Hmm...so what does turning 23 feel like? I am not sure, but how many 23rd birthdays do you spend at a hospital by a 15th century castle assisting surgeons retrieve a 17 yr old boy´s liver and kidneys to fly back to Helsinki. I have to say that it was one of the most unique, if disturbing, days I have ever had. The operation was access, and our glum little team returned back to helsinki at 2 am the next morning. The last few seconds of the 3rd of July I spent watching this poor boys heart beat its last few beats and die in a flurry of vibrillation.

Today we went to a different castle on an island just a few minutes by boat from Helsinki. By we, I mean the 10 or so exchange students here from various parts of the world (austria, czech republic, france, canada, spain, england, taiwan, and whatever country i belong to) along with our correpsonding finnish medical students assigned to babysit us. we had a lovely picnic by the coast up until it rained, and we instead went on a 2 hr quest trying to find the underground tunnels beneath the fortress. more pictures to come later...anyways happy 4th of july to you american folks...
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