When I first arrived in Helsinki (apparently it's pronounced HELsinki, not HelSINki) there wasn't too much culture shock - I was able to get around fine thanks to my boyfriend Johan, who is Swedish. You may be thinking that I am terribly insensitive to culture, since Swedish and Finnish are nothing alike (except for some loan words), but I'm not. Swedish is actually an official language of Finland, and approximately 5% of Finns speak Swedish as their mother tongue. And for the benefit of this small minority, most all street signs and public notices are written in Swedish and Finnish (at least in Helsinki). Also, because of this 5% Swedish-Finn minority, all Finns have to learn Swedish as their second language...many of the Finns I've talked to think this is a bit retarded.
We didn't tour around Helsinki too extensively...prior to leaving San Antonio, I had been too busy to plan anything, so we ended up just playing it by ear. We stumbled across some neat things, but it was a bit more difficult to appreciate them given that I wasn't familiar with them. All I can say is, thank goodness for Wikipedia!
After Johan left, that was a bit of a challenge. Sure, most everyone can speak English, but they won't do so automatically - you have to explicitly ask for help...this is also new to me. I'm used to being able to just look confused and having people offer to help me. Thus, I'll normally take help if someone offers, but I'm too proud to bother someone repeatedly with my problems. So grocery shopping took a litte longer than it should have....
Things picked up after the Fulbright orientation started...and I started feeling like my normal rockstar self after the first day of orientation. We went to the Ateneum, which is an art museum in the heart of Helsinki. I'm not familiar with Finnish art or artists, so I'll admit, it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I'm just not that much of an art person. However, there was one portrait there of a Finnish opera singer, Aino Ackté. A few people stopped me and mentioned that they saw a resemblance, which I thought was pretty neat...but you all can judge for yourselves!
In the evening, the US embassy hosted a party in honor of the Fulbright grantees, and I was feeling pretty cool...okay, more than pretty cool. Pretty awesome...as if my ego needs petting! :P I don't think I managed to get in any pictures with the ambassador, because we weren't allowed to bring cameras for security reasons. So you'll just have to trust me on that one.
By Friday I was thoroughly worn out and ready to get settled in somewhere, Coincidentally, my Finnish friend, Anu, (who is actually doing an exchange at Baylor in the spring!) was also taking the same train! So we got to sit together and I didn't feel so out of place...however I doubt that my sleeping was very social or entertaining.
So now I'm in Jyväskylä, and I have no idea what I'm doing. Sure, after a week I have some idea, but I don't have nearly as good of a grasp as I would like to have on my studies (which start Monday). My first class is Suomi yksi (Finnish I), so we'll see how that goes.
Also, since I'm fairly new to blogging, if there is anything in particular you would like to read about, just let me know and I will try to include it later on. I wouldn't want to bore you all!
