Body Image --> Points for Finland.

So I was watching this show/documentary the other day on TV about a woman who is determined to shed some light on sexual education in Britain and basically all things related to it [I forget what it was called]. Her main problem was that teenagers growing up with the internet have unrealistic views of how bodies should look. Her solution? Bring in 5 women, call an assembly, and line the (obviously indifferent) women up naked to show the kids what real women look like. She tried to tackle stereotypes of the perfect chest... so on and so forth.

Of course, this has to somehow be Finland-related (or not, but in this case it is). I started thinking about how nudity in Finland is about as normal as eating breakfast. You head to the sauna naked with your friends, family, etc [usually girls with girls and guys with guys as you get older] so it's not like you've never seen naked people before. This probably doesn't solve the body image insecurity that many teenagers go through, and even adults obsess over but it must be an improvement!

Just a random tid-bit.

Otherwise, Juha's been on vacation for the past 2 weeks so we've just been lazing around town. Traveled up to Kajaani and Kuopio last weekend. Next week Radical Ninjas [the band Juha plays in] are playing a gig right here in Tampere so we're staying close and the guys are rehearsing lots. Also, I have unofficially but officially decided that I will be attending university in Helsinki in the fall, meaning: Hanken!

Back in the USSR!

I am back in Canada for 11 days and it has been pretty insane. I can't lie.

First, the idea of flying across the Atlantic was exhausting. Since I obviously had to go, I got pretty excited [although mind you, a little later on in my journey] and now I'm drawing all these links between life in Canada and life in Finland.

For one, it is so crowded here! Toronto gets progressively more crowded and traffic gets worse and worse each year. Any local will notice. But it's a little different once you leave and don't see the progression take place. It can be rather overwhelming for anyone, any way.

The amount of time spent in a car is astronomical... I had to go down to the Chinese Consulate to get my visa for China. THANK GOD I went last Friday. The drive took me over an hour because it's in an area that is unaccessible by highway [not that the highways actually go at highway speeds during rush hour]. And it's open from 9-11:30am in the mornings so I just figured that would be better than going in the afternoons. I finally got there, lined up for an hour, dropped off my application and asked that it be rushed so I could pick it up on Monday. When I went back on Monday, the line for Visa applications was, quite literally, out the door. And the line for MONEY ORDER payments of visas was... well, I didn't have to wait at all!

The sad thing is, no matter which direction you're going these days, there is likely to be at least one traffic jam on the way. And no, you can't really walk anywhere worth going here... or at least I can't. I have to walk 15 minutes to the bus, take the bus for 30 minutes before getting to the subway and taking that for 30 minutes to get downtown... so that's not very ideal. And from this respect, I miss Finland.

That being said, I've been visiting people left and right since getting here and I am so overwhelmed. I meet up with someone for a few hours and then I have to say good bye again and I really wish I could see them more often.

And the moral of the story is... I either need to be in two places at once or everyone should move to Finland. [Both of which sound rather unlikely.] In any case, I'm definitely really grateful to get to see at least a few people every couple of months. And to know that friendships stretch out far beyond geographic borders.

... and that was my morning of individual reflection. Now I have to go meet Eric! And then this afternoon, it's off to Montreal for less than 24 hours, as per usual.

Erilainen.

I want this post to be different than the rest. Usually, I write random things and I may refer back to them to either remember what I wrote about last time or to show someone pictures of Finland or the apartment. But I want this post to be something that I refer back to whenever I need to remind myself of what I've accomplished here.

It's no secret: moving to a different country is really hard and really scary. But I, like 99% of people [I'm convinced that made-up statistic is correct] was expecting the hard and scary but without actually thinking too much about it because then that fear might hold you back. In any case, I just wanted to make a list of the things I've accomplished so far in my time here and of the things I'm most grateful for.

But first, a short note on goals. For as far back as I can remember, I've been in school. I do not remember a time when I wasn't. Or if I have distant memories of that time, they don't factor in a whole week's worth of events. Studying shapes up in a very specific way. There are lessons, homework, group assignments, presentations, grades, results and of course, summer vacation. None of this is new to any of you, I hope. That system gets you in the habit of always knowing what to anticipate. It might be a dreaded result, I remember being in grade 4 and feeling pretty discouraged about the EIGHT remaining years of school. Still, imagine kindergarten kids! They don't even realize that they likely have as many as 22 years of school ahead of them. Some people become academics, teachers, professors and, in a way, always revolve around a school calendar. Others don't. What you don't anticipate though is the big black void of nothingness that follows the end of your life in school. And although I did get accepted to study for my Master's in September, that void is something I've now learned more about and will know to anticipate again, while I figure myself out in the next 2 years.

Things I've accomplished so far...
- Learned about big black void.
- Narrowed down some career possibilities [this had previously been done by the process of elimination so it was horribly slow and inefficient.]
- Learned to cook!
- Learned to eat healthy food!
- Stayed away from sugar, white flour, alcohol and bread for 3 months. [Don't think this is a big deal? You try.]
- Made friends in a completely foreign place.
- Learned to plan a day out of completely nothing! [Mind you, I haven't mastered this quite yet.]
- Got accepted to a Master's of Science in Marketing at a Swedish-speaking university in Helsinki.
- Scored a 650 on my GMAT.
- Learned how to say interior designer in Finnish. [Sisustussuunnittelija]
- Learned my way around Tampere.
- Learned how to ask questions in shops in Finnish... without being afraid.
- Provided e-support through Skype or phone whenever the occasion arose.
- Organized a Finnish language summer class for people interested. [Although the idea wasn't mine, it was Anne's. And I really hope people show up next week!]
- Speak Finnish with Juha, so long as we don't need to tell really long stories.
- From Start to Finnish by Leila White.
- I can follow along with the Finnish subtitles while watching Cold Feet and if I don't understand what they say in English [because their accents are so thick at times] I sometimes understand the Finnish translation. And the general gist of the subtitles makes complete sense to me now.

...
I can't think of other stuff right now but I'll can always come back later.

Things I'm really grateful for...
- My parents, family, friends [from all over] and Juha for continual support.
- Finnish summers.
- Finnish winters.
- The light after dark.
- Our apartment.
- Hanken.
- H&M [haha!]
- Pyynikin näkötorni.
- Canada.
- pretty much everything in between...
...
And again, I can't think of much else.

So thank you for listening, even though this post was written more for myself than for anyone else.

Tidbits from my parents' visit to Tampere!

There is absolutely no order here so don't worry if you think you're missing the point on some cryptic comic-book plot.

Saksassa.

There's always something disconcerting about flying with a discount airline. This is probably due to the fact that I grew up flying transatlantic, most often, and I'm used to the treatment offered by what I would call a "real" airline. What does this mean? Well... you check in at a regular airport, with lots of armed security guards and serious security measures. The airport is huge and you get a sense that you can connect to anywhere from that one place. You check your baggage, as per usual, at no extra fee and are allowed to carry 1 or 2 suitcases weighing 23kg each. You are obviously fed on the plane and your flight lasts over 6 hours. This is how most frequent-flyer North Americans travel. Now even though we complain about airline prices, we still yearn for a discount airline to fly us across the ocean or to the other side of the continent for $20. That would just be heavenly. But what we don't consider, are the perks we have to give up for the small price you pay.

Having recently moved (back) to Europe (again), I still haven't quite rapped my head around these short-haul flights. Especially not with an airline like Ryanair. As some of you may know, I took a little trip to Germany this weekend (I'm writing this from Dusseldorf right now) and I flew here with Ryanair...thus the disconcerting remarks.

I get to the tiny Tampere airport to check in and see a long like before me. There are no electronic signs flashing which line you should be standing in because it's very obvious: there is only one plane leaving the terminal and everyone in the airport will be on that plane. Check in is very unofficial. Instead of showing your passport so they can find you in the system, you show them a piece of paper you have to have printed ahead of time, otherwise you face a 40e fine for your lack of preparation. The woman checks my paperwork and I'm free to head towards security... does she even have a computer back there? I can swear it's just a keyboard without a monitor so it sounds like she did something. How does the system even work? IS there a system or would that set the airline back a couple thousand euros too far?

I "head" towards security, which is basically a continuation of the same line. The employees there seem to be more concerned about baggage restrictions rather than checking for bombs or forbidden items. The man standing in front of me was traveling with his wive and baby, who had stepped out of line to go PURCHASE a zip-lock bag for the affordable price of 3e (I knew to bring my own.). The security woman instantly attacked him "Sir. Yes, you. You have TWO bags. You are only permitted ONE bag." He looked at her... (confused as to why she was speaking English when he spoke Finnish, although of visible minority she assumed him to be English-speaking) and answered in Finnish that he's with his family. She eventually laid off him but I was asked to step in front of him to pass through security. I went through peacefully since none of my possessions seemed to arouse any suspicions.

The waiting area is a mess... there is one place to wait, but the room morphs into two sections and the seating area is movable, since it consists of chairs instead of seats that are screwed into the ground. This doesn't seem like a big deal, and it really isn't if you think about it, but the airport just gives you a sense of ... cheap... and cheap usually comes with some sort of assumptions on quality... and a cheap plane is the last thing you want. Anyway, I fought my way to get a decent seat and ended up with a window seat, my preferred option. Thank God for Juha and his noise-canceling headphones. I had charged and re-synced my iPod for the first time in 4 months before getting on the plane and realized that it had only loaded songs by artists A and B... so every artist starting with C to Z didn't make it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed Badly Drawn Boy for the entire flight and managed to drown out the loud talking and plane engine noise.

Now there's a weird phenomenon that takes place on these discount flights... somehow, people act less civilized because they pay less for their ticket. I'm not sure what it is but the air stewardess with a thick slavic accent had to ask us to quiet down and listen to the security video two times... repeating that "It's important and for your own safety!" Poor woman, we didn't really quiet down but the tape was played anyway. Then throughout the flight, you're constantly harassed by advertisements for smokeless cigarettes and deliciously-smelling pizza (nothing is free).

So here's the disconcerting part. As we began our decent, or what I supposed was the decent since no one said I couldn't wear my noise-canceling headphones and thus, I drowned out all the announcements, the turbulence started. It was a really cloudy and rainy day and we were jolted quite a bit. It wasn't too bad but enough to make you think, even if very briefly, that you hope nothing goes wrong. At one point, a girl even screamed, although I found that to be rather unnecessary. As we neared the ground, I noticed something seemed to be coming out of the wing... it looked like a stream of something... smoke, water, cloud...? I couldn't tell but was a little afraid. Still, I thought it must be normal since it seemed strangely familiar to me. (I later realized it was water because it was raining but not directly on the plane... just that the water was coming off the wing in a steady, small stream across the sky alongside us.) I busied myself by staring out the window the whole time and drowning out my surroundings. It was surprisingly helpful to picture myself on any other flight: Lufthansa, Air Canada... etc. Anything other than Ryanair, even if that seemed a little difficult since Ryanair is proudly scrawled into the plane's wing.

Now I've been on a hell of a lot of planes in my life, and I'm no pilot. I don't think I'd have the nerve to ever get in the pilot's seat for a lesson, or even do it professionally but I do have a keen sense of when the plane should take off the run-way and approximately what a smooth landing is going to look like. Nearing the ground and descending much faster than most landings I'd experienced before, I realized we were coming down pretty hard. Instead of a smooth landing, the pilot somehow slammed us down on the strip and people gasped a little. Nothing drastic, just that the whole discount image didn't make me feel as safe as usual. A few seconds later, that moronic trumpet goes off and everyone laughs. (There's a trumpet that welcomes you to whatever city and congratulated you on being on one of the 90% of Ryanair flights that arrive on time...because they inflate exaggerate their ETA to boost their ratings. No large feat.)

Now I may be sounding pretty bitter at this point but I really don't mean to. The flight was fine, I got from point A to point B without any problems and I paid much less than I would've on another airline (mostly because I knew the ins and outs... otherwise my ticket would've been an extra 40e if not printed, plastic bags are 3e and you need one, luggage is 10-15e/kg if not purchased ahead of time...etc). Still, being North American by pure habit, I can't deny that these trips don't make me a bit uneasy. Sure, we whine about high prices but for those prices, you get your perks too. No pesky announcements and NO trumpets. (That trumpet gets on my nerves every time... and what's worse is EVERYONE laughs. That will only encourage the trumpet further.)

But point being, when you fly with one of these airlines, people seem to consider their lives, hanging in the balance, much less seriously, while security and aircraft quality remain much the same. From a rough landing to laughing at a silly trumpet, it's purely a matter of perception and what each of us are used to. Still, I look forward to my transatlantic flight in late May with included meals, minimal announcements and my very own TV screen.

Merry Christmas!

So I noticed yesterday that "Merry Christmas" is no longer a phrase reserved for December 25th. And this has become increasingly obvious to me in the past couple of years due to facebook and other social networking tools.
Although the phrase did not come into usage this year, or any year really, as early as radio stations impose their Christmas songs on us, I'm only a few hours early here!

So to everyone:
Hyvää joulua! [Merry Christmas] and a safe and happy holiday.
<3.

P.S. Leaving for Europe tomorrow!
P.P.S. Finland in 10 days!