A semester of things

Alright so I'm just gunna start off and say that Finland is pretty swell and in general I've been having a great time running a muck about the place. I've seen and done some pretty fantastic things here along with meeting some genuinely excellent chaps and chapettes. I've also received the odd letter or two from some of my most stalwart friends back home which is just lovely.

Its a bit odd right now, as a write this I'm looking out my window where just over a month ago there was still a large amount of snow covering everything, now the place is a luscious green marvel of a place and I feel somewhat like I should be an extra on the set for lord of the rings. And if I go back to January, when I arrived, the contrast is even greater. When I got here there were around 3-4 hours of light a day, -20 was a pretty normal temperature, and there was a good half a meter to a meter of snow on everything. Now its bright and sunny until about 10:30 in the evening and even after that it only gets a bit dim. there is no total darkness anymore. Which is creepy as shit.

I'm going on a trip to Dublin tomorrow night which sort of signifies the end of this semester. Every exchange student here is going home except for 2 Brazilian guys (and one of them is a master's student so he doesn't count) which has prompted some reminiscing on my be half. A lot of these memories are quite arbitrary ones of going out to bars and night clubs and getting wasted but there are also some genuinely swell ones which would cause a ventricle to burst were you to experience them all in one go. I can't be bothered to write all the things I've done so I'll just bash out some photos stolen from my friends since from what I hear, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The river when I arrived

On really cold days the one part of the river that wasn't fully frozen gave off lots of steam

Those thar northern lights

Makan' handy craft portraits of our selves

Casually walking into a night club in nothing but a bathrobe, boxers and shoes.

Havn' a pint 'o cream on Paddy's day

Dressed and acting like pirates on a cruise across the Baltic

Soakin' up dem Swedish rays

I wasn't present for this event, but it sums up Finland fairly well

Shootn' ice at trees from a tall tower

Painting the Union Jack onto a guy before heading out to a night club

Taking part in the May day Celebrations. See here and here.

Enjoyin' dem great out doors and finding a BIG pile of sawdust concealing a pile of snow

More 'o dem outsides

If we'd been loungin' like lizards on this rock two months ago, we'd probably be dead.

So yeah, those give no real idea at all what I've been up but you kinda get the gist of it. I kinda went to uni for a bit too but that's all depressing and I don't like it at all, so that can go get bent.

Love and kisses.

Finland. Its a place with things to do.

Beat that birch

So there seems to be a bunch of things that you have to do while you're in Finland and I'm happy to say that over my two trips here I think I've done almost all of them.

1. Sauna. You think sauna is all about towels and a gentle relaxing time right? Well, you're kinda right. The saunas we have back home are nowhere near hot enough. Here its considered cold if its anywhere under 90 degrees Celsius which is a bit different to the 70 degree ones back home. So firstly its god damn hot. Secondly, unlike at home, its a naked fest for all concerned and those caught waring pants are often scorned for such behavior. Then theres the masochistic acts that are often done together with sauna. Namely vihta and snow diving. Snow diving is pretty self explanatory, you run from the sauna to the snow and jump in. Naked. Its great, trust me. Vihta is a bunch of birch branches tied together that you use whip your self and generally cover the sauna in leaves. Its great, trust me.

Easily more interesting than reindeer

2. See a reindeer. Yeah, its an animal that lives here. They're pretty swell but I prefer squirrels.

3. See santa. Yeah he lives here apparently. I met him one time.

4. Get drunk on vodka. Honestly actual vodka is hard to get here because a) they tax alcohol a lot here and b) they have really high standards when it comes to vodka. Absolute is treated as rubbish here. But yeah, I've done it.

5. Walk over a frozen river/lake. It gets cold enough here that in mid winter, when the ice is thick enough, they open up pathways across the frozen river to foot traffic and snow mobiles to use. Its a pretty odd experience when you're casually walking over the middle of one of the biggest rivers in Finland. I'm usually scared that it'll break and I'll sink to a watery grave.

6. Swim in afore mentioned river/lake. Some person thought it would be a good idea to cut a hole in the ice and swim in the freezing water underneath. Lord knows why, that shit's cold yo. When I do it, the second I get in the water I wonder what the hell I'm doing.

The lights above the neighbor's house

7. Northern lights. This is actually something worth seeing. Tonight I was enchanted by the dancing green and red lights in the sky over the apartments I live in. I didn't even notice that it was about -15 even though I was only wearing my gym clothes. I recommend seeing them to anyone. Its like watching the dreams of a whimsical child spill across the sky.

And thus concludes my list of things that most people think you should do here. Yup.

Happy friend day to all

I don't like Valentine's day. And not for the usual reasons that people have like single people being jealous of happy couples and the like. My beef is with the notion that you have to have a special day to show someone how much you love them. What the dicks is up with that? If you love someone you should make sure they know it all the time, not one day a year cooked up to sell cards loosely based on the story of a saint.

Friends together are strong

Enter The Finnish translation of Valentine's day: Ystavanpaiva. Literally translated it means "Friend Day". Now to be honest I have no idea what Finn's do on friend day as I have spent most of it locked in my flat avoiding reading a design research book and listening to Immortal and generally not talking to people at all. BUT what I would like to think this day is about up this neck o' the woods (do woods have necks?) is a celebration of friendship, something most seem to take for granted that doesn't seem to be celebrated unless you're really drunk. Friendship is great. I like it, you like it. Lets celebrate it. Grab a friend, grab a mutually shared interest and celebrate the fact that you enjoy being around certain people more than others.

Most of my dear friends aren't in this country, but I sure wish they were. Happy friend day friends.

I walked on a river today

The river is so frozen now its safe to walk over to the uni on it. I did that today. Yup.

Mina en puhu suomea. Anteeksi.

Finland, its a place that I am. Its cold and until recently it was dark. But its pretty swell. And hence forth I shall start rambling in no particular order about nothing in particular.

Getting here: Getting here involved sleeping in some uncomfortable places (cars, floors, planes, trains), being quite close to people I have never met for extended periods of time, sitting for pretty much 12 hours straight and having a reaaaall hard time trying to find a good cappuccino in Amsterdam airport. Oh and they edited all the best parts of Goldeneye out on the in-flight movie selection, I mean why did they get rid of the toilet scene? So getting here was a pain in the ass and I don't plan on doing any intercontinental travel again any time in the next few months.

Drinking: My casual alcohol consumption has sky rocketed over the last two weeks. From maybe one night out a month to several nights out on the piss per week. Why just this Monday night I was at a party. And for some reason there was a child there. Apparently he shows up at heaps of parties. There is more than one night club in this town but for some reason, so far I have only been in one. Now I normally don't like night clubs, but this one has the ok from me because they played some Jimmy Hendrix for me and my friend last night. I don't think mooseheads would do that. Oh and mooseheads isn't full of cute Europeans.

Recreation: This place is great for the old recreation. I have a gym in my basement, a ski slope a 20 minute walk away and hiking is 5 minutes away. Last night I went rock climbing for a mere 5 Euro which was grand. I'm yet to go ice skating, but I hear its marvelous, and free. I don't think I've been so constantly physically active for a while.

Food: The uni will give me a massive meal for less than 2.50 which is amazing. Shame I'm never there at the right times. Other than that I'm getting pretty good at making shit up with a meager selection of ingredients. Yesterday I made ANZAC biscuits too which was swell.

Exchange students: They're fun to hang out with. I just pop over to their building and there's always some sort of fun happening. I wandered into a French flat last night and ended up as a member of the "Buffalo Club" which is a super cool exciting thing to be a part of apparently. Mostly I just hang out with the Irish though. They're great fun.

Straya day: Yup its not a thing here, but I'm gunna cook up some sausages anyway. Happy Straya day!

Thoughts on departure

I'll say this for moving overseas for an extended period, it sure does make you popular. Just today I received at least 4 phone calls from 4 different people requesting my company, which I sadly had to decline due to prior arrangements. Never in my life have I felt so popular. I should move more often.

But mostly its just a pain in the ass. Happily a lot of the annoying things have been taken care of like flights, visas, housing ect. but there are still many annoying things about moving OS on a student budget.

Packing: Currently I have been tasked with trying to cram pretty much everything I'll need for 2 years in to one suitcase with a limit of 20kg, a backpack and the pair of pants with the biggest pockets I can find. Currently I've had to cull my precious t-shirt collection down to "must-haves", I'm trying to figure out how best to get my skateboard over there or if its more cost effective to send it and leaving my precious N64 at home for 2 years is going to be the end of me most likely. And there is also the concern that anything left behind will either be damaged or thrown out by my family members while they have the chance to clear out my "clutter". All I can say is that if anyone even TOUCHES my CD collection without my permission, they will be killed.

Money: Shit's expensive yo. I currently don't have enough money to live comfortably for two years AND fly back to Australia when I'm done. Let's see how that goes...

The questions and tips: For the last 6 months I have been bombarded with the same god damn questions (some times by the same people) or being given "helpful tips" every second day and frankly I'm sick of answering/hearing them. I get them everyday and I have been to Lapland before SO in order to try and prevent more silly questions, here we go... I leave Canberra on the second of January and Australia on the fifth from Melbourne. I am in Melbourne to visit my Nan. I will visit friends in Helsinki and Oulu before arriving in Rovaniemi on the eighth. I will be studying a master's degree of Industrial Design at the University of Lapland and I'm doing it because its free and why the hell not? I already have a flat and will be sharing it my Polish friend Aleks, who I met last time I was there. My flat is 3km from the uni. Yes, I can legally get a job in Finland but it will be difficult since I do not speak Finnish. Yes, I will be learning Finnish. Yes, I intend to keep doing parkour, strength training and longboarding while I am there, just because I'm in a different place doesn't mean I will enjoy these activities less. Yes I would like to go skiing/snowboarding. I am aware that Finland in winter is very cold and that I will need warm clothes. Yes I have a Finnish bank account. Finland is on the Euro. I don't know if I can drive in Finland. No I don't like fish. Yes Finland is very dark in the winter and I will not see the sun for days on end. It is the opposite in summer. Yes I intend to visit other countries if I can afford it. Yes I want you to come visit me. Yes I would like to come back to Australia half way though, feel free to buy me a ticket. Yes I'm having a farewell, its tomorrow.

BUT this all has the pay off of me living in a beautiful country where drunken nudity is not only accepted, but expected, for a decent amount of time. Come see me, it'll be like a dream.

Similarities between Norse and Christian religions pt.2

So I realized I missed some points in my previous post. Here comes some more mindless drivel!

Significant people sacrificing them selves.


So you of course know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. What an upstanding thing to do. Not sure what beef the Romans had with him but oh well. Its alright he rose up again 3 days later.


BUT did you know Odin also sacrificed him self for the good of others? Well mostly. When you look at it, his actions could also been seen as overly selfish, but I choose to believe he has every one's best interests at heart. Basically, Odin first sacrificed one of his eyes at Mimir's well in exchange for a drink from the waters in order to gain great wisdom. He became wise but wanted to be more wise (so he could help people right?) so he hung him self from Yggdrasil (the world tree) for 9 days and was pierced by his own spear as an offering to him self. Yes, he sacrificed him self to him self. While hanging from the tree he observed all the 9 worlds and gained great wisdom. He learned 18 runes (18 is a multiple of 9, noticing a pattern here?) that gave him various powers that he could use to help him self or others. He had certain powers just for him, such as a rune that made it impossible to tie him up, but many for others that mostly gave great advantage in battle (very important in Viking culture) such as invulnerability, blunting enemy weapons, the ability to catch arrows etc. etc. There were also a few more practical ones such as one that allowed him to save ships from storms. All up some pretty spiffing things for a chap to be able to do for you. Anyway he learned all this while he was dying on the tree, but its ok he was fine after a good lie down.

Apple theft.

Adam and Eve, those naughty devils, ate some of God's apples in the garden of Eden after being convinced to do so by a sneeky snake and as a result they were promptly ejected from the premises. Harsh drag.

Well I'm sure you'll be amazed to hear that there is a similar story in Norse myth! In this version a giant called Thiazi steals not only the apples of the gods but the god who grows them too. This is all in a cunning plot to see the gods wither into old age (the apples provide eternal youth) and the giant makes off with the goddess Idun to his home in Jountenheim. Loki is sent to retrieve Idun (I won't tell the story but its his fault she was kidnapped) so he transforms into a falcon and flies to the land of giants to get her. He finds her, uses magic runes to turn her into a nut and starts to fly back to Asgaard, but not before Thiazi finds out that Idun is gone! Thiazi thurns into an eagle and chases Loki down just as he reaches the realm of the gods, but luckily the gods are awaiting his and Loki's arrival and they promptly set him on fire and kill him for stealing their apples. That's how that tale goes down. I like it because people are turning into things all the time and there is a chase scene.

In both versions the perpetrators learn not to steal apples. Adam and Eve via being kicked out of paradise and Thiazi by being set on fire then killed. The lesson here is gods really like apples.