To Tampere

Today we traveled by train from Helsinki to Tampere where my study tour will take place this week. It was nice to watch the scenery go by...as we left the city, more birch trees, fields, and lakes became the norm. 

The Lapland Hotel will be our home away from home this week. I was greeted with a personalized message on the TV screen and a photo of reindeer herding on the wall.

We walked down to the University of Tampere to see where I will meet my group tomorrow and explored the neighborhood a little bit. We walked into a shopping center with cool climbing structures in the middle. The kids definitely seemed to be enjoying the variety of climbers.

Next, we wandered into a small restaurant for dinner. The atmosphere was cozy with many local diners. We enjoyed our meal followed by live, local music.

We Have Arrived in Finland!

I can't believe that the day has finally arrived! We are in Helsinki, Finland tonight! Today has been a low-key day following a long night of flying (about 9.5 hours). Our flights were smooth, but traveling is exhausting. Our hotel for tonight is right by the central train station, so that was very convenient. 

View from our hotel window of the train station. Hopefully, tomorrow I can figure out how to take a train to Tampere.

We arrived around 1:00 local time and successfully navigated ourselves to our hotel room to rest and freshen up. 

We did make it out to explore the area a little bit. The city is taking on the spirit of the holiday season with lights and trees. Tomorrow Santa Claus visits to turn on the lights on Aleksanterinkatu Christmas Street with a parade. The area was already bustling with shoppers and stores were advertising Black Weekend sales. I didn't realize that Black Friday existed outside of the United States. The Stockmann Department store reminds me of Macy's or my old Chicago favorite of Marshall Fields. They even have a decorated Christmas window display that draws visitors of all ages.

Stockmann Department Store Christmas Window

Terve

Ystävät (Friends)

I never thought that I could make such great friends in such a short time. The people I have met at Salolampi are simply amazing! They gave me the confidence to speak when I had no idea what to say, supported me in pronunciation - especially the vowel sounds, shared their stories, and welcomed me fully into the Finnish culture. They were all so interested in my upcoming trip to Finland. Each of them will travel with me in spirit as I continue the next leg of my journey. Truly, they have enriched my life in a way that I never expected, and I will treasure our week together always!

My cabinmates: Kerthu, Impi, and Saima 

The Beginners' Class: Ida, Sirpa (teacher), Anya, Elvi, and Sampo. We had such fun together and all learned more than any of us expected! 

Closing Banquet

We ended with a special final meal served on Finnish Arabia china with Iitala crystal, and Finnish vases and candles. It was lovely.

 

And the meal included...

Yes...I have no words to say about that! As I keep saying, this trip is all about new experiences!

Cooking and Cabins

Hands-On Experience!

Today I tried my hand at making karjalon piirakka (Karelian pie). I am not much of a cook, but my activity choices were cooking or choir, so cooking it was! We haven't actually been served them yet, so I can't say yet how they turned out, but several of the others in the group were very experienced and had the process down to an art form. Here are a few pictures.

Preparing the dough 

Peeling hard boiled eggs. I am not sure what they are used for yet. Maybe a topping?

Rolling the dough into a log 

Rolling out the small pieces of dough to make the individual crusts. They have to be very thin and round. This is not as easy as it seems!

Filling the pastries. They are filled with rice pudding.

This is what they look like when they are filled. Hopefully, I will have a picture of them baked tomorrow!

My first piirakka!

Can You Tell the Difference?

We had a guest speaker today named Frank Eld who shared information about the craftsmanship of Finnish log cabins and how they differed from other log cabins built in early America. He even included a demonstration of the building process with miniature-sized tools.

What's for Dinner?

Tonight my Beginner's Class was responsible for introducing the dinner (päivällinen) menu. We composed and performed a song that went through all of the foods we would be eating -- all in Finnish. I may be biased, but I think we did quite well. It helps that our teacher is Finnish and sang along with us!

Here is what was on the menu:

Sianlihaa (pork loaf with apples)

Porkkanalaatikko (carrot casserole)

Kuminakaali (caraway cabbage)

Mustikkamurupiirakaa (blueberry crumble pie)

We were so proud of ourselves!

Sauna and Sisu

Tonight I experienced sauna for the first time. And by sauna I don't mean the steam room at the local gym. This was the true sauna that is an integral thread in the tapestry of Finnish culture. According to the official travel website for Finland, there are enough saunas in Finland to accommodate all 5.4 million Finns simultaneously, and they are used by people of all ages. My fellow campers definitely embrace the sauna culture and encouraged me to join them. So, into the dark woods, I went with them in my swimsuit. Salolampi has a woodfire sauna that is along the shore of the lake. We sat on benches with only the light of the fire inside. While some of the visitors did not feel it was hot and steamy enough, I found myself sweating in no time and thinking that I should have brought a bottle of water along. Just as I started to consider the fate of Hansel and Gretel, though, people started to move to the door and head to the lake. Yes, the lake. In the dark of night, we waded into the cooling waters of the lake. After the initial shock of the water, the wonder of the night took over. The sky here is the darkest I have ever seen, except for the stars - thousands of them! I have never seen so many stars! I couldn't stop looking up. While the sauna lifestyle is certainly an experience that one acquires over time, there is definitely a sense of peace, relaxation, and camaraderie within.

This is the lake in the daylight.

Sisu is a defining characteristic of the Finnish people. It is often defined as perseverance in the face of adversity, tenacity, or grit. Sound familiar...growth mindset? Our speaker tonight was the president of Finlandia University in the upper peninsula of Michigan. In his talk about higher education and his school, he shared that new students at Finlandia attend a sisu seminar to understand and learn to discover this spirit within themselves. He shared how grit is a leading indicator for success in college students. He started by asking us all what was most important about college. People shared answers like stretching their mind, developing independence, and preparing for adulthood. Then he asked what parents think is most important about college and the response was getting a job. His school seeks to balance both of these outcomes by focusing on education as well as helping students to form their identity, recognize where they come from, and develop their own story.  

This was the board at the end of our class today. There is so much to learn!

I am building sisu as I continue in my classes. It is humbling to feel pride at being able to successfully read a board book with the numbers up to ten (with help!).      

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

Today has been a busy day! We started with a Scandinavian style breakfast (aamiainen) spread with deli meats, oatmeal, yogurt, and blueberries. Different than my typical breakfast, but delicious! Lunch (lounas) included cabbage rolls, tomato-potato soup, salad, and brown bread. Dinner (paivallinen) included salmon, sausage, aoli, and naan bread with stuffed baked apples for dessert.

There are five students in the beginner level of Finnish, although one speaks quite a bit more than the rest of us. We started at the very beginning with the alphabet - keywords and letter sounds, just like Fundations. I could have used some picture cards! The teacher told us that once we learned the sounds, we would be able to read anything in Finnish within the hour! The words are long and every letter sound is pronounced. There are no silent letters and the sounds do not change, so that is helpful. I guess I can already work on fluency, but my comprehension is nearly nonexistent. We worked on greetings, asking each other's names and where we are from, and occupations. The word for teacher is "opettaja." 

We also learned the numbers. Here is my age in Finnish: neljakymmentakahdeksan. Can you guess how old I am? 

Needless to say, my brain was aching after about three and a half hours of class. Good thing we had breaks!

In between there was time for singing, crafts, and presentations on the Kalavala (epic Finnish poem) and Minnesota's iron ore labor strike in the early 1900s. Whew! 

This is the main building in Salolampi. Our classrooms are on the first floor, and the dining room is on the second floor.

These are the felt elf (huopatonttu) crafts that we made. I even had to use a needle and thread for hand stitching!  No seamstress would be impressed by my handiwork, but I still think he's pretty cute! Well, as I look at the photo, I realize that it is kind of hard to tell what they are...hmm.