Two Months Down, One to Go

Well, we’re officially past the two month mark here in Helsinki. (The royal ‘we’ that is.) Actually, I realized today that in exactly one month, I will be sitting back at my Bonnier Corp desk in sunny Florida again. Before that, I will be completely stressed slash stoked about trying to travel after this whole Grow sitch, considering the Helsinki money gods have sucked me dry. (That’s what she said?)

But enough of the panic room, here’s some more random tidbits to keep you interested in my bloggy blog world.

I suck at getting dressed. Layering, tying scarves, wearing proper shoes -- I’m terrible at all of it. I’m convinced I can control the weather solely upon my outfit choice of the day. For example, if I wear my Converse sneakers and light jacket, I’m asking for a blizzard to hit, whereas if I bundle up like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, I will bring about a heatwave. (Temps in the 40’s constitutes a heatwave, btw.) If I’m wearing semi-warm but extra-absorbent boots (they were cheap for a reason!), they’ll have to face massive rain puddles, while the faux-fur lined proper snow boots see only the sunshiny-ist of days. It’s very frustrating.

Speaking of absorbent boots, Reagan came to visit! And she has the same shoe issue. Luckily, I have a hair dryer:



I miss speaking American. With Reagan's recent visit, and a Sunday encounter with two American girls traveling through Helsinki, I've been able to speak good 'ol improper American English. It's been wonderful! And while most Finns understand and speak perfect English (and God bless them for doing so!!!), there’s something so awesome about being able to say “like” every five seconds without second-guessing it. (I wish I didn’t, like, talk like a valley girl, but like, I just, like, can’t help it and stuff. Like, you know?”)

Man, oh, man. Helsinki’s got the funk. As you may have read in my captivating Bonnier Grow interview, my favorite kind of funk music is *everywhere* in this town -- bars, cafes, night clubs, restaurants. It’s like my own personal wonderland of music. This is probably only noticeable to someone like me, who would recognize when Evelyn Champagne King’s “I’m in Love” starts playing at a random pub. Most of the DJs I have met play strictly vinyl (yay!) and there are eight record stores at the end of my street. EIGHT. One block away. Le sigh. The best parties so far have been Solid Gold’s funk night at YK and Keep It Up every First Friday at We Got Beef. God, I wish I could DJ here.

Hair mustaches = still fun.


I’m dreaming of a non-white November. In October, it officially snowed three times but not enough to stick. I’m not too keen on the idea of snow (see the part where I suck at getting dressed) but the Finns always look sad that I won’t get to see “proper snow.” To me, no snow = better than lots of snow.

I finally made it to Suomenlinna! We lucked out with gorgeous weather, too! Pictures coming soon!


I am homesick. Yep, that’s right. Even though I’m taking full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I miss home. Besides obviously missing family and friends, it’s the little things I am longing for: flavored iced coffee; showers with bathtubs; American keyboards: öåä; driving my car when the sun is setting; editing the DWH site; Fahrenheit, pounds, feet, miles; Mexican food; speaking English without worrying if I’ll be understood; prices in dollars instead of Euros (eff the exchange rates and bank fees!!!); my orange and yellow living room and record collection; biking around the lakes in my neighborhood... these are a few of my favorite things. I look forward to reuniting with them in December.

More frequent posts coming soon. I have so many ideas and photos to post before I get home. Next on the agenda: Alyx and Bill are coming this week to visit -- yay! Stay tuned...

A Helsinki Halloween!

I guess you could say I was a little bummed about missing Halloween in the U.S. (Okay, really bummed.) I looooove dressing up and going out with other crazies in costumes -- it's like a surreal, alcohol-fueled fantasy land. But in Helsinki, they don't really celebrate it. Since there was no way I was giving up one of my favorite holidays, I had my own little party!

A few novelty stores had Halloween costumes, so I bought one. Some people might think it was a Cleopatra costume. Not so! I decided I was actually a band member of Earth, Wind and Fire!

And my awesome friends, being awesome and all, got into the spirit with me. Leena was "Death" and Silja was Alex from Clockwork Orange.

We decided Leena should be Adam Lambert instead.

Petra, wearing black angel wings then became the Angel of Death:

Ida showed up as a last-minute surprise, dressed as her amazing self!

And it wouldn't be a party in Finland without playing SingStar, a game I had never heard of until living here. It's a fun karaoke-style game that's mega popular in Europe. (Anybody in The States heard of it? I don't have any kind of gaming console so I am clueless about these things.)

I love it because most of the songs are super random to me -- singles from unfamiliar European bands and obscure American hits. The first time I played, I was in awe that everyone knew the words to "Club Tropicana" by Wham!. (I might be one of the few Americans who even knows that song exists.) But I love it because I've sang "Hold the Line" by Toto and "Don't Walk Away" by Jade. Both are extremely hard, btw. Oh, and I know all the words to "Baby Got Back" -- shocking, I know.

I love how much Silja gets into it. She's a total rockstar:

My spooky "decorations" aka tea-lights and orange cups.

Afterwards, we all went out in costume. We were pretty much the only people dressed up but we still had a blast. I'm so happy that these awesome ladies celebrated with me! Happy Halloween!!! :)

Dancing with Finnish Stars

Working for MTV3 certainly has its perks. Last night, I was among the elite and privileged few invited to attend a live broadcast of one of their most popular shows: Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa -- better known in America as Dancing with the Stars. It was a cold and rainy Sunday evening (quite a contrast to the previous day’s gorgeous weather) and, of course, I forgot my umbrella at home. Even if I had been “dressed to impress” as the invitation stated, by the time we walked the few blocks from the metro station to the set, I looked more like a drown rat.

We arrived about 30 minutes early and couldn’t figure out where the entrance was. This guy was outside smoking a cigarette:


He was very nice and helpful as he directed us toward the front door. I mistook him for a stagehand but as it turns out, he was Jone Nikula, a quite famous judge on the show. (Sort of like the Simon Cowell of Finland.) Oops.

We settled into the press area on the side of the stage with a great view of all the action, and I mentally prepared myself for an hour-long TV show entirely in Finnish. At least dancing is a universal language. We seriously lucked out with the week’s theme, which could have easily been the waltz or ballroom style. Instead it was salsa, something I was particularly excited to see Finnish stars attempt. Turns out, they did pretty well! The highlights:

Antti Tuisku, a total cutie who became famous on Idols (Finland’s version of American Idol), was the standout dancer and crowd favorite. And even though he nailed his salsa routine and was the top-scoring participant, he swears he’s not gay. Riiiiiiight. Neither was Adam Lambert.


The lowest-scoring contestant last week, Jethro Rostedt, was another crowd-pleaser, proving that even if you can’t get the moves just right, personality goes a long way. I could have sworn the judge slash stagehand quoted LL Cool J when he said “Don’t call it a comeback,” in English. (Newsflash: he didn’t. While he did use the word ‘comeback,’ the rest of the sentence was in Finnish. I tend to draw my own conclusions, though. It makes language barriers a lot more fun.)


The most painful routine was to the un-salsa-like song “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.” Ummm... huh? Yes, it was in Dirty Dancing and yes, I think there was a salsa routine in the beginning of the movie. But still, worst song choice ever? Probably why that particular couple was eliminated.

But I had so much fun watching the show live! Considering I live nowhere near Hollywood, I doubt I would ever have had this opportunity in The States. Even if I did, this season in America has the weirdest stars ever. Why would I want to see “stars” like spawn of Satan, Bristol Palin, or the Situation dude from Jersey Shore dance? (Michael Bolton, actual Dirty Dancer Jennifer Grey and David Hasselhoff -- that’s another story. I would totally want to see them live.)

Leena and me before the show

PS... My co-workers are giving me crap me because I thought the host, Mikko Leppilampi, was hot. Apparently he doesn’t have the best rep in Finland, but based on looks alone, he’s a stereotypical handsome man. (Plus, being European only makes him more attractive.)

American ladies, please weigh in. What do you think? Yay or nay?

Hullut Päivät, Circus Pigs, Black Superman and WTF???

Have you ever have a day so full of WTF?!?! that you were expecting a TV crew to pop out from behind a tree at any second screaming "Smile, you're on America's Most Candid Punk'd Videos!" Well that was my day on Saturday -- hopefully the photos will do it justice.

It all started innocently enough. The plan was to hit up Stockmann, Helsinki's major department store, for Hullut Päivät, aka Crazy Days. It was exactly as promised -- insane. The entire population of Helsinki jam-packs into the 10-story (or so) block-long brick building, shopping 'til they drop for not-as-ridiculously-overpriced-as-usual, but-still-waaaaaaay-too-expensive products. Imagine Black Friday in America lasting a full week at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC.

Anyway, they had a mascot!!! Fun!!!

Next on the agenda was to visit Suomenlinna, a historic island fortress off Finland's coast, known for its World Heritage status. But the island has been on the agenda for the last four weeks now, and something always keeps us from actually getting there. This time, we had time restraints and weather issues working against us, but I *will* visit that island this month. Oh yes. I will.

In lieu of sightseeing, we hit Cafe Esplanad, my favorite, albeit touristy, coffee place because a) they have pastries the size of my head (mmmmm) and b) it's the only place I've found that will make me a latte with hazelnut flavoring. (I miss you and your sweet coffee, America.) We grabbed a table outside, which is right when the hidden camera show struck again.

They know where you live.

Hamming it up for the camera. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

Why is this kind of thing always more surreal when you're traveling??? Apparently, this was some sort of circus group promoting their upcoming show. It was more terrifying-eat-your-children vibe than charming circus performers, but hey, maybe that's just my downer American take on things.

So after that cavalcade of characters, we decided to walk around a bit, hoping all the madness had passed. It hadn't.


Cue this tightrope-walking Superman dude who just hangs out and randomly does... this... and expects money for it. He's pretty synonymous with the city center, so I guess it made sense we saw him next.

People call him the Superman Lover.

And then another slice of crazy appeared, this time with a puppet scarier than Chucky:

By now, we were really close to Aussie Bar (shocking), where I had left my camera case a few nights prior. We figured we'd just check to see if they had it (omg - they did!!!) and have a beer. This is when we met these crazy Jackass-style gents, who immediately began their Johnny Knoxville-esque stunts like hanging from chandeliers and slip-and-sliding across the bar, stomach first. (Ummm... Ashton.... have we been Punk'd yet???)

And since I have adopted a Yes Man-type attitude in Helsinki, when they invited us to a house party that evening, I had to accept. On the way, they wanted to stop at a secondhand store called Uff . (Sidenote: This place is the Dechoes of Helsinki and there are five locations!!! I am in looooove.) They played a game where they each had three minutes to find a new outfit, max price of 17 euros. (This is where I politely declined. Only three minutes to shop? You've got to be joking.) They came out with shiny new outfits and we proceeded to the party.

This is where the photos will have to take over. (Also, I am horrible with names in America. In Finland, I am freakin' clueless.)

Green was his color (that's a lovely new dress, btw):


This dude's catch phrase: "I'm a kitty cat." (Family Guy reference.)

This is Anders. I remember his name because of his uncreative parents (bonus points if you can guess his last name!):

?????



??????



They kept telling me how they weren't gay, but kind of wished they were. I took that as my cue to leave. :)


But, yeah, just another boring Saturday in Helsinki. What did you guys do???

Week in Review - Photo Style!

It's been such a crazy week, I haven't had time to even think about blogging. So here's pretty much everything that happened:

TUESDAY:

We decided to "go for one drink" at Aussie Bar

Mojitos with Leena and Silja:

Which turned into strawberry margaritas and Princess and the Frog fortune telling cards:


We kept getting the Big Daddy card.



And just when you thought you could get away from football, the other kind of football creeps in. At least they had fun hats!

WEDNESDAY

Awesome Finnish hair metal band, Reckless Love, played at Bar Loose \m/ This time Heini joined our partay!

THURSDAY

Post-work happy hour to welcome yours truly at Bakers, where they serve champagne for 1 euro per glass. (Dangerous!)







After stumbling out of Bakers, we went to the Parliament House -- apparently they have one here, too? It's pretty different from the one in Orlando, though. ;)





I tried Salmiakki, a type of Finnish candy (and also a shot) that is supposed to taste like licorice. I think it tastes more like soy sauce.



And apparently Helsinki had a fireworks competition going on, so we watched them - score!








Yep, I am a happy girl :)


I never thought I'd say this, but I was actually looking forward to the weekend so I could recover from all this. But I am totally having a blast! Stay tuned....