Like the Midnight Sun

I'm alive! The lack of blog updates doesn't mean I didn't survive my new job, it just means that I've been suuuper tired in the evenings. But, everything's gone really well so far. I've been taught how to use all the different systems and programmes, and naturally they're completely different from the ones I've used before. But I'm getting the hang of it, and the people who've been teaching me keep telling me that I learn really fast so I guess I've been a good little student. I've also been in the studio while my colleague is broadcasting the local programme - and on Wednesday I got to participate by talking a bit and pushing some buttons. That was fun! Starting from Monday, I'll be doing that all by myself so I'm really glad that I've been able to learn the tricks of the trade quite fast...

While learning the technical stuff has been quite easy, my first assignment on Monday was a bit of a challenge. I was told to drive to a nearby city and do an interview in Swedish. The hardest part was neither getting there nor doing the interview, it was getting out of Malmö. The drive to the other city takes about half an hour, and I spent almost as long trying to find my way from the centre of Malmö to the highway... I had a map and I had checked the route carefully, but being a bit nervous, I took a wrong turn and spent ages trying to get back on track. And of course they have a lot of road construction work going on so that added an extra flavour. But finally I made it to the highway and I even arrived to the destination on time. Everything went pretty smoothly there (apart from the fact that I almost managed to get myself on a ferry to Germany).

So the first week went well, and I'm actually looking forward to getting started on the job, not just learning how everything works. Being the host of a radio programme is something I've wanted to try for a long time, and at least the make-believe shows during my training went pretty well so this should be fun. Here's the building I work in btw:

But now it's midsummer! I've always spent it in Finland, so I was curious to see how the Swedes celebrate it. It seems to be as important here as it is for their Eastern neighbour. And the menu is similar: the most important ingredients are new potatoes and strawberries. Well we've got those, and a whole lot of other stuff. And just like the Finns, the Swedes also like to retreat to the woods for midsummer. We decided to stay in the city, and retreat to a nice park with a picnic basket and some wine (ok, a whole lot of wine.) The weather's shaping up so it's going to be a nice evening.

It's funny, though, I haven't been seriously homesick but thinking of midsummer has made me think of home a lot. It's one of the high points of the year for us. It's also a time when so many Finns get so drunk and decide they're excellent swimmers or excellent at peeing from a boat, standing up - and then drown of course. It's amazing how we never learn. But it's also the one moment during the year when long, dark winter doesn't seem to exist and life is all about freedom and enjoyment. And friends and family. That's what I miss the most. I'm not very patriotic, and I could probably go for long periods of time without visiting Finland, but being apart from my friends and family kinda sucks. It seems to be a recurring theme in my life, wherever I am, I'm always missing someone somewhere. But I'm sure that those someones out there know that I love them a lot!

So, midsummer. Whatever I end up doing, it'll be quite different from my previous midsummer that I celebrated in Lapland, at a small but fantastic festival called Aawastock. It's being held on top of a vast hill, with a view to a beautiful valley. It didn't really cross my mind then that my next midsummer would be so completely different. But I'm definitely happy about the way things have worked out!

With these pictures, and with a song that really captures the Scandinavian midsummer, I wish you a wonderful, magical midsummer!

-Karoliina

P.S. Another thing I miss is the actual midnight sun - it gets pretty dark here and that's just so weird!