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What a week it's been...
Well, many things have been going on recently. I went to my first Finnish class last week. When I initially got here I was really optamistic about learning Finnish, but now... the outlook is alot more bleak. My biggest problem is gorcery shopping. It's pretty hard to buy things when you have no idea what they are or what's in them. I already bought soymilk by accident, which had the consistancy of yogurt, and yogurt that had the consistancy of elmer's glue when it gets too old.
I went to my first sauna party last wednesday. My flat mate is a history major so she smuggled me into the history department's annual sauna party. Unbenownst to me, everyone else had brought copious amounts of beer to drink in the sauna (I guess everything in Finland is BYOB?). But I got by just fine without it. There was seperate saunas for the guys and girls and a communal pool. During breaks from the sauna, we played a traditional pool game they call bruise ball. Basically the point is to get the ball in the other team's bucket no matter what it takes... alot of bruising occured.
On friday I went with the economics department to a cottage they rented in the country. This event was great fun (for more details email me...). I me tons of people in my major, all of whom were very nice. But the evening confirmed my suspicions that I am in fact the loudest person in this whole country. Curse these quiet Finns. |
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This is my friend Vera, definetly the first real friend I have made since being here! |
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Otto
<--- |
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Otto
---> |
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Two Ottos...What is this world coming to?!?!!? |
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On sunday I went with my flatmate and some people she knows to some islands just off the coast of Helsinki called Suomelinna. These islands still home to some people but they are mostly a historical site. The swedish builit the biggest fortress around on this small cluster of islands back in 1748 to protect Finland, which they then controlled, from the Russians. In 1808 the Russians did manage to take it over and they controlled it untill Finland finally gained independance. But enough of the history lesson for now. |
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For some odd reason it seemed like a really good idea at the time to take a bunch of pictures of this pink building... I'm not quite sure why that was. But the building is a good example of what the town of Suomenlinna was like. Alot of the houses were red and I heard a rumor that this is because the original paint was colored with blood which was a very cheap pigment. In the town there was a glass studio and they had an open workshop where you could watch a glass blower making glass cups. It was very interesting to see how much work and skill went into making a simple cup. We also had a very nice picknick on the rocky coast of one of the islands. There was a street market near the pier where the ferry to the island launched so I had good fresh fruit for lunch! |
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These four pictures are from the fortress area of the islands. Oddly, much of the fortress was underground but I'm sure this was to provide cover from enemies and shelter in the cold. I'm not quite sure that was up with these strange mounds (below)that were everywhere on one of the islands. I think they are amunition sheds that were covered over with dirt and eventually became part of the landscape. In anycase, they reminded me of something from Dr.Suess. The fortress area of the island was such a maze of crazy walls and hills that we wandered around for quite a long time before we could even find our way off the island. |
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This one is going out to Shnoon. So the Finns have one of the other entrances to hell. Needless to say I didn't touch the pole in the center! |
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A nice view of the rocky shore of the fortress island. Sorry the pictures are small but I have run out of room on the page. |
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I am Yurtle and Turtle oh marvelous me, for I am the ruler of all that I see! |
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A Seal tossing its cookies... |
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