Traveling to Oulu

September 5, 2009

Today I arrived in Finland with Rebekah who is also going abroad in Oulu from UNCG. We are currently waiting in the Helsinki airport to catch our next and final plane to Oulu. My stomach is a little messed up and I’m not sure if it’s due to my eating or nerves… or a combination. The Finnair flight was dramatically different from the U.S. Airways. When we boarded the plane, there were little green pillows and blankets waiting for us. The plane seemed clean and drove/flew so smooth that I wasn’t really affected by the take-off or landing. They served us grilled chicken and mushrooms and broccoli with little potato hashes, a roll, and a side salad for dinner. There was a little pound cake with crisp apples and brown sugar/cinnamon on the top for desert. They offered us wine or beer, but I just drank water. I didn’t want to mess with the Dramamine I had taken just before the flight. 

There were touch screen monitors in the back of every seat and you could choose to play games, watch tv, watch a live video outside the plane, view the trip progress and much more! I watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past first until about 3:30am (Finnish time).

I then decided I needed to try to sleep even though it was only 8:30pm New York time. I had trouble sleeping. I was a little cold and bundled up in my blanket but it was hard to keep myself in a little ball. I did doze off though with my iPod in and woke up pretty regularly and watched the plane progress on the monitor. I woke up one final time as we were in Norway. We looked outside, but all you could see were clouds. We went through Norway and then Sweden and I could feel the plane begin to lower as we went over the Gulf of Bothnia. Soon, we saw land and knew we had finally reached Finland! The eight hour flight really wasn’t that bad. Considering there was amazing food and service and endless entertainment. I hope our next plane is still a good flight even if it is smaller.

I am quite frustrated right now because I have no way of getting in touch with anyone. I thought there would be WiFi in the airports, but I was wrong. You can pay 4 Euros to call someone from this machine in the airport, but I am going to save my money so that I can call my kummi, Alli, when I get to Oulu. Rebekah decided to pay the 4 Euros and call her boyfriend because I think she was feeling very sad. I plugged my Finnish cell phone into the wall to charge it and found that I need a PIN to get into the phone. This means I will have to e-mail Eric when I get internet connection so that he can tell me what the PIN is to log into the phone. I just hope that there is some free internet around places in Europe. Everything is so expensive. Granted, I haven’t left the airport yet. But I also just hate the fact that I’m losing money due to the exchange rate. The first thing I bought in Finland was a chocolate bar. Let me tell you, Finnish chocolate is LEGIT! I got a huge bar for about 1,10 Euros and ate the first two rows of bars. I can’t wait to munch on that for the next week.

I really hope that my luggage arrives in Oulu on time and in one piece. I’ve been a little stressed hoping that it got from U.S. Airways to Finnair to my next Finnair safely since I haven’t seen it since I checked in with my dad and Tayler.

When we were up in the air, the plane was telling us what temperature it was outside and it was like -50ºC! As we lowered though, I think it was about 12ºC on the ground. I still haven’t been outside to know what it feels like. It is strange to feel like a foreigner. All of the signs are in Finnish and then Swedish and then English (even my chocolate bar) and all of the intercom speakers ramble on in Finnish so I have no clue what they are saying. I just hope it is not too difficult to travel to the bus stop in Oulu. Luckily, I have Rebekah with me and we find strength in one another’s company. Everybody looks so… European. Some are dark Europeans but still very light skin and some are bleach blond Europeans with even brighter skin. They all have such a distinct look and I can’t quite tell what it is… maybe the nose? Bone structure? I’m not sure. I feel sort of dumb because I only know one language. I wish that they taught us more than one language in America… especially being as diverse as it is.

One of my favorite things about Finland is the doors. Everywhere you look, doors are being disguised. They look like walls or windows. Big sheets of glass. No knobs. They simply open when you are close enough. However, sometimes you feel like you’re in a maze and just walk up to random walls hoping they will move. Or you think that you’re trapped and even though the sign is pointing that way, surely it wouldn’t direct you straight to a corner. I’m not sure if you can even call them doors. I prefer moving walls. Oh, and there are lots of designer chairs here. Lots of furniture from Alvar Aalto, a great designer.

So I board the plane to Oulu in a little over and hour and then I pray that I can get in touch with my kummi so that she can meet me at the Linnanmaa bus stop and I can get my keys and be on my way to some internet (hopefully) and a home (finally). I look forward to meeting my roommates, but as for right now, I am just a little less than enthusiastic. With twenty hours of traveling under weigh and three more to go, I’m ready for a rest.