Finlandia!!!!!!
Self explanitory picture from Helsinki, Finland19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 – (Days 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30,) Six Days in Finland
So much to write about.
Tues 19. Packed things in the morning and met at the student union at 1:00. The other students were there and we found out that there were 10 international students going along for the trip. At first we didn’t really know what was going on because there was a lot of explaining in Swedish and a lot of singing in Swedish. We had to wait a while for the bus, he was late. When the bus got there we got on and everyone proceeded to start celebrating with drinks, I couldn’t I was on antibiotics for the whole trip. We learned some of our Swedish songs and sayings. We had to stop at the Bus drivers house, his name was Bjorn, and then we made our way to the harbor and boarded the ferry. It was very very large, comparative to a cruise ship. It was also very very nice. We got on the boat, found our rooms and then began to explore. There was a duty free store on the ship, as well as several restaurants, a casino, and a spa. I went up to the top deck with the Americans, and some of the guys began the night with some beers and Jagerbombs. I had a pepsi. We walked around a little bit and watched the cars getting loaded into the bottom of the boat. Then we hung out on deck for a while and watched as the boat pulled out and headed out towards open water, which took a while because Stockholm isn’t actually right on the sea coast. We went down and some of the guys hit the duty free store for some alcohol. I got some candy. My friends Seth and Nate each got a bottle of 1.5 liters of Heineken. They were good to go for the evening. We went to grab a bite to eat and then kind of split up a bit. We had some germans explain to us exactly what the outside of a Jagermeister bottle said, and had a debate as to if there was actually any stag blood in the bottle. We decided that no there wasn’t. After that we all kind of split up a little bit. I headed back to bed a bit later, and right afterwards some people brought one of my roommates in, and within 5 minutes of laying down, the person sat up and threw up all over their bed. It was the worst smell and the cabin was very small so we couldn’t get rid of it. I didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and then got of the boat in Helsinki.
Wed 20 - Got off the boat and headed to the university on our bus. We got there and were temporarily put in a room so that we could relax and rest. The Swedes were up and ready, the Americans, I can’t say the same for. The other four were a little hungover, and I didn’t get any sleep thanks to the vomit smell that penetrated my room. We sat around and discussed which events we would be doing the next day. Then a group of us headed to the grocery store to get a bit of food. After we came back some of us headed into Helsinki for a bit of sight seeing. The first place the five Americans went of course was. . . Mc Donalds. Sad I know, but so far I’ve eaten at Mc Donalds in four of the five countries I’ve been to. We started back and looked in a few shops. We stopped in a little corner market across from the square and picked up some shirts and post cards. We then headed down the street to grab some stamps (Although we never got to mail our cards from Finland because we were so busy and tired). Then we went back to the bus. After that we went up and had some dinner. After that we went to our “camp” for the week which was a daycare center, and we got ready for the opening ceremonies. We painted Swedish flags on our faces and got flags to carry. Then we lined up and started walking to the football (Soccer) field where the other countries were also walking in. We sang our songs and it was a bit of a competition to see who could sing the loudest. Then we headed to the gym where they had presentations waiting for us. Everyone was partying the whole time and having a blast. Then they said it was time to get on the busses to go watch the swimming event, but before we left the drivers got on the busses and said that because so many people were drunk that they wouldn’t let them into the swim hall, so none of us got to go to the swimming event. I was kind of bummed, but I just headed back to the daycare and fell asleep.
Thu 21 – Day 1 of real athletics.
Started out the morning with a trip to breakfast, and then headed back to watch some sports. I went to watch the volleyball game and for a long time none of the Swedes showed up. They had a soccer game that ran a little late. I was getting ready to play, but then they showed up. We lost, but finland had some guys that were in their 40’s, maybe 50’s so it wasn’t really a student event. Then we got on the bus and headed to the Monari (Sports Center) and watched a handball game, and then it came time for the basketball game. There were very few Swedes who actually played. In fact there was really only one, he was very good, but they couldn’t rotate in and out very much. So I grabbed some shorts and a jersey and played a little bit. It was very tiring and I wasn’t used to playing basketball, but I got in there and did what I could. We lost by a lot, again, Finland had some really tall people, and they were NOT college aged, so it wasn’t a fair game, plus with no one there to rotate in and out, we were dead. I went down and hit the showers and felt about a million times better. Went back and laid down for a bit, then grabbed some dinner. We met as a team again and discussed what would happen the next day and which events people would participate in. Then we headed out to Club Cooppera in downtown Helsinki, near the Olympic stadium. It was a theme party and the theme was legends from the last 60 years. I didn’t want to go out and buy a costume, so I borrowed a shirt from someone that had lots of gold crowns with a blue background and wore it and went as a Swede. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet more of the teammates and get to know them, and had a lot of fun. The first bus went back at around midnight I believe and it was 90% filled with Swedish people. It was lots of fun.
Fri 22 – Day 2 of Athletics.
This day is almost lost in my memory. I was so tired the whole day. Got up and went straight to Volleyball. Played against denmark, we lost, but not by much. Then headed back and played basketball. I watched some other sports including floorball, badmitton, and handball, but then again went back and got a little rest. Went to dinner, had a team meeting, and then got ready for the barn party. We were going to go in, but it cost 3 Euro to get in, so we decided that going back to the day care and hanging out would be more fun, so we did, and it was. Again, it gave us a good opportunity to meet more teammates. Apparantly right after we left they stopped charging, but it was okay.
Sat 23, last day in Helsinki
Another full day of sports, Basketball and Volleyball, the only difference is that we won both games. Norway didn’t show up to the volleyball game, and the whole team showed up to the basketball game so we could trade out players and keep people fresh. We beat Denmark in baskeball by 10 at least. It was a very good feeling. We all went back and packed up our stuff and loaded the bus. We were all dressed up in as dressy of clothes as we had, and then we headed to the opening toast. We then walked to our busses, and some Danish girls joined into the Swedish group so I got to talking with them, and they gave me their e-mail addresses for when I go to Copenhagen to show us around. We got on our busses and headed to the Astoria for the banquet. The Danes mooned us the whole way there. They were behind us in a double decker tour bus with a large window in the front of the second level. It was all in good fun.
Made it to the banquet hall and found out that Helsinki has Subway Sandwich shops, so I was jealous. Got into the banquet hall and found out that about half of the Swedish Team didn’t have places to sit, including me. So we kind of stood around until things got straightened out. I sat next to a Norwegian girl, a Danish Girl and my friend Rickard from Sweden. Dinner was fancy, 3 courses, and also WILD! Everyone was hitthing the wine hard, and they were awarding prizes. Every time someone won, their team sang some kind of song, and gave a speech. Denmark won almost everything, followed by finland and then Norway and Sweden only won a couple, I think we could have done better if we’d of had a larger team like Denmark and Finland. A Danish girl gave a speech that was quite risqué I wont go into details, but it started out something like this. “One morning at the Nordic Games a Danish girl woke up with a Swedish guy on her left, a Finnish guy on her right, a Norwegian guy on top and a Danish Guy underneath . . . “ That pretty much sums up how the danes were on the whole trip, party party party. After the Banquet we headed to the city square for the after party, which was a lot of fun. It lasted until 3 in the morning. After that we headed out and got on our bus, I fell asleep, but apparently we drove a couple of hours to Turku, a port on the western coast of Finland. We waited around there for a couple of hours for the ferry to get there. The Danes and Norwegians were also there. They just never stopped partying.
Sun 24 – Ferry ride back to Stokholm
We got into the lobby of the ferry company. The Danes were in full force singing their songs, and the Norwegians were still drinking. The Swedish team was very well behaved and not in the wild party mood. We got on the ferry and found our rooms, I’m pretty sure we were below the water line and next to the engines. I know for sure we were below all of the cars and busses. I grabbed some breakfast and then went to bed, a little backwards I know. I slept for 3-4 hours. Then I got up and started exploring this boat. It was much smaller than the first, but still nice. I went out onto the deck while we were on open water in the Baltic between Åland and the Swedish coast. It was So windy that I had to hold onto the rail the whole time. I walked up to the helicopter deck and had a look and it felt like you could see for forever. I could see 5 other ships out on the water at the same time. I then headed down and went inside. I saw there was a spa so I went in and got a massage and relaxed for a bit. I met up with some of the other Americans and basically just kind of rode out the rest of the trip. We were all tired. I bought some champagne in the tax free store and then we just waited to get into Stockholm. After we got off the bus, we all stood in a long line and hugged the other teams and said our goodbyes. It was a great way to end the trip. We then headed back to Uppsala and had one more hug line with the Swedish team and then headed back home. I was very excited to see that I had gotten a package from home and it had some of my favorite stuff in it. Oreos, Cheeze-its, Orbit gum and Sweet-tarts. I opened the package and went to bed!
Mon (25) – Recovery day
Didn’t do much today. Studied a bit and did a little work on my home examination for Global Crop Production. Went into town and got some dinner with the Americans, and just kind of picked up my room and slept in.
Tues (26) - Thomas’ birthday!
Got up and did a little more work on my take home final. Called Thomas for his birthday. He was very excited because he got a Detailed die-cast semi truck, a carhart shirt and coat, as well as some other neat things. Talked to mom for a bit. Then headed to Gottsunda with Nate to grab some groceries. We were on the bus and it got hit by a car less than 200 metres from where we got on the bus. We had to wait for half an hour for the next bus to come, and no one would speak any English to us to explain what was going on. Went and got our groceries, then headed back to the bus stop. It turns out we got on the exact same bus going back, so the damage must not have been too bad. Came home and then I met up with some people at SNerikes. Had some fun, grabbed some McDonalds, took the bus home and fell asleep.
Wed (27) - Got up early, finished my home exam. Seth took a jump drive into town to get everything printed off. In the mean time, the emergency room doctor called me from a week and a half ago to let me know that I have the Antibiotic Resistant strain of Staph. Aureus. Not good news. He said that he had to report me to the Swedish Infectious Diseases Department or something like that. I’m worried about if I could have gotten anyone else on the team to finland sick with it. I’ll have to ask the Swedish Version of the CDC when they call. Went out to eat at Tzatziki’s with Seth and the Gang because he is leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Indiana for a month. Came home, took some antibiotics again and went to bed.
So much to write about.
Tues 19. Packed things in the morning and met at the student union at 1:00. The other students were there and we found out that there were 10 international students going along for the trip. At first we didn’t really know what was going on because there was a lot of explaining in Swedish and a lot of singing in Swedish. We had to wait a while for the bus, he was late. When the bus got there we got on and everyone proceeded to start celebrating with drinks, I couldn’t I was on antibiotics for the whole trip. We learned some of our Swedish songs and sayings. We had to stop at the Bus drivers house, his name was Bjorn, and then we made our way to the harbor and boarded the ferry. It was very very large, comparative to a cruise ship. It was also very very nice. We got on the boat, found our rooms and then began to explore. There was a duty free store on the ship, as well as several restaurants, a casino, and a spa. I went up to the top deck with the Americans, and some of the guys began the night with some beers and Jagerbombs. I had a pepsi. We walked around a little bit and watched the cars getting loaded into the bottom of the boat. Then we hung out on deck for a while and watched as the boat pulled out and headed out towards open water, which took a while because Stockholm isn’t actually right on the sea coast. We went down and some of the guys hit the duty free store for some alcohol. I got some candy. My friends Seth and Nate each got a bottle of 1.5 liters of Heineken. They were good to go for the evening. We went to grab a bite to eat and then kind of split up a bit. We had some germans explain to us exactly what the outside of a Jagermeister bottle said, and had a debate as to if there was actually any stag blood in the bottle. We decided that no there wasn’t. After that we all kind of split up a little bit. I headed back to bed a bit later, and right afterwards some people brought one of my roommates in, and within 5 minutes of laying down, the person sat up and threw up all over their bed. It was the worst smell and the cabin was very small so we couldn’t get rid of it. I didn’t get much sleep that night. The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and then got of the boat in Helsinki.
Wed 20 - Got off the boat and headed to the university on our bus. We got there and were temporarily put in a room so that we could relax and rest. The Swedes were up and ready, the Americans, I can’t say the same for. The other four were a little hungover, and I didn’t get any sleep thanks to the vomit smell that penetrated my room. We sat around and discussed which events we would be doing the next day. Then a group of us headed to the grocery store to get a bit of food. After we came back some of us headed into Helsinki for a bit of sight seeing. The first place the five Americans went of course was. . . Mc Donalds. Sad I know, but so far I’ve eaten at Mc Donalds in four of the five countries I’ve been to. We started back and looked in a few shops. We stopped in a little corner market across from the square and picked up some shirts and post cards. We then headed down the street to grab some stamps (Although we never got to mail our cards from Finland because we were so busy and tired). Then we went back to the bus. After that we went up and had some dinner. After that we went to our “camp” for the week which was a daycare center, and we got ready for the opening ceremonies. We painted Swedish flags on our faces and got flags to carry. Then we lined up and started walking to the football (Soccer) field where the other countries were also walking in. We sang our songs and it was a bit of a competition to see who could sing the loudest. Then we headed to the gym where they had presentations waiting for us. Everyone was partying the whole time and having a blast. Then they said it was time to get on the busses to go watch the swimming event, but before we left the drivers got on the busses and said that because so many people were drunk that they wouldn’t let them into the swim hall, so none of us got to go to the swimming event. I was kind of bummed, but I just headed back to the daycare and fell asleep.
Thu 21 – Day 1 of real athletics.
Started out the morning with a trip to breakfast, and then headed back to watch some sports. I went to watch the volleyball game and for a long time none of the Swedes showed up. They had a soccer game that ran a little late. I was getting ready to play, but then they showed up. We lost, but finland had some guys that were in their 40’s, maybe 50’s so it wasn’t really a student event. Then we got on the bus and headed to the Monari (Sports Center) and watched a handball game, and then it came time for the basketball game. There were very few Swedes who actually played. In fact there was really only one, he was very good, but they couldn’t rotate in and out very much. So I grabbed some shorts and a jersey and played a little bit. It was very tiring and I wasn’t used to playing basketball, but I got in there and did what I could. We lost by a lot, again, Finland had some really tall people, and they were NOT college aged, so it wasn’t a fair game, plus with no one there to rotate in and out, we were dead. I went down and hit the showers and felt about a million times better. Went back and laid down for a bit, then grabbed some dinner. We met as a team again and discussed what would happen the next day and which events people would participate in. Then we headed out to Club Cooppera in downtown Helsinki, near the Olympic stadium. It was a theme party and the theme was legends from the last 60 years. I didn’t want to go out and buy a costume, so I borrowed a shirt from someone that had lots of gold crowns with a blue background and wore it and went as a Swede. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet more of the teammates and get to know them, and had a lot of fun. The first bus went back at around midnight I believe and it was 90% filled with Swedish people. It was lots of fun.
Fri 22 – Day 2 of Athletics.
This day is almost lost in my memory. I was so tired the whole day. Got up and went straight to Volleyball. Played against denmark, we lost, but not by much. Then headed back and played basketball. I watched some other sports including floorball, badmitton, and handball, but then again went back and got a little rest. Went to dinner, had a team meeting, and then got ready for the barn party. We were going to go in, but it cost 3 Euro to get in, so we decided that going back to the day care and hanging out would be more fun, so we did, and it was. Again, it gave us a good opportunity to meet more teammates. Apparantly right after we left they stopped charging, but it was okay.
Sat 23, last day in Helsinki
Another full day of sports, Basketball and Volleyball, the only difference is that we won both games. Norway didn’t show up to the volleyball game, and the whole team showed up to the basketball game so we could trade out players and keep people fresh. We beat Denmark in baskeball by 10 at least. It was a very good feeling. We all went back and packed up our stuff and loaded the bus. We were all dressed up in as dressy of clothes as we had, and then we headed to the opening toast. We then walked to our busses, and some Danish girls joined into the Swedish group so I got to talking with them, and they gave me their e-mail addresses for when I go to Copenhagen to show us around. We got on our busses and headed to the Astoria for the banquet. The Danes mooned us the whole way there. They were behind us in a double decker tour bus with a large window in the front of the second level. It was all in good fun.
Made it to the banquet hall and found out that Helsinki has Subway Sandwich shops, so I was jealous. Got into the banquet hall and found out that about half of the Swedish Team didn’t have places to sit, including me. So we kind of stood around until things got straightened out. I sat next to a Norwegian girl, a Danish Girl and my friend Rickard from Sweden. Dinner was fancy, 3 courses, and also WILD! Everyone was hitthing the wine hard, and they were awarding prizes. Every time someone won, their team sang some kind of song, and gave a speech. Denmark won almost everything, followed by finland and then Norway and Sweden only won a couple, I think we could have done better if we’d of had a larger team like Denmark and Finland. A Danish girl gave a speech that was quite risqué I wont go into details, but it started out something like this. “One morning at the Nordic Games a Danish girl woke up with a Swedish guy on her left, a Finnish guy on her right, a Norwegian guy on top and a Danish Guy underneath . . . “ That pretty much sums up how the danes were on the whole trip, party party party. After the Banquet we headed to the city square for the after party, which was a lot of fun. It lasted until 3 in the morning. After that we headed out and got on our bus, I fell asleep, but apparently we drove a couple of hours to Turku, a port on the western coast of Finland. We waited around there for a couple of hours for the ferry to get there. The Danes and Norwegians were also there. They just never stopped partying.
Sun 24 – Ferry ride back to Stokholm
We got into the lobby of the ferry company. The Danes were in full force singing their songs, and the Norwegians were still drinking. The Swedish team was very well behaved and not in the wild party mood. We got on the ferry and found our rooms, I’m pretty sure we were below the water line and next to the engines. I know for sure we were below all of the cars and busses. I grabbed some breakfast and then went to bed, a little backwards I know. I slept for 3-4 hours. Then I got up and started exploring this boat. It was much smaller than the first, but still nice. I went out onto the deck while we were on open water in the Baltic between Åland and the Swedish coast. It was So windy that I had to hold onto the rail the whole time. I walked up to the helicopter deck and had a look and it felt like you could see for forever. I could see 5 other ships out on the water at the same time. I then headed down and went inside. I saw there was a spa so I went in and got a massage and relaxed for a bit. I met up with some of the other Americans and basically just kind of rode out the rest of the trip. We were all tired. I bought some champagne in the tax free store and then we just waited to get into Stockholm. After we got off the bus, we all stood in a long line and hugged the other teams and said our goodbyes. It was a great way to end the trip. We then headed back to Uppsala and had one more hug line with the Swedish team and then headed back home. I was very excited to see that I had gotten a package from home and it had some of my favorite stuff in it. Oreos, Cheeze-its, Orbit gum and Sweet-tarts. I opened the package and went to bed!
Mon (25) – Recovery day
Didn’t do much today. Studied a bit and did a little work on my home examination for Global Crop Production. Went into town and got some dinner with the Americans, and just kind of picked up my room and slept in.
Tues (26) - Thomas’ birthday!
Got up and did a little more work on my take home final. Called Thomas for his birthday. He was very excited because he got a Detailed die-cast semi truck, a carhart shirt and coat, as well as some other neat things. Talked to mom for a bit. Then headed to Gottsunda with Nate to grab some groceries. We were on the bus and it got hit by a car less than 200 metres from where we got on the bus. We had to wait for half an hour for the next bus to come, and no one would speak any English to us to explain what was going on. Went and got our groceries, then headed back to the bus stop. It turns out we got on the exact same bus going back, so the damage must not have been too bad. Came home and then I met up with some people at SNerikes. Had some fun, grabbed some McDonalds, took the bus home and fell asleep.
Wed (27) - Got up early, finished my home exam. Seth took a jump drive into town to get everything printed off. In the mean time, the emergency room doctor called me from a week and a half ago to let me know that I have the Antibiotic Resistant strain of Staph. Aureus. Not good news. He said that he had to report me to the Swedish Infectious Diseases Department or something like that. I’m worried about if I could have gotten anyone else on the team to finland sick with it. I’ll have to ask the Swedish Version of the CDC when they call. Went out to eat at Tzatziki’s with Seth and the Gang because he is leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Indiana for a month. Came home, took some antibiotics again and went to bed.
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