Linnanmäki at Night

On Friday my brother came to visit me and stayed over the weekend. It's my birthday today so it was a good time to come see me, and it meant he could bring me presents from home! Linnanmäki, the amusement park in Helsinki, was open at night time for a special week with the park illuminated, so we took the chance to visit.

No, I didn't ride it

I had been there back in the summer, but I hadn't actually been on any of the rides yet. We tried out the wooden roller coaster first, which is probably the best ride in the park and both looks and feels rather unsafe, adding to the thrill. Not all of the attractions were open, which was a bit dissappointing as the big vertical drop tower looked like a lot of fun, but perhaps it was too cold to ride comfortably.

The spooky-looking wooden coaster

It really was very cold, which is strange because the day before and after it was quite pleasant, so it must have been a freak cold-wave. I'm still awaiting the onset of the 'Finnish winter', but at present it's not particularly cold, it just rains a lot. Apparently snow will be with us by next month, so the temperatures will soon start dropping.

Have they never heard of health and safety?

There was a fairly impressive musical show with performers juggling and throwing all kinds of burning instruments. Not a bad way to stay warm! We later met up with some of the other exchange students and I was quite amused to find the Spanish had barricaded themselves in the cafe and refused to come out as it was 'Too EXPLETIVE cold!'

The view from the tall rides over Helsinki at night was quite impressive

The park is quite small so we didn't stay too long and headed back home so my brother could sleep off his jet lag. A 2 hour time difference is quite hard to cope with apparently!

We got up to a couple more things over the weekend so stay tuned...

Ice Bar

About a week ago a few of us went to the Arctic Ice Bar in Helsinki. It was a bit of a surprise really, as I was at home still recovering from the night before, which was perhaps the most intense I've had here, but I still could not turn down such an interesting experience.

It was so cold the air turned blue

It's located inside the UniQ club, one of the trendiest (and most expensive) clubs in the city. We went just before 10pm which meant we could enter from the restuarant, instead of the club which has an age limit of 24. Strangely, the restaurant is mediterranean themed, so it's very weird entering the ice bar from there. Only in Finland could this happen!

I was too cold to hold the camera steady!

The ice bar itself is quite small, you can only fit about 10 people inside at once. It's obviously very cold, with the walls and tables made completely of ice. It costs 10 euros to get in and for that price you get a 'free' drink. You are also given a nice winter cloak to wear inside so you don't freeze.

Me sitting on an ice chair drinking from the ice table

We were inside for about half an hour, which was all we could bear (especially with our drinks finished) so we headed out to defrost and managed to slip through into UniQ, but left after taking a look at the steep drink prices.

Gangster-style

A few more things have happened recently and there's some great events coming up so there'll be lots to post about. I haven't updated much recently because this past week was my exam week so I was studying, or at least I was supposed to be studying!

Mökki Weekend

I spent last weekend in a Mökki (summer cottage). It's very common for Finns to have a cottage that they retire to for summer holidays. They are always located someplace rural, usually a forest and with a lake nearby to jump in after sauna. The one I stayed in checked both boxes, being situated in the middle of nowhere with its own private lake.

The cottage

It was quite a random thing to end up in a forest for the weekend. On Thursday night while in a club I was asked by Nina if I wanted to go and I agreed (I always agree to things when drunk), so on Saturday morning me, Andrew and Jenny set off from Helsinki on the bus. After much worrying about when we should actually get off, we found the right stop, in the tiny town of Suomusjarvi.

Our first dinner in the cottage

After a very strange breakfast in a very strange diner, we met with Nina (who had arrived there the day before) and set off on the 1-hour-plus trek to the cottage along the country roads, carrying all our heavy shopping and beer. We arrived to find a charming wooden cottage and the other occupants waiting for us.

Barbecue by the lake

There were 16 of us staying in the cottage. Four of us were from Helsinki, another two we knew from the erasmus language course and were now staying elsewhere and the rest were from Turku and Tampere. There was a wide range of nationalities - German, French, Lithuanian, Latvian, Hungarian, Russian, Polish, Italian, British (obviously) and one Finn!

DVD watching

After a quick walk around the nearby forest we headed back to the cottage to cook dinner and grill sausages on the barbecue by the lake outside. We then spent the evening drinking the entire supply of beer for the weekend and watching Finnish movies on DVD.

The scenery was quite spectacular

The next day we went out to do some real exploring. We walked through the forest, around the nearby fields, climbed a hill, nearly fell down it, explored an abandoned farm and went searching for mushrooms and berries. Later that evening we used the food collected from the forest for cooking.

Star-gazing on the roof

We were supposed to have returned home Sunday evening, in time for classes on Monday morning. However, everybody wanted to stay an extra night. I had an important class the next day and had to hand in my coursework so it was a difficult choice to make and I think I made the right one...I chose to stay!

Andrew with the radioactive drink

That night we ran out of beer again, despite buying more and resorted to experimenting with the drinks we had, making as many different colours as we could using the blue vodka. I think I won with my bright-green creation.

The group (minus 4 who had left just before)

We stayed pretty late on the last day, until about 6pm, then headed back to the bus stop. The others tried (unsuccessfully) to hitchhike home and ended up taking a later bus. I was back home by 10pm and had to rush to submit all my assignments by the midnight deadline.

Enjoying the countryside

Overall my time in the mökki was amazing. It was a great experience, one of the best I've had in Finland - I met some great people and did lots of things I'd never get to do back home in London. Just lying on the roof of the cottage at night, staring at the stars and the full moon, listening to the wolves howling in the distance. Considering I rarely spend much time in nature these things are just amazing to me. I enjoyed it so much I intend to do it again - there's another cottage weekend in a couple of weeks!

Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey is the national sport of Finland and something of an obsession for many. It was definately high on my list of things to do in Finland so when my university offered cheap tickets for exchange students, I jumped at the chance.

Finishing our beers before entering the stadium

The game was held at Hartwall Arena, the largest venue in Helsinki, home of Jokerit. The opposing team was HIFK and together they are the biggest teams in the city, so it was all set to be a very exciting game. About 30 of us from Evtek went together after drinking a few beers in Leppavaara.

The teams line up before the game

Within 1 minute of the start of the match there was a rather savage fight between 2 opposing players. We were all waiting to see a big fight, as it's quite normal in hockey, so this was expected. However it was apparently a bit over the top even for ice hockey and has become the biggest sports headline in Finland, with the police currently investigating the incident.

Seconds before the goal

Few of us knew anything about ice hockey, but apart from a couple of unexplained penalties, it's pretty easy to understand. The action is intense and very fast paced. Not long into the game Jokerit were already 2-0 up, with me being just about the only person from Evtek supporting HIFK.

Metzii and Cesar get involved in the game

The stadium was very impressive and much larger than I expected. We had a great view of the action despite being near the back, so you get a good view no matter where you're seated. The atmosphere was electric - the opposing fans were chanting and singing throughout, unfurling massive banners and flags, with rock music playing every time the action paused. It really is quite a show.

The Jokerit fans, while they were still winning

Eventually the tables turned and HIFK were able to end the game with a 5-2 win, leaving me the smug winner and everyone else disillusioned with the sport. I was very impressed by the whole experience and definately intend to go again - in fact I think I'm becoming something of an ice hockey fan. It's nice to see something completely different from the usual British sports of football, rugby, cricket etc, so I highly recommend seeing a hockey game if you get the chance.

A lot more has happened in the past week for me to write about, so stay tuned for further updates in a few days!

Camping Finnish-style

Last weekend a group of about 25 of us from Evtek went camping in Nuuksio national park. Now, I've already been there before back in the summer with people from the EILC, but only for the day and I was looking forward to this trip as I'd get a chance to experience proper Finnish-style camping!

Taking the early morning bus to Nuuksio

After getting off the bus at the wrong stop and having to walk 2km back down the road, we headed into the park where our tutors who had arrived by car met us with all the camping gear. They had 'appropriated' two large military-style tents, complete with stoves to heat the insides. We had to carry all this equipment deep into the forest, climbing up and down steep hills and over rocks.

Putting up the tent

We split into two groups and set about assembling the tents. Ours went up almost immediately and we were already sitting by the campfire admiring our handiwork while the others struggled to get theirs up.

King of the lake!

With the tents up we indulged in some much-needed sunbathing by the lake before heading back to camp to prepare the firewood for the two stoves and the camp fire. Having never used an axe before, I have discovered it to be the manliest experience one can have.

Cutting wood the boring way

Inevitably, it turned into a heated (and frankly dangerous) competition between the men on who could chop the biggest piece of wood. Of course the Finns, as products of their military service, had their own way...

Finn + beer + massive knife = ultimate wood chopper

After enough wood was collected we headed into the forest to go bear hunting. Well, not exactly. The tutors had hidden Karhu (bear) beer around the nearby area and the first to find them all could win a prize and get to keep the beer. Of course my beer-dar (like a radar but...you get the idea) came in great handy and my team triumphed, winning us a shot of Salmiakki, a Finnish national drink, and mintu. Both tasted a bit strange, with the former made of liquorice (which I don't like) and the latter tasting like minty toothpaste.

The winning team with our prize

Rather alarmingly-early we all settled round the camp fire to begin drinking and eating (in that order). Some people had carried entire crates of beer with them into the forest, while others settled for strong spirits. Unfortunately the total darkness of the forest and large amount of alcohol resulted in people regularly falling over rocks as soon as they stepped away from the fire.

Night time in Nuuksio

At some point in the night we all stumbled toward the nicely-heated tents and headed to sleep (or passed out in many cases). In the morning as we prepared breakfast around the fire I noticed that the Finns, still nursing a hangover, were drinking beer for breakfast and to be honest, I wasn't actually that surprised. I guess I'm getting used to the Finnish way of life!

Breakfast around the camp fire

With the tents packed up and our rubbish rather dangerously thrown on the camp fire, we began the long march back to the bus stop with all the equipment feeling strangely heavier than when we came, but maybe that was down to the booze and 3 hours of sleep.

And that's my first experience of camping in Finland!