Four More Days in Helsinki

So I'm back in Helsinki yet again for the beginning of my new pan-European adventure. With any luck, over the next few weeks I'll be heading south through eastern Europe, stopping off at as many cities and places as I can along the way.

By the sea

I arrived back in Finland Saturday afternoon and gave my friend Gerard a bit of a shock when I remembered that I had forgotten to tell him I was coming. Thankfully he was as welcoming as ever and offered to let me stay so I headed to drop my bags off. The one thing that surprised me most when I arrived was the heat - the thermometer on the flat balcony said 31 degrees! I had been in Helsinki just a month previous and at that time it was still practically winter.

On the boat to Suomenlinna

In the evening I headed to Suomenlinna, the large UNESCO-protected island fortress in Helsinki harbour with some friends for a picnic. We ended up staying until 1.30am, but luckily the boats were still running at that time. We managed to see the sunset over the city, which was beautiful from the island. It was especially interesting as the sun didn't set until after 11pm! It stayed quite bright all night, which seems really strange for someone from England. It makes Finland feel really different from home, but it does have the annoying side effect of making it difficult to sleep.

On the island at sunset

Anyway, we got the boat back to Helsinki and went to the very-crowded Aussie Bar in Kamppi before heading to a flat in Pasila to drink cocktails until 7am. Considering that thanks to my flight I had been up since 5am this was far too much for me and eventually I fell asleep.

Lonely man on Suomenlinna

The next day I drifted back to Gerard's to recover for a bit before meeting with a couple more of the erasmus survivors, including a friend from last year who by chance was in Helsinki this week, which was a nice surprise. We decided to head to the beach here in Leppavaara. We had only recently heard of its existence when someone looked on Google Earth and realised with quite a shock that "oh wow we actually live near the sea!". In fact there was a reason nobody had been there before and it took us several hours of getting lost in forests and down country lanes until we found the sea, but no beach.

On the ´beach´in Leppavaara

We ended up lying on the rocks drinking beer which was good enough for me. Problem was I had to meet some friends in the city so I ended up walking almost all the way to Helsinki until I found a tram line, which was quite a feat as I don't know anybody who has done this.

Best bar view in Helsinki?

I met with Florian, Rafi and Giulia and together we headed to the best bar I've been in Helsinki. It was on the roof of a very tall hotel, right in the centre. The view was absolutely amazing, it was possible to see in 360 degrees across the entire city. I can't believe I didn't know about it! We got to watch a spectacular sunset over the skyline before I headed back to Gerard's for a barbecue.

In the studio

On Monday I randomly ended up in a recording studio with some friends. I can´t sing or play any instruments so I was able to just sit back and watch. It was quite an impressive show - I had no idea my friend has such an amazing singing voice.

Today I´m heading into town to meet a friend before the traditional Tuesday-night sauna and then Bar Fly. Tommorow is the big one...I´m heading by ship to Tallinn to begin my adventure. I can´t wait!

A Frozen Picnic & Home Again

We ended up oversleeping a bit, originally intending to head to Kaivopuisto for the picnic in the morning, but 2pm was fine by me anyway. It was slightly less freezing than the day before, which was nice and so we managed to drag ourselves across the whole city, up and down hills carrying heavy food and drink, to get to the park.

Who's idea was it to have an outdoor picnic in early-May Scandinavia anyway?

On arrival we were faced with quite a sight, the whole place was rammed with thousands of people, most of them uni students wearing their distinctive overalls and caps.

With the fellow exchange students at the picnic

For some reason we decided to sit on the rocks by the sea, where the wind made it feel ridiculously cold but after a few beers it didn't seem to matter.

Me, Rob, Cord and Xavier doing something stupid again, no doubt

Walking round the park, I spotted all kinds of strange things. From people dressed in costumes to elaborately-decorated tents and even a Vappu push-chair, which thankfully contained a sound system and not a child.

It was surprising the lengths some people went to

It was too cold to stay for long and eventually I headed back to the city centre with Rob. On the way we passed one of the weirdest-decorated cars I've ever seen, but I've got used to seeing things like this by now.

Pimp My Ride...the Finnish version

I spent the rest of my Vappu week in Finland visiting friends, partying and clubbing as well as quite a bit of sleeping. It was really great to be back and have such a fun holiday. However, by Friday it was time to say goodbye to Helsinki (again) and return home to face reality and take my university exams, but I knew I'd be back eventually.

A bird by the sea...

In fact I'll be back sooner than I first thought. I'm returning on June 9th for a few days before I begin my pan-European adventure, which of course I hope to write about here. In the meantime, thanks to all the people who gave me such a wonderful time and perhaps I'll be seeing you on my journey!

Vappu!

Despite the cold weather, we had been out in the city all afternoon, meeting as many drunk Finns dressed in all sorts of crazy outfits as we could. We had gathered from some unnecessarily-long conversations with these people that the traditional celebrations in Helsinki would begin at 5pm with the 'capping' of the statue in the harbour, and it was something we didn't want to miss.

You don't see something like this every day...

Most students are wearing overalls, which act as a uniform for their particular department, e.g. Electronics is navy blue and Media Engineering orange. Adorned on these overalls are badges earned through different events, most of them parties involving heavy drinking. Some students were covered in a frankly alarming number of these.

The students are lowered over the statue. And yes, the top hat is apparently back in fashion

After spending the afternoon drinking in the park, we headed to the statue where I was to meet my other friends. Unfortunately the thousands of people surrounding it made the task a bit more difficult than expected, but I found them in the end, after being told to look for a 'giant bear'.

After the capping of the statue

The atmosphere was electric, everybody was so happy, although most likely because of the enormous amount of alcohol consumption, but it was quite a strange thing to see on such a cold day. It was also unusual to see so many people together at once in the city.

Andrew, Florian and me, feeling generally bewildered by the whole thing

Eventually the ceremony began, and I can honestly say it's one of the most random things I've ever seen. A group of students, hanging from a giant hat (itself connected to a crane), lowered over the statue and after a countdown placed a cap on the head. Apparently the cap is awarded to students graduating from university, so this marks the end of the academic year.

Heading toward Senate Square

The moment the statue was capped, the crowd went (even more) crazy, cheering and singing and firing off the corks from bottles of sparkling wine. It was an absolutely bizarre scene but a lot of fun to experience.

That's me about to sign somebody's leg

Afterwards we headed, along with the massive crowds, toward Senate Square and the steps of Helsinki Cathedral where more partying ensued.

Apparently a gas mask is standard student attire these days

There was a rather average free concert, featuring an unfortunate hip-hop act that tried to fire up the crowd and get them moving but it was far too cold and the people far too drunk to comply.

It's a shame Lordi weren't playing but it was still 2 weeks until Eurovision

I stayed for a while, at various times losing friends and finding others in the crowds, before queuing for about half an hour in a McDonalds to use the toilet. Afterwards I decided enough was enough and caught the train home.

Xavier and Josep getting in the party spirit

We partied in the flat the rest of the night, my third full night of such activity, but this time we knew we'd have to drag ourselves up in the morning(!) the next day for the traditional picnic.

Return to Finland

It had been four months since I left Finland, and I was desperate to go back. Many of my friends there were lucky enough to be staying for a whole year, so I had been feeling a bit unlucky with only getting to stay for five months. I needed an excuse to return to Finland, and luckily it came in the form of...Vappu!

The overly-happy musician in Helsinki continues to play...good to see that nothing's changed...

Many countries celebrate May Day (1st May), but none do it like the Finns. In Finland it is a celebration of the start of summer and the graduation of students from university, so it's a lot happier and livelier than the 'traditional' anti-globalisation protests we have here in London. Generally it's a week of partying and heavy drinking (which is pretty much how the Finns seem to celebrate everything) and that sounded great to me. After finding that eight of my friends from across europe were also heading back for Vappu, I booked my ticket with just a week's notice, and dragged my housemate along for extra company.

Chilling with Metzi back on the balcony, just like old times. It may look nice but it was almost freezing!

I didn't 'officially' have the time for a week-long holiday such as this, as exams were coming up at university, plus important coursework deadlines, but I knew it would be worth it. Walking back through Helsinki was such a wonderful experience...it seemed that nothing had changed, it was almost like I had never been away. I got the train, just as usual, back to Leppavaara where my friends were staying (right next to where I lived last year).

The things you do in the middle of the night...

The moment I walked through the door into my friend's flat, a beer was placed straight in my hands and the partying began. We literally didn't waste a second! It felt just like being home again. In fact the only shock was the temperature...in London we were having a phenomenal, record-breaking heatwave for late April of 26 degrees. Upon landing in Finland, it was 5 degrees and very, very windy!

Rob, the beer robot. Unfortunately I cannot post the dance.

The best part of the first night back was definitely the sauna...I forgot just how relaxing it is, especially in the freezing weather. After five or six goes in the sauna we headed back up to the flat and partied until late. It was nice to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in months and gave us a chance to warm up our livers for the main event of Vappu that would be kicking off in a couple of days...

More Ice Hockey

A couple of weeks ago I went to see some more ice hockey. This time it was two games on the final day of the Karjala Tournament. If you're wondering why I chose to sit through two ice hockey games in a row, it's because the tickets were sold together as a package and I'm always one to get my money's worth.

No alcoholics allowed apparently

The tournament is played between four of the leading ice hockey nations - Russia, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. My tickets were for Russia v Czech Rep. and the mother of all battles...Finland v Sweden. There is a massive rivalry between Finland and Sweden and I never thought I would get to see them playing each other live so I was quite excited.

The English...supporting Finland

The first game, Russia v Czech Rep. was very exciting and closely fought right up until the end. The game finishes 2-2 and thus went to penalties, which I've never seen before in ice hockey so it was quite interesting. Russia ended up winning, although we were cheering on the Czechs as this now meant that Russia had won the tournament and Finland would have no chance.

The Finns and Swedes line up against each other

The Finland v Sweden game was still very exciting. The stadium was full of Finnish fans, I could only see a handful of Swedes surrounded by a sea of blue and white. It was again closely fought but the Swedes started to gain the upper hand by the end and won 1-0.

The final score

It was great fun again to see some ice hockey and I'm becoming quite a fan now. It's a shame that when I leave Finland I won't be able to see anything like it, even TV coverage of the sport is very limited at home. Still, it was nice to see the national team of Finland playing in Helsinki against the hated-Swedes and I hope they win sometime in future!