GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: Helsinki Finland, travel
I am somewhere at the airport, waiting for my flight to glorious Helsinki, Finland. Since I've spent some time visiting this lovely city during the winter months, I am visiting in the summer: I've been told that Helsinki is two different cities from one season to the next.
Hopefully, my flight will not crash into a bird or be zapped by lightning before I escape the dangerous NYC airspace. Last night, the storms were so heavy and dangerous that all the area airports were experiencing delays of 3-4 hours. As always, I promise to share images and I am also going to record birdsong and share the mp3 files with you (if I can figure out how to upload them onto my blog).
This flight is very expensive and promises to be very crowded, despite the fact that FinnAir recently started scheduling two non-stop flights between NYC and Helsinki each day in honor of the tourist season (normally, they have six nonstop flights per week in each direction).
I won't be able to post an Antarctica vote count until tomorrow, so I hope that someone out there checks the vote count near the end of the day and adds it to the comments here so others can see, too.
While you are here, I wanted to share this immensely funny Harry Potter vignette with you, courtesy of a Finnish blog writer, whom I hope to hunt down and fill with beers while visiting Helsinki (although he may be on holiday, so I make no promises whether I'll be successful).
If you are one of my Finland blog friends, please do contact me to see if we can arrange a meeting (and beers or other alcohol, of course!). Otherwise, most of my Finnish pals already know I am coming and I've been told that they have planned a lot of fun adventures to keep me busy, although we all hope I won't end up breaking anything, like my bones. But I do have travel insurance, so everything looks good.
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
Another international trip. You are becoming so interesting. Did you ever think your life would be thus?
Posted by: Tabor | July 1, 2009 1:42 PM
Have fun, and post lots of pictures!
Posted by: John | July 1, 2009 1:44 PM
Enjoy yourself. :) It's a gorgeous city (even though the inhabitants say it's ugly and they prefer the country side - I wonder what they'd say of Chicago or New York). It's good you're going at a time of year that you can actually see the city. I had awful timing passing through on my way elsewhere so I didn't see much. :(
Oh yes, the seasons matter. It's dark, cold and wet (or snowing) in the winter and bright (when not too cloudy), cool, and wet in the summer.
Posted by: MadScientist | July 1, 2009 10:26 PM
"It's a gorgeous city (even though the inhabitants say it's ugly and they prefer the country side..."
Only those who come from the countryside. We natives think Stadi is gorgeous.
"I've been told that Helsinki is two different cities from one season to the next."
More like two different planets. Only the buildings are the same.
Posted by: Lassi Hippeläinen | July 2, 2009 4:37 AM
This blog-writer thanks for the compliment, but must turn down the offered beer; being some 400 kilometers forestward from Helsinki would make that somewhat impractical. Nice, however, if people enjoyed the post.
Posted by: Masks of Eris | July 2, 2009 10:25 AM
Welcome back!
I'd love to chat, but live way way way up North, next to Tampere. I've met Bob O', that charming fellow.
Posted by: Paholaisen Asianajaja | July 2, 2009 3:18 PM