Spring is coming, supposedly.

So while it is technically spring, and has been for about a month, there are not really signs of it in Finland, yet. I probably sound like a broken record to you all, but I just can't get over how well I have managed my emotions regarding this cold, long, gray winter. The power of positive thinking, music, and appropriate clothing is a killer combination when you're trying to plow your way through a Scandinavian winter. So let me show you some things as of late that have kept my spirits up...

Number one, recently Dave has become obsessed with the notion that I am a carbon copy of the face of Finland's most popular brand of porridge. I am not so sure that I see the similarities, but I'll let you be the judge...

Unedited version

And then as I tried to argue with Dave that he is likely crazy and or blind he then sent me this number...

Ugh...

And then I added my own modification...

Don't mind the extra pair of glasses

Other happenings as of late. Well, because I live in Helsinki I am constantly traveling between Helsinki and Lahti for classes, but sometimes I am smart and just stay in Lahti for the week to ease my life. Anyways, my friend Ulla, with whom I often stay with, has a son and cats and sometimes I babysit so that she can have the night off. Most of you know how much I love both of these subjects, but look how much fun we had... It's hilarious trying to communicate with a 3 year old when you speak different languages.

We managed pretty well I'd say

Speaking of school, it's going pretty well. I am struggling, however, with staying motivated as the end of the semester/school year is rapidly approaching. But nonetheless things are progressing and it feels good to be engaging in some real science that I am passionate about. Ever since I started studying bees for my thesis it's odd how they are all of a sudden everywhere. It's another perfect example of how when you become interested in something you start realizing that it's all around you. Look at the display I found in my campus library...

Beeeeeez

Speaking of my campus library, they have this insanely huge gorilla statue made of tires, and it's super cool. Valeria is sitting in it's lap to show you the scale! 

Recycling art

One of my recent courses was student led, and we got to choose our topic and then present our findings to our classmates. The assignment was to assess the environmental impacts of a product, and I chose surfboards. This course is in an online webinar format and I snapped a screenshot of my presentation because I was so pleased with it haha :)

Wooden surfboards are the answer, by the way.

Sometimes when I stay in Lahti I also stay with Magdalena and that usually winds up in us just making food and watching movies all night and not much studying. We recently watched Benny & Joon and damn what a cute movie. I had never seen it before and think it now makes my top 10 favorite movie list, maybe even my top 5? But more importantly, I loved the part where Benny makes Joon grilled cheese with an iron on the ironing board. Needless to say, Magda and I figured it was necessary to try this out ourselves, and now I finally feel like I should acquire an iron..

So what that I'm 25 years old, it was awesome! 

So in lieu of the snow still being present I thought I'd share some last snowy pictures before the spring really starts showing itself and I don't have to think about snow for another 6 months. My favorite thing about Finns is that they partake in Nordic walking, and they take it seriously. I encourage you to read more about it here, because per usual Wikipedia just has a way with words: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking
I basically just want you to know that I doubt that even half of the people that participate in Nordic walking, and there are many, are truly training for skiing. Check out these dudes ...

I especially like the track suit the gentlemen on the left is sporting.

Along the same lines, I love love LOVE that the Finns dress as if they are going out into a blizzard every time they venture out their front door. What do I mean? Well I'm glad you asked, they often wear snow suits every time they go outside, whether it's snowing or not, and this cracks me up!  I mean I'm all about practical clothing, but something about this just seems extreme to me. The best part is that so many of the Finns dress their kids in their snow suits as well, and they just look bloated and uncomfortable and my mind always flashes back to A Christmas Story.. "I can't put my arms down Ralphie!!!" Recently, however, I saw my favorite snow suit wearing Finn to date...

His camo doesn't quite help him blend in at the grocery store...

This captures the essence of Finnish children in the winter...

I have been mastering learning some animals' tracks, and it's so fun to me! Dave has mostly been teaching me, but there are some which I can deduce on my own, and it's so cute to find them in the snow. These little things make the snow still fun and exciting rather than lingering and depressing. 

Ducks!!! :)

Two weeks ago I made my last venture on the lake, and I think that is it for the season because thankfully the ice is slowly but surely starting to melt and the lake will start to look like a lake again, rather than like an ice rink. But I anyways made one last trip on it and it's still so bizzarre to me to be able to walk on water, but I have let go of my fear and I embrace it's ability to help me get from point a to point b far quicker. 

The harbor in Lahti is so cute

Along the same lines, it'll be cool to start seeing these boats unfrozen from their sedentary state in the Helsinki harbor. Summer can't come soon enough.

This guy looks so lonely out there by himself.

Lastly, I will leave you with some cool street finds from Helsinki. I think that until now I have neglected to inform blogland that Angry Birds was invented in Finland, and therefore they are unbelievably proud of this (they don't have many internationally recognized things, so they hold on to what they have). Needless to say, you can find Angry Birds paraphernalia in all shapes, sizes, styles, and formats, but this most recent discovery was shocking to say the least...

Angry birds car decal, seriously?!

And I thought that this bit of street art was awesome! 

"Putin Put Pussy Riot Away"

Here's to hoping that the snow disappears, we start seeing warmer weather, and the trees, plants, and flowers start blooming! 

Helsinki

I have been terrible about updating on my life, I realize, but better late than never, right? Right! So as I mentioned months ago, I moved to Helsinki, and it's about time to show off my new flat. I know this will be a boring post for most, but I know people like my loving mother and father like seeing where I lay my head to rest. I live in a neighborhood in Helsinki called Koskela, and it's pretty cool. If you're curious you can see here where my neighborhood is in relation to the rest of the city, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koskela

The reason I like living out here is because it's not as crowded as the city center, not that Helsinki is crowded, but nonetheless, it's still a bit quieter. This whole country all together only has 5 million people, insane! But anyways, Koskela is an older part of town, and therefore there are a lot of old, beautiful homes, which I love because they keep me entertained on my runs. 

Anyways, I live in a big apartment building (6 floors) on the top floor, with 7 other flatmates. It's a confusing set up, but basically there are two entrances to our apartment, and you first enter into the common room, or living room. In the living room we have 3 couches, a tv, a dining room table, and then off to the back is the entrance to the balcony. From the living room, there are four flats, each with two flatmates, who share a bathroom and a kitchen. Pictures will do this better justice...

Walking in the front door. My apartment door is to the right, and straight back is the living room and balcony.

Our living room

Looking back at the front door from the living room. Around the corner to the right of the photo is the other entrance.

This is our balcony, pretty awesome!

This is the view from our balcony, nothing spectacular, but it's still a balcony! :)

So then I have my flat off to the right hand side of the common area, where I hypothetically share my kitchen and bathroom with a flatmate. My flatmate, however, lives with her boyfriend and uses her flat at our place as storage, I suppose? All I know is that I am not complaining because I have the best of both worlds, I can retreat to my flat and shut the door to the common room and I live in my own little world, or if I'm feeling social I can go out to the living room and socialize with 6 other people. My flat has such a tiny little kitchen, but it's cozy and mine so I like it. I've also managed to successfully decorate my walls like crazy in 2 months, and that also makes this place feel like home! 

When you first walk in this is what you see. My bedroom is in the back there, and then to the right is my kitchen nook, and to the left is the bathroom.

Here is my kitchen nook.

Pretty small, but I manage. I have a stove with only two burners though, so that's kind of a drag

Looking from the kitchen to the bathroom.

Bathroom

Looking into my bedroom, it's pretty cool, if I do say so myself :)

So much stuff on the walls!!!

This is the view from my bedroom window, sometimes I see amazing sunsets!

So I suppose that about does it for my new apartment! I hoped you all enjoyed this virtual tour of a student flat in Helsinki. In typical Finnish style, there is a sauna in the basement that I can use for free every week, I love it! And then there is also a laundry room where I can do my laundry for free as well, amazing! I'd say life in Helsinki is pretty great! I have also managed to find a job as a banquet waitress, so that is also helping out lots and making the move to Helsinki worth it! It just feels good to be in a place where things are happening all around you, even if you're not participating, the option is still there and that makes me feel alive! And the icing on the cake is that all of my flatmates are really nice and easy-going, 6 Finns, Valeria and myself; it's been fun!

The snow still hasn't gone away yet, despite the fact that it's spring :( but I am trying to maintain a positive attitude about it, so I'll leave you with this cool photo that I took when on a walk recently. 

A taste of home buried in Helsinki!

Swedish Lapland!!!!

Sometimes life has a way of working out quite nicely. I was fortunate enough to get to go on a trip to Lapland just as winter was about to come to a close! I had been desperately wanting to take a trip up north this winter to try and see the Northern Lights, and to try my hand at cross-country/forest skiing, but I wasn't sure if it was going to work out, and at the last minute it did! I was apprehensive about how I would handle the frigid temperatures of the Arctic, but the funny thing is that the key is to dress properly and it is manageable, not only manageable, but truly one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen in my entire life.

Lapland is the area in the far north of Finland, Sweden and Norway, or in other words, everything above a certain latitude in all three countries is known as Lapland. In my attempt to find a proper link to share with blogland about the region of Lapland I stumbled upon a link informing me that there is a Lapland, Indiana, cool. In high school Katherine and I said that we wanted to take a trip to all the 'foreign' cities in the United States, but we never managed to follow through on this adventure. Point being, I think that Lapland, Indiana will have to be added to the list along with the others we had planned on, like Toledo, Ohio. Anyways, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapland_(region)

So to begin our adventure to the Arctic Circle, Dave and I took a train from Finland to Rovaniemi, this is where Santa Claus lives just fyi. And then from Rovaniemi we ventured over to Sweden, because our adventure was to be in Swedish Lapland. Dave did his practical training for school at a really amazing wilderness retreat in Junosuando, Sweden where we were graciously welcome to come and stay in one of their wilderness huts for free. You should check these guys out! They run an amazing place http://www.auroraretreat.se/ 

First we get to Junosuando and stay at a house adjacent the retreat, which they use for their workers. They gave us a room to stay in until we headed out to the wilderness hut. The   town was really quaint and quiet and beautiful! We were so lucky to have miraculously sunny weather. The town is around 350 inhabitants, and it felt so nice to be in a remote village. We stayed 3 nights in Junosuando before heading out to the wilderness, during which time I learned how to forest ski. Forest skiing is a lot of fun! Basically you can 'hike' anywhere you want if you have forest skis, because they enable you to stay on top of the meters and meters of snow. You can even ski on the frozen rivers and lakes, it's so cool, once you get over the irrational fear of falling in! *Disclaimer, none of these photos are mine, except for the exceptionally poor quality ones ;-) thanks Dave for letting me snag your pictures! :-)

This is the retreat in Junosuando.

Practicing my skiing in Junosuando

A field of baby trees in Junosuando! I love these little guys, they make me all giddy!

After a couple of days hanging around Junosuando we then got to go out to one of the wilderness huts that the retreat owns, which is ironically enough in the middle of the wilderness. They were so generous to give us the keys to the place to have to ourselves for a whole weekend, whereas normally people pay to be taken out here with a guide. Dave was a guide for people on these trips during his practical training. Anyways, we got dropped off a couple of miles away, and then skiied to the hut; it was beautiful and adjacent to a wonderfully frozen river. The hut has no electricity and is rather equipped with a wooden stove, which heats the house, and leaves the room smelling amazing! Adjacent to the hut is the wood shack and the sauna, which you can see in the picture below. And additionally there is a compost toilet.

This picture is taken from the porch of the hut.

It was really peaceful and relaxing being out in the wilderness for 3 days with not a sight or sound of any other humans. We skiied, ate delicious food, went to the sauna every night, and played bananagrams to our hearts content. Every day we did a day trip to some beautiful location and had lunch over a fire, it was great. And every night the sauna was such a nice way to relax, and wood fired saunas are my favorite! Plus the stars were incredible, and I stared at them for a sufficient amount of time every night. Being in the middle of nowhere and looking at the sky gives me such an incredible feeling.

View of the hut, sauna, and wood shack from the opposite side of the river.

Another view of the river from the porch. Dave was gracious enough to drill for water every day.

And four separate nights I was unbelievably lucky and I got to the see the Northern Lights, wow! Watching the sky dance was an incredible experience that I'll never forget. We didn't manage to get a photo of the sky on the night that they were the most brilliant, but nonetheless Dave got this one with me as a blur in the foreground, pretty amazing!

Aurora Borealis sighting!!

Dave was pretty gracious on multiple levels, and hauled the sled with all of our things in it every day. He pulled out food, wood, a reindeer skin (to sit on), a shovel, water, camera, tea, and anything else we needed/wanted. These sleds are really amazing!

The pack mule!

He also managed to dig us some really great fire sites for lunch. I can at least say that I contributed by making the food virtually every time! :)

Incredible views

The smell of a fire is truly my favorite, especially when coupled with the smell of curried potatoes.

And now for a photo bomb of some of the other highlights.

I am getting pretty good at identifying animal tracks

Some parts of the river were still flowing, and it was beautiful!

I was so pleased to be able to wear my sunglasses!

Beautiful views of the river from above

Skiing home along the river

Bananagrams by candlelight, pretty fun!

After 3 incredibly relaxing nights it was time to head back to Junosuando. On the way back we skiied past a dead elk, and while very sad to see, I was still excited to see one of these majestic creatures! I was really eager to see an elk, reindeer, or a fox, but I wasn't so lucky and had to settle for this carcass :-/ Dave claims I'm probably the only person that has ever traveled to Lapland and managed to not see a reindeer :( oh well, I'll go again next year! And nevertheless, I got to see the Northern Lights, which was far more important for me, especially because I know some Finns who have managed to still never see them.

I maybe got way too excited to see this guy.

Sweet dreams.

Dave taking a photo of the lonesome trees, this was the only day that it was cloudy the whole trip, the day we had to leave, how fitting.

After getting back to Junosaundo we went to bed and then had to venture back to Finland the next morning. The overnight train was a lot of fun and brought us back to Helsinki a mere 15 hours later. And so concluded the end of an epic holiday! I can't wait to go again next year! 

I thought it was ridiculously cool that the train was honestly called the 'Aurora Borealis Express' because these seems like something from straight out of a movie!

Back to Finland

It has been really great getting back to Finland. I have only been back two weeks, and I have had lots of fun already. I have been asked to share some photos of 'Finnish life' so I thought what better time then now, when I don't have much other news than my schoolwork. So I thought I'd share more about the most exciting bit of Finnish culture that I love dearly, sauna! I got the chance to go to sauna by myself last week, and so I took that opportunity to take a few photos of the sauna in my building. It was a relaxing hour of attempting to meditate.

This is where you enter sauna and leave you clothes, towel, etc.

Then you can take a quick shower before getting into the sauna.

This is just to show you that the sauna doors are just off to the right of the shower.

This is heaven. Nothing warms my bones like sauna can.

The only thing that could make this sauna better would be if it was heated by logs, and not electricity, but alas, it's still unbelievably relaxing.

If you're lucky enough you can add essential oils to the water that you throw on top of the rocks, because it makes the steam smell divine! :)

Finnish life is really magical now that the fine blanket of snow is covering the ground every day. Everyone is outside either cross-country skiing, playing hockey, or even better yet snowkiting! I witnessed snowkiting for the first time last weekend and it was insanely cool! I ventured out to take a walk on the massive lake that is now frozen outside of my place, which is now a huge arena for activities! The snowmobiles have even made their established paths on the lake. Walking on water still freaks me out beyond belief, but I am trying to subside my fear and embrace the beauty. Hopefully I'll proudly own some cross-country skis soon.

This is the best photo of the snowkiting that I was able to get.

It was one of those days where the sun's reflection off the snow was pure magic.

Last weekend I learned that the Finnish obsession with cross-country skiing has been taken to another level. I was lucky enough to witness the madness that is a 24-hour ski competition. There were about 16 teams who were required to ski a 2 kilometer track as many times as fast as they could, in 24 hours. It is essentially a 24-hour long relay race. Most teams consisted of at least 10 people. The team that I was rooting on, for example, had each participant complete at least 2 laps, before switching off to the next teammate. This means that each person skis for approximately 20 minutes, before it is the next person's turn, which also means you'd have hours between turns, allowing for brief naps and/or coffee breaks. In the end over 100 laps were skied, but the winning team did far more than that even! It was fun to watch.  

This is the start/finish. I'm off to the right side with my fancy schmancy parka.

Some skiiers gearing up!

Emi starting his turn!

All in all Finnish life is great! School is going well, and even though I'm stressed about deadlines, it's somehow refreshing to be stressed about school! Last week, while attempting to pay attention, me and some of my classmates were giggling about how obsessed the Finns are with taking their shoes off whenever possible. It is very common to see Finns in their socks and/or they will go even as far as to bring slippers to class! I sneakily snapped this photo of one of my classmates who had meticulously taken his shoes off and placed them to the side :)

How comfy!

Okay, it is back to studying for me, and attempting to finish packing! That's right, the next time I post it will be from Helsinki!!!!!! I am moving this weekend and I am super excited!!! :) It will feel good to be back in a city that feels alive, rather than my current sleepy town. Now I have the beautiful blanket of snow and plenty of hot tea and good music to keep me motivated.. yay! 

Even when the sun doesn't shine the carpet of white still makes me smile :)

New Year = New Resolutions

Some of my friends decided to post their new years resolutions on their blog, and I thought that was a nice idea. I figure putting my resolutions out there for the whole of blogland to see might be a way to help me feel committed to following through on my resolutions. So with that logic in mind I will share most of my resolutions with you all, I'm only 11 days late.. no biggie!

2013 Resolutions
1. Run a half marathon!!! (this is so long overdue)
2. Consistently exercise (my fear is that post mini marathon, that I will run, I will drop exercising, but I can't do that!)
3. Do well in school -> aka stayyyyy motivateddddd!!!
4. Travel the months of June and July, or find an internship somewhere cool and do that!
5. Be a more positive, optimistic, upbeat, and less cynical/judgmental person.
6. Try being vegan again for at least a month.
7. Let the weather and temperature affect me less and rather try to enjoy the cold. This starts with dressing for the weather rather than living in denial. (This one is super important!)
8. Read more, a lot more!

Well that'll do it, so now here's to hoping I actually accomplish those resolutions! I think I can do it! 

Since it is technically now Saturday that means I head back to Finland today, crazy. Time has flown by so fast, I am overwhelmed. I am excited for what is next, but saying goodbye is always difficult. I have had a wonderful holiday, and can't wait to see everyone again sooner rather than later. Adios America!