Week 4 and 5

So I made it three weeks before I got too busy and too lazy to keep up.  Luckily I have this upcoming week off because I finished my first placement (WOO HOO!!!!) and they don't have a placement for me until the following week.  That means I actually have time to update this and hopefully update my pictures too.  But you can't be too upset because the reason I didn't get around to updating last weekend was because I was actually OUT!  For part of the weekend anyway.  So lets start there.

(My week was uneventful so I'm going to skip that). Friday night we went to something they do here a few times a year called Night of the Cats. It takes place at their zoo, which we have to take a ferry to because its an island.  Pretty much it's just a special day where the zoo is open until midnight. It's done because cats are nocturnal, so they sleep during the day and are awake at night.  It's a night where you can go and watch the cats (lions, tigers, leopards, etc) roaming about in a way you wouldn't see during the day. Unfortunately we didn't see much of that, because 1 I think we went too early (around 6ish) and two, it was PACKED and we couldn't get in close. We saw a bit of it at the end of the night though, so that was interesting. I think if there is another one while I'm here (this is the second since I got here) I might go again, a little later, and maybe see more. They also have face painting and entertainment and such as well.  The weather was crappy, rainy and cold, and I haven't gotten into the habit of taking my umbrella with me everywhere yet so I was SOAKED. However, I realized that once you get wet to a certain point, you stop caring about trying to keep dry anymore!  Because of the rain, I wasn't able to get many good pictures, but the ones that I did get will be posted in my photo album once I update it. I know I said in the last blog to check it out, but it hasn't been updated yet! This week, I promise!  I can't let myself get too far behind or it'll get to a point where I don't even want to keep up with it anymore, and this experience is something I want documented (in writing and pictures!). Anyway, that was Friday. Oh, and on the way home we went to McDonald's!  I have a picture or two of the menu there, the couple I got in before I got yelled at for taking pictures lol. The menu is almost the same but not as many options. The prices are WAY higher, 6.50 euros for a Big Mac during the day and 7.50 after 11 pm (they up the price and limit the options to four different meals at night). That's equal to around 10 dollars.  The meal was pretty much the same, the fries were a bit bigger than ours surprisingly and the pop almost as big as our (regular size, not super sized).  However, I went again today and got the day time meal and the fries and drink were smaller.  I guess when they up the price they also up the size? So yeah, quite a bit smaller and more expensive during the day. One last thing about Friday, I asked for a root beer with my meal and the response I got was "we don't serve beer here". Really, they don't have root beer in Finland? CRAZY!!!  Their pop options here are coke, diet coke, sprite, and fruitopia. That's it. Although today I found a dr pepper at the grocery store, and of COURSE I bought it. Not at restaurants though apparently.  NOW I think that's all about Friday.

Saturday was the best day of the weekend I think.  First of all the weather was GORGEOUS!  Sunny and warm. Of course, because I actually wore two sweaters AND brought my umbrella for once!  Anyway, we went to Porvoo, which is a city about an hour bus ride from Helsinki. It's a historical city. I won't get into it, but its a really interesting story if you want to google it, for those of you who Are interested in history.  Anyway, it's an old Swedish city, and although part of it is modern, part of it has been left as the old town, so the roads are narrow and the buildings are tall and close together and wooden and quaint.  Like movies often portray Europe as.  It was so beautiful!  And right on the river, which made it that much better.  We looked around the souvenir shops, and we did a walking trail which pointed out important historical places.  Again, if you're interested, google it, it really is cool!  I will have pictures of this in my album as well, but unfortunately since I was wearing my jacket the night before at the zoo and had my camera in the pocket, when I wore only two sweaters to Porvoo I forgot my camera!  I was able to find a few on Facebook that girls I went with took, so all credit goes to them!

Sunday was a no go. The girls went to Suomenlinna, which is Finlands Fortress island. However, since they didn't leave until 12:30 and we were doing our hot air balloon ride around 4, I didn't go.  Unfortunately, due to the wind, that was postponed, so I skipped the trip for nothing.  I do plan to get there before I go home though, even if its on my own, so you will for sure hear more about that!

So that takes me to this week.  Again, nothing eventful, except Friday was my LAST day of my second last EVER work rotation.  I have 5 weeks left starting October 1st, and by the end if the day November 1st, I will be done school!!!!!!  I can't believe it's been 4 years already!  At the same time though, I've felt like it would never end! Lol.  It's kinda scary when I think about it though, since I've been in school every year for the past 18 years of my life, I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do with myself after its all done.

That leads me into what I've done this week.  Aside from finishing and submitting my last assignment for this rotation, I started studying for my registration exam, which I write in February and need to pass to call myself a registered nurse.  The last four years leads up to this exam. I have three chances to write and if I fail all three, I can't practice as a nurse anywhere in Canada.  I can't imagine these four years of stress and blood and tears, and all the money I have and then some, going to waste. So I better pass!!!  That was Saturday.

Today is Sunday.  I went with a girl I met that's from the states to McDonald's for lunch and then to a shopping mall.  I bought a bag that says Helsinki all over it.  Paul may have been able to convince me to buy a small purse for this trip, thinking my big one wasn't safe while traveling, but it didn't take me long to realize I can't live with a purse that small! So although I don't need another purse, a souvenir bag you can never go wrong with!  So that's what I'm gunna use as my purse from now on. I also bought a scarf. Not a winter scarf, but a fancy stylish one that seems to be popular nowadays. My first one, cuz we all know I'm not big into trends!  But I thought its about time I try it out.  I also bought a couple headbands, since my hair is now too short to put up and sometimes the bangs just get in the way.  And I bought a knitted headband for outside as well.  Not overly warm, I have one already for when its cold.  This one looks nice though, and will be good for windy days.  I've noticed that with my ear problems, the wind here really causes problems when I'm not covered.
So now it's 10:19 PM Sunday evening (I've been home since six and just chillaxin since then).  I've been wearing my rider shirt all day today, and since I don't have to work tomorrow I can actually stay up to listen to the game on 620 (thank god for iPad apps cuz I don't think the station would make it this far lol) for the first time since I've been here. The game is at 11 pm my time, so staying up to listen when I need to be up at 5:30 to get to the hospital just isn't an option usually!  So with just over half an hour to go, I'm gunna go get cozy in my bed (as cozy as I can in a crappy student apartment bed) and get ready to listen.  I need my blankets cuz it's freezing in here. The first day I've felt like I could use the heat on. Unfortunately, I have to wait till they turn it on from the main place so no heat yet!

Anyway, have a great week, and keep an eye out for picture updates as well!  The link is in my previous blog if you haven't gotten to it yet.  I'll be adding new pages to the old one, so again, don't forget to flip through the pages to see them all!  Until next time, GO RIDERS!!!!

(I wrote this in a document before I posted it so it will be posted Monday but was written Sunday night).

Week Three

So being that my first rotation in the hospital is 5 weeks long, Wednesday this week marked my mid rotation point. Exciting!  That is going good. I'm working with one nurse more often than the others and he's really good with helping me learn. He has some trouble with English but we work through its we're a good fit I think. Unfortunately, I've also worked with 5 other nurses up until this point, and I only one have one more day, Monday, with the nurse I like. Hopefully I'll find another one for the last two weeks that's also good to work with.

As for the fun part of this trip, I still haven't had much. Considering last night, Friday night, I was in bed by 10 and fell asleep watching the clouds float by, my life doesn't seem fun at all. Hopefully this weekend I can get out to do something. So far (almost noon on Saturday), I haven't been able to find anyone to go out with. But I need groceries so this afternoon I'm going to go take some pictures in my neighborhood and get my groceries. Keep an eye our for an updated photo journal link! (For those of you who haven't seen it, I'll post the link at the end of this blog). I'll keep updating on the same one but just adding new pages so make sure to flip through all the pages, it's not just the first one.

So that's pretty much my week. More about Finland now. I think I've mentioned this before, but the weather here sucks! For instance, I have an app that shows the 14 day forecast prediction. Here's what it says, compared to at home.

9/14 days here call for rain, compared to none of the next 14 at home.
Only 6/14 days will be over 15 degrees. All 14 at home will be 18 or higher.
9/14 days will have less than 8 hours of sun (some as low as 1, 3, or 4 hours a day). At home, only one day will have less than 8 hours of sun, and that day it will be 7 (not 1).

So for all you complaining about the weather getting colder, stop!  You have it good!  One positive thing about the weather here is the lows are a bit higher than at home. I imagine if the lows were like at home, the highs would be even lower because there's no sun to warm it up during the day!

You HAVE to go to pharmacies here to get medication. Even something as simple as cold and pain meds, you can't buy them in grocery stores.

And muscle relaxants you apparently need a prescription for. I've already told Paul to send me some in my care package!

My language vocabulary has been expanding from being at the hospital every day. Not that I have the guts to actually use what I know, but here's the ones I can think of right now.

Hyvää Huomenta = good morning
Most people just say Huomenta = morning
Moi = hi
Moi moi = bye
Kiitos = thanks
Anteeksi = sorry
Bussi = bus
Apteeki = pharmacy
Asema = station
Keskus = center (meaning Helsinki center - downtown)
Yksi, kaksi, kolme, neljä, viisi, kuusi, seitsemän, kahdeksan, yhdeksän, kymmenen = 1-10
Adding toista to the end of any of these adds 10 (kolmetoista is thirteen, etc.)
Olut = beer (anywhere you go, you can order Olut and they'll bring you the cheapest beer they have. No more having to know what kind you like!  This is good, first beacause I don't know what kind of beer they have here, and second because alcohol is expensive here so the cheaper the better!)
Maito = milk
Vesi = water
Kahvi = coffee
Tee = tea

That's about all I can come up with right now, but I'll add more as I think of or learn them!

Oh, one more thing. Everyone drinks tap water here. No one buys it! And no one uses reuseable water bottles. My Costco bottle is the only reusable water bottle I've seen so far!

Anyway, have a great weekend and keep watching for pictures! Here's the link: https://www.icloud.com/journal/#4;CAEQARoQtaBdbHKJwWoXlx-pS1KsTw;F0C2C02A-20A1-4D37-A087-60192C0CF554
Tee = tea

Week 2 Continued...I Guess

So I'm not sure if this site sucks or if its just hard to do on an iPad but it keeps screwing up on me. I wasnt done the last post but I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I just published it anyway.

So I left off with leaving the club last night. My sleep last night was good, mostly cuz I had a few drinks so I didn't care about the noise lol. Then this morning, I had a talk with my roomates and we finally figured out a cleaning schedule. One of us is not very happy about it but that's life so anyway hopefully this place will be cleaner come tomorrow night. I did half of my job, the bathroom. The other half, the shower room, will be tomorrows task. Today I also accomplished the task of putting my clothes away. Up until now I've been living out of a suitcase. Actually where that started was the fact that I did laundry yesterday and the dryer was taking forever so I got fed up and have had clothes hanging around my room for the last 24 hours. So when I put those away I decided to keep going and do the rest. Then from there I figured I should make my bed. And then I thought well now I should tidy the table and shelf. Well needless to say, my room is now clean. I also spent time finishing up my THIRD assignment of 12 left in my schooling career. Took me an hour yesterday while the laundry was going and a couple hours today and it's now done and submitted. And I even made spaghetti and meat sauce for supper! Only the second meal I've actually cooked in the two weeks I've been here, and I actually ate a decent amount. Thank god for appetites!

Unfortunately, although all sounds well on that front, I was looking forward to going out tonight but with the rain the person I was going with doesn't want to go. Speaking of the rain, it's shitty here!  You think it sucks at home. At least it poors at home and then the sun comes out. Here, it's been rainy and gloomy all day. Yuck!  I understand sundowners syndrome now!

What else can I say about this week? Well, I found out you can't get corndogs in Germany. A girl I met last night from Germany spent time in the states a few years ago and fell in love with corndogs, and she FREAKED right out when she found them here, cuz she hasn't had them since she left the US. So the was interesting.

Oh and I thought of another fun fact that I forgot to mention last week. Bleach is apparently nonexistent here. I mean I know we suck at this language and can't read the bottles, but we even asked our friends for here and the cashier at the store and no one even knows what bleach is. They know it's for whitening. You can get bleach for your hair and for your teeth. Just not to clean with. Hmmm.

I can't think of anything else to say about Finland right now. Basically what I know so far is Finnish people like to drink and don't eat a lot. That pretty much sums it all up! LOL. Oh, and the weather sucks. First thing everyone asks when they find out I'm not from here is "what do you think of the weather??".

Well, I'm too lazy to add pictures to two different places so I'm sticking with Facebook, assuming I can get it to work. Most of the things I've mentioned so far have pictures to go along so keep an eye out. Until next time,  moi moi! (That's how we say good-bye here!)

Week 2...

So after week 2 things are starting to look up. I'm getting more comfortable and familiar at the hospital and I actually know my way TO and FROM the hospital now, so that in itself means a lot less stress and panic.

I went out to a few places last weekend. An Irish pub, which I've always wanted to go to so that was cool. Although it wasnt quite like you see in the movies, with drunk Irish guys singing Irish songs. This one was...well...drunk Finnish guys singing English songs LOL. Finnish men sure do like to drink! We also went to the Aussie Bar, which was a lot different than anything I've ever see. Guys dancing on the top stairs taking their shirts off and throwing them around. Crowd surfing! And holy was it crowded. If you appreciate being able to breathe, you probably don't wanna go there! I was completely sober so it was interesting but definitely something you'd need to be really drunk to enjoy for a long period of time. Even the Finnish girls I was with agreed!

I went to a cute little cafe along the water. Could be a very romantic place. It's small and quaint, with seating outside. They supply blankets if you get chilly. There is a big fire pit and you can buy hotdogs and smokeys raw roast on the fire. There are big ships in the water right next to it. You can go canoeing. Anyway, just a nice little relaxing place.  Oh, and there's no set closing time, it closes after the sun sets. Cool!

The last place I went was the amusement park.  It's open all summer long, not just one week a year! For 22 euros I got a 3 hour ride pass, which happened to be great cuz the lineups weren't bad at all. Along with the rides they also have a "skyscraper" type of thing that you got in, and it goes up to the top and spins around slowly so you can see the city. It's free to go up, and it's free to get into the park. So for no money at all, you can see Helsinki from...really high up!

This week was working again, like last week, but thats okay. Thats life and I've come to terms with that. As much as it sucks that I'm missing out on so much, at least I can say I've been here, right? How many of you can say that?!?!?  Exactly.

Last night (Friday) I went out with a friend and her roomates and their friends and their friends. It was the Metropolia (our Finnish university) welcome party at a club. It was EXACTLY what you'd picture a real club being. Chest throbbing music, flashing strobe lights, and a jam packed dance floor. At first I felt uncomfortable - my balance and coordination or lack of dont make for great dance moves - but after a couple drinks I figured what the heck, I'm in Helsinki at a club, again, who can say they've done that?  And who cares if I suck at dancing??  They're all too drunk to give a s*%@. The best part was the place was full of other exchange students rather than a bunch of Finnish people so I met people from all over. We even had a guy come up to us and say "I hear you girls are from Canada". And let me tell you, I've always been one to say most Canadians don't have accents but as SOON as he opened his mouth I knew he was one of us. Kingston Ontario!  Only the second other Canadian I've met here (the first was at the Irish pub - from SASKATCHEWAN - Watson, outside of Saskatoon. I'm not sure what the chances are but I'm sure they're pretty slim!

So at 2 we headed back to the bus and on the way stopped for a corndog, great way to end a night of drinking! 

Week 1 of...Too Many

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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