European Beginnings

Back after a long hiatus...Andrea and I were much busier during our month studying Spanish in Riobamba and Andrea didn't have wifi in her house (clearly she's the real driver of the blog), but I'll add a little about the first few days in Scandinavia. Wishful thinking perhaps, but maybe I'll work on adding some details about the last month in Ecuador soon too...or you'll just have to find one of us to hear about that part.

I arrived in Europe this past Sunday afternoon when I landed in Copenhagen. Then it was a quick flight to Stockholm, finding a hostel for the evening, and hunting down a grocery for some supper, all of which were quite easy. One of the first things I was struck by in Stockholm is that everyone speaks English, but you'd never know it if you didn't strike up conversations with folks. No one speaks anything but Swedish to each other, even though virtually everyone speaks English fluently. Everyone is very friendly and doesn't seem to mind speaking English, but I feel a wee bit of shame every time I make someone use it. No matter where I am, I always wish I could speak the local language. 

That evening, I got a couple hours sleep and then, in good American fashion, woke up to watch the Super Bowl live online. Normally, I don't care so much, but the 49ers have been my favorite team since childhood. Tough loss...oh well...moving on. Maybe not quite yet...watching the Super Bowl by yourself at 4 in the morning in a place where no one else cares makes you realize it's not very important, but still rather fun. I was glad my body was still on U.S. time or I wouldn't have made it through the game.

Random street in Stockholm, not far from the Karolinska hospital where I'll be rotating in a couple weeks.

The next day was spent getting things arranged for my stay in Stockholm. I bought a SIM card, so that I have phone and internet service here, rounded up some more Swedish Krona, and picked up the keys to my apartment. It's a small, but nice, place and the floor is filled with other international students. I don't remember all they told me, but there's a Spanish medical student, a South African doing research on diabetes (In Sweden? The obesity problem is so much less there that diabetes must be far less as well. It seemed like an unlikely place to go to study diabetes.), and a German girl studying public health. They were all very friendly and I look forward to getting to know them more.

Helsinki is significantly colder than Ecuador.

The cozy little Finnish restaurant, near the West Harbor of Helsinki

I went to bed at 6 PM and slept till 4 AM when I had to get up to get to the airport and catch a 6:30 flight to Helsinki, Finland. Really I spent most of the day traveling, as I also took a 2 hour ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to Estonia. In between the flight and ferry, I asked one of the workers at the ticket booth for a good local restaurant and went and found myself a Finnish buffet in a cozy little place. The coziness was welcome, as it was cold, windy, and snowing outside. The ferry was huge and quite comfortable. It had 9 floors, which included a 3 level bar with giant windows in front of the ship. It also has its own "mall," and dozens of cabins. Not to mention the semis that it hides away in its belly. All in all, it was an uneventful trip and I found my way to my hostel in the Old Town of Tallinn, Estonia easily. It turned out to be a little wilder hospital than I'd prefer, but the 3 very drunk Englishmen and 1 Australian kept it from being boring.

Finnish food. Lots of meat, potatoes, bread, and cabbage. 

That's enough for now. Today was much more interesting checking out sights around Tallinn, but I'd like to write a little about Estonia's complicated history and that will take more time than I have now!

 Michael

This doesn't do justice to the size of the enormous ferry.

Every ferry needs a 3 story bar, replete with giant windows and a live stage.