The Big Move: Days 1-3
Thursday July 19, 2018 (Finland time)
Alright guys... I made it! For approximately 45 minutes during my 24 hour travel experience, I didn't think I was going to be able to say that. But I'm here, reporting semi-live in Valkeakoski, Finland at 6:30am local time. I've been up since 4:00am, but it's cool because I have talked to about 4 family members already this morning.
Let me back track for a minute to address my travel day. Apparently, one-way tickets to Europe can be extremely expensive. So... the easiest (and cheapest) way for me to travel was to go from Chicago to London-Gatwick to Stockholm to Helsinki. Yes, it sucked, thank you for asking. I left Chicago about 1 hour and 30 minutes delayed, and that obviously gave me major, sweaty, anxiety. By the time I got to London, I had approximately 30 minutes to get to my gate. So basically I was running around like a chicken in the airport, sprinting to customs, full on sweating. Come to find out, the customs line looks like a small crowd for a set at Lollapalooza - and cue my panic attack. But, being the resourceful girl I am, I asked a very scary female customs officer if I needed to go through customs before I make my connection. (I'm more scared of females for some reason because they're badasses?) To which she replied, "No, just go to the terminal, Miss," with disdain and a very nice accent. Nice! Long story short, I made it to my gate with enough time to pee and eat! So shoutout to @NorwegianAirlines for not only getting me here, but for also getting ALL my luggage here.
As soon as I got to Helsinki, Dave was already there waiting for me at the airport because he is seriously a kind soul! But not too soon after we depart from the airport to Valkeakoski, I learned that it has been unseasonably warm here and nobody in Finland has air conditioning???? Poor Dave thought I was gonna get back on a plane and leave... but I'm a grown up, so all I did was pout about this for 3 minutes. On the bright side, during the summer in Finland the sun is ALWAYS out, so being jet lagged and wide awake at 5:00am isn't so bad - especially when it's 60 degrees and sunny early in the morning.
Beyond that, I'm trying to adjust my sleep schedule as fast as possible. Between my jet-lagged, heat driven naps and Netflix-ing yesterday, I initiated the cleaning of David's apartment so that his roommates know I'm cool. We've gone grocery shopping, and I've already tried to make myself at home. There's a beautiful lake right by the apartment that I'll most likely utilize for sitting and eating ice cream, going on runs, and practicing my photography. I'm going to start trying to find a routine for myself, little by little.
My mom is coming to visit Finland on Monday for a week, so I'll post about her visit with pictures soon! Feel free to comment any questions that I can answer in my next post.
xo
Alright guys... I made it! For approximately 45 minutes during my 24 hour travel experience, I didn't think I was going to be able to say that. But I'm here, reporting semi-live in Valkeakoski, Finland at 6:30am local time. I've been up since 4:00am, but it's cool because I have talked to about 4 family members already this morning.
Let me back track for a minute to address my travel day. Apparently, one-way tickets to Europe can be extremely expensive. So... the easiest (and cheapest) way for me to travel was to go from Chicago to London-Gatwick to Stockholm to Helsinki. Yes, it sucked, thank you for asking. I left Chicago about 1 hour and 30 minutes delayed, and that obviously gave me major, sweaty, anxiety. By the time I got to London, I had approximately 30 minutes to get to my gate. So basically I was running around like a chicken in the airport, sprinting to customs, full on sweating. Come to find out, the customs line looks like a small crowd for a set at Lollapalooza - and cue my panic attack. But, being the resourceful girl I am, I asked a very scary female customs officer if I needed to go through customs before I make my connection. (I'm more scared of females for some reason because they're badasses?) To which she replied, "No, just go to the terminal, Miss," with disdain and a very nice accent. Nice! Long story short, I made it to my gate with enough time to pee and eat! So shoutout to @NorwegianAirlines for not only getting me here, but for also getting ALL my luggage here.
As soon as I got to Helsinki, Dave was already there waiting for me at the airport because he is seriously a kind soul! But not too soon after we depart from the airport to Valkeakoski, I learned that it has been unseasonably warm here and nobody in Finland has air conditioning???? Poor Dave thought I was gonna get back on a plane and leave... but I'm a grown up, so all I did was pout about this for 3 minutes. On the bright side, during the summer in Finland the sun is ALWAYS out, so being jet lagged and wide awake at 5:00am isn't so bad - especially when it's 60 degrees and sunny early in the morning.
Beyond that, I'm trying to adjust my sleep schedule as fast as possible. Between my jet-lagged, heat driven naps and Netflix-ing yesterday, I initiated the cleaning of David's apartment so that his roommates know I'm cool. We've gone grocery shopping, and I've already tried to make myself at home. There's a beautiful lake right by the apartment that I'll most likely utilize for sitting and eating ice cream, going on runs, and practicing my photography. I'm going to start trying to find a routine for myself, little by little.
My mom is coming to visit Finland on Monday for a week, so I'll post about her visit with pictures soon! Feel free to comment any questions that I can answer in my next post.
xo
Hi Natalie Glad you arrived safely without any serious problems. Stay well. Say Hi to Dave. I know you will be in good hands . Luv an Hugs Gramm
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