Tallinn With Friends, Sweden With Family

The YFU Finland summer trip to Tallinn in Estonia was a blast! Most of the FUSYE students came plus Meredith who came on a different program. My dad saw me off on my first train ride to Helsinki and we took off with no problem. The seats were comfortable, the train was so smooth. I didn't even know we started to move. The two hour ride was surreal and when I saw the students at the Helsinki train station, it was like we hadn't even been apart. Everyone was bubbling about what they've done, what their host families were like, and the places they've been. One thing that everyone said was "I don't want to go back home." We've all had such a great time here in Finland and it's become our home. The idea of going back to the plain ol' US from the unique and colorful Finland was a far-away dream until we all realized that we could count the days until we left on with our fingers. The ride to Tallinn was much better than on the small boat to Porvoo on that cold and rainy nightmare. It was like a two hour cruise, but we just ran around the ship then sat to play Finnish card games. We had just met up again, so we spent most of our time talking about everything under the sun.

We spent most of our day walking around the old city of Tallinn and learning its history and culture with a tour guide. We stopped by beautiful scenic spots, historic sites, and climbed up the Kirk de Kök tower.

Yeah, we climbed up that...

But it was worth it since we got this beautiful view!

Before dinner, we had some time to run around, so we shopped around the flea market at the city square. We saw unique crafts and listened to some lovely traditional music! And after dinner, we had even more free time, so Claire, Carrie, Meredith, and I split off on our own and explored the old city. We stopped by in a few shops and really got a feel for the Estonian culture. It was getting close to the time to meet back at the hotel, so we headed back to the city and ran into Ana and Fabian who were a little lost. We half walked half ran the loong long way to the hotel in a race against time. We were almost there..! But found out we we took a wrong turn. We ran for our lives after asking a homeless man for directions only to be greeted by Rikka's disapproving stare... After we dropped off all of our stuff, most of the students piled in Ana's and my room to watch the Germany-Netherlands game. We were awake the whole night to catch up while sharing pictures of our lovely host families.

The next day, we toured around some more and walked through a boat museum and a real boat! The most invaluable place, however, was being with the other students. They're some of the best people I know and I could talk to them for days on end. So we headed back on the boat feeling just like the good old days. We talked and played bananagrams (scrabble) inside. Then we headed out on the deck and straying playing a singing/clapping game that Claire taught us. It was called "Big Booty" and I loved it. We all loudly sang the big booty song with pride and the entire deck instantly knew that we were Americans! This drunk Russian guy who couldn't speak English walked over and sat with us, clapping along with no idea what we were doing. Best boat ride ever.

We had lunch at the museum! I had salmon in a pot and Brita cake. Saying that I loved it would be an understatement.

A Titanic reenactment was inevitable.

Big Booty with friends from all over the world!

We said our goodbyes and had mixed feelings about seeing each other on Saturday - our last day in Finland. It still hasn't hit me yet. I caught the train home from Helsinki sat quickly chose a seat to look like I knew what I was doing. And of course, I choose the worst seat with three drunk guys sitting in the row across from me. I didn't think it'd be a problem since Finnish people are quiet, right? Wrong. They were loud, crazy, and it turns out they didn't even have tickets so thankfully they were kicked off the train mid-way. I was bubbling with stories when I came back to my home sweet home and it was a relief to see my host family again! I missed them so much over the weekend. I don't know what I'll do when I go back to the US...

Now my last week here begins. We've gone to dinner with our neighbors at the best pizza place in Tampere - but I wasn't looking for some boring pizza. I got the one and only ostrich pizza! It tasted just like reindeer! The neighbors and us spent the night walking around Tampere's sparkling river.

We were leaving for a mini cruise to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days so we needed to do some last minute shopping. We went to Stockmann (Finnish version of Macy's) and just happened to run into Nina, Anne's daughter who's been away studying English in the UK! She's coming with us to Sweden and she's so nice and her accent is very unique! I can hear the English and Finnish accent at the same time! The next day we said good bye to our lovely house and left for the 2.5 hour drive to Helsinki. 

We stopped by a cafe mid-way and Lassi bought ice cream all by himself! They grow up so fast!

The terminal was crowded and I was not expecting such a big boat! The ship was like a giant building on water and there was a great tax-free shop where I bought the last of my souvenirs. Breakfast on the ship was a crazy rush, but we finally arrived in Stockholm! We took a bus to the city center then walked around, taking in the sites and sounds of Sweden. We met our cousins and their family in the lively market hall. I met Olivia and Max again and I was actually very sad that they couldn't take us around Stockholm because of our short time in Sweden. However, we ate lunch at a hidden restaurant on top of the old theatre, so we had a beautiful view of the streets along the harbor of Stockholm.

Lassi loved the mascot of the ship!

We didn't have a chance to walk inside, but this is the Royal Palace of Stockholm!

Even the sewers here are beautiful!

They even have 7-11 with slushies!!

The market hall is just like the one in Tampere. Some things don't change!

The view from the restaurant!

We talked with the family for a while, then we split off while the others went shopping, Jauri, Mikko, Max, and I walked around the streets to take in the views. We stopped by a "Very Swede Things" gift shop and Jauri suggested taking home a very traditional Dalähast horse, which represents the Dalarna province. It's just a small souvenir, but Jauri told me Dalähast horses are "very Swedish and iconic!"

The one I bought is wrapped up now, but this is close to what it looks like.

We passed by this military museum on our walk, and Mikko started to go crazy with history.

Before I knew it, we were boarding back on the boat back to Helsinki. We had barely six hours in Stockholm, so this trip wasn't enough to fully appreciate the city's culture. Hopefully I can come back to explore Stockholm for a longer time when I'm older!

Back at home, I had a great time laying in my bed without thinking of the rocking of the ship. We made pulla, which are mildly sweet Finnish cinnamon rolls. They're not that hard to make and Anne, Lassi, and I had a lot of fun mixing the ingredients and rolling them into their iconic shape! They look and taste great!

So I have two and a half days left in Finland. It still hasn't hit me yet. It'll feel strange to wake up in the morning without Lassi shouting and running around. I'll miss Mikko's history quizzes and Anne's motherly advice. But at the same time I'm excited to go back and see my parents and sisters. I'll miss Finland so much, but it isn't good-bye yet. Let's make the most of it!