"i love snow, but i'm ready for spring"

that's what kukka said on the bus after class & it seems to be the general consensus.

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something happened at the kamppi metro station last tues. (a week ago). i have no idea what. announcements were made over the loudspeaker in finnish only, but i doubt they included the actual events. all i know is that i came off the escalators to a crowd of people stuck behind police tape from the itään track (eastward - where i needed to go) & it involved metro security, paramedics, & poliisi - a couple of these personnel were looking over the edge of the platform for a bit as well. while waiting, i began to overheat a bit; there's usually a bit of a draft, but since everyone was standing all together away from the track, this draft was unable to reach me. so, i took off my hat & gloves, unzipped my coat, & stood away from the crowd as much as possible. the train that was in the station was also decommissioned. i assume this because it was completely disembarked & its lights were shut off before it finally left the station. also, after the next train arrived & we were allowed to board, a ton more people boarded @ the next station & then a ton more people boarded @ the following station and so on. only a couple people would get off at each station as well. i have never been so crowded on the metro before. there were way too many other people breathing the oxygen i needed (not to mention the smell of tobacco & alcohol many carried onto the train w/ them & my slight overheating issue). when no one got off in sornainen (the last stop in downtown helsinki), i decided to get off at the next station so i could get some fresh air & then catch the next train (thankfully, the stop after sornainen is the only one where the doors on the opposite side of the train open - the ones i was scrunched against - & one of two outside). it's a good thing i did, too, 'cause i almost passed out.

by the time the next train arrived, my head was clear - well, clear enough - but i was facing a conundrum: my torso was really warm, but my head & hands were freezing....the bus from the metro station home was more crowded than usual as well. i still didn't feel well when i got home (a little throw-uppy) & felt that way until around 11am the next morning.....needless to say, i am no longer wearing my big, puffy coat....i miss the hood, though. none of my smaller warm coats have hoods. :(

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in finnish music class last week, we started listening to composers from the 30's - 50's. before getting to the music, the teacher covered some general finland history.....did you know that when russia attacked finland in the winter war it was 3x that of the allied forces invasion of normandy? yet, this is barely mentioned (it wasn't in any of my history classes). and it happened shortly after a pact was made between hitler & stalin (i forget the name of the pact) that basically stated that every country south of lithuania should belong to hitler & everything north should belong to russia (not sure who was getting lithuania in all this). no one came to finland's aid either (although, roosevelt did have some "harsh" words for stalin). in the end, finland lost some land, but at least not its freedom. then, later on in during wwii (referred to as the "continuation war"), finland attempted to regain this land - & inadvertently fought alongside the germans. churchill chastised mannerheim for this & basically told him that if finland didn't pull back, war would be declared upon finland - but he sincerely wished not to have to do so (i'm being snotty here)....then, after the war, due to stipulations in the peace treaty w/ russia, russia was allowed to have a military base on one of finland's islands (i forget which one). russia also required finland to repay its war debt, trading agreements w/ russia were made (finland relied on many of russia bountiful resources), & every political decision finland made was done w/ great consideration to how russia would react. finland was greatly criticized for this as well & the term "finlandization" was coined by a german politician when insulting the policies of another west german politician (prime minister or something) w/ regards to east germany.

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last week was very strange. for some reason, i slept until 11am every day. i have no idea why (except for mon. & wed.). so, i hardly did anything productive. i guess you have to have those kinda weeks from time to time, but i wish it didn't happen to me for another couple of weeks....