suomessa

2009-06-22T06:04:00.001-07:00

a wrap-up coming soon. i'm thinking a couple different entries might cover it. see you soon!

an afternoon dip

2009-05-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

wappu--may 1--is labor day in europe, but also a huge student holiday in finland. first year technical students in tampere are dipped in the rapids in celebration, complete with parades, placing a hat on a statue at midnight, and lots of crazy finns.

ready for business

student parade

getting ready....

in the rapids!

the lady and her crown

spring is here

2009-04-24T03:53:00.000-07:00

and the finns are out in flocks. i wonder where they have all been hiding? i decided to wander around the suburb i live in and see some of the far reaches one this beautiful day--

the lake is starting to thaw

the water tower, or a giant mushroom

the swimming hall (i'm not lying. it's underground. a loooonnnggg elevator ride down)

mämmi

2009-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

bon appetit and belated happy easter, celebrated in the way of the finns.

across the border

2009-04-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

so a few weeks ago, i put differences aside for an afternoon and cooked a lunch for everyone with...a canadian. we compromised and made a salmon dish with pototoes (a compromise between his canadian and my alaskan family).

here are his photos:

chop chop chop

the meal pre-preparation

alain avec le poisson
hugo doing the honors--amazed faces (sugar on fish!?)

getting ready to chow down

dublin blossom

2009-04-05T05:38:00.001-07:00

londontown

2009-03-31T08:42:00.001-07:00

hyde park

westminster abbey

covent garden

the view from st. paul's

an old and new city

more and more

the dubliner

2009-03-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

a quick trip to dublin--a favorite, i could definitely live there. not to mention it was a nice GREEN, SUNNY break from finland's snow. for more photos, see here and here.

i got to see ben!!

the finnish gang minus angel (photographer)

temple bar

stephen's green

oscar wilde

crazy st. patrick's day parade

christ church

dublin

rauma

2009-03-14T06:38:00.001-07:00

during the same trip to pori with my landscapes class, we also visited the unesco world heritage site of rauma. it's an old medieval village with the crooked streets and everything (quite unusual for the young country of finland). i really liked the variety of colors throughout the streets. unfortunately, the church was locked (as seems to the standard here in finland), so i did not get to go inside.

a finnish lesson

2009-03-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

because i am eager to find distractions from my paper-writing, i will continue the mini updates. here is a song we listened to in my finnish language class during one of the first lessons...of course, we also sang along with it. a small group of us aspire to learn the words to this legendary finnish song and sing it at the karaoke bar in the city center before our time here is over...

side note: "hän" means "he/she," but is not exclusive to either gender.

kyykkä

2009-03-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

since i have a few moments, i'll share a little finnish culture. a few weekends ago, tampere university of technology was host to the 'world championship of kyykkä.' while the object of the game is to knock over the other team's wooden pins, what it really means is drunk finns (equaling talkative finns), naked drunk finns running around the ever-present sauna, tech student overalls (i'll post about those some other time), and other such shenanigans. you can learn a little more here and here.

from sunny tampere

2009-03-08T07:30:00.001-07:00

not a total lie--the sun did come out today.

that said, i think i will kiss the ground the day i walk out the door and don't slide 5 feet.

pori

2009-03-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

pori provided a nice trip out of tampere for a change of (snowy) scenery. the trip was part of an excursion for my landscapes class. we visited villa mairea (one of aalto's most famous works--photos coming soon), pori for a site visit and urban landscape studies, and rauma for more of the same. unfortunately, this entailed walking around the city for 3 hours in the heavy wet snow.

a snowy pedestrian-only street the finns bike in all weather. the main church in town

sculpture on the river

they tell me there's a river under there somewhere

rauma, villa mairea, kykka, etc coming soon-ish.

a palette: tallinn

2009-02-24T06:38:00.001-08:00

tallinn: the illustrated edition

2009-02-24T06:38:00.000-08:00

tallinn, estonia

2009-02-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

you can see more here and here.

tampere--city center

2009-02-16T15:41:00.001-08:00

metso library--Raili and Reima Pietilä

the russian orthodox church (i think)--i haven't been inside yet

hervanta

2009-02-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

i live in a suburb of tampere--hervanta, population 25,000

snowy trees outside my apartment

leaving campus

walking home from tut

the corner of my street

apartments at the corner of my street--pretty typical of the area

construction across the street from my apartment. i love when these giant cranes swing over the street...

sunset out my window

rovanwheremi?

2009-02-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

after a week of orientation, i made a trip to lapland with a few newfound friends. lapland is kind of a necessary trip when in finland--it is where santa lives, the sun never shines in the winter and never sets in the summer, and is even more sparsely populated than the south. during our ventures, we stayed in korvala, a village about an hour outside of rovaniemi (home of death metal band lordi and santa claus). the city was planned by alvar aalto after WWII left it in ruins. while we did not make it to see aalto's building(s?) in the city (we walked everywhere...and it's a bit chilly up there) i did get to take in the jätkänkynttilä bridge with its eternal flame and the arktikum museum of the arctic.

i went on a husky safari (even driving an 8-dog sled alone when the driver had to run and help someone else behind us), went cross-country skiing on a frozen lake (70 cm thick ice) and had an overall awesome time with new friends.

arktikum museum

jätkänkynttilä bridge

the following images are borrowed from friends:

husky safari-ing

brakes need to be checked...

team angel: jack (KY), felicitas (PA), amandine (france), angel (spain), and moi

the whole gang

boop!

arrival

2009-02-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

so i finally got my study abroad blog going. here we go.

i have now been in finland for about 3.5 weeks and we are now enjoying our 5th day of sunshine. and the sun doesn't finish setting until after 5.30--i am thrilled. aside from the lack of daylight, things have been wonderful and surprisingly easy to settle into life in tampere. (good) english is widely spoken and no one will ever leave you hanging--if you need help, they'll do whatever they can.

class soon--more latertampere university of technology--obeliski