portaling | Recent Entries

Today was really long, and I am really tired! So it might be a little short (it might not, it all depends on how rambly I get). Today, Zae and I decided that it would be a splendid idea to go to Suomenlinna, because it was no longer snowing and seemed rather bright outside. Of course, what we didn't know was that with good sunshine also came a ridiculously COLD day -- it was, at its lowest 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Being from South Carolina, I was pretty sure that I was going to die. Zae's from Minnesota, so she handled it a little better than I did. But we were both pretty frozen.

The boat ride to Suomenlinna is approximately 15 minutes, through a bay which holds both small boats and large cruise liners, as well as boat restaurants. At this time of year, it's just cold enough that the ice is thin on the water; it shows up in large patches that you can see out of the windows on the ferry. Since it snowed yesterday, there's still a ton of it sitting around on the island. There was a pretty brisk breeze, as well. We wandered around (and through the museum, which was in Finnish) before finally sitting down for some delicious lunch in a teeny tiny cafe.

Today's Special: Reindeer Cheese Soup!
OF COURSE WE TRIED IT for those of you going WELL DID YOU? It was pretty delicious, though as a cheese lover I can honestly say that it might have been a little better without so much...well, cheese. Then again, I suppose that's the entire point of the cheese soup. The reindeer was good, but overpowered by the STRONG WILL OF CHEESE.

After lunch, we wandered through the snow and wind to go find some places to take pictures. While we were eating, a huge fog had rolled in off of the sea -- the islands were completely covered in it. You couldn't even see the end of long bridges any more, or the actual sea itself. We were encased in a wall of fog. But to make up for it, we roamed through empty places that were probably of some historical significance -- mostly we took pictures of icicles in the dark and slipped on a bunch of ice (don't worry, we're fine). As soon as we couldn't stand the cold any more, we decided to head back to the mainland.

Tonight, we finally found our authentic Finnish restaurant, a tourist place that serves remarkably good food. We ordered whitefish -- assuming that, like in America, the fish would come served in properly sliced slivers. We were wrong. The fish still had scales and their fins attached; thankfully there were no heads, so I would've run screaming out the door. As it was, I apologized to every single little fish I ate, even as i pulled it's vertebra out so I could get at the meat. At least, until Zae found a pregnant fish. That was when all hope was lost -- there was not much more fish eating after that occurrence. We finished off the night with blueberry pie, a tiny little circle of pie not much bigger than a golf ball. It was pretty delicious! And at least the blueberries didn't have faces at some point in their lives. That made me feel a whole lot better about it.

But now, it's bed time. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to upload my favorite pictures of the trip so far, so look forward to that. Right now it's just too late, and we've got to get up early to figure out the tram system. Wish us luck!

After a sleepless night (which entailed Zae finally sleeping at around 5ish, with me passing out around 6:30am) we woke up around noon. Thankfully, we didn't have anything planned for that day -- because it snowed. And a good deal of it was sitting around on the streets when we finally decided to wander outside. Today, we decided to be serious shoppers.

Starting, of course, with the Moomin Store. Moomins are these troll-like creatures that actually kind of look like hippos. And they are the most adorable creatures in the world; Zae and I spent a good deal of time wandering through the tiny store, looking for things to buy. Both of us are entirely enamored with them. She got a scarf, while I got the ever stylish purse. I am totally validated in this purchase.

After wandering through endless shopping malls, which varied from the strange shops called "Your Face" to normal American stores like H&M, we finally decided to head back to the hotel to regroup for dinner. It turns out that when they go out, Finnish people don't really want to eat Finnish-themed food. So we attempted to find a place to eat that was rather tourist-like; turns out that you have to have a reservation a day in advance. We made that for tomorrow -- hopefully bear is going to be good! Tonight we just had a restaurant that served really strange burgers. Lamb-bacon burger with cheese sauce and onions anyone?

The only funny thing about traveling around Finland is that everyone seems to mistake me for being authentically Finnish. Not Rachel, however. If they are going to speak to us in Finnish (or Russian), they direct their comments to me; if they are going to speak English, they generally speak to Rachel. We swear that it's because we are now living in the Land of the Blonde Haired People, so it's almost like coming home for me -- Rachel's hair sticks out a little bit like a sore thumb. I honestly have no idea why they keep thinking I'm Finnish (or even Russian). It's a little bit of a mystery. But then again, it's also hilarious -- the only Finnish words I know are "hei" (hello), "tervetuloa" (welcome) and "kiitos" (thank you).

Hei, tervetuloa, kiitos!

It's almost 1am, and in the spirit of getting to bed early so that we can go to Suomelinna tomorrow morning I am planning on uploading all of my pictures tomorrow. There aren't that many -- a lot of them are kind of dark! But stay tuned, I suppose. It'll be a blast.

PS: Because I know you read these now: Hi Rob. Talk to you soon. ♥

Forgoing all common sense and settling on a more relaxing morning schedule, Zae and I woke up when the sun rises. While some may think that's quite early, it's actually about 10am -- and even when the sun's up, it's cloudy enough that you think it might be the early morning. We investigated the free breakfast, and lo and behold, there was raw salmon on the breakfast menu. I wasn't quite adventurous enough to try it -- after the debacle with sushi over fall break I think I've had enough raw fish -- but Zae loves sashimi and gave it a try. She said it was good; I'll have to take her word for it.

After a delicious breakfast of yogurt, salami, cheese and croissants, we set off on our merry way. We were still pretty tired from the day before, so we decided to stick close to the hotel. What actually happened was that we walked in a series of squares; the entire city is very organized, so it's hard to get lost if you know how to orient yourself. One of the things we set out to do was find some food. Yes, we had just eaten only an hour or so before. But hey, I get hungry easily.

Things we learned:
• Finns love Tex-Mex. And not "Mexican," where the title is as dubious as the food set before you. No, they actually adore the cuisine that Texas is famous for. And if they're not a Mexican restaurant, or even a Tex-Mex restaurant, they generally serve some sort of Tex-Mex option.
• The people who said that menus would be in English? They lied. Most of the menus had English titles -- "Burrito" and "Grilled Steak" come to mind -- with Finnish descriptions. If we were lucky, it even had a Russian translation for all of our tourism needs. I only know one word in Russian: русский, which means "Russian." So we were a little strapped for information.
• Hesburger, a Finnish burger chain that's a lot like McDonald's (only with better fries), serves their hamburgers smothered in Mayonnaise. And I'm not saying "smothered" as in the pathetic "one dollop that comes on a sandwich at Panera." No, this was literally dripping down the sides of my burger. Delicious, but a little strange.

But BEFORE delicious Hesburger (where we also found out that a small in Finland = kids' size in America), we decided to do some shopping and give our tired minds a rest. We went into Stockmann, a gigantic department store only a few blocks from our hotel. Anything that you could imagine was in there -- from ornate clocks to kids' skis to an entire set of Moomin dishware to all the scarves I could possibly imagine wearing. Needless to say, we were in heaven -- and the top floor had a money exchange place, which was awesome. We both needed some more cash after last night's expensive hotel dinner. The place was designed to keep you there for hours. They not only had a deli inside the store, but also a Ben & Jerry's, a bakery, a place to sit down and eat, a coffee shop, a pharmacy, and three different restaurants.

By the time we left Stockmann and Hesburger, it was already getting dark -- 3pm, a very strange time to be wandering around in the twilight. We went back to the room to regroup and start planning tomorrow (really, I just took an hour nap while Zae read). Since we had a rather late lunch, we decided to have a late dinner -- sensible, right? People do that?

No.

You guys, it's Epiphany. Every decent-looking restaurant was either closed entirely or had closed at around 6pm, leaving us almost no place to get food that wasn't processed or some sort of variation on American fast food. If Hesburger is the Finnish equivalent of McDonald's, then Southern Fried Chicken is the equivalent of KFC. It was pretty good -- not what we were looking for, but the other place we were investigating had an ominous-looking bouncer at the door that neither of us was willing to attempt getting past. So, chicken it was! All in all, a very uninspiring day. Tomorrow it's supposedly going to snow, so we're planning on going to the art museum, and maybe to the MoominShop and also another huge department store a little farther away. Though if it's sunny, we might be going to Suomenlinna. It all depends on the weather (and of course, on when we get up).

At least I managed to wrap my scarf in the popular Helsinki style.
( picture under here. )

I am extremely tired, so I'm going to try and do as much as possible in a short amount of time judging by my recollections. Needless to say, we're here now -- after a few mishaps, which I will go into in detail a little later. Let's just separate these by airport, shall we?

Minneapolis
( departing approx. 3:30pm, January 4 )
When they said that the airport security line was going to be short? They lied. We waited for almost forty-five minutes to get through security, which was a pain in the butt. The flight they had us on for Chicago didn't actually give us seats on the plane, either. So for the first time that I can remember, we had to watch the screen for our name to appear in the "cleared" list. THANKFULLY we appeared rather quickly, and got our seats -- but we didn't get to sit together. Oh well, at least it was only around an hour.

Chicago
( departing approx. 7:30pm, January 4 )
Two of our wacky mishaps actually happened within one airport. First of all, to get to the international terminal of the Chicago O'Hare airport, you must exit security, walk to a train, ride said train all the way across the airport, and then go through security again. On the other side of the international security line, there is almost no food. Sure, there's a bar -- not very helpful when you're 19 and a little dehydrated -- and there's also some snack places. I settled for some Doritos and a few M&Ms (a very tasty meal, if I do say so myself). Getting to the terminal was actually the problem; we had no idea where we were going, and finally had to ask a security guard if she could direct us to where we needed to go. This airport either needs better signage for the international terminal, or we are just blind!

The next mishap was a wee bit harrowing, at least for us. We took Swiss Airlines across the ocean -- flying into Helsinki was an impossibility, as apparently no international airlines fly directly into the city from the United States. Or at least, they don't if you want it to be within a reasonable price range. So to Zurich it was. Unfortunately for us -- and this is mere speculation -- one of the flight attendants simply didn't like us. Maybe it was the way we looked: Aperture Science t-shirt and respectable white blouse, that gave us away as being really easy to con. She approached us and told us that our carry-ons were "too bulky" -- a lie if I've ever heard one, as mine is under the standard flight requirements and Zae's wasn't much bigger. She also snagged a man's next to us, and toted all three of the carry-ons to the back of the plane, where we were told that we'd meet up with them in Helsinki. Needless to say, two teenagers toting around laptops, a few books each, armloads of medication, one Scalemate, and a pair of earrings in addition to their purses looked a little silly. But even though I'm still kind of irritated that they took our luggage -- mind you, when we got into the plane the overhead compartments were huge and would've provided ample room for our tiny carry-ons -- I'm glad that I made the decision to save the laptop. By the time we picked the bags up in Helsinki, they were soaked!

Swiss Airlines: Chicago to Zurich
There's not much to report here, other than that the flight was long (seven hours!) and also there were some interesting movies in the companion screen that sits in the front of your seat. I just wish that the person in front of me hadn't leaned their seat back so far that they were practically sitting in my lasagna. But the swiss chocolate definitely made up for it, and thankfully the lady that stole our luggage wasn't actually aboard the flight.

I sat aisle. Zae sat middle. (I think I lucked out.)

Zurich
( departing approx. 3:00pm, January 5 )

Couldn't buy anything in this airport, as apparently Switzerland doesn't take the Euro and that's all we had. So, my stomach grumbling, we sat and waited for our flight to arrive. It was a very stylish airport -- we got to explore a lot of it, because we had to leave the airport, get a new set of tickets, and then check back in. Thankfully the Swiss know how to handle security; they told me exactly what to take out of my bag (or my lack of one, thanks to the Chicago debacle) and the lady even asked about my reading material.

(For those who want to know, I'm reading the series A Song of Ice and Fire on this trip. I'm currently on Feast for Crows. It was in my arms for the entirely of our travels through Europe, until we reclaimed our bags.)

FINALLY we got on our Blue 1 flight, where there were so many Finnish people that it was pretty obvious where we were going. If you've never heard the Finnish language spoken, let's just say that it's very complex. I personally have no idea what anyone is saying -- it just sounds like a lot of eloquent letters being thrown at me. But thankfully a lot of people here in Finland seem to speak English -- if you can get them to talk in the first place. They're very quiet around other people. We found that out when we landed in...

HELSINKI
SO. We had a vague idea that we needed to reach the city center to get to our hotel -- the Hotel GLO, which is this very posh place close to the train station. Zae and I decided to opt out of the more expensive airport hotel shuttle -- which would've taken us right there -- and decided to take the local bus instead. Cheaper, and we'd be able to walk from the train station right to the hotel. Right? No. Each of us picked a direction to set out from the train station, after we arrived by bus, and each of us were wrong. Eventually, we had to hire a cab to take us to our hotel, which as it turns out, was only about three blocks away and would've been a very easy walk. Had we known where we were going, of course. Mostly we just wandered around in the cold (it's really cold), wondering where the hell we were going and why in the world Finns don't label their streets with names.

But we're here now. I am lounging on my (single) bed, contemplating some food or maybe a shower -- possibly both, if I have the time. Which I do; I'm on vacation now! Technically Winter Term, but it's all a vacation to me. Let's just hope that the small bit of sunlight we get tomorrow will be worth it. I haven't seen the city of Helsinki by day yet -- Finland gets dark around 5pm, and doesn't get light again until around 10am the next morning. So we'll see. (Aave called it the Land of Dark and Silence. Since she lives here, she's probably right.)

( CLICK HERE FOR THE PICTURE )

In the effort of being a GOOD BLOGGER and also in the effort of keeping some sort of chronicle of my journey, I'm going to make a short pre-trip blog to tell everyone what's up (hi mom). Even though we leave today, I actually left for Minnesota on Monday, to meet up with Zae and hang out before officially making the puddle jump. After realizing that I left my hairbrush at home -- not a major issue, as it could've been my passport or something -- and after a quick journey to the Mall of America and several Monk episodes, we feel like we're decently ready to go. So, hats packed (all six of them, I'll take a picture later), we will leave in about two hours for the airport.

Am I nervous? Kind of. I haven't made a long flight since junior year of high school, almost four years ago. And I still remember the horrible sleepless night of the Newark -> Glasgow flight fiasco, which was hideous. There was no sleep that night. Just a lot of watching the map with the little plane on it move slowly across the ocean. It...pretty much sucked! But hopefully this trip will go smoothly.

We're departing MSP at approximately 3pm, making one stop in the United States, jumping the ocean, landing in Zurich, and then finally arriving at our destination of Helsinki sometime tomorrow. The time difference is approximately 8 hours from CST (7 from Oberlin). This time tomorrow I will be somewhere in the FUTURE.

Now I must take a shower and start getting ready. Gotta make sure that I have everything before we leave! More tomorrow, when I'm sleep deprived and horribly cranky. That'll be a fun one. (But I'll be in Finland so that totally makes up for said crankiness!)