The time I went to Stockholm pt. 2

I'm back. I wanted to put this up earlier, but then I came down with nasty case of food poisoning on Monday. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the banana pizza's fault. I spent the rest of Tuesday recovering and studying for an exam. Luckily, the exam on Tuesday ended up being a two page quiz, and I think I did pretty well; whereas, if it had been a real exam I would have died. In other news, I'm pretty upset that Clinton did so well in the Pennsylvania primary. My feelings are based on a lot of reasons, but the the most superficial reason is that I'm just tired of explaining the primary system to European people. Isn't that enough of a reason for Hilary to drop out of the race? Alright, back to Stockholm...

I woke up early the next morning, since we had to leave the hostel before 11am. We split into groups, and I joined some Finnish students and other exchange students on a trip to Drottningholm Palace. We had some coffee at the central station, and then everyone bought day passes for the metro. The day passes were twice as expensive as in Finland, and I think 5x more expensive than the day pass on Yolo Bus, but still cheaper than buying each ticket individually.


This picture doesn't quite capture it, but the metro station is covered in cute tile mosaics. It's quite lovely compared to other stations I've seen, and much cleaner too.

After a 10-15 minute metro ride and a couple stops on the bus, we arrived at the palace. Here are some photos I took around the palace. I wasn't allowed to take any indoors. Sorry. The inside is full of antique furniture, marble busts, and murals, especially on the ceiling. It's not quite my decorating style, but fun to look at for an afternoon. I couldn't imagine living in a place like that. The palace was especially interesting after going to Skansen the day before and looking at the cottages normal Swedish people lived in around the same time. Quite a big difference!

The front of the palace faces the lake, and there is a walk way with statues and benches.





Behind the palace is large garden. There was more beyond this, with fountains and bushes, but it didn't look very nice this time of year. The bushes didn't have leaves, and the fountains were turned off.






And of course, lots of fancy Swedish soldiers were marching around and looking impressive.


Later that afternoon, I headed to the Gamla Stan (Old Town) with Barbara. It's beautiful, but I think I preferred Riga's Old Town. There were lots of cute restaurants and kitschy souvenir shops, and of course, the Royal Palace is there too. You just can't get away from the Swedish monarchy in Stockholm!


The Royal Palace

After the Old Town, I went across the river to the National Museum, but it was pretty expensive (12 dollars for students), and it was closing in an hour, so it didn't seem worth it. They had an exhibit by local art students that was free though, so I looked around that part. The descriptions were all in Swedish and the art was very conceptual so I didn't really "get" it, but it was still fun to look around. Shops, museums, and nearly everything else in Europe tend to close a lot earlier than in the US, so Barbara and I went back to the central station to wait for the people we shared our luggage locker with.


Once everyone arrived, it was time to go back to Finland!


Ah, the good ship Amorella.


The view from the ship - sunset over Gamla Stan.


The view from our cabin wasn't so great. Instead of a window we had a picture of something that could hypothetically appear outside a window. That was a little weird, but not as strange as the ferry's "California Dreaming" theme. I don't think Viking Line makes a clear distinction between California/Florida/Hawaii, but they did have this sweet California flag against a giant wall of mirrors and lights (I really think they should embrace this Reno theme they actually have going on).

'all the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey
I've been for a walk
on a winter's day...'

Whelp, I have an exam tomorrow afternoon, and another on Monday, essays to write, and so on. If I disappear for a little while, please bear with me, I'll get more Stockholm photos up later. I have a lot! Also, on Saturday I'm participating in a treasure hunt event that's modeled after the Amazing Race, so wish me luck!

The time I went to Stockholm pt. 1

On Thursday night, 30-ish crazy university students and I left for Stockholm (along with hundreds of crazy Finns) on the infamous Viking Line. It's like a floating version of Reno, i.e. a lesser version of Vegas. There are slot machines, karaoke, tax-free shopping, a disco, and a buffet. It's hilarious and overwhelming at the same time. The majority of the Finnish people are drunk before they get on the boat. Once they're on board it gets even worse, since everything on the boat (except alcohol) is incredibly expensive. The actual ride across the Baltic isn't very expensive though, and the cabins aren't bad. The one I stayed in had four beds that fold out from the wall, along with a small bathroom that includes a shower, toilet, and sink. It's possible to go across without a cabin, but they don't provide benches for people to sleep on, which means that the people without cabins have to curl up in random corners and sleep on the floor. Although I had a bed, I didn't get nearly enough sleep. Around 6:30 in the morning (Finnish time) an alarm goes off in the cabin, and the cleaners start walking around the boat, knocking on the doors.


There wasn't any kind of border control after we got through the ferry. Just a small booth to declare items, and drug-sniffing dogs. I still only have a Finnish stamp in my passport. Poor me.


We stood around in the cold for a little while, waiting for everyone to get off the boat, and eventually made the 15 min. walk to the metro station. One of the nice things about traveling with Finnish people is that they know, at least some, Swedish. This came in handy when the ladies at the ticket counter didn't speak English. After everyone had a metro ticket, which took a little while since there were so many of us, we took the subway to the central station and left our bags there. We split into groups, and I headed to the Old Town with 3 others for some cake and coffee at a cute little cafe. We then made a plan for how we would spend the rest of our day: a walk by the river, and then a trip to the Vasa Museum and Skansen.



The Vasa Museum was great. I don't really have time to write everything about it on here (thus the link to the all-knowing Wikipedia), but I was really happy I went, even though maritime museums don't usually peak my interest. They had some nice history, anthropology, and forensic exhibits as well. I couldn't get any good pictures of the boat, though, because the museum is quite dark.


Leaving the museum, I noticed some plastic palm trees outside a nearby restaurant. From this picture you'd think I was in California, not Sweden, but when I knocked on one, I could hear an echo from inside the "tree," so trust me, I was really in Sweden.


Our next destination was Skansen, which was really lovely. The weather warmed up in the afternoon, so it was nice to be in a museum and outside at the same time.












As you can see, lots of beautiful buildings, cottages, and flowers! They had animals too.


Look, I met a bear!


And of course, they had reindeer too!


There was also some kind of rainbow pacifier display too. I don't know what the purpose of it was, but it looked interesting.


After Skansen, we headed to an ice cream stand. In Sweden they have proper (sweet) licorice ice cream. Mmmm...delicious.

It was then time to catch the bus back to the central station, and meet the rest of the group. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how difficult buying tickets was going to be. The bus drivers don't sell tickets, so you have to buy them from a machine at the bus stop, or by text message. The machine at the stop didn't work, even when a nice Swedish woman tried to help us. I also tried to send a text message, but I never got a receipt. During this ordeal, we missed our bus and went to another stop to try that machine. This time the machine worked, but we had to find someone to get change from. As an aside, I have to say that I hate Swedish kroner. It's the most difficult currency I have ever encountered.

So, we ended up arriving at the central station past the meeting time, but I there were still some people that arrived after us, so it was ok. We got our bags from the lockers, and walked to the hostel.


It was clean, new, and conveniently located next to a 7-11! Nearly all the furniture was from IKEA too, which was hilarious, and confirmed every stereotype I had about interior decorating in Sweden. Once we arrived, I went to a nearby supermarket to get something for dinner. The supermarket was a little depressing though, because it reminded me of how sparse the average shop in Turku is. It also reminded me how expensive Sweden is, so financially, at least, I'm lucky to live in Finland.


Afterward, I joined a group of Finnish and exchange students on a walk around the neighborhood. They stopped to get some pizza, and I had to take a picture of this one. It's a curry chicken, pineapple, and banana pizza. I tried a bite, and it wasn't that bad. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. I kind of liked it, but I needed to go to bed. I was exhausted from the ferry, museums, and walking, and so was Barbara. We left the pizza place and walked back to the hostel. I went to sleep, and coincidently, I'm going to do that right now too!

Turku Castle

Hei, nimeni on Renee! Olen matkailija Suomessa!


Look at me, I'm a tourist! In Finland!


Why is the sky a funny blue color? Shouldn't it be gray?
No! I think it's actually spring now, and I couldn't be happier!

These wall paintings are from the medieval section of the castle. I don't know if they've been restored, or anything else about them. The castle didn't have much information available in English. It was still really fun to wander around in. There are so many rooms, narrow passage ways, and stairs to climb.


There are two churches within the castle, one from the medieval era, and one from the renaissance. This picture above is the renaissance church, and apparently it's still in use. At the front desk they had fliers advertising the castle's church as a place for weddings.

Hmm, what else? It was a really nice day, so the castle wasn't very busy. There were a couple people dressed in medieval costumes, but they weren't very interesting. When we accidentally
started to go the wrong way, one of the costumed people started yelling "Hei hei! Hello! English? Wrong way!" at us. It was a little disconcerting. They need to have better signs in the castle, instead of angry people in costumes. Other than medieval/renaissance displays they also had an exhibit on Finnish life past and present, and some sort of display of Moomin drawings by children. I didn't see any ghosts or a dungeon though, which was a little disappointing. There was, however, a room to try on authentic medieval attire, as you can see below...

Well, I need to return some CDs to the library, clean my room, and study, so I better end this soon. I also need to pack for Stockholm! I'm leaving tomorrow evening on the ferry, and I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about when I get back!

Busy, busy

The past couple days have been a whirlwind of activity. On Saturday I went to the Turku Castle (don't worry, I have tons of pictures, which I'll try to get up tomorrow), and Sunday was dedicated to homework and cornbread baking. Why cornbread? Well, the university put on an international food fair today, and I got together with some other Americans to prepare a meal. I made cornbread and they made BBQ pork and coleslaw. Pretty classic, which is why it was a little surreal explaining BBQ and cornbread to people. I didn't get to try much food from the other teams because I had to serve up our food until we ran out. People really seemed to like the cornbread too, if I do say so myself. We had to hoard some, along with the pork. I never got to try the coleslaw though...

There were other teams from Turkey, Pakistan, China, France, Spain, and Finland, of course. Team Finland had my favorite food, Karelian pies with egg butter, and my least favorite food, mämmi. I'll elaborate later.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Viking Line office to get ferry tickets to Estonia, and it's pretty late right now, so now it's time for me to go to sleep.

Salmiakki

I'm not sure if I've written about this before, but one of the most popular candies in Finland is salty licorice, or salmiakki, as it's known in Finnish. The name salmiakki comes from the fact that the incredibly salty flavor of the licorice is derived from the addition of Ammonium chloride (Sal ammoniac) --a substance that naturally occurs near volcanoes, and is often used to clean the tips of soldering irons. Since I've been in Finland, I've tried to embrace salmiakki to varying degrees of success.



The licorice flavored Mentos are actually pretty good, and I've even had licorice gum that I didn't mind. Some of the pastilles are alright too. I just can't eat a lot at one time. In the words of my friend Chris from Malta, "Salmiakki is the perfect candy. You never eat too much at one time because it's not very good." Salmiakki also comes in various alcoholic incarnations, from a 20% liquor to a 40% vodka mix. While I was grocery shopping with my friend Barbara today we discovered yet another salmiakki product, ice cream.






It was awful.

This picture was taken after my first bite. I don't think I'll be able to eat ice cream again for a while. The inside wasn't bad, but the salmiakki coating was disgusting. Salty licorice is one thing, but salty licorice ice cream is just disgusting. I ate about half of my ice cream bar before I had to throw it away.


Barbara didn't like her ice cream either, but she was a champ and finished it. She also told me that they have licorice ice cream in Italy too, but it's much better, and less salty.

I'll have to find out this summer!

Fall 2008

I actual got all the classes I have to take wanted this semester! It's about time! Of course, I have more than enough credits to graduate, just not the right ones.

A Fabulous Day!

Today is absolutely amazing. It was around 55 degrees, the sun was shining, everything was perfect. It's strange how warm 55 degrees feels now. Spring has finally begun and even my class was canceled today! I got to sleep in, make coffee, and read the news online. In the afternoon, I took the bus to the music library and returned about 30 CDs that I had checked out. They probably hate me there, I go at least every other day. I then went to the bus office and paid for my April bus pass. Afterward, I crossed the street and looked around the kauppatori (market square). In the afternoon, the vendors put together big bags of surplus/slightly damaged veggies and sell them for one euro. I got a couple pounds of potatoes and several bunches of dill. Does anyone know if you can freeze dill? I know I can mix it with potatoes and rice, but I don't think it'll last more than a couple days.

While I was in the city center, I also had to go to Stockmann, which is a big Finnish department store. They don't really sell soap or shampoo in grocery stores here, or have drug store places like Longs or Rite Aid, so the department stores are the best places to go for that kind of stuff. Unlike Macy's or Nordstrom's, Finnish department stores carry regular brand name soaps like Dove and Nivea, and then high-end stuff like Channel, etc. Well, I didn't know this beforehand, but Stockmann is having a huge sale right now, and it was crazy in there. Everything was in yellow, and people were shoving each other and frantically looking through bins for the best bargains. I got a couple good deals too, which in Finland is especially exciting.

Once I escaped from the Stockmann madness, I headed over to another shop to get some other miscellaneous stuff, and a couple things to mail Hannah and Mary for their birthdays. At the other shop I finally found some conditioner too. It's almost impossible to find conditioner for curly/dry hair in Finland, and I certainly don't need any conditioner that promotes volume or thicker hair!

A few of my friends left for Moscow on Tuesday, and even more will be leaving for St. Petersburg tomorrow, but I'm not really bothered that I couldn't go, because it's just too expensive. I have my trip to Stockholm on April 17th to look forward to anyway, and I've just started planning a May trip to Tallinn, Estonia. Leila, Kristin, and I are contemplating adding Lithuania to our list as well. Bus tickets to Lithuania from Tallinn are around 20 euros, and I've found several flights from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, back to Helsinki for 5 euros + taxes (around 30 euros). Considering that the price of the ferry is around the same price as a flight, and we'd be able to see another country, I'm going to look into it. The biggest problem with this plan is we'd have to go through Latvia again, but the Baltic countries aren't really that big. Nothing is really planned at the moment though, we're just thinking about our options.

My birthday party was pretty nice by the way. Not one, but two cakes showed up at my party, and the guacamole I made was a hit. I shattered the European idea that guacamole is nothing more than mashed up avocado! On Sunday, my actual birthday, I didn't do very much though. I went over to a friends apartment and worked on homework, and then we ordered a pizza from Koti Pizza (Home Pizza), which is a popular Finnish chain. Their pizza is quite delicious, especially the crust, but they put pineapple on everything, which prompted me to get the bacon and egg pizza. I was also really hungry, so I think my hunger possibly impaired my common sense. Despite the potential threat of a heart attack with every bite, I enjoyed it.

Speaking of food, on Monday night I went to the house of the woman I teach English to for dinner. She is an absolutely amazing cook! Soup, rice, salad, barbecued pork, and some kind of egg foo young dish. Loved it! I brought some chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which their two-year-old son devoured. He is one of the cutest and most energetic children I have ever seen. By the time I left I was exhausted from running around a playing with him. So cute!!! I'm not doing any English lessons for the next two weeks though, because Young-Min and her family are going to Korea.

What else? I have to register for my Fall HSU classes tomorrow. Yuck! I'm not taking any English classes, which I think will be a good thing, but I have to take a bunch of upper-division GE classes, which I'm not particularly excited about either. Except, maybe, EU Sociocultural Integration, which I'm actually interested it. I just have to be careful not to be the annoying student always mentioning the time that they were in the EU. Students never talk in Finnish classes though, so I think adjusting back to the stoned hippie discussion hour that most HSU GE classes turn into will be weird enough. And because HSU is run by complete assholes slightly incompetent individuals, all of my prospective classes, except German (unless they cancel it), will be at night. Looks like someone has time to get a second job! In Spring it'll be back to all English classes again. Really important stuff too, like creative writing... eh, I'm not really that upset, I just need to vent a little. I only have another month of instruction/exams here, so that's something to look forward to. And, I get to watch Sponge Bob tonight, so life is pretty good.