It's Always Sunny in ... Helsinki?

Actually, no, no it isn't always sunny in Helsinki. Far from it. In fact, the weather is shit right now. Yesterday it was nice for a moment when, despite my previous plea, it snowed! I was even kind of excited about braving the fresh powder lining the treacherous footpath. But alas, the excitement was quickly washed away by pounding rain and umbrella-murdering gusts of wind (RIP my beloved blue companion).

This was described to my incomprehensive Florida brain as "wet snow" and it sucked. It felt pretty damn cold to me... those raindrops could have easily frozen in my opinion. My fingers were about to fall off, after all. But no, the temperature rose a few degrees overnight, leaving us with only puddles and a memory. (Oh, and a few photos. Coming soon!)

BUT fear not! There *are* sunny autumn days in Helsinki, despite what the locals may say! In fact, I have photographic evidence from the past few months to prove it.

Before it got dark at 3:45 PM (or 15:45, a way I will never get used to telling time), I used to go walk by the water after work.

I'm pretty sure this is where the rich people in my neighborhood keep their toys:



Five bucks says she's on a Nokia!

A few random shots:





My new love -- mulled wine. I discovered it last January while visiting my father in Buffalo and it has been my new BFF the past few weeks. It was the perfect companion as I took in the view atop Hotel Torni. (Also where the first photo of this post was taken.)

I heart this photo.
This building is a block away from my house. I was diggin the lighting and shadows from the setting sun.

Right across the street is an awesome church, where I caught the actual sunset. Lovely.


So, there are definitely beautiful moments to be had in Helsinki. My fellow Floridians might be less than impressed with all this sun -- we are so effing spoiled! :)

Stay tuned for part two of "Helsinki weather doesn't suck as bad as the locals say, although when they are right, they are right!" when I show you how we struck weather gold with our gorgeous day on Suomenlinna, an island I never thought we would actually get to see.

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!!! :)

Fall in Helsinki

It looks like Finland is finally dishing out some of that nasty Fall weather everyone has been warning me about/promising: rainy and wet, dark and freezing. (Like, numb fingers through gloves, freezing.) Seriously, the weather this week has sucked. Whenever I picture Autumn, I think of the stunning New England landscape, not wintery drearysville. (Fall would be easy if your colors were like my dreams: red, gold and green, red gold and greeeeeee-heeeeeen.)

But I'll admit, I've been pretty lucky so far. Up until this week, the weather has been brisk and sunny -- an absolutely lovely experience for this native Florida girl who hasn't yet had the pleasure of living where the leaves change.

So here are some Fall scenes in Helsinki through my eyes. It might not measure up to Boston or New Hampshire, but to me, it's been pretty effing beautiful.

On a walk home from work:

Bus stop by my office -- I love the ad with an ironically green tree.

The Golden Time of Day.

The treacherous footpath, now adorned with slippery leaves! Huzzah!

Scenes from Vanha kirkkopuisto (Old Church Park), better known as Ruttopuisto (Plague Park). Maybe not the most appealing name, but awesome just the same.

Now I am warm and cozy in my living room, listening to hurricane-worthy gusts pound against my (thankfully thick) window pane. Watching the trees outside dance in the wind, I know these pretty orange and yellow leaves will soon just be a memory. I feel lucky to have experienced living in a new city during one of the most enchanting times of year (despite what the locals might say). It has been truly inspiring and one of the best souvenirs a Floridian could ever ask for.

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!):

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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???

A Typical Day at the Office

Once my morning commute has concluded, I enter the MTV3 offices to begin my workday. I am first greeted by this cutie-pie retro owl in the stairwell:

MTV3's owl logo has changed many times throughout the years, and the different versions are painted all over the building. This one is my favorite -- how shocking that it's the one from the 70's.

I pass another dope logo mural after the stairwell on the way to my desk:

Then I enter the main area for the web content team. It has been accurately compared to the Studio Line from Loreal design:

My desk is in an adjoining room off to the side:

At 11:00 sharp (sooooo early!!!), we all go for lunch in the company's cafeteria. We line up like good little girls and boys to get our meals:

There is a buffet-style line with about four different food choices: a type of meat dish -- usually chicken, lamb, meatballs, etc. -- a fish entree, a vegetarian option and a salad of the day. These usually have to be translated for me, which makes me feel even more like a five year-old.

And, in case you're wondering why I've gained about 10 - 20 pounds the next time you see me, one of the reasons is this bread/dessert station. So not necessary, but soooooo hard to resist:

Then we all sit together and eat as quickly as possible because...

... afterwards we grab coffee and gather around the common area to watch (and make fun of) music videos for the rest of our lunch break!

As promised, here are all my super-cute co-workers. Some of them weren't too keen on having their photo taken but oh well. They'll get over it :)

Look, I'm actually drinking hot coffee! Not my first choice, but I'll take what I can get. I think I've only had iced coffee twice since I've been here.

Oh, and we do actual work as well, but I'll cover that in an upcoming post. Just wanted to show you where I spend my days.