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.