Getting Acquainted with Finland

Flying into Helsinki over many lakes and trees got me very excited to explore this new country that would be my home for three months. I found Sarah Tormey (another Cal Poly student studying in Finland) at baggage claim looking for her luggage which we soon discovered was in Canada. Together we left the airport in search of our hostel and the other Cal Poly girls which proved a very interesting task.  Ireland was a ridiculously easy warm-up for navigating Helsinki where we had no idea where we were going or how to get there. Oh yeah, everything is in Finnish and people speak moderate to no English. After taking a bus past our stop, asking a policeman for useless directions and wandering aimlessly we threw in the towel and hailed a taxi. As fun as it was representing America in the luggage hauling olympics on multiple occasions, I was very happy to arrive at our hostel with our classmates. Traveling with four months worth of gear in the face of a cold fall is much like taking a dead body with you everywhere, or at least I assume so. Turns out, all of us found different confusing ways to the hostel and after hearing Valerie and Sara's routes, I was very happy Sarah and I took a cab!

That night we set out to explore Helsinki.  This city is much more my style than Dublin; not as crowded, a little more modern but still bearing beautiful architecture reflecting its dynamic past.  Also, there are forest trails very close to downtown area! On our way downtown came across a HUGE high school party in the park where literally hundreds of kids were gathered drinking, laughing, chatting and hanging out.  As we were walking through this park a few kids evidently wanted to practice their english and told us this is the biggest party of the year.  Despite the fact that they all had beer and we were seeking some ourselves we declined their invitation to party with the babies. 

The four of us toasted to a wonderful fall in this new place at a quieter bar and headed back to our hotel  to get some rest. Antti Pasila, the Dean of Agriculture Studies at Seinajoki University would be picking us up in the morning and taking us to his farm to begin our assimilation to the type of studying and living we would be doing over the next few months.