Welcome. Tervetuola.

Velkomin til Íslands. Núverandi tími er 6:55 í morgun. Þakka þér fyrir að fljúga Icelandair.* Welcome to Iceland. The current time is 6:55am. Thank you for flying Icelandair. These are the words the flight attendant greeted us with as the airplane taxied towards Keflavik Airport.  The flight from Minneapolis to Iceland was surprisingly short; I had said goodbye to my family just six hours earlier. Feeling groggy and stiff, I gathered the items around me in preparation for my layover in Reykjavik.

The following flight to Helsinki was as uneventful as the previous. I dozed in and out while occasionally observing the beautiful scenery of Norway and Sweden pass by below. As an interesting side note, on this flight, I learned that the prime minister of Iceland has his number listed in the phone book.  Who knew?

While my excitement was beginning to mount during these first two flights, it was not until the third that my journey to Finland started to become real. Boarding a small plane with approximately 25 other people, I chose an empty seat towards the front of the plane. The flight attendant came over to talk with me while other passengers continued to file on. Hei, olet istuu uloskäyntihuoneessa istuin. Flustered, I apologized and explained that I spoke no Finnish.  She seamlessly translated in English, you are sitting in an exit row seat so I want you to be aware of the safety requirements. This was my first encounter with the Finnish language. The large propellers on the plane's small wings started up and the plane rocked back to taxi out to the runway.

A little over an hour later, the sun lit up the horizon in orange creamsicle hues as our plane pulled into the Joensuu airport.  Prepared to navigate a somewhat larger airport, I was surprised when walking across the tarmac to see a small one-room airport with a sign lit in blue neon lights that read JOENSUU AIRPORT.  Upon entering this room, there was one baggage carousel to the left and two smiling girls waving at me on the right.  They held a sign with "Welcome Jennifer" written in purple ink.  I smiled back and went over to introduce myself.  I couldn't have asked for a better welcome.  A perfect start to my Finnish adventure.

*Disclaimer: All text written in Icelandic and Finnish in this post were translated with Google Translator.  No, I don't speak either language, so I apologize if they are inaccurate. :)