June 23rd...1:45pm...
I am currently in my plane and on my way to Frankfurt, Germany. I have about a 2 1/2 hour ride there, before an 11 hour flight to Seoul. Leaving Helsinki today was hard. It's not necessarily hard to leave Finland, but rather the people and the memories I am leaving with it. I spent the last 3 days in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, and I greatly enjoyed it. This was probably due to the fact that there were lots of tourists and therefore lots of joyful, friendly faces! I am so glad I was able to experience Finland, because it allowed me to adjust to a culture with which I was not previously familiar. The way of life is just much different than I am accustomed to, and it wouldn't be something that necessarily I would enjoy adapting to for a great length of time. I found that the Finnish people I interacted with were very hospitable and polite, and I'm very appreciative of all the help I received during my stay!
Picture 1: Dad - I promised you I'd try a real German beer while I was there...so here you go! I confess that I gave it away after about 3 sips, but I did try it!
Picture 2: Here's Germany for you!
Want a funny story? Well, I thought it was funny anyway...Tracey doesn't agree. You can decide. So, Helsinki is right on the Bay of Finland and has a beautiful harbour. Our first morning there, we went to a local kioski and grabbed a pulla (an amazing Finnish pastry) and a kahvi (coffee). It was such a beautiful day so we decided to sit on the steps right near the bay and enjoy our breakfast. Just then, a seagull came right beside us and began to squawk. Tracey was really uncomfortable with that, but I just laughed it off. After all, I don't live by the water back home and I always love to see seagulls when I'm near the coast! Then out of nowhere, a whole flock of seagulls came flying up in our faces and literally stole the pulla out of Tracey's hand! I had never seen anything like it! Darn birds....they a nasty, vicious little creatures. Poor Tracey, apparently she had some logic in being afraid of those birds. But, it does make for a good story :)
Really, our whole week and a half together made for a good story. I never would have imagined it would be so much fun. I'm pretty sure that living with our Couchsurfer host in Ireland morphed us into even quirkier individuals than we already were, so I offer a forewarning when I come back to Kansas if I'm slightly more random and ridiculous than usual!
Now I'm about halfway to Seoul, South Korea; a land that is far different than what I've experienced. Everything I thought about regarding wanting a true minority experience is about to dawn on me. Even just waiting at my gate today in the airport - I felt like I stood out. I can't wait to see what happens in about seven hours when I get off the plane. Y'all will be proud of me - I actually made arrangements to have a tutor at the university pick me up and take me to Hanyang University, as opposed to me wandering around a city of 10 million people with no idea where to go. (I know my family is nodding their heads in approval right now). Your logic wears off on me once in awhile I suppose. There's no turning back now. Here I come, South Korea!
Want a funny story? Well, I thought it was funny anyway...Tracey doesn't agree. You can decide. So, Helsinki is right on the Bay of Finland and has a beautiful harbour. Our first morning there, we went to a local kioski and grabbed a pulla (an amazing Finnish pastry) and a kahvi (coffee). It was such a beautiful day so we decided to sit on the steps right near the bay and enjoy our breakfast. Just then, a seagull came right beside us and began to squawk. Tracey was really uncomfortable with that, but I just laughed it off. After all, I don't live by the water back home and I always love to see seagulls when I'm near the coast! Then out of nowhere, a whole flock of seagulls came flying up in our faces and literally stole the pulla out of Tracey's hand! I had never seen anything like it! Darn birds....they a nasty, vicious little creatures. Poor Tracey, apparently she had some logic in being afraid of those birds. But, it does make for a good story :)
Really, our whole week and a half together made for a good story. I never would have imagined it would be so much fun. I'm pretty sure that living with our Couchsurfer host in Ireland morphed us into even quirkier individuals than we already were, so I offer a forewarning when I come back to Kansas if I'm slightly more random and ridiculous than usual!
Now I'm about halfway to Seoul, South Korea; a land that is far different than what I've experienced. Everything I thought about regarding wanting a true minority experience is about to dawn on me. Even just waiting at my gate today in the airport - I felt like I stood out. I can't wait to see what happens in about seven hours when I get off the plane. Y'all will be proud of me - I actually made arrangements to have a tutor at the university pick me up and take me to Hanyang University, as opposed to me wandering around a city of 10 million people with no idea where to go. (I know my family is nodding their heads in approval right now). Your logic wears off on me once in awhile I suppose. There's no turning back now. Here I come, South Korea!
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