Monday November 15 - Let's throw two fresh factors into the equation

1) SEABATTLE

This was the cruise that I arrived 30 mins early to line up for tickets. And boy, was it ever worth it! I've never experienced 2 cities in (well, 3 if you count passing through Helsinki) 3 days and the boat night life in the middle. It was like my senses were activated for the full 72 hours - fantastic!

2) At first I thought I would start blogging with just pictures from now on and very few reflections since I was pretty behind on my entries and my time in Jyvaskyla grows short so I thought to spend more time with people than my lovely Sony computer. But then I received feedback from a very good friend (thanks Paivi) that my blog has become lame. And you know what? she's right. So i am going to fix that. Perhaps it will still not be as detailed as it was before but i have promised myself that it will still be awesome. perhaps i will change the style of it a little bit (less verbal diarrhea and more direct writing) but it will still have actual verbal reflections. HUZZAH to writing!

Looking energized and excited for a new adventure as we head off to Helsinki on the bus

We started our journey not even that early in the morning (8:50 am) but I was 5 mins late, also the last one of our bus to arrive because I underestimated the time it would take me to walk since I was so used to biking. Oh well, I made it to the bus anyhow - all nice and sweaty.

Meeting up with the students from Helsinki who will join us on Seabattle

The ride to Helsinki was 3 hours but between chatting with Laura, Kerstin and Stefan and sleeping, it zoomed by for me. I really like bus rides now (little do i know that this outlook will change after my Lapland trip). The 30 or so minute wait in the Helsinki harbor was colored by meeting some old and some new faces from Helsinki and other cities like Oulu. I hadn't seen Kike, Stefan's Austrian roommie, since Stefan's birthday and it was really quite nice to see him and sing Barbara Streissand. About that song! If it wasn't for the internet and the ease of stealing music, Duck Sauce would be rich(or richer) right now. EVERYONE was singing the Barbara Streisand song and it became the official SeaBattle song. My crustal ball also tells me that it will be carried on to Lapland and the rest of the parties in Jyvaskyla. I love musical memories :)

Preparing by stocking up on sugar

These lollipops were awesome. I had a really good time in the 'supermarkets' on the boats because they sold many of three categories: 1) candy 2) souvenirs and 3) liquor. It really wasn't a supermarket, that was a blatant lie. By the end of the trip, I hadn't eaten my usual amount of yogurt and cheese (my finnish diet ;)) and I was pretty upset with these so-called supermarkets.

We tried to get some rest but we were just too excited on the ferry to Tallinn (perhaps this is the sugars doing)

We found a really comfy bar/lounge that we parked at. Kerstin, Laura and I left our things with some friendly Japanese boys who thought we only left to get food yet we returned only 2 hrs later. Nothing was missing from our bags and they weren't covered in honey so I assume they weren't mad at us.

Port of Tallinn

The weather was really quite nice and the sea looked beautiful at this point in the night. Our moods soared :)

Our buffet dinner aboard our glorious Baltic Queen (wine and beer included)

So this buffet was a dream, literally. I couldn't believe the amount of delicious food they had. I was completely overwhelmed and my stomach even more so. The wine they had was not so great but did we really expect a french masterpiece from a buffet that was included in our already-cheap tickets? NO. 

My table mates didn't know the beer was free too or else they would have had lots. I wouldn't have drank it even if you paid ME for drinking it. My taste for cider has developed even more since I've come to europe.

"Russian a la carte"-  i like this

For some reason, the boys said this reminded them of me. I have no idea as to why :P Oh and I should explain the pinkie finger gesture. No, it is not something obscene. The story behind it is: Stefan gave me a thumbs up at the dinner table and I was holding a wine glass so i couldn't reciprocate the thumbs up with my thumbs so I decided to do it with my pinkie. When you see this pinkie gesture for the rest of the pictures, it is an upside down thumbs up - an insider :)

This is called the Starlight Palace - for obvious reasons

Miss cruise/Mr Cruise competition

Okay so I really like Miss/Mr Cruise competitions but I chose not to participate in this one because it was SCRIPTED. how lame is that? I think everyone should have been able to give their own answers. This contest was done twice and the answers were the same each time. As any sane person could have guessed, lots of people left when they found this out during the second round.

How many people can you fit into a tiny cabin? at least this many

Before Seabattle, I didn't know many of these kids but traveling for 72 hrs together tends to bond people.

Summer of 69 karaoke with Stefan - i was pretty into it

Originally, we wanted to sing Summer Nights from Grease but after finding out that the machine didn't have it, we switched it to a song that was in the vacinity of our original choice. And it was definitely just as awesome if not more. I have developed a VERY strong love for karaoke.

Reflection of how many people were in one of the clubs aboard the ship

The clubs (yes, plural, there were at least 3 in use at one time with others that were dormant) were PACKED on the ship. It was a sight like no other. For the few hours that I was in my bunk, it was super comfortable. I am also developing a love for bunk beds :)

Alligators included. 

There were a couple people in animal suits yet no one knew why. Some things are better left unexplained.

The first day and night of Seabattle was great  and we hadn't even landed in Stockholm yet ;D