Helsinki!

Hello! I am going to try to get this all down before we leave for the day!

Yesterday morning, we got on our ferry, but not before some panic and sprinting to the gate. It was exhausting! But I could have done without the guys yelling at us to hurry up. It was raining and really windy.

After that, I was a little grumpy, so I read my book on the ferry. The ferry was really nice though! It was like a cruise ship exactly, only the bottom three floors were for cars! There were not regular seats, so we found a spot on some couches at the front of the boat and I read my current book (Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen) for the two hour trip.

Then we were in Helsinki! From the docks, it honestly didn't look very pretty. We got off the bus to town and instantly were famished. Anatoli said the living cost in Helsinki is very high, so we decided to go to McDonalds. I had my first-ever Big Mac, and the meal was about $8. Phew. It was good though, and then we set out for a famous church.

Now the streets looked prettier. The architecture is heavier here, with a lot of stone and granite. Pretty!

It was only a few blocks away, so it was close! I forget the name of the church now, but the statue out front was of Russia's Alexander II (Mom, intertwine!). It was a pretty place, and we needed to find it because Titus and Michael were meeting a friend there later to spend the night.

After that we went to the Finland national History museum. It was really cool and Finlandy! I'll tell you more upon seeing you, but I'm trying to hurry here! It was free for students though, so pretty cool! And all the captions were also in English and Swedish.

After that, it was already 5! We went to a famous fish market in the other side of town for dinner. We had pan roasted salmon, vegetables, I had reindeer sausage, and little fishies that may have been kippers. It was delicious! Reindeer sausage was my favorite thing!

After that, I bought some Finnish strawberries. They're famous, and I've heard from more than one source that I have to buy them. I decided they would have to be my souvenir from helsinki, because I didn't see anything else I liked, and they were 6€ a pint!!!

They were worth it though. Best strawberries I've ever eaten.

In the corner of the market, the president of Finland's house stands! Anatoli poked fun at it, because it's noticeably smaller than the Swedish embassy. We also saw the changing of the guard there! It was nothing near as ceremonious as we saw in Moscow, but it was still cool! Fun fact: Finnish police don't even carry firearms. Only the swat teams, if that tells you anything about Finnish culture.

Then, the boys went to meet their friend, and some if us set off in the direction of a church that was blasted out of solid rocks!!! It was a little hard to find, being mostly underground and all, but we found it and it was awesome! We didn't stay long because there was a concert going in inside, but woe saw it.

Then, we decided we needed some ice cream. One always needs ice cream, I think. So we got some and some tea (i will miss that when I'm home. Hot tea is available everywhere here, even fast food places).

After that, it was time to head back already!! We caught the bus to the boat, the boat to Tallinn (eerily we were about half the passengers in a huge ship). I finished my book, and we played different card games. I want to play Euchre when I get home, no one here knows it!

Then we came home and crashed at about 1am. Oh! And I found a daddy long legs spider in my room! I tried to get it out, but it ran away and is now probably planning my murder.

I am sadly ready to come home. I miss everyone. I have had the time of my life here, but with only two days left, it's hard not to think about how close I am to seeing everybody! Don't think I haven't enjoyed or been grateful for this amazing trip, because I really have and am!

Today we are going to the museum of the occupation of Estonia. It should be really interesting!!