Farewell to Finland, Hello USA

Well, I've been back in the US for about 5 days now. It's taken a few days for me to adjust and to get back into the normal routine again. Let's be honest though, throwing off those scarves, gloves, hats, and coats was the easy part! I stayed in Kansas City with my parents for 3 days, and now I'm back in Utah to finish out the last two weeks until graduation.  I don't really have much to do for that, just meeting with teachers, handing in paperwork, and of course partying with friends!

Sidenote: Reunion with my best friend happened today! I really don't have enough words to say how much I missed this girl! We skyped very often, which I definitely needed. But nothing tops hanging out in person. So this was an epic reunion!

she packed us a cute picnic lunch and we shopped, ate, and talked for hours! It was wonderful!

So. The rest of this post is a farewell post to Finland, my trip to Estonia/Helsinki, and last feelings I had before I left.

Last Thursday, April 3, Leena and I left Savonlinna to spend my last weekend in Helsinki. Packing up was really difficult, I had forgotten how much stuff I brought along. Things that I never needed, and regretted bringing (cough hairdryer, straightener, so much clothes...) We ended up taking the bus to Helsinki instead of the train because of my luggage. It was about a 3.5 hour trip through the beautiful countryside of Finland. I spent my time sleeping and reading Seven Brothers, one of the best (and first) books written in Finnish about 7 brothers growing up in the forest of Finland around the 1800s. Since Finland was part of Sweden for a long time, Swedish was the language of education. Even though people spoke Finnish, it wasn't used in literature or academics at all. This book was a revolutionary of its time.

This was pretty much the view the entire time :)

The bus dropped us off in the middle of Helsinki, after which we had to walk about 15 minutes (with luggage) to the flat that Leena has there. It was small but cozy. She lived there for a time with her kids when she was studying for her specialization in Child Psychiatry (don't quote me on that I'm not sure if it's right). It's called the Tiger's Nest. :) It has orange and red walls. And chandeliers. And a sauna in the basement.

Friday we took a trip across the waters to Estonia! I was excited to see another city/country. We have some family friends who are from Estonia, and so I was happy to visit there to tell them that I traveled all the way to Europe to see Estonia!

At the port of entry-they didn't even check passports!

Apparently Tallinn it's one of Europe's best preserved medieval cities. (I am skeptic of that because I've seen some medieval cities in Spain...wait am I becoming a travel snob?? SO sorry, I take it all back.)

Spain or Estonia???

This one is Spain!

Anyway, it does have a beautiful skyline, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and old buildings.

Outside the English embassy....I didn't see a US one.

 I loved the feel of the town! I have this thing with history. I love it. I love thinking about who lived before and how, and I love imagining what life could have been like on those same streets hundreds of years before.

The Orthodox Cathedral, built when Estonia became part of the Soviet Union

The town square

Estonia uses the Euro, too, so it was easy to buy lots of things :) 

Actually, I only bought three or so things....the rest were gifts that Leena bought for people!

I also loved the trip over and back. The cruise ship that took us over there was really exciting!

I had never been on one before and I just loved the idea of it.

 I also loved the buffet....

Saturday, I spent most of the day walking around Helsinki and seeing the sights.

Monument built to the national composer, Sibelious. (Who wrote the national anthem)

A Lutheran church built inside a rock!

I stopped by a few churches, the National History Museum, went into some shops, walked all around until I was beat.

National History Museum

The city's big, Lutheran Cathedral

The Orthodox Cathedral

Ok. Headquarters of Finland's best chocolate!!

I really loved Helsinki. More people spoke English there, and I felt like I was more able to get around by myself. There were so many fun shops to see and things to go do, that I loved it! Sometime in my life I would love to live in a big city for awhile. I'm sorry but I'm not sure Kansas City counts...I'm thinking more like Boston, NYC, Philadelphia...awesome.

Sunday we spent the afternoon with some friends in Helsinki and enjoyed being in each other's company before I had to leave. I asked Leena if she was ready to get back to her normal life (without an extra person in her house), and she just leaned over, patted my cheek, and said that she would miss me.

Monday morning we left for the airport at 4:30 for my early morning flight. Leena came with me, stayed as I checked my bags, and watched as I went through security. It was a bittersweet moment, knowing how much I love that lady but not knowing when the next I will see her again. It was hard, nostalgic and sad.

I have loved learning about Finland, about the culture, language, and getting to know the Finns. Clinical hours were hard, but I learned so much about global nursing and crossing those cultural boundaries. I learned to love in a different way that I have before. I have fond memories of sauna, ice skating, movie nights, swimming, baking, traveling, laughing, and crying with Leena. I feel like she is part of my family now, and I know that I want to visit her again.

Those times. They were fun. They were sweet. They were the best. 

Thanks so much to everyone who has read my stories, followed my adventures, supported me in the hard times, encouraged me to go and keep persevering. This has been a trip of a lifetime. I feel so much more confidence in myself and the things that I can achieve. I'm closing this last chapter of my nursing school, and I so look forward to the next. Fair warning, I will probably keep blogging! So stay tuned!

Much love,
Melanie

A Little Piece of Paradise

This weekend was my last in Savonlinna :( Very sad, I know. It's been a weird feeling, trying to get my last moments all summed up, taking more pictures in my head of everything I want to remember.

One of those things is the beautiful summer cottage out by the lake. Many people in Finland have a family summer cottage that is further away from cities, and an escape into nature. Leena and I have visisted hers a few times (where we made the snowman). It is on a beautiful lake with wooded forests surrounding it, about 10-15 minutes drive from town. Leena's parents owned the property when she was growning up, and they would spend their entire summer there, and then move into town when it was winter. They even kept horses! When she and her siblings got older, the land was separated out, so now there are several cottages for those siblings on that lakeside.

One of the most wonderful things at the summer cottage is the architecture that Leena designed for it. Eastern Finland has a strong "Karelian" history. Karelia used to be on the far Eastern side of Finland but was taken by Russia after the Finland-Russia war, and many of those Finns moved into what is now Eastern Finland in order to not be under Russian rule. As such, they had to leave their homes, histories, and homeland. Among the older generation here especially, this longing for Karelia is very strong.

Traditional Karelian Orthodox style church

Some of the culture includes the architecture, music, dialect, food (riisipirakkas), and dress.

My absolute favorite! Made with rice

At this cottage there is a little retreat to paradise. The little sauna at the end of the dock.

I can't put into words how nice it was to spend an hour or so chatting in the sauna, and when it got hot, just stepping outside to dry and cool off. Surrounded by such beautiful nature, looking out onto the frozen lake and in such wonderful company, it was really a beautiful moment that I will remember forever! Coming to the cottage for the sauna is like a retreat and a place to "become one with nature." 

It's a little surprising to me how well I've adapted to the Finnish culture while here. Sauna has become very important to me, and my endurance for it has grown a lot. It's so relaxing and refreshing, and it helps calm my mind down. I also have loved all the food, learned some of the language, and learned to appreciate aspects of Finnish history, like Karelia. I think that Finland will always have a little piece of my heart, and this cottage retreat and sauna is part of that piece!

Oli Ihana Päivä

As the title clearly states, today was a wonderful day! Actually these last few days have been really great. I intended to write this earlier in the week, but I'll just tell about how every day has been fantastic!

Friday: Sledding on the ice and Finnish pancakes

Even though the weather is warming up, the lakes here are still frozen. Friday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, so Leena and I decided to take these sleds on the ice.

 It was a 2.5km path to the other side where we enjoyed warm milk, Finnish pancakes and other sweets.

Then on our way back we ran into these kids on the ice and I played with them for a bit, just pushing their sled. I think they were confused when I didn't really talk to them...

These sleds are very Finnish, and with the smooth ice, we went over it pretty quickly. I think it only took us about 15 min one way. (Of course we stopped to admire the views)

Saturday: Leena and I made Finnish pulla

The most popular sweet bread is Pulla, and there are many ways to make it. You know how everybody has their own way to make chili? This is sort of like that. And everybody's grandma makes the best pulla. You can make them sort of like cinnamon rolls or like dinner rolls that you fill with whipped cream, frosting or jam. They are absolutely delicious and it's amazing I haven't gained that much weight. We made these to bring to my friend Zofie's birthday celebration the next day.

We had a fun time making them together and sometimes we were so busy talking that we forgot about the stuff in the oven. oops. But they were still good! Especially warm.

Sunday: Celebrating Zofie's birthday

I don't usually do many things on Sunday because that it is a day of rest, but my Hungarian friend Zofie celebrated her birthday, so we had a Lapland reunion and spent some time together.

Monday: Missionaries and the ice

On Sunday, Leena invited the missionaries to come back to try out the sleds on the ice with us. We brought along Pekka, and even though it was freezing and the snow (sleet) was coming down quickly, we had a good hour along the frozen lake. Afterwards, we had my favorite riisipiirakkas and warm juice! The missionaries enjoyed doing something so clearly Finnish, and once Leena decided to invite them, they really had no choice :)

Tuesday: Awesome day at clinical

Since my public health days are over, I'm now at the hospital's OR and anesthesia unit. I spent my first monday in the PACU/Recovery room, and now I'm with a anesthesia nurse the rest of the time. I've realized that we don't really have something comparable to these anesthesia nurses. What happens is the anesthesiologist starts the sedation for the operation, but the anesthesia nurse manages all the that during the procedure. The anesthesiologist comes and checks periodically, but the nurse stays with the patient. She helps with intubation, she sets the IV, gives all medicines during the procedure, and makes sure that the patient is stable. This is a lot of responsibility and takes good skills and critical thinking. I love it! I was so happy that finally I'm setting IVs, hanging medicines, giving injections, thinking about different heart rhythms, ect. I actually got to intubate before the surgery (put the tube in that breathes for the patient). It was so so cool! I helped manually ventilate a patient a couple of times during cardioversions (when the heart needs to come back into normal rhythm). I love it when they ask me questions like "look at this heart rhythm. What is it?" and then I actually know the answer. One of the anesthesiologist has really taken me under his wing and let me assist in these procedures. I saw an insertion of an arterial line, which is different from a normal IV. They use them a lot in ICUs so we learned how to use them, but I've never seen one put in before. Basically, I was so excited these days because this is the kind of stuff I really love. Of course, it's a little bit better two because when the patient is asleep, I dont' feel so bad that I can't speak Finnish with them. And many of the surgeons have been very open with me and willing to let me ask them questions. It wasn't like that when I was int he OR in the States. Basically, this is been an awesome week.

Another shameless selfie :)

Wednesday: Another fabulous day at the hospital, swimming, Finnish lessons

Wednesdays and Fridays we usually go the pool here in Savonlinna. Thank goodness I have some exercise. Recently we've been taking Leena's grandaughter with us and she plays in the kid pool while we rotate swimming laps. At first it was hard when I had to watch her because I didn't speak much Finnish and couldn't talk to her to play or keep her close. Yesterday was really cool because we talked a lot more then usual, from things like how we were playing, to just the day and small stuff like that. It felt so good to be able to communicate. I remember the first time I met her and I felt so sad that I didn't even know how to ask how she was. I felt mute, which is very unlike me. It is sad to me that just when I start picking up on things, I'll be leaving.

When we came home from swimming, Leena told me that Pekka our neighbor had brought me a surprise.

When I saw this I got so so excited and immediately stuck a spoon it. I just made me day. It was so thoughtful.

Thursday: Fantastic first post-college job interview

I've recently applied for my first job!! I was a little nervous being out of the country and basically felt like it would be more difficult for me to get a job with such an unusual capstone experience. I shouldn't have worried so much, but of course, that's what I do best! :) I applied at a hopsital near my parents in Kansas City, and today I had a Skype interview with managers there. It was so so so good! I was a little nervous but not overly so. I didn't really have much time this week to think about the questions they might ask, so I felt a little unprepared. Also, my computer's backlight screen has been going out, so sometimes when it is turned on, the screen looks black. So I've been nervous that something would go wrong during the interview. It was so relaxed and easy to talk. I already knew one of the managers, and she made me feel so comfortable. They asked about my experiences here, what I've learned from it. They asked how I respond in certain situations, what role my classmates would say I take in a group, how I handles a patient who was having a hard time emotionally, ect. What I was not prepared for was that the ICU manager asked me nursing/medical questions! I hadn't thought about some of this stuff in months, but we got such a good ICU semester that I remembered them and answered them well! I knew I got them right because he kept asking me more. Finally he just said that he liked hearing how I was working it out in my head. I feel so relieved about this interview and feel really good about it. Maybe it's bad luck to talk about it on the internet when I don't know the result yet, but anyway it turns out, it was good experience for me, and I could definitely go into another interview feeling more confident about what I have learned and how ready I am to graduate!!

Sorry to gush about such a great week, but with so many things going on, I didn't want to leave anything out! Do you want to know what I've had stuck in my head the last few hours?? "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling everything's going my way" :)