Back from Russia, Filled with Love!

Gerrit & I in front of Christ on Spilled Blood Church, St. Petersburg Russia, November, 2008

Hello my loves!!

Well, here I am back in the winter wonderland of Finland. I look out my window on this beautiful first day of Advent to the snow falling peacefully onto the cold ground. Christmas is coming up fast!! I arrived back late last night and in front of my dorm was a beautiful snowman that Michael, Walli, Franny and Sabine had built on Friday. Talk about perfect snow!!

A Night in Helsinki with Gerrit & Lolo

Russia, Russia, Russia....where to begin? Well, this was my first official trip as "Trip Leader" and I had an absolute blast! Topdeck- watch out!! I took my group of 37 Finns, French, Austrian, German, South Korean, Hungarian, Vietnamese and Chinese for the trip of a lifetime. We not only got to do company visits and learn some things about Russian business, but we all got to taste some of the local delicacies like Vodka, Baltika Beer, Sushi, Borscht, Pancakes and of course Meat Pasties!! In between the 2Euro shots of Vodka, free beer tasting and LOTS of Borscht, I am no longer wondering why I feel ill this morning!! However, we also did some interesting sightseeing with our great guides from Peter's Walking Tours (peterswalk.com- check them out if you go!!) and I got A LOT of breakable souvenirs. Beer glasses for 20cents?!? What?!? All in All, I spent about 125 Euros for a week and it was a blast!!! Helsinki also rocked my socks!! Gerrit, Lolo, AD, Lea, Estelle, Mark and I had a great dinner at Raffelo in downtown Helsinki. MMMMM STEAK!! This was a great beginning to a fabulous trip. Cheers to my trip team for their hard work, the participants for keeping me on my toes and to Sami for the bottle of Russian Champagne on the way home!!

My Trip Team Member Stefan after the last company visit...ya, it was like that...Cheers Mate!!

Well, it is that time again to make those lists and check them twice! Mine includes: finish web courses, study for exams, pack my bags for Canada and lose 10kg!! Haha...if only everything could be done in 2 weeks!! That's right. 2 weeks until I am back in London for 5 days of last minute, crazy winter shenanigans with my best mate Beth!! It should be a gooder lady!! For the rest of you in Canada, I will see you on or closely after December 17th! Happy Advent...

Love all you crazies heaps!!

xoxo Courtney "Canada" Whitney