Everything I Love about Winter I Found in Lapland

The bus rocked me to sleep as the landscape said its farewell. The grey sky turned blue as it welcomed dusk and the snow answered, enveloping me in a peaceful, snowy, blue world. The headlights glowed orange and the pine trees stood tall in the cold. There will always be some Lapland in me, I thought, as I drifted off into that groggy, sitting-up bus sleep. I was heading south but the Arctic would surely be seeing me again.

As the snow of February and March turn into the rain and occasional snowstorm of April and hopefully the sunshine of May, I reflect on why I love winter so much. Especially today since I woke up to a snowy white Vaasa. As it turns out, everything I love about the season I found in Lapland, which I had the pleasure of experiencing at the end of February.

1. Snow
I just really love the fluffy white stuff. It's magic.

2. Skiing
This is a no brainer for anyone who knows me.

3. Christmas
Ok, I just put this one on the list because I met Santa Claus while I was in Rovaniemi. I really do like Christmas though.

4. Adventure
Winter can be an adventurous time for some, with the heightened challenge staying warm while taking advantage of the wonderful outdoors. In Lapland I experienced some of the best winter activities like snow shoeing, husky driving, and ice swimming.

5. Snowmen
My snowman building skills have always been less than stellar, but I do enjoy making friends with a snow giant when I can.

5. Community
Winter brings people together because sooner or later it brings them inside. The time spent warming up by the fire or in the sauna is often when the best conversations and bonding moments happen.

6. Childhood
Because who doesn't love getting bundled up and playing in the snow without a care in the world?

7. Culture
The time you spend inside during the winter lends itself to culture, whether that means fully experiencing your own or learning about a new one. In Lapland I got to learn about the Sami, or the indigenous people to the region.

8. Reindeer
It's something to love about Lapland, at least. These creatures are just so dang cute.

Being a Tourist in Vaasa

It's easy to neglect the "tourist attractions" in the cities in which we live. But I've found that these things can really add something to our perception of our surroundings. These things showcase the culture and history of these places and allow us to look at our cities with different eyes than the ones that look at the same buildings on our way to class or work everyday. After doing some traveling around Finland I realized that I had been neglecting some of these places in Vaasa. Besides the gulf anyway; I love being so close to the beautiful gulf of Bothnia and I see that as often as I can.

I didn't have any meetings yesterday and my tasks for the project were progressing just fine, so I took the afternoon to explore two of Vaasa's art museums--Tikanoja Art Museum and the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition currently on display in the former is about coffee culture in Finland--how coffee came to Europe in the first place, how coffee culture developed in Europe and particularly Finland, and how the tools and artifacts associated with coffee have changed over time. It was a fun exhibition if you ask me. :) In the modern art museum they had a really cool exhibition called "Who are you?" It showcased a collection of people from Finland and Russia. Each person had three photos--his/her idol, a self portrait, and his/her enemy.

Cedric the Gnome at Tikanoja

Tikanoja Art Museum

At the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art

No matter what I see, though, nothing is quite as beautiful as the sea right by campus, whether frozen white or bright blue.

Tampere for Easter: Just the Solo Escape I Needed

I woke up at my hostel in Tampere on Saturday with a mind open to the possibilities of the day, and what I got was a fantastic weekend that left me recharged and content.

Pyynikki Observation Tower

Bus number 25 took me to Pynnikki Park, where I wandered through the forest and climbed to the top of a surprisingly not very tall observation tower that sits atop the world's largest esker (a rather useless geology fact for all of you). Despite its size, the view from the top was spectacular with the city of Tampere nestled between two lakes framed by the rich green of the forest. Every European destination almost seems incomplete without climbing some stairs for a great view (the Vatican, the Duomo in Florence, the Eiffel Tower, St. John's fortress in Montenegro, the list goes on...), so in that way this is quite a nice piece to my quilt of Finnish experiences. Plus it was just beautiful!

At the cafe in the base of the tower I enjoyed what is known throughout Finland as the country's best doughnuts. Ask Rachel, I even texted her telling her that I would marry my doughnut if I could.

Tampere from above

Next, it was back to the city center for the adorable Easter Market at the Tallipiha Stable Yards. Back when Tampere was a major textile milling city, these stable yards belonged to the Finlayson factory's owner. They have been restored for use in little markets like this one.

The story gets a bit more interesting at my next stop: the Aussie Bar for lunch, which was recommended by the hostel. I popped my head into the almost empty bar, and I was greeted by a cheery Belgian guy with a fake Australian accent. I got to chatting with him and the other customer there, a guy from Seattle working on his Master's at the University of Tampere. At least two hours passed. I saw no more of the city but instead saw it from the inside, looking through the eyes of locals of the international community. Maddie, the bartender, invited me to come back for the bar's party that night. He even put my name on "The List" so I could bypass the line and get in for free. It's pretty hard to say no to that, especially as a solo traveler with not much else in the way of Saturday night plans.

I did have something planned for the first part of the night though. The Tampere Cappella, the city's professional chamber choir, performed Arvo Pärt's Passio, a work by a modern Estonian composer. It was beautiful, especially to a choir nerd like me. How funny, I thought, that here I was offering poised applause for a choir when I was about to go to a party at an Australian bar. Oh well, it's good to have a well-rounded experience, right?

The exhilaration of saying, "I'm on the list," to get into Aussie was quite fun, as was being greeted by Maddie with a hug followed by a spritz in the face with the soda water. I set off to make some friends for the night, which proved to be rather terrifying but extremely fun and rewarding. There's a stereotype that Finns are extremely quiet and reserved during the day, but once you get them out drinking they become lively and outgoing. It seemed pretty true to me that night, as out of anyone I could have talked to in that bar (Australian bar = English speaking = big international crowd), I ended up talking to only Finnish people! One guy went through a list of Finnish things I should try, and was very impressed when I said yes to all of them. He said I must really be a Finnish girl because I've eaten mämmi more than he has, which is this traditional rye porridge dessert that Finns love to hate. Mini victory for me! Finland has only made me feel welcomed, and Saturday night Tampere was no exception. To build on this "I'm on the list" thing, how exhilarating it was to put myself out there and reap the rewards. Something tells me that my comfort zone will be a bit larger when I get back to the US.

Easter Sunday was a poignant day for me, as of course I missed my parents and siblings, but thankfully I found a Catholic church and an Easter egg hidden in the hostel to make the special day sweeter. The Easter Mass was wonderful. Where else could I celebrate Christ's resurrection with a Polish priest surrounded by people from literally every corner of the globe? The celebration of the Mass brought tears to my eyes, for it truly felt like a celebration. After Mass, I talked with young people from Finland, Germany, South Africa, and Pakistan about keeping our faith alive no matter where in the world we are.

I then took one last look at the Tammerkoski rapids in the city center and had one thought: as you travel alone, being total dependent on only yourself, it is inevitable that you will discover just how capable you are.

Some Easter Break Exploring

The completion of my EPS team's midterm report and presentation meant one thing to me: time to travel. On Thursday morning, I hopped on an early morning bus to Tampere with a hostel reservation and a symphony ticket awaiting me.

I spent the day exploring Tampere, a down to earth city whose red brick buildings tell the story of the industrial textile milling center it used to be. The industrial buildings have been retrofitted into a network of unique museums, cafes, boutiques, and cinemas, making it a lovely place to wander around for an afternoon. Especially interesting was Vaprikki, a former engineering warehouse that now houses museum exhibits on almost anything you can think of--the Finnish Civil War, shoes, Catholic pilgrims, toys, ice hockey, the post service, Finnish inventions, rocks and minerals, and more.

Looking down the Tammerkoski Rapids in Tampere

This morning I took a train to Turku, most often remembered as Finland's oldest city. Upon my walk from the train station to the city's main square I realized that Good Friday is not a normal day to be out and about. Even still, the museums and most places to eat were open.

Turku's main square

Turku cathedral--a patchwork of bricks and stones dating back to the 1300s

The most notable thing about today, though, was the Good Friday service I attended. As a primarily Lutheran country, Catholic churches are few and far between in Finland. I found one in Turku though, St. Bridget and Blessed Hemming's Parish. If anyone is curious, the Passion in Finnish has lots of p's and k's and "yksi"s and "ainen"s . . . well, actually those are the sounds I associate most with the Finnish language. Needless to say, I didn't understand much more than "kittos" (thank you) during the priest's announcements. Lucky for me, the Catholic church is universal, and I knew exactly what was going on as a mumbled along with the script in front of me. I saw almost every ethnic group I could recognize in that service, what a truly universal church it is!

I took the train back to Tampere content with the day's adventure. The perfect conclusion? Some delicious Finnish food of course. :)

Appreciating Porvoo

On Sunday, Lukas, Simon, Niels, and I made the short bus journey from Helsinki to Porvoo (Borgå in Swedish), Finland's second-oldest town. What I expected to be a leisurely day of seeing the colored wooden houses and cobblestone streets of Old Porvoo turned into an important lesson in Finnish history, knitting together and even more clear picture of why I love this beautiful country.

Before the Finnish War of 1808, Finland was part of Sweden. As a result of the war, Sweden lost Finland to Russia, and Finland became a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. This was a time when Finns were not particularly feeling Swedish and not wanting to feel Russian. In the midst of an identity crisis felt by the entire country, artists like poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg and composer Jean Sibelius stepped in and helped the people of Finland feel, well, Finnish again. In return, the Finns show their gratitude to these remarkable figures by erecting monuments in their honor, telling their stories, and eating their favorite foods.

Porvoo loves Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finland's national poet, especially. He taught and lived in Porvoo for 40 years, and after his death his home was turned into a museum. In Porvoo you can find Runeberg cakes at every cafe, whereas in the rest of Finland they are only eaten once a year to celebrate the beloved poet's birthday. After a tour of Runeberg's museum home, I couldn't help but feel proud to have learned something about this man and his impact on the Finland. Hearing the stories of the people, for me, makes the Easter-egg-colored houses look a little brighter and the Runneberg cake taste a little sweeter.

Runeberg cake

Porvoo Hostel

The Artifacts of Finnish University Culture

Would it be surprising to learn that one of the wackiest student traditions I've ever heard of was started by engineering students? After attending SDSMT for two and a half years and participating in the crazy traditions of whitewashing and beanie hats, I am honestly not surprised.

Student overalls are basically heavy canvas jumpsuits similar to what mechanics wear. Owned by almost every Finnish university student and worn at countless parties and events, they are a major symbol of student life. Each department in each university has a different color, so you can immediately tell what someone is studying when you see them in their overalls. Students cover their overalls in patches collected at different events and parties, so essentially they become a chronicle of your college memories.

They were said to have begun in Sweden in the 1970s when engineering students needed to wear them to protect their street clothes during site visits. But now, ask a student at my university how the overalls started, and they will probably shrug like it's the most pointless question to entertain.

Maybe it's because of what I do at Mines, but I love this tradition. The international student representative for Novium, the student union at my school, equipped us with these marvelous outfits right away in February. Who knew that a mint green jumpsuit could help me feel like so much a part of the student life at my new school?

My overalls

There are some rules associated with the overalls that I think are too entertaining not to share. Of course, no one knows how they originated or why they are pretty universal throughout all Finnish universities.
1. You cannot wash your overalls. The only time it is even close to permissible is if you go swimming in the Gulf on May Day wearing your overalls.
2.  Patches must be sewn on by hand by the owner.
3. If you go home with someone at an overall party, you're supposed to swap part of one of the legs. Then if you see someone with stripes of different colored overalls going down the leg then you can suspect what they have done. That rule isn't really followed though; instead couples often exchange legs.
4. Never wear your overalls all the way up unless it's really cold outside (and even then you probably won't). There's surprisingly an art to folding the sleeves around your waist to sit just right.
5. And finally, have fun! Overalls are truly an excuse to do whatever you want in Finland.

Overall party at Fontana

If the other tradition I'm about to talk about was started by engineers also that would be awesome, but I have no reason to believe that.

We Have the Energy

It sure is good to be an engineering student in the Nordic leader of energy technology.  Vaasa may only be home to about 2% of the Finnish population, but the companies here are responsible for 30% of Finland's exports in energy technology. EnergyVaasa, the nickname for the cluster of companies, turns over 4.4 billion euro every year and employs 11,000 people. I'd say that's pretty cool for a town the size of Rapid City.

Every year Vaasa holds EnergyWeek, a week-long conference for engineers, scientists, investors, and anyone who is interested in energy technology.  I was looking forward to this since before I arrived in Vaasa, expectant of the skills that this semester could teach me to enhance my ability as an upcoming engineer.

And the week did not disappoint. I got a refreshing dose of lectures on wind and solar energy management, energy efficiency of buildings, liquid natural gas networks, biogas, and the future of energy production in Europe. I came home to my apartment at the end of the week with 19 pages of notes to go through, a pile of booklets about the energy cluster and some of its companies, and a renewed desire to use my career to improve the environmental sustainability of the built environment.

I got to talk to the General Secretary of the European Biogas Association about how scary winter bike riding in the Nordic countries can be, I heard a speech from the Ministry of the Environment, I heard how Scotland is using Finland's influence to improve their journey to carbon neutrality. I heard about the next big city planning project for Vaasa and how the engineers are planning to incorporate up-and-coming energy technologies to make the massive building project more environmentally friendly. It was just a really cool week.

And who knows? Maybe one day I'll get the chance to attend it again during my own career.