Final Tips and the Best of My Trip

Hello one final time, this will unfortunately be the final post of Seikkailu Suomessa, but before I end the blog's updates, I wanted to take some time and give anyone out there a few tips if they plan on studying abroad, or just traveling in general.  I also want to provide some of what I thought were the best things from trip this past Spring.  So without further ado, let's begin!

Tips:

1. Check visa regulations of the country you want to visit:
If you plan on traveling through USC, they will provide you with information regarding visas, but       if you are not going through USC, the State Department has a page for every country detailing             what entry restrictions might be, and whether a tourist visa is acceptable (note:  these usually only       last for 90 days). http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/bosnia-herzegovina.html

2. Check what the climate will be like and pack appropriately:
  This one is fairly self explanatory, make sure if you are studying in Finland in winter, you don't           bring clothes that are appropriate for a winter in Italy or Spain.

3. Do some preliminary research:
Make sure that you know a little bit about the culture before you go, which will help decrease the       culture shock factor.  Most bookstores carry travel/culture books for a multitude of countries, so that is the best place to look first.  This will also help you figure out what you can do in your country.

4. Go to class:
This is more for the people studying abroad, since you are supposed to be getting credit for USC or wherever you attend college, you shouldn't shirk your academic responsibilities.   I took a schedule of 30 ECTS (equivalent to 5 USC classes) and found plenty of time to travel or hang out with my friends.

5. Avoid Americans:
Now hear me out on this one, since you are supposed to be broadening your horizons, wouldn't it make sense to avoid the familiarity of the American culture?  I did talk with Americans when I was outside Finland, but I tried to meet other cultures.

6. Don't be afraid to try new things:
During the semester, I was able to do a lot of things I never would have done in the US.  Again, one of the main benefits of traveling is broadening your horizons, for example, I was able to drive a snowmobile (and subsequently crash one), went snowboarding for the first time, etc.  Unless the experience is something illegal or what you would consider immoral, don't be afraid to try it.

7. Don't let your perceptions get in the way of traveling:
Now, when I initially found out that I was going to Finland, and would have a chance to visit the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), I did not think that I would like it.  I thought that the countries would be really similar and I wouldn't have the chance to learn much, but all three have different histories, languages, etc.  Just because you think you won't like a certain city or country, don't rule it out.  Do some research and see if it seems interesting to you.

8. Look at banking options:
Depending on how long you will be abroad, you may want to look at opening a bank account in that country. Having an account in the country you are studying in can actually give you a better exchange rate for currency and ensure that you will be able to use some form of card abroad if you hate carrying cash. Now, there are some restrictions that will vary from country to country.  For example, because  I was in Finland for less than 6 months, I did not have access to online banking, which meant that I needed to make sure to keep track of my money in the account.

9. KEEP A BUDGET:
This is probably one of the most important things you can have when you are abroad.  You will need to keep track of your money, you don't want to get caught abroad with no money.  I used a basic Excel spreadsheet and used separate tabs for travelling and normal expenses (food, supplies, etc.).

10. Make sure you have a cell phone, with google maps or a mapping app:
I know for a fact that Verizon phones do not work abroad (but T-Mobile definitely does), check Amazon.com for an unlocked GSM phone.  This will allow you to put a foreign SIM card into it and access the networks.  Even if you do not need to call anyone with it, having access to some kind of map on your phone can definitely help.  There were a few times that I would have been horribly lost if I did not have one of these apps.  For my purposes, I used Google Maps, and an Android app called MAPS.ME.  The app allows you to download country specific maps that allows you to use them without an internet connection.

11. Most importantly: have fun!


Now for some of the best of my trip!

Best Eastern European City: Riga, Latvia

Like I said earlier, I was not as excited at first to travel to the Baltic States, but ever since I visited Riga, Latvia, I've felt like it was one of my favorite cities to explore. One of the biggest reasons for this is that the city has a very interesting history; a city divided between three factions, between cultures and between the Soviet Union and Latvian people.  Another thing that I really like about the city that you don't get from both Krakow, Poland or Tallinn, Estonia, is that Riga doesn't feel like a tourist trap.  The city is also very friendly to a student budget.  A good meal will cost about 13 euros, and a good hostel can cost as little as 9 euros a night.  The city also shows a very dynamic personality; when you go from the airport to the city, you notice that the Latvian people are still going through some hardships, but once in the city and the Old Town, you realize that things are starting to improve for them, with many buildings being renovated and after being recognized as the capital of the EU, the government built one of the biggest libraries in Europe.  My personal favorite was exploring the market that is open nearly every day and seeing the different souvenirs that you can buy, as well as seeing what foods the people of Riga usually eat.

Best Southern European City: Dubrovnik, Croatia

This was one of the harder choices for me, but Dubrovnik was truly unique when it comes to cities.  There are not many places that have the same walls that they had since the 16th century or have a street made entirely of marble.  Aside from the history, you can get a feel for the language and a small amount of the Yugoslavic culture.  Due to its location, it makes it easy to explore Bosnia and Montenegro during day trips.  This is also another city that is fairly friendly to travelers with a budget.  One of my favorite things to do here was wander through the city and find gaps in the wall where you could just sit and watch the beautiful Adriatic Sea.

Best Overall European City: Copenhagen, Denmark

Since Copenhagen would have won "best Northern European city", I thought it would be best to just name it best overall.  There were a lot of places that I liked during my travels, but Copenhagen is the best.  The city is a very vibrant metropolis.  The public transportation is very cheap and efficient and is accessible from any point in the city.  Compared to the other Scandinavian countries, it is a bit cheaper.  While there isn't much of an "Old Town" per se, it is just a great city.  How many cities have a theme park right across from the Town Hall (and the second oldest in the world at that)?  There is also the fact that the Danish people are very friendly and progressive.  There is a lot of things to do in the city and everything is within walking distance.

Best Food: Cevapi

courtesy of foodspotting.com

Pronounced chevaapi, this sausage dish of the Balkans is definitely one of my favorite foods from abroad.  I tried them while visiting Mostar, Bosnia on the recommendation of my tour guide.  I stopped at a small shop off the souvenir market that was fairly empty.  When I ordered, I saw the owner go into the back and take the ingredients out of the fridge, and make everything fresh.  The dish is served on a bun of Balkan bread and topped with raw onion.  It is delicious and only cost 4 euros.

Best Museum:  The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia/ Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

This is the only time that you will see a tie on the list.  It was too hard to pick between these two.  The Hermitage is considered the second best art museum in Europe behind the Louvre.  It contains paintings from Renaissance masters like da Vinci, Raphael, Northern masters like Bruegel and even some Picasso pieces.  The museum itself is housed within a former palace of the Romanov family.  You'll want to get their early though as the museum can get very crowded.

Courtesy of Alyssa Currie

Now with the Vasa Museum, it is truly unique.  The museum is housed around a 17th century warship that sunk only 1500 meters into its maiden voyage.  The exhibits help detail what life was like aboard Swedish ships and the circumstances surrounding the creation of the ship itself.  The museum costs the equivalent of 10-15 euros, but is something that you have to see if you are in Stockholm.

Best Hostel: Old Town Hostel, Riga, Latvia
While there wasn't a hostel that I didn't like, I feel like this one provided the best value. The Old Town Hostel is located within the Old Town of Riga.  The building itself is fairly small, but that means that there is less noise to deal with.  The bottom common areas allow a good chance to meet locals as well as other international travelers.  At the time I booked the hostel, the rooms only cost 9 euros a night and had a good amount of security features, with only the management and guests having access to the upper floors, and each bed has a locker under the bed to store things.  The location allows you to see most of the Old Town pretty easily and is right across the street from the market.


I want to thank all of you for taking time to read this and I also want to thank all the people I met while I was in Europe for helping me make these amazing memories, and finally the International Business department for giving me the opportunity to write this blog.

For the final time, goodbye and thanks for reading!

Late Updates and Leaving Finland

Good evening everyone, let me start off by apologizing for the late update.  After my last post concerning Krakow, things became very busy at Aalto, and While I was in Iceland I didn't have an internet connection that would allow me to update.  However, I am back in the United States and after taking some time to recuperate from my trip, I am back to give my second to last update.

I will warn you, this is going to be a long post.  I'll be talking about my trip to Copenhagen, Vienna, my final trip to Reykjavik and finally discuss my feelings when I was getting ready to leave Finland.

Copenhagen

The iconic Nyhavn in Copenhagen

As with all my posts, I want to start off by giving some general history about Copenhagen and Denmark itself.  Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is considered to be Denmark's largest city.  Originally founded as a small fishing village back in the 10th century, it became the seat of power for a Catholic bishop known as Bishop Absalon.  Under his rule, he was able to make Copenhagen a major trading power in the region, which incurred the ire of the Hanseatic League.  During a war between Denmark and some of its enemies (including Sweden and the Hansa), Absalon's castle was torn down.  This may seem irrelevant, but it is important because it marked the first castle in a series of four or five that were built on top of each other.

Following the destruction of Absalon's Castle, the Copenhagen Castle was built and became the seat of power in the city.  It was also at this time that the Kalmar Union was established, which linked the thrones of Norway, Sweden and Denmark together.  This union last formally from 1397 until 1523. While all three nations remained in existence, the nobility of the three would elect one of the kings to act as the King of Sweden, Norway and Denmark.  There were interruptions and conflicts, but it was during this time in the 1413 when Eric of Pomerania made Copenhagen his capital.  Due to feelings of unfair treatment and anti Danish sentiment (the Danish wars near Denmark's southern border continually interrupted trade), Sweden rose up to revolt against the Union.  Sweden became independent in 1523, which dissolved the Kalmar Union, but Denmark and Norway remained together.

Because of the Union, Copenhagen had begun to flourish and become more like other European capitals like London or Paris.  It remained the capital of the Danish-Norwegian Union, but it saw its share of hardships during the Reformation.  Denmark had remained Catholic, but the Lutheran states in the German region wanted otherwise.  The Lutheran forces attacked Denmark and it became a Protestant state.  The 18th century was probably the most difficult for the city.  The city lost almost 1/3rd of its population the Plague.  Later in 1728, the city suffered the first great fire and saw nearly half of the city burn to the ground.  By this time, the Copenhagen Castle had been replaced by Christianborg Palace.  The 1730's and 40's saw a great deal of the cities resources go towards rebuilding the city.  They began to switch to stone construction due to the close quarters causing the old wooden buildings to burn quicker.  Christiansborg mysteriously caught fire in 1794 and burned down along with half of Copenhagen, which had again been burned down.  The Danes rebuilt Christiansborg and unfortunately this one also burned down.  The current oe that stands in Copenhagen was completed in the early 1900's.  During this time, the royal family began using Amielianborg as

During the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark tried to keep its neutrality, but the English forces decided that this was not a wise move.  The British laid siege to Copenhagen and managed to steal every boat that was in the harbor.  The rest of the 19th century was peaceful for Denmark and during World War One Denmark was able to maintain neutrality.  During the Second World War however, Danish forces surrendered to the Nazis in a matter of hours.  The Nazis used Denmark to show that the Nazis were capable of treating a country fairly, which led to Denmark maintaining some autonomy.  Denmark and Copenhagen were finally liberated in 1945 and today is considered one of the safest, most modern capitals in all of Europe.

One of the older streets in Copenhagen

When I arrived in Denmark, I expected to have a hassle getting to my hostel like I had in other countries, but Copenhagen's airport is connected to its metro system and after paying 35 Kroner (about 5 dollars) I was able to find my hostel without any issues.  The first day of the trip was spent exploring the city.  The first thing you notice is the bike lanes in the city.  At some points the bike lanes are wider than the street itself.  Copenhagen actually has more bikes than people, which I found a little shocking since biking is not a common mode of transportation here in the States.  I was travelling with my friend Alyssa, and we started to explore around the Town Hall Square area.  We happened to run into a group offering a free tour and decided to join and learned about the city and its different areas.  Unfortunately, due to the fires in the 18th century, there aren't too many old historic buildings in the city.

After we ended in the Nyhavn district, we began to explore a little more on our own and decided to visit the second oldest amusement park in the world, Tivoli Gardens.  I have read about how Disney World Paris was a massive failure, so I was curious to see what a European theme park would look. The park itself uses a lot of Asian and Indian influences and is comparable to Busch Gardens, but cheaper.
        

During the second day of the trip, we decided to visit some of the castles in Copenhagen.  We started with the one that was the farthest away, which was Rosenborg Castle (No, this one did not burn down).  Rosenborg was built on the 17th century and was used by Danish king Christian IV.  Today the castle is open as a museum with the Danish treasures and imperial regalia being housed in the basement.


The second castle we visited was the current Christiansborg Palace, which houses the parliament.  Here we decided to climb the tower and get an overview of the city.  We also payed a visit to a unique area in the basement, a museum dedicated to the old castles that used to be there.  You can even see remnants of Absalon's Castle and the Copenhagen Castle built around it.  The museum provides information about how each castle was built and how they were destroyed. 

After visiting the castles, we decided to pay a visit to the Stroget (pronounced strew-yet), which is the main shopping street in the city.  It is credited with being the first pedestrian only street in Europe and has stores for anyone's tastes.

On the final day of the trip, we decided to head to the Danish National Museum and see some of the ancient and viking artifacts they had on display.  The museum is enormous and requires more than two hours to actually see everything.  We spent a little too much tome here and barely got to the airport on time.  Unlike any of the other airports I visited, Copenhagen's is actually quite busy and you should allow more than 90 minutes to get there.

Vienna:

St. Steven's Cathedral

Vienna is the capital of Austria and was the capital of the Habsburg family, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  Since we do have a blogger writing from Austria, I'll leave the historical perspective to her (If you want to check out her blog, click the link at the end of the post).  This was the only country I visited where I could actually speak the language, and I avoided speaking English as much as possible.

I started first day in Vienna by exploring the city in general.  Whenever I visit a new city, I like to spend the first day exploring the city so I get an idea of what I want to do and when I should do it.  My hostel was by the Nachsmarkt, which is a farmer's market and shopping area about 10 minutes from the city center.  One of the main things I initially noticed about the city is that it was the most architecturally detailed city I have seen.  Almost 90% of the buildings have some kind of sculpture or detail on them.  I then made my way to St. Stevens Cathedral and climbed the south tower.  After taking a few panorama shots I went back to exploring the city and spent my evening wandering the Nachsmarkt a little more.

The next day, I then decided to visit the Hofburg treasury and the natural history museum.  Hofburg was the administrative seat of the Habsburg family.  Unlike Denmark, who still has a monarch, following the First World War, Austria became a republic.  The treasury contains some of the most important Austrian and Christian artifacts in Europe.   In the photo on the right, you can see three relics given to the Holy Roman Emperor.  The most important is the last one on the right.  Supposedly, this is supposed to be a piece of the First Cross.  The also had both the crowns of the empires ruled by the Habsburg family.

I started my next day by visiting the Nachsmarket once again.  Every Saturday the market is re purposed to become a sort of flea market, where you ca find anything from antiques to clothes to food.  I ended up purchasing an example of Austria's currency from before the Euro, which was called the Schilling.  After this, I boarded the metro and rode for about 10 minutes before arriving at Schloss Schonbrunn.  Schonbrunn was used as a summer residence for the Habsburgs and was used by the royal family until Emperor Franz Joseph passed away in this palace in 1916.  One of the biggest draws to the palace is not only the spectacular interior, but also the beautiful gardens.

The exterior of the palace

The iconic long hall

One of the tunnels in the garden area

The "Venus of Willendorf"

After exploring Schonbrunn for a few hours, I decided to visit the Natural History Museum.  Now you are probably wondering why I would want to go to a natural history museum, but I had a very specific reason for the visit.  The picture below is of an ancient statue known as the "Venus of Willendorf".  It is believed to be a icon depicting a fertility goddess and was given as a gift to the Austrian Empire and became a part of the museum.  The museum was amazing, the interior was as if the original building was meant to be a palace.  Most of the older exhibits came from the collection of a Habsburg prince and contains one of the world's biggest collections of meteorites.

The next day was spent over in Slovakia exploring their capital of Bratislava.  Bratislava was originally known as Pressburg and was once a temporary capital for the Kingdom of Hungary.  There are several ways to reach Bratislava from Vienna, seeing that the two are only about two hours apart.  You can choose to use the bus or a train or if you are feeling adventurous, you could possibly rent a car for a day.  I chose the train and it only cost about 20 euros for the trip.  Once I arrived in Bratislava, I had to walk from the train station to the old town, but like a lot of other times during my trips, I got lost.  It took an extra 20 minutes to find the old town because the street signs were confusing.

A view of the main square

While Bratislava was not my favorite city I visited, I found it to be very charming and scenic.  I spent most of my time there exploring the old town and Pressburg Castle.  I found the old town to be very small, but unlike many cities, it still had a good part of the original city wall intact.  After spending a few hours exploring this area, I decided to head up to the castle and see what it was like.

The oldest part of the castle dates back to the 13th century and houses the Crown of St. Stephen. which was used to coronate the Hungarian kings.  The rest of the castle dates back to many other periods, but most of what you see today is the result of the restoration projects undertaken in recent decades.  Within the castle, there are many museums including the National Slovak museum.  I paid a visit to most of the museums, and learned a lot about the Slovaks involvement in the World Wars.  There were also exhibits portraying the history of the castle and how the restoration projects were completed.  At the time of my visit, there was still some projects being completed.

I journeyed back to the old town to get dinner and went back to the train station to catch my train back to Vienna.  The next day was spent in the airport and travelling back to Finland to prepare for my final exams  and my departure back to the United States.

Leaving Finland:
After I was done with my exams, it was time to pack everything and say my goodbyes to the friends I had made during the five months I was there.  I'll admit that I was feeling down about leaving; I met so many different people from different countries, I had seen and learned so much during those five short months that part of me was not ready to leave yet.  Even as I boarded the plane to leave Helsinki, I was still feeling down that my time in Finland was over, but even though my study abroad adventure was over, I still had one more trip to take before I would get back home, Iceland.

Reykjavik 
Before I left for Finland back in January, I booked my flight with Icelandic Air and as one of their promotions to boost tourism within the country, they offer a layover deal where you can stay in Iceland for up to five days without any extra charges.  I arrived at Keflavik airport and took a few buses to my hostel. Keflavik was one of the nicer airports I visited, but the downside was that I was about an hour away from Reykjavik itself and there are not many options for getting into town.

A view down from the main street

Mountains that can be seen from the city

I almost got on the wrong bus when transferring outside the city, but thankfully most of the Icelandic people speak English.  I spent my first day in Reykjavik, a name that translates to "Smoky Cove" or "Smoky Harbor", exploring and familiarizing myself with the city itself.  Reykjavik is different from the other cities that I visited.  The architecture is very different, with most of the buildings being very short and compact (maybe one or two stories at the most) and most of them made out of stone.  Being the northernmost capital in Europe, it was also very different temperature wise from the others, with it being between about 50-60 while I was there in early June.

Iceland itself was originally settled by a Norwegian and Swedish vikings during the late 9th century, however the people that did live in Iceland were not the typical viking (pillaging, sailing, etc), most were farmers ad even set up one of the earliest forms of democracy since Athens.  People would gather at the Althingi (Alþingi in Icelandic) to decided matters of law and settle disputes.  Eventually Iceland was tied to the Norwegian Crown and later the Danish Crown under the Kalmar Union.  During the mid 1800's, Iceland went through a national awareness movement and began to demand more Independence from the Danish.  They finally gained their independence in 1918.

One of the most interesting things I noticed about Iceland's culture was the language.  You can see an example above, but when you compare the Scandinavian languages (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland), its very different.  The main reason for this is because the Icelandic language is much closer to the original language of the vikings.  I had several Icelanders say that they could travel to Norway or Sweden and read the old historic texts almost perfectly.  That would be the equivalent of an english speaking country using Shakespearean English instead of modern English.  The main reason is that Icelanders were isolated for most of their history so there was not a huge opportunity for the culture to evolve.

After spending my first day exploring, I spent my second day simply relaxing at the hostel and talking with the other guests, so not much to talk about there.  Now the third day was when I took one of the two tours I took while in Iceland.  If you remember, when I went to Dubrovnik in Croatia, There were a lot of Game of Thrones filming sites.  If you are a fan of the show, then you'll be pleased to know that the area Beyond-the-Wall and certain parts of the Vale were filmed in Iceland.  During the tour we visited a few of these sites and visited a mock example of an early viking longhouse.  This was my introduction to Icelandic nature and the best way to describe it was that it was ruggedly beautiful.  The first area we visited was Thingvellir National Park and explored the are where the Bloody Gate resides.  We then visited the mock viking site where Olly (a character in the Night's Watch) escaped a raid on his village by the Wildlings.

The road leading to the Bloody Gate

A small viking church used to film part of the show

  








The entire tour lasted about six hours and since I was a fan of the show, it was a great experience for me.  The next day I spent wandering around the city again and visited the National Museum where I learned many of the facts provided earlier.  I tried to find the very small old town, but after walking around for two hours, I was unable to find any sign of the area.  I also spent part of my day preparing for my second tour, and learned about Iceland's prices.  

In Iceland, they use the Krona, which is similar to the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian currencies, but due to a not so well off economy, the Krona is worth less than its other Scandinavian counterparts.  One euro equals roughly 140 Krona.  That does not mean that things in Iceland are cheap.  According to a few articles I read, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are three of the most expensive countries in Europe and the world.  It is easy to avoid high prices at stores, since you can choose cheaper alternatives, but with restaurants, most will run you about 20 dollars for the cheapest meals.

Onto my second to last day in Europe.  This day was spent taking a hike through Thorsmork National Park.  This was by far one of the hardest things I have ever done.  The hike lasted about 10 hours and we climbed almost a full kilometer.  It was a beautiful hike and was well worth it, but I learned really quick that I was more out of shape than I had thought (I'll have the photos of the hike at the end).  I knew that the hike was going to be difficult, but I felt like it would be a good way to end my time in Europe since it perfectly summed up my experience.  It was easy at times, difficult at times, but at the end of it, you could look back and feel proud that you did it and know that you saw some incredible things.  

As for the hike itself, we would usually take a break once an hour, with a longer one for our lunch.  Most of the beginning of the hike was actually fairly easy, where the difficulty came was when we had to trek through the snow.  Trying to hike a few miles in shin deep snow is not easy.  I also nearly fell off one of the mountains because the snow was not completely frozen in one area.  Thankfully my guide, Palmi, caught me by the belt and gave me a moment to get to a safer foothold.  We ended our hike by walking on a snowy plain between two volcanoes with glaciers on top of them.  One of the volcanoes was the one responsible for the 2010 eruption that disrupted air travel around the Atlantic (in Icelandic the name is Eyjafjallajökull).  The other volcano was called Tindfjallajökull, but this one has not erupted since the Holocene period (roughly 12,000 years ago).  Unfortunately we were not able to finish the last mile of the hike due to a high amount of ice on the next ridge.  After that hike, I was so sore that I just went back to the hostel and went to sleep.  After that, I simply went back to Keflavik airport and flew back to the U.S.

 Thank you all so much for reading and taking time out of your day to read this blog.  I once again apologize for the very long delay in getting this post up, but I hope you all have enjoyed the blog.  I do have one more post coming up discussing some tips I have for studying abroad and some of my favorite places.

If you want to read more about Vienna, take a look at another one of our IB bloggers: http://michellespostcards.blogspot.com/ 

See you all next time!

Finnish Culture and Krakow, Poland

Dzien  dobry (hello in Polish) and welcome back to the blog, last time I talked about my experiences in the capital city of Lithuania, the city of Vilnius.  This time I will be talking about some of my observations that I've had of Finnish culture and I will also discuss my recent trip to Krakow, Poland.

Finnish Culture:

In Finland, one of the first examples of culture you will find is with the public transportation system. In Finland, there is a large emphasis on being on time and all the transportation in Finland runs on a very specific schedule.  The people also follow this for the most part.  When you are supposed to be somewhere at 10am for example, it is considered polite to be either somewhat early or right on time, and being even a couple minutes late can be considered rude.

Another thing that you notice on the public transportation is that is very quiet.  For the most part when people board a bus or a train they will not speak much at all.  Now if they are riding with a friend or two, then they will likely talk, but it is considered rude to speak too loud on the transportation.

One of the more noticeable things in Helsinki is how safe people feel with their kids.  When you walk around Helsinki, you can't help but notice how many young kids (maybe between the ages of 8 and 10) walking with a couple friends or completely alone.  Even on the buses and trains there are kids riding by themselves.  Back in the U.S I don't think there are many places where it would be considered OK to do this, but here in Helsinki, it is completely normal.

In the US, we like to have a bit of personal space and for the most part this is true in Finland.  When you are in lines, you give other people about one foot of space and at ATM's you stand about two to three feet away from the person using it.  Speaking of lines, Finland loves using queues.  When you go to a bank or the transportation office, you usually have to take a number and wait to be called.

Finland also has some of the most patient and courteous drivers I have seen.  In Helsinki, if there is no stoplight, then the pedestrian has right of way and unlike the US, i have seen people slam on their brakes before anyone gets to the crosswalk and wait for you to cross.  You do hear the occasional honking, but the majority of the drivers follow all the rules.

If you are American, then you may encounter some differences when you go to a store and checkout. The cashiers here do not make small talk.  Most of the time they will only say "hello" or "would you like a bag for that" and that is it.  Finnish people don't seem to like dragging things out, rather they focus on getting the job done with as few distractions as possible.

Probably my favorite part of the culture is sisu.  Sisu is a Finnish word that doesn't translate very well to English.  What it represents is being manly and never letting something get in your way.  Once you start something, you are expected to do everything in your power to finish it.  I've had to employ this a few times (mostly when I have gotten lost in Helsinki) and I love the determined attitude it makes.

 Krakow, Poland: A Historical Perspective

Now that I have talked about a few things that I have noticed while I've been in Finland, it's time to talk about my recent trip to Poland, but before we get started, here is a little history about Krakow and Poland in general.

Supposedly the city of Krakow was founded by mythical king Krak, who is also rumored to have founded the Wawel Castle in the city.  The city served as the capital of Poland for many years and was a major trade center in the Slavic areas and was even a Hanseatic League member.  During the Renaissance period, Krakow saw an immense amount of growth, with many churches, synagogues and universities appearing in the city.  During the 16th century, the Jagiellon family died out (you may remember the name from my Vilnius article) and the Polish throne bounced between different families before falling to the Vasa family of Sweden.  Once Sigsmund III took over, he moved the capital to the city of Warsaw.

Poland itself was a relatively small kingdom in Central Europe, but when it joined with Lithuania, it quickly became one of the most powerful nations in the region.  Despite enjoying many years of cultural growth and prosperous times, Poland disappeared from the map in the 18th century.  In the 1790's, a combined attack from the Prussian, Russian and Habsburg (Austrian) empires.  Krakow fell into the Habsburg area and has always maintained a fairly Western attitude while Warsaw fell to Russia, getting a more conservative attitude.

Poland remained split until the outbreak of World War One, when Polish rebels broke away from Russia and established the Second Republic.  During this time, Krakow increased its academic resources and saw a huge increase in the Jewish population of the city.  The republic spent most of its existence fighting both Czechoslovakia and Lithuania for territory, but once again, Poland was dashed from the map.  Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin met in secret and agreed to divide Poland.  When WW2 broke out in 1939, both Nazi's and Soviet forces quickly crushed the Polish military and Poland suffered greatly during the war.

Krakow was spared somewhat.  The city was mostly under Nazi control for most of the war but unlike Warsaw, Krakow was spared the destruction of the retreating troops.  This means that Krakow was able to keep many of its historical buildings.

At the end of the war, Poland became part of the Warsaw Pact and was forced to have a Soviet approved regime.  During this time, the main way that Poles were able to defy their Soviet occupiers was through their religion.  Poland is a very catholic nation and has been for centuries, but in the Soviet states, religion was completely banned.  In a famous event, Pope John Paul II made a visit to Krakow and helped spur the Solidarity movement in Poland.  When the Soviet Union collapsed, Poland like many of the Eastern Bloc countries gained independence.  Today Poland is a member of the European Union and a member of the Schengen Zone.

The Trip:

I arrived in Krakow and was not sure what to expect.  However, after walking about 20 minutes to the city walls, I was greeted with something that I had not seen for a long time.  Trees.  Not just any trees though, trees that had their leaves and looked alive.  I shouldn't have been so excited to see that, but it made the city look that much more beautiful.  I started my journey on the main street outside the market square.  The city was packed with tourists from all over, but like I said in the last section, Krakow still has many of its original buildings and is one of the most charming places I have visited.

I also want to apologize for the lack of photos of the interiors of the places I visited, the employees were extremely strict about not taking photos inside any of the attractions.

A view of St. Mary's Cathedral and the famous Cloth Hall

In the market square, there are two main things to see, the Cloth Hall and the St. Mary's Cathedral.  The Cloth Hall is the site where the local guilds used to meet to sell their goods and today serves as a large souvenir market for visitors.  St. Mary's on the other hand, works like you think it would.  It is still occasionally used as a church, but mostly serves as a museum and is also the site of the famous visit by Pope John Paul II mentioned above.

I spent most of my second day in Krakow exploring the Wawel (pronounced Vavel) Castle which served as the seat of power for the royal family until it the capital moved to Warsaw.  This was an amazing experience.  The castle is well preserved and has about seven or eight permanent exhibits and a few temporary ones as well.  Since I was visiting on a Saturday, I didn't have enough time to visit everything, but I was able to visit the Wawel Cathedral, State Apartments, Tresury/Armory and the special da Vinci painting they had on display.  

I started with the cathedral and it is one of the most colorful and decorated churches I have since since being in Russia.  The church is also one of the oldest I have seen, being completed in the 11th century.  Wawel is also the location of many of the kings of Poland, with their many tombs strewn about both the royal catacombs and the ground floor of the church.  The center of the church has an altar of St. Stanislaw (pronounced Staniswav) and serves as a patron saint for the city.

After visiting the cathedral, I decided to pay a visit to the da Vinci piece.  I had the opportunity to see two in St. Petersburg, but this one was special.  It was the first painting that I ever critically examined and began my love of classical art.  The name of the work is Lady with an Ermine.  I never thought I would be able to see something like that in Poland, but I was glad I paid to see it.

My journey through the castle continued with a tour of the State Apartments and the Treasury.  These two were pretty standard when compare to other European versions, but none the less, it demonstrates how wealthy and powerful the monarchs of Poland were.  In the treasury, the main thing you have to see is the coronation sword used by the monarchy near the 15th century.

A view of the inner courtyard of Wawel Castle

Now, I have to say that Polish food was one of my favorites.  Pierogies, various meats, pretzels, etc.  No matter what you want (unless you are a vegetarian) there is something for you.  Apparently one of the local things is to eat some bread with pickles, some sort of spread that was like cottage cheese and some salty fish.  I've never been much a fan of fish, but I tried it and while it is not my favorite, its not bad.  However my favorite thing was the pierogies.  These are little dumpling filled with anything from cabbage to potatos to meat and they are a cheap way to get a good meal in Krakow.

On my third and technically final day before I left, I decided to pay a visit to one of the remaining scars from WW2.  In the small town of Oswiecim, there is a museum that stands as a reminder of the horrors of the war. If the town's name sounds familiar, it is because it had a German name during the war, Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was the most vile and widely known death camp of the Holocaust.  There were three parts to the camp, Auschwitz I, Birkenau, and Monowitz.  Monowitz no longer exists, but was used to create the infamous Zyklon B gas used to kill anywhere from 1.1 to 1.5 million people.  I was able to visit both Auschwitz I and the Birkenau areas.  If you find yourself in Krakow, you should pay a visit to the camp.  It was not happy, nor will I say it was enjoyable, but I thought it was important to pay my respects to those who perished there.  

What you see above is the infamous gate into Auschwitz I with the German phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei", meaning "Work will make you free".  This was the first introduction to the camp that the victims had, believing that working hard would let them gain their freedom later.  The camp was originally a barracks for Polish troops, but was requisitioned by the Nazis for use as a labor camp.  Currently most of the buildings are open with each one holding a different exhibit.  While the guides do encourage photos, there are two locations here that forbid it and i'll explain later.

The first exhibit we saw dealt with the original deportations and while many were Jews, there was a high number of criminals, disabled, gypsies and anyone not desired by the Nazis.  The highest number of victims actually came from Hungary, with the number being around 400,000 sent to Auschwitz.

The next building was one where we weren't allowed to take photos.  Inside one of the rooms, behind glass was a wall filled with human hair.  Hair that the Nazis took from women who came and died in the camp.  The hair would be collected and sold as a textile material.  There were other walls filled with possessions that were lost by the victims.  One room showed all the prosthetic limbs taken from dead inmates.  Another room showed the luggage that people arrived with, complete with names, addresses, etc.  The Nazis told people to put ID's on their luggage so they could get it again.  This was a lie to keep the chance of panic low.  The final room, which was the hardest to see, was a long room with glass on both sides.  Contained within these walls are 80,000 single shoes.  Its not something that is easy to consider, especially when you think that it is only about 7 percent of all the victims.

The third building was block 11.  This was where many people who disobeyed were brought and likely died.  The cells in the bottom were used to torture and murder innocent people.  Most of the people taken there died of starvation, but it is also the place where Zyklon B was first tested.  The Nazis were using it to kill rodents at first, but decided to test its capabilities to kill humans.  The first subjects were unlucky enough to be given a small dose that took almost two hours to kill them.  Outside the building is the wall where many victims were killed by firing squads or were put through excruciating tortures to render them unconscious

The final building was the worst of all for me.  It dealt with the children and mothers that came to the camp.  The inside is lined with photos of inmates, mostly the ones deemed "important" by the overseers.  Now as for the children, any who were under the age of 14 were deemed "unfit for work" and were sent immediately to the gas chambers, along with women with babies, old women, pregnant women and others.  Those that weren't immediately killed were subjected to Dr. Mengle.  Mengle would perform horrible experiments on the subjects, and if they survived the experiments, they were killed with an injection to the heart.

We finished our tour in this area and by the end of Auschwitz I, I felt somewhat numb, trying to keep from processing what I had seen.  I knew what was coming next, but I was hoping Birkenau wouldn't be as bad, I was wrong.

Birkenau was created to help the Nazis realize the "Final Solution" and reduce the camp's overpopulation.  It was a fully fledged death camp.  As soon as you stepped off the train, your life or death was decided with a hand gesture.  There was a camp doctor that would inspect new arrivals; if he pointed one way, you lived, and if he pointed the other, you were lead to the gas chambers and murdered.

While much of the camp is gone, you can still see the remains of the crematoriums and gas chambers.  Supposedly, when you are walking around these, it is likely that you are walking on top of the ashes of the victims.  We also saw the living conditions of the female population.  I could explain, but I'll let the photo explain for me.

The victims were liberated by the Soviet troops, with only a few thousand actually alive by that time.

Since I flew back to Helsinki the next day, this was the end of my trip basically, and even though it was important to see the camp, I don't want to go back.

On a more positive note, this weekend I leave to go on another trip, this time visiting a country not mentioned in the blog but is nearby to Poland.

Courtesy of Google Images

That's all from me, thank you for reading and nakemiin!

Vilnius Ventures

Welcome back to Seikkailu Suomessa!  Last time I updated you guys, I had just returned from my week long trip through Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia.  This time, I'll be talking about my final two classes here at Aalto as well as my trip to Vilnius, Lithuania.

Schoolwork a Plenty:

Now that I have started the fifth period here at Aalto, it is a signal that my time here in Finland is coming to an end.  This period I am taking two classes, Customer Relationship Management and Negotiation Analytics.  These two classes involve a good deal of mathematical analysis and like my other classes this semester, both of these classes heavily depend on case analysis's to help reinforce the material you learn in the class.

Lithuanian History:

That pretty much covered everything that is new at school right now, but there will be more coming up in my next post.

Like I said, following my last post, I went on a weekend trip to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, but before getting too far into what I did while I was there, I want to do my usual thing and provide some historical background information on Lithuania.

Lithuania is different from its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia, because it actually existed prior to World War One.  Lithuania was actually the final pagan country to fall to the Northern Crusades performed by the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order and Lithuania was one the largest nations in Eastern Europe.  Lithuanian has historically been considered a "Grand Duchy".  After researching the term, it appears that it was applied to countries that were not considered to be kingdoms or empires, but still held a great deal of power in its region.

While it was pagan for most of its history until the late 14th century, but it had a small stint in the early 13th century when it was an actual kingdom, not a grand duchy.  King Mindaugas I converted to Roman Catholicism to try and halt the crusades and after being coronated, he switched back to his pagan religion and attacked the crusaders.  The pagan rituals continued in Lithuania until the personal union of Jogaila, then the Grand Duke, and the Queen of Poland.

The two nations went through turmoil, but in the mid 16th century, after the Union of Lublin, the two were formally conjoined to form a new nation known as "The Commonwealth".  This nation was one of the largest in Europe, encompassing most of Belarus, the Baltics, Ukraine, Poland and small parts of Russia.  The Commonwealth was mostly dominated by the Polish culture and language, with Lithuanian customs being considered secondary.  The nation existed for a few hundred years, but both Poland and Lithuania were absorbed by the Prussian, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian empires.

Lithuania wasn't a nation again until the Red Revolution in Russia.  The new nation was much smaller than its historic predecessor, but was also occupied by Poland until the start of World War II.  During the war, Lithuania was brutally occupied by both the Soviets and the Nazi forces, with the latter enacting the Holocaust on the Lithuanian Jews.  After the war, the USSR forced Lithuania to join it and Lithuania once again disappeared from the maps, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, regained its independence.

Today Lithuania is a member of the European Union and recently adopted the euro, phasing out the old currency.

Quick fact:  Two of our Men's Basketball players are from Lithuania.  Laimonas Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas are natives of the Baltic country.

The Trip: Vilnius, Lithuania



Vilnius is the capital and the largest city in Lithuania and boasts the largest old town in all of Europe.  When compared to Riga and Tallinn, Vilnius appears to be better off economically and things are getting better in the country with the adoption of the euro.  When you compare prices in Vilnius to Helsinki, everything is much cheaper.  In fact, you can get a dinner at one of the more respected restaurants in Vilnius for about 5 euros.

I arrived in Vilnius at about 12:30am and after having one of the scariest taxi rides I have ever experienced, I arrived at my hostel, but there was one problem.  When I got out of the taxi, there was no sign of my hostel, no signs or anything.  Thankfully, there was a younger Lithuanian couple walking down the street that helped me find the entrance.  You can see the entrance in the photo on the right, its just a gate with a small sticker with the name of the hostel.



After getting a good night's rest, I set out to see the old town and made my way to the Cathedral Square and went to the Gediminas Hill to see the tower and get a good view of Vilnius.  The reason for the name is that the Gediminas was one of the most powerful Grand Dukes in Lithuanian history.  The tower is all that remains of the Upper Castle that helped defend the city for hundreds of years. Currently, the tower serves as a small museum telling the tale of medieval Vilnius.  After seeing some of the relics, I stopped to take in the panorama of the city.

After visiting the tower, I made my way down the hill and went past to the City Hall to take a free walking tour of the old town.  The tour was amazing, and regardless of what city you are in, try to find out if there is a walking tour, the local tourist office should be able to help you.  Our tour guide gave us an extensive three hour tour and showed us some of the most interesting parts of the city.

One of the more interesting parts of the city is the old Jewish areas.  Before WW2, Vilnius boasted a large and well respected Jewish community and had one of the largest libraries in Europe in the Greater Vilnius Synagogue.  During the war, many of the Jewish people were forced into one of the two ghettos that the Nazis had set up.  Unfortunately, not much remains of the Jewish quarter today, including the synagogue and most of the Jewish population.  Today it is a residential area and save for a plaque explaining this, you would never know what used to be there.

After visiting that part of town, we paid a visit to another interesting area that is called the Republic of Uzupis.  Uzupis is not a recognized republic, but it is a neighborhood populated by the artistic community.  The republic does have its own constitution, written in about 10 different languages and also guarantees certain rights like the right to no rights.  There is also a president that you will occasionally see him driving a yellow Cadillac through the city and there is also a standing military (all 12 of them).  Our guide told us that Uzupis was originally one of the most unsafe areas in Vilnius, but many artists began flocking the area due to the cheap housing costs and now it is a place for many young people to meet or live.  It is also unique because not many places can have the Dali Lama as an honorary citizen.

One of the bridges into Uzupis

The next stop on the tour was St. Anne's Cathedral.  It is an impressive red (it was originally yellow) brick Gothic cathedral dating to about the 13th or 14th century.  There is a myth that when Napoleon visited Vilnius during his march to Russia, he wanted to take the cathedral back with him, but this is not true, but makes for a good tourist story.  After the cathedral, we eventually made our way back to the Cathedral Square, which is home to the Vilnius Cathedral.

St. Anne's Cathedral

The Vilnius Cathedral

I met a few people on the tour and when it was over, we all went and got lunch from one of the local places and talked for a while.  Some of the people I was eating with said that I should visit the Museum of Genocide Victims.  I spent most of the rest of the day exploring the old town and enjoying what Vilnius had to offer.

The next day unfortunately had some bad weather, with it raining most of the day.  So after taking a long walk in the rain, I decided to pay a visit to the Lithuanian National Museum.  The museum is great way to get acquainted with Lithuanian history and most of what I learned was included in the above section.  There was also an exhibit showing the Easter traditions of Lithuania, and while the country does have the standard Easter eggs, there is a tradition involving these large broom like objects (I cannot find the name and cannot remember what they were called).

After spending a few hours there, I moved on the the Museum of Genocide Victims.  Originally I thought that it would go along with the Holocaust Museum also in the city, it is dedicated to the victims of deportation and execution at the hands of the USSR and Nazi forces since World War Two.  The museum itself is located within the old KGB headquarters building in Vilnius.  The museum has three floors, with the first two giving a timeline of the occupation and how many Lithuanians tried to fight against their Soviet occupiers and the bottom floor is an old prison containing a few exhibits.

During the Soviet occupation, thousands and thousands of Lithuanians deemed dangerous to the Communist regime were either deported to Siberia or were jailed in the bottom floor.  Many of the Baltic country citizens are described as being somewhat cold and reserved, but after seeing what the Lithuanians had to go through, it is easy to see why that is the case.  The hardest part of the museum was wandering through the jail.  Walking past cell after cell, some had normal accommodations, but the others were horrible.  There were a pair where the inmate would be forced to stand on a platform and was forced to balance on it while the floor was covered in about a foot of ice cold water.  When the inmate fell, they would have to step back on until the process was over.  There was another cell that was dark inside, but you could see a straight-jacket bolted to the wall to keep unstable inmates in place.  After working through this network of cells, you go outside and see the yard where prisoners received some fresh air, but past an unassuming door, you come face to face with the execution chamber where over 1000 people lost their lives.  The inside of the room is cold and bare, and the floor is essentially a glass walkway with the personal belongings of some of the executed prisoners located under the glass.  After seeing that I was ready to leave.

The main entrance to the Museum of Genocide Victims

Upon leaving the museum, I realized that the rain had stopped and decided to pay a visit to the Three Crosses Hill.  After a strenuous climb, I arrived at the monument.  There has been a set of crosses over the city since the 17th century, but the current three have only been there for about 30 years.  Currently, no one actually knows what the crosses were originally meant to be, but following their independence in 1991, it is considered a symbol of the city and provides some of the best views in the city.

The next day I flew back to Helsinki and prepared myself for my new classes.  Overall, Vilnius was a great city and I hope that someday I can visit again.  Now this weekend, I will be travelling again, and this is your hint this week, along with a photo.  Like when I went to St. Petersburg, I have already mentioned the country in this post and it was also occupied by both the Nazis and Soviets.

This photo is courtesy of Google image search

Thank you all for reading, stay tuned for more adventures!