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!
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