so today, i was sitting in the student cafeteria in the city center, vanilla, having lunch with 3 french friends, a spanish boy, a girl from hungary, a girl from ireland and a girl from belgium. and we started talking about nesquik because anais and pello drink it every morning for breakfast! but get this...they drink their milk out of a bowl. now that is just asking for a milk mustache...come to find out that it is very common in france and spain to drink chocolate milk out of a large bowl for breakfast! why not a mug i ask? well, it is too hard to dip your bread or eat some 'cereals' out of a mug, so of course drinking from a bowl is a good solution! anais also explained that her parents drink coffee out of a bowl for breakfast, a mug for lunch and a tiny cup for dinner. now that makes a bit more sense, but really...wouldn't just a bigger mug do the trick? i love to find these small differences in cultures... so fun.
so tonight, i am having dinner with all the other arch/design exchange students at filippo's flat. he is from near verona,italy but goes to school in venice and is making us all an italian feast! i am getting excited...... oh, parmesan reggiano!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
RELIEF!
i could not be happier today! this morning from 10-11 a computer guy from Dell Finland came and fixed my computer! it took less than an hour with tea and all... it was an easy fix, just replacing my video display card! wOOt! (thanks old greg) i am so overjoyed to have my computer back. it is kind of crazy how much this machine connects me to the rest of the world. to you, my friends and family at home, to the world of news, entertainment, music, social networks, etc. and of course for necessary to manage all my pictures, music and schoolwork! wow, this is a great day.
so last night, ESN organized a finnish puulla baking where we learned how to make the traditional sweet bread of finland. it was super fun following the recipe and all baking together, and then of course eating the puulla after! it is really delicious..a sweet dough with cardemum, cinnamon and sugar. i think that our group made the most delicious puulla! i will post the recipe and some pics soon...
today, i am just getting ready for next week's trip to jyvaskyla, helsinki,tallinn and riga! i hope you are all doing well... send me updates of your lives, i would love to hear from you!
so last night, ESN organized a finnish puulla baking where we learned how to make the traditional sweet bread of finland. it was super fun following the recipe and all baking together, and then of course eating the puulla after! it is really delicious..a sweet dough with cardemum, cinnamon and sugar. i think that our group made the most delicious puulla! i will post the recipe and some pics soon...
today, i am just getting ready for next week's trip to jyvaskyla, helsinki,tallinn and riga! i hope you are all doing well... send me updates of your lives, i would love to hear from you!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
finnish birthday!
hey everyone... thank you so much for all the sweet birthday wishes! i missed all of you as i celebrated my bday, but am thankful for my new friends in oulu who made it a special day!
this week has been super busy, school is picking up speed and i had to get 2 presentations ready for the day after my birthday...so i spent lots of long nights trying to get those finished so that i could celebrate on my actual birthday! i did get them finished and had quite the birthday celebration.
so wed. i had class all day from 10-6 and then i went to my french friend´s (anaïs, juilette and emilien) apartment where they had a birthday party for me and fernando (a guy from spain who has the same bday)... the invited all of our design friends as well as our friends from campus, so it was quite the party. a bunch of the spanish girls made tortillas de patatas (spanish omlets with potatoes..very tasty) and they also made 2 homemade chocolate cakes and sang to us in english,spanish, french, italian and german! i received lots of chocolate presents and a beer bottle opener that is made out of a reindeer antler..very finnish... i also got all the different cultural bday wishes (a lot of the european countries give kisses on your cheeks for your bday..in belgium 3, france 4 and italy 2... and in spain they pull on your ear for as many years old you are..) later we went to our favorite dance club and danced the night away. it was a great way to celebrate 23, and i am glad that i made my goal to make good friends by my birthday...
so thursday and friday i had presentations and lectures all day, but on friday night i went to the exchange student dinner! it was super fun because each person brought something from their country...there were literally over 100 things to try.. from chinese dumplings to spanish omlets to austrian pastries to indian chicken..there was a little bit of everything. my favorite dishes were a tasty risotto made by my friend filippo from venice, and then a tiramisu made by another italian guy. björn, you would have loved it! it was a really sweet night and i was much too full when i left!
yesterday, i met my kummi family and went to the oulu history museum... the museum started with the beginging of civilization in this area during the stone age and went through to modern time. it was a nice museum with lots of artifacts from the area and interesting facts about the city´s history. there used to be lots of industries here in oulu, like a glass factory, candy factory, ship building and a tar factory... the tar smells really strong, and still today finns use tar in their shampoo, soap, candles and even candy! i am not such a huge fan of the candy but finns can´t live without it...maarit and jarkko were very excited to explain their heritage to me and luckily could translate everything for me, too... in the basement of the museum was a really cool travelling exhibit from a man born in oulu who was a missionary in namibia during the 1930s..it had a lot of the local basketry, tools, instruments, jewelry and even bugs that belonged to his collection. it was a fitting exhibit
after the museum, i went with friends to the oulu kärpät (kärpät=ermin) hockey game!! we were playing the pelicans from southern finland and it was quite the match. they were really good players and the game was the most exciting hockey game i have been to.. we won 3-2!
after the game a big group of us went to relax in the sauna.. it was very hot and very relaxing...the temperature gets to around 80 C, and afterward you feel completely relaxed, warm and ready for bed!
today, i went and had lunch at my french apartment in the center, and am now just trying to catch up on life here in the computer lab. i miss my computer! i am still waiting to hear from dell..but will try to contact them again today. tonight, i have lots of work to do for my 2020 project...but i hope i can skype some of you soon. it is always good to connect to home.
peace.
this week has been super busy, school is picking up speed and i had to get 2 presentations ready for the day after my birthday...so i spent lots of long nights trying to get those finished so that i could celebrate on my actual birthday! i did get them finished and had quite the birthday celebration.
so wed. i had class all day from 10-6 and then i went to my french friend´s (anaïs, juilette and emilien) apartment where they had a birthday party for me and fernando (a guy from spain who has the same bday)... the invited all of our design friends as well as our friends from campus, so it was quite the party. a bunch of the spanish girls made tortillas de patatas (spanish omlets with potatoes..very tasty) and they also made 2 homemade chocolate cakes and sang to us in english,spanish, french, italian and german! i received lots of chocolate presents and a beer bottle opener that is made out of a reindeer antler..very finnish... i also got all the different cultural bday wishes (a lot of the european countries give kisses on your cheeks for your bday..in belgium 3, france 4 and italy 2... and in spain they pull on your ear for as many years old you are..) later we went to our favorite dance club and danced the night away. it was a great way to celebrate 23, and i am glad that i made my goal to make good friends by my birthday...
so thursday and friday i had presentations and lectures all day, but on friday night i went to the exchange student dinner! it was super fun because each person brought something from their country...there were literally over 100 things to try.. from chinese dumplings to spanish omlets to austrian pastries to indian chicken..there was a little bit of everything. my favorite dishes were a tasty risotto made by my friend filippo from venice, and then a tiramisu made by another italian guy. björn, you would have loved it! it was a really sweet night and i was much too full when i left!
yesterday, i met my kummi family and went to the oulu history museum... the museum started with the beginging of civilization in this area during the stone age and went through to modern time. it was a nice museum with lots of artifacts from the area and interesting facts about the city´s history. there used to be lots of industries here in oulu, like a glass factory, candy factory, ship building and a tar factory... the tar smells really strong, and still today finns use tar in their shampoo, soap, candles and even candy! i am not such a huge fan of the candy but finns can´t live without it...maarit and jarkko were very excited to explain their heritage to me and luckily could translate everything for me, too... in the basement of the museum was a really cool travelling exhibit from a man born in oulu who was a missionary in namibia during the 1930s..it had a lot of the local basketry, tools, instruments, jewelry and even bugs that belonged to his collection. it was a fitting exhibit
after the museum, i went with friends to the oulu kärpät (kärpät=ermin) hockey game!! we were playing the pelicans from southern finland and it was quite the match. they were really good players and the game was the most exciting hockey game i have been to.. we won 3-2!
after the game a big group of us went to relax in the sauna.. it was very hot and very relaxing...the temperature gets to around 80 C, and afterward you feel completely relaxed, warm and ready for bed!
today, i went and had lunch at my french apartment in the center, and am now just trying to catch up on life here in the computer lab. i miss my computer! i am still waiting to hear from dell..but will try to contact them again today. tonight, i have lots of work to do for my 2020 project...but i hope i can skype some of you soon. it is always good to connect to home.
peace.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
biking in circles
so today, i decided to try out my new bike... it is a cheap fairly crappy bike with back pedal breaks, no gears and is overall a bit dodgy... but i am excited to have more freedom to explore outside the bus system and now i am getting the hang of it. i thought i could figure out how to bike to the city center so i could do some work at studio... so i took off on a bike trail and just started going in what i thought was generally the right direction. hahahha...
for those of you who know my wonderful sense of direction first hand you won't be surprised that i ended up in the middle of the woods with no idea where i was. it started to rain a bit, but i was warmly dressed, so i just kept turning and following random paths through the woods. (the bike paths are really nice here and very flat, which is good since i am still working on getting the braking down).. so i kept going and i guess i must have made a giant circle because pretty soon i was in a neighborhood, unfamiliar but friendly looking...
i kept going and then out of nowhere was the big lake that is a 20 min walk away from campus... i found myself on the beach where i had walked to on one of my first days here. the first time i was at the beach the surrounding birch trees were green and lush, and now there are only a few stray golden leaves hanging on. the sky was blue the first time, and today it is grey and full, creating a somewhat ominous diffuse light with the forshadow of winter to come.
by the time i got back to campus it was raining pretty hard, so i took the bus into town and now am at studio. before i came to studio, i stopped by my french friends anaïs, juliette and emilien´s new apartment (just across the street from our studio building) and they were excited to show me the place. it is sad not having the girls live with me anymore, but they gave me a key to their place so i can always go over, use their internet and make myself at home... it is good to have friends.
well, now i must get down to some work...send me some email updates so i have a reason to take a break!
for those of you who know my wonderful sense of direction first hand you won't be surprised that i ended up in the middle of the woods with no idea where i was. it started to rain a bit, but i was warmly dressed, so i just kept turning and following random paths through the woods. (the bike paths are really nice here and very flat, which is good since i am still working on getting the braking down).. so i kept going and i guess i must have made a giant circle because pretty soon i was in a neighborhood, unfamiliar but friendly looking...
i kept going and then out of nowhere was the big lake that is a 20 min walk away from campus... i found myself on the beach where i had walked to on one of my first days here. the first time i was at the beach the surrounding birch trees were green and lush, and now there are only a few stray golden leaves hanging on. the sky was blue the first time, and today it is grey and full, creating a somewhat ominous diffuse light with the forshadow of winter to come.
by the time i got back to campus it was raining pretty hard, so i took the bus into town and now am at studio. before i came to studio, i stopped by my french friends anaïs, juliette and emilien´s new apartment (just across the street from our studio building) and they were excited to show me the place. it is sad not having the girls live with me anymore, but they gave me a key to their place so i can always go over, use their internet and make myself at home... it is good to have friends.
well, now i must get down to some work...send me some email updates so i have a reason to take a break!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
oulu update
i feel like lots of time has passed since my last blog... as follow up, the manhattan short film festival was really amazing! there were 12 shorts from around the world and strangely 2 of the shorts involved adoption and both were very creepy, and two others dealt with losing a parent as a child... one of my favorites was called new boy, which was about a little boy from africa who saw his own father get murdered by a militia and was flashing back to this memory on his first day of his new school in ireland. overall, the 2.5 hrs was well worth the 3€!
on sunday, i got to meet my kummi family! they are a young couple, maarit and jarkko... maarit works at a technical school as the media specialist and jarkko is a chef of some kind for a wholesale food shop.. they are in their 30's with no kids, and they are quite eccentric in their love for heavy metal and country music and jarkko's dream is to buy a harley davidson...they are not quite typical finns in that they are both rather outgoing and talkative, which is nice!
for our first meeting, they picked me up at the bus stop and took me to the sea here in oulu. the beach is really nice, but it was rather blustery and cold. we walked along the coast on different little islands and talked about lots of things. they both are really easy to talk to and are very enthusiastic to practice their english... then we went to their house and maarit's mom, merja, came over to meet me and we had some tee (you guessed it, tea) and leipa (a dry hard crackery piece of bread that has a lot of fiber and rye flour, very tasty with tee) she was also very excited to meet me and had to see on a map exactly where i was from. it was really a great day and we had good conversation about finnish and american culture, food, politics, history, ecology, military, music and i even learned a finnish swear word... it is nice to spend time in a real house and get a glimpse of how non-student finns live...tomorrow, i am going to maarit's sister, sari's house and we are going to cook a traditional finnish meal together!
last night was city rally (all incoming freshman at oulu do city rally) for exchange students, which consists of teams of exchange students tromping around the city looking for 5 different check points where we had to do different tasks for finnish student judges (who could be bribed) in order to learn all about finland. my team was my main group of 15 friends and we had a blast making fools of ourselves acting out charades (at one point i was one of santa's reindeer...santa lives in lapland), singing in finnish, dancing traditional finnish dances in the street, answering finnish trivia, and trying strange finnish food... overall, our team had the most team spirit and had a lot of fun even though we didn't win the challenge...
school is going well, too.. i am a bit stuck on one of my ideas for my design competition class...but i know i just need to spend more time drawing and sketching out ideas and something will click.
overall, i am feeling good and am finally over my cold! i have to get to some work now, but i would love to hear from more of you.. i will post some new pics soon. here is my address if you want to send me a note!
yliopistokatu 16 as 510
oulu, finland 90570
peace°
lia
on sunday, i got to meet my kummi family! they are a young couple, maarit and jarkko... maarit works at a technical school as the media specialist and jarkko is a chef of some kind for a wholesale food shop.. they are in their 30's with no kids, and they are quite eccentric in their love for heavy metal and country music and jarkko's dream is to buy a harley davidson...they are not quite typical finns in that they are both rather outgoing and talkative, which is nice!
for our first meeting, they picked me up at the bus stop and took me to the sea here in oulu. the beach is really nice, but it was rather blustery and cold. we walked along the coast on different little islands and talked about lots of things. they both are really easy to talk to and are very enthusiastic to practice their english... then we went to their house and maarit's mom, merja, came over to meet me and we had some tee (you guessed it, tea) and leipa (a dry hard crackery piece of bread that has a lot of fiber and rye flour, very tasty with tee) she was also very excited to meet me and had to see on a map exactly where i was from. it was really a great day and we had good conversation about finnish and american culture, food, politics, history, ecology, military, music and i even learned a finnish swear word... it is nice to spend time in a real house and get a glimpse of how non-student finns live...tomorrow, i am going to maarit's sister, sari's house and we are going to cook a traditional finnish meal together!
last night was city rally (all incoming freshman at oulu do city rally) for exchange students, which consists of teams of exchange students tromping around the city looking for 5 different check points where we had to do different tasks for finnish student judges (who could be bribed) in order to learn all about finland. my team was my main group of 15 friends and we had a blast making fools of ourselves acting out charades (at one point i was one of santa's reindeer...santa lives in lapland), singing in finnish, dancing traditional finnish dances in the street, answering finnish trivia, and trying strange finnish food... overall, our team had the most team spirit and had a lot of fun even though we didn't win the challenge...
school is going well, too.. i am a bit stuck on one of my ideas for my design competition class...but i know i just need to spend more time drawing and sketching out ideas and something will click.
overall, i am feeling good and am finally over my cold! i have to get to some work now, but i would love to hear from more of you.. i will post some new pics soon. here is my address if you want to send me a note!
yliopistokatu 16 as 510
oulu, finland 90570
peace°
lia
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