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Hey gang! I'm home and well!

It's been over a week since I returned home from my trip. So I'm just gonna make a quick recap

Finland
So we spent pretty much exactly 24 hours in Helsinki! Arrived roughly 2pm and our train left at 3pm the next day. So we tried to make the most of our time, since it isn't long. First off, our hotel was adorable! Tiny and cute room with a huge, red cabinet right in the middle for bathroom. We walked around the city, the highlights must be Kiasma, Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church), Finlandia and the cathedral--although I only saw that last through a cab! We had such in the Kiasma art museum, there was a fabulous exhibition at the top floor, by artist Pipilotti Rist. It was so dreamlike. There were carpets and pillows on the floor where you could lie and experience the soothing music and imagery projected all over. Some even fell asleep! Overall I loved the city and I definitely want to return and spend more time exploring it. It's so fresh, open and inviting.

Russia
After a 7 hour long train ride from Helsinki, we finally arrived in St.Petursburg, close to 11pm! The hotel was nice, although the stairway...er, wasn't. Fun fact: the stairways in Russia are owned by the government, considered a part of all public spaces (like squares, sidewalks etc), so inhabitants can't do any fixing, painting and such. In short, they look disgusting. Just so you know, in case you'll visit someday

St.Petersburg is a fun fusion of the western and the eastern, and a very well well mix at that! It's definitely different in many ways, but it feels oddly familiar as well in many ways. We tried to use each day as well as we could, which resulted in looooads of walking and little time to eat during the day. So I was a little exhausted, but it was worth it! Let's take a look at some of the highlights:

- Ballet! Yep, I saw a very Russian ballet, how could I not? We saw Tchaikovsky's The Swan Lake. Simply gorgeous.
- The Hermitage. The building is jaw-droppingly fantastic and huge. Just wow. The art museum inside is not too shabby, either! We spent almost 3 hours, but then we were too exhausted. We didn't manage to see nearly everything, though, it's that huge.
- Church of Spilled Blood. A beautiful Russian orthodox church, like St.Basil's in Moscow. The detailed art and mosaic inside is...mad.
- St.Isaac's. A Catholic church with one of the top 5 biggest domes in the world! The inside was amazing. We also got to the top and enjoyed a lovely panoramic view over the city!
- Kunstkamera. That's an anthropology museum, with some awesome exhibits from all over. But the real reason we went: 200 year old deformed fetuses in formalin jars. You heard me!
- Art Schools! We visited two art schools, one has a really traditional 19th approach, with hardcore drawing. Loved that one! The other was way in the outskirts (I saw some pretty ugly Soviet blocks!) and had a more modern, technical method. Both were really interesting!
- Learning the Cyrillic alphabet XD Haha yeah, I sort of picked it up on the first two days or so. It was fun reading all the signs, even though I hardly ever understood it! But it was sometimes handy when looking for places and such ^^
- Fooood. The best beef stroganov in my life. It was there. Overall we got some really awesome and interesting food!
- Walking and exploring was overall awesome, finding little art shops or other stuff. Really a fun city to walk around, so beautiful and open.

Loads of other interesting stuff happened, but these were the very basics! Contrary to popular belief, we all experienced the city as really friendly and welcoming. No one was mugged or nothing. One guy even dropped his wallet while walking and whaddyaknow, some sweet Russian man comes running with it!

So I'd definitely recommend both St.Petersburg and Helsinki for everyone! I really want to visit them both again and preferably in a more relaxed fashion this time, we were always running around to see eveeerything. So yeah, that's the plan.
To wrap this up, here's a snapshot of me and some classmates in front of the ballet! Aren't we dressy and cute? I'm to the very right!

Ballet time!