The Lappish Life

Whew! Has it been busy? I would have posted earlier, but I'll be dammed if the vile bronchitis didn't make its return. Anyways, I visited the north pole!! Well, not exactly the north pole, but I did get to go to Santa's Village on the arctic circle. :) Yep, that's right. Lapland is above the arctic circle, and I went there!

It wasn't as cold as I was expecting it to be. Needless to say, it was still pretty damn cold. While on our Lapland trip, we were able to snowshoe to the top of Levi Fell and look out over a sea of black because it was nighttime. Haha. On our way down the fell, we stopped at a fire hut for some roasted sausages and hot blueberry cider. Yummy! Then we hiked down through the woods and ended up at the top of the ski slopes!! It was a lot of fun to figure creative ways to go down the slope. Some walked, some rolled, and some slid down on their butts (I tried and failed miserably).

Another thing we were able to do was take an extra trip to Northern Norway to visit the fjords and swim in the Arctic Ocean! I couldn't pass this opportunity up, so I went. It was a lot of driving and twilight, but we made it, and the fjords were beautiful. The water wasn't bad either.

Another awesome activity we were able to do was snowmobiling. Anybody who knows me, knows I love four-wheelers, snowmobiles, jet skis, and all of the like. So of course I did this, and oh my gosh it was sooooooo much fun. In the middle of our trip, we stopped at a cabin in the woods for some coffee and cookies. They even had reindeer. :) I look a hot mess in the next picture because, although it was around 6F, the outfit made me sweat!

On the way home from Lapland, we stopped at a reindeer farm to have sleigh rides and learn some history of reindeer farming. Although they were cute, they were also a bit scary at times. We were again given coffee and cookies, and allowed to warm up in the house. I learned every reindeer in Lapland is owned by someone, and it is illegal to hunt reindeer.

Okay, so we returned home from our trip safely and soundly. Then Thanksgiving happened. The Americans and myself decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for all of our international friends. I am pleased to say it went very well. And all of the food was delicious. :) We had Native Americans running around, great conversations, and food left over even with 30 people there. It was arguably one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I have ever had. Pictured below is about half of the people; the other half trickled in due to the thick ice sheets outside that night.

Unfortunately after all of the fun, I was hit with bronchitis. This entire past week, I was lying in bed with a terrible cough and pains. The worst night was Tuesday night, but I will not go into details because that would just be rude of me, and I am not rude. ;) You're welcome. Haha. All I will say is, I beat you again bronchitis!

And that is what you've missed in my life. I hope you feel caught up now. I am going to "study" for my exam next week.

Nähdään,

Anthony

Nothing is Happening

Hi all.

It has been a while since my last post. That is because there has not really been anything happening lately. I wake up, study, watch the sun set around 3pm, and hang out with my friends. I have also been busy preparing and planning for Thanksgiving in Oulu. :) I forgot about that! Everything has to be ready before I leave for Lapland and Northern Norway. I have less than a week to go!! I am uber excited! My pic for this blog was taken at about 11 in the morning. It is also about the highest the sun goes in the sky at this time of year. OjO

Nähdään,

Anthony

PoBS

Looking at "PoBS," you do not know what it means unless you experienced the trip. For all who did not go on this trip, it is an acronym for "Pirates of the Baltic Sea." It was this amazing trip I went on from Helsinki to Stockholm on a cruise ship filled to the brim with crazy, fun-loving students from all over Finland hosted by Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Finland.

I told myself, "I am not going to get drunk on this trip. I want to really enjoy everything." That went out the window when I found out they were serving my favorite drink, champagne. :) I started the night off in a poorly constructed, last-minute costume as Antoinette, the ghetto, ratchet, albino black woman. By dinnertime, I had transformed into a booty-licious ghetto, ratchet, albino black woman, and was humped by about 20, yes TWENTY straight guys. Or should I say "straight" guys. Only two asked if they could feel my toilet paper breasts and pillow butt. The others? -.- Needless to say, Antoinette was dead at about midnight. Oh! The alcohol! So, after champagne at the kick-off party, I proceeded to enjoy a Sex on the Beach and then 4-5 glasses of wine and 4-5 glasses of beer with my boisterous amount of food all for FREE!!!! So yeah. I was pretty plastard after all of that.




The next day was spent visiting Stockholm. O.O There is nothing really to say about it except everyone was dressed posh, and it was old, and it was nice. Main point is that Stockholm was NOT the purpose of the trip. XD







The trip back:

This night was CRAZY. I don't quite know why, but it may have had something to do with the fact alcohol was open for sale from the tax-free shop for students on this night and not the latter. I may have visited the store and got a cheap bottle of wine (plus 4 packs of beer). By the end of the night, I was left with an empty bottle and 3.5 cases of beer. So yea. I will let you make your own conclusions about how drunk I was. X9 If you can't imagine it, I may have kissed not one, not two, but three people that night. One of which, I was not particularly fond of doing the next morning.
= (I)

Case-in-point:

Next semester, make sure, if you are a student in Finland, to be among the first to register for this trip when registration opens. Luckily, I was 17, but my flatmates were 124 and 166. We all registered at the same time - opening time. I WILL be going again next semester, and I expect to see ALL of my friends there as well XD.


Nähdään,

Anthony

Wow! What a crazy weekend!

Is it just me or are the toothbrushes having babies in our bathroom? We started the year at three; now, we have five. Yep, they are multiplying. :/ But don't fret! Redemption shall be mine. Well, actually it will be one of the FIVE people looking for me a guy. -_- Thanks guys but not really. Yes, a relationship would be amazing here, but I'm not looking, really. I'm enjoying my workouts six days a week and hanging out with my friends. Speaking of which, most of them were at the party this weekend which pissed off a LOT of people - not because of noise or anything like that. How about those two-dozen or so eggs that are scattered across the lot that were STOLEN from people's fridges? Or how about the car which was bombarded with eggs? Or the people hit with the eggs? Or the toilet paper set on fire in the stairwell? Yep, it was a crazy party. I wasn't even there! So please don't ask me any questions about it. All I know is what I saw the next day. It was NOT pretty. I hear there was a lot of drama there as well. I was sitting in my bedroom, watching Netflix, and chatting to people online :) I'm a good kid.........or rather I was a good kid for that night. ;) Anyways, that is all that I can conjure at this moment in time. 

Nähdään,

Anthony

p.s.  I forgot to mention the riddle!

I have changed my Facebook profile picture into a giraffe. I tried to answer a riddle and I failed! You can also try! This is how it goes:

I will give you a riddle, if you answer right, you can keep your profile picture. If you answer wrong, you must change it into a picture of a giraffe for THREE DAYS. Send me a message and I will tell you did you answer right or wrong! Here's the riddle: it's 3a.m., the door bell rings and you wake up. At the door there are unexpected guests, your parents and they wish to have breakfast. You have strawberry jelly, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What do you open first? Send me your answer, if it's right, I'll write your name here, if it's wrong, you change your profile picture into a giraffe.

Good luck! This is my picture:

 

Big Brother: TV Show in Real Life or Just a Good Friend?

It snowed here, and yes while it was fun to walk through and play in the fluffy white stuff, things got a little bit crazy around here. All of a sudden, people started staying in their rooms and not talking to one another. The honeymoon phase of life here is over. People are forming clicks and people are becoming lonely.  But enough with the depressing shtuff. I have worked out almost every single day with an awesome Bavarian girl, and I have made a really good friend who calls himself my "big brother." Haha. Today, I was going to participate in an event called MallasAppro, but my partner is sick and cannot participate. :( People tell me to go anyways, but I honestly don't feel comfortable being that drunk with anybody else. It's strange, I try not to be molded into clicks, but the people I hung out with at the beginning.....we don't hang out anymore. I don't know what happened. But the people I do hang out with, are awesome. Yes, they may have flaws, but everybody has flaws. Those who love your flaws as much as they love you are the best people to have in your life. The people I hang out with are the best people to have in my life, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I told people back home I wanted to move here after graduation, but I honestly thought I would get here and want to go home. The longer I am here, the more I want to stay. People here are way more accepting and the lifestyle here definitely matches my beliefs.

This is a picture of Nallinkarinranta I took while with Cam and Natacha.

As always: Nähdään!

Anthony

Ensilumi

Imagine my surprise on an October morning when I look out my window to a tree covered in SNOW!!!! I immediately jumped to my feet, ran to my window, and did the gayest thing possible. Yes, I bounced and flapped my hands on either side of my shoulders facing outward and screamed, "Oh my gosh! Snow!" You would too if you saw this:

Living in southeast, coastal North Carolina, we don't get snow. Like ever. And if it does snow, it doesn't stick because the next day, or even the current day, it is back to being 40 or 50 degrees. -.- So yes, I did become ecstatic when I saw the bright, white, glimmering fluff on the ground. Kill me, sue me. I am just glad to see snow like I saw as a kid in central NC. 8D

Nähdään!

Anthony

Awesome People Are Awesome

Well, seeing how I am a bit late on starting this blog, I have a lot of catching up to do. Where do I start? How about the arriving in Helsinki or my first night in Oulu? In the past two months, there are just so many things that have happened. The incident with getting drunk and telling a straight guy he is hot may not be the best story...

I know. I will start by describing my roommates, or as everyone here says "flatmates."

"Huh?" The perfect word to describe the Frenchie of the flat because he doesn't speak English very well. He loves to party and is always very helpful when needed. He studies plant biology. All you have to do is go on a walk with him and find a flower and he can tell you tons of information about it. I have to admit though, because he is French he tends to hang out mainly with French people. Most of the French here do. But let's not get into that.

"Fantastic!" describes the Brit of the family to a T. He is one of the most laid-back people I know between BOTH countries. He just wants to have fun and enjoy life. He doesn't like clicks, and he loves learning new languages and cultures. Don't even get me started on rocks. Can you guess his major? Yeah, it's geology. This boy gets super excited over rocks. And he is the only person I know who has fallen in love within the first month of being here. :) His "Princess," "Dove," "Angel" is a very nice German woman who is timid until you play a game with her. Then, she becomes very competitive, hahaha. My hand still hurts from Slap Jack. ;)

Honestly, when I discovered I was the only person from my university coming to Northern Europe, I figured there wouldn't be a lot of Americans here, let alone from my state. But that just isn't true. There are more people from North Carolina here than any other state, and most of the U.S. is represented here. We have people here from N.C., New Mexico, Alaska, Missouri, etc. These two NC girls in my building love to party. :) And the other Americans I hang out with are more chill. They just like to hang out - not really party that much.

I think I picked a good day to start the blog because yesterday, it snowed for the first time here. It was just some flurries, but while back home the temperatures are 20 C (70ish F) it is a cool 1 C (35 F) here. :) This unfortunately made me get a little cold, but some foreign medicine - which only cost €13 - is helping me out.

That's all I can really conjure up at this moment. I am going to sew some more patches on my coveralls.

Nähdään!

Anthony