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My Home on Lauttasaari

I live on an island in the Baltic sea. Lauttasaari means “ferry island”. Instead of the ferry, though, it now has a bridge connecting it to the center of Helsinki. Lauttasaari has about 20,000 other residents besides me, so I’m not alone. I have a 1-bedroom apartment overlooking one of the main routes through the island. I’m above a branch of the convenience grocery chain Pikkolo. The apartment is small, but clean and modern. I even have a tiny little washing machine that cleans about 5 pieces of clothing at time.

A short walk brings me to a harbor where locals have their sailboats and other small craft docked. A little bit further and I come to a nice little beach. All around the beach is a green park with tall grasses and trees coming up to the shoreline. All over the island are parks with walkways, trails, benches, and various sporting fields. Finns love to be out doors in the summer. And the preferred mode of transportation here seems to be by bicycle, which has me scheming about how to get a hold of one for my stay here. Along many of the sidewalks, they’ve painted or bricked in a line to separate bike lanes from the walker lane. People are always jogging or biking by, either on their way to errands or relaxation.

View from my balcony

Residence Permit What?

So it seems that all that residence permit stuff was a waste of time. You'd think that after all that, some stern Finnish official would be carefully searching for my permit making sure everything was in order. No, not even remotely true. Here's the real kicker - there is no Finnish immigration official waiting to look at your passport. My, aren't they trusting. You just walk through the green gates to freedom. There is no hassle, because there is no one there. An empty booth where a guy should have been sitting? Nope, not that either. Just a set of double doors that open as easily as if you were headed into the supermarket.

Journey Begins

I'm tapping my fingers and listening closely for my ride to show up. Why? Because I'm finally off to Helsinki today for my six week stint. I'm all packed and ready to go - hopefully remembering everything I need to bring. Yes, I'm excited and a little nervous, but I'm mostly glad that the waiting is over. I had to file for a Finnish residence permit to comply with the immigration rules. Unfortunately that meant delaying my trip and neverending calls and visits to the Finnish consulate office in LA. But, all that is behind me now and fun is ready to begin. Bon Voyage.