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Colors Trading Post
Feb. 3rd, 2014 03:29 pm
Click on the picture to go to the cards!
Feel free to leave trades here for Colors. If you're looking to trade cards for Pairings, my post is Here! ETCG trades are always welcome, as well.
Click on the picture to go to the cards!
Feel free to leave trades here for Colors. If you're looking to trade cards for Pairings, my post is Here! ETCG trades are always welcome, as well.
Nakama TCG
Oct. 12th, 2013 08:51 pm
Click the image to go to the cards!
Feel free to continue leaving trades here if you don't want to use the form.
Deck Post (![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pairings_tcg)
Jun. 24th, 2013 11:53 pm
Click on the picture above to go to my cards! Please pardon the mess as I adjust to my new site.
Feel free to continue leaving trades here!
Deck post (colors_tcg)
Jun. 10th, 2013 11:57 am
MOVED!
My cards are now located at the above link! Just click on the picture to see them. Please pardon the mess as I make the transition to my new site!
ON HIATUS.
Please don't trade me! I won't be responding to any new trades (old trades I will complete, but I won't be starting new ones).
Seasonal Cards of Wonder!
Nov. 24th, 2012 07:13 pmIf you would like a card from me during this time of annual card-giving and joy, leave your name/address/what have you here and I will send one to you! They'll be great! I'll try to get them out around the 16th or so and I'll send internationally.
If you don't feel comfortable leaving it on DW, you can also email it to me: cheerypapercut@gmail. Comments are screened for your privacy!
If you don't feel comfortable leaving it on DW, you can also email it to me: cheerypapercut@gmail. Comments are screened for your privacy!
E-CATS: The (Very Basic) Guide.
Sep. 23rd, 2012 05:31 pmE-CATS stands for:
• Enrichment Center
• CFUD
• Aather
• Thusia
• Sabra la Tau
Why? Because all of these games were created under the same style and playability as the others -- making them into a sort of umbrella, if you will. A few of the games in the Acronym are technically only formalities. Enrichment Center, for example, was closed last year, and Sabra la Tau actually completed its run as a RP and ended as well. However both of them were considered to be 'iconic' games of the CFUD genre, so they stay in the acronym. Also E-CATS is fun to say.
What makes these games different from games X, Y, Z?
Generally these games are based around mingle posts -- or posts where open-ended face-to-face interactions happen. Networks (such as a 'journal community' or a 'convenient blackberry for the game') do not usually exist, though there are other things like bulletin boards and notes hung on doors that sometimes serve the same functions. Almost all interaction in E-CATS games is done face to face, so apping someone that's a hermit might not be...advised! Characters must go out and have conversations with other characters rather than hiding behind a screen (or relying on technology to communicate for them).
E-CATS games have a reputation of being 'super fast and speedy', but your mileage may vary. For example, Aather has 1-2 mingle-esque posts every day, not counting game posts, but Thusia may only have a post every other day, excluding days when large plot-like events take place. However, tagging is QUITE rapid compared to other games, and leaving tags to sit for a week is generally (though not always!!) considered to be 'dropping the thread', and in my personal experience there are only a few people who will take a thread far and beyond like in other games where threads can last for months.
• This game style may be perfect for you if you like sitting down and tagging thoroughly a few times a week/once a day/etc! It may not be so perfect if you only have the time to tag once a week, or once every few weeks...
Etc etc THE GAMES EXPLAIN THE PREMISES
cfudIt's. Camp. And if you have sex, you die. Generally considered crack-ish, do I really need to explain CFUD it's the longest-running game on the Dreamwidth RP scene. Apps are voted on by the community, generally to get in it is said you need to have a humorous app rather than a more serious one.
aather• Fairy tale world being threatened by the Darkness! Upon arrival all people lose their memories and skills and are designated as either a 'hero' or a 'knight'. Heroes are on teams of seven (named after stone colors), Knights work alone as part of either Sterling or Onyx. All player characters are under the influence of the Personae, who put on games as a way for people to get their memories and skills back. Once you receive all of them back, you may finish the game, or "good end". You can also choose to stick around as a "Legacy Hero" and just continue having fun in Aather.
• ACTIVITY: Will be changing soon. Currently, it is one 30-comment thread (15 of which from your own character) per week, with a new week beginning at the end of your last 30 comment thread. (Example: I finish a thread with Character X on Sunday. I now have until next Sunday to make Activity Check again.)
• WHO CAN I APP: Anyone, provided they have not received a certain number of memories back previously in-game. Also provided they are not on the ACCEPTED AND AWAITING PLACEMENT list. Both of these can be found: here.
thusia• YOU DIED. And now you've woken up in Thusia, where you are very small compared to the very large monsters and plants that wait outside the walls of your home. You must fight to reclaim your civilization from the wilderness, before you become part of the wilderness yourself.
• ACTIVITY: 60 Comments a month, comprising of at least two (though no more than 6??) threads during the entire month.
• WHO CAN I APP: Anyone not currently taken, view it here HOWEVER it is not always frequently updated. You can app OU, AU, OCs or Game Transplants.
kohos• Yet Another Memory Loss Game + YOU DIED. Your character must regain their skills and memories on the way to divinity or resurrection, depending on the path they choose to take through the underworld. Placed on small teams and patroned by a god that calls to them immediately after their death.
• ACTIVITY: At least three substantial (15-20 comments from you) threads a month, preferably not all with the same person. Shorter threads can be counted, provided that they contain substantial character development and relationship work.
• WHO CAN I APP: Anyone not currently taken, view it Here.
• Note: This game has not opened yet.
Decollage
• Yet Another Memory/Skill Loss Game + Characters make the conscious choice to come to the world. You can bring a part of your world with you when you come + teams are a big thing in this game, too. The world is based on the Portraits of Super Mario 64 to a degree, with the Portraits of the land running games in order to give you back your skills and memories so that you can get on with your life. HOWEVER different from Aather and Kohos in that you can only lose either memories OR skills and not both. It is your choice.
• ACTIVITY: At least 50 comments in substantial threads per month.
• WHO CAN I APP: ANYONE. The game is not open yet, and as such there are no "taken characters" at the moment. This game also accepts OCs, but not AUs. Game Transplants are also acceptable.
• Note: This game does not have a community yet. Information about Decollage can be found HERE.
FINLAND: Turku day 4 + 5
Jan. 16th, 2012 07:11 pmYesterday was a pretty long day, all things considered. Though it was long in the good way, at least! We woke up before noon (again) and decided that we would go and see Turun linna, or the Turku castle. It was actually situated on the same street our hotel is on, though it was a bit of a walk; we completely left the tourist district behind on our quest to find Turun linna. Unfortunately, this also meant that we left all of the restaurants behind as well -- so we didn't get to eat lunch until after we finished touring. When we found the castle, it appeared around a bend kind of out of nowhere. While it doesn't look like a traditional castle like one might see in the German countryside, it is pretty grand for a place that was once a fortified solider's camp on an island.
We were pretty much the only people around at first when we got there; we walked inside and were greeted kindly by the people that guard the building, nice men and women in red vests and period clothing. We explored the castle by sections: starting with the Medieval parts, moving onto the Renaissance, and then eventually ending up in the special exhibits and museum section of the castle. The place was actually burned down three different times -- and also bombed during World War II, which almost completely destroyed the castle itself. There's been some reconstruction since then, of course; we didn't just wander around in a pile of rubble. The doorways were almost entirely made for people the height of Aave and I, so Zae had to duck a little when we went through them. The fireplaces were huge enough to stand in, and almost all the windows had seats that you could jump into and look outside. We explored dungeons (though we didn't get to go inside of them, which I thought was a little disappointing) and the king and queen's salons and rooms, as well as the prison (which we did get to go inside and it was so fun). A lot of the ceilings were vaulted, so I spent an ungodly amount of time staring at the ceiling, going vaults vaults vaults vaults... My art history teacher would be proud. After rolling around the castle and taking pictures surreptitiously while the guards weren't looking, we decided to return home. The day was extremely cold, so the walk back wasn't as much fun as it could have been. Also it was getting dark. So we went and got pizza close to the hotel and lounged around for the rest of the night. Aave spent the night, so we watched LPs of Haunting Ground and giggled as girls are wont to do at sleepovers.
---
Today, we didn't feel like doing much of anything. Outside of the cathedral and castle, a lot of things in Turku are meant to be viewed in the summer. Some things are even closed for the season, but that's okay, because we wanted this trip to be mostly social in nature by this point, anyway. Aave went to school, and Zae and I decided to go on a hunt for a McDonald's because that is what reasonable people do in a country that's filled with Hesburgers. The only one we found was practically out of town -- we had to walk a long way to get to it -- and by the time we got there it was getting dark. Really, that was about all we've done all day; tomorrow we're going shopping for our last souvenirs and then staying up all night, since we have to leave the hotel at 4:30am to get to the train station to get back to Helsinki. At least we'll get to sleep on the plane!
We were pretty much the only people around at first when we got there; we walked inside and were greeted kindly by the people that guard the building, nice men and women in red vests and period clothing. We explored the castle by sections: starting with the Medieval parts, moving onto the Renaissance, and then eventually ending up in the special exhibits and museum section of the castle. The place was actually burned down three different times -- and also bombed during World War II, which almost completely destroyed the castle itself. There's been some reconstruction since then, of course; we didn't just wander around in a pile of rubble. The doorways were almost entirely made for people the height of Aave and I, so Zae had to duck a little when we went through them. The fireplaces were huge enough to stand in, and almost all the windows had seats that you could jump into and look outside. We explored dungeons (though we didn't get to go inside of them, which I thought was a little disappointing) and the king and queen's salons and rooms, as well as the prison (which we did get to go inside and it was so fun). A lot of the ceilings were vaulted, so I spent an ungodly amount of time staring at the ceiling, going vaults vaults vaults vaults... My art history teacher would be proud. After rolling around the castle and taking pictures surreptitiously while the guards weren't looking, we decided to return home. The day was extremely cold, so the walk back wasn't as much fun as it could have been. Also it was getting dark. So we went and got pizza close to the hotel and lounged around for the rest of the night. Aave spent the night, so we watched LPs of Haunting Ground and giggled as girls are wont to do at sleepovers.
---
Today, we didn't feel like doing much of anything. Outside of the cathedral and castle, a lot of things in Turku are meant to be viewed in the summer. Some things are even closed for the season, but that's okay, because we wanted this trip to be mostly social in nature by this point, anyway. Aave went to school, and Zae and I decided to go on a hunt for a McDonald's because that is what reasonable people do in a country that's filled with Hesburgers. The only one we found was practically out of town -- we had to walk a long way to get to it -- and by the time we got there it was getting dark. Really, that was about all we've done all day; tomorrow we're going shopping for our last souvenirs and then staying up all night, since we have to leave the hotel at 4:30am to get to the train station to get back to Helsinki. At least we'll get to sleep on the plane!
Turku Day 3 + 4
Jan. 15th, 2012 12:49 amYesterday was uneventful as well; not because we wanted it to be (we didn't) but because when we woke up, all we could see out of our window was a solid wall of white. That's right -- a white-out! We're in a hotel room facing the river, and we couldn't see the buildings across from us. The river isn't very wide, so we were a little hesitant to go outside until we could actually see properly. When we did, it was freezing; the wind was blowing the snow everywhere, so the little bits stung your face. We wandered into a restaurant that supposedly served Irish food, but really, I had a cheeseburger and Zae had chicken fingers. We did happen to try their flavored mayonnaise, though -- turns out that mayo is a Finnish specialty or something. It's on almost every burger, or comes as a side for dipping. There are so many different flavors that I've kind of lost track - the specialty mayo at the Irish restaurant and the BBQ mayo I had tonight come to mind - but the most important thing is that it tastes way better than any stuff we could get at home. Who would've thought?
After we ate lunch, we decided to retire back to our hotel and wait out the worst of the weather. When in Finland, do as the Finns do -- well, almost no one was out on the street, so it seemed rather sensible. To pass the time, Aave came over, and we all played really silly computer games because we couldn't go exploring like we wanted to. By dinner the snow had stopped, so we wandered around until we found Rico's, an Italian-like place that served really good pasta (trust me, the chicken pepper-cheese sauce was excellent). While sipping drinks and eating our various meals, we finally figured out the secret to getting the check quickly: you ask for it with your dessert. Unfortunately, this also has the added side effect of the waitress or waiter demanding payment immediately after you receive the bill, forcing you to dig through your wallet and produce the right amount of change before you can eat your ice cream. We finished off the night by giggling over another silly computer game, before Aave had to catch the bus and go home. Zae and I still haven't figured out the bus system yet, so we kind of awkwardly wave as she leaves. We were going to go visit her house, but Aave has ten cats which makes my presence in the house a little hard. I suppose I could stand outside while Zae wanders around, but I might get a little cold, and also a little lonely. For those not in the know: another of my myriad of allergies is to cats. It's not severe enough to cause me to die or anything [we think] but with ten cats I would probably have some sort of hive reaction.
---
TODAY was bright and sunny; we got out of bed before noon (this is an important thing; we rarely do because we're just so exhausted) and rounded up Aave before heading off to the Turku Cathedral. This cathedral is extremely pretty -- I am a big fan of old architecture, especially of churches, so this trip was very exciting for me. Started in the 13th century, but finally completed somewhere around the 17th, it's a beautiful building with a vaulted ceiling and clerestory windows. I couldn't quite figure out what the columns and ceiling were made of -- it looked like painted brick, I think, with some sort of plaster over them -- but it was pretty nonetheless. We saw lots of famous Finnish and Swedish people, though none of us knew who they were (not even Aave, who said that she couldn't make out Old Swedish to save her life). The altar piece was beautiful; I'll put up pictures later, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Yes, I am a slight bit of an art history nerd.
After we went to the church, we decided to hit up the market square, which is filled with different shops -- including our friend the Stockmann! Aave got a really pretty sunhat, while I finally got a change purse to put all of my Euros in (as I was painfully stuffing them into a pocket of my purse before). Zae kept looking for a real, Finnish purse; finally we found one at another store. It's very pretty -- red leather, made by a Finnish designer -- so we all came out of our shopping adventure happy with our purchases. My own coin purse is actually by a Finnish design brand, as well: Marimekko, which sells fabric that my personal fashion sense was going wild for. If only we had stores like this in the United States! I would make so many pretty dresses and skirts. For dinner, we had a restaurant remarkably similar to Chili's. It was actually named Red Hot Chili's as well, surprise surprise. I had a bacon burger with -- you guessed it -- more mayonnaise! The waiter was really interested in why we were in Finland in the first place. Apparently they don't get many tourists in the southern part of Finland in the winter time, especially people from America. But really, who wants to freeze their butts off in Lapland? Come on.
Tomorrow we are (hopefully) going to the Turku Castle, which is a little bit away from us, but it's on the same street as our hotel! There will be pictures. Perhaps another picture post tomorrow, with more than last time. It just takes me a long time to upload them, so that's why there were so few.
After we ate lunch, we decided to retire back to our hotel and wait out the worst of the weather. When in Finland, do as the Finns do -- well, almost no one was out on the street, so it seemed rather sensible. To pass the time, Aave came over, and we all played really silly computer games because we couldn't go exploring like we wanted to. By dinner the snow had stopped, so we wandered around until we found Rico's, an Italian-like place that served really good pasta (trust me, the chicken pepper-cheese sauce was excellent). While sipping drinks and eating our various meals, we finally figured out the secret to getting the check quickly: you ask for it with your dessert. Unfortunately, this also has the added side effect of the waitress or waiter demanding payment immediately after you receive the bill, forcing you to dig through your wallet and produce the right amount of change before you can eat your ice cream. We finished off the night by giggling over another silly computer game, before Aave had to catch the bus and go home. Zae and I still haven't figured out the bus system yet, so we kind of awkwardly wave as she leaves. We were going to go visit her house, but Aave has ten cats which makes my presence in the house a little hard. I suppose I could stand outside while Zae wanders around, but I might get a little cold, and also a little lonely. For those not in the know: another of my myriad of allergies is to cats. It's not severe enough to cause me to die or anything [we think] but with ten cats I would probably have some sort of hive reaction.
---
TODAY was bright and sunny; we got out of bed before noon (this is an important thing; we rarely do because we're just so exhausted) and rounded up Aave before heading off to the Turku Cathedral. This cathedral is extremely pretty -- I am a big fan of old architecture, especially of churches, so this trip was very exciting for me. Started in the 13th century, but finally completed somewhere around the 17th, it's a beautiful building with a vaulted ceiling and clerestory windows. I couldn't quite figure out what the columns and ceiling were made of -- it looked like painted brick, I think, with some sort of plaster over them -- but it was pretty nonetheless. We saw lots of famous Finnish and Swedish people, though none of us knew who they were (not even Aave, who said that she couldn't make out Old Swedish to save her life). The altar piece was beautiful; I'll put up pictures later, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Yes, I am a slight bit of an art history nerd.
After we went to the church, we decided to hit up the market square, which is filled with different shops -- including our friend the Stockmann! Aave got a really pretty sunhat, while I finally got a change purse to put all of my Euros in (as I was painfully stuffing them into a pocket of my purse before). Zae kept looking for a real, Finnish purse; finally we found one at another store. It's very pretty -- red leather, made by a Finnish designer -- so we all came out of our shopping adventure happy with our purchases. My own coin purse is actually by a Finnish design brand, as well: Marimekko, which sells fabric that my personal fashion sense was going wild for. If only we had stores like this in the United States! I would make so many pretty dresses and skirts. For dinner, we had a restaurant remarkably similar to Chili's. It was actually named Red Hot Chili's as well, surprise surprise. I had a bacon burger with -- you guessed it -- more mayonnaise! The waiter was really interested in why we were in Finland in the first place. Apparently they don't get many tourists in the southern part of Finland in the winter time, especially people from America. But really, who wants to freeze their butts off in Lapland? Come on.
Tomorrow we are (hopefully) going to the Turku Castle, which is a little bit away from us, but it's on the same street as our hotel! There will be pictures. Perhaps another picture post tomorrow, with more than last time. It just takes me a long time to upload them, so that's why there were so few.
Turku day 2
Jan. 13th, 2012 04:13 amAn uneventful day, really. I guess I'll take this time to talk to you about Aave, who is visiting us while we're in Turku. We all got up really late (including Aave, who got up around the same time that we did) and proceeded to lounge around for most of the day. It takes her about forty-five minutes to get from her house (which is on an island!) to the main area of Turku, which is where our hotel is. So in that 45 minutes, Zae and I decided to go have lunch.
Today was our first experience with an entirely Finnish menu, so we started small: pizza! Can't go wrong with that, right? I got salami, while she got the Margherita; it wasn't that hard to order, only to eat. Finns, like Italians I might add, don't cut their pizzas into slices for you, nor are you supposed to actually eat it with your hands. Not that we ever cut it into tiny pieces like we were supposed to. No, we just cut it into slices ourselves and then picked it up. Totally American of us, but hey, I think we're allowed a few of our native tendencies. After that, we went back to the hotel, where we found Aave waiting for us! All three of us weren't feeling our best today, so we mostly sat around and talked (and giggled) until it was time for dinner. Today, we tried the hotel restaurant -- I kid you not, we have had two hotel Italian restaurants in a row.
There's some sort of secret to getting the check handed to you in a timely manner. One which we haven't exactly figured out yet. We keep getting stuck at the table for well over an hour, hoping that a waitress passing by will notice our sad looks and figure out that we need to check. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked yet; Aave missed the bus home (we think, she MIGHT have gotten home okay but DON'T WORRY because if she did, she went to her mom's house) and we were all pretty cranky after sitting there for almost three hours. FINALLY we managed to get one of the ladies to give us our bill and we trundled back up to the room for a few more minutes with Aave before she had to leave.
Right now I'm suffering from a bit of a case of insomnia; the beds here are harder than I'm used to, and after waking up with my ribs aching I think I'm going to try and live off of as little sleep as possible. I'm also kind of suffering a bit of Oberlin homesickness. Not that I don't love being here -- the people are so friendly, the scenery is gorgeous, and there's something about being in a country that, in a sliver of history, is easily older than yours that moves you. But I do miss my friends, my boyfriend, my theater production team. Heck, I even miss the kids on my hall in Dascomb (an RA is allowed to miss their residents okay). The people here are so quiet; Oberlin is always loud and full of ideas. And while sure, Finland may beat Oberlin in a politeness competition, I'm pretty sure that Oberlin's design students are just as talented as the people who won the World Design Competition. I guess traveling is about finding out where you fit in, just like college is. And now that I've found my home -- lord knows, it took me long enough to find it in the first place, and an entire year to realize that's what it actually was -- I don't really want to leave it.
Blah blah I want to go back to Oberlin. Where my homies are at.
Losing my sweatshirt makes me feel a little bit like I've lost some sense of security. I know that's silly, but there it is.
Today was our first experience with an entirely Finnish menu, so we started small: pizza! Can't go wrong with that, right? I got salami, while she got the Margherita; it wasn't that hard to order, only to eat. Finns, like Italians I might add, don't cut their pizzas into slices for you, nor are you supposed to actually eat it with your hands. Not that we ever cut it into tiny pieces like we were supposed to. No, we just cut it into slices ourselves and then picked it up. Totally American of us, but hey, I think we're allowed a few of our native tendencies. After that, we went back to the hotel, where we found Aave waiting for us! All three of us weren't feeling our best today, so we mostly sat around and talked (and giggled) until it was time for dinner. Today, we tried the hotel restaurant -- I kid you not, we have had two hotel Italian restaurants in a row.
There's some sort of secret to getting the check handed to you in a timely manner. One which we haven't exactly figured out yet. We keep getting stuck at the table for well over an hour, hoping that a waitress passing by will notice our sad looks and figure out that we need to check. Unfortunately, this hasn't worked yet; Aave missed the bus home (we think, she MIGHT have gotten home okay but DON'T WORRY because if she did, she went to her mom's house) and we were all pretty cranky after sitting there for almost three hours. FINALLY we managed to get one of the ladies to give us our bill and we trundled back up to the room for a few more minutes with Aave before she had to leave.
Right now I'm suffering from a bit of a case of insomnia; the beds here are harder than I'm used to, and after waking up with my ribs aching I think I'm going to try and live off of as little sleep as possible. I'm also kind of suffering a bit of Oberlin homesickness. Not that I don't love being here -- the people are so friendly, the scenery is gorgeous, and there's something about being in a country that, in a sliver of history, is easily older than yours that moves you. But I do miss my friends, my boyfriend, my theater production team. Heck, I even miss the kids on my hall in Dascomb (an RA is allowed to miss their residents okay). The people here are so quiet; Oberlin is always loud and full of ideas. And while sure, Finland may beat Oberlin in a politeness competition, I'm pretty sure that Oberlin's design students are just as talented as the people who won the World Design Competition. I guess traveling is about finding out where you fit in, just like college is. And now that I've found my home -- lord knows, it took me long enough to find it in the first place, and an entire year to realize that's what it actually was -- I don't really want to leave it.
Blah blah I want to go back to Oberlin. Where my homies are at.
Losing my sweatshirt makes me feel a little bit like I've lost some sense of security. I know that's silly, but there it is.
OKAY HERE WE GO.
Day 5 opened onto a lot of snow. Really, the people of Helsinki are snow experts: they scoop it up and then dump it into dump trucks, which carry it away. We watched this giggling for a little while on our way to go see the Temppeliaukio Kirkko, or the church in the rock. This is literally built straight into the rock; it was constructed in the 1960s, and holds services regularly. The ceiling is a dome that sticks out of the rock, so when we first came across it, it almost looked like the top of a snowy mountain! You can climb on the rock that the church is built out of (though not on the dome, because of the glass), so we wandered around on the top of a church that day. We couldn't find the actual entrance -- instead, we found a back entrance, which was locked. We were going to walk around the church and try to find the real entrance when lo, a person who worked there walked out of the door! He politely let us in the back entrance (the "personel entrance" he called it) and there we stood, on the inside of the Temppeliaukio Kirkko, right beside the altar. I assume that he doesn't do that for everyone; we just happened to be lucky enough, or simply looked lost enough.
After that, it was getting dark, so we decided to head to dinner. On our last full day in Helsinki we wanted something uniquely Finnish -- so we were going to try this restaurant made out of glass in Esplanadi, a park near our hotel. To our (great) surprise, almost everything in their menu contained either pine nuts, pesto (which, in European countries, usually has pine nuts in it), or just "nuts." It's safe to say that we didn't eat there. For those of you who don't quite get the reference to why we didn't eat there, it's not that we don't like nuts. I have a deathly tree nut allergy, so everywhere we go has to be checked and double checked in case of places like this, which just put "nut sauce" once in English and then wrote it every other time in Finnish. The second restaurant we tried was another Finnish restaurant -- but unfortunately, people in Helsinki really like to take your bags and store them before you go into the dining area. Since we have our passports (as well as our money!) in there, we decided not to go to that restaurant, either.
Our final destination: McDonalds! (Again.) We got chicken nuggets, and tried the different, Finnish sauces that they had available. Zae tried "McFeast" (which tasted a lot like ranch but not really) while I tried "Curry" (which tasted like...well, curry). I also had a McFlurry with some sort of European equivalent of M&Ms in it, which was really good. However, we might need to inform them that a "big ice cream" in their country is actually a "really small ice cream" in America. Because we both giggled over that fact like dorks.
Unfortunately for me, my forgetful mind got the best of me. I left my Oberlin sweatshirt in the McDonalds, and when we came back for it, it was gone. The people that worked there hadn't seen it either. So somewhere around Helsinki, someone must be keeping it warm with my favorite hoodie. I hope they weren't disappointed; the only thing I had in my pockets was a mechanical pencil. Oh well, I'll just get a new one when I get back. They still sell them in the bookstore.
---
Day 6 was actually a travel day -- we got up early (for once) and packed our bags, headed for the train station. What was once hard to find was now really simple; what made today hard was the fact that Helsinki's skies had finally seen fit to rain down on us with...well, rain. Snow rain, actually -- it came pouring as we dragged our bags to the train station. After a little snafu with the ticketing counter (they assumed that Zae and I weren't traveling together, but instead that Zae and a complete stranger were) we settled into the train and off we went! Turku is about two hours away from Helsinki by train, right on the southern coast of Finland. It's a slightly smaller town than Helsinki, with a little less to see and do. But that's okay, because really the main reason we decided to come here was to meet our friend Aave, a Finnish native who happens to live in Turku. Of course, we're going to do some sight-seeing too; but the first day, Aave met us at the train station (with a sign that read O3O) and helped us drag our bags for the ten minute walk to our hotel. The Radisson Blu looks out over the river -- and we have a river-side view, out of which we can see a huge hill with a windmill on top -- and we rested for a bit before dinner. Aave took us to Harald, a Viking restaurant that served so many different menu items that it took us forever to decide what to get! Finally, Zae and I settled on the Archer's Pot, which was deer and elk along with potatoes, vegetables, lingonberries and something called "sea-buckthorn," a kind of fruit that...is. Well, when I say it tastes distinctly like sea-buckthorn and nothing else, you get the idea. We finished our meal with a serving of Finnish crepes, which unlike the French ones, have nothing inside of them -- they were still ridiculously delicious, and we all left extremely full. We hung out for a little bit more, and then Aave went home; she has to take the bus out of town to get there, so she left a little early. Zae skyped her mom; I skyped my boyfriend (hi Rob) and then we both went to sleep.
We haven't done anything yet today; we both woke up ridiculously late (as did Aave) and neither of us are feeling particularly tip-top shape. I'm thinking that the cold is starting to get to me; I'll be happy to be home in South Carolina soon, where it's warm. Today is a lazy day, but if we go out, I'll write more about it.
Day 5 opened onto a lot of snow. Really, the people of Helsinki are snow experts: they scoop it up and then dump it into dump trucks, which carry it away. We watched this giggling for a little while on our way to go see the Temppeliaukio Kirkko, or the church in the rock. This is literally built straight into the rock; it was constructed in the 1960s, and holds services regularly. The ceiling is a dome that sticks out of the rock, so when we first came across it, it almost looked like the top of a snowy mountain! You can climb on the rock that the church is built out of (though not on the dome, because of the glass), so we wandered around on the top of a church that day. We couldn't find the actual entrance -- instead, we found a back entrance, which was locked. We were going to walk around the church and try to find the real entrance when lo, a person who worked there walked out of the door! He politely let us in the back entrance (the "personel entrance" he called it) and there we stood, on the inside of the Temppeliaukio Kirkko, right beside the altar. I assume that he doesn't do that for everyone; we just happened to be lucky enough, or simply looked lost enough.
After that, it was getting dark, so we decided to head to dinner. On our last full day in Helsinki we wanted something uniquely Finnish -- so we were going to try this restaurant made out of glass in Esplanadi, a park near our hotel. To our (great) surprise, almost everything in their menu contained either pine nuts, pesto (which, in European countries, usually has pine nuts in it), or just "nuts." It's safe to say that we didn't eat there. For those of you who don't quite get the reference to why we didn't eat there, it's not that we don't like nuts. I have a deathly tree nut allergy, so everywhere we go has to be checked and double checked in case of places like this, which just put "nut sauce" once in English and then wrote it every other time in Finnish. The second restaurant we tried was another Finnish restaurant -- but unfortunately, people in Helsinki really like to take your bags and store them before you go into the dining area. Since we have our passports (as well as our money!) in there, we decided not to go to that restaurant, either.
Our final destination: McDonalds! (Again.) We got chicken nuggets, and tried the different, Finnish sauces that they had available. Zae tried "McFeast" (which tasted a lot like ranch but not really) while I tried "Curry" (which tasted like...well, curry). I also had a McFlurry with some sort of European equivalent of M&Ms in it, which was really good. However, we might need to inform them that a "big ice cream" in their country is actually a "really small ice cream" in America. Because we both giggled over that fact like dorks.
Unfortunately for me, my forgetful mind got the best of me. I left my Oberlin sweatshirt in the McDonalds, and when we came back for it, it was gone. The people that worked there hadn't seen it either. So somewhere around Helsinki, someone must be keeping it warm with my favorite hoodie. I hope they weren't disappointed; the only thing I had in my pockets was a mechanical pencil. Oh well, I'll just get a new one when I get back. They still sell them in the bookstore.
---
Day 6 was actually a travel day -- we got up early (for once) and packed our bags, headed for the train station. What was once hard to find was now really simple; what made today hard was the fact that Helsinki's skies had finally seen fit to rain down on us with...well, rain. Snow rain, actually -- it came pouring as we dragged our bags to the train station. After a little snafu with the ticketing counter (they assumed that Zae and I weren't traveling together, but instead that Zae and a complete stranger were) we settled into the train and off we went! Turku is about two hours away from Helsinki by train, right on the southern coast of Finland. It's a slightly smaller town than Helsinki, with a little less to see and do. But that's okay, because really the main reason we decided to come here was to meet our friend Aave, a Finnish native who happens to live in Turku. Of course, we're going to do some sight-seeing too; but the first day, Aave met us at the train station (with a sign that read O3O) and helped us drag our bags for the ten minute walk to our hotel. The Radisson Blu looks out over the river -- and we have a river-side view, out of which we can see a huge hill with a windmill on top -- and we rested for a bit before dinner. Aave took us to Harald, a Viking restaurant that served so many different menu items that it took us forever to decide what to get! Finally, Zae and I settled on the Archer's Pot, which was deer and elk along with potatoes, vegetables, lingonberries and something called "sea-buckthorn," a kind of fruit that...is. Well, when I say it tastes distinctly like sea-buckthorn and nothing else, you get the idea. We finished our meal with a serving of Finnish crepes, which unlike the French ones, have nothing inside of them -- they were still ridiculously delicious, and we all left extremely full. We hung out for a little bit more, and then Aave went home; she has to take the bus out of town to get there, so she left a little early. Zae skyped her mom; I skyped my boyfriend (hi Rob) and then we both went to sleep.
We haven't done anything yet today; we both woke up ridiculously late (as did Aave) and neither of us are feeling particularly tip-top shape. I'm thinking that the cold is starting to get to me; I'll be happy to be home in South Carolina soon, where it's warm. Today is a lazy day, but if we go out, I'll write more about it.
FINLAND: Helsinki day 4
Jan. 9th, 2012 10:21 pmAfter we both got up rather late -- apparently yesterday tired us out more than we had imagined -- we decided that today would be the day of cheap eats and lots of wandering. Our first order of business: Finnish McDonald's! Since yesterday's dinner was so expensive, we unanimously agreed that this was pretty much all we could afford. Neither of us know how to ask for "no pickles and onions, please!" so we had to scrape off the lettuce (or pickles and onions, depending on the sandwich). It was delicious! Much better than American McDonalds, if I do say so. Though we weren't quite up for trying the Finnish "El Maco Jr." or "Jalapeño Burger," and sadly the Finnish McFlurry is made with Toblerone. Which, while delicious, would also kill me a la nut allergy. So we stuck with what we knew best.
After lunch, we wandered away from the shopping area of Helsinki, towards the Finnish National Cathedral. It's an impressive structure that we first thought was some kind of government building -- our American architecture sensibilities betrayed us! Just because it's white marble does not a government building make. We couldn't get inside today, but we peered in through the windows, and it was truly beautiful. My only regret is not being able to get pictures. After we snooped around the cathedral for awhile (and climbed up a HUGE amount of steps to get there), we wandered away from where we had ever gone before, into the more residential and business areas of Helsinki. We got pictures of the Helsinki National Archives (which I had to read Latin to decipher, thank you Mrs. Tate) as well as the beautiful Lithuanian Embassy. We wandered down some roads littered with beautiful apartment buildings that looked more like works of art than anything people should be living in. Finally, we arrived at the bay again; we wandered around it until we found ourselves back at the Suomenlinna ferry stop -- somewhere that we actually knew! Then we made a quick detour to do some shopping; Zae bought her dad a cute shot glass, while I made my token item Big Purchase and bought a hand-made hat. There were some very pretty fur-lined ones, but in the interest of not getting scolded on my return to Oberlin, I settled with a hand-made fleece hat. Besides, fur gets itchy, and all of the hats looked like something I'd wear on a Finnish hunting trip.
We watched a Rubik's Cube installation light show after that, and it's very pretty -- a youtube video of it can be found here but I'm not sure if it's got sound or not, my computer is acting funny. It is really awesome! The light show is fun to enjoy, even if we were wondering why in the world there's a giant Rubik's Cube in the middle of the square....
Tonight, we decided to eat good ol' Tex Mex, which is really kind of horrible when you come from South Carolina and have been spoiled by Anita's for your entire life. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly what we were expecting; I had to get a meal that didn't have meat in it (because the meat was marinated in some sort of nut sauce) and Zae's burrito was more bean than beef, which was odd. It was pretty good, but I think I'll wait to have real Mexican food when I get home. Well, realish. Now we're just taking baths and sitting back; we're going to try to get to bed early today, so that we can have breakfast before our big excursion tomorrow. We're a little too scared to try using the trams -- we can't make sense of the map, and it has no street names on it -- so we're going to walk to Temppeliaukion kirkko, or the Rock Church. If we have time, we'll try and find the Sibelius monument, but the walk might take a little while...if we don't get lost!
Pictures forthcoming in another post. I don't want to kill anyone's slow web browser by overloading it in this one.
After lunch, we wandered away from the shopping area of Helsinki, towards the Finnish National Cathedral. It's an impressive structure that we first thought was some kind of government building -- our American architecture sensibilities betrayed us! Just because it's white marble does not a government building make. We couldn't get inside today, but we peered in through the windows, and it was truly beautiful. My only regret is not being able to get pictures. After we snooped around the cathedral for awhile (and climbed up a HUGE amount of steps to get there), we wandered away from where we had ever gone before, into the more residential and business areas of Helsinki. We got pictures of the Helsinki National Archives (which I had to read Latin to decipher, thank you Mrs. Tate) as well as the beautiful Lithuanian Embassy. We wandered down some roads littered with beautiful apartment buildings that looked more like works of art than anything people should be living in. Finally, we arrived at the bay again; we wandered around it until we found ourselves back at the Suomenlinna ferry stop -- somewhere that we actually knew! Then we made a quick detour to do some shopping; Zae bought her dad a cute shot glass, while I made my token item Big Purchase and bought a hand-made hat. There were some very pretty fur-lined ones, but in the interest of not getting scolded on my return to Oberlin, I settled with a hand-made fleece hat. Besides, fur gets itchy, and all of the hats looked like something I'd wear on a Finnish hunting trip.
We watched a Rubik's Cube installation light show after that, and it's very pretty -- a youtube video of it can be found here but I'm not sure if it's got sound or not, my computer is acting funny. It is really awesome! The light show is fun to enjoy, even if we were wondering why in the world there's a giant Rubik's Cube in the middle of the square....
Tonight, we decided to eat good ol' Tex Mex, which is really kind of horrible when you come from South Carolina and have been spoiled by Anita's for your entire life. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly what we were expecting; I had to get a meal that didn't have meat in it (because the meat was marinated in some sort of nut sauce) and Zae's burrito was more bean than beef, which was odd. It was pretty good, but I think I'll wait to have real Mexican food when I get home. Well, realish. Now we're just taking baths and sitting back; we're going to try to get to bed early today, so that we can have breakfast before our big excursion tomorrow. We're a little too scared to try using the trams -- we can't make sense of the map, and it has no street names on it -- so we're going to walk to Temppeliaukion kirkko, or the Rock Church. If we have time, we'll try and find the Sibelius monument, but the walk might take a little while...if we don't get lost!
Pictures forthcoming in another post. I don't want to kill anyone's slow web browser by overloading it in this one.
