Fun in the Void

Soooo... Things have been pretty "dull" around in the Raatuse dormitory this weekend. A big group went to Riga for the weekend, some went to Poland, others went to Tallinn. Basically, most of my international friends left. So I've been chilling with Genevieve (Texas), Peter (Tennessee), and Kelsey (North Carolina). So did this weekend feel pretty "American"? Yes. But oh well. It's been good.

Friday

Got up rather late (slept in like crazy), and then I decided to start doing some research.... Because when study abroaders see other people going places and doing things... you want to join in on the fun. So us four Americans decided that next weekend, we're going to go to Finland!!! Weee!! But we needed to come up with plans. So we all went our separate ways and began to plan our trip independently.

We reconvened at an Italian restaurant, and I got to order a deliciously large pizza! Mmmm... But over the dinner we agreed that trying to head to Lapland (extreme northern province of Finland) in order to see aurora bourealis was just too expensive, and we'd only be able to spend one night there... which was not worth the loads of money and slight chance we'd see any beauitful display of particle physics.

So we decided that 3 nights in Helsinki would be the best option. Yaaay!! I've heard Helsinki isn't all that awesome, but whatever. If you attack any city with excitement, it'll bounce back off something... even if its the concrete sidewalks (which could be monumentally covered in ice, who knows?).

But we stayed up waaaay too late talking and watching movies, so it was a sad day for productivity.

Saturday

My sleep schedule is beyond awful right now, though. I've been staying up 'til 4AM for the last couple of nights and waking up in the afternoon hours. This does not equal good. But today I got up, procrastinated for an hour, then went on my long-run for the week. It was a very pleasant run, almost hot (relatively). But I got to run back in this remote "neighborhood" and I found a SWEET playground in town as I was adding on some kilometers. So I am definitely going back there when it is warm. But on the run when I was in the remoteness, I took a turn and ended up in a huge pile of fluffy snow, and I just stopped. And I took off my glove and felt the snow. I really hadn't just picked up snow with my bare hands yet. And I remembered how much I love the stuff, and how delicate and wonderful it is. I love winter. The caveat here is that I've never experienced more than a foot of snow, so maybe that's why I still love it...

But I got back from my run and practically sprinted to Taverna, a pizza place we went to on Thursday night. The pizzas there are HUGE, and I love them. But this was a momentous moment, perhaps the most important, of the entire semester. Tonight it finally struck me that I'm in Estonia. I remember when it struck me in Russia and Belize last year. But it finally struck me today. I think it's taken so long, because I haven't felt alienated here. The Estonians, though quiet, are very nice and I certainly feel at home here. But since all my flatmates/roommates are gone this weekend, I think I just needed to feel alone and "special" to realize. But it was perfect. I had just ordered a pizza and paid with my Estonian bank card, I sat down with my tea and read from my law text "Russia and the Idea of Europe". It finally hit me, I'm in Estonia, I'm studying Russia, and I'm happy!!! And I think planning trips to Helsinki and trying to arrange attending a conference in St Petersburg helped to reinforce the idea that "I'm only a bus trip away from all these places!!!" A very good moment, indeed.

And then I got the call that tonight was CHILI NIGHT!! Peter had been talking about making chili one night, and the southwesterner in me was RIDICULOUSLY excited about the idea. So I went downstairs to Peter's apartment, and good lore (referring to great stories of olden times), there was soo much food!! So they had gone shopping while I was running and came back with many goodies. I was personally quite excited. They decided to make brownies, chili, and cornbread. Mmmm... But of course, the only thing we have to make this meal is a toaster oven and two electric stove stops.... none of these said appliances work well. So we made the chili in a big pan, the brownies in the toaster oven, and then we made the cornbread on the stove in a skillet. It all came out surprisingly well. The brownies... turned more into cake. We think that's how Estonians like it, because let's face it: Americans love sugar and rich chocolate waaay to much for our own good. haaha.

But the chili had really good spice to it, as did the cornbread. We later made chili-cheese fries, when we got hungry again. So we retained our American attitudes towards food quite well last night. hahaha. But to celebrate our southwestern evening, we watched Blazing Saddles. So wonderful.

But we also played several rounds of Spades throughout the evening. But like all good college kids, we decided that it should be a game with punishments and alcohol. On their shopping adventure, they had found chocolates with vodka centers. They purchased them while thinking,
"What could this possibly be?!" Well, they're chocolates on the outside, but they're totally hollow and have about 1/3 of a shot of vodka that just sits in the middle in liquid form. So you break the chocolate shell, then lemon-lime vodka pours out. It's surprisingly not that bad, but your body reacts poorly due to the taste of chocolate rapidly being overtaken by the taste of vodka. hahaha. But Spades went really well, at first Genevieve and I got to "celebrate" losing two rounds, then we turned to kick complete ass the next two, so we were spared further chocolate vodka candy. hahaha.

But it was a good night, and we ended by finally getting our accomodation arranged, after our first hostel was apparently full. There's a Bloc Party concert in Helsinki when we're there, and apparently that's what's sucking up all the hostels. But we found a hostel with a four-bedded private room for two nights, then we have to move to a hotel for our final night, but with travel and accomodation, it's less than $200. For three nights in a capital city in a country based off the euro, I'm quite pleased. hahaha.

But I'm anxious to hear from the Riga-travellers how it was, because they found great deals and are spending close to nothing to get there and stay for a weekend. So I'd like to know for my weekend trip to Riga sometime in the future. hahaha.

Today (Sunday) will be incredibly uneventful for sure, so don't expect another post for Sunday. So far I have a short run, a book for Law to read, and an article to read for Post-Soviet. Weee. It's not that much work at all, but I just have to do it. Awww man! hahaha.