Day 53 It's getting warm here!

Today is the end of February and I have been on exchange for 53 days. And believe-it-or-not, I have just experienced an ABOVE ZERO temperature here in Helsinki!

Weather certainly is nice, but the grounds of Helsinki are flooded with dark and muddy water. ARGH. It's like walking in the sewage, well, minus the smell.

(Photo: Dirty snow lying on the ground.)

I think I will miss the snowy and cold Helsinki, for a HK-er like myself, who has never seen snow before, at first it was quite overwhelming, because all you see here is snow, but slowly you get used to it, and when there is no snow around you (like when I was in London), it feels really odd! It makes you realize how humans are so "ma fan", when it is cold, you say it is too cold; when it is warm, you say it is too warm. But frankly, I don't know how I am going to survive back in Hong Kong!

I am not doing anything much today, because I have an exam next Friday and I want to focus on studying (although technically I just need a pass for this, still want to learn something here.)

It has been pretty quiet these days, and will probably stay the same for the next 4 days. I actually quite enjoy the quietness, gives me time to think, reflect, think more, and of course study. There are certain topics that I want to think about, I will write a series of blog entries on these for the next few days.

Stay tuned!

By the way, my parents just finished their marathons! My dad for the first time, and my mum for the second time! Congratulations! I am proud of you guys! Rest well!

Day 52 Moments in life

Life has been good to me, really good. There are a lot of nice things that I encounter, people and situations, that I feel that this is a life worth living.

I think it is fair to say that I am a person who enjoys a lot of moments in my life and just wishes that time would freeze and never pass. Like the time when I was doing my summer internship at Bloomberg, the time when I was going on a marathon trip with my family, the time when I was preparing to go to Helsinki for exchange, the time when I was standing on a frozen lake gazing at the starry sky, the time when I saw the Northern Lights for the first time, the time when I went downhill skiing for the first time, the time when I walked in the middle of the night alone in London, the time when I watched musicals in London, the time now in Helsinki etc etc. These are just great moments that I wish I can linger on longer and wish time would never pass.

But I know time will eventually pass and all that is left are memories.

I am not a person who wants to go back in time and revisit those nice moments, because I fear that I would not enjoy them as much as I enjoyed them for the first time. It is also a constant fear that I would not find other moments that I enjoy after something is over. I always feel a kind of disappointment and abandonment when things pass, or when people you encounter says goodbye and all you get are polite facebook hellos and e-mail messages, or sometimes a postcard greeting.

But I guess this is how things work. There is always a time for everything. I am not a religious person, but this reminds me of the Bible: There is an appointed time for everything. Or in simpler terms, as my dad reminds me a lot of times, "Do the right thing at the right time. Don't get a CPA license when you are 50, a time which you should be planning retirement."

I think there are also a lot of wisdoms around me that I have yet to discover. I love this exchange because there are a lot of quiet moments which I can do some reflections of those (wasted-or-not) 20 years of life. If I were to live pass 60 years old, I have gone through almost 1/3 of it, It is also time for me to start thinking what directions I should take for the remaining 2/3. Because before you know it, you might start asking yourself where did all those years go.

Day 51 Calm and reserved Fins

Fins strike me as a group of calm, quiet, reserved and emotionally-bottled-up people. You never see anyone rushing around on the road, you never hear anyone talking really loudly on the bus (well, except one or two), even when they are drunk, they just mind their own business. I always imagine that if we cancel out all the background noise of the city (i.e. traffic and other noises), Helsinki or even the entire Finland will be extremely quiet.

In a way, I think this is what I like about them. I don't have to say anything when I have nothing to say, I don't have to pretend to be interesting when sometimes I am not, I don't have to even talk when I don't want to.

Last Friday in our Advanced Corporate Finance class, our professor invited a top-notch consultant to our class to lecture us on Capital Structure and Corporate Strategy. As I have experienced back in HKUST, consultants are normally really energetic people who talk not only fast, but also attention grabbing and they always seem to have those "wow" factor within it. So before this Finnish consultant came to the class, I was so ready for a show to begin.

So this Finnish consultant talked, and quite frankly, I was a little disappointed at first.
1. He talked monotone.
2. He gave a lecture even more boring than the professor himself.
3. His face is emotionless.

Basically like a talking cold marble statue.

But if you were there, you would have noticed that apart from the unattractive way of speaking, this guy actually is quite smart and experienced, but he just kept it all bottled-up. There is no fancy words to draw everyone's attention, but I was just intrigued by the contents of his lecture. Calm and reserved, but there is so much in him.

You know what they say, it is not the volume but contents that matter.

I think I have located a place on earth that is not Americanized!

Day 50 Finland works well in snow

Finland works perfectly well in snow and in cold. I remember a Fin once told me that maybe Finland is what Finland is under this type of harsh temperature. Everything runs smoothly here, buses are on time, people are on time ... most probably because they don't want others to wait in the cold for them. Imagine putting Hong Kong's weather in Finland, maybe things won't be the way it is now.

I went to London last week and a couple of my friends there told me that when London snows, everything stops and most people become handicapped. Drivers crash their cars and therefore cannot go to work/school/anywhere. Public transportation will be halted because they need to clear the snow first. People in London just could not function in the snow, because maybe the people and the city itself never put much effort in running their city under the snow.

In a way, I applaud how the Fins lead their lives in such weather. I believe they can endure hardships. You might think that Hong Kong people are the hard-working ones, but wait till you see the Fins! Early in the morning, they need to get up in the dark and in the cold. Walking on the streets that are paved with snow aren't that easy. Putting on and off clothes is another hassle they need to bear. And sometimes, when it is windy and snowy (and all I want is to stay at home), the Fins still continue doing what they do. I feel that no matter what happen, the Fins have a way of working around it. Aren't these people great? This is how I admire them.

Having said that Helsinki still works well under the snow, there are still some incidents that prove that the nature is powerful. When I return from the Helsinki Vantaa Airport to the Central Railway Station, it was snowing heavily and there was a tram accident. A tram went out of its track and blocked the entire driveway.



But mind you, Finnish drivers are so good in driving in the snow! My bus driver just squeeze into a narrow space and guide the bus right through the accident. No wonder there are so many famous Finnish rally drivers in the world, these snow-paved roads train them!

Good job Finland!

Day 49 A happy ending to a scary day!

The flight back to Helsinki from London was really good. Not only was my chair in perfect condition (i.e. I can recline.), there was also an empty seat between me and another passenger, so my arms could fully rest on the arm-rests! It was my first time traveling by budget airline, and I think I quite like the experience!

I am now back in Helsinki. Phew, it felt just like home when I stepped out of that plane. Although it was snowy, windy and colder than London, there is this tranquility in this place that I felt that I belong here, and nowhere else. London is a nice city, but it is way too crowded, people are too "city-like", so I like Helsinki so much more.

I met up with Barbora today at lunch to talk about my amazing trip, and learnt from her two scary pieces of news about downhill skiing.

1. Barbora's family went onto a downhill skiing trip, her father got hit by another skiier and needed stitches in his mouth.
2. A turkish girl in our exchange lost a front tooth when she was doing downhill skiing in Lapland.
God bless them, hope they feel better.

I did an entry in Day 44 about downhill skiing and its dangers. I think these news just confirmed my fear of downhill skiing. It is actually really dangerous!

Today was really a scary day for me. It so happened that I stayed in the computer lab till late, at around 9 pm. As I had put my coat near the front door, I needed to get from the computer lab to the front door. But the door inside the school to the front door was locked! (probably because it was late already!) It was freezing cold in Helsinki and seriously, I don't think I can live without a coat outside.

There was no one around the campus that we could ask for keys to unlock the door for us. As we frantically looked for telephone numbers of janitors and security guards, Barbora had an idea that we should probably just leave our coats there and called Karin and Klaus for help.

Klaus got some sweaters and coats for us and met us outside of the front door of the gate. So we went through the backdoor of the computer lab, to the front gate to meet Klaus. Just as we were putting on Klaus's sweaters, Klaus suddenly pointed out that the front door was actually unlocked from the outside!

Phew, what a strange school, the doors inside the campus are locked, but the doors to the outside are unlocked?! Hm, does that make any sense?

But still, we were just so happy to get our coats back!

A happy ending to a scary day.

Day 48 Shows and Musicals in London

London is famous for its musicals and shows. And it is so true! Everywhere I go, there are posters of different kinds of musicals, Legally Blonde, Sister Act, Lion King etc etc. This shows how popular musicals and shows are here. I also did not expect that there are a lot of places in London where you can get musical and show tickets, I thought London will be like Hong Kong, where you can only get it in theatres and Tom Lee, but no, they actually make business out of selling musical tickets! It is much like Airline tickets, where you can book online through different agencies, which compete in offering the lowest price to customers!

(Photo: This is one of the places where I got the musical tickets.)

(Photo: YAY! tickets!)

During my stay in London, I saw a show and a musical: Thriller Live! and Sister Act (the musical). It is actually my first time seeing a show and a musical here. And my GOD, they were so unbelievably good!

First, the theatres. They are really grand and are very well-furnished. Gold pillars and giant chandeliers, it is almost like a scene out of the Phantom of the Opera.

Second, the audience. The audience cheered at the performers and really get me into the atmosphere of the musical and show. Also, there were minimal disturbances from the audience throughout the entire show, no crying and noisy kids or talking audience. I remember there were 2 musicals I watched in Hong Kong that there were kids crying and making annoying noises; nope, nothing like that here!

Third, the actors and actresses. It feels almost as if I see the talents pouring out of these actors' and actresses' bodies as they sing/ dance and act. I have to say, it is one time that I feel like you need to have the right kind of talent to be in their positions. Of course, they work hard as well, but I think, the hardworks are built upon the great talents they already possess. Everytime they step onto the stage, I can almost see their passion lightening up their eyes; I really admire their dedication to their jobs. I think they are really good at it, and no other person can or should replace what they are doing.

Thriller Live!


Thriller Live is a show with Michael Jackson's music. What I really like about it is that it involves audience participation throughout the show, it makes the show much more enjoyable and more lively. The singers sing MJ songs really really well. Especially the songs: The Man in the Mirror, Dangerous and Thriller. They are so awesome.

Sister Act


Technically, Sister Act is the first musical I see in London. And I love everything about it, the singing, the dancing, the acting. And even the organization of the stage, it was so wisely designed that it is never a boring set, I wonder how those people come up with it! I particularly love the song "Here within these walls" of this musical. It is about the head nun telling the "outsider" Delores why she likes the church so much and what she perceives of the lives outside of the church. She sings that here within these walls of the church, life is so good, peaceful and calm. When she was singing it, I had a strange feeling that she is singing to me about Helsinki: within the borders of Helsinki, life is so good. The melody of the song is also very peaceful and calm. it is now being sung repeatedly over my head.

I am so glad that I watched this musical. I think Sister Act has topped all of the musicals I have ever watched before in my life. It is so amazingly, unexpectedly and unbelievably good! And you wouldn't believe the talents they have and their passion for their work. I LOVE musicals in LONDON!

Day 47 Visiting the school I wasn't smart enough to get into.

Today we visited the school I wasn't smart enough to get into: Cambridge. We bought tickets at the King's Cross Station and traveled for about 1 hour to get to Cambridge.

(Photo: On the train.)

(Photo: the train. I think UK's trains are quite extensive. Almost everywhere you can go by trains. But it makes sense since UK is a big country.)

(Photo: Arriving at Cambridge. It was freezing cold and snowing when we got there, BUT still warmer than Helsinki!)


(Photo: All covered in snow. But at least we can still see some green under the thin blanket of snow!)



And then, we met up with Elita and Jennifer! Elita is a friend of Desiree's and Winky's, it was so nice meeting Elita! And Jennifer, it was so unreal meeting her in the United Kingdoms, and even better, in Cambridge!

(Photo: Jennifer dancing in the snow! Oh man, it is so nice seeing you here!!! thanks so much for taking us around and bearing with our gazillions photo-takings!)

(Photo: They say it's the must do thing in London to take photos at the phone booth.)

Cambridge is really pretty. But I think my impression of Cambridge before visiting is quite different. I have always thought that Cambridge would be really rural, like river, grass and mountains. But I was so wrong! I didn't realize that those postcard photographers were standing on a busy street and high-ways when taking photos of the mountains and grass. It is really quite a busy place. But there were a lot of people riding bicycles! Cycle safe Jennifer!



(Photo: they say we can't walk on the grass. but technically we will be walking on snow!)

(Photo: Jennifer and the snowy lawn! Hehe, even the Cambridge students are excited about the snow on the lawn!)

(Photo: The river.)

(Photo: Me sending postcards. It is my goal to send my parents and sister a postcards from different countries! So far so good, now they have one from Estonia, Levi and London.)

(Photo: And then we had afternoon tea at a shop called Auntie's tea shop. I had a coffee and an apple pie.)

(Photo: And then I began embarassing Elita by saying everything with a pretended British accent. "Fancy a pie? Cheers, mate!")

(Photo: After returning to London by train, I had a snog! Wooo... nah, it's actaully a frozen yogurt. I topped with mini oreos and brownies. It was sooo good, but I felt sick afterwards, too much sugar!)

The trio then decided that we should get a drink and talk (although Desiree has lost her voice), we randomly walked into a bar, and funny thing is, it has a tranvestite show! There was a drag queen hosting some singing performance and those performance are so good! Really high quality!





And then it was time to say goodbye to Delphine, I am going to miss you Delphine. Although I am really bad at keeping contact, I will really really try to keep in touch with you!

Day 46 The British Museum and Fish & Chips

Early in the morning of our second day in London, we took our luggage to Desiree's sister, Natasha's place to stay for the following two nights. I have to say, Natasha's place is REALLY REALLY nice! She has been here for almost 9 years, including attending university here, so she knows the city pretty well.

After putting our stuff to Natasha's place, we went to meet Desiree's friend, Smile, in the British Museum.
(Photo: The British Museum. The ceiling and the architecture are all nice, but there are just too many tourists there, probably because it was a Sunday afternoon.)

(Photo: Smile and Desiree. I guess I know why they are such good friends, look at their vertical distance from the ground! kidding kidding.)

(Photo: The museum is really big. But it is also crowded, at the end, we didn't see a lot from the museum, just the Egyptian, Greek and the Japanese sections.)

(Photo: This group of people is called the Bible study group. We bumped into them and listened to the man talking about the relationship of war, God and man.)

(Photo: And Oscar joined us too!)

Afterwards, we decided to taste the famous UK dish: Fish and Chips.
(Photo: Finally! Fish and Chips! But the UK people here, i.e. Delphine, Smile and Oscar, all said that this fish and chips wasn't good and was a total rip-off! The fish was supposed to be bigger!)

Later on, we had hot-pot at Natasha's place! It was delicious!


The Gu-cake for dessert is so good! it's like melting 1 kilo of chocolate bar into a cake. Thank you so much Natasha!
(Photo: The Gu-cake.)

Day 45 LONDON LONDON!

I had an amazing day in London today. I safely arrived at the Gatwick Airport at around mid-night on Thursday (i.e. Friday morning) by this budget airline called Easyjet, then successfully went on the last train from the Gatwick Airport Station to the London Bridge Station; Hopped off the train and looked for directions to Chancery Lane, where my friends Delphine and Desiree were.

(Photo: I was actually a bit worried because they said that they might be snow blizzard in Helsinki, and they delayed, but I guess it was fine!)

And guess what, I walked, yes, walked in the middle of the night from the Station to Chancery Lane, it took about one plus hour. PHEW. But I made it!

So then, we went back to Delphine's place which is in Southern London by the N155 night-bus. Delphine's place is AMAZING! It is what I always imagined people in London will live in- A little black gate, front-yard, a coloured front-door, a small and dimly-lit corridor, a narrow staircase. Woooo.... so British!

(Photo: The street where Delphine lives. It is how I have always imagined it!)

(Photo: Breakfast/ lunch at the dinning room! The trio reunite!)

Since we went back pretty late, we woke up pretty late, although we made a promise to ourselves that we would wake at around 9 am in the morning.

The first place we went in London was Camden Town! (Photo: We went by Underground, or what the British say, the Tube.)

(Photo: Camden Town is an inner city district in North London, it is sort of a higher-class Ladies market in Hong Kong. They sell all these weird stuff, some for tourists, and others, well, just for weird locals I think.)

Then we walked and walked and walked until it was time for the CIS gathering in ChinaTown! It was so nice to meet up with a bunch of friends from High School. AWWW.. SO many memories!



Afterwards, we decided to do go to J. Lee's place for a chat and drink.
(Photo: But we have to talk really quietly. Because J. Lee's neighbour, who has cancer, always theatened to tell her land-lord that she is noisy.)

Oh, by the way, desiree lost her voice, so she couldn't talk at all, I mean, she can only whisper. She also found out that she has a lump on her throat, which resembles Adam's Apple. I guess she was really freaked out that she is turning into a man, so she decided that she should see the doctor at the Emergency room, the whole group went with her.

(Photo: And wow, there were so many drunks with cuts and bruises in the emergency room waiting room. At the end, we decided that it took too long to wait, and Desiree calmed down a bit, so we decided that it might be just a sore throat, and we went home.)

And on our way home, we saw a traffic accident. There were, I think, Blood on the ground. Our buses got delayed. I hope that person is well.

What a day what a day!

Day 44 Downhill skiing and its dangers

I heard today from the Hong Kong newspapers that there was a Queen's College student who went downhill skiing in Korea, hit his head on a skiing post and died. News said that he knew how to ski, but probably not very good at it, he then tried out the advance course and that was when the accident happened.

As you know, from my previous posts, that I have recently grown in love with this sport. But I will have to admit, downhill skiing is actually quite dangerous and can be fatal when a beginner is 'too brave' and tries out the advanced course.



Having skiied only twice in my life, I have tried the advanced course in Lapland and as I was skiing down from that steep slope, I could think of multiple ways of getting myself injured or killed:

1. Other skiiers bump into you at a dangerously high speed.
2. you want to make a turn but lose control, your neck snaps or you crack your head.
3. you lose control of your skiis and bump into a tree, a block of ice or the ski lifts
4. you cannot get off the ski lift or the ski lift in front of you hit you on the head (I am not kidding, the ski lifts I am talking about are those that you wrap between your legs, not those that you sit on.)



So here is a little advice from a beginner like me, to all the beginners out there.

1. Stick to the beginner's course
2. If you really want to do a harder course, go with someone who skiis better than you and is willing to take care of you
3. If you are on a harder course, make sure that you are not going really fast.
4. If you feel like you are beginning to accelerate, intentionally make yourself fall down before it is too late (i.e. when you are at a dangerous speed).
5. Make snow plouge when you ski
6. Know that to be really good at skiing takes time. There was a Swiss exchange student who started skiing when she was 3 years old and probably go skiing every single day in Switzerland, she went crazy fast down the slopes. But beginners beware, don't try to follow the pros!

Well, that is all I have to say, skiing is fun, but sometimes you really have to watch it!

Happy skiing everyone!



By the way, I am heading to LONDON tonight! I am SUPER DUPER CUPER CHUPER EXCITED, WOOOHOOOO.
Oh, and I discovered that my 20-Euro universal adapter BROKE. =.=!
I think I will get an adapter in London.

Day 43 Happy Penkinpainajaiset Day!

One thing I love about the Finnish culture is that they celebrate just about everything. yes, everything!

So today, as I was walking to the academic bookstore to pick up my Finnish textbook, there were noises everywhere on the road, which is weird in Helsinki because everywhere is quite quiet and calm here. I looked around and I saw a huge crowd of people standing on the side of the road, and lorries with young people on it passing by.

(Photo: Guess who they are? They are actually senior high-school students celebrating the end of school year. Today is the last day of school and the start of the preparation of the Finnish matriculation exam (like university-entrance exam) for these kids, and you know the Fins, this calls for celebration!)

It is a Finnish tradition that these high school kids go into nicely-decorated lorries and parade around the Helsinki district. They also throw candies to the crowd and the crowd will cheer along with them! My Finnish teacher Merja told us that the celebration lasts for the entire day and night. First they go around the school, pranking teachers/ school, sing songs, interrupt classes, then they go out and parade in lorries, then at night, they go party! Quite frankly, I feel really really happy for them! It reminded me of my last day of high school, and we had prank days! It was so fun! Ah... the good memories.

Barbora's friends came to visit her all the way from Austria! We first went to the 14th floor of the Soko's hotel to see the view of Helsinki, it was so pretty!
(Photo: I knew I was going to be the shortest one...)

(Photo: Seeing so many lights at night feels so much like home!)

(Photo: Hehe, I couldn't resist this.)

And then, we went to the Fazer cafe near Stockmann. The place was really nice! Every pastry looks delicious and I tried the Fazer Chocolate tea!



(Photo: Chocolate tea is actually a mixture of black tea, vanilla extract and chocolate powder. It tastes like normal black tea, but smells like Chocolate and vanilla!)