Helsinki, Finland & Stockholm!

Just got back from making Mexican food for dinner with some friends & watching the season premiere of Desperate Housewives! They show the big shows on Tuesday here. I thought it'd be a good time to blog about my rather crazy weekend in Finland and Stockholm (Oct. 3-5)...

Ghazal, Jasmine, & I got on the train early Saturday morning bound for Stockholm. The station wasn't open in the morning for some reason so we got on the train without making seat reservations but luckily they had room left...in the area where they allow pets! So we got to sit by a lot of cool dogs which was fun. Met and had a nice talk with a Swedish lady who offered to show us around her small town which is just a bit north of us. I think we're going to accept her offer and she said there are lots of moose there! Got into Stockholm around 3PM and headed to the area where the ferries depart and got on the Mariella which is part of the Viking Line. The ship departed for Helsinki, Finland at 5PM. After getting settled we went down to the dinning room for a buffet dinner and ate up! The food was terrific and drinks & wine were even included!

The trip across the Baltic started off great and it was Ghazal's 21st birthday so we had a fun night ahead and planned to go to the Disco later that night. Before leaving our room, Jasmine and I got Ghazal a couple desserts for her birthday and sang to her! And that is when the rocking began, and not the rocking we had hoped for in the club. The weather has gotten a lot worse in the past month and once the ship got out on the Baltic it was quite noticeable. Instead of going to the disco we sat in the lobby for hours as people lined up to get motion sickness pills, etc. We all felt the affect of the ship's movement, but other people clearly felt it more...At one point some guy came up to us and asked if he could "ask us a couple questions". He was beyond intoxicated and didn't seem to get the hint that it wasn't the time. There were so many drunk & crazy Finns on board! Another one walked towards me and tried to poke my head. We were all getting pretty annoyed. Guess the only good thing for them is they didn't remember the ferry ride...it was definitely one to forget and they probably just thought it was them rocking side to side! After trying to sleep for awhile in one of the lobby's, we went back to our room at about 6AM when the motion subsided. We got 4 hours of rest in before getting off in Helsinki!

Helsinki was a lot of fun. It was the opening day of a herring festival. The weather wasn't so good as it rained a large part of the day and HARD. It would start without warning, though the sun shined through at times which was nice. We visited a Roman Orthodox Church and saw a baptism taking place! (It was Sunday...) We also visited another Church and watched an orchestra and opera singer practicing. It was a nice few minutes. We walked around the town a lot and along a harbor where there were TONS of ships and sails. For lunch we ate at an Asian restaurant which was quite good! Scandinavia seems to have their Asian food down. I enjoyed the capital a lot and took many pictures, though I think 1 day is about all we needed. Ghazal and Jasmine wanted to look into flights back to Stockholm to avoid the dreaded ferry back, but finding no affordable ones as I anticipated, we re-boarded the Mariella at around 5PM.

First thing we did was pick up motion sickness pills to help ease the ride back. We hung out in our rooms for a bit and then had some Princess cake (a Swedish must!) and tea before heading in to play Bingo! Ghazal won 12 Euros! Woo Hoo. Jasmine and I walked around a bit after and then went to bed...early...it was only 9:30PM! Had a good night's sleep and woke up the next morning ready to explore Stockholm.

Jasmine and I had been but not Ghazal so we walked around the city, explored old town, visited the shops along Drottingatan, saw the Royal Palace, walked through the middle of town, and eventually back to the train station by the end of the day. We left at just after 6 in the evening and again found ourselves in the company of some of man's best friends, including a German Shepperd. It was a fun and eventful couple of days.

Random Things on My Mind @ 3AM

I was originally going to make this post about the awesome home cooked meals my friends & I have been makin here but I'll save that for next time. Though, right now I'm eating the leftovers of the last one I made...pasta with a tomato basil sauce, oregano, chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, & tomatoes!

Tomorrow (actually later today) a few of us are going to Stockholm and then hopefully taking the ferry over to Helsinki, Finland! We'll be going for a couple of days and then come back Monday. Its Ghazal's 21st birthday so we're going to celebrate it on the Baltic Sea!

Tonight I had a nice, low-key Friday night. Hung out @ a friend's place and played monopoly with a few of her friends. Met an American from Atlanta (still gotta visit there sometime)! It was a good break from the crazy clubbing nights yesterday & Wednesday. Though, they were fun! Wednesday we went to Västgöta Nation (aka "VG's") and last night we hit up Östgöta Nation (aka "OG's"). Both were fun, though not very crowded! It was the first time I had been to either. For those reading that haven't heard yet, Lund University has 13 student nations which are basically social clubs that serve lunch and dinner most days for discounted prices and have club nights during the weekend. Every student @ Lund is required to join one. Last week I finally, after much procrastination, joined Sydskånska nationen. I've been there a couple times and really like it...plus, its close & a lot of other friends joined it, too. It is known as the music nation since they have a variety of club nights all with different music (reggae, hip hop, electro...my favorite!).

Another thing I've been keepin up pretty well with here is the gym! I have a pass for the classes and weight room portion of it and so far have been using both...which is a very good thing considering some of the food I've been eating (lots of sweets). The gym here is called Gerdahallen and is super nice. I've been to two classes: the first was a mix of cardio, stretching, different movements, and weight training using a bar. The second was yoga! I think trying out the one yoga class is all I need for a looooooong time. It was more difficult than I had imagined and at the end of the class we took like a 5 minute nap with blankets! haha

Back on September 19 there was a Culture Night in Lund which was awesome! The UC students had originally thought we'd be in Copenhagen for our mixer with the students there but it was canceled and a few of us found ourselves amongst the most people we've seen yet around the city on a Saturday night. It was a fun night with bands performing all around the small city, with all kinds of food, entertainment, vendors, etc. Fun night!

That's it for now...Stockholm & Finland tomorrow! Better start packing!