Sooo much to see, sooo much to write about. I have had quite an amazing time in London! I have met some very interesting people, although none really from London. Perhaps this is what I like so much about it? The culture is so diverse, I haven't really had time to absorb it all. I don't really know what it's like to live here, because I haven't made good enough friends to see what the housing is like.
I am leaving for Barcelona today, but I will attempt to compose a narrative of the events that surrounded me in London. I say it this way, because that's exactly how it happened. I didn't go searching for events, the events came to me. Very odd. Not used to that. Anyway, I'm out of time for today, I apologize once again, I will have to revisit these stories very soon.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Model/Drawings Done!
Time to sleep in! Woohoo!!!
I was pretty impressed with the turnout for the model. There were many noticeable mistakes, but only to a very discerning eye. Every aspect of the model was carefully thought out and designed by the class as a whole. It was a very painful process, but I think we all grew up because of it.
In the process, some people were claiming parts of the model to be their's, as in Boback's and Kelly's use of "my" in front of model. I did notice that each person responsible for crafting the buildings were from UTA. So we showed them! I didn't really feel like making any of the model, because I figured that model making is something that is incredibly easy to do, particularly because how small our building was. I felt that I was the best person in my group of 3 (Alex from UTA, Brent from Tennessee, and I) to do drawings. In the end, the comments made on the drawings were that they read very well from far away, but the closer you got, the more the details became apparent. They also appreciated how the site section extended all the way to the water, indicating it's importance to the site. They also thought that the attention to detail with respect to materiality was important, because the building design and its construction was so traditional (and uninteresting) that it was almost necessary to document its finer details.
There was a great deal of time spent discussing the model. I was impressed with how much of the model was constructed from the same material: black alder. It is supposedly a wood that is native to the Kotka area, which is the big city near Sunila. The way it was constructed was by taking about 6 inch pieces of (almost 2x4) lumber so that the grain of the wood is shown on top. Those were laminated together on the 6-inch-skinny side in a staggered 2-ply. My problem was that this lumber was not planed to a uniform dimension on the flat side before they were laminated and staggered. This produced intermittent gaps. This was somewhat fixed by inserting shims into the larger gaps, but the smaller gaps were still present. Dan, a student from Catholic University in Washington, had an idea for the ground cover that was fairly efficient and effective in its presentation. It was to lightly hammer a chisel at the surface in a somewhat random fashion. This roughened the surface which resulted in a high contrast between it and the smooth-sanded grass.
On my group's portion of the site, there were a significant number of reeds close to the water. I proposed the best solution for creating these reeds, and we stumbled onto it by mistake. When planing the 2-ply strips of lumber, the grain of the wood was fed parallel to the direction of the planing blade. Therefore, instead of the blade cutting off small bits of wood as it would if the grain was the other direction, it cut off long strips of wood that still held together somewhat. These long strips clogged the vacuum pipe and spewed soft strips of wood everywhere! Gluing these strips in the center and then rolling them up bunch down the center, they would later be cut in half, making perfect small scale reeds. It wasn't a painful process, but it took time, and lot of workers to produce the amount we needed
A large portion of Finland sits atop an enormous formation of granite. Throughout the site, there were large granite boulders. They looked as if they grew out of the earth. With this in mind, we wanted the model to achieve the same effect. Thus, we used scraps from the black alder. Brent's idea was to take these scraps to the big sander and sand them down to faceted chunks. The way they sit on the model reads very clearly that they belong to the site and are not just foreign objects.
The idea for the trees was also Brent's. They were dowels that were cut and sanded roughly to a point, so they would resemble the various types of trees on the site: pine, birch, and spruce. This, in my opinion, was the least successful part of the model. There are so many trees with differing thicknesses in the actual landscape, it was very difficult to accurately model them. I believe the failure was due to the lack of a canopy as well as overgrowth. The density of the abstraction makes it look as if the surface is the back of a porcupine. Oh well, can't be perfect everywhere.
The entire model was made at a scale of 1 to 100. I don't know the exact dimensions, but I'd guess that it was around 3-4 meters long and 1.5-2 meters wide. The saunas were made with dark modeling wood. The main house was made with a combination of birch plywood and the same dark wood. There's no such thing as basswood here, nor is there micro-scale lumber. All of the modeling pieces had to be handcrafted. Very impressive work by Kelly, Alex, Boback, and Sergei.
The material used for the water was a piece of plywood with a semi-glossy stained wood laminate. Because the water sat on 3 edges of the base in which none of the corners formed a 90-degree angle, this made the construction very difficult. It had to be carefully mitered so that none of the plywood was evident. I was going to help on this part, but I became so caught up in the drawings that I couldn't divide my time. There were 3 people who worked solely on the construction of the base, so I gave them my 2 cents and every so often and kept working on the drawings. These 3 people were the ones who came from Catholic University in DC. One of them produced a section drawing for his group, but the other two did nothing, and went home earlier than everyone else, every day.
I lost a little bit of respect for the one who would, when I came down to work on the site model, constantly go on smoke breaks, as if they were required before, during, and after accomplishing the simplest of tasks. What's sad is that I talked to him at the beginning of the trip about quitting smoking. I told him I'd been done with smoking for about 6 months, he told me he had quit for a year and a half. He mentioned how if were even to try a cigarette, he wouldn't be able to stand the smell or taste. He now keeps a monument to his return to smoking at his desk. A pyramid of all the packs he's finished while at school. I think he's up to 14 now. This monument not only serves to remind him of his return, but it also how much time he wasted while he could've been working hard. He used to be a kind person, but now he's grumpy all the time. Perhaps this is because he plans go to cold-turkey before he returns to the states, where his girlfriend (who doesn't know) will greet him with the expectation that he hasn't smoked. I feel sorry for her, kind of as much as I feel sorry for myself for having to be his roommate during his proposed quitting period.
The last couple of weeks were pretty dull for me, since I was constantly working at school. I would get there everyday at 9:30, take 30 minute lunch at noon, history class at 4. I always needed a cup of coffee beforehand so I could stay awake. Work till about 12:30 am, catch the bus back home. Dinner sometimes came late, sometimes it was a cheap buy from the grocery store right across the street. On a few occasions, I borrowed my teacher's bicycle and rode it into the shopping center at Espoo (pronounced es-pohh). A few others and I would eat at a cheap and delicious kebab/pizza place. The free salad makes it all worthwhile :) The thrill of the bicycle ride reminded me how good it feels to be in touch with nature. Therefore, when I get back to the states, I plan to purchase a bicycle and ride it to and from school. Hopefully I will be able to find a good cheap one on Craigslist or something.
More things to talk about: my trip to Tallinn, Estonia, and midsummer celebration in Helsinki, cookout at Jari's.... when I have more time!
I was pretty impressed with the turnout for the model. There were many noticeable mistakes, but only to a very discerning eye. Every aspect of the model was carefully thought out and designed by the class as a whole. It was a very painful process, but I think we all grew up because of it.
In the process, some people were claiming parts of the model to be their's, as in Boback's and Kelly's use of "my" in front of model. I did notice that each person responsible for crafting the buildings were from UTA. So we showed them! I didn't really feel like making any of the model, because I figured that model making is something that is incredibly easy to do, particularly because how small our building was. I felt that I was the best person in my group of 3 (Alex from UTA, Brent from Tennessee, and I) to do drawings. In the end, the comments made on the drawings were that they read very well from far away, but the closer you got, the more the details became apparent. They also appreciated how the site section extended all the way to the water, indicating it's importance to the site. They also thought that the attention to detail with respect to materiality was important, because the building design and its construction was so traditional (and uninteresting) that it was almost necessary to document its finer details.
There was a great deal of time spent discussing the model. I was impressed with how much of the model was constructed from the same material: black alder. It is supposedly a wood that is native to the Kotka area, which is the big city near Sunila. The way it was constructed was by taking about 6 inch pieces of (almost 2x4) lumber so that the grain of the wood is shown on top. Those were laminated together on the 6-inch-skinny side in a staggered 2-ply. My problem was that this lumber was not planed to a uniform dimension on the flat side before they were laminated and staggered. This produced intermittent gaps. This was somewhat fixed by inserting shims into the larger gaps, but the smaller gaps were still present. Dan, a student from Catholic University in Washington, had an idea for the ground cover that was fairly efficient and effective in its presentation. It was to lightly hammer a chisel at the surface in a somewhat random fashion. This roughened the surface which resulted in a high contrast between it and the smooth-sanded grass.
On my group's portion of the site, there were a significant number of reeds close to the water. I proposed the best solution for creating these reeds, and we stumbled onto it by mistake. When planing the 2-ply strips of lumber, the grain of the wood was fed parallel to the direction of the planing blade. Therefore, instead of the blade cutting off small bits of wood as it would if the grain was the other direction, it cut off long strips of wood that still held together somewhat. These long strips clogged the vacuum pipe and spewed soft strips of wood everywhere! Gluing these strips in the center and then rolling them up bunch down the center, they would later be cut in half, making perfect small scale reeds. It wasn't a painful process, but it took time, and lot of workers to produce the amount we needed
A large portion of Finland sits atop an enormous formation of granite. Throughout the site, there were large granite boulders. They looked as if they grew out of the earth. With this in mind, we wanted the model to achieve the same effect. Thus, we used scraps from the black alder. Brent's idea was to take these scraps to the big sander and sand them down to faceted chunks. The way they sit on the model reads very clearly that they belong to the site and are not just foreign objects.
The idea for the trees was also Brent's. They were dowels that were cut and sanded roughly to a point, so they would resemble the various types of trees on the site: pine, birch, and spruce. This, in my opinion, was the least successful part of the model. There are so many trees with differing thicknesses in the actual landscape, it was very difficult to accurately model them. I believe the failure was due to the lack of a canopy as well as overgrowth. The density of the abstraction makes it look as if the surface is the back of a porcupine. Oh well, can't be perfect everywhere.
The entire model was made at a scale of 1 to 100. I don't know the exact dimensions, but I'd guess that it was around 3-4 meters long and 1.5-2 meters wide. The saunas were made with dark modeling wood. The main house was made with a combination of birch plywood and the same dark wood. There's no such thing as basswood here, nor is there micro-scale lumber. All of the modeling pieces had to be handcrafted. Very impressive work by Kelly, Alex, Boback, and Sergei.
The material used for the water was a piece of plywood with a semi-glossy stained wood laminate. Because the water sat on 3 edges of the base in which none of the corners formed a 90-degree angle, this made the construction very difficult. It had to be carefully mitered so that none of the plywood was evident. I was going to help on this part, but I became so caught up in the drawings that I couldn't divide my time. There were 3 people who worked solely on the construction of the base, so I gave them my 2 cents and every so often and kept working on the drawings. These 3 people were the ones who came from Catholic University in DC. One of them produced a section drawing for his group, but the other two did nothing, and went home earlier than everyone else, every day.
I lost a little bit of respect for the one who would, when I came down to work on the site model, constantly go on smoke breaks, as if they were required before, during, and after accomplishing the simplest of tasks. What's sad is that I talked to him at the beginning of the trip about quitting smoking. I told him I'd been done with smoking for about 6 months, he told me he had quit for a year and a half. He mentioned how if were even to try a cigarette, he wouldn't be able to stand the smell or taste. He now keeps a monument to his return to smoking at his desk. A pyramid of all the packs he's finished while at school. I think he's up to 14 now. This monument not only serves to remind him of his return, but it also how much time he wasted while he could've been working hard. He used to be a kind person, but now he's grumpy all the time. Perhaps this is because he plans go to cold-turkey before he returns to the states, where his girlfriend (who doesn't know) will greet him with the expectation that he hasn't smoked. I feel sorry for her, kind of as much as I feel sorry for myself for having to be his roommate during his proposed quitting period.
The last couple of weeks were pretty dull for me, since I was constantly working at school. I would get there everyday at 9:30, take 30 minute lunch at noon, history class at 4. I always needed a cup of coffee beforehand so I could stay awake. Work till about 12:30 am, catch the bus back home. Dinner sometimes came late, sometimes it was a cheap buy from the grocery store right across the street. On a few occasions, I borrowed my teacher's bicycle and rode it into the shopping center at Espoo (pronounced es-pohh). A few others and I would eat at a cheap and delicious kebab/pizza place. The free salad makes it all worthwhile :) The thrill of the bicycle ride reminded me how good it feels to be in touch with nature. Therefore, when I get back to the states, I plan to purchase a bicycle and ride it to and from school. Hopefully I will be able to find a good cheap one on Craigslist or something.
More things to talk about: my trip to Tallinn, Estonia, and midsummer celebration in Helsinki, cookout at Jari's.... when I have more time!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Opposition
The topography of the model is under construction as I write this. I am the first and only person to oppose the method of construction. I care much for precision, much like any architect should. Those working on the base did not foresee the issue of un-planed wood being laminated together. I argue that the gaps will show and become more pronounced as the topography is cut out from each longitudinal section. Their argument is that it will make the model look more "natural." I argue that means poor craft. They argue that it's already half way done, and we've already gone through the first supply of wood. Everyone except for maybe one person is against me. This makes me think that none of them will make good architects. Who knows?
I always tell myself that a good architect means being precise at the smallest of details, so that the finish product will show it. If it means they start over, so be it! Isn't this what an architect would tell a general contractor if he saw a poorly constructed wall? This group has only been working on that base for 2 or so days, it would be silly to not even consider my suggestions.
After this, I went to eat lunch, but I came back and the so-called leader of the model base group
came and had a discussion with me. He wanted to let me know that I wasn't being blown off (bullshit), and that I should come down there and give more of my opinions because they have noticed that I'm good with details. Personally, I think it's a load of crap, said just so that I won't be upset or so they won't feel bad about this occasion. I honestly feel that I will continue to butt heads with the rest of the people because I have much higher expectations for craft.
I always tell myself that a good architect means being precise at the smallest of details, so that the finish product will show it. If it means they start over, so be it! Isn't this what an architect would tell a general contractor if he saw a poorly constructed wall? This group has only been working on that base for 2 or so days, it would be silly to not even consider my suggestions.
After this, I went to eat lunch, but I came back and the so-called leader of the model base group
came and had a discussion with me. He wanted to let me know that I wasn't being blown off (bullshit), and that I should come down there and give more of my opinions because they have noticed that I'm good with details. Personally, I think it's a load of crap, said just so that I won't be upset or so they won't feel bad about this occasion. I honestly feel that I will continue to butt heads with the rest of the people because I have much higher expectations for craft.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Estonia this Saturday
This weekend, the whole group is going to Talinn, Estonia! I really have no idea what to expect there, I've been told that there is quite a bit of nice contemporary architecture there, mostly designed by Finns. Also, apparently that is where everyone here goes to shop for really good prices. Good, I need a new raincoat, sigh, I lost mine somehow. Anyway, in a city were it supposedly rains a lot, it hasn't rained much. This has also been, according to the locals, one of the hottest summers they can remember so far. I'd say that it's gotten to about mid 80's, max!
Lots of pictures are up at zxinfinity.photoshop.com! Check them out. I also have a bunch of panoramic photographs to post, but they won't fit on my Photoshop express site, because they exceed the dimensions. I need to edit some of them first, but I think ya'll will like em! I certainly do :) My only wish is that I have a big tripod! My little one does no good.
Still drawing... Neither of my 2 partners are skilled at drawing, I'm going to have to step up and do them myself, if I can't teach them by example. I've completed one elevation pencil rendering, and have gotten lots of praise so far by my prof as well as peers... The prof said it was one of the most beautiful he'd seen by a student in the 8 years he's been doing the Finland abroad program. That's cool, but I don't see what he sees... to me it's just like any other example drawings he's shown us.
Anyway, I must get back to drawing. Hopefully I'll have more time to work on those panoramas. Stay tuned!
Lots of pictures are up at zxinfinity.photoshop.com! Check them out. I also have a bunch of panoramic photographs to post, but they won't fit on my Photoshop express site, because they exceed the dimensions. I need to edit some of them first, but I think ya'll will like em! I certainly do :) My only wish is that I have a big tripod! My little one does no good.
Still drawing... Neither of my 2 partners are skilled at drawing, I'm going to have to step up and do them myself, if I can't teach them by example. I've completed one elevation pencil rendering, and have gotten lots of praise so far by my prof as well as peers... The prof said it was one of the most beautiful he'd seen by a student in the 8 years he's been doing the Finland abroad program. That's cool, but I don't see what he sees... to me it's just like any other example drawings he's shown us.
Anyway, I must get back to drawing. Hopefully I'll have more time to work on those panoramas. Stay tuned!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Still Drawing...
On the plus side, I've found an online Photoshop at www.photoshop.com that will allow me to upload and share my photos as well as edit them online! Check them out at:
http://zxinfinity.photoshop.com
http://zxinfinity.photoshop.com
Friday, June 6, 2008
Birthday Number 2
Today is Friday, and I'm at school drafting with pencil. I have been really busy as of late, so I haven't had time to blog, let alone do required reading. I have a ton of pictures, so when I get the time, I will catch up, I promise!
Last night was Alex's birthday celebration, who is one of the dudes from UTA. That's the 2nd birthday on this trip! Since it was a Thursday night, we had to search the city for a lively atmosphere. It wasn't that hard, we eventually found an 18+ club on the third try called KY Klubbi. The first 2 were either old people who couldn't dance or completely dead. It turns out that Finnish people in general have no rhythm on the dance floor, so that made for some good laughs. 1.50 for beers before midnight! Also, since 18 is the legal drinking age, people were slamming back those drinks. There was still a large crowd who weren't drinking, and they danced in a circle typically, kinda like high school prom. These circles are nearly impenetrable. Alex boldly penetrated one of them, doing the robot. They all got a kick out of it, but promptly moved away to reform their circle.
Several of girls pretended to not know English when they were too stiff to get onto the dance floor. In general, the girls were a bit too shy. The guys were very much the opposite. They love to drink, and dance... if that's what they call it. Most of the time I noticed they would just shake and grab... everywhere and everything. Hahaha.
Much more to come....
Last night was Alex's birthday celebration, who is one of the dudes from UTA. That's the 2nd birthday on this trip! Since it was a Thursday night, we had to search the city for a lively atmosphere. It wasn't that hard, we eventually found an 18+ club on the third try called KY Klubbi. The first 2 were either old people who couldn't dance or completely dead. It turns out that Finnish people in general have no rhythm on the dance floor, so that made for some good laughs. 1.50 for beers before midnight! Also, since 18 is the legal drinking age, people were slamming back those drinks. There was still a large crowd who weren't drinking, and they danced in a circle typically, kinda like high school prom. These circles are nearly impenetrable. Alex boldly penetrated one of them, doing the robot. They all got a kick out of it, but promptly moved away to reform their circle.
Several of girls pretended to not know English when they were too stiff to get onto the dance floor. In general, the girls were a bit too shy. The guys were very much the opposite. They love to drink, and dance... if that's what they call it. Most of the time I noticed they would just shake and grab... everywhere and everything. Hahaha.
Much more to come....
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Relaxation (Day 3)
Sorry for the late post, I had no idea that blogging was gonna be this much work!
In my small suitcase, which I did not bring, I always made sure to have earplugs specifically for when I traveled with my dad. I didn’t expect to need them, but I sure wished I had them this morning. I initially woke up at 5:00 am, and it was bright in the room. I was determined to go back to sleep, but one guy’s snoring made it difficult. It was not as loud as my dad’s, but it was loud enough to keep me wide awake and wishing for nothing more than to be deaf. Partially what kept me up was trying to figure out how I would manage to do the least amount of walking to and from the train station, with as few locker open-and-closings. Suddenly, the snoring stopped, so I seized this opportunity and willed myself to sleep. I had some bizarre dreams, but nothing I can remember.
I woke up again at 8 am, feeling much more rested. I got dressed and headed for the train station to get my things. It took me about 30 min to get it and come back using the trams. Washed up and ready to leave by 10 am. This hostel actually had wireless, so there was no need to go to the coffee shop. Therefore, I hung around for a little while and goofed off on the internet. I had to meet Scott at the train station by 11, so I left around 10:50 after checking my mail for any potential last minute changes.
I got to the station right at 11 am. I was told to meet at the south side entry. I got there and saw no one I recognized, not even Scott. I circled the entire building at least 5 times, and then decided I would try using the payphone to call him. There was only one pay phone in the entire train station, and it was on a computer, using Skype. That is pretty clever, and highly profitable I imagine. It was also an internet station, so it didn’t matter what you were using, all it knew is that if you were making a phone call, you were using the internet… 3 minutes per euro.
I wasn’t expecting anyone to answer, but he actually picked up! It was a little difficult to understand him. I think he said he wore a black mask to sleep and didn’t wake up in time. Either way, he asked if I had gotten his email. Clearly not. He simply would not be able to meet today. So he wished me a good day and good luck on finding a place to stay for this evening. It was about lunch time, so I went underground, determined to find more cultural food than McDonalds. I decided upon a kebab place in one of the malls. I don’t remember the name, but kebabs sure do seem to be popular here! The platter came with sliced roasted meat of some sort (resembling that which goes into gyros), topped with a simple tomato sauce, both of which topped a bed of French fries. On the side was a salad. It was ok, not worth the 9 euros at all. The best part was the cold Coca Cola.
I decided that today I would give my feet a rest and take it easy at Wayne’s Coffee. So I wrote in my blog some more. Eventually I would have to journey to Suomenlinna later, but why not relax, and surf around on the internet for a while? Who knows, maybe I’ll actually find my way into conversation with some Finnish girls? Just as I was packing up and getting ready to leave, a girl who was sitting next to me said something in a foreign tongue.
I politely replied, sorry, I don’t understand. She excused herself, and repeated the question in English, “Are you about to leave?” I nodded and said yes. I continued to pack up my computer. She asked if I was on vacation, which is kind of funny, I thought everywhere outside the USA it’s called “holiday.” I said I was here to study architecture. She exclaimed, “Ohhh!” as she turned at looked at her friend. It was then that her friend decided to join the conversation, revealing that they too studied architecture. What a coincidence! We chit-chatted for a while, and I wished I had more of an opportunity to talk with them, but I was pretty much on my way out already.
Anyway, as I hinted at earlier, not much happened today. I took a ferry out to the island fortress, Suomenlinna. This island is a protected heritage site, but people actually live here! What’s better yet, people come here to hang out and just get drunk! By the time I got here, everything was pretty much already closed, save for a small grocery store. I bought what I thought to be some diced pork and some ramen noodles and made myself some cheap and tasty dinner at the hostel on the island.
Sorry for the short post, I’ll put pictures up later.
In my small suitcase, which I did not bring, I always made sure to have earplugs specifically for when I traveled with my dad. I didn’t expect to need them, but I sure wished I had them this morning. I initially woke up at 5:00 am, and it was bright in the room. I was determined to go back to sleep, but one guy’s snoring made it difficult. It was not as loud as my dad’s, but it was loud enough to keep me wide awake and wishing for nothing more than to be deaf. Partially what kept me up was trying to figure out how I would manage to do the least amount of walking to and from the train station, with as few locker open-and-closings. Suddenly, the snoring stopped, so I seized this opportunity and willed myself to sleep. I had some bizarre dreams, but nothing I can remember.
I woke up again at 8 am, feeling much more rested. I got dressed and headed for the train station to get my things. It took me about 30 min to get it and come back using the trams. Washed up and ready to leave by 10 am. This hostel actually had wireless, so there was no need to go to the coffee shop. Therefore, I hung around for a little while and goofed off on the internet. I had to meet Scott at the train station by 11, so I left around 10:50 after checking my mail for any potential last minute changes.
I got to the station right at 11 am. I was told to meet at the south side entry. I got there and saw no one I recognized, not even Scott. I circled the entire building at least 5 times, and then decided I would try using the payphone to call him. There was only one pay phone in the entire train station, and it was on a computer, using Skype. That is pretty clever, and highly profitable I imagine. It was also an internet station, so it didn’t matter what you were using, all it knew is that if you were making a phone call, you were using the internet… 3 minutes per euro.
I wasn’t expecting anyone to answer, but he actually picked up! It was a little difficult to understand him. I think he said he wore a black mask to sleep and didn’t wake up in time. Either way, he asked if I had gotten his email. Clearly not. He simply would not be able to meet today. So he wished me a good day and good luck on finding a place to stay for this evening. It was about lunch time, so I went underground, determined to find more cultural food than McDonalds. I decided upon a kebab place in one of the malls. I don’t remember the name, but kebabs sure do seem to be popular here! The platter came with sliced roasted meat of some sort (resembling that which goes into gyros), topped with a simple tomato sauce, both of which topped a bed of French fries. On the side was a salad. It was ok, not worth the 9 euros at all. The best part was the cold Coca Cola.
I decided that today I would give my feet a rest and take it easy at Wayne’s Coffee. So I wrote in my blog some more. Eventually I would have to journey to Suomenlinna later, but why not relax, and surf around on the internet for a while? Who knows, maybe I’ll actually find my way into conversation with some Finnish girls? Just as I was packing up and getting ready to leave, a girl who was sitting next to me said something in a foreign tongue.
I politely replied, sorry, I don’t understand. She excused herself, and repeated the question in English, “Are you about to leave?” I nodded and said yes. I continued to pack up my computer. She asked if I was on vacation, which is kind of funny, I thought everywhere outside the USA it’s called “holiday.” I said I was here to study architecture. She exclaimed, “Ohhh!” as she turned at looked at her friend. It was then that her friend decided to join the conversation, revealing that they too studied architecture. What a coincidence! We chit-chatted for a while, and I wished I had more of an opportunity to talk with them, but I was pretty much on my way out already.
Anyway, as I hinted at earlier, not much happened today. I took a ferry out to the island fortress, Suomenlinna. This island is a protected heritage site, but people actually live here! What’s better yet, people come here to hang out and just get drunk! By the time I got here, everything was pretty much already closed, save for a small grocery store. I bought what I thought to be some diced pork and some ramen noodles and made myself some cheap and tasty dinner at the hostel on the island.
Sorry for the short post, I’ll put pictures up later.
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