Finland comes alive in the summer and there are hundreds of festivals taking place all over the country. I went with other exchange students from Canada, Germany, Australia and Mexico to the biggest festival in Finland, Ruisrock.
Its name comes from where it is held, on Ruissalo (Rye Island) just of the coast of a big, south-western Finnish city, Turku. The festival lasts for 3 days and i stayed with a Canadian exchange student, Chris, over the weekend.
The festival was amazing with many great Finnish artists, some big American bands like Disturbed and even The Living End from Australia. The days were long and tiring and i managed to lose my wallet in one of the mosh-pits but it was worth it.
Every night when the festival finished we would have to catch a bus back into Turku and then walkk from Turku to chris' place, usually making it back there after sunrise (at 3am or so).
Monday, November 23, 2009
Åland
Åland in Swedish or Ahvenanmaa in Finnish is a group of Swedish-speaking islands between Finland and Sweden which are part of Finland.
Seija and Risto took me there for a weekend to see some of the sites (including the extremely good looking swedish girls) and to bask in the fantastic weather. We had a look around some old castles, visited a winery, went up a massive old wooden lookout and went to a few of the different islands that make up the area.
On the ferries there and back there ws the mot amazing views between the islands.
Seija and Risto took me there for a weekend to see some of the sites (including the extremely good looking swedish girls) and to bask in the fantastic weather. We had a look around some old castles, visited a winery, went up a massive old wooden lookout and went to a few of the different islands that make up the area.
On the ferries there and back there ws the mot amazing views between the islands.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Juhannus
One of the most important nationwide celebrations in Finland, Juhannus (mid-summer) has an almost mythical atmosphere to it. Why is mid-summer so special in Finland? Well if your in the north then the sun never dips below the horizon and even down south we only get about an hour of 'almost-twilight'. This means that the party can continue all through the night...and it does.
It is tradionally spent at your summer cottage with your family and this was exactly what me and my family did. After going onto the lake to watch a massive bonfire burn we returned to the summer cottage to play some mölkky (a Finnish game resembling bocci) and go to the sauna.
It is tradionally spent at your summer cottage with your family and this was exactly what me and my family did. After going onto the lake to watch a massive bonfire burn we returned to the summer cottage to play some mölkky (a Finnish game resembling bocci) and go to the sauna.
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