Luck of the Irish...

Despite booking a hostel on the wrong date, Ann losing all of her valuables, being stuck in Dublin on a Saturday night with no place to sleep, and making the mistake of accepting a pint from an insolent and inebriated Irish man...our trip to Ireland was anything but platitudinous! I met up with my dear friend Ann Sullivan (a.k.a. Sully) from sunny Boulder, CO for a quick 3 day adventure in Ireland. The highlight was Belfast and the pulchritudinous and rugged northern coast of the Giant Causeway. The overwhelming feeling of melancholy can be felt throughout the city of Belfast. You can feel the pain, sadness and hope left from years of brawling between the Catholics & Protestants. We toured the badly abused neighborhoods and were surprised to see, despite the peace agreement in 1998, "peace

walls" dividing the 2 neighborhoods. Ironically, just within the last month the peace walls received a "face lift" in the form of a higher wall...I'm not sure that sends a message of *peace*! In addition to the elevated peace walls, the neighborhoods have used art as a way to heal; colorful yet disturbing murals with powerful messages are painted on the side of buildings (see pics). The Bush mural was priceless (seeing this mural more than paid for the tour), "America's Greatest Failure!" This last pic is at the antiquated Trinity College in Dublin, a beautiful campus dating back to the 16th century, where I found a comfy seat in the sun and read about higher education governance (how appropriate!).

Are you wearing an EYE MASK??

So, here is a typical poetic day in Tampere, May 22, 2007.

Temperature: High 16 (60F)/low 9 (48F)

Sunrise: 4:21 AM

Sunset: 22:24 (10:24 PM)

Eye Mask Haiku's
To shield the sunlight
pink mascara stained eye mask
protect sleepy eyes

61 latitude
4 a.m. relentless sun
eye masks rock my world

Eurovision CRAZE!

Train to Helskini. Hotel in Helsinki. Eurovision in Helsinki. Eurovision is the American Idol of Europe, and it's hotter than bacon on a tin roof. Each country votes on one singer or band to represent their country at the annual Eurovision song contest. Last year, (after a LONG dry spell of losses) Finland took the cake with their death-metal, sometimes satanic band named "LORDI!" The rule is: whatever country wins MUST host the contest the following year, hence the reason it was in Helsinki this year.
Let me tell you...it was capital F-U-N! Not only was Helsinki hosting the Eurovision celebration, but it also hosted the city 1/2 marathon and many gathered to watch the semi-finals of the Hockey match against Russia (which FINLAND won!). So, to say that Helsinki was full of energy would be a gross understatement. The sun, international vibe, hockey fever, free entertainment and Eurovision craze was quite contagious. I think this was maybe one of my best weekends here in Finland. My friend Laura, here in Tampere, and of few of her American friends who study in Helsinki, met up and had a Eurovision weekend. Commiserating on the anti-american sentiment we have all experienced and just enjoying the weekend festivities together with a pinch of sillyness was just what we needed. So, you may be asking...who WON? Serbia! Now, I must get back to reality and write my thesis proposal.

South Africa or BUST!

I have been patiently awaiting news from South Africa. All I have to say is: Woohoo! So, before I share the excellent news with you, let me rewind back to February. I blasted out about 100 e-mails (not kidding) to random people that I found on the internet and listserves that I subscribe to, to inquire about internships, volunteer work and/or summer jobs in Europe, Latin America and Africa. (I was determined to land some sort of international summer experience!) One of the random e-mails ended up being a priceless push of the *SEND* button. The magnanimous woman that responded to me runs a U.S. study abroad program that places undergraduate students in internships around the world (for a large fee), so she is well connected around the globe. She decided to take me on as a goodwill case (because we are in the same career field--collegiality as it's best) and sent me contact information for her South African friend. After a few e-mails, sending my resume, and discovering that fellow Coloradans live in South Africa (yes, there ended up being a Colorado connection), I received an e-mail, "S. Africa Internship Confirmed." WHOA! I read the subject line about 4 times before it finally registered, I'm going to South Africa. Now I'm packing my bags in July for an internship at the University of Pretoria in the Institutional Development office. I will coordinate special events for Alumni and travel to regional events (similar to my position at CU-Boulder). It will be quite an experience to work in alumni relations from an African context. Moral of the story: keep pressing the SEND button until someone responds!

Tampere Favorites!

I have discovered a few favorite places here in Tampere that just makes it feel like home. I travel often but coming home to Tampere is a nice feeling and these connections with the community are important for me. This whole "living abroad" experience has made me realize how meaningful the little things are...like grabbing a chai in a familiar cafe or walking into the yoga studio and the teacher greeting you with a warm, "Hello!"

Wayne's Coffee is my favorite little coffee house, right in the center of Tampere. The chai is frothy, the walls are bright, the owner is friendly; makes for a great place to study.

I have finally found a yoga studio that is just heavenly, Om Yoga. The classes are in Finnish but the teacher, Paula, is great, as she sprinkles the teaching with a just enough english to get me through the class. She has a gentle and flowing style of teaching that makes your mind and body melt into the yoga mat.

Fressi is my gym and the equipment is top-of-the-line, the Finnish people keep me entertained with their bad body alignment and low knowledge of how to properly work the machines, and the classes are...all in Finnish. Every once and awhile I will take a Finnish spinning class and it really becomes my own spinning class because I have no idea what the teacher says...so I improvise and do my own thing. I go mainly for the music!

My favorite eatery, (I will apologize ahead of time for what I'm about to say) and in my opinion the only restaurant worth spending money on in Tampere, is GoPal. This eatery offers a lunch buffet that will make you want more with a flavorful Indian influence and yes, it is strictly vegetarian.

The BEST Travel sites!

With all the traveling I do, I have stumbled on some useful and wacky travel sites. Bookmark this one, because you will want to come back to these sites the next time you have to sleep in an airport or use a public bathroom while traveling. Please add to this list by way of the comments section. Enjoy!

Where is the BEST TOILET? http://www.thebathroomdiaries.com/
This site rates toilets around the world. What toilet will take the 2007 Golden Plunger award? The photo highlights the best public bathrooms in Moscow, blue outhouses, and you even have to pay to use them! But, the lady who collects the money will clean the plastic seat before you relieve yourself.

UNUSUAL HOTELS around the World http://www.unusualhotelsoftheworld.com/Home.aspxm/Home.aspx
Wanna stay in a cave, an old train car, an old prison, a church, a schoolhouse?

AIRLINE MEALS that satiate or disgust! http://www.airlinemeals.net/
Wanna find out what kind of meal you will be served on your flight? Fellow travelers send in pics of the best and worse airline meals. The airline meal you see here is from our very own FINNAIR and if the airline meals are anything like the food here in Tampere, it's not worth eating. Note to readers: Buy McDonald's before flying FINNAIR! A heart attack is better than this!

Do you need to SLEEP in the AIRPORT? http://www.sleepinginairports.com/
Do you have a late night flight & early a.m. connection? Forget a hotel, sleep in the airport. This site rates the BEST & WORST airport sleeping options including pictures of seats.

Where is the best place to SIT on the AIRPLANE? http://www.seatguru.com/
Choose your airplane seat carefully by checking out this site. Select airline, airplane and then a nifty seating chart will appear with good and poor seat suggestions. I think my dad and sis enjoyed their seats to Italy (see "sleeping beauties" photo).

Stay in a HOSTEL! http://www.hostelz.com/ The premier site for booking and honest reviews!

Hotel REVIEWS! http://www.tripadvisor.com/ I use this site to look at honest reviews for hotels, B&B's and even hostels. There is also a good travel forum. Word of caution...look elsewhere before you book lodging on this site, I think it is over-priced.

Travel with only ONE BAG! http://www.onebag.com/
The author of this site is an engineer and he will teach you the magic of "bundle-wrapping" your clothes. Brilliant tips & offers a packing list too!

What shall I PACK? http://upl.codeq.info/
This site does it all except pack your bags. All you do is fill in a template about your trip and a magical packing list will appear in a matter of seconds. You will never forget your toothbrush again!

No-frills, CHEAP EURO AIRLINES! http://www.euroflights.info/
See a list of all the dirt cheap airlines in Europe and what airports they fly to.
And this site looks up the airfares on the cheap carriers within Europe http://www.skyscanner.net/

Find a SECRET PLACE to stay! http://www.secretplaces.com/ This site lists "off the beaten path" places to stay in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and Morocco.

EUROPEAN HIKING! http://www.oranginas.nl/index_bestanden/page0055.html
A great resource for those that like to lace up their hiking boots.

EURO HOTEL reviews! http://www.eurocheapo.com/ Reviews of cheap hotels...like a lonely planet on-line.

Universal Currency Converter! http://www.xe.com/ucc/ This is the site I use to convert the U.S. dollar and get depressed.

World maps! http://www.justmaps.org/
Need to find a good map of the country you are traveling to...check this one out!

Forget the hotel stay on a COUCH! http://www.couchsurfing.com/
Locals host traveler's on their couch. A cheap way to really immerse yourself into the local culture.

Airfare search sites:
CLICK AIR http://www.clickair.com/view/default.aspx?lang=2
MOBISSIMO http://www.mobissimo.com/search_airfare.php
EXPEDIA http://www.expedia.com/
TRAVEL CUTS (student airfare) http://www.travelcuts.com/

For those who live the U.S. here is a website you want to bookmark! http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/

Other links with great travel sites:
Rick Steves...ok, he is kind of annoying but this webpage has a comprehensive list of travel websites all over europe. VERY GOOD! http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/links_menu.htm#budget

Do you have other useful or just plain zany websites to add??? ADD TO COMMENTS!!

Vappu- A FINNISH Holiday!

I survived the biggest national holiday in Finland, VAPPU! May 1, also known as May Day or Worker's Day here in Tampere. Vappu offers an aberrant mix of activities; everything from political speeches, to parades, to a carnival, to fashionable attire, to dunking University students in the freezing cold rapids that run through the center of town.
I can honestly say, it was a unique experience! April 30, the night before Vappu, was a complete drunk fest where the University students and 13 years olds (not kidding) get unequivocally inebriated and place the "white hat" on one of the statues in the center (the big event of the evening). The stylish & chic white hats (that resemble your standard white sailors hat) have been bequeathed to high school graduates for the past 50 years. After the "crowning" of the statue everyone can wear their fashionable white hats until the fall. Then, there are the colored jumpers that all of the Technical University students sport the entire weekend. I really don't know the history behind these, but they do put a great deal of love into their jumpers and spice them up with "flare", a.k.a. embroidered patches. The white hats and colored jumpers are the standard uniform for Vappu day. At 1 p.m., as a rite of passage, the freshman at the Technical University are hoisted up in a crane and literally dunked in the rapids. All of the Finns come out for this day, with the whole family, and picnic (and drink a lot... in true Finn fashion) as the entertaining MC keeps the crowd aroused for about 4 hours of student dunking. I enjoyed the eccentric Vappu, as the sun was shining and I truly got to feel the wacky Finnish culture in full-effect!

Dreamin' Starbucks!

The first Starbucks I have experienced in Europe was in Athens. Ok, I'm not a coffee drinker, but the "Tazo Grande Skinny Chai, No Water" had my mouth watering like Pavlov's dog. Sure, there are plenty of golden arches in Europe to make you feel like you're in the U.S. but the fact that golden arches ARE in every major European city, makes McD's not feel so American. Plus, who wants to eat an instant heart-attack?! Ick!!!

But Starbucks is different, there is something so cozy and familiar with sipping on a chai latte and meeting friends. It made me miss my Friday morning coffee with the Boulder girls, my meet up's at Vic's coffee before a body-slam hike or a ski day, my laptop cafe days at Espressoria or just a quick stopover at Starbucks for the drive into work. My life back in Boulder revolved around the cafe culture. It is quite interesting how a simple Starbucks can make you reflect on your life.

Needless to say, I visited Starbucks everyday while in Athens and forked out the 3.60 euro ($5 US) for my "Tazo Grande Skinny Chai, No Water" .

Athens...

Toured around Athens and stayed in a groovy hostel, Athens Backpacker, run by a bunch of hip to the tilt Aussie's with some truly colorful staff; a green-haired Liverpool bar shark, and a young American bloke in search of his greatest motorbike ride in Athens. The day we arrived in Athens, Ali only had one day and then she had to fly back to reality, Finland. So, we immediately took to the streets of Athens. The highlight...the Acropolis! We were prepared to pay 12 euro to enter the Acropolis and were pleasantly surprised when they said EU students were FREE! (Woohoo, this gig just keeps gettin' better everyday.) Thank you EU! And we can also thank the EU for throwing superfluous euros into the restoration of the Acropolis, as it was just named an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. So, the Acropolis and Parthenon ruins are pretty incredible, it is one of the oldest cities to be discovered in the world and it is built on a flat top mountain in the middle of Athens. The views are pulchritudinous.

Camera. Ready? 1,2,3. Action Shot. We got whistled and yelled at for "disrespecting the ruins" as we attemped to execute action shots. But that didn't stop us from making a trip back at sunset and attempting more action shots.




Before bidding farewell to my Brazilian sister, we had a few Ouzo shots and called it a day. The next day, I hung out at Starbucks, ate a greek salad and was amused by the Greek cafe culture of smoking a pack of cigs, drinking 3 cups of Greek coffee (cold coffee with coffee grounds forming a "mud" at the bottom of the cup), and just enjoying the day pass them by. What a life!!

Cretan Peeps are Magnanimous!

Met up with my Brazilian classmate, Ali, in Crete, the largest Greek island. Now, this place has culture! It is known for it's production of fine olive oil, Rika (an equivalent to the Italian "grappa" spirit), and kind-hearted Cretan people. The first day I arrived (without Ali), I was invited to go "Greek clubbing", was offered (and acquiesced to) 3 FREE shots of "homemade Rika" and was hooked up with a room overlooking the ocean for a mere 20 euros in one of the fanciest hotels in this charming little beach town, called Malia. Once Ali arrived, we laid by the pool, ate greek salads and just relaxed. One day we explored the rolling hills of the Cretan inland via rental car. The Sunday afternoon eye candy included rolling hills complete with olive groves, vineyards and wild goats. We stopped in the tiny little town of Gonies and hiked for 3 hours up the Gorge of Rosa, complete with the sounds of wild goat screams and the aromatic smell of springtime blossoms. Awesome! Then, we stopped in a small tavern for an authenic Cretan lunch; greek salads, Domas (rusk of bread topped with olive oil and chopped tomatos), fava (bean paste) and the local brew, Mythos. A nice Cretan family bought us our drinks and I was like, "What do they want from us?" After much analysis of this kind offer, I finally realized..damn, these Cretan peeps are genuinely magnanimous! I guess I have become a bit of a skeptic when free things are offered to me but this renewed my faith in humankind (or at least Greek people). Our Cretan holiday ended with an overnight ferry to Athens. We were smart (and maybe selfish) and we each took a row of seats and sprawled out for a night of rest. Yes, selfish, but everyone else was doing it too...when in Greek, do like your fellow travelers. Hmmmm, there is something wrong with that statement!

Santorini Island in Greece!

After 3 days of Greek salads, Lucky's famous gyros, views of the caldera, hanging with my "adopted parents" from Pennsylvania (sorry mom & dad), a boat tour with a Greek god (yes, ladies...they DO exist!), a donkey ride up a switchback staircase (which was fun considering it was kind of sacrilegious for the "mountain girl" to be climbing a mountain on a donkey's back); I decided I needed one more day in Oia, Santorini. Oia is the quaintest little village on the Santorini island and I had been living in Fira; the touristy town close to the port. So, I took to the streets or shall I say narrow cobble stone paths meandering up, down and around the white stucco dwellings built on the side of a steep slope of the caldera in search of a hotel with a view. Many of these dwellings are literally built into the earth, they dig out caves on the side of the mountain and then put a face on the cave in the form of a beautiful white stucco building. I found a no-frills room, owned by a charming Greek family, with stunning views of the ocean for 35 euro and called it home for one night. The weather was colder than expected around 15C and windy, however, the hotel balcony overlooking the ocean (see video), was protected and so laying in the sun for 5 hours was quite invigorating.




During my time in Santorini, I met many friends along the way; the crazy Malaysians, "Lucky" the owner of the best gyro shop in Fira (I visited him everyday for some good eats and free 'home made' wine), John & Ann- a retired couple posing as my "adopted parents", and "Papa" the Alzheimer's elder of the Greek family in Oia. That is truly the beauty of traveling solo, you meet so many interesting and convival people with piquant stories.

In Greece!

Be back April 27! Check back for some Greek salad and gyro posts...

Easter Marathon!

Being away from home and the traditional Easter customs, I think it is interesting how we always seem to create our own holiday celebration which tends to be an infusion of cultures. Easter was a perfect example! My roommate, Mary from Belgium, and I hosted an easter brunch at 11 a.m. After a few hours and an Easter egg hunt, there were 4 of us; the Brazilian, Indian, American and Flemish. We painted Easter eggs, drank Russian wine, put stickers on our face, drank Chilean wine, ate an authenic Indian dinner, and watched a funny U.K. comedy, called Coupling until 8 p.m. We don't know how the Finns celebrate Easter but our 9 hour celebration was quite memorable!

St. Petersburg, Russia!

After an amusing overnight train to St. Petersburg (see Moscow video), we arrived in the "Cultural Capital" of Russia. We started off with a city bus tour and got the lay of the land. The highlight for me was the Hermitage, the 3rd largest art museum in the world. The Hermitage was the tsars winter palace from 1762 to 1917 and the magnificent 1057 rooms are nothing but ostentatious and grandiose. We were there for about 3.5 hours and our guide whipped us through the "great works" of Monet, Rembrandt and Matisse. I could have used another day but was satisfied by being in the presence of such artwork.

The travel agency, Aikamatkat Oy, coordinates these Russian tours for students and therefore they are not void of parties. One night we enjoyed a Russian dinner, with Russian performers singing and dancing, a lot of Russian vodka, and a lot of crazy spanish students. Another night we went on a river boat cruise complete with Russian champagne and vodka, many got sick after doing shots of vodka followed by champagne chasers, they call this the "Polar lights". We checked out the nightlife in St. Petersburg and the adventurous part of the evening came when hailing a taxi.

There is no oversight of the taxi business, in fact anyone can be a taxi driver to make extra money. So, you simply hold out your hand to any car that drives by. They stop, you negotiate and hope that this ride will get you home with your money and your pride in tact. Luckily, we got home safe. However, there were a bunch of scams that other students experienced; the cops stopped the "taxi" and demanded money or a night in jail, and the "taxi driver" demanded more money than negotiated and slapped the

student for disagreeing.

A bus took us back to Finland and through the long border formalities (my passport was checked 4 times.) We said goodbye to our new friends from the Uni of Jyväskylä and headed home to Tampere.