Music Music Music

I've been on a bit of CD spree lately. Ok, maybe 'spree' is a bit of an overstatement. But I found a number of albums that I will get round to buying. Its just I feel I should buy them one at a time, else I wont listen to them properly. But this week I bought 2 new CDs.

The first one is from an artist called Olavi Uusivirti. He was one included on my friends list. She pointed me towards his song 'On Niin Helppoo Olla Onnelinen', which Rach found to be a hilarious title. I guess there are a lot of O's going on there, hehe. Its means 'Its so easy to be happy'. I'm not sure if he's being ironic though. Anyway, the video is quite nice.

But I clicked around and found some other songs from him that I quite like. For example, Hautalaulu is a beautiful moving song. The lyrics are quite sad, so I wont translate the title for you as it might put you off listening to it. But think of it like a lyllaby. Both these songs are on his latest album, but I found an older album in the sale at Anttilla, called Minä Olen Hullu (I'm crazy). Its quite a cool album, quite brit-pop in a way, apart from it being in Finnish obviously. I think its an album you should listen to as a whole, but it includes my current favourite track from him, called 6:06. Check it out;



The second album I got was one I'd been looking for for a while. I posted a song by Katri Ylander called Unta a while ago, and I still like it very much. I think her voice is very pretty, and she sings songs of a style fitting to her voice. They arent exactly modern pop hits, maybe they are a bit old-fashioned, but the album is a nice relaxing listen. There are some songs with a bit of bite though, one of which is called Valehdellaan;

Packing is Boring

I really should be planning what to pack. Yes, I am returning to my home shores this week. I'm not going till Thursday, but what with work, I know if I dont plan my packing today it will be a last minute rush. And really its not as simple as packing for home. This will be the last time I go home before I go back permanently, and I have waaaaay too much stuff here in Finland. I was hoping that all the extra winter clothes I brought here after Christmas could go back with me at easter. But given that its still snowing, and rarely getting above about 3degrees during the day, I'm thinking I shouldnt part with them just yet. Oh I dont know what to do. I guess I will just have to pay the extra weight charges come July, or do what Rach did and post a few boxes of stuff home. But yeah, I'm sure there's some stuff I can get rid of now.

On the subject of home though, I am pretty happy to be going back. I love snow as much as the next person, but seriously, 3 months! Its just too much. I want to see grass again. Its traditional that it pours with rain for my birthday (a week today!), but if I stay here I have a feeling it would snow! I love spring time though, so will like to get home to experience it properly :)

Note To Self

Do not listen to Swedish diva anthems when navigating through 2 inches of snow. Strutting and snow do not go well together!

Whats with all the random snow storms today anyway?

Sillä Me Ollaan Yhdessä

One of my lovely Finnish friends recently compiled a list for me, of Finnish songs that she thought I might like. She has good taste, either that or she knows me well. I liked nearly all the songs she sent me. Some more than others obviously. One of the good things about it though, was that the list included some songs that I had heard around and liked, but didnt know the names of. Like the following song for example. I rather like it, and now thanks to my friend I know its by Jenni Vartiainen and is called Ihmisten Edessä;

Olen Nuoret Tutkijat

I'm having one of those days today. You know the ones where everything seems to be going wrong. Thing is I was having one of those days yesterday too. Oh well. I think the problem is I don't have much to look forward to now until I go home for my birthday/easter. Still, I have Måns to keep me happy :)

Another thing - why oh why is it snowing again? We had glorious sunshine on thursday, which made me go a bit hyper with excitement that spring was on the way. By saturday the roads and pavements had begun to clear of snow, and I was certain that was it, winter was over. So when I woke up this morning to see a fresh layer of snow, I was distraught... Oh well, another reason to look forward to going home I guess.

I wanted to do a post about friday but given that I didnt do it yesturday its unlikely I'll find inspiration to during the evenings (my laptop is still being somewhat of a little terror). But I will just say a few things.

• I'm so proud of my poster, which is now blue-tacked to the kitchen wall and will be going home with me at easter (although I have now found 3 mistakes, grr)
• My presentation was too short (being only 10minutes instead of the requested 15), but nothing major went wrong and I managed to answer most of the questions afterwards.
• I am very very proud of myself for doing it. I haven't really done any public speaking before, so to get up and present my research to what is supposed to be my peers but are really my superiors given that they are all masters/phd students (or above) and I havent even finished my bachelor yet, was an incredible achievement. I'm surprised by how proud of myself I am. It marks a big change in my mentality in the past year, but also shows how far I've come since I left school at 18 (a very difficult time for me).
• The evening afterparty was so much fun.
• We had wine alongside a posh 3-course meal; Russian blinee's (pancake things, I dont know how to write it in english) with sour cream and fish eggs, followed by duck with raspberry sauce, and then chocolate mud cake for afters. Yum Yum :p
• Then my supervisor bought our research group (all 3 of us) some PAPP-A drinks. I'm not sure what was in it to make it PAPP-A related, but we decided it was the colour of the buffer we use so that is good enough.
• Some of us then went on to Börs (a big pub/restaurant/nightclub complex) where there was much dodgy dancing to old school anthems from my colleagues. Its true that Finns come out of their shells after a few drinks, hehe.
  
• Oh, but I was possibly just as bad, as I launched into the traditional arm-swing dance for Cotton-Eye Joe. I learnt after that they don't do that so much in Finland, so that was something new for them, hehe. I started a trend though, since everyone followed my lead :)
• A few more drinks and then it was last bus home for me. It was such a good night actually. First time I'd spoken to some of my colleagues, but definitely have some good memories. Was a celebration of our achievement, and a lot of fun.

All the battles I lost and the battles I won, this will be the one

Just how perfect is Hope & Glory as an acoustic ballad? Gosh I've been so madly hyper all day, but this has just taken me by surprise and calmed me down and I'm swaying along. Beautiful.

I'm heading back to Helsinki tonight for a few days. Some friends from home are coming to visit, so will be showing them the sights of the capital before heading back to Turku for the weekend. Then next week I'm taking part in a week-long seminar for master's students to present their research. Despite not even finishing my bachelor yet, my supervisor thought it would be a good chance to get some experience at these sorts of things. Which means I've had to prepare an abstract, a scientific poster, and a 15 minute presentation. Hence why I've been so busy. Although the presentation is next week, I'll be busy with my friends all weekend, so needed to get everything finished by the end of today really! Busy busy busy.

But! I am super excited about my friends visit, and I'm really excited about going back to Helsinki. I do love Turku so much, but its always nice to get out and head to the capital for a while and catch up with old friends. And this time, it will be even older friends too! Awesome!

So it might be a while before you hear from me again, depending on how the seminar preparations go next week. Byee!

Lapland Highlights

I realise I never did any proper travel-diaries for Lapland, and to be quite honest I don't think I ever will. It wasn't really a sight-seeing trip after all, and most of the days were spent skiing or such. However I will do a quick review of some highlights, just for the sake of sharing photos at least...

* On the way we stopped in Rovaniemi, at the Santa Claus village on the border of the Arctic Circle.


* Met Santa Claus! He was very lovely as expected. Told us to look out for the reindeer up in Levi, although Rudolf was away in Australia getting a bit of sun and relaxation after the busy Christmas period.
*Crossed the Artic Circle.


* Made it to Levi, Finlands biggest ski resort.
* First day involved the ski school and then a bit of skiing with the ESN girls on the nice easy blue slopes :]

* Second day was a bit of shopping in the morning
* Then the ultimate highlight of the trip - husky dog safari!!! It was just the most amazing experience. Highly highly recommend it.


* Next day was more skiing. Just very relaxed, although went with some more experienced skiiers, and did get quite a bit higher up the mountain than intended. But once you're up there, you have no choice but to ski down again! And it was bloody freezing, so you didnt hang about (-25 at the bottom of the mountain, but naturally colder at the top with the winds).


* Then back again before a final bit of shopping and then sauna. Which of course involved some rolling around in the snow :)
* Then it was time to pack up and get back home again. A painfully long journey, with film after film after film. I mean, I'm a fan of movies, but I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown after the 5th one.
* Oh, and we saw the Lordi bar during our dinner stop in Rovaniemi
* After which we carried on to Kemi snow castle, which although mostly closed as it was a sunday, the bits that were open were cool. Literally.



Although I may not have done much as such, the whole experience was worthwhile. I have never been somewhere like that in conditions like that. It was a bit of a shock at first, and for the girl who doesnt feel the cold, I was a bit underprepared and was very very glad of my rented ski clothes! I didn't see a single reindeer all week either. Or the northern lights. So was a bit dissapointing in some respects. But I will never forget the feeling I had when I woke up on the way there to see nothing but all ecompassing white. So much snow and ice. The ground, the trees, just everything white. Incredible.

Tallinn & Riga; Day 4

We were leaving at 2pm in order to make it to Tallinn in time for the last ferry back to Finland. And we had to check out by noon. So we decided just to check out after breakfast and take our stuff to the bus early. We had been told that you could go to the 26th floor of a near-by hotel to get a good (free) view of the old town. This hotel was also close to the Art Nevo area where there were interesting buildings to be discovered. So that was the plan for our final morning in Riga. The hotel was indeed worthwhile. Although we made it to the 26th floor only to discover that the bar area was closed :( But there was one more floor... A gym! Also with a lovely view. Even if it wasnt the place for tourists, we snuck in and had a peak. I tell you, if all gyms had that view from the running machines, I might go more often.

So then it was down in the panoramic lifts (where my ears popped!) and then onto the Art Nevo area of the city. There were indeed lots of interesting buildings to be seen, and photographed. But it seemed quite a bit colder than the day before, so after a while wondering around, some of us decided to head to a cafe in the old town rather than keep walking around However there was some last-minute tourist tat to be bought by me (another flag, along with an amber hedgehog).


But then sadly that was all we had time for really. It was back onto the coach, to take us back to Tallinn where we had enough time for some food (Hessburger again). I forgot to mention the very musical choice of films we had on the coach this time. On the way to Riga, we experienced Mamma Mia and Grease. On the way back we had Sex & the City, and then Catch Me if You Can. Not so musical, but still... There was talk of Mamma Mia karaoke on the way from Helsinki to Turku, but we were all too tired by that point.

Overall a really really great trip. The fact we were such a small group was nice, and the whole thing is general was pretty laid-back and enjoyable. I didn't really fall in love with Riga, but I'm glad I have seen it and experienced it, as it was quite different to, well Finland at least. But Tallinn and Estonia in general has won my heart this time I think. I will definitely be heading there again before my final return to England. I would say, if planning a trip from the UK, Tallinn is maybe a bit small to go that distance for, but I would highly recommend it as a day-trip from Helsinki. And Helsinki is of course worth the trip from the UK, so my advice would be to combine the two in one holiday :) You won't regret it.

Pulling on my Heart Strings.

After watching enough of MF to see Star Pilots perform I switched over to the Estonian finals. I only heard the songs from Traffic onwards, but was taken with Traffic's song enough to keep watching and see how they did. Their song is not very eurovision. It reminded me more of something Icelandic/Bloc Party/(dare I say) Coldplay -ish. So was happy to hear they made it to head-2-head against yet another strings-based contender. One that had been on earlier in the show before I tuned in. As it happens the string song won. Probably for the best, since as I said Traffic's song wasn't particularly esc. So then listened to Urban Symphony, and actually, its pretty good. Its sort of stuck in my head already. The camera-work made me feel a bit dizzy but the whole dark mysterious electro symphony vibe is pretty cool, and it will be interesting to see how this fares up against the other srting-based songs of this year (Slovenia in particular). So I think we have the theme for esc 2009.

You Know You're Bored When...

Ok, so I've been studying Finnish a lot lately (not sure whats inspired me to pick up the text book again after 6months, but whatever). It seems that I can grasp the grammar without too much trouble (so long as I go slow... its a lot to get your head around sometimes). But the vocabulary just isn't happening. No matter how many times I translate songs and things, I always translate them again as I can never remember. Where I've been using this text book, I feel like I'm constantly going back to check what the words mean. Its frustrating. And the words all look the same after a while. I mean Finnish doesnt seem to utilise the wide range of letters on offer, but preferes to use combinations of their favourites - such as K, T, V & L. Not too mention the high proportion of vowels (How are you? translates as Mitä kuuluu? Thats 6 vowels in 10 letters!)

Anyway, whats bugging me right now is why you can say "Kello on viisi minuutia vaille kaksi" (its five minutes to two) but if you take out the 'minuutia' and just say 'its five to two', you then change viisi to viittä?! And why doesn't the same change take place when you say 'five minutes past two - viisi minuutia yli kaksi' and 'five past two - viisi yli kaksi'. I mean, where does this viittä come from? Any Finns care to explain?

Tallinn & Riga; Day 3

So we awoke after a slight lie-in (by my standards anyway) as the tour guide would be meeting us to show us around the old town. It was a bit chilly to say the least (I normally don't feel the cold, but after 4 days of sightseeing it had started to get to me). So we kept a brisk pace. We started again by going past the opera house and along to the freedom monument. It all looked quite different in the daylight. Especially the river, which looked beautiful in the snow.

We then followed the guide along to the remaining part of the old town walls. After that all I can remember is lots of interesting buildings, mostly churches. Some stand out in my memory (the three brothers, the main dom square, the blackcats house (something like that) and the black magic cafe :] ), but managing to fit everything into a 2-hour walking tour meant we only spent a few minutes at each. In all that time I don't think the tour guide stopped talking, and she had so many interesting tid-bits about each place, but it was just too much to take in.


After that it was a short break for lunch before an optional excursion to Jurmala. When it was explained that our coach would be able to take us to a famous beach near-by, I thought they were insane - going to the beach in the middle of February! However, my feet were so sore and cold, that the idea of sitting on a coach for 20minutes seemed more appealing than forcing myself to walk around the old town again. I have to say, it was a good decision. It was truly one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen. Just miles and miles of snow-covered beach. Blue sky above, blue sea to the side and snow covered beach (reflecting some of the blue). We just joined the surprisingly large stream of people going for a leisurely stroll along the beach.


On the way back, we would travel over the large cable-bridge, but decided to stop and take a few pictures of the Riga skyline before crossing the river. The lighting was perfect, and it was a very nice view.


After that it was time for a quick bit of shopping before heading back to the hotel to warm up. I found a good Cd shop in the train station right by our hotel, which had a sufficient Russian section. I purchased Dima Bilans newest and second albums (the one with Ty Dolzhna), Ani Loraks album (pre-Shady Lady), Sergey Lazarevs' TV Show, and Chelsi's album for Rachel. I think that was quite enough for one trip. So back to the hotel where I then hid under the covers in bed waiting for the feeling in my legs to return.

In the evening, we headed off in search of food. Deciding Latvian food wasn't all that inspired, we settled on an Italien resturant in a basement in the old town. It was a nice little place, and was playing Tiziano Ferro's album during our meal, so that made me happy. I decided to try their Ceasur Pizza, just because it sounded so bizzare. Not tomatoe sauce, but just the ingredients to a usual ceasur salad as toppins - including a big dollop of lettuce in the middle. It all went a bit wrong when we asked to pay seperately though (there were 14 of us). The waiter told us it wasnt possible, and chaos then ensued. Some paid by card, some by cash, the wine had to be split, much change was involed, and headaches all around. Thankfully we had a few Russian-speakers with us, who could communicate with the waiter better than we could in English.

After that fiasco, we were in need of a stiff drink. And where better than the Black Magic Cafe just down the road, where we were all to try the traditional Balzam. Our ESN leader had continuously told us how hideous it was, and yet everyone, including herself, then went on to have a shot. Well, actually I was a chicken maybe and went for one of the cocktails, which was actually very tasty. I did have a sip of the straight shot too though, and can't say I made a bad decision.


After that we headed to a karaoke bar, where the boys performed the YMCA (dance routine and all) and us girls got up to sing Material World. Foolishly we didn't film the boys, but later found out that there is a video floating around facebook of us girls... Anyway, after that we were in the mood for a boogie, and ended up in Essential, Riga's largest club. I can see why Riga is a popular stag-night destination, they have clearly catered to their new-found tourists. although there were not so many Britsih accents around. I'm guessing Februray is not wedding season. Anyway, the place was huge, with a labrynth of rooms with different styles of music. I even heard Lazerboy and the Russain version of Lady Flame (don't make me attempt to spell it, you know the one I mean).

A quick group photo by the fountain on the way back to the hotel, and then bed!

Yksinäisiin Unelmiin

Apologies for the lack of posts. I will try and finish my travel diary sometime this weekend, but my laptop has been really getting on my nerves lately, and I've been trying to do most of my blogging at work. But this week has been pretty-busy work-wise. And its not likely to end for a while yet. Then also, there have been quite a few goings-on that I've wanted to blog about, but its always the way that when you have time to blog its because you have not much to blog about, and then when your busy, well your busy.

But the topic of todays post. Antti Tuisku again. I possibly like his music more than I care to admit to anyone. Its an incredibly guilty pleasure. I thought today that admitting liking Antii Tuisku to a Finn must be a bit like someone saying to me that they just adore Shayne Ward (sorry all you hard-core Shanye Ward fans, but come on...)

One of the many songs that I love of his is one called Lahtemässä. From what I can tell, its a break up song (lähtemässä = leaving). I quite like the lyrics of the second verse (again, maybe something I shouldnt admit - squirrels, apple trees, phosphorus stars, you get the idea...) but the main reason it became a favourite was because its so rhythmic and gentle, like a lullaby, and I ended up with it on repeat to help me sleep on the coach to/from Lapland.

As for Antti's voice, I tend to enjoy his music but acknowledge that he hasn't exactly a belter of a voice. Its enough, but nothing overly special. So usually I only watch 'live' performances where he dancing to a backing track, as he usually has some cool choreography (check out Levoton for a good example of the type of tracks you'll find on New York). But yes, anyway, I noticed there is a live performance of Lähtemässä on youtube and its actually quite nice. So thought I would share it with you. I think its a pretty song.



I'm surprised at how much I've written about Antti, and ashamed yet again to admit that I could easily write more. However, I will save it for the return of Sounds of Europe. Poor Rach isn't an Antti fan, but I'm afraid she doesn't have a choice anymore.