Present

It's strange when you are first in a new place. That rebirth moment where nothing is familiar – yes there are people and buildings, but you look around and all those words mean nothing to you, there will be no faces in the crowd that you recognise and you don't know what is around any corner. It's such a pure feeling that lasts only an instant before your brain begins to memorise those images. That safety mechanism that automatically takes a picture so that in times of 'danger' you can pull out that file from your brain and aid whatever situation you find yourself in.

And repeated actions. The body remembers that movement or sequence of steps so they become auto pilot and you don't need to 'think'. Our brain is very good at constructing pathways for us to follow so it feels that we don't have to use it so much. But perhaps it's always wanting more, it's just storing thoughts to make room for new.

Part of me is glad that I have settled here so quickly, but at the same time, that awe and wonder feels like its slipping, especially on days where you find yourself making those repeated trips that have already been stored under 'auto pilot'. Sometimes it's fun when something becomes automatic – learning how to set up a warp was one of those times, the less you thought about it the more naturally it came.

But how can you retain the beauty of the new as long as possible? Is it even possible? It's so hard to live 'now' to realise every moment as it happens and not think about the past or the future, immediate or distant. Think about language, we use the past and future tenses far more than the present (I think anyway) because we never talk about 'now', it isn't good enough for us any more. What are you doing right now? Stop. Think about what actions your brain is controlling – your eyes are perceiving colour and movement, every inch of your skin is feeling something, you're breathing, you're alive.

It's almost too much for our brain to process at once.

Have you ever thought you were content with a state of being only to discover something more fantastic you could never have imagined? And now you can't go back to what you once thought of as living. Like Plato's cave – content in naivety, but once opened to more, you cannot go back to that original state (I guess Higher English did teach me something!).

I think that's how I feel. That feeling of endless possibilities didn't truly exist for me until the last year or two. To think about how I used to think seems so alien. I don't want to leave Finland yet (time feels like its slipping already – no, don't think of the future, think of now), I'm not ready to, but I've become too settled in this little flat; living next to the supermarket, getting the number 18 bus to town. I don't like the security of routine, to me it feels more smothering than safe. So I guess it's my job to go find it. It? Anything. That feeling of mapping new areas of your brain – it's fairly addictive.

Distraction

I'm using this as a distraction tonight. I am not going to rant about the fact that yet again I have no means of cooking food, except a toaster, but it has brought a few things into perspective. Food is a big part of my life: my family lives in our kitchen. We spend more time discussing food than probably anything else and I definitely should be studying that (or product design, instead of textiles – not complaining!). In my life it is a means of relaxing, being creative and social. So to be stripped of that function, one that I usually rely on so heavily, has brought over some what of a dark cloud. I guess it's been an interesting challenge to eat more than just bread, but with my spice cupboard lacking anyway, it's not been easy. I've been here a month and I've already gone through 1/2 of a bottle of Tabasco – that says a lot.

The education system here is great. I am doing a course called 'Get Finternational' where you get points for doing workshops and attending events. Today I had a two hour workshop where we had to rate Finnish music and discus Finnish art and design. I also get points for going to Lapland and there's a class where you can make a blueberry pie. They're happy as long as you're learning, it almost doesn't even matter what, as long as you're expanding your mind!

Which is why on Friday 23^rd we got out of class early to go mushrooming! We were looking for edible and dying mushrooms, which is related to textiles, so it's fine, we were learning. There's not a lot to tell you about: we wandered around some rather nice woods for a few hours, I didn't pick very much just because most of them were a bit eaten and I don't really like mushrooms anyway. I'll leave you with the visual.

Making crispie cakes for Noora's cocktail party wasn't easy without a stove, but our fabulous neighbours came to the rescue once again, letting us melt some mars bars and chocolate in their kitchen. Rachel and Scott came over to get ready too, and they helped us find out that you can get a pizza that's too big to eat from just outside my window (next to that sweet ass second hand store) for about 6e – that's right, one of the things that's actually cheaper than at home! Taking the cocktail theme very seriously (and being a little too influenced by Mad Men) we quaffed and rolled our hair. Safe to say a good night was had by all. 

 

Sunday night was Nordic movie night. We watched 'Let the Right One In', a Swedish movie (in Swedish) about a little vampire girl and a boy that liked her. Don't even try and relate it to 'Twilight' it was way more... slurpy, in the bloody sense.

Class remains to not be mentioned. No designing as of yet, which is a little painful, although today there were no teachers and incidentally our most productive day. We are called 'Maanantai Design', which translates as 'Monday Design'.

Also learning a lot of Finnish phrases! 'Hauska tavita' means 'Nice to meet you' and 'Mita vittua!' means 'What the fuck!' but you have to put stress on the 'vi' of 'vittua', otherwise it doesn't really work. Also 'Mina olen Skotlantilainen', 'Mina puhun Englantia' and 'Mina tulen Skolanista (baby)' – Respectively 'I am Scottish', 'I speak English' and 'I come from Scotland (baby)'. Remember too that they pronounce every letter in each word and notice here how instead of using the preposition 'from', they add the ending '-ista'. It means that you can say whole sentences that are just one word. Confusing? Nah...

I Went to the Flea Market and I Bought...

A yellow scarf,

stickers,

a porno lighter,

sunglasses,

a shiny purse,

a postcard,

a toaster

and a Snickers! (not pictured)

That's the little yellow radio I bought from our near by second hand store a few weeks back. FYI, Robin Hood Radio on 92.5 is pretty good.

It was a pretty junky place, but in a cool way.

I Have A Camera Now

Busy work week, don't ask me what we did. There's a lot of weight behind this Heimtextil project, but so far it feels like we haven't done any work, I really just want to get designing...

Thursday brought along our first Finnish class! We learned: how to count to 12 (now I can count to 19!); that in Finnish they don't ever need to write anything phonetically because they pronounce every letter; they don't really use B, C, D, G, X, Z and one or two other letters, even though they are in their alphabet; double consonants are harder sounds and double vowels are elongated (kiitos = ke-etos).

Friday rolled around in good timing, no class but instead a trip to Helsinki to the Habitare design fair. This was great opportunity to check out some funky design and collect lots of free postcards. Friday night brought the weekly outdoor Paivanpaiste party, meeting strangers in the dark and playing the 'What's your name, where are you from, where do you stay, what do you study?' game. If your lucky, the conversation will move past that. By midnight it was cold and there were only a couple dozen of us left, time to move inside. As soon as the table was strategically relocated out of the kitchen, the police were called and we all trudged back to our flats. Never mind, if things keep going this way the parties will keep going on till we're fighting zero.

Saturday morning brought a terrible shock to the system – the cooker was not working. Ordinarily, this wouldn't bother me so much, I adapt well to change or a fork in the road, but this was a curve ball that sent me spinning. We have no microwave. No toaster. No kettle. I couldn't even make a measly cup of tea! I say measly, but really tea is all I've wanted all weekend. I like salad, and sandwiches, and fruit – but there is no replacement for a hot drink. Feeling tired and betrayed (by fire), I reached a desperately low point – I wandered wearily into the kitchen looking for some kind of fix, only to return to my room with a sad mug full of nacho cheese balls (they don't really do crisps here). This also ruined our plans of making Mars Bar Crispie Cakes for Marianne's birthday that evening. Rose and I packed our bags, which were surprisingly heavy, though contrastingly light on the return journey, and efficiently made our way to Rachel's where she played the role of the much more developed human – she had FIRE! 

 

Cakes made, bodies dressed, bus caught and all on time! (We're getting better at this) A very cool party, in yet another very cool flat. Even though I didn't understand what a lot of people were saying at the start of the night, tequila, food and a good atmosphere kind of unites people regardless of language. Plus, we got to show off our counting skills. Then to Dynamo (Doonamo, 'Y' is an 'oo' sound) where all I can recall is that there are two floors, that I thought I lost my camera, but I left it in my jacket pocket, that my hat is very popular and that 'snus' is some kind of tobacco you put under your lip – don't do it, it's just weird (and apparently illegal in the EU, cheers Wikipedia). I managed to get the night bus home, but don't ask me about any of the details.

The next morning was not fun. No tea, no noodles, only ham and salad and apples – not what I wanted. However, I did end up with a rather nice lunch - a tin of cold baked beans, heavy on the Tabasco and free Hesburger pepper. I was also due to meet two people in town that afternoon, which felt impossible at 10am. However, that really was the hangover cure. 

 

The world is tiny, the summer really reinforced that feeling for me, and I was about to get another dose. A friend of my sister's in Manchester had two girls doing an intern-ship with her for 6 weeks during the summer - not only were they from Finland, but they also go to the same university. We decided to meet on the 18^th, which was also incidentally Turku Day. The city was extra busy; lots of stalls, people and events. So much happened that I shall just have to give you a sort of running order of events... Uber cute cafe, connections = free pancakes and coffee, riverside walking (most things kinda happened along the river), festival liquorice, up a hill for a view of the city, cider on a boat, a little tour towards the Art Academy (where they study), discovering a City of Culture art instillation which was a boat full of taxidermied animals, crossing the River Aura on the little free ferry, musical entertainment from Negative performing on a bridge and the best fireworks I've ever seen with a hot snack of Muikku (sardines perhaps) for the bus ride home.

 

It really was quite an epic weekend.

Oh, and a Blue Tit broke into my kitchen.

Sauna

After a summer of drifting slowly from one event to another, groups of days becoming a new time unit unto themselves, it's hard to get to grips with the idea of doing more than one thing in a day, day after day. It's been an exciting acceleration in pace, requiring some keen time keeping an organisation, which I've stumbled at more than once. As a result, I've had to buy myself a real life diary, which makes me feel strangely grown up. A lot of things have been slowly contributing to that feeling recently.

Anyway...If you didn't already know, Turku is part of an archipelago of islands, one of the closest being Ruissalo. It's so close it looks like you're crossing a river when you go over the bridge to get to it. Scott, Noora, Mira and I all headed off, with a bunch of other people, all sausages and marshmallows in hand. We we could not have had a more glorious day. A long wooded walk, sun shining through the trees, until we reached the sea. After a short break on the rocks, we headed back to the other side of the island where I am proud to say that I got in a sauna. It was definitely an experience - it was so hot. Apparently the one we were in was between 80-100 degrees celsius, the steam was so hot and sharp, like breathing boiling air. So after I had withstood all that I could, I went outside where there is a little board walk with stairs at the end dipping down into the water. Floating around in the cool water was definitely more my style. And so the way you do it is hop in and out between the hot and cold - duno why, but I like it. Then we barbecued sausages and enjoyed the moment. There really aren't enough adjectives to describe that day properly.

No News is Great News

Take note now that if there is a lull in blog entries, it can only mean one thing – FUN!

It's now been over a week since our orientation and we've all been so busy. When classes start at 8.15am it means you can pack a whole lot into a day.

I shall try and recall the week now.

Monday – I don't remember what happened. A lecture in Finnish, followed by a lecture in English re-explaining what they made us wait around two hours for the previous Friday. Later the beautiful sunshine beckoned us outside. A 20 minute stroll down the road led us to our perfect little beach. It was a nice moment of calm, really feeling the sun, and a chance to appreciate.

Tuesday – Yeah we get that off, so I think we went into town, as you do when you've finally figured out how to buy a bus pass. In a nutshell, Rose and I trekked up a hill looking for the bus office, only to find it lies on the corner our bus drives by... I'm sure we had more welcome lectures too, free meal included so we didn't want to miss that, miss that like we did the tour at 15.30, be on time it said, but we got really lost. Apparently we didn't miss anything (exactly cause we got free food, boom).

Wednesday – In class for 8.15am only to be done by 10am. In Gala we probably wouldn't even start class until then. We had no idea what to do with ourselves. I think I ended up doing important stuff that should have been done the week before. That night was a welcome party at Klubi for all international students. We met our tutors, this time at Noora's uber cool flat (yeah it has a sauna), but it's cool, we didn't get lost trying to find it this time, instead I forgot how to read the 24 hour clock and were very late instead. Lost or late, that seems to be our niche. The idea of getting the last bus at 23.50 (I'm guna get used to it!) went wooshing out the window, especially when we discovered beer was 2e and shots 1.50e. However, this is not a pint of beer, it's 0,33cl (?) so it's like just over half a pint, served in a pint glass, I know, I know, what are they thinking! Maybe they're just really optimistic. I also had a shot of Salmari – yup you guessed it, a Salmiakki flavoured shot, a true Finnish experience! It goes down pretty slowly...

Thursday – Woohoo, so home by 3 and up by 7 meant I got a good 'ole 4 hours sleep after my previous day of 19 hours, with 8 hours of classes ahead of me (including CAD! I'm guna make a t-shirt that says 'Shoot Me Now' every time I do anything CAD related.) Hey now, I'm not complaining, I just didn't realise what actual university life was like, having spent two years in Galashiels. (We were really quite amused by the novelty of going out on a Wednesday! Shame we left our knitting in Gala.)

Normally I wouldn't tell you when I do my laundry, but I did my laundry, and I'm going to tell you about it. First, I need to set the scene – imagine a World War 2 submarine movie from the 1950s, you're walking through the submarine, but oh no, we've been hit! Shut all the doors! Now really look at those doors because that is what the door to my laundry room is like, and it's a heavy double door that locks when you're inside. Really, the weird part is that you have to call up a number and pay by telephone – so modern these Finns. (You have to weigh your own fruit and veg too and put a price sticker on it. Their slogan should be 'Finland – the country that services itself'.)

Friday – Uh, well that's today. It's been kinda drawn out. In the morning we learned a really cool way of making a pattern repeat by drawing and cutting and taping. Then the afternoon consisted of the lecturer doing a lot of talking but not really saying anything, except every quarter of an hour or so, for four hours. Got a lot of doodling and origami done. Also, by the end of those four hours, I found myself in the position of Project Manager for our company. Feels kinda half scary and half like I'm in some surreal episode of The Apprentice.

Post class, finally, Scott and I milled around and then hit up this really cool pop up vintage fair. Pretty nifty stuff, I keep forgetting that cities actually have stuff going on.

Past, check. Present, check. Future...

On Sunday we're going hiking on this island called Ruissalo, followed by a little sauna sesh (this could be interesting...). Next week we're going to Helsinki with the class for a design fair, Habitere, and I can already predict a lot more parties!

Check.

Some Observations

Well, I've been here for just over a week now and still adjusting. It's fascinating how the little things can differ between cultures, and how those little things can be the hardest ones to get to grips with.

There are the obvious ones like driving on the right (took me a minute to work out there!), the language and the geography. Finnish is fascinating to listen to, so many sounds and letter combination that don't occur as frequently in English, and my lecturer doesn't sound like she breathes when she talks either! Turku is an archipelago of islands, but not shallow little blips on the water, more like green sandcastles protruding out proudly from the water, trees all the way to the edge. I don't live in centre of the city but they're aren't great expanses of fields or heather hills like Scotland, it's a lot more wooded, which makes a nice change, you feel less like you're in the middle of nowhere, cause you kinda can't see anywhere.

Then there's the completely alien, like having a shower head on a hose coming out of the wall in a room that only has a sink and a toilet. I've not ventured as far as to use it yet, the sink is pretty small. Also the saunas are relatively unfamiliar territory - I'll let you know when it's conquered.

The candy bar I ate with Scott (see 'Buses' 30.08.2011) is not a great representation of Salmiakki. Usually it looks like liquorice does, except it's saltier. It's kinda strange, alright, but not something I'd go out of my way to buy.

Here's one we like a lot – all cans of cider and beer (water bottles and stuff too) are bought with a little 0,15 euro deposit so that you take them back to the store to recycle them, then you get you're money back. However, it kinda just feels like they're giving you money to recycle - nothing like a money incentive to do something you should be doing in the first place... Subsequently you see a lot of people raiding through bins.

Also, lunch is very early. I think they start serving at 11am(!) and stop before 1pm. Was kinda weird today eating breakfast at 8am then lunch at 11.30am. A lot of my classes start at 8.15am so I guess it kinda makes sense, just makes a change from lunch at 3pm in Spain!

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Galashiels any more...

Orientation day was on the 1^st of September and as you'd expect (lots about library cards and computers). They kept us happy by handing out free cookies and juice all day, and offering a free lunch in the canteen, which, by the way, is amazing! Oh, but they did tell us that the campus we study at, Sepankatu, is called the School of Innovation – how cool is that!

Later that evening, we met with Noora and Mira, our Finnish tutors, to go to Klubi where four bands were playing – Magenta Skycode, Wrecking Queens, Kiki Pau and Delay Trees, all Finnish bands of a very cool chilled out nature. We only managed to see Delay Trees, so relaxed, it looked like the lead singer was going to fall over. Unfortunately, the last bus home was calling our name, so we had to leave before seeing the last two acts (we were late so we missed the first one too).

The next day we had to be in again at 9 for a tour of the building, which we discovered is a lot more confusing than we initially thought. Then naturally, our little lecture wasn't until 12.30, which was a chance to meet the other design students and a tour of the design departments. This is where I discovered that I am doing the wrong degree. I like textiles and all, but getting a tour of the product design department left me drooling! The woodwork and metalwork shops were so cool, kinda made me realise that I did actually enjoy techy at school, I just never realised it.

However, I am hugely excited for the project that I'll be doing here. It involves creating at least 15 designs within 3 collections which will then be displayed at Heimtextil, a textile trade fair in Frankfurt in January. However, it is the marketing part that makes it all feel very real and grown up – we have to send out press releases and invite companies to our stands, have stand graphics and business cards, and after it all send follow up thank you notes! This is for real! We can't just pretend, we have to sell it! Daunting, but massively exciting!

Then, that evening, we gathered in front of the cathedral in town for our first ESN-IAC (Erasmus Student Network – International Action Club) event! This involved running around the city talking pictures of various places, extra points for comedy. Us Scottish lot joined up with two French girls and a guy to become team 'Aye Oui' (we were desperate for a name and running out of time...). Highlights include: 'subtly' raiding Stockmann (big department store) and becoming window dummies for 10 seconds as shop assistants looked on, unamused, and having to do a (terrible) impromptu play starting with the old Finnish proverb 'A blister on the palm of the unemployed, is a scab on the lazy persons ass' and ending with 'tongue of nectar, poisonous mind', luckily is was not recorded! 

  Rachel and Scott posing in Stockmann's window

These seals are all around the city, and all decorated differently – extra points!

Scott picking Lenin's nose outside Turku Art Museum

Sonia, Louise and I in Stockmanns

Yannick posing with the running man statue

 The gawd awful play...

...and Scott being a bitchy butterfly – don't ask!

So, lots of fun and new people and two nights out in a row?! Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Galashiels any more...

Wall of Chocolate

Rose and I decided today that research was stupid and eating was more fun (Duh!). After all, my desk does face a window and out that window lies our supermarket, so I pretty much think about food all the time (not that I don't usually...). So to the kitchen we met for a snack; this really just involves us switching on the radio, standing on the balcony and finding what is edible in our cupboards. The idea of work was too much for us and I decided that we needed a walk to get us going. But wait, why just walk, when you could walk to S-MARKET and buy chocolate you can't read and then see which ones are nice! This was a plan!

The chocolate isle proved fruitful (I've got my eye on a bag of spicy potato snacks covered in chocolate, but that's for a special day), only one item I bought, did not have some sort of English description. Between us we had 7 candy bars.

Back to the flat where we crack open Pepe, liquorice with some kind of crunchy pear flavoured centre – rather nice. Next Susu was up, crispy chocolate covered fudge (?) – pretty damn good. This pattern continued till our stocks were halved and we were sick of eating chocolate.

We pretended to do something constructive, then resumed for round two. This time, Rose had a brainwave – we should make some sort star-in-a-reasonably-priced-car-esque league table! Now don't laugh, this is important research, we're trying to portray our Finnish experience and the way of life over here as best we can and it's all for your benefit! So we shall continue to add to the wall and I shall inform you of any major happenings along it's way. A sort of growth chart of our taste buds if you like.

Also, our new flat mate arrived late last night, yet to know anything about her as she has been M.I.A. all day, can't wait to know what she thinks of our Wall of Chocolate!

Just in case you thought I'd only come over here to suss out their transport and chocolate, I'm glad to inform you that we have our welcome day tomorrow, so we will be listening to lots of long necessary talks about library cards and computers but hopefully meeting some people too!