I'm in Kadjfajfdialdkfj... Seriously.

I’m having a random adventure… I’m kind of excited to share it as I’m in the adventure right now!

We’ll start with this:

a.        My grandma’s side of the family is Finnish/Swedish

b.      Her grandfather came from Finland

c.       She somehow had information exactly where he came from in Finland

Where am I now? This random town in Finland, the spelling looks as if I hit my head on the keyboard. Seriously, I’m in Kruunupyy, Finland (or Kronoby for us English speakers). I haven’t explored yet, I’m just sitting in my hotel room and blogging. I have some fun things to share though. Also, I did not really want to do this trip, I got roped into it through basically everyone except my Grandma.

I haven’t traveled alone before, especially not in Europe. I always have my handy and buff boyfriend with me who has a great sense of direction (not like I don’t, but his is better). This is completely a Mariah adventure, mainly because Ian really didn’t want to come with me. This afternoon I grabbed the train from Jyväskylä. It started off with this poor girl who was sitting in my seat, I told her and we looked at our tickets and we had the same seat, so I just sat next to her.  I say ‘poor girl’ because the ticket was for the wrong day, she didn’t get kicked off though. She kept talking to me because she wanted to use her English and clearly I’m a good excuse to use it since my Finnish skills are lacking. Although, I was happy to be an exchange student today- she literally just got notice that she was accepted to study abroad next year! I was the first person to know. J She’s going to Estonia which is like a Montanan going to Alberta, but whatever floats your boat! It was a good start to my travels.

I arrived in Kokkola which is where I’m staying for the night. This town is tiny but out of the two directions I can walk, I take the wrong one. Google maps says east, but when you get off of a train after four hours you have no idea where any directions are pointing. It took maybe five minutes for somebody to approach me to see if I needed help. On the inside “WHY DID IT TAKE A WHOLE FIVE MINUTES FOR SOMEBODY TO ASK ME? I HAVE A BACKPACK ON! I AM TOURIST!” Outside me: “Oh yes, please that would be so helpful. “ Why can’t Google just use left and right? It didn’t take me very long to find my hotel after that point.

It’s sad to admit, but I’m kind of afraid of European hotels after my Gorbachov Palace experience in the Czech Republic (if you haven’t read it, where have you been?!).  This one is good though! I have enough room to do my BodyRock workout tomorrow morning. The person at the desk was very clearly surprised as to why this bubbly American is here. But, she’s extremely helpful and kind.  I had to call for the code for the internet and she said “Well, it has a lot of numbers and letters… maybe you should just come down here.” While I was down on the first floor, I had to ask for a spoon which was awkward since the girl I asked didn’t speak English. I wonder how spoon sounds to somebody who doesn’t know what it is? “What in god’s name is a spoon?” I found somebody who does speak English, because, again, my Finnish skills are lacking and I don’t know the word for spoon, and had to be this silly American “Oh, I’m sorry but may I borrow your spoon? I promise I’ll bring it back!” Which, in fact, I can’t bring it back because I packed myself a quinoa lunch and you can’t  just simply eat quinoa with your hands.

So, I’m in my hotel room now waiting for the morning of who knows what adventures. I could barely find my hotel, how am I supposed to find information about my extended, dead ancestors?

More to come…