Happy Halloween!

I woke up this morning fully intending to not celebrate Halloween. It was too much work; I didn't have a costume; and no one else here was really into it (least of all the Finns). So I lolled around in bed all morning, worked a little on the Finnish paper that I had to do, and put Halloween out of my mind.

And then I went outside. In a small tactical error on my part, I walked 15 minutes to Skanssi, the nearby mega-mall and home of the nearest liquor store, only to find that said store was closed. And walking around outside and in the mall I was struck by how normal everything looked. Today, October the 31st, was just another day in Finland. No last, mad rush on the bags of fun-size candy, no orange and black carpeting the department stores, and most of all, no excited little kids walking around in costume. And then I got really sad, and nostalgic, and decided that maybe it was worth celebrating Halloween in Finland. Especially since this is what the sky looked like at 5:30 pm today:



So I called up a friend, made some burritos, and set out a giant bowl of candy that we could eat while watching back-episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Low-key, but it felt good to know that I was, at least in some part, carrying on an American tradition (did I mention there was a giant bowl of candy?)

Happy Halloween, all!

My, my, was it gray today....

So, um... no trip to Rauma today. I've woken up with the best of intentions every day this week, but after a glance at the murky gray sky outside (it looms, even at 2 in the afternoon) I found the wherewithal sucked right out of me. I spent the morning reading in bed, and even managed to haul myself and my backpack into town to go to the library, though I didn't get much school work done.

Maybe it's a good thing that I have so much downtime this week, because school is going to kick back up in an intense fashion on Monday, as you can probably see from my class schedule. Let's take Wednesday as an example. Yup, that's three classes scheduled at the same time.

I've been in Turku for just over two months now... and have only two blog posts to show for it! As part of a new resolution to keep my family members informed, I've resolved to post at least once a week, even if I have nothing of particular interest to say.

Today was the last day of break for me, and in preparation for my trip to Rauma tomorrow (more on that later) I decided to walk into campus to use their printers. The walk takes just over an hour and is about 6 km (3.7 miles). Even though there isn't much to see on the walk in from Harittu, where I live, to the University near the city center, it's still nice, as you can't go very far in Turku without hitting a patch of trees.


(A is where I live in Harittu, and B is the University).

Sadly, the computer room was closed when I got to campus, so no printing for me. I did manage to get to the library in the city center before it closed. The library has easily become my favorite place in Turku. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, and a great place to hang out and study, and home to one of the better cafés in Turku, but it also has an amazing selection of books in English. Right now I have Sula, The Grapes of Wrath, the 5th 44 Scotland Street novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Le Morte d'Arthur, and Stardust checked out, all in English.


mmmm....

Though today was nice, it was still cold and a bit windy, and since I had some leftover salmon (from homemade salmon burgers!) I decided to make Kirkas Lohikeitto (literally, "clear salmon soup"), a Finnish staple. Lohikeitto is one recipe that I'm going to take back to the states with me- it's so comforting and homey, kind of the Finnish version of chicken noodle soup.

If all goes according to plan, I'll be heading to Rauma tomorrow on a little family heritage adventure- my great-great-grandmother was buried in Rauma, and I'm hoping to find her tombstone and see if there are any records of the rest of the Wallins.

Hyvää yötä!

A short update with no pictures, as I am in the middle of doing my Finnish homework. Rest assured, there will be pictures soon!

My first geology course starts tomorrow, which is, of course, at the same time as my Finnish course, but despite the fact that I will miss two days of Finnish class I'm extremely excited about doing science again! I will be learning to analyze things like this:



The image belongs to google, not me.

I'm glad I'm excited for tomorrow, as I spent a very frustrating day in Helsinki dealing with the American embassy. When I spoke to the man on the phone, he told me all I needed was a police report, but when I got to the embassy (which was strange in and of itself, as you are escorted by a uniformed marine absolutely everywhere you go on embassy grounds) they asked for a passport application and passport photos. I obviously had neither. They wanted me to wait and come back tomorrow with the pictures, but that was just impossible- not to mention expensive!

They ended up processing my application there and then, but it took some doing on my part- in fact, it took me getting irritated and going off on the person I was dealing with.

I felt bad about this, though, as I felt that I was acting like the stereotypical American- too blasé to do proper research, and then too stubborn to admit defeat or accept the blame. I find that I'm so sensitive to these perceptions here- that Americans are crass, disinterested in the world, lazy- mainly, because I feel that they are not accurate in the slightest. I find that I've shifted my behavior, even- for example, I am quick to show off my knowledge of other countries and world politics- precisely to avoid being instantly categorized as the "typical american."

A high point to my trip to Helsinki was finding an adorable little neighborhood near the embassy- it reminded me of Aloha and off-broadway Capitol Hill. No pictures, as I forgot my camera, but I hope to explore it in the near future!