The first trips in Helsinki

First of all ... sign the tenancy agreement
At 1 p.m. the HOAS (company which offers student housing) office right downstairs opened and we went there to sign the tenancy agreement, which has to be done within the first days after arrival. There we got some more letters with information concerning the appartment. That all was done within half an hour and without any troubles.

The first sightseeing tour
Keke took us to the city center of Helsinki. We used the train from Kannelmäki (the station is appr. 3 minutes walk from home) to Helsingfors (=Helsinki) Central station = "downtown". It's a commuter train which takes us to the center in 15 minutes.

Public transport
The first thing we did there, was to buy a "personal value card" for the public transport of the greater area of Helsinki (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa). That's a chipcard you can load with a certain money value. Everytime you get on a bus, tram, metro, ... you have to wave your card in front of a machine and press a button, how many zones you'd like to cross. Then the amount of money is drawn off and you have a valid "ticket".

Sightseeing
Keke showed us arround the city center which isn't very big. You'll find some shopping malls, the harbour, the city hall, the markets, many churches and so on. Here I have some impressions for you.

Yes, there is (more than one) McDonald's in Helsinki
But there is no Starbucks and no BurgerKing

Kebab & Pizza everywhere, but very expensive!

My dinner for today
Satae Noodles with Shrimps

Helsinki Central Railway Station

Helsinki Rock Festival taking place this eve.

A nice white church :-).

The market stands at the harbour

The harbour

communter train @ Kannelmäki in the evening

Night view of the place where the rock festival took place.

RTW Helsingfors of the Finnish Red Cross

Austrian students of our "competitor university" Haaga-Helia @ Mecca bar during the Haaga-Helia welcoming event.

Yes, they have Austrian RedBull here :-).

Yes, they have Ritter Sport Schoggi here :-).
You can buy them at midnight as well, because the shops are open!

Just the Intersport Megastore was closed at midnight. Why that!? :-D

Central Railway Station from inside @ night.

tracks @ night - my commuter train is leaving soon.
The public transport is availible til 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays!

What to say about a Friday night @ Helsinki:
There are loads and loads of people on the street. They're sitting arround, walking, running, looking. Every person carries at least one can of beer or another alcoholic beverage with him/her. There are many drunken persons on the street.
The Finns definitely live the motto "We drink to get drunk!"
A very intersting hobby, but they don't seem to be aggressive, they're just happy about their boozed condition *gg*.
And: The beer I had these evening was UGLY. I have to check out another one next time.