Joensuu and Helsinki!

Joensuu

Merel and I left to Joensuu on Monday morning. Our train was 3 hours; we got into Joensuu around 1:00pm to find it was rainy and much colder than we expected. I was told there is a place in Joensuu where we could look up family records so we walked around the city (not that big) to find it. We walked into a bank, the post office, stopped a police officer on the street, went into another random building then to the town library. The library finally gave us the address of where we needed to go. We made the mistake of having lunch since it was almost 3 and we hadn't aten since breakfast. We showed up at the place at 3:45 and it closed at 3:00. We talked to a guy who said I would need some kind of permission before I could look anything up but he couldn't tell us anymore. So, we decided to come back at 8:30 the next morning when it opened. We walked to our hostel, which was in a scary part of the city...I thought, Merel didn't think so. After dropping our stuff off we walked about into the city center and wandered some more. I have found that a lot of the cities here look really simular and are all set up with the city center in the middle and then residence surrounding it. We decided to see a movie that night. So we bought our tickets and got some dinner. We went back to the movie theater and the girl working said the boys dropped the 2 kilometer long film role so they cancelled the movie and we could see another movie starting at the same time. We ended up seeing The Boat That Rocked. On the way into the theater, we saw the film that was dropped although it looked like someone dropped it then rolled around in it. After the movie we walked back to the hostel and took about 5 minutes to get into our room, the guy in the room next to us actually had to help us get in. It was my first night in a hostel and I learned that disposable sheets are like cardboard. The next morning we got up and went back to the records place. We explained to 3 women what we wanted to do and they all up and walked away and went to their desks without saying anything. After a few minutes we weren't sure what to do, so I asked if we would be able to look and they told us we had to be patient. So, we waited...and waited some more. A lady came in and said a bunch of words in English that made absolutly no sense at all. I told her I didn't understand so she said "the man will explain". So, a man came in to explain that we couldn't look up anything unless we knew someone who currenlty lived in Joensuu or pay them 21euros per hour to look up extensive family history. Now, this man was the exact man we talked to the day before who would only tell me I needed permission and nothing else. We were pretty frusterated he didn't tell us yesterday. So we booked it to the train station and went into Helsinki.

On the bridge heading from the trainstation to the city center

City Center

City Center and art museum on the right

City Center

heading out of the city

Helsinki

The train was a long 5 hours. We got to Helsinki and went to find the Temppeliaukio chuch that looks like a pile of rocks that Grandpa told me about. We found it and as soon as I was about to take a picture, a tour bus pulled right in front of me...I did get one though. After the church we walked around the city center, which is a lot of shopping and designer stores and the market place. From there we took a ferry out to Suomenlinna, an island fortress in the Helsinki Harbour. It was built in the mid 1700s when Finland was under Swedish rule. We stayed on the islands(4 of them) for a little while and had some food and cider then went back into the city for dinner and took the train back to Jyväskylä. We got back around midnight.

Temppeliaukio Kirkko (church)

inside

inside

Helsinki City Center

Old church in Helsinki

City Center

Helsinki train station

Helsinki from the ferry

Military Base on the island

on the island

where we had our snacks and cider on the island

Back in Jyväskylä

I met with my finnish family this morning at 10am to go to the symphony practice. I was not too thrilled about this but Jaime and Elizabeth(2 other American girls) really wanted to go. We stayed for an hour and a half then went to Viherlandia, the largest garden center in Finland. It was nice, but once again not my thing. Although, my mom would have loved it :) We walked around for just a few minutes then went upstairs for lunch. We had a long lunch and decided that next month they would teach us how to make pulla bread and a finnish dinner. Today we noticed our finnish moms talk about us a lot in Finnish, when we are around. They asked us how we knew they were talking about us and we told them that our names are the same in every language. Although, they are always laughing when our names come up :-P
Thursday, last day of April, and Friday, first day of may, is the celebration for MayDay (Vappu in Finnish). It is the end of winter and beginnins of summer. I have been told this is one of the biggest celebrations in Finland short of Midsummer and Christmas. My tutor sent me a link about the holiday from finland.com...and it says Vappu is a party in the streets and Vappu without alcohol with like Christmas without presents..haha. Jackie's finnish family gave her a can of pea soup and told her is in Finnish tradition and she had to eat in on Vappu.

I have an accent?

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty boring days since I wasn't feeling too well and pretty much just went to school for lunch and came home to relax. Although, on Tuesday, I met with Gunter to plan our trip to Stockholm which will be on May 3rd. Tuesday night, Greg and Florian(Germany) came over for dinner. I get made fun of a lot for having a "twangy" accent and sounding like I'm from the south (so, apparently no one has actually heard someone from the south talk before). Like most people, I would say that I don't have an accent. When Greg and Florian were over, I was talking to my mom on skype. Greg said that her accent was so thick he could hardly understand her, and Greg is from Canada. And Wednseday night I watched Marley and Me with Rami. Thursday was our last Stammtisch, this one was planned by all of the countries. Although, the theme wasn't so great. We took a spin off of the MTV series 'Pimp my Ride' and had a 'Pimp my Bike' contest, since everyone in Jyvaskyla rides bikes to get around. The weather had been sticking to around 30 degrees and on Friday it hit 50, so after lunch Deirdre, Shane, Nikos(Greece), Jonas(Germany) and I headed down to the lake, which is still frozen, then to the Coffee House. We thought Friday was amazing for weather, we woke up on Saturday to find it was 62 degrees which felt like summer. Jackie and I went into the city to go shopping and get ice cream from the vendors that are now on the side of the streets(which I love!) in the center. However, the ice cream flavors here....Slamiaki (black licorice)..pear..some strange ones. That night, we went out to Club Night for another goodbye party. We got there to find it was 12euros enterance, so Jackie and I decided to get something to eat and walk home. Just after we got home, so did everyone else. Apparently, the party was horrible and it was a techno fest. Good thing we left!
When I got here in January, the sun was coming up at 10am and going down at 2pm. NOW, I am woken up every morning at 5am because the sun is up and it stays up until around 9:30pm. Every week we get about an extra hour of sun.
Tomorrow, I am going to Joensuu with Merel to hopefully find some information on the family...and maybe some actual family as well. Then, on Tuesday we are going down to Helsinki for the day.

New Experience: Finnish hospitals

Wednesday and Thursday last week were studying for my exam on Friday. The group that went to Russia got back around 1:00am on Friday morning. After my exam on Friday, I walked back to my flat in a blizzard, a white out actually, I couldn't even see right in front of me. I watched Taken with Greg, Shane and Deirdre. Then we picked up a few more people and went for pizza. On Saturday, Jackie and I went into the city for coffee and some shopping. I went to sauna for about an hour then Jackie, Steven and I walked to Roninmäki, the other student apartment complex on the other side of town. From there we went to Bar 14 for a going away party. On the way, I was sitting on the back of Steven's bike. He hit a bump going down the hill and I fell off and hit my head. The next morning, I still wasn't feeling too well so we went to the hospital. There was a pretty big language barrier; most of the doctors didn't speak English. When I registered, we had to find an English speaking person and when I saw the doctor, we were saved by the online finnish-english translator. However, I do have a concussion and some pretty bad cuts and bruises. But, I am feeling much better now. The only rough thing is that I had an exam this morning.

A story from last time that I forgot to add. My friend, Shane, hadn't gotten his hair cut since we has been here. Anastasia, Deirdre and I said we would cut it for him. The other 2 girls cut a little then wouldn't do anymore, so I ended up cutting his whole head (i've never cut anyones hair before) but after 2.5 hours, I must say, I didn't do too bad. I have some before and after pictures!

Durring

Before

After

sorry for the absence!

Last week, was pretty much studying, working out and more people going home. We had the last Club Sensation party at Kharma on the 7th. The theme was change your sex; most of the girls didn't dress up except for drawing mustaches with eye liner. But, the boys were really a little too excited about it. The picture is me and Gunter, he won the prize for the best outfit. I wished I could have dressed up but I only stopped by because I had class from 8-4 the next day.

Most of the exchange students went on a trip to Russia this week. The visa was wayy to expensive for me to go, because I am American. On Saturday, we had an Easter barbeque in our apartment complex; an Easter bbq in the snow :)

We were freezing while we ate, so we all had a sauna after. On Sunday, Meagen (Canada), Lotte (Netherlands) and I walked into town and bought some Easter candy and coffee. Finland celebrates Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Monday morning, Meagan, Lotte and I tired to go swimming but the lady told us it was 5euros because it was Saturday. We said, no it is Monday, but she kept telling us it was Saturday. So, instead of swimming, we walked into a coffee shop for some coffee and pulla. Once again the lady at the coffee shop told us it was Saturday. So, I asked if tomorrow was Sunday or Tuesday, she didn't look to pleased with that question but told me Tuesday. We never did figure out why it was Saturday but we think they meant that stores operate on their Saturday schedule because it was Easter Monday. Monday night, I went to Rami's (Finland) apartment for dinner. He made a traditional finnish dinner, minced meat and macarooni. He told me how to make it, it is pretty easy. We had tea after dinner then watched Slumdog Millionaire (really good). We are going to try to go swimming again tomorrow and hopefully the price will be normal and it won't be Saturday ;-)

I am planned another trip! From May 12-20 I will be in London for a day then Madrid and Barcelona, Spain for 6 days! I am also planning to go to Stockholm, Sweden to stay with a friend from high school for 2-3 days at the very beginning of May.

Hyvää Syntymäpäivää, Mummi! :-D ((Happy Birthday, Grandma!))

Wild Wild West!

On Tuesday, I went into school for lunch then met with Kyle, Amar and Merel to make the pinata. We tried to make it a cactus, but it ended up looking like a legless person.

Wednesday, I worked on an essay in the library all day.

On Thursday, I went to school for lunch then went to a gutbusters class at the gym with Merel. Thursday night, I french braided Jackie's hair and made her Stammtisch costume (she was an indian). Right before we left, Merel sat on the pinata!! We managed to tape him back together in time for the party. Jackie and I sold tickets for about an hour then the games started. I, somehow, ended up being the one to announce everything. Since no one was paying attention at first, I ended up standing on a chair with a microphone for about a half hour. First, we did the paper sack races (we used garbage bags) 2 teams of 5 people hopped back and forth across the bar. Then we did the pinata, it took about 8 people before it got knocked down. However, it didn't break when it fell, so Kyle grabbed it quick and smashed it on his knee. The pin the tail on the donkey never actually happened. We stayed at Rentukka (the bar) until around 2:30 then headed to the after party next door and Lilluka. I left around 4 but a lot of people stayed until 6 or 7am.
Today Jackie and I went shopping at the other end of town; she woke me up at 8am to go. But, I bought my first Moomin Mug! Moomin is a really popular cartoon here and they come out with a new Moomin coffee mug every 6 months and most people collect them!

Maiju and Marja, the 2 Finnish girls who helped us plan the party. A close up of the pinata..after it was sat on :)

Me and Jackie selling tickets

Still selling tickets...

Me, Jackie, Anastasia (Russia), Valery (France), Cor (Netherlands), Dalma (Hungary) and Merel (Netherlands)

Sack races...notice the pinata hanging at the top right corner

Me and Joy(Wales) trying to get everyones attention