<![CDATA[FinlandLive.Info - Finland Community for Travelers, Expats & Students - Stories]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/ FinlandLive.Info is an Online Community for Travelers, Expats and Students interested in Finland en Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:45:18 GMT vBulletin 30 http://www.finlandlive.info/images/styles/finland/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[FinlandLive.Info - Finland Community for Travelers, Expats & Students - Stories]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/ <![CDATA[Tuesday July 22nd 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/67-tuesday-july-22nd-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:45:42 GMT Today we went to downtown Helsinki with Pasi, Outi's boyfriend. He is.. I don't know. He isn't mean or a bad person... he is nice to her, but I don't know why, there is something I don't like about him. sometimes it's just feelings I get from people :/ It's true he doesn't look 34, but more like 24. but I guess as long as both are happy, age doesn't matter much?
He doesn't drive well. HA! maybe that's just how it feels with most of the people driving when you are from montreal and you are a driver with nerves of steel. :P
Mr. had to buy pants, so we went shopping for pants (no, seriously, since when do men go shopping?) and I bought the checkered red/white scarf I saw the other day with Hannele from Carlings. We ate pizza and had a beer or two at "on the rocks" and "elmo bar". Then we went to see the movie Hancock at Finnkino. It SUCKED. real bad. :P I forgot my glasses at home too. haha! and in Finland, you actually have assigned seat from when you buy your ticket. but once the movie starts, you can always switch palces.
Outi might come next time with me to Tampere, to see one last time Wellu and Lauri. But she is still not sure since she must save money for Austria too.
Tomorrow we are leaving to Savonlinna for the opera festival. we have to get up at 7h30 to leave at 9h. that's in about 6 hours. haha!
 ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/67-tuesday-july-22nd-2008-finland-travel-blog.html <![CDATA[Monday July 21st 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/66-monday-july-21st-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:37:18 GMT Hey! Today I met up with Hannele (Lee) and Dani (Mirq) . I was corresponding with them over... Hey!
Today I met up with Hannele (Lee) and Dani (Mirq) . I was corresponding with them over myspace, and Hannele asked me if it would be possible to meet up during my stay. like I already said, I am not very fond of meeting people from internet, but since the ones I met were actually really nice people, I decided it would be okay. and anyway it's in Helsinki in Rautatieasema: there's always people there!

Beforehand, Outi and I went to Kamppi because she wanted to buy a shirt for the opera festival in Savonlinna. We went to mortica, and the 2 sellers were really bitchy and mean. They gave me deathglare. I didn't give a damn. they could talkshit all they wanted, I could understand them anyway. So Outi bought a shirt and she went with me to the front of rautatieasema at 13.30, to meet Hannele.
Outi then left to get a new haircut. So we (Hannele and I) went to Forum to take some coffee at Arnold's and waited for Dani to arrive. we talked about all kind of stuff, and she also told me about this really good book she was reading from the saga Twilight from Stephanie Meyer (I read it, it's really good! :D). We walked around the town and went into different shops. It was funny, because both are big simple plan fans. (they are 15-16). I am not a fan really, but I know them personnally so I told them different stories about them. After 17.30, we all decided to go home, so I took the bus back home.

Ilari was there and as always, he brings a movie for us to watch. we watched Brotherhood of the wolf (or in it's original title: Le pacte des loups). It was a good movie, and it was in french. so I could understand it and well the subtitles were only in finnish, swedish, norwegian and danish. Outi got her hair dyed, it looks good on her! ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/66-monday-july-21st-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Joulupukki - Christmas in Finland http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/aleksis-kivi/65-joulupukki-christmas-finland.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:42:39 GMT On the eve of the Finnish Joulu, children are visited by Joulupukki, a character similar to Santa... On the eve of the Finnish Joulu, children are visited by Joulupukki, a character similar to Santa Claus.

The word Joulupukki means "Yule Goat" and probably derives from an old Finnish tradition where people called nuuttipukkis dressed in goat hides circulated in homes after Joulu, eating leftover food.

Joulupukki visits people's homes and rides a sleigh pulled by a number of reindeer. He knocks on the front door during Jouluaatto, rather than sneaking in through the chimney at night. When he comes in, his first words are usually "Onkos täällä kilttejä lapsia?", "Are there (any) good (well-behaved) children here?". Presents are given and opened immediately. He usually wears red, warm clothes and often carries a wooden walking stick.

His workshop is in Korvatunturi, Lapland, Finland, rather than at the North Pole like Santa Claus, or in Greenland. He is married to Joulumuori (tr. Mother Yule). Typical Finnish yule dishes include ham, various root vegetable casseroles, beetroot salad, gingerbread and star-shaped plum-filled pastries.

Other traditions with a non-Christian yule background include joulukuusi ("Uule spruce") and joulusauna ("yule sauna").

Finnish Christmas Recipes can be foud here.

Text: Wikipedia (GNU Free Documentation License) ]]> Aleksis Kivi http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/aleksis-kivi/65-joulupukki-christmas-finland.html <![CDATA[Sunday, July 20th 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/63-sunday-july-20th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:09:05 GMT Today I got up quite late, and, surprisingly, I wasn't hungover! It's quite a miracle! well, I wasn't drunk, but I was tipsy.. anyway. Today we walked to Henna's place around 16.00, and we all went together to Downtown Helsinki. There we went to Hesburger (my friend mikko has insisted on me having to go eat in Hesburger once). we laughed a lot, because Henna once was looking for a picture of a wombat on goole, because she didn't knew what it looked like, and the first picture was a picture saying; "the secret sex life of the wombat" (here is the picture if you want to see it :P (there is no offensive/disturbing thing on the picture. you just see a wombat with a weird/funny face)http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...la:fr:official)

So now she is just scared of wombat, and we kept making that weird wombat face to her, and we all laughed about it. Then around 19.30, Outi and I went to her older sister's (Elli) appartment, near the academy of Finland (in Töölö). She has 2 cats, iso kissa and pieni kissa. haha trust me, iso kissa really is huge :P
There we had some coffee and some piece of cake, and spoke together in Finnish. When we were leaving, we were giving a ride to Suvi (the other sister who is working as a flight attendant for Finnair/she was still dressed as a flight attendant). When we were walking to a car, some random guy yelled to her in Finnish "you f****** flight attendant wh*re!". I was so mad! Suvi is one of the nicest person on earth! How can the guy say that to her? he doesn't even know her! I was really upset about it. :/ ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/63-sunday-july-20th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html <![CDATA[Saturday, July 19th 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/62-saturday-july-19th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:52:30 GMT Today I went to meet up with my "penpal" Wellu, in Tampere. I got up around 9h30, took the bus to rautatieasema and there, i took the intercity train to Tampere at 12h06. I tried buying a ticket, buuuuuuut the 19th being the day where Iron maiden and avenged sevenfold's concert in Tampere, I had no seats :P so I sat in the hallway, with MANY other people. the train was full. but the ride was still fun, even though my butt started to hurt after a while. So I arrived in Tampere around 13h50, and went to the R-Kioski to meet up with Welly and his friend, Lauri (or Late, as we nickname him). It's kind of funny to meet someone I have spoke to over internet for over 2 years! But we get along really well. We went to a first bar, near the train station, called Passion. Lauri paid my drinks there (some beer and white russian). It was a bit weird, because I didn't knew Lauri. Well, i heard about him from Wellu a lot, but yeah. he is a really nice guy, and quite funny. Afterward, we stopped at a R-Kioski to buy some beers and long drinks, and we left to this celtic house pub. We took a beer there and then headed to the park near the river, we sat down there and drank what we bought earlier. They were going to the Iron Maiden gig and they wanted me to come along, and celebrate a bit more with them. I would have liked to, but I couldn't do that because of some terms of insurances with the student exchange program. Then they asked for me to stay for the gig, but tickets were too expensive, and well the last train was leaving at 23.03. So I had to leave around 8, not drunk, but quite tipsy... I had to buy my ticket to go back to helsinki.. I am glad I didn't end up in Rovaniemi :D
Oh yeah! I forgot! We went to another bar (yes, I know, that makes quite a long list). There Wellu bought me some smirnoff ice, and I litteraly drowned it in one shot. Lauri was quite impressed by it, and said it was quite amazing how much alcohol I could contain, for such a small person like me :P it is true.. we all laughed about it.
I really hope to see them sometime before I leave back home, they are really nice to talk to and hang out with. and really funny.
Now, I shall go to sleep.. I just hope I will not be too much hungover tomorrow ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/62-saturday-july-19th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html <![CDATA[Friday July 18th 2008[Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/61-friday-july-18th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:36:31 GMT Before going to the airport, we went to this small art gallery in Kittilä, but it was closed, so we... Before going to the airport, we went to this small art gallery in Kittilä, but it was closed, so we went to this other one, of a famous Lappish paintor.. I don't remember the name, sadly... You can visit his home that he built. It's really gorgeous! In his art gallery, there is a pool and a sauna on the second floor! :O Then we went to the airport to fly back to Helsinki. On the plane, there was this band called Leningrad Cowboys. Gosh were they annoying and loud! I felt like hitting them so they'd shut up! no, but seriously, they were shouting from one end of the airplane to the other stuff like "VILLE!!!!!! WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GO FISHING AT YOUR COTTAGE? I MISS GOING FISHING WITH YOU! IT'S ALWAYS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" pretty annoying. Espescially when the loudest one is sitting right across the aisle, next to you.
Anyway. On the evening, we went to a bar with Ilari. it was called Röppäri, Rööpperi. I have no clue of the name. but one bar on the same street at the famous gay bar DTM. The doorman was funny and nice. In general, they are always rude, but the guy was really funny and spoke to us for 923763980567 hours. He was just so excited by the fact that I was from Canada and going to the bar where he was working.. weirdo :P The music was WAY too loud. but the place was nice. the servers were a bit slow though... oh, and dear foreigners that are not from EU: the drinks are REALLY expensive :P I really liked the mariannashake, it was good! it's somekind of minth/chocolate mixed with somekind of alcohol.. I forgot :/ I went to bed around 4am.. and I had to get up around 9h30am :P ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/61-friday-july-18th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html äääääääääää!?? http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/maniya/60-aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeae.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:02:30 GMT just The thing that I really know now is the subject that I'm writing about is not connected to Finland *FORGIVE ME*, but If I write it in my other blongs most of my best friends have access to it & they will probably think I dont like them these days...& I dont know why I am writing this here...maybe just make my self calm down (:

well I love my friends so much, but something strange is happening nowadays,
you know I found all of my real friends in the internet,love them to death,but is something to see who you really love everyday...
I've my school changed this year to one which is so close to our house first I wasn't very interested in this because I don't feel like meeting new people with different views , so I backed my pack & went...
now I think its 7rd weeks for me to go to my new school (plus summer school) & all of I'm writing about is about one of my classmates,Who I really liked her in the first days of school, she was so kind with new students ...
I think 2 weeks ago teachers changed our seats & then I found her seat next to my friend's(who is new student here,too) so we were close..
umm I found her COB freak in the first talk so when everybody were nagging about their seats to the teacher we were so happy & thanking the teacher *LOL* ... ok the first day passed... next day started with the word "PERKELE" & talking about our favorites, & again founding something in common again...again & again.. now I liked her more than I did, & 2 days I was sick but I went to school just to see her, the teachers told me the exam is not important you are dying GO HOME but I really couldnt I would miss her alot, I never liked somebody like I do now, *Dont Think about Bad Things Now :p* but believe me... I miss her more when each seconds pass.. oh goddamn tomorrow is off & I can see her Saturday...
even I felt crying while I was writing this but guess what! when the first tear drop she called me & I couldnt believe see her name on my phone in this situation...

Every night I wanna go to bed I should Listen to "Pimeä" this is the song that really face her for me...

Tässä Maailmassa ei Ole Mitääään
Ei tyhjyydessä Elämää Jäljellä
Ne Joita Pelkäät Eivät Pelkää Ketään
Olet Yksin Etkä Tiedä Missä
Ja Silmäsi Ovät Tottuneet Pimeään
]]> maniya http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/maniya/60-aeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeaeae.html <![CDATA[Thursday July 17th 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/59-thursday-july-17th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:11:18 GMT Mooooii! Today again, we got up early to go climb a mountain. We went to Särkitunturi. In the... Mooooii! Today again, we got up early to go climb a mountain. We went to Särkitunturi. In the morning, it was sunny, but it later became cloudy and quite cold: a storm was approaching. When we reached the summit, it was already raining. but it didn't matter. there was a small camp fire there with some people eater and drinking coffee. There was also this small source of water on top, but as a finnish man said, the water wasn't too good to drink there. Outi and I had our Pure! energy drink (the one of the dudesons haha). We went back to the cottage and ate some reindeer stew with this lappish cheese. it was really good. Again, the parents went out to a small bar, and we saw 3 reindeer walking around the house, and they even laid down next to our room's window! haha! I also spoke to Wellu, and Outi and I will go to Tampere saturday. Friday night, we will go out to the bar.
it was quite hard to fall asleep, because both Outi and I were laughing our *ss off. We just couldn't stop. it was probably quite scary for the parents to see us laugh like madmen! :D ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/59-thursday-july-17th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html <![CDATA[Wednesday July 16th 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/58-wednesday-july-16th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:21:11 GMT Today it was Reino's birthday! we went to Enontekiö (Hetta), to see the samis' museum. Enontekiö is right between Sweden and Norway! Here, it's fun, because all the streets' name are both written in finnish and in sami. The museum was quite interesting. I think that sami language looks a bit like icelandic, well at least for the letters and accents. but it also looks a bit like tcheck.
Today it was quite rainy and a bit more colder than the last few days, but I enjoy cold weather. there were a LOT more mosquitoes today as well. when we were walking on Juhannuspolku, we had to hide our faces not to be eaten alive! :D
We also went to Sweden for less than a minute. we just crossed the bridge near Muonio. haha! it was a funny idea that Reino had. well now I can say that I've been to Sweden, but I didn't visit it :P
We also went to this really deep lake called Pakasaivo. it's 90m deep! the view was really nice!
It was a rather long day, with all the car rides we had. When we went home, Outi and I cooked dinner for ourselves, and the parents went out for the evening to celebrate Reino's birthday. Reino told me that when his mom gave birth to him, she didn't have any idea for a name. so she decided to name him Reino, since July 16th is the "Reino" name day. In Finland, everyday has a few names matched to it. :)
after supper, I called Mikko (in Montreal) to ask for his address so I could send him a postal card, like he asked me. He was working, wich suprised me since his work permit ended on July 4th, and didn't manage to make it valid for a few more months with his employer. He told me his address and well promised me to explain what happened later, since he was busy at work. I am happy for him. but I will miss him a lot when he will have to go back to Finland!

Outi and I watched this first episode of that show called "skins". it was.. really childish. but I guess its more interesting than all these boring american shows... ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/58-wednesday-july-16th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html <![CDATA[Tuesday July 15th 2008 [Finland travel blog]]]> http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/57-tuesday-july-15th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:55:37 GMT Today we got up aroung 9 so we could go climb mount Keimiö (Keimiötunturi). We had to take the car... Today we got up aroung 9 so we could go climb mount Keimiö (Keimiötunturi). We had to take the car to go there. The mount was about 610m high (I'm sorry, I have no clue how tall it is in feet. all I know is my height in feet :P). In front of Keimiötunturi was Jerisjärvi. In Lapland, it's also quite warm; I was surprised, i admit. And the sun doesn't go down in summer(I already knew that).
Anyway.
Once we reached the top, we could see the small Keimiöjärvi (lake Keimiö). When we were climbing, i saw one reindeer! haha. The landscape was breathtaking. you really feel like you are at the end of the world, and it feels like you can actually see that the Earth is round. What a beautiful day!
After that, we went to Pallas hotelli, where we saw some reindeers too.
On our way back to Muonio, about 3 km from Sweden, we saw 3 reindeers on the road! It was funny to see them walking on the road not even scared to get hit by a car.

We again had sauna and went to sleep peacefully. oh, and I have to call back Wellu sometime soon! ]]> reea http://www.finlandlive.info/blogs/reea/57-tuesday-july-15th-2008-finland-travel-blog.html