So this evening will officially be one full week in Helsinki. I thought I would love it here, but turns out I hate being lost and alone. I don't think I'll be taking for granted knowing familiar people and places back home anymore! Last night was good, I was able to finally have some fun. We went to and Irish pub and hung out with some drunk people, which was interesting to say the least. I hope this was the start to a better time here. So far it's been a lot of red tape (not being part of the European Union in Europe is HARD!!!), stress, 5:30 mornings for full days at the hospital, oh and this damn cold that had to hit the first week!!! And anyone who knows me knows I'm not a very outgoing person, so meeting people to actually have some fun with has been a chore. Anyway, enough of the negativity, I've had too much of that already this week. On to more good details!
The trip here was LONG - 28 hours if I remember correctly, 8 of which were spent layed-over (is that a word?) in Denver. Being it was my first Flight and I was alone, I was nervous as hell, but it was a really smooth trip, and luckily I didn't get ANY motion sickness. The second plane was HUGE and the landing sucked in comparison. Oh the headache! Good thing I was warned and brought gum. Finally, the third flight brought us to Helsinki, and I was in heaven. It's beautiful here, at least when I'm not lost. My apartment is not great, but it's a good size and in a good area, and I made my room somewhat more cozy with my first ever trip to IKEA (laugh all you want Audrey, it was cheap!). Started at the hospital first thing Monday morning, talk about rushing in. So it's been a week of working so far, and it's been interesting. Just wish I had more energy to see the city in the evenings. I've learned a lot there, they do a lot of things different than back home which is cool to see. Speaking of, how bout some facts about Finland?
Portion sizes here are TINY, like kids meal size, even smaller sometimes. Although I was surprised that I was full after it, even though I would have finished a whole big Mac meal supersized at home. No wonder we live in one of the most overweight contrives in the world!
"Comforter" is a word that doesn't exist. You can't by a colorful patterned blanket here. Just a plain old while blanket, and a cover. We call those duvets. Which is great, but not when you wanna be cheap and just buy one thing, not two!
Spreads for toast and bread (I changed this from bread spread cuz I thought that sounded too weird lol) are very few and far between. No cheese whiz, no peanut butter (or many just very rare?) They put cheese and tomato slices on their bread/toast. Even for breakfast.
Hmm, can't really think of anything else right now but I'm sure I'll have more to add.
By the way, I've never done a blog before so I'm sorry if it's not interesting, just the best way I know to share details with the people who want to know. Also, I dont often follow through with things, as you can see it took me a week to decide to start it finally, so I'll try to keep it up for three months. Get on my case! Lol. Well, until there are more stories to tell...
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