Paris, France: Day 1

Ah Paris. It was a total dream.

I wasn't sure what to expect because I had heard so many mixed opinions- The people are rude, It's dirty, or It's so romantic, My favorite place I've ever been. Well, my opinion fell into the latter category; I loved every little charming thing about it (except for the subway stations, which all reek of human urine- disgusting!) But I was even willing to look past the vile subway stations because the rest of Paris was amazing!

Rusty and I were there for six days and like all of our trips, our days were booked from sunrise to way past sunset. We started off every day with a [Parisian] continental breakfast- fresh squeezed orange juice, cereal, fruit, toast and jam, baguettes filled with ham and cheese, and loads of croissants....I don't even want to know how many croissants I consumed while on our trip- but when in Paris right?

When we arrived at the airport we met up with a friend who we had met in Finland, but had moved to Paris. He met us at the airport, and we all took the subway to a nearby train station where we were able to buy a week long pass for the trains and buses for a lot cheaper than the airport offered. From there he took us straight to the Eiffel Tower. I was so excited to see it, I felt almost giddy. By this time, it was dark out, so it was all lit up and even started sparkling (which it does every hour). I think I could watch it sparkle every night for the rest of my life and never get sick of it. 

Our first day there, we knocked out Notre Dame, Sainte Chappelle, the Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, and Sacre Coeur and Montmatre area.

Notre Dame was exciting because it was one of the Paris icons I had been waiting to see. While I loved finally going through the famous Notre Dame, Sainte Chappelle was my favorite church we went through. I hadn't seen pictures of Sainte Chappelle and I didn't know what to expect. When we first walked in, I thought the entrance area was what we came to see with its pretty, decorative ceilings and thick gold trimming. Then we noticed there was an entrance leading to another area, so we followed it and walked into a chapel lined with stained glass from the ceiling almost down to the floor. I was awe-struck! The stained glass was beautiful and so colorful!

The Pantheon was neat to walk through. One of my favorite parts was the view of the Eiffel Tower from the front steps, classic tourist haha. The Luxembourg Gardens were peaceful and they weren't very crowded to it was nice to escape all the busy tourist spots. The grounds would have probably been a lot more green if it wasn't still jacket weather, but they were pretty none the less. 

We ended our busy day with a visit to the Montmartre area and Sacre Coeur, which is a famous Roman Catholic church. I love that it sits on the highest point of the city and that it's bright white exterior stood out against the blue sky. The street performers were entertaining, but the view was the best part. 



Notre Dame

Sainte Chapelle

Pantheon

Luxembourg Gardens  

Sacre Coeur  

Northern Lights in Finland

St. Patrick's Day 2015 was one for the books. One I will never forget! We finally got to see the northern lights! 

Before even leaving to Finland, I kept getting excited about seeing the aurora. I thought it would appear frequently and I couldn't wait. I heard the best time to see the lights was when it was freezing out, so I assumed they would start appearing in December. Well, December came and went and still no sightings. I frequently checked an aurora tracker website to see how strong they were. Sometimes, the website would say the lights were strong enough to be visible, so I'd excitedly rush to the window, but my excitement would soon deflate after I saw the sky was blanketed in thick clouds. I started asking around and found out even my Finnish friends had only seen them a few times in their life! So after February passed, I thought all hope was lost.

Well St. Patrick's Day proved to be one lucky day. I was checking the tracker and it was at a level 8!! (The scale was 1-10, with 10 being the most visible). The highest I had ever seen it was a 5, maybe a 6. Rusty and I waited until about 11pm, so it would be completely dark, to head out to a nearby island. We bundled up, grabbed the camera and tripod, and our two kitchen chairs (luckily we didn't have far to walk since the island was right out front of our apartment). Sure enough, the aurora was going strong. Just as I had heard, the lights literally danced across the sky. It was breathtaking. We sat out there until about 1:30am. I could have watched them til sun up, but I was starting to get cold and Rusty had practice the next morning, so we decided to call it a night. The aurora was beautiful and so, so exciting, especially since it was the one thing I wanted to accomplish in Finland!

*I wish I were a better photographer and had a better camera, so I could do the sky more justice, but these pics are better than nothing :)

The Best Birthday

This birthday I felt especially grateful for all my friends and family. I received mail from my family in Utah, my sister in Arizona, and both sets of Grandparents in California. My family is the best! Even though I am so far from home, I was so happy to still feel their love- thank you guys!! It made me miss them, but I will be back to the US in just about a month!

Throughout the entire day, I was blown away by everyone's kindness. After Rusty's morning practice, we went and ate at, Rauhula, our usual lunch spot. The owner/chef brought out a piece of traditional Finnish cake (which was super good), with a candle in it and sung me Happy Birthday. How cute is that?! I was so surprised and appreciative of his thoughtfulness! Later that day, Rusty had a volleyball game. I was soo happy it was here in Oulu! During the game- I think it was in between sets- Seppo, the team helper who is about seventy-years-old, saw me in the crowd and started singing Happy Birthday. It was equally as cute as the chef's song and even made me blush a little haha.

That night, we had a cake party with some of our friends. As I have mentioned before, us "Etta Girls", were pretty good at planning get-togethers. At our soul food night, I mentioned my birthday and just like that, a cake party was planned. So after the game, we grabbed something to eat (we went and got pizza so it would be quick), and then everyone met at our place for the dessert night. Rusty lit 26 candles on the cake, everyone sang Happy Birthday in English and then Finnish, and I even got gifts! We stuffed ourselves with confetti cake, rice krispie cake, cheesecake, and chocolate balls. Soon enough we were all on a sugar high, taking tons of photos, and making a dance video lol. 

We have the greatest friends out here. I am so grateful for all of them. Thank you to all of my friends and family who made it the best birthday ever!   

(Cake at Rauhala)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Week of Goodbyes

This past week I had to say goodbye to two of my best friends out here. Veera, the team's best cheerleader, moved to Paris for school, and Tehane, my fellow American, went back home to Hawaii because she will be having her baby girl soon! It was so sad saying goodbye to them. We kept putting it off and making plans to see each other up until they left. And to make matters worse, Rusty had away games this weekend :( But I survived! And I am just grateful to have met such great friends here.

Sending Veera and Tehane off and on to their next adventure made me feel like the short time we have left here is just ticking away; part of me wishes I could slow it down. I started to think about how sad I will be to not only say goodbye to all of the great people we have met, but to our life here in Finland. 

I have always hated goodbyes. I am not good at them- I can hardly say a goodbye without tears. I used to think I would grow accustomed to it and that I would be able to go from place to place without a second thought, but now I doubt that will ever be true, and I'm okay with that because as sad as goodbyes are, they also mean you've had a great experience and now you're moving on to a new chapter in your life!

Lucky for me, we still have a couple more months here, so enough of the sappiness ;) I am excited for spring to come and I am excited for the playoffs to start! The sun has come back so quickly! We went from having about four hours of daylight to about ten in just a couple months. It has been exciting to see every single day get more sunlight! Rusty's last regular season match is March 10th and then the first round of playoffs start! Each round is best of seven, so there will be lots of games! Lastly, I am excited to visit Veera and Tehane sometime soon! I mean, Paris and Hawaii are not bad places to visit ;)

 

Sunday "Sledging"

Last Sunday, Etta had a team activity- Sledding! Or as some people here say, "Sledging" :) I had been wanting to go, so it was perfect!

We went to a park about 25 minutes from Oulu. Rusty and I rode with the team manager and his two kids, who were the cutest kids ever. Kids speaking Finnish is adorable! I just wish I could understand it! Especially since they were chatting with me the whole way. I did understand a few English words- dog, Mickey Mouse, and six! haha

The park was bigger than I expected. It had hills for sledding and for ski jumping. We grilled sausages over a fire while watching kids sled. There were crazy ones getting air off of a short, steep hill, resilient ones who would get hit by an incoming sledder, but wouldn't let that stop them, and ones who reminded me of Randy off of A Christmas Story, "I can't put my arms down!" My siblings and I would have had a hay day at this park in our younger years. Growing up, my family would drive north, towards Tahoe, until we found snow so that we could go sledding each winter. One year, my sisters and I even got a huge sled for Christmas, which made for a very exciting Christmas morning...well that and my gigantic Eeyore stuffed animal. But anyways, back to the team activity. We enjoyed our sausages and then finally felt brave enough to do some sledding of our own ;)

 

 

Ollie's cute baby girl was sleeping in there! How adorable is that?
He pulled her around on the sled til she fell asleep. Rusty referred to her as a "baby hot pocket".