Helsinki, Tallinn and the Northern Lights!

I keep forgetting to write on this blog haha. It was like two weeks ago on Friday, we went on a trip to Helsinki. The trip was organized by ESN (The Erasmus Network here in Turku). We left with a bus at 8 AM and the first stop was the Chocolate factory of 'Fazer', a big chocolate brand in Finland. We got a guided tour and the lady told us some things about the products and the history. We also saw two movies about the production process and the best part was of course the 'all you can eat' time we had. There were a lot of boxes with all kinds of chocolate and you were able to eat as much as you can, BUT without drinking water. After the factory we went to the Olympic stadium in Helsinki where we could climb the Olympic Tower! We had a great view over the capital city of Finland :) In the evening we took the ferry from Helsinki to the beautiful capital city of Estonia, Tallinn. We arrived around 10 pm and we the first thing we had to do was finding our hostel. We booked a hostel in the Old town of Tallinn. When we dropped our stuff we went through the city. The old town of Tallinn is very beautiful, small streets, old buildings and beautiful churches. We ended that night in a bar and we drunk a couple of Estonian beers. The next day it was time to see more of the city by daylight. In the afternoon we had a guided tour along all the main sightseeing points in the old town. The rest of the day we had time to see things by ourselves and buy some souvenirs. In the evening we participate in a pubcrawl. We started at a bar in another hostel, went to two other bars and then finally ended up in a big club called 'Hollywood'. The next and last day we spend walking through the city and again looked for some souvenirs. We also saw a 'Sovjet market', with old sovjet stuff. It was kind of strange, because the market, the people and the stuff were really in Russian style. They also had like old second world war things. At the end of the day, before we took the ferry back to Helsinki, we (of course) had to buy some alcohol because of the low alcohol prices. It was a great weekend and we all really enjoyed the city!

Now, I go a few days ahead to last Wednesday. It was like half past nine in the evening, and I was sitting at my desk. I got a message from Rik. He saw on Facebook that the Northern Lights should’ve been visible that moment and he was already gone outside to the river. I took my jacket and I immediately went after him. At the other side of the river there is a path that is really dark in the evening and you should have a great view on the Northern lights from there. When I was cycling to that point I already saw it in the air, it was kind of magical. When I got to the spot, Rik asked me if I brought my camera, and I was like ‘fuck.. no’. We had a great view on the Northern lights and it was changing the whole time. It wasn’t possible to make a nice picture with our mobile phones, so when we saw on Facebook that it would still take some time I cycled back to my apartment to get my camera. There were a lot of people going, so then you realize how special it is. When I got back with the camera I tried to take some pictures, but I am not a genius with cameras so it took me a while to get all the adjustments right.. After all, I had one nice picture, although it was a bit vague. It is still on my Facebook haha ;-) I was really glad that the first time I went out to see the lights, I could actually see them. Many people have tried some nights before, but most of the time they got disappointed. Later on, I heard from a Finnish girl that it’s kind of rare to see them that good here in Turku. I couldn’t be more happy!!