A is For.... AVANTO

Avanto really just means "hole," but it's used most commonly to refer to a man-made hole in the ice that you jump into after the sauna. If this sounds like torture... it kind of is. You sit in the sauna, which is usually a steamy, brain-scrambling 168 degrees or so, and when you just can't take it anymore, you run outside and down the dock, and then lower yourself down into water that is just shy of freezing. This all should be done without cursing or shrieking.

So why do it? I won't deny that it's probably partly the collective crazy streak that runs through the Finnish people that prompts them to do, but a funny thing also happens to you afterward. When you climb out of that watery pit of frozen doom, miserable and feeling like your limbs are going to snap off, as soon as you pull yourself up onto the dock you feel fantastic. Invincible. Nevermind that you're standing around outside in -10 degrees F, wet, in a swimsuit, and if you're stupid like me, barefoot. You feel stronger than you've ever been. Like you could lift a car. Which, after a bottle of scary Finnish vodka, I probably could.

This picture says more than words ever could.

I've got exam number 5 of 6 in approximately two hours, and I've really ceased caring at this point. I realize now that my exchange over here would have been so different if I didn't have the academic pressure- I would have socialized more, traveled more, explored more of Turku. I have three weeks left here, one of which will be spend in France, and the last week I'll be running around trying to get my life together to go home. I'm really starting to question whether attempting to graduate with cum laude honors was worth it.

I'm really not ready to say goodbye yet. Saturday I'll be leaving Turku early to have one last swan song in Helsinki- say goodbye to the beautiful places I discovered there. Like the islands you can see looking across the harbor, and that beautiful park just west of the Fish Market.

Before I come home, I'll be doing a series of posts that is my "Finland alphabet." These will be some of the most memorable things in my exchange so far.

Weather thoughts

Each time I go out of town, it seems like I come back to nicer and nicer weather. The past few days have been sunny, and around 20 degrees in the afternoons- I was actually too hot yesterday in my hooded sweatshirt and jeans. One exam tomorrow and then Vappu means that I am holed up in my apartment for today, but expect me to be out this weekend celebrating, exams on Monday be damned! Until then, I'll be enjoying the fact that is it currently warmer and sunnier in Finland than in Seattle and chilling on my balcony in shorts and sandals (!), stealing my neighbor's wireless.

...

Summary of the past week:

Went to Edinburgh, came back from Edinburgh, got depressed when I realized I can't afford to study in Edinburgh. Spent three days up to my elbows in lake mud and gave myself two headaches from diatom analysis but I am almost done with the most tedious parts of lab work. In the past week I have had approximately 30 cups of coffee and only one full night's sleep. Made mac and cheese for the europeans which involved 8 cups of heavy cream and two cups of cognac. Spent last night at a Balkan Beats night at the hipster hangout in Turku which was predictably disappointing, as most things "cultural" in Turku tend to be, but high points were dancing to the undertones with Lena and enjoying some unexpected conversation with club denizens. Learned three new phrases from the Germans which make them laugh each time I say them, so, there's that.

The Local Wildlife Part 1

While I was at the supermarket yesterday returning my bottles I had the sort of strange encounter that has seemed to be the norm for meeting Finns in Finland. An extremely drunk Finnish man in front of me said something in Finnish about the bottle return, and me not understanding his accent/slurred speech, politely explained that I was sorry, I didn't understand, and that I only speak a little Finnish (Anteeks, en ymmärrä... puhun vain vahan suomea).

This resulted in the following exchange (in Finnish, of course):

MAN: Where are you from?
ME: From America.
MAN: You're not from America. What country are you from.
ME: America.
MAN: Where are you from?
ME: I'm from America, but I've studied some Finnish.
MAN: You're from America?
ME: Yes.
MAN: But where are your parents from?
ME: Also America.
MAN: No. Where are you from?

...aaaaaaaand repeat about 4 times.

My Last Day in Paris- Afternoon

AFTERNOON

In the afternoon I headed over to the Museé Cluny, Paris's medieval museum. I really enjoyed the museum- it was just the right size to be informative without overwhelming. For my folks, who weren't able to go there with me, I took a lot of pictures so I could put together a little "virtual tour."

The buildings that comprise the Museé Cluny are as unique and interesting as its collection. Half of the museum is situated in ancient Roman baths (the only ones in Paris, if I'm not mistaken) and the other half in a genuine Renaissance building, the former town house that housed the abbots of Cluny starting in 1334.

The museum has an amazing collection of stained glass, a lot of which came from St. Chapelle (that my parents and I tried to go to earlier, but which was unfortunately closed). From the Rick Steves guidebook, about the stained glass:

"Enter the Dark Ages, when life was harsh and violent, angels and demons made regular appearances, and the Church was your only refuge. This room offers a rare close-up look at stained glass, which gave poor people a glimpse of the glories of heaven. These panels (many from the basilica of light, Sainte-Chapelle) give us a window into the magical, supernatural, miraculous- and often violent- medieval mind."

Most all of the glass here had a narrative function, telling biblical stories to the church-goers (who most likely could not read). I absolutely love the way the glass was presented in this museum- you entered a dark room, where the only source of light filtered in through these intricate panels. It was breathtaking.


Down the hallway from the lovely stained glass, I entered a room of the baths that contains medieval statues.


The three heads here are the stone heads of the ancient kings of Judah. They were originally part of the Notre Dame's facade, but were pulled down by an angry mob during the French Revolution and not found again until 1977!


Down the corridor was the Frigidarium of the Roman baths- I think I loved the architecture of the museum itself as much as the museum's collection!



After this room I entered the second building (the Medieval one). This building houses one of the Museé's most famous artifacts- the "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries.




One of my favorite things in the museum was the collection of metal objects, which were so mind-bogglingly intricate that I still find it hard to believe that human hands, not machines, crafted them:




They also had some armor and weapons on display, and I geeked out looking at the chain-mail, since there was a time in my life when I spent hours hooking metal loops together to make chain mail squares. I can't imagine how much time went into that tunic- or how heavy it must have been to wear!


A few more shots of the museum:



And that was my afternoon. I really loved this museum, and I think my parents would have enjoyed it, too (yes, even Mom)! After I left, I had disappointing crepe number 3, which brings the tally to 1 good, 2 mediocre, and 1 just plain bad. Ironically, I think the best crepe I got was also the cheapest.

Signing off for now- here's another "self-portrait" I took at the Musée Cluny for you guys.

My Last Day in Paris- Morning

This series of posts is especially for my parents. While both my folks and I left Paris on the 30th of December, due to the timing of our flights, I had a full day left in Paris without them. So here's a post chronicling what I did with that day!

MORNING
The first thing I did upon leaving the apartment was drag my luggage down and up several flights of stairs on the metro with the sole purpose of dropping my luggage off at the Gare du Lyon. I'm pleased to say that this particular scheme went off without a hitch, and with my luggage safely stored, I set off sans baggage for a full day of adventure. I got my first Pain au Chocolat of the morning, and then set off. First stop? The L'Orangerie (again).



It was actually extremely sunny that morning (though still a bit cold). I took a little self portrait for you on my way to the L'Orangerie.


I also spent about 15 minutes trying to get the perfect "I'm squishing the Eiffel Tower" picture. This was the best of the bunch:


I then went for one last look at Monet's waterlilies in the L'Orangerie. The line to get in was surprisingly short- probably because it was only 10:30AM at this point. I took another self-portrait here, though I tried to do it inconspicuously, thus the, er, strange expression on my face.


Mom really loved these exit signs, with the little man sprinting towards the door, so I took a picture:


I then headed over the the Canal St. Martin. It was a lovely little walk, along the canal, and I even saw a Swan! I took a picture of the locks on the canal, which were featured in Amelié, and later greenified it, like they were in the film. It felt a bit cheesy to be one of the "Amelie pilgrims" taking pictures of everything in Paris related to the movie (the cafe where she worked, the Abbesses metro stop, the canal, etc), but I have seen that movie so many times (probably more than 30 times at this point) that it didn't make sense to stifle myself.


Next post- Afternoon in the Musée Cluny.

I was going to make this post about my recent European travels, but a current event has superseded the need to write about myself.

From NPR, reported at 1:14 PM: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman at a public event in Tucson on Saturday."

I am frequently saddened by American politics and current events. Rarely, however, do they bring me to tears. This event did.

As an American in Europe, I find that often in my conversations with Europeans I end up defending American culture and politics, and explaining to them just why American culture and politics is the way it is. As trite as it sounds, being in Europe has led me to realize just how much I love the country I was born in. I am well aware of its flaws, but if you dig deeper you come to what I think is the core of American culture: our seemingly unshakable hope that life can always get better, our fierce independence and individualism, the American love for the land itself, from the Great Smokey Mountains to Death Valley to the Everglades. I feel a small surge of pride when I think about these things; today, however, that pride has been covered by frustration and deep disappointment.

Though it seems unlikely, I hope that this shooting was not politically motivated. Why? Because it would be proof that people actually listen to the violent rhetoric that is employed in current political campaigns. Case in point, from Sarah Palin's "Take Back the 20" campaign, to remove from office the 20 people that voted for the health care bill:


Gabrielle Giffords' name is fourth on the list, with her senate seat indicated by cross hairs. She, along with many other politicians across all parties, has received death threats on a sadly regular basis. When asked by the New York Post if she had any enemies, Gifford's father replied:

"Yeah. The whole Tea Party."

This act of violence was shocking, brutal, and incredibly wasteful. John Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" was overall lighthearted in tone, but with an incredibly important message at its core: that we, as a society, need to push for change in the way politics are handled in this country, and to move the plane of discourse from the ridiculous, the hateful, and the militant, back to one firmly grounded in sanity.


UPDATE: As of 3:50 pm, MSNBC is reporting that Rep. Giffords is responding to commands and is expected to pull through. Eighteen people were shot in total; six are reported dead, including an aide to the congresswoman.

Nothing like a 9-hour day at school

It was pitch black when I arrived at school this morning, and pitch black when I left. It's amazing just how late 6pm has started to feel- the campus is normally deserted by 4pm, so when I leave in the late afternoon it feels like walking back home from Odegaard at midnight. Thank goodness for the snow- it brightens everything up, even in the dark. It looks like the snow will be sticking around at least until the weekend- I'm glad as I haven't gotten to go play in it yet. A Finnish girl in my geology class told me that last year people didn't have to go to lapland to go skiing, as it was snowy enough to do it near Turku! I'm hoping some Finns with an extra pair of skis adopt me while I'm over here, since I would love to learn.

From one snowy place to another,
xoxo Lexi

I've caught my first cold of the season! I'm actually pretty surprised that it's taken this long for me to get sick, so I don't mind too much that I've become a walking snot-factory. Though this does mean that instead of having adventures this weekend, I've been sticking around the apartment, drinking lots of tea with honey. I think I might venture out into the city today, however, to try and get some work done at the library. It's been snowing on and off since Wednesday, which means that there's still a blanket of snow on the ground, buildings, and trees.






In some slightly scary news, here is what the weather is supposed to be like this week:





I don't think I've ever experienced 9 degree Fahrenheit temperatures before. Maybe I should also use today to shop for a down jacket...

A simple equation for alertness in the morning:

Bare feet + snow = awake

Little Frustrations

I forget how different the education system is here, until days like today. As a general rule, university classes in Finland don't require weekly assignments, and even the assigned work isn't turned in for credit. The entire grade for your 10-week course is often determined upon one final paper or test. This sounds a little daunting, but unlike the American system, if you take a test and fail (or even if you take it and get a grade you don't like) you can retake the same test until you pass or get the grade you want.

Scheduling here also isn't rigid like it is at the UW. Take my experience today- a class, Quarternary Environmental Change, was supposed to start last Wednesday. So I showed up... and then found out that the schedule had changed, that it instead started a week later. So I go to the class today... and find out that the schedule had changed yet again, and while I had written down that the class started at 1, it had, in fact, already taken place, at 10am. I was pretty upset to find out that I had missed the first meeting of this class- I was/still am really excited about it, but due to me being unfamiliar with how changeable time schedules are here, I missed it.

Oh well. Now I have learned to keep checking the schedule online until the day the course starts.

Last Week in Pictures

Monday:


Tuesday:


Wednesday:


Thursday:


Friday:


Saturday:


Sunday:



Good things last week:
+ Sunny days and snowfall
+ Squishy chairs in the library and Sherlock Holmes
+ Slovakian dinner
+ Ongoing home improvement projects
+ Early thanksgiving, complete with sweet potato pie

<3, Lexi

From zero to snow in 60 seconds

When I woke up this morning (granted, at 11 am) the sun was shining brightly through my window, and the sky was perfectly clear. Then I went to brush my teeth, and when I came back about a minute later, it was doing this:



The flurry only lasted for ten minutes or so, and it was still slightly too warm for the snow to stick, but it happened so suddenly! I was going to take the bus to the library today, but I may just walk it- I love being out in the snow!

On Darkness

No pictures today, because my camera was out of batteries.

Things I learned today by forgetting my umbrella:

1). Cobblestones can be veeerry slippery, especially when it is too rainy/foggy to see more than two feet in front of you.
2). The new jacket I scavenged from the laundry room is warm, but not water proof.
3). My backpack isn't waterproof either.

Still, this is the first day in a while that has given me cause to complain about the weather. Most of the Finns I've talked to have told me that it's been unseasonably dry, if not unseasonably warm (a low of 34 tomorrow, then below freezing from Friday on!).

Only now am I realizing just how north I am- even though Turku is at the SW tip of Finland, it is at around the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska!

Sunset was at 4:28 PM today, and comes about 2.5 minutes earlier per day. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it means that by next Wednesday, the sun will be setting at 4:11 PM. On Thanksgiving, the sun will set at 3:39 PM. It's hard to get used to. Last night I went to bed at 7:00 pm, and if I didn't have clocks I would have easily mistaken it for three in the morning!

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!

Meet Little Buddy

I understand why it seems that everyone in Turku bikes- it's fast, safe, and especially easy because Turku is flat. Really flat. Amazingly, beautifully, and mercifully flat, compared to the frequent and intimidating hills of the Pacific Northwest.


The bike path is to the left of the street

The bike lanes in Turku aren't really bike lanes; "bike paths" is a more accurate descriptor. The amazing thing to me is that there is a bike path on nearly every street. Part of what kept me from biking more in Seattle and Portland (aside from the hills) was the knowledge that I'd have to ride side by side with traffic at some point in my journey. Often, bikes don't even need to cross major streets; there are underpasses for bikes under most thoroughfares!


Bike underpass in Turku

Obviously, to bike in Turku, I need a bike. Everyone, meet Little Buddy. I bought him last week at the police auction in Turku, where they were auctioning off around 65 bikes that had somehow ended up in police custody. I'm amazed bike theft isn't more prevalent in Turku, because no one locks their bikes. Around campus, they'll just leave them lying around (sometimes literally).

I bought Little Buddy for 35 euros at the bike auction, but most bikes were going for around 70. Why was mine such a deal? The back brake was loose, the back tire was flat, there were two holes in the inner tube, and what I didn't realize when I bought it (but I'm pretty sure everyone else did) is that the back tire was locked to the frame. This meant that I had to carry that heavy sucker over my shoulder 1km from the police station to the nearest hardware store because I couldn't roll it. All in all, getting the lock cut off, walking a non-functional bike all over campus, and getting the holes in the inner tube patched took about 6 hours.


Little Buddy

Honestly, though, I lucked out in my bike purchase. My bike is sturdy, and is extremely easy to ride (thank you 21 speeds). It has front shocks, which are nice, because I do a lot of riding over curbs and other bumpy things. I've already taken it out on an adventure, but I think I'll save that for a later blog post.

The only downside of biking in Finland I've found is how muddy it gets. I should just start wearing all brown, and it'll be a non-issue!


Finland + Rain + Bike= Mud everywhere