syysloma

that means autumn holiday.

at the start of the break, I escorted my host counselor's twelve-year-old daughter to a concert in Helsinki. over the course of the evening, the only complete sentence we spoke to each other was an exchanged "What's your favorite food?" (she said cookies, I said strawberry pancakes) It was a good show, though our nosebleed seats didn't allow for our bones to rattle with the bass. I had forgotten how much twelve-year-olds roll their eyes.

on the monday, my host mother, her sister and i took the bus to Helsinki's harbour, where we boarded a massive cruise ship. there were hundreds of people on that boat and we were all unleashed upon the tax free shop at 5 PM. mobs hungry for discount perfume and chocolates...terrifying. eighteen hours and a magnificent buffet later, we were in Stockholm. tuesday became progressively rainier through our exploration of Stockholm's old town, the tour of the royal apartments and a below-average romantic comedy. walking back to the hotel that night, all three of our umbrellas were snapped by the wind and joined the other umbrella carcasses on the wet sidewalks.

yeehaw, or something.

despite being waterlogged, stockholm was a beautiful city - all cobblestoned streets and lakes between the different neighborhoods. they call it "the venice of the north". the shopping could only be called beautiful as well....swedish high street stuff is great. i also stumbled upon a "western store" full of leather saddles and confederate flags, and a shop entirely dedicated to peikot. yes, trolls. when we boarded the boat back to helsinki the following day, each of us was several shopping bags heavier. no trolls though.

and there were more, too.

wednesday i learned that Finns don't need excessive amounts of alcohol and peer pressure to sing in front of strangers - they love karaoke. they practice their favorite numbers at home. other than the one girl who butchered avril lavigne.

on thursday I had a dream that I was able to roll my rr's in the Finnish way. i woke up excited...but i still can't.

on friday i serenaded my host sister and her boyfriend on their romantic date on the castle hill, overlooking the lake. it would have been made more romantic by a space heater...the temperature definitely dipped below freezing and joonas was shivering in his white suit as he lit the candles. my violin rendition of "my heart must go on" was a bit less schmaltzy than it should have been, probably because i contracted minor frostbite in one of my fingers. it's okay, it's on my bow-hand.

sparkly.

on saturday i spent two hours translating my friend's baby sister's disney magazines. Sinäkin voit olla prinsessa! (you too can be a princess!) they promise. false advertising. i learned that i have an ariel personality type.

sunday i went to an "american diner" with some friends. they were disgusted by my sweet-potato fries ("orange like oompa-loompas!"). the hamburger is a great american contribution to finnish society, though, so they forgave me for my order.


i've been neglecting my google-translate tab, but our love affair rekindles tomorrow when school starts up again.

lista

believe it or not, that means list.

Eight things the guidebooks didn't tell me about Finland:

1. Mocking Canada and Morgan Freeman jokes are universal sources of amusement. (thanks, South Park)

2. The word kebab does not mean "delicious skewers of meat" here. Dinner at a kebab place means handing over 7 euros and watching in horrified fascination as they shave the meat-on-a-spit into long strips with what definitely looks like a beard trimmer. and serve it on top of french fries. Delicious, as long as you know where to go (some of these places have been caught putting catfood into their meat...)

3. The Finnish musical scale goes A H C D E F G.

4. The bathrooms at home have heated floors. If I could live in my bathroom I completely would, but I think my host brother wouldn't dig that so much.

5. Their ice-cream comes in blocks, so you can fold away the cardboard wrapping and slice it with a knife. Much more efficient than scooping. If you want icecream at McDonalds, well, Oreos don't exist here. But salmiakki McFlurries are SO GOOD.

6. The language is very blunt - extraneous please's and thank you's just don't happen. They see no use for euphemisms, either. You wouldn't say "I'm afraid this wasn't your best test grade...". It would be "This was lousy." Taking offense seems to be an unnecessary American invention.

7. Wearing dresses over jeans isn't a nightmarish tween fashion choice that will haunt you until your early twenties, it's completely acceptable.

8. Spitting in public is constant. Little girls, teenagers, business-people, elderly men. No matter who they are, Finns spit whenever and wherever they feel like it. My theory is that all the 200,000 Finnish lakes are just good-old-fashioned Viking spittle. By the looks of it, the college kids in my neighborhood are trying to create a minor pond by the bus stop.