Clubbing hell

This week I've found myself in a few different clubs in Turku. I've often walked past two places that are next door to each other, Nightclub Vegas and Nightclub Marilyn - I'm amused that the word "nightclub" is used, because I don't think anyone in my country actually says that anymore - and I always got the impression that those places were cheesy hellholes. Now, having gone to them both, I can say for sure that they are!
Vegas, in particular, seems to have a lot of strange, older men who want to prey on small English girls. It's never a good sign when your friends have to form a human shield around you to protect you. Both of these places struck me as a 17 year old's dream, but it was a bit tacky for me. Lots of girls wearing far too much make-up, and lots of guys who have no concept of personal space. Fun. Someone told me that Marilyn is usually frequented by 18 year olds who have just discovered the joys of legal drinking. A lot of bars here have higher age limits to keep out teenagers who don't know how to handle their alcohol, so I assume that's one of the only options for them. I suppose at least I can say I've been to these places, but I don't plan on going to them regularly.
Last night I found myself in another club, the name of which I don't even remember, and for some reason being able to skip the line, leaving lots of unfortunate people standing in the cold. That place seemed to have a bit more class, and the interior was more stylish, but I don't think it will be a regular place for me either. Again, at least I went once. I'm told it's a very new place, and it was definitely preferable to the other too. The music wasn't quite to my taste in any of these places.
It's still very hot, so I'm annoyed that I seem to have picked up yet another cold. My nose is very stuffed up, but I suspect I'm just a bit run down - I think I've been overdoing it with going out and drinking for the past couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll feel better after a few quiet nights.

Finnish piercing

I was wondering what to do today when Emmi asked if I wanted to come with her whilst she got some new piercings. She knew I'd wanted a medusa piercing (one on the cupid's bow), and so I ended up deciding to do it. However, as I already have a smiley (the flap of skin under your top lip) and the two together could easily catch on each other and be very painful, I ended up with a vertical medusa piercing. I'd seen vertical piercings on the bottom lip, but never the top, and even the guy in the shop seemed happy to be doing something a bit different!
I'd actually walked past this shop before, and the fact that there was a happy hour on piercings (€20 for anything) worried me, because a good shop shouldn't need to do that. Emmi, however, knew the place and said it was good, and my attitude was that if it looked dodgy I could let her do it and not get involved. However, the place was clean, the guy was friendly and professional, and he set up in front of each customer. In my opinion (and I have 15 piercings and 8 tattoos so I have a good amount of experience here), this is important because if they aren't prepared to show you their procedures, what are they hiding? Any good tattooist or piercer will be happy to do their preparations publicly.
At first I was unsure, purely because there was lots of shouting in Finnish and a large crowd of idiotic 14 year olds on a rebellious streak. Realistically, any shop will probably be the same here, so I decided to get over it. I got it done, the guy was great, and I am very pleased with the result.
I asked him about tattoos. He is all booked up until September, (another very good sign - no one will wait 6 months for dodgy work) but on the last Friday of each month he has a walk-in day, and he says he prefers to do smaller jobs on these days. He is looking like a contender for the Muumimamma tattoo I want, because it's small and he's obviously good at his job, plus he had a nice personality, which is what I like. I don't want to be tattooed by miserable people who don't speak for the whole time; having a friendly person to chat to is preferable. Plus when Emmi told him I wanted Muumimamma he didn't laugh, not even at my statement "Muumimamma is badass." I think I'm better off waiting until after I've been to Norway to see what my financial situation will be, but I could always take him a picture of what I want to get an idea of the price. There's another small tattoo I've been wanting for about four years now, but which has been pushed to the sidelines due to other ideas coming up, and maybe that could finally get done too, if I'm super lucky financially.
In conclusion, nice guy, good shop, and I'm happy to be back into this as it's been a long time since I've had any fresh tattoos or piercings. Now, go buy my paintings so I can get my tattoos!

Parade of teenagers

Today there was a parade of teenagers on trucks celebrating going on study leave for exams. There seemed to be a truck for every school and they drove around the center of Turku making noise and throwing sweets to everyone. It was so cute watching younger children running up the street after them because they wanted the sweets. Seeing a cheeky policeman, who was probably supposed to be keeping order, picking up all the sweets and eating them was also a highlight.
I think it's a very nice tradition because they all seemed so happy, and all the pedestrians were happy to watch them pass. They held up all the buses, were very noisy, and it was a very cheerful morning. Nice one teenagers.
When I was their age my school had a tradition of allowing the ones about to go on study leave to pull pranks, dress up, and generally be a bit cheeky. I think that officially the practice was banned the year it was our turn, because previous years had got a bit out of hand, although I remember there were still a few stink bombs and some interesting interpretations of the school uniform. It's a shame because when I was about 13 I'd already planned that when it was my turn I was going to put condoms over the exhaust pipes on the teacher's cars...never got the chance, unfortunately.
I thought this was a nice one though because lots of schools were involved, they all had colourful banners (including one with Gollum on it...), and it was all good-natured and fun. They were all waving and singing songs, and people in the street seemed to enjoy seeing them. Walking to the supermarket was a bit difficult because the kids had attracted a pretty big crowd. Good for them. I don't think this kind of thing really goes on in England but it was a nice thing to watch.

Children

Directly opposite my window there is a school. For some reason it got me thinking...

Children,
I see you sitting
Near the ceiling,
Below me, but
I remember being you.
Staring out, I saw
A river of glitter
Running through a field,
Or thought I did,
But was it real?
Have you seen
What you may not believe?
I hope it never
Happens to any of you.
If I were you
I'd be so far away,
Inventing a game.
Sometimes
I miss those days.

Yoofs

The teenagers here scare me a bit. They're all a bit loud and lairy. I expect many of them just discovered alcohol. They tend to sing and shout and spit and dance. That's not so different to the English kids, maybe it's more intimidating when they're gabbling away in foreign.
When I was in the line at Hesburger tonight there were three boys, who were probably only 13 or 14, and I'm not sure why they were there because they made no attempt to get food, but they were noisy and it was a bit horrible. One of them liked to spit on the ground a lot. Fucking teenagers.