Seriously slacking. I'll keep repeating myself... I'm terrible at blogging, but will try to redeem myself and post a couple super awesome entries covering the last couple of weeks (or month).
The last week of June, I packed up my carry on and set off for a week long adventure in Finland. This trip had 2 purposes. First, just because/ to have some fun and secondly to prevent me from exceeding my visa free period in Ukraine. US citizens can be in Ukraine for 90 days without a visa and from the time I entered the country until I leave in August I would have been here 94 days. So who wants to do that visa nonsense when you can travel instead?
My airport experience in Kyiv was so hectic/overwhelming, I was shocked I actually caught my flight. When I got to the terminal and got past the confusion of figuring out where the ticket counters were, I faced a few issues, including a crazy line to get my ticket, unannounced gate changes, and our entire flight crammed onto 1 bus to take us out to the plane on the tarmac. Needless to say, it was a welcome relief to be sitting in my seat and to have the plane taking off.
Upon arrival in Finland, I took a bus from the airport to Turku, a smallish town in the southwestern area of the country. I happen to be visiting during Midsummer's Festival, which celebrates the super long summer days in Finland. During this time, most Finns go "up north" to cabins in the woods and enjoy the weather. Because of this, most cities are deserted, and Turku was no exception, making it rather difficult (actually impossible) for me to find dinner. I was super happy to have a few snacks in my bag that I had packed for the flight.I spent about a day and a half in Turku just exploring the city and a nearby island. It was amazing to me how quiet it was and how fresh the air was, especially after coming from Kyiv.
After Turku, I trained back to Helsinki. A friend of mine from undergrad is living there currently so we met up and he showed me around a bit and we had drinks at this hotel with an amazing view of the city. Then his girlfriend made us a super yummy dinner. It was fun to hang out and catch up and just relax. That was on Sunday, and they were actually leaving Monday to go to the states and were kind enough to let me stay at their place while I was gone, which saved some $$. I spent the next couple of days taking full advantage of the long days and exploring as much of Helsinki as possible. I definitely didn't see everything, but loved what I did see.
Senate Square
Looking out one of the fort windows
Midnight...
Then on Wednesday, based on the suggestions of several people, I took a 3 hour ferry ride to Tallinn, Estonia. Tallinn has a super cool and beautiful old town where there are churches are parts of the fortress that once stood. I still can't get over how old some of the buildings are there (like 500 years older than people landing in America!). So I spent 6 hours getting lost in the maze of street and having beer with some random Swedish women I met (the beer house had a pirate theme, which I didn't get, AND a dwarf pirate, which I really didn't get). The funniest thing about this experience for me was the Finnish people on the ferry ride. So there is a duty free shop on the ship and in general things are cheaper in Estonia than Finland. That being said, the Finns would go on this day trip and almost treat it like a booze cruise... drink on the ship, go wander around Tallinn/go to the mall to do some shopping, get back on the boat and then LOAD UP on booze. And they seriously load up. I saw people with like 7 cases of beer/hard cider and many bottles of hard liquor. I also saw some heavy drinking on the ship. Needless to say, I would happily welcome a Finn to any tailgate I had!
Shortly before I left for the trip, another UM SPH student, Kate, arrived in Kyiv, which was a very welcomed change for me. It was weird to be showing her around and how to figure out the metro, but it was nice to finally have someone to hang out with. The weekend after I returned we explored the city a bit, went to the American Chamber of Commerce 4th of July picnic, and to the opera (we're so classy!).
It was a great way to end June and start July!
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