My Russian Travel Journal

One of my favorite things to do to relax is to work on scrapbooks or my many journals. Back in the USA I have a few scrapbook journals. I'm not an artist in the least, so I tend to focus on mixed media journals rather than drawing or painting. I think I started these journals when I was in middle school. Along with the hobby aspect of it, I have a terrible memory and I'm very sentimental. In some of these journals I keep pictures or notes people have given me over the years that I have no particular place for but I don't want to throw out. My first travel journal was a souvenir given to me by my sister from India. I used it solely to write down every single moment of my trips to Mexico and Southeast Asia. I am almost certain I wrote down every detail, from what I ate to little inconveniences. It is much more personal than my blog.

Helsinki, Pt. 6

Our last day in Helsinki was pretty easy. We went back to Senate Square because it was the first day of the Christmas market! I need to move to Europe every December because Christmas markets are magical! I wasn't sure what to expect before going. I thought it would be a market filled with plastic garbage from China, but it wasn't at all! The booths were filled with handmade goods and local foods. I was so glad to finish my Christmas shopping as well! There were so many people out and about, and I couldn't believe the number of vendors braving the cold to sell their items. I grew up in the north, but I don't think I'd be able to embrace the outdoors as much as Finns and Russians do!

Helsinki, Pt. 5: Kärpät Hockey Game

Friday night was the whole reason for this trip. Well, it wasn't the WHOLE reason for the trip but it made a good excuse to go to Finland. My cousin, Johnny, plays hockey for Oulun Kärpät. I actually didn't even know he played for a Finnish team until this trip! (As you can tell I talk to my family a lot...). I'm not going to pretend I know anything about hockey, so I don't have much to say in this post. I am used to going to sporting events for the home team, and this game was an away game for my cousin. This might be why I had completely different experiences at this hockey game compared to the Salavat Yulaev game in Ufa. It wasn't bad, it was just different.

Helsinki, Pt. 4

Looking back on my trip to Helsinki I realized how much we actually packed into our Friday. It didn't seem like we did much at the time, but the fact that I have four separate blog posts tells me a different story. We knew we would have some time during the day to sightsee, but we had to be back around 5 pm in order to make it to my cousins hockey game.

Helsinki, Pt. 3: Hietaniemi Cemetery

One of the few places I really wanted to visit while in Helsinki was Hietaniemi Cemetery. I'm pretty sure my aunt and uncle thought I was crazy when I told them I wanted to visit it. My aunt pointed out that it was really close to Temppeliaukion Church, so it wouldn't be out of our way.

I didn't know what to except heading to the cemetery, but I should have anticipated a wall surrounding it. Eventually, we found the entrance, and I was pleasantly surprised by the view in front of me. The headstones and rocks were covered in a green lichen (a powdery-type algae). While this probably isn't good for the headstones, to me, it added to the forest atmosphere I was feeling when I walked inside.