First Visit

My week-long trip began with a two day offsite team building kickoff with the new Helsinki crew (around 30 people or so) as well as a handful from the Austin office.  The itinerary I received the week before included an ice sculpting competition, sauna time (bathing suit optional), and pigeon on the dinner menu.  Needless to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The ice sculpting ended up being pretty fun  - my team made a boat with a Finnish flag on the back.  Granted towards the end it ended up looking more like a toilet bowl than a boat, but I didn't have the heart to tell my team of new Finnish acquaintances this.  Sauna time ended up being split - the men went to the "sauna by the sea" and the ladies stayed back at the one inside the hotel - ie completely uneventful...and not naked.  Dinner was seven courses and I bailed for bed after #5 - it was 11:15pm.  One of those I did stay awake for was the pigeon.  I was proud of myself for eating it but think I'm suffering some post-traumatic stress from it.  Perhaps I won't eat it again.

After getting back to Helsinki from the offsite, a Norwegian co-worker took me into the City Center to show me some of the ropes.  It was ~35f and raining but that doesn't seem to slow anyone down over there.  We walked around a bit and ate a nice Italian Restaurant.  I'm glad she showed me how to take the tram from our hotel into town - something I'm not sure I would have been quite as bold to figure out on my own and that became very useful over the remainder of my stay.

Wednesday and Thursday morning were spent at the office which is just west of Helsinki in a town called Espoo.  I recognized several names of company offices that also have locations in Austin and/or around the US.  Thursday afternoon I met with my relocation assistant - Anna-Liisa and looked at apartments in different parts of the City Center.  I looked at five apartments that day - one was completely awesome, three were terrible and one was okay.  One was in the Seventh-Day Adventists church building and offered one washing machine in another building for all the tenants.  It also had a pink plastic toilet seat and a bathtub I wouldn't put my big toe in.  Thanks but no thanks.  A recurring theme I noticed is a toilet basically in the shower.  You have one tiny room with a sink on one wall, toilet on another, and a shower head on the other - with a drain in the middle.  No shower curtain, no separation, nothing.  Another no thanks.  While it may bring new meaning to "shit, shower, and shave" and be a dude's dream, it is absolutely not how I want to go about things.  I also realize how high the risk is of me coming off like a rich, pretentious American B.  Hopefully I'm able to relax and soak in and appreciate some of the European culture, but I'm just not sure about showering with my toilet.

Friday I took a quick day trip to our Oslo office.  It was awesome!  I know maybe 8-10 of the folks from that office so it was nice seeing a few familiar faces.  Friday in Oslo it was sunny and the temps were in the upper 40s.  It was downright delightful after the mid 30s with rain in Finland.  Saturday in Finland didn't prove to be any different than it had been, unfortunately.  To be fair, the weather forecast included "abundant sunshine" the week after I left.  I snatched a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses in the Oslo airport on my way home.  I never thought I'd be one of "those" people buying things at airports but now I may be one all the time - the NOK is trading fairly weak against the USD and I used that in my favor.  I was frantically pulling up my currency calculator and the Nordstrom website on my phone to see how good of a deal I was getting - $170+tax in the US and I paid ~$130 in Oslo.  Funny how quickly I have gone from not much care in the world about exchange rates to installing an app on my phone to check daily.

Saturday I went for a short run from my hotel before meeting Anna-Liisa in town to look at a few more apartments.  Those weren't too promising, but the extra looking around was helpful in me figuring out what neighborhood I think I'd like to live in.  Kamppi is on the west side of the City Center and is a huge hub of public transportation and is where I think I want to be (as of now...who knows how many times that will change).  There is some new construction there along with plenty of old (ie toilets in the shower).  My fingers are crossed now that another awesome option comes up there (the one I liked went long before we could get our hands on it).

After we looked around, I did a bit more exploring on my own.  I went to Stockmann's - the nine story department store that has everything you could need, but then found myself just wanting something familiar.  I googled Starbucks and sure enough there was one across the street from where I was.  I think I will be there often.  My last stop was at Marimekko.  I will no doubt be in trouble there before my stint in Finland is over.  I already went a little crazy buying gifts for friends and family there but it was way too fun!  Sunday brought a long day of traveling but I was quite happy to be home when it was over.  I worried myself a bit - being so happy to be home, knowing before too long that home will no longer be there.

Awesome wood mug given to the Americans at the offsite by our new Finnish co-workers

Tuesday evening with Norwegian co-worker

Evening scenes from Helsinki City Center

While I do enjoy pink, I don't particularly need it in the form of a plastic toilet seat in a scary bathroom

Not sure I'm ready for this amazing wallpaper

By the sea - my first glimpse of blue skies in a long time

The Methodist Church in Helsinki City Center

Try pronouncing that... (I'll stick with "Methodist")

First time all week I saw real sun - coming into Oslo

One US co-worker described running from the hotel as looking like the 5th moon of Jupiter...

More scenes from my run

Marimekko - I may own way too much of this before I come home