I'm legit now

Look what I picked up today!

That was the last bit of paperwork type stuff I had to take care of before I left Canada to head over and now I'll be allowed in the country with no problem. When I went on exchange to Helsinki I didn't have my permit before I left because I needed a new passport and didn't get that until mid-way through August (it was really just my own fault for not applying for a new passport early enough). In Canada, at the time, (and possibly elsewhere) you needed to submit your passport when you applied for the permit because they have to put the actual permit into a page on your passport (think of it like a sticker. A very important sticker) and it was going to take a month or so before I was going to be able to get my permit. It would have been cutting it really close had I had to send my new passport away to get the permit in it and it wasn't going to do me any good when I needed to catch a flight to Finland if my passport was in Ottawa! I asked both the Finnish Embassy (in Ottawa) and the Finnish Consulate (in Toronto) if I could apply for my permit in Finland. Both said yes but that I should still apply, and pay, to have it done in Canada. Now let me just say that it costs, at the time, about $345 to just apply for your permit and if you leave the country before you are approved for your permit, your application is void and you lose you money. Basically, they wanted me to apply, not get my permit on time because I've left and therefore they'd get $345 from me without having to lift a finger. LAME. I was pretty freaked out that I wouldn't be allowed into the country when I was at the airport but I had all the information necessary so they let me in! (also shows the benefits of being a Canadian and holding a Canadian passport. Sad but true fact of getting profiled at the borders. Im sure I have more stories about that to tell.)

But the fun thing about getting residence permits now is that it's no longer a sticker in your passport! It's just a little card that you can keep in your wallet. I was assured by the Finnish Embassy in Ottawa that even if, for some reason, I left before my permit was ready, I could get it sent to me in Finland and that the Embassy would write a letter for me to show the border security that I had the permit. This is SUCH a better idea than the old way. But they now make everyone applying for a residence permit visit the closest Finnish Embassy so that they can submit original copies of the requirements in person (like your degree certificate, health insurance, bank statement, acceptance letter) and also so you can submit a passport photo. I also had to get my fingerprints taken. It was a pain for me to have to go to Ottawa to get it done. It's about a 5 hour drive from downtown Toronto to Ottawa and I had to do it on about 4 hours sleep because it was the day after Mayhem Festival.While it was a pain for me just to go to Ottawa to do it, a girl in my program that is from Venezuela had to go all the way to New York to get her stuff done and another girl from Bangladesh had to go to India. I guess I shouldn't complain so much.

All in all, Im stoked to have my permit now and now it's just stickin' it out over the next few weeks and then I'll finally be back home again!

I realize that this was probably a boring post about residence permits but it'll get more interesting soon.

To tide us all over, have a picture of me being a typical tourist on a canon on Suomenlinna

Is that a canon in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr and Instagram (which is sort of on hiatus right now cause my poor phone bit the dust)! My user name on both is lilacviking. Also, if you have a question or comment, don't be afraid to comment here or send me an ask on Tumblr!

Of Vikings and Care Bears

Well, hey there! You've stumbled across my blog and this is the first post! I thank you now for coming here to share in my life in Finland. I promise to share some knowledge, interesting stories, and, of course, many laughs.

SO, where shall we start?! I think introductions are in order. My name is Biz. Strange, I know, especially for a white Canadian girl with basically only British, Scottish, and Irish heritage. The name that is on my birth certificate and other government documents is of no significance because I simply do not identify with that name. I've been known as Biz since I was about 9 days old and my big brother, who was 4 at the time, thought I was a very busy baby and my family started calling me Bizzy which was then shortened to Biz. I started getting called Biz in school around grade 1 when I came home at the beginning of the school year complaining to my Mum that Elizabeth was too long to write and could I please use my "home name". So, call me Biz.

Hey look, it's me! 

So a little bit about this "walking cartoon character" as my Finnadian friend has described me. I'm at the older end of 22 and was born and raised in the land of hockey and maple syrup, Canada. I graduated with an Honours Bachelour of Arts Degree in Cultural Studies specializing in Film, Video, and Media from Trent University in 2013. I'm starting my Master of Arts program at the beginning of September where I'll be studying Media Management at the University of Tampere. I don't have my exact career objective planned out BUT, I really want to be involved in the music industry or the film industry working behind the scenes to get amazing works of art to the public.

So why Finland? weeeeell, like a lot of people, I discovered Finland through Finnish music. I was at the older end of 13 when I went to Toronto for the day with my Mum and we stopped at Indigo (a chain bookstore in Canada. They might have them in the States as well) and I picked up an issue of RockSound magazine because it had a cd with it and some band I liked was on it (to this day I cannot remember the band I originally wanted the cd for). The band that was on that album was HIM and an acoustic version of Funeral of Hearts from their Love Metal album. The whole magazine did a big feature on HIM because their greatest hits album And Love Said No had just come out, or was just coming out. I was so impressed by the one song and the feature story on the band that I went straight to HMV, when I was near one since my hometown is tiny, and bought And Love Said No and it was ALL I listened to for MONTHS. I gradually found other big bands from Finland like The 69 Eyes, Negative, Apocalyptica, The Rasmus, etc. and then wanted to know more about the country and sort of fell in love with the country as a whole. It's just got something about it that really appeals to me but it's really hard to explain (maybe through this blog you'll find out why I love it so much). So in 2011 I got the opportunity to go on exchange to the University of Helsinki for a school year. As soon as I landed in Helsinki, I just looked around and said "I'm home". I really came into my own while I lived in Helsinki, which I think a lot of exchange students say, but in Helsinki I felt less like a tourist/exchange student and more like a local. I made so many wonderful friends while I was there, many of them I met through Tumblr and still keep in touch with and can't WAIT to see again soon! Hi to you lovely people if you're reading this! It was one of the hardest things for me to have to leave at the end of my exchange but I was determined to get back to Finland and worked my ass off in my 4th year at Trent to get into an international Masters program that only lets in 12 students every 2 years. And I did it. So here we are, 25 days until I get back on Finnish soil and I'm so ready to be back.

My new city, Tampere. Photo by me in October 2011. 

Im a different person than I was almost 10 years ago, THANKFULLY, but I still love Finland.

Hopefully you find my adventures in Finland to be somewhat interesting. While I lived in Helsinki I had a Tumblr, of the same name as this one, but it had it's limitations and this way I can write walls of text without getting annoying. For this blog I have plans to do theme type stuff (which I'll need help thinking of, hint hint nudge nudge), music stuff (I went to A LOT of concerts last time I was in Finland and plan on going to more this time round), travel diaries (both in Finland and in greater Europe), etc. I also have plans to start my Youtube channel up again, providing I can get a video camera, and if I do that I'll be doing a lot of vlogs and random videos in conjunction with this blog. Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr (lilacviking.tumblr.com) and Instagram (@lilacviking)! If you have any questions about me or Finland, don't be shy and ask via comment on this blog or send me an ask on my Tumblr!