So, currently I am at the Finland airport! Beautiful that I finally made it here! I was beginning to think I never would… so here’s the story….

As i think i said before, as of Wednesday i still didnt have my multiple entry visa, aka i cant leave russia without it… everyone else got theres 3 weeks ago, but mine got mixed up jessicas, and in the process of fixing it, it got lost so they had to resend all the paper work… anyway, i kept waiting to buy a flight, finally i couldnt wait any longer so i bought a flight from finland to amsterdam for saturday morning at 640am.

so, i just planned to take a bus friday morning from st. petersburg to finland – it takes about 7 or 8 hours and is only like 20-30$

well, when i still didnt have my visa thursday, i wasnt sure what to do, because i couldnt take a morning bus cuz i wouldnt have my visa by then but i couldnt take a later bus because none of them would get here in time for my flight

so i unhappily booked a flight from st. petersburg for 7pm friday evening.

well, friday around noon i still didnt have my visa, i went to talk to the people, adn they said they would have it by 3pm and they would bring it to my room.

while waiting for my visa, i get an email that basically says -hey the airline decided to cancel your flight, at least we didn’t charge you already- so, then i really wasnt sure what to do. i was glad that i didnt actually have to spend that money for the flight, but slightly worried that i wouldnt ever actually make it to amsterdam to meet my friends!

so, i went to the train station, (i still needed to pack and take a shower) and thankfully they had a train to helsinki that left at 430pm. i wasnt sure if id make it, but i bought the ticket anyway.

when i got back to the dorm (around 2pm) my visa was sitting on my bed! yay! so i quickly packed, and headed back to the train station, still unshowered. gross.

my train arrived in helsinki at like 10pm last night (friday). i walked around for like an hour. everyone was really nice and most people spoke english and were really helpful, which was great because i dont speak a word of finnish.

after an hour or so, i took a bus to the airport, and ended up jsut spending the night here. i was the homeless kid. haha. my finnish friends that study in st. petersburg with me, said it was really safe. they were right. there was this little lounge area with couches and chairs with huge glass windows looking out where you can watch the planes, and people just come and go… well, around 3am, some people that looked like they were around 18 came up there to look out the windows… i woke up, but still kept my eyes shut (playing possom if you will haha) anyway, they started laughing when they saw me (which, i had to try to not laugh as well, i would have thought it was funny if i saw me sleeping on the airport couch too) but they were so nice, after that they all started whispering and doing their best to be quiet. aw i love finland.

anyway, iäm here now wiating for my flight to amsterdam! so i finally made it and i finally get to see my friends! iäm so excited! ok well bye and see you when i get back from amsterdam, ireland, and germany!!!!

ps sorry for the lack of punctuation and capitalization in the post iäm (and random letters too) … i’m using a finnish keyboard and its a little tricky.

(posted from laureninrussia.blogspot.com)