Things that make you say "hmm"

Well it's been a busy week with exams and essays so no exciting adventures to report. I've decided to write this post about a few of the things that have made me say "hmm". Most are just general everyday observations that are probably normal for a Finn, but to someone new in the country have required a second glance.

-Calendars. The days of the week are listed Monday to Sunday. None of this confusing "the week starts on Sunday" stuff.

-Time. A.M.? P.M.? What are those? Say hello to the 24 hour clock.

-The Academic Quarter. For every one hour of scheduled class, there is only instruction for 45 minutes. If your class is listed as starting at 14:00, class will not actually commence until 14:15 (like my use of the 24 hour clock?!)

-Food Packaging. I would like to take 2 of my favourite foods as examples. Peanut butter and ketchup. Now, think about the steps necessary to open a new bottle of either. You have to take off the seal right? Wrong (Okay, right in Canada, wrong in Finland.) If food is in a bottle, there isn't an additional seal.

-Beep. Pedestrian crossings are accompanied by a beeping noise. When you are able to cross to beeping becomes faster.

-Seeing double. In public washrooms there is often a sink and soap dispenser within the stalls (I can only say that this is true for women's washrooms.) There is then a sink outside of the stall as well. Do you wash your hands twice? We haven't quite figured this out yet.

-Soup. No creative title here. The other day I went to the store to buy some tomato soup. Well, lets just say I was shocked by the price. And remember, we're talking Euros here.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week :)