Festa de São João!

Porto is a northern city (1 hour train ride from Aveiro and only 2 euro's) that sits on a hill overlooking the Douro river. It is best known for the famous Port wine that we all like to sip after a delicious dinner. The old town center was recently named an Unesco World Heritage Site because it is simply BEAUTIFUL! Saturday night we trained to Porto and met some of Ali's Brazilian friends and experienced the largest annual festival, São João. Almost every town in Portugal chooses a Saint's day to celebrate summer, what used to be the pagan summer solstice celebrations. I'm sure there is a reason for the wacky traditions but I think the history has been lost. Watch out, because this is not a normal street party, as locals pack "heat" in the form of plastic hammers that "honk" and long garlic plants as they attack innocent by-standers. It is quite hilarious and of course we fully engaged in the ever-so-popular saying, "When in Porto, do like the Portuguese." We became an army of plastic hammer wielding party-goers as we settled into a nice little open-air restaurant right off the water. We drank 1 euro local brew, sangria's and ate the typical cod-fish bake, Bacalhau. At midnight, we experienced one of the best damn fireworks show ever imagined. The river running along the city of Porto was lit up with colorful and explosive illuminations. At 5 a.m. we arrived at Fabi's flat and crashed hard.

Home Sweet Home, Aveiro, Portugal!

Here it is...the home I have waited 10 months to explore and be-friend. The canals, colorful traditional boats, beaches, fresh fish, the pastries that melt in your mouth before they even touch your tongue, and 2 euro bottles of wine are sure signs that I am going to LOVE it here. Forget the student village we are living posh, as we are living in a flat in the city center with cable TV, now this is living! (I have already overdosed on Oprah, BBC, and Jon Stewart.) So the next few weeks, before I head to Africa, I will settle into my new home and travel around. Not many people speak English here, so learning Portuguese will be a big project, as well as setting up my tiny room, quality time on the beach and finding a yoga studio. Woohoo, welcome home!

Another Move-Finland to Portugal!

After packing up my life in Finland (4 boxes, 2 suitcases and one carry-on), I discovered 200lbs. of clothes, books, and misc. would be coming with me. Yes, ridiculous! Some may say...yes, Leasa, you are an American. But, I have to tell you...I find it hard to throw things away that will be just as useful in Portugal as they were in Finland. Some call this a pack rat, I call it dedication; dedication to the curtains that held out the Finnish daylight at midnight, and dedication to the coffee mugs that were on sale and held many intellectual and culturally educational conversations of hot tea. As much as I enjoy moving around, my "comfort items" continue to grow which makes moving all the more difficult. I still haven't mastered the art of truly simplifying my life.

After packing, you must move. In order to save money (like 500euro) I had to fly from Stockholm, Sweden to Porto, Portugal. That means I got to experience the Viking Line "Love Boat" from Finland to Sweden. Unfortunately, there was no love to experience just the love of watching a lot of Finns drink themselves to oblivion (imagine that?!) The drunk fest was followed by a brilliant sunny day in the sassy & posh capital city of Sweden, Stockholm where I met the Lord of Lightning (a random man who introduced himself to me at a vegan cafe and continued to tell me about the Swedish music scene for 2 hours.) Finally, an early morning

flight, with a stopover in Brussels, brought me to my new home...AVEIRO, PORTUGAL! My friend, classmate & roomie, Ali, greeted me at the airport with a big smile and the talent of

her Portuguese tongue (she is from Brazil!) Pics are from my travels--top pic from Viking Line boat and others are from Stockholm.

Moi, Moi Finland!

"Moi, moi' is a Finnish slang word for good-bye, see ya, later dude and I think it's only appropriate to use it for my last blog title in Finland. This past week I have trained to Helsinki, got sick at the Finland amusement park, said goodbye to my amazing yoga instructor, ate a munki (melt-in-your-mouth donut) at the observatory, and just enjoyed the LONG sunny days (almost 24 hours, there is no darkness in Finland these days!) All in all, I have enjoyed my time here in Finland, 6 months is a good amount of time to feel out the culture and get a lay of the land. Now, I'm ready to head off to my next destination. But before I shove off, some photos that highlight a few of my favorite Finland memoirs...Finnish potatoes (for every meal), never-ending forests, lots of lush vegetation and beautiful flowers, reindeers, the old-school industrial vibe of the town center, munki's, markets, and the never-ending daylight!

With Every End, There is a New Beginning!

It's official, as of 10:32 a.m. this morning, my first year of graduate school has come to an end! The last week of the academic year proved to be the most stressful and rigorous, which makes you feel contented when you turn in that last assignment. So, now I will be a tourist in Tampere & Helsinki for one week, as I pack up my flat (which I have come to love.) Picture: "Action Photo" with the man we call the "Pope of European Higher Education," Dr. Peter Maassen. Bottom photo: Emnet, Ali & me with Dr. Bruce Johnstone (U.S. Visiting Prof.) a.k.a. "The Economics Guru."

In case you are wondering, here are my travel plans for the rest of the summer:

JUNE
June 18- To Stockholm (via the "love boat")
June 19- Stockholm
June 20- To Aveiro, Portugal (my new home)

JULY
July 3-15 Travel with Laura in Portugal
July 17-20 To Oslo
July 24- To Pretoria, South Africa (my new home)

SEPTEMBER
September 23- To Aveiro, Portugal (for fall semester)

Full house, Full brain, Full of cavities!

So, here is my last week of the academic year in a nutshell...

My friends, Ali (from Brazil) and Preet (from India) and her mother (who is visiting), moved into my flat June 1 (just for 10 days) until they fly out of Finland for the summer. Therefore, we have a FULL HOUSE, a flat for 3 is now a flat for 5 and there are mattresses and luggage everywhere. And, if you know all of us girls, you know it's anything but a quiescent household. Here are some pics from our Indian Sari dress-up night, it was like being a kid again!

This week also marked the pinnacle of the academic year, the thesis seminar. In other words, this was the week we all presented our thesis topic ideas to a panel of intimidating experts in higher education from around the globe; 2 visiting professors (one from Mexico & one from the U.S.) along with 2 Finnish professors, 2 Norwegian professors and 1 Portuguese professor. To say it was a little nerve-racking, is an understatement...especially when your topic is destroyed, before your very own eyes. But, I'm going for the positive vibes here (cringe!) and so I will say that it was a brilliant (now that is a robust word for this sentence) learning experience. To top it off we have another 10 page paper due on Monday. Argghhh...welcome to graduate school!

But, the best story of the week was my excursion to the dentist! Imagine 2 dentists, speaking a foreign language, hovering over you like bird of prey with colossal and boisterous drills in their hands telling you to open wide. This is what I call Fear Factor! I'm not one to do the happy dance before visiting the dentist, in fact I'm quite timorous of the dentist due to antecedent experiences (emergency root canals, bad dentists, etc.) So, I bit the bullet and went for a check-up (only 6 euro) and when the dentist, in broken English, said you have 3 cavities...I nearly lost it. But, when all was said and done, it only cost me 40 euro ($54US) for x-rays, cleaning, check-up, and 3 beautifully-crafted, Finnish style fillings. Moral of the story: Fly to Finland for your dentistry needs.

Ireland double time!

The cheapest flight out of Tampere, Finland is to Dublin, Ireland via the low-cost, no-frills airline, Ryanair. Hence, the reason I have traveled there twice in the last 3 weeks, once to meet a dear friend and this time to meet my parental units. This trip was a week long celebration of 3 birthdays, mother's day, father's day, my parents 40th anniversary, as well as grieving over the recent death of my quasi-grandpa, Lil. It was a bitter-sweet week of appreciating mother nature, drinking pints while listening to trad music at the local pubs, spending QT (quality time) with the parents, thinking about my thesis topic, driving on the wrong side of the road, laughing as my mom fell in a cow pie, and eating a horrid piece of herring that took 2 days to properly digest.

Ireland is a pulchritudinous island where the green countryside meets the dramatic coastline and great musicians meet up in the local pubs.
It reminded me of New Zealand, a small piece of land that offers so much beauty; mountains, ocean, rivers, lush vegetation, sheep and cattle. The highlights were the Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, and the Wicklow mountains. Check out the video for more scenery. By, the way...Irish people DON'T say, "Top of the mornin' to ya!" (I learned the hard way...!)

Thesis Love Affair...

The process of choosing a thesis topic is ARDUOUS, it's like choosing a mate. I have all of these expectations about how it will feel when I finally meet my match; fireworks, connection, prince charming riding in on a white horse...but that hasn't happened yet, even after a list of about 20 topics. The act of embracing the topic of my dreams by June 8, seems impervious, unfortunately I don't have time to wait for the right one to come along and sweep me off my feet. I will just have to settle...it may not be perfect and there may not be fireworks, but it will be a love affair. People say that writing a thesis is a love/hate relationship, much like a marriage. Sometimes, you love the topic and some days you hate it, but love eventually endures. My "proposal" presentation is June 8, and I'm hopeful the elusive connection will magicly occur expeditiously...I will keep you posted. Photo: Deep thesis thoughts in Ireland...!