Stuck in Finland.

This whole ash cloud is causing a lot of excitment and displacement and worry all around. I'm excited about travel plans... but I don't have to go anywhere. Whereas, Andy and Steffy are here visiting and trying to find ways to get from Tampere/Turku/Helsinki to Manchester and Mannheim, respectively.

We've read about poor bastards stuck in Istanbul traveling to Copenhagen and much luckier travelers going from Berlin to Riga (boo).

The first leg of the journey will most likely involve a train ride over to Turku where, if possible, Andy and Steffy will jump on a ferry to Stockholm. They have a car waiting to Stockholm which they can drive to Copenhagen in. The rest remains to be determined, likely as they travel.

I'll be in touch.

Bus Mare.

Traumatized. I took a bus trip – my first ever in Finland – on Tuesday. So judging from the first word, maybe you can guess what happened. That’s right, I got lost.
It wasn’t just around the corner either, it was to Hervanta and I ended up in some residential part of it and when everyone got off the bus… I told the driver I must have missed my stop. I’d gotten into the habit of actually asking people if they spoken English [it just seems more polite than me expecting them to] but after awhile it seemed obvious that everyone spoke English so I stopped asking. And another reason I didn’t ask this time was because when I actually need to speak with someone, I’m a little too frazzled so I skip the formalities.

Me: “Anteeks, but I think I missed my stop.”
Driver: *Stares at me blankly*
Me: “Puhutko sinä englantia....?” [Do you speak English?]
Driver: “*Mumble…*” … and then something that somehow made me feel as though he was asking where I want to go.
Me: “TTY.”
Driver: “TTY?”
Me: “Joo… yliopisto.” [Yes… the university.]
…
Driver: “Wait 7 minutes.”
Me: “Can I wait on the bus?”
Driver: “*Mumble*”

So I figured that was a no because it was somewhere between a joo/no [yes in Finnish or no in English] or an ei [no in Finnish]. The whole thing was really unclear and he obviously didn’t realize I was ready to turn on the water works. He looked at me really strangely when I got off the bus, leading me to believe that I could’ve stayed on it, and I waited 7 minutes for him to come back and drive the bus back in the direction from which we came. I found the place I was supposed to get off at and made it to acrobatics! [And I'm really happy I made it. I even managed to do 3 handstand presses... it must've been the pasta I had for lunch!]
It was the first time since I got to Finland that I a) wanted to cry and b) wanted to be in Canada. BUT NOW: I can ride the bus to Hervanta [I wouldn’t confidently say anywhere else] like a champ!

I can’t really explain why this was such a big deal but I guess it’s part of getting used to living somewhere new where you’re not at all fluent in the spoken language. You’re, not only, intimidated by the language but also the unknown surroundings and the possibility of getting lost and ending up in a situation where you can’t make yourself understood. That’s the part that makes in terrifying, I suppose. Regardless of whether or not you’ve traveled the world, this little aspect of culture shock does not seem to be more clearly explained than just freezing up and feeling very unsure of everything… so you definitely need to kick yourself in the butt sometimes and dare to get lost or not be understood. This is bound to happen again at some point so might as well get lots of practice!





Otherwise, I am exhausted. GMAT studying is getting more intense and less rewarding….or maybe more rewarding but I’m getting less happiness out of it. I was supposed to do 2 chapters today but that’s not going to happen. I skipped school yesterday to do 2 chapters and I have 2 math chapters left before finishing the entire Math book I have. Then I still have 100000 Verbal chapters before doing the full-length tests.

There’s an international student career information session today at 17:00 and I’m going with my Canadian buddy Sydney. But I can’t stay the whole time because I have to run-off to my other Finnish course which starts at 18:30. I am definitely not at all bored.