little apartment looked festive for hoursand it really paid off! It looked really cool and all of my guests seemed to enjoy it. The party also went really well, most everyone that I really wanted to come showed up and I think we had a really good time! Rugile had the great idea to play "trick or treat" but instead of collecting candy, to collect the best item possible. So we separated into groups and we actually came back with some pretty great stuff! We got a hockey stick, a hand-made bear mask (it was really unique) and my team even brought back a person! Joanna, who was the very first person I met in Finland, also came and she made me a delicious
cake! I loved it, my name was spelt with one N in candles and it made it so much more precious. I was really grateful to get to blow out candles because I was a little sad when I wasn’t sure if I would get to. So thank you Joanna! And thank you everyone for coming!
The next day I went to my first sit sit and there was a student Halloween Party. Then another Halloween Party, then another Halloween Party and then finally sleep. Only in Finland can I accomplish this lifestyle. At home, naps take first priority. ALWAYS. This week then was pretty average, just getting things done and being a student. Except on Monday, my friends and I went to the movie “This Is Where I Leave You” which I really wanted to watch because I loved the book and I have to say I wasn’t too disappointed. Of course things were different, but mostly I was able to accept it. Afterwards we went to an American Diner and ate delicious cheese burgers! It was fun looking around the restaurant because it is really done up and has statues of American icons like Bugs
Bunny and Marilyn Monroe.
Yesterday it snowed! When we were biking to a birthday party it was just cold as usual but then when we came back outside to go to the city center, there was at least an inch of snow on the ground and it was still falling. We were all international students and many if not all of us hadn’t biked in the snow before. It was both really fun and really dangerous. I fell twice on the way there and once on the way back and many others had similar experiences. The first falls weren’t too bad, but the last one left me a little beaten up. So while everyone seems really excited about the snow, I’m not so much. I mostly think it is a pain.
Last weekend, I also visited my friendship family again and they tried to teach me a Finnish poem about an owl and the sauna which I requested to learn. Needless to say, my Finnish needs work, but it was really fun having them try to teach me to pronounce all of those tricky vowels.
While I have been really busy and less homesick, I am really
looking forward to returning for the holidays. I of course miss my friends and family and Christmas is just the best. Now that my time here is over halfway through, I am caught between being sad that it is coming towards a close and being excited to see my loved ones again.
Now, time to fly to Ireland!
Miss me.
Hannah
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