Retretti

If you spend any length of time in Savonlinna, it will soon occur to you that you're in the middle of nowhere. For example, the produce here is of poor quality and so the food is generally terrible, on Saturday every shop closes by 6 pm, and on campus they TURN OFF the internet so that it's not available at night (why the fuck would you turn it off?! What difference could that make?).

So, after you've gone to the opera festival (or not gone because you're still broke, like me), and are yearning to see another big attraction, you have to leave town. Fortunately, there is a little train in town which will take you to Retretti.

Retretti is one of the largest art museums in the Nordic regions. Also, in my opinion it is the coolest museum EVER. Most of the museum is located underground, in caves. Artists sometimes create special installations for the space. The darkness of the cave combined with shallow pools of water makes a splendid backdrop for imaginative, fantastic sculptures.

The current installations were sculptural works created by Heli Ryhanen and Matti Kalkamo, which evoke feelings of being in a dream state or another realm of consciousness. Photography is not allowed, but I managed to snap a couple shots without flash on my phone...

Here's one.

I wish I could show you the installation of spirits being carried in boats on a river to the land of the dead. My favorite part was walking up and taking a hanging flash light, to shine it down upon...skeletal angels, writhing in the water.

OK, one more photo.

A chandelier of...? I don't know, exactly. Translucent bodies, rotating slowly.

There were paintings above ground, the current exhibition focused on artists who were married to each other and the effects they had upon each other's art and lives.

Theme aside, I was particularly interested in seeing the portraits. In my opinion, Finnish portraiture is rather unique in the sense that flaws, ordinariness and even ugliness are not hidden. Finnish portraits are candid and frank, rather than polished. Whereas in other places, for example Italy, an artist would typically paint their patron so that they would appear more attractive than in real life, Finnish artists just paint folk. I have seen paintings of ordinary people come from other nations, yes, but they always have a smoothness and an evening-out of asymmetrical features that isn't present in Finnish art.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Retretti is worth visiting!

Also, please don't take these photos. I shouldn't even be showing them to you!!

Swimming

Hmm. What can I tell you next?

Last night I went with many of the other students to a tiny island, which was only a short walking distance from the apartments. Only a few Finns came to the island, and they mostly remained on the dock rather than entering the island. So we had it to ourselves. There was not much sand, which means that to get to the water we either had to climb down a sort of sloping ladder of smooth rocks, or jump. The water was not cold, and there were drifting pockets of warm water. No, I don't think it was urine.

Though my intention was to bring alcohol back to the states for souvenirs, I discovered something about Finnish alcohol last night. Finnish alcohol is both expensive and disgusting! I don't mean that the intensity of the alcohol is disgusting, but the flavors are! I had a couple bottles of cider, which were okay but peculiar. Finns must be bored all the time, because they like to mix together any fruits they can find and make juice. One of my bottles of cider was watermelon and pineapple flavored, but there have been combinations of fruits I don't even recognize. Also, the cheapest beer we could find at the market was 1.90 euros (about $2.70), and tasted similar to any of the cheapest beers you could get in the US. The champagne we had was hardly drinkable, it was so sweet! Though of course, everyone loves champagne so we drank it anyway. I have yet to try liquor, but I've heard rumors that Koskenkorva Viina (the only vodka made in Finland) is reminiscent of battery acid.

So that's nice.

Supposedly, there are many famous Finns in Savonlinna right now for the opera festival. I may have even flown on the same airplane with the president. We flew into Savonlinna on the same day, and there are only a couple flights into Savonlinna every day. However, I can't recognize anyone and sadly I probably won't be reporting celebrity sightings.

Tervetuloa Savonlinnaan!

Hei,

Savonlinna is beautiful and everyone is nice. That is my summary of this place so far.

Let me give you an example of the kindness of strangers.

When my CIMO group arrived at the Savonlinna airport (from the Helsinki airport), we stepped outside to discover that the airport's supposed "taxi service" was limited to a sign hanging from the roof which said something to the effect of, "Taksi Puhelinnumerot" and contained a phone number. The nine of us could speak very little Finnish and we were all feeling shy at that moment. As we stood about anxiously asking each other what we should do, a Finnish gentleman who had been a passenger stepped forward and offered to call us a taxi and explain to the driver how to get us to our dorm. He even chose to forgo the bus which was already there (and filling up with locals), so that he could come with us instead and direct the driver. He then expressed much interest in us, and told us all about his experience of Savonlinna.

"Have you ever gone swimming after taking a sauna? You must try it. My favorite thing to do when I am in Savonlinna is to take a sauna and then run into the lake. I do it at least every day." This was some good (hilarious) advice we were given. However, I don't think I'm ready for that level of public nudity yet. It is FORBIDDEN to wear clothing in the sauna, and in order to go directly from sauna to lake, one would have to be nude. Maybe in a secluded area.

I would love to show you some photographs, but I'm in my room now and there is only an ethernet connection. No wifi. The photos are on my phone.

For now all I can show you is this low quality mac photo booth picture of the view from my window.

Let me tell you, all of Finland looks like this. Forests, boulders and lakes. Flying in, from overhead it looks as if the buildings apologize for encroaching on nature by being engulfed in acres of forest.

I have made a few friends, from Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Spain, and am still meeting many others. We all have a similar story: we studied a little Finnish at our universities, but have no connections to Finland. Just curiosity and maybe a desire to get an MA here someday. Everyone is good-natured and good-humored, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more.

Everyone in this CIMO group speaks English, but I try to speak a little Finnish with them anyway because we all came here to learn Finnish and they have expressed that English can be a struggle for them. I have a lot of privilege and I try to be mindful of why I came here and how I interact.

More to come soon.

Moi moi!

Things To Do...

I'll be honest. Although this blog is focused on Savonlinna (because I will spend the majority of my trip there), I am seriously looking forward to spending a couple days in Helsinki.

I'm not big on fashion, but strangely enough browsing the "Hel Looks" blog gets me pumped every time.
http://www.hel-looks.com/ <-- If you haven't seen it yet.

I don't want to see any monuments or things of that nature, really. I want to wander around the city. I want to go to vintage clothing shops, bookstores, record stores and bars. Maybe find a concert happening in a park. I hear that it is even possible to go to a disco in Helsinki. I want to see freaks, geeks and punks.

I would like to go to this bar:

http://www.arcticicebar.fi/

Although there is something touristy about it, the experience of being in an ice bar seems distinctly Finnish to me. The capes kind of make the place look cultish, but I've definitely worn less fashionable clothing.

Mostly I want to do things that I have to ask around to learn about. I want to go to places that locals are into. After all, the Chinese Gardens in Portland might be nice, but because I live here I've only visited them a couple times. There are more exciting things out there that one comes into consciousness about through trial and error, exploration, and references from friends. So why not just skip some of the mainstream attractions and ask people who've already had time to experience what the city has to offer!

I am hoping that Savonlinna has some exciting attractions, but it's hard for me to make plans ahead of time when there is so little information about the city on the internet. Actually, this lack of information is part of the reason I chose to make this blog: so that other people searching for information about Savonlinna might stumble across it and find something useful.

In just a couple days I'll be able to update this blog with REAL info about Savonlinna! Finally. Imagine that.

Studying

Making flash cards has eased some of my panic over the language barrier. As I was producing the cards from words in the textbook from my class, I realized that I didn't need to check most of the words. I checked more words in the dictionary than was necessary, to be careful. I know around 200 words in Finnish. Tämä ei ole monta sanaa. 
Yet this is probably enough to get me around. I can nod and smile my way through the rest.

I'm making more flash cards for words I haven't learned yet, obviously. 
Can't go around calling everything se [it].




This past week, I've been spending hours on Youtube watching music videos by Finnish rock bands.
Here are a couple of my favorites.


This Don Huonot video is kind of goofy and strange. There are several amazing Don Huonot songs on 
Youtube. I recommend "Pyhimys" as well.

Some may recognize Ville Valo from the band HIM. He's singing in Finnish in this video, with the band The Agents.
They're covering the song "I Only Want To Be With You," originally sung by Dusty Springfield.

I am also enjoying some Neljä Ruusua videos, such as this one. 

Apparently watching rock videos I can barely understand is my way of studying.

Introduction & Preparations

This July I will be studying Finnish language and culture in Savonlinna, Finland. I am one of the lucky 36 applicants chosen to take the summer course in Savonlinna, through the Center for International Mobility (CIMO).

During my second term of Finnish as a second language at Portland State University, professor Marjo Northup suggested that I apply to this program. I'd never heard of it before, and I sent in my application at the last minute. I basically applied on a whim, and didn't think it was likely that I'd be accepted to the program. 

I'm not totally sure what the selection process entails, and whether or not actual skill levels are important. Marjo always said that my grasp of Finnish was impressive for a person without any Finnish heritage. I think my vocabulary is lacking in a major way, but so far I don't find the language to be particularly difficult. I just have a knack for languages. I read in a forum somewhere in the dark, deep regions of cyberspace that CIMO tends to select people for this program if they have some kind of invested interest in learning Finnish. Meaning, they don't accept people who are coming for tourism. In my application, I explained that I haven't been to Finland yet, but I've been planning and applying (and applying) to master's programs in Finland and would have an easier time integrating if I had more familiarity with Finnish. So I'm guessing that my acceptance had more to do with my goal to live in Finland than my language skill level.

Even if skill level isn't particularly important, I'm still having some anxiety. I have little experience speaking Finnish, and as indicated earlier, meager vocabulary, and the entire course will be taught in Finnish. Six hours a day, five days a week, for sixteen days I will be receiving instruction solely in Finnish! On the weekends I'll probably resort to using English on occasion, but I'd rather not. The point of this course (for me) is to NOT be an American douchebag, all puffed-up on my English-speaking privilege.

There are only a few days left until I leave, so I'm studying. I just bought some index cards so I can study vocabulary. I must confess that I've rarely studied in all my years of school. I never properly learned how to study, because I was just too lazy to put the effort into studying seriously. But now I feel desperate to learn so I can communicate without embarrassment!! Humiliation is a great motivator.

I am also packing here and there.

I decided that I want to pack light for this trip, so I'm going to attempt to fit everything I need into a backpack. I have a large backpack from Brooklyn Industries which should work nicely. 

I also bought "the ultimate packing solution set" by Eagle Creek. Comes with a packing folder (holds up to 7 garmets), a cube (holds a whole bunch of underpants and stuff), and a small pouch for cosmetics. The building I am staying in has free laundry facilities! YAY!! This means I can get away with light packing.

I figure this blog needs photos, so I took a photo of my cosmetics bag (in progress).

Toothpaste, contact lens solution, shampoo and conditioner, hello kitty facial tissues, Dr. Bronner's bar soap, 2 bottles of Dr. Bronner's liquid soap (2 oz), and a micro fiber travel towel.

The towel will not fit over my entire body, and so I'm sure I'd be laughed out of the sauna if I brought it out in public. I'm sure that any sauna I'd pay to visit would provide towels, though. 

I have the two bottles of Bronner's for laundry. I typically use this soap for my laundry and even though 1/4 cup is recommended for laundry, I find that the soap goes far and can wash a typical load with about an ounce. Part of the reason I bought the soap now (instead of waiting until I get to Finland) is because it has tea tree essential oil in it, which supposedly helps ward off mosquitos and other insects. Suomi = swamp land, people. I need all the protection I can get.

Blah blah blah... Anyway, I'm all about convenience when traveling. Basically, I'm trying to pack in such a way that I can just do carry-on luggage. Maybe when I'm in Finland I can buy an extra bag to put whatever souvenirs (OK, probably mostly booze) into for the flight back.