Finnish movies and literature

 1) Arto Paasilinna

One of the most famous authors in Finland is Arto Paasilinna. He was born in Lapland in 1942. He wrote a lot of novels whose many are translated in French.

His name, Paasilinna, has been invented by his father. It means “stone fortress” in Finnish.

His novels are characterized by an unusual narrative sense of humor with singular characters living in several regions of Finland. Nature is very important in his novels, it is a full character. It’s why, Paasilinna’s work is described by “ecological humor novels”.

I have chosen to read one of his first novels, Vatanen’s hare written in 1975. It is also the most famous Paasilinna’s novel and it has been adapted in 1977 for a movie. The story deals with a journalist living in Helsinki who hit a hare with his car. He looked after the animal and went to the forest with it. They traveled during several seasons and walked across the Finland, as far as Lapland.

2) The Moomins

The Moomins (Muumi in Finnish) are characters in famous Finnish books then cartoons created by Tove Jansson. They look like white hippopotamus.

I saw several passages on Youtube but also, when I was a child I used to watch one cartoon video cassette that I had.

We can find these characters everywhere in the shops on cups, cloths, dishes, accessories, soft toy, etc… I bought several moomin items for my family.

It even exists an amusement park Muumimaailma (The world of Moomins) in Naantali in the southwest of Finland. 

Vappu

Hello, this is Thomas and I'm going to tell you about my last party in Finland on the first of May, however this party was not a random one, it was Vappu.
Vappu is a festival, a big party, which takes place on the evening of the 30th of April and continues to the first of May. All the students and former students gather to celebrate this day, the end of the exams and drink together.

To celebrate Vappu, we decided to go to Jyväskylä, it's a bigger town than Varkaus and is 2 hours away by train. There were so many students! They were all gathered in a park with music and they had their traditional white hats, we met our Finnish friends there and we had some Sima, which is a traditional non alcoholic beverage for Vappu. There were street singers, many shops, and bars; it's a nice city.
I was there with some friends from Angers and Annecy and also our Dutch Friend. Then with a friend, we drank some unknown beverage in a kind of Finnish fraternity full of bearded men. Still, I had a fun night, it was a good experience to party somewhere else than in Varkaus. It was our farewell party, not the best, but a particular one.

Picture of Vappu in Helsinki

Point of view of a dutch student

What could you do, in the night, in Varkaus?

In the evening, there are three establishments frequented by students: The Next Step, the Harrisson and the Z-one. We have to walk 30 minutes to go to the Next Step then 15 minutes more to go to the Z-one or the Harrisson. Sometimes, we took taxi (if we are many, each one has to pay only two euros).



These are the places where you can speak with foreigners outside university.

You can taste finish alcohol: Salmiakki (liquorice, sugar and vodka), Mustikka (alcohol, cream and blueberry), White Russian (vodka, coffee liquor and milk) and Long Drink that you can find only in Finland or some regions of Sweden. Alcohol is expensive but there are sometimes student concessions or price cut for special days.




There are also karaokes. It is very practiced in Finland in every pub. We could see a finish people sing alone then return drink and speak with his friends. It is not like French karaoke where people come especially to sing and often with friends or family just for fun. Furthermore, Finnish karaoke is free! There are even karaoke in nightclub.


It permits us to discover finish songs. One of most sing is “Levoton Tuhkimo” a song from Dingo, a finish rock band. It is very liked by Finish people. Every week, we sang this song. The song says that we have to live our life day by day. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ynOiwXVUM

Sometimes, there are concert in Next Step or Z-one. It permits us to know finish music. There were The Teflon Brothers (a hip hop and rap group), Brädi (a Finnish hip hop artist) and Cheek (a Finnish rapper) and others metal groups. 

Sauna

Sauna originally comes from Finland but you can find it also in others Nordic countries.

It is a wood room with benches and a stove heats up stones. You have to put water on the heat stones to create steam and so increase the temperature. The highest bench is the place where it is warmest.  The temperature is from 70 to 100 °C. It is dry warmth contrary to hammam.

 

Sauna is a Finnish tradition in order to drive toxin out from organism thanks to acceleration of perspiration. Sauna allows to relax and is beneficial for blood flow, skin but also to stimulate immune defenses.

During the sauna you could go out to take a cold shower to take advantage of sauna (two times is good).

Normally, you have to go in sauna naked because swimsuit troubles sweat evaporation. Furthermore, for Finnish, wear swimsuit is not healthy. 

There is a sauna in the dormitory. Women can use it every Wednesday and men every Thursday. 

Our trip to Saint Petersburg

Hello everybody, today I'm going to present our trip to Russia. Living so close to Russia, we decided to visit the country, but not everybody could come. Indeed to go to Russia, you will need a Passport! Otherwise you won't be able to enter their territory, which is why Amandine and some other French people couldn't come to this trip. Besides, we went there for only three days because without a Visa, it is not possible to stay more than three days. You also have to be "invited" by a Russian person to go there. Therefore we have two ways to go to Russia:

• on our own
• with a travel company

We decided to go with a company and we had two choices, let met explain to you why and what company.
In the boat on our way to Russia, we met two French girls and they told us that they had to pay for a hotel about 30€ to be considered as invited. Besides, 3 days are short and discovering St Petersburg with a guide is much more interesting and fun.

The two companies were: Aikamatkat TimeTravels (the company with whom we went to Lapland) and Bigland.
They offered the same price which included the trip on the boat and the hotel for both but there were no tourguides with TimeTravels and the hotel was far away from the city center.

We went to Saint Petersburg with Bigland, our tourguide, Ivan, was really friendly and told us many things about his city, we also met some of his friends and it was really interesting.

Our first impression of Russia was of its uncleanliness and of how crazy all the drivers were... It was dirty because the snow had just melted and the drivers were crazy just  because they drive crazily!
Our tour-guide was really helpful because in St. Petersburg, nobody spoke English. Only few young people such as students were able to, however if you go grocery shopping or go to a restaurant, Russian people will not speak a word of English, even basic words like numbers. Besides, Russian people use a different alphabet which is the Cyrillic alphabet, Ivan's girlfriend taught me how to read Russian words when we were in a bar; it's actually not complicated at all but it looks like it's totally different.
Anyway, for three days, we had the opportunity to visit many things:

• The State Hermitage Museum (Winter palace), which is very known for the History between French and Russian People, many things in it are about Napoleon Bonaparte. There is also modern art such as Picasso; it is a really interesting Museum. The entrance was free for students.
• The Swan Lake Ballet by Tchaikovsky: The ballet costed 50€ and lasted about 2 hours, it's expensive but it was totally worth it. It was one of my favorite things in Russia.
• The Church of the Spilled Blood (Ice cream Church), it is one of most famous churches in Saint Petersburg

  

  At the Ice cream Church

• Catherine Palace (Summer palace), also known for being the Palace in the movie "Anastasia", really looks like Versailles because Catherine liked French architecture a lot, which is why she wanted her palace to look like Versailles.
  

  

  Catherine Palace

Inside the Catherine Palace

We also saw many cathedrals and fortresses and we heard a canon shoot (they shoot one canon every noon to announce the time, Russian style...). You will be able to see our schedule and all on the website of the company: http://openyourrussia.com/en/info/fin

We learned many things about Russian history and mostly of Peter the First, we also visited the metro, which is very beautiful and clean. Our hostel was in the middle of the city, perfectly located, very beautiful and we had free breakfast.

I really recommend this trip, we had a lot of fun and we learned many things thanks to our tour-guide  so if you want to go to Russia, I invite you to go to this website http://openyourrussia.com/

Here are some pics of the trip:

Ice cream Church

Group picture

Near the Catherine Palace

Russian Metro

Russian people tanning by 5°C

Stockholm

Hi, it's Thomas and I am going to tell you some things about my trip to Sweden.

As you know, we have many free time here, which is why I decided to go to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, for some days with my girlfriend. The currency of Sweden is the Swedish Krona and €1 amounts SEK8.6 and the cost of living is much more expensive than in France. I went there by train and then by plane. I could also have gone there by train and then by ferry but the price was equivalent.

In Stockholm, I visited many museums such as The Nobel Museum, The Swedish Royal Armoury, The Museum of Photography, Skansen and Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology. Unfortunately, I wanted to visit The Vasa Museum and the National Gallery but they were closed for maintenance.

• The Nobel Museum was small and inside were two cinemas showing videos of famous people. There were also machines retracing the history of the Nobel Prize and all the people awarded. It was not my favourite but was still interesting.

• The Swedish Royal Armoury was very interesting, it shows the history of Sweden’s kings and queens and there were many old clothes of ladies and knights. At the bottom of the museum were also some coaches from the 17th and 18th centuries. If you are lucky you can also watch the changing of the guards in the very famous Brittish manner outside of the building.

• Skansen is famous in Stockholm, it is an outdoor museum showing the history and the way of life of the saami people. There is also a zoo in it where you can see the Scandinavian animals such as reindeers or wolwerines.
  

A Wolwerine in Skansen

The Museum of Photography was really interesting and The National Museum of Science and Technology was a bit disappointing compared to the Science Museum in Paris for example. Both of these museums were not specific to Sweden but it was still interesting.

In Stockholm, I also wandered in the old island called "Gamla Stan" which is really beautiful with its old and charming architecture. Besides, being with an American girl for the whole time, I spoke english the entire time. This trip was a perfect trip for my culture and also my personal life.

Here is one last picture:

What could you do, in the day, in Varkaus?

If you want to practice sport in Varkaus, there are several activities: body building, swimming, skiing, cross-country skiing, sledge, jogging, ice hockey, football, floorball (hockey inside) or bowling.

To practice body building you can go to the university or go to the sport hall for 3.5€. There are devices but also treadmills and bike inside. To go to the sport hall, you have to walk around 40 min. 

The university organized a skiing day, the 19^th march. We didn’t have courses in order to pass the afternoon on the slope located near the university. For 15€, we could ski from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. with skis and chooses lended. There are only three slopes but it was very cool to ski in Finland. The Finnish ski-lift is not like French ski-lift. You can take it with someone else or alone. Also we sledged, it was very funny. We can also practice cross-country skiing. There are many routes in Varkaus. We didn’t try it in Varkaus but we did it in Lapland. 

Nearly every week, guys go to play football or sometimes hockey with Finishes, Russians, Vietnamese or Chineses.

Every week, I go to swim in the same place that the sport hall for the same price. The swimming pool is very clean and there aren’t too much people so you can swim quietly. There are also a waterslide, a jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna. It was the first time I went to Jacuzzi and steam room. It is an enjoyable relaxation after exercise.

There is also a cinema in Varkaus. Here is the website: http://www.savonkinot.fi/varkaus

Northern Lights

The Northern Lights... the amazing Northern Lights! Also called Aurora Borealis, they are one of the reasons we decided to go to Finland, they are a gift a nature and it really is something you have to see once in your life.
We actually had this opportunity twice, we went to Lapland from 4th of March to 10th of March and we managed to see a green bow for our last night, it was impressive, but it was not the last time we saw one...

Everyday in Varkaus, we're checking the Aurora forecast on this website: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe/

Due to a solar event that happened the 15th of March, we managed to see some incredible northern lights the 17th of March. We went at the top of a hill located 5 minutes away from our building and the spectacle was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The sky was full of northern lights, we could see the bright moon, stars, even one shouting star. The Northern Lights were appearing and disappearing in front of our eyes, they were moving quickly and this for hours, it was breathtaking! We knew we were really lucky to see them.

Thanks to our friend Dani Castiella who owns a good camera and has good skills to take pictures, we had been able to capture this moment so we can share it with you, here are some pictures of this unforgettable night.

Amandine is at the top and is the second from the left, and Thomas is at the top, first from the right.

For further information about the Aurora Borealis, I invite you to visit this website: http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html

Trip to Lapland

Being on vacation for one week, we decided to enjoy this time and make the most obvious trip here: LAPLAND! We went there with the company Timetravels ( http://www.aikamatkat.fi/ ). The final price including all the activities was quite expensive for 5 days but it was totally worth it. Such an amazing trip!

The departure was from Helsinki the 4^th of March. We were travelling by bus all the night until Kemi where we spent the morning visiting the Kemi Snowcastle. The Kemi Snowcastle, which is rebuilt every year, was really impressing for our first day and such a piece of art.

On the afternoon, we arrived in Rovaniemi to visit the Santa Claus Village, taking pictures with the Santa and crossing the magical Arctic circle. We didn't have so much time to visit but it was pretty 
fun to be in this place though. Well, to say the truth, I had the biggest disappoitment of my life this day; if some children are reading this article, please stop it; there were two Santa Claus, two of them! Which one was the real one? No clue. They were in two different buildings taking pictures with tourists. We discovered it because we were waiting for about 20 minutes for our friends to take a picture all together, but they were also waiting for us with the other Santa Claus.

On the evening, we arrived in a pretty town called Saariselkä where our cottage was. We share it with students of different nationalities such as Italian, South Korean, Bulgarian and Czechoslovakian. One of my few dissapointment during this trip was that we were 8 French people in the cottage and some of us are really shy. I (Thomas) was sad because I wanted to meet foreign people but being many french speakers, there was a separation. There were 14 beds in the cottage, one fireplace, a kitchen, a living room with couches and most of all a sauna! We had a lot of fun in it during nights where we jumped in the snow and then went to the sauna. Anyways, it was a really beautiful cottage.

On the third day we began activities in Lapland. The morning we skied and made snowshoe then we had a soup lunch in a chalet.
The sun was shining, the weather was perfect and snowshoeing was nice but too short, during this activity, our Finnish guide taught us some things about Finland such as the animals called Wolwerines that hunt dozens of reindeer to feed themselves. Wolverine are like small bears able to climb on trees to jump on their victims.

On the evening we went to the Smoke sauna which is a traditional Finnish sauna with a hole in a lake where you can refresh yourself. Being in a smoke sauna is actually a weird feeling and I enjoy more going in a classic sauna. The smell of smoke is bothering after a while but we had to try it. It was again really fun but I thought my feet would explode! Great experience for sure!

On the fourth day we had Husky Safari the morning. We were driver then passenger. We saw kennels and took huskies in our arms. After this, a woman told us stories stories about the huskies while we were drinking tea with small cookies.
One sledge is most all the time composed with 6 huskies, all of them have a particular job.
The first two huskies at the top of the sledge are the smartest, they lead the other dogs and know the way. The two dogs in the middle are the youngest, they are learning and they also have more endurance than the others, therefore they maintain the speed of the sledge. Finally, the two dogs behind the others are the strongest (and the dumbest), they have the task to pull the sledge really hard.
It was an amazing experience, like in a dream. The dogs at first were crazy and all excited to run but after running they were really friendly and we took pictures with our new friends! It was surely the best moment of the trip.

On the afternoon, we did snowmobile, 30 minutes as driver and 30 minutes as passenger. Unfortunately, I (Thomas) were behind two French girls who were scared to death to drive, we didn't have the opportunity to drive fast many times, we had to stop and wait for them to go and then we drove fast. It was really nice when we were able to drive, great experience! I think there were more snowmobiles in the town than there were cars.

On the evening we visited a reindeer farm. We did a short reindeer sleigh ride. Afterwards we were invited to the Lappish hut to have a hot drink and barbecue some sausages on open fire. The hosting saami family taught us more about the reindeers and the indigenous saami people.

On the fifth day we went to Norway. During the travel we saw reindeer herd by the road. We had a fish soup lunch in a local cafeteria in Bugoynes and the owner told us about the Norway. He showed us a video about Bugoynes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msgvTSy1RwY


After, we had possibility to swim in the ocean. We did it 3 times between sauna.

It was so beautiful, the landscapes were outstanding! We saw reindeers, fjords, I really felt lucky to see this city.

On the evening there was a student party in a Saariselkä club.

We checked every night the sky hoping to see Northern lights and it’s only the last night that we saw it! It was wonderful. We tried to take pictures but we didn't have a camera well enough.

On the sixth day, after having cleaned the cottage and having returned the key we did ice karting.

On the afternoon, we had free time and we took the bus the evening and arrived the 7^th day in Helsinki

Well, to conclude this article, I will highly recommend this trip to you. It was the best trip of my life. I will also advice you to go there with two friends, not much more. You will then be able to meet many people!
Bye from Finland!