A Window to My Life (Olut)

Here is an example of how Finland is different from the US:

For freshmen orientation in the US, you usually start with some awkward ice breaker game, and then have information sessions about various parts of the university presented by super hyped-up students. Then you go to bed early.

In Finland, the freshman (fuksi) orientation started with us divided into groups facing several containers of beer/cider drinks. We were supposed to, one at a time, run up and drink as much as we could and then run to the back of the line. So, a beer relay race. Afterwards, we went off to several bars in succession and did other games there. We went to bed around 3 am. I've come to find out this is fairly early - everyone here stays up until at least 7 am on the weekends.

The fall is dreary. It rains a lot and is windy, and there is very little sun even when the weather is nicer. Everyone says that the snow will brighten things up a lot. It's not cold yet, only about 50 C.

I have about a 30 minute commute into the central train station, and then its 10-15 mins to my classes. It would be nicer to be maybe 5 train stops closer, but I haven't been motivated enough to look for another apartment. Trains come about every 15 mins between 6 am and 12 am, and then a couple times an hour otherwise.

I miss spicy food. Nothing here is very strongly flavored, except salmiakki, this salty-sour licorice that is hugely popular. I've started Finnish class, but I can't say very much. There are 15 cases for nouns, and we have only learned 1. Additionally, spoken Finnish is not at all the same as written Finnish, so I can only catch a few words of what people are saying.

In 2 weekends I am going to Sweden for a Dio tribute metal cruise! Basically, you go on a boat and drink and listen to bands, and then get off when the boat stops sailing. This is a huge thing here, even though you would get essentially the same experience if you drank on land and didn't pay for the cabin...It should be fun though!

Last week I went to Estonia for a day. The capital, Tallinn, is only 2.5 hours from Helsinki by boat. We left at 8:30 and returned to Helsinki at around 21:00. It's a very pretty city. People kept saying "It reminds me of Brussels!" "It reminds me of Toledo!" "It reminds me of (some old European city)!" The buildings were interesting, but it seemed very touristy. Much more so than Helsinki. A lot of the Finns brought a little cart to take lots of wine/liquor back to Helsinki. Even with the lower taxes in Estonia, alcohol is still cheaper in the US (and Germany).

Tomorrow we are going to a flea market, and then to the birthday party of one of the German exchange students. Also I'm going to attempt to buy some nice shoes.

Almost Settled In

I've now been to Ikea three times, and along with more visits to the grocery store I feel that I've acquired most of the things I need to feel settled in. Lunch at Ikea is only 3.30 euros! My mom is sending me a box of winter clothes that will arrive this week (hopefully). It's still very warm out, about 70 degrees, and doesn't get dark early. I think that will happen more towards the end of October.

Tonight I'm going to attempt to do laundry. In the particular apartment I'm living in, you pay for the washing machine using your cell phone. So high-tech!

Tomorrow I have financial economics, micro, and Swedish. I'm considering dropping the Swedish class, but I'll give that another week or two. Amazingly, at the university, if you fail a class it just doesn't show up on your transcript! How nice.

On Tuesday I am going to Talinn, the capital of Estonia, for a day with mostly European exchange students. Tons of Finnish people go to Talinn all the time because you can buy cheap alcohol there. It's only a two hour trip each way, and costs 15 euros.

In the city of Helsinki, people are much more fashionable, and 99% of them are wearing just black, grey and white. I think this might be a northern-city phenomenon. Beers are ridiculously expensive - between 4 and 8 euros ($5 to $10) for a pint glass, and Finnish beer isn't even very good! Chocolate, however, is quite cheap and much better than Hershey's.

I've seen multiple people walking cats on leashes around Espoo, and Chihuahuas seem to be popular. No sauna time yet.

Orientation Group

Today was fairly successful. I found a smallish grocery store, and then noticed a sign for a larger one across the train tracks. Maybe I will go there tomorrow. I had spaghetti for lunch. It was nice to have a warm meal other than airplane food.

I went to Ikea again and got some more things, mainly for my bed. My room is coming together slowly. I'll probably go there again this weekend to get some bulkier items.

The orientation group for exchange students of economics had its first meeting tonight. There is only one other master's degree student there - she is from Korea and is very nice. We talked about how beautiful the big island of Hawaii is. I felt kind of stupid since everyone in the group (about 15 were there tonight) spoke at least 3 languages. I really need to learn Finnish. I was spoiled this summer by hanging out with Swedish-speaking Finns, all of whom spoke perfect English.

The "tutors," or orientation leaders, gave us a list of meetings. There are like 10 of them, it was information overload. At least tomorrow they said they would help us get bank accounts and find where to buy clothes and other useful things. They did say they are going to try and take us on a trip to Lapland around Christmas time, and we are going on a cruise from Turku to Stockholm with just Finnish and Swedish economics students.

I feel kind of out of place and don't know how to do anything, but I suppose that might have been the case as well if I had moved to Boston or NYC.

My internal clock is still out of whack - it feels like 5 pm to me. Time to get in bed and watch an episode of The Wire.