#1 - And you may ask yourself, well...how did I get here?
2/2/15
I can see a trend evolving using pop culture references for my blog titles. Give yourself 2 points if you guessed the Talking Heads!
I received a phone call the night before departure that my flight was pushed back eight hours. There goes my ride from the Helsinki airport....this last minute change would also have an impact on getting accumulated during the first few days. An overnight flight from BWI to London Heathrow, a three hour layover, and then off to Helsinki - a seven hour time difference altogether.
I arrived in Finland in the early afternoon and it is almost dark. There is a gentle but consistent snow falling from the sky, and a significant amount of slush and ice covering the sidewalks and streets. If this city scene reflected Baltimore in anyway, it would surely shut down in fear of power outages, people slipping on sidewalks, toilet paper shortages, and car accidents.* Instead, Helsinki is in full rush hour mode.
My apartment (university housing), will be home for four weeks. After unpacking, I ventured out to the corner grocery store for supplies. Carefully navigating my steps on the icy city sidewalks, I absent-mindedly walked pass a work-horse barrier that was blocking the sidewalk. City workers were high atop cranes removing heavy snow build-up on the rooftops. Getting hit in the head with several pounds of wet snow from six stories above would have been a bad start to this trip. Snow removal from rooftops would become a common site during my future excursions through the city. I am in a tired and weary state, and it is time for some much needed sleep. I have a planned visit to a school tomorrow and I’m more anxious about making my way through the city using the multi-transit system with the language barrier then I am meeting the teachers and students.
*I learned shortly after my arrival that legally, cars must have metal knobs/spikes on their tires. In April, car owners switch their winter tires out for regular ones that in most cases are kept in storage throughout the winter months.
I can see a trend evolving using pop culture references for my blog titles. Give yourself 2 points if you guessed the Talking Heads!
I received a phone call the night before departure that my flight was pushed back eight hours. There goes my ride from the Helsinki airport....this last minute change would also have an impact on getting accumulated during the first few days. An overnight flight from BWI to London Heathrow, a three hour layover, and then off to Helsinki - a seven hour time difference altogether.
I arrived in Finland in the early afternoon and it is almost dark. There is a gentle but consistent snow falling from the sky, and a significant amount of slush and ice covering the sidewalks and streets. If this city scene reflected Baltimore in anyway, it would surely shut down in fear of power outages, people slipping on sidewalks, toilet paper shortages, and car accidents.* Instead, Helsinki is in full rush hour mode.
My apartment (university housing), will be home for four weeks. After unpacking, I ventured out to the corner grocery store for supplies. Carefully navigating my steps on the icy city sidewalks, I absent-mindedly walked pass a work-horse barrier that was blocking the sidewalk. City workers were high atop cranes removing heavy snow build-up on the rooftops. Getting hit in the head with several pounds of wet snow from six stories above would have been a bad start to this trip. Snow removal from rooftops would become a common site during my future excursions through the city. I am in a tired and weary state, and it is time for some much needed sleep. I have a planned visit to a school tomorrow and I’m more anxious about making my way through the city using the multi-transit system with the language barrier then I am meeting the teachers and students.
*I learned shortly after my arrival that legally, cars must have metal knobs/spikes on their tires. In April, car owners switch their winter tires out for regular ones that in most cases are kept in storage throughout the winter months.