Europe 2006

Greetings from Finland once again!! It has been over a month I think since I have last sent this out, and much has happened. In late October we had a 10 day break from this rigorous University schedule, and I decided to travel to Poland and Lithuania with my friend Jaroslaw from Germany. Jaroslaw had to stay in Finland for a few more days than me, so I flew out to Warsaw before he did. Warsaw is a pretty bland city, it was leveled in WW2, and rebuilt “Soviet Style”. Other than one park in the city, there is almost no green area, but there is one incredible building that towers over the rest of the city, it is the centre for arts and culture. After arriving in Warsaw, I decided to travel up north to Gdansk which is a beautiful port city by the Baltic Sea. I spent two days there, walking up and down the canals, and met quite a few native English speakers from England, Scotland, and New Zealand. It was nice to be able to converse without having to slow my speaking down or act like a personal dictionary!! After two great days up there, I went back down to Warsaw to greet Jaro, who informed me that he had slept past his airport stop in Finland and had to take a taxi to the airport, where he arrived only 15 minutes before his flight! Haha, he was pretty wound up, but a few beers later and he was back in form! So after spending a night in Warsaw, we headed down to Krakow which is an amazing city! As soon as we got away from the train station, we saw more green grass and more pretty girls in ten minutes then our entire time in Warsaw! Ahhh we knew we were going to have a great time!Krakow truly is amazing, the food is excellent, and we lucked out by having sunshine everyday. We were walking around in our t-shirts, and it was a nice contrast to the snow and minus weather that we had left behind in Finland. We took a day trip out to Aushwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which is about an hour and a half out of the city. The concentration camp was pretty shocking, there are quite a few exhibits that are harsh beyond words. A lot of the camp was destroyed by retreating Nazis, but there are remaining buildings, and to sit in the middle of the camp and imagine that over a million people were killed there is something that I will never forget. After Aushwitz, we traveled back into Krakow, and partied it up for the night. The next day we traveled around old town (a must in every European city!) and took in some of the more important cites such as Wawel Castle. Our time in Poland was done, and it was time to move on…After an excruciating 13hr train ride, we arrived to the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. We spent our first day walking around and enjoying the fantastic weather, and enjoyed what would be our last nice sunset of the trip. The next morning we woke up to rain, and unfortunately it was raining for the rest of our time there. After one more night in Vilnius, we traveled west to Klaipeda, and then south to the tiny resort city of Nida which is situated on the Curonian Split. The Curonian Split is a narrow strip of land, 2-3 Km that runs parallel to the coast of Lithuania and Kaliningrad, and forms a huge L´lagoon inland. There are sand dunes there, and we had a great, but cold time visiting first the lagoon, and then the Baltic Sea. We got to the sea just before sunset, and it was incredible to watch the waves come in. So after heading back to Klaipeda, we had to return to Latvia where we unfortunately missed our flight home!! Oh well, it was a cheap flight, and the next day I had the humility of taking a bus-ferry-bus trip back to Tampere, where I was studying diligently for the next few weeks. But of course, not for too long……On the bus and off to St. Petersburg at 5AM. It’s cold and I’m tired, but very excited to be headed to Russia. After sleeping a few hours on the bus, and waiting many hours at the border (the boarder is 5-9 checkpoints, depending on how luck you are) we arrived to our hotel. I had signed up with a tour group, so there were about 90 of us students on the trip. The first night there we went to a traditional Russian dinner, which of course was started by a huge bottle of vodka on the table. It wouldn’t be my last bottle of vodka in Russia, that’s for sure! So after a night filled with borsch, Russian folk songs and good food, we headed out for some clubbing, Russian style. Waking up the next morning with a few hours of sleep we went to visit the summer palace of the Tzars. It was quite chilly in St. Petersburg, so venturing into the city was quite a process! The city is quite beautiful, and at night it looks even more amazing. In Russia we also went on a champagnsky tour, which was a boat ride through the canals of the city, while drinking as much Russian champagne (and of course Vodka) as you could take!! It was really nice to see the city at night, and after that a night of clubbing (yay!) ensued. The following day we had a nice bus tour of the city, where we stopped at St. Isaacs Cathedral, the Cathedral of Spilled blood, and the warship that started the 1917 revolution, Aurora. We finished the day by spending a few hours in the world renowned museum, the State Hermitage. It was quite amazing, but too large to spend only a few hours inside!! So as our time in russia was ending, we took the subway our for another night of (you guessed it ) clubbing!!! The metro in St. Petersburg is quite astounding though, with parts of it being 70m below ground level. After waking up the next morning, tired and sick, ( I wonder why?) I headed back to Finland where I am constantly engaged in my studies. We’ll I would love to hear what you have been up to, and I hope to hear from you soon,Take care,Nelson

Hey again, greetings from the European North. So to pick up where I left last time I am enjoying being able to walk and have been taking full advantage of this with recent travels to Estonia and Latvia. Estonia is just a short ferry ride (4 hours) across the Baltic sea from Finland, so a group of Germans, Belgians and one French took the journey to explore Tallinn, the capital. It never ceases to amaze me the history and stories these cities have to offer, Tallinn being over 500 years old. We didn’t explore the new city very much, but we walked all the way around old town which was very amazing. The churches are enormous, and the streets are all stone which helps you imagine what it could have been like a few hundred years ago.So after Tallinn my Canadian friend Simon and I decided to take the bus down to Riga, Latvia. It was a fairly short 5 hour bus ride, but then again a 5 hour bus ride seems like an eternity to my friends from Eastern Europe. They cant believe when I tell them it is a “short 5 hour drive” from my home in Kelowna to Vancouver. I guess it seems long when your country is only a few hundred kilometers wide.Riga is beautiful, but one thing you notice as soon as you get there is that your not in “friendly Finland” anymore. Latvia has recently joined the EU, but the country is still reeling from being occupied by the soviets for so long. At night there are many members of the Russian Mafia, so you do have to be careful there. But once you get over the fact that everyone is trying to make a buck off you, the city is gorgeous. Old town is beautiful, with many towering churches and museum. While we were there we visited the Occupation Museum which detailed the occupation of Latvia between 1940, by the Soviets, then the Nazis, then the Soviets again. Both of which really suppressed the local population. Oh yeah and we shot a few guns off too!So after the trips to Estonia and Latvia I have been back at school studying hard (or hardly studying, I forget which) Not much changes here in Tampere other than the weather. I am told to get out in the sun every chance I get, as it will disappear soon, never to be seen again???? It might even snow this week, if we are lucky! Well upcoming I have a break from studies October 20-30 and I have planned another trip to Poland, and then Lithuania to meet up with some friends. Well see you later, and I hope to hear back from you all. Oh yeah it just started snowing, yay! ( I am not kidding.)Nelson

The Kings Palace

Stockholm
Enjoying some tax free booze on the Ferry


Church
Our Hostel

Hello Everyone,It has been awhile since I have talked to some of you so here is a brief update of what I have been up in the last year. Last September I started studying at the University of Victoria, on the beautiful island of Vancouver. I studied hard all year, and decided to take summer courses so I ended up having only one month of summer vacation, but that is fine. Also in mid-August I had an operation on my knee to fix some cartilage damage I had suffered from playing sports, which resulted in me having to be on crutches for the next 6 weeks. The payoff to all my hard work was an international exchange to Tampere, Finland, where I am currently studying. So…….After a very long, painful and exhausting flight, I arrived at Helsinki where my very distant cousin Hanna, and her friend picked me up and drove me to their house. I have a few relatives here in Finland, as my great Grandpa lived in Finland, so the cousins that I have here share the same great-great-Grandpa. After that Hanna took me to her parents and grandparents farm, so I could meet them. Our conversations were fairly short, and mostly comprised of hand signals because none of them speak English! So after that I went to my student housing building, which is filled with mostly Germans, Russians, Italians, French, and a few students from Poland (who absolutely love their vodka), Lithuania, Australia and just about every other place you can imagine. I have met a lot of great people, and now it looks like I will have to visit them in their native countries, which should be fun.The school system is very different here than in Canada, attendance is encouraged, but definitely not mandatory, as you are expected to do a lot of your learning on your own time. I am taking a Finnish language course (which seems impossibly hard at the moment) along with a few Finnish history classes. The first few weeks here consisted of parties every night, but it seems to be slowing down just a bit. Last Tuesday, the student association hosted a “Sauna Party” which means drinking, sauna, and a dip in the freezing cold lake. It was a great time, and apparently they get even better in the winter when you cut a hole in the frozen lake, and swim in there, then run back to the warmth of the sauna. And as for the Finnish people….There are a few things Finns take personally; saunas, drinking, hockey and Santa Claus. As for sauna’s I think it is in national building regulations that every single residence have at least one sauna, preferably more. The Finns invented the sauna, and they usually like to frequent the sauna a few times a week. There also is a rule about saunas as my uncle said, “You must drink before you go sauna, and after you come out.” So yeah if you’re planning on quitting drinking anytime soon, I wouldn’t recommend coming to Finland. In Tampere there are two teams in the Finnish Liiga, and I have chosen to cheer for the much despised Ilves (Mountain Lions) much to the discomfort of my family, who cheer for their hometown Hameenlina Knights. As for Santa Claus, there is no doubt that he is from northern Finland, which lies inside the polar circle. They even have “SantaLand” here, which I am hoping to visit when there is snow on the ground.Lately I have been studying a bit, and last week I went to Stockholm by ferry, for a few days. It was a great weekend, a very beautiful city and we saw the Kings Palace, a few museums, and a lot of beautiful buildings. Yesterday was my first day without my crutches, and it is a little weird trying to get used to walking again, but I am extremely happy to start on the road to recovery. My new physiotherapist (also named Hanna) is excited for me, and is happy with the healing. Well I should get back to all of that hard studying I have to do; I would love to hear what you have been doing so please drop me an e-mail.Oh yes I do have some pictures posted on the internet, just go to;http://nelsonlamb.blogspot.com/Moi Moi,Nelson

At the "Polish Vodka Party."
Sailboats near the harbour by my house.
Sunset at the lake, 5 minute walk from home.
Taking a break on the bus tour of Tampere.