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Hello our dedicated readers!!!! We have a buttload of stuff to tell you guys!! I don't know what's going to happen when we aren't able to access the interweb two days in a row!!! This is a great way for us to tell you what we're up to but also for us to remember all the crazy shit we've done!
We haven't actually done anything that crazy, Sonja's Mom.
OK let's begin.
Yesterday was Sunday, we slept in that was nice. It was pre-May Day which in Finland means drink your face off starting really early in the morning. The parks are packed with people and it's prefectly acceptable to walk around with your case of beer!!! So that's what Sonja did! (kidding Sonja's Mom!) Although we did meet some rowdy boys who made us drink some gross Gin drink out of a bottle (me) and wine from a box (Sonja)...and yes, they MADE us!!!!! ahaha!
We met our tour group at 6pm last night. They all seem pretty awesome. Most of them (5 of them) are from Australia and 1 is from Boston. We're the only Canadians, which is good because who better to represent Canada then these fine ladies????
We're all roughly the same age, Sonja is probably the youngest and I am actually the second youngest. After we got all the passport/travel insurance stuff in order we were surprised to learn that the tour leader had made reservations for a traditional Finnish dinner!
MOM AND DAD YOU ARE NOT EVEN GOING TO BELIEVE THIS............
Sonja and I ate:
Elk
Reindeer (!!!)
Caribou (whhhaaaaaaaaaaaa?)
and....
BEAR! I am not much of a meat eater to begin with, nor am I very food adverturous so this is a big deal guys! Then my stomach told me to stop.
The bear was actually the best one.
Everyone (except me cause I'm no fool) ordered a homemade dark ale which tasted awful but at least they tried something new. I stuck to a light Finnish lager.
In the spirit of May Day we hit a couple of pubs for some beer after supper. Sonja is a strange, rambling, old drunk man magnet it turns out. So I'm actually ditching her after Helsinki. BONRINO SONJA! Goodluck in your journeys!
Something that we learned last night:
Everyone was wearing these white hats that looked to us like sailor caps but it turns out that you recieve these hats upon graduation from highschool in Finland and after the students bathe the statue on May Day eve, everyone puts their graduation hats on! (pictures to come hopefully soon).
Now on to today, it is already 16:43 here and we've had a full day!
We met with the group in the morning for a walking tour of Helsinki, since most of the group just arrived either yesterday or the day before so they've not been around and are definitely not as knowledgable as we are! (ha ha ha!) Saw the sights again and our tour leader Jarek is full of facts (he is also a history major so I like how he thinks!).
On May Day it is tradition for the Fins to have a picnic in the park and drink champagne (read: their faces off again). We did our own version of this, we picked up some lunch and took a ferry over to Sveaborg sea-fortress which is on an island just off Helsinki. So we ate as a group and then went our seperate ways to tour the island. The nice thing about the group is that we have a lot of freedom, we don't have to stay with the group at all times. Which is good because until we have coffee Sonja and I aren't very nice and also we are too funny for them to handle for an entire day. (that's what we figure anyway.)
This is our last night in Helsinki, tomorrow we get up early (booo!) to take a three hour boat ride across the Baltic Sea (yyyaaah!) to Tallin, Estonia (yaaah!!). We have two nights in Estonia then it's on to Riga, Latvia....blah blah blah refer to the route map if you want to know more.
One thing that has been not great is that smoking is allowed inside here. Not used to that anymore and I'm actually quite angry that now my clothes STUBJ (Finnish for STINK). Especially since we don't get to wash them all the time.
So hopefully we'll find the internet in Estonia sometime tomorrow. We really love everyone's comments, except for my Dad's. Dad please stop. Thank you.
Oh yeah and I haven't seen a silver Eurovan, but lots of blue and white ones! And no, I haven't found a boy to support me but it's not due to lack of choice! ahaha!
Love you dudes.
"Hang ten"- Sonja
Andy Sargent
Sonja Tjostheim
"bonrino means hello, you nut" ~ the dictionary
"andy sargent is our new favorite person" - the people of Finland
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gamblor
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miss you!!!
yo dudes!! seems like you guys are having great times. i am also a weary traveller as i just took the exciting journey from calgary to saskatoon. oh the sights i saw.