Thought Bubbles

Visitor

2011-06-14T22:53:00.008+02:00

No worries, I'm still here! My statistics tell me that some people actually come and visit so I guess I better keep at it. :) The silence didn't have anything to do with the amount of readers, though, my mom was here for a visit and so I was busy showing her around.

Sometimes I feel like I have two parallel lives, one in Finland and one in Sweden. The people in each don't really know what the other life looks like, and who I spend my time with. So it was great to have my mom here, now she knows where her daughter regularly disappears.

We had four action packed days, exploring Malmö, Lund and Copenhagen.

While waiting for my mom at Copenhagen airport, I discovered that Starbucks might be a bit better than their reputation. Or is it just greenwashing?

An outdoors store in Malmö has come up with a pretty clever way to be noticed.

I'd like to see what happens if somebody commits a crime and the troopers go after them.

The Swedes got their revenge after a shameful 6-1 loss in the ice hockey final.

Preparing for some bbq.

New potatoes! I hardly ever eat potatoes but gotta love new potatoes!

At an Italian restaurant in Lund, mom getting ready to dig in.

The 900 years old cathedral in Lund.

Modern meets medieval.

I'm not even religious, but there's something comforting in lighting a candle for the, well, dead.

A fancy elephant in Copenhagen.

Where oh where can I buy old posters like these?

Copenhagen City Museum.

If I could only go to one café for the rest of my life, it would be The Royal Café in Copenhagen. And not so much because of the food (which is good, though) but the whimsical and inspiring interior. It's such an eclectic mix, and there's always something new to admire.

My mom seemed to enjoy her visit, and when I look at these pictures, what's not to like! :)

Holy days

2011-06-06T15:32:00.007+02:00

At the moment, whole Sweden is having a mini holiday. It was Ascension Day on Thursday, and at least school kids had Friday off as well. Today is National Day, which means another day off for most people. It doesn't really make a difference to me since I'm still on holiday anyway, but spending time with a couple of kids means that it's all about taking it easy and enjoying life. Which is exactly what we've been doing.

On Saturday we tried to find the recycling centre for building materials, but it was so carefully hidden in the industrial area that even Google Maps couldn't find it. So we ended up walking endlessly in the otherwise pretty deserted area.

We did find a building beautifully covered in vine, though.

And railroad tracks.

Along with parks, Malmö has beautiful old graveyards, like this one that we went through to get to Folkets Park (yeah, again).

In the park, our junior companion got to ride the carousel. Call me old-fashioned, but I find these kind of amusement park machines much more appealing than the blinking noisy ones.

A heart-breaking sight among all the fun and joy, a poor little abandoned koala bear.

The business of the day is over at Möllevågnstorget.

Saturday evening in our yard. Lighting up a grill can be tricksy.

Sunday morning started with a pancake fiesta.

There was also the "monster who was mad that he'd lost his ears."

A cake with meringue, Nutella, whipped cream and strawberries. Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

2011-06-03T20:04:00.005+02:00

Sweet summertime is finally here! Warm and sunny, just the way it should be. And we've been making most of the weather and the days off resulting from the Ascension Day.

On Thursday we went to Folkets Park, a wonderful place with stuff to do for both kids and grownups. One of the fences surrounding the park is an ever-changing graffiti exhibition with the most colorful, imaginative images.

I just love, love, love the parks in Malmö.

At the moment, they're having an art and design bazaar in the park, lots of wonderful stuff made by local artists.

We ended up buying raw food cakes, though.

Afterwards, we had a burger picnic in our yard.

With store-bought veggie beefs.

Today we spent the afternoon in the yard, and Allan made some wooden frames for the balcony. All I managed to do was burn myself. I just never learn.

Then it was time to bake some rolls for dinner.

With some seeds on top of them, carefully sprinkled by our little helper.

Along with the rolls, we had some guacamole.

And hummus.

Much munch!

Flower Power

2011-05-31T17:49:00.002+02:00

I don't have much of a green thumb, but all through last winter, I was dreaming of making our ugly little concrete balcony all pretty and summery, with lots of flowers. After a week in Malmö, I'm off to a pretty good start don't you think?

Own production. All the others are bought in full blossom.

All pots are second hand. Saving the planet and a good

buck, too.

Windy City

2011-05-29T17:15:00.010+02:00

It doesn't really feel like summer yet, the weather's been pretty chilly with lots of wind and some rain. But we've been outside a lot anyway, doing stuff.

Like walking around from second hand store to another,

looking for nice things for our home and balcony.

Taking time to cook...

...and eat out, on Saturday at a Mexican place.

With some really good company, Ivar and Smári.

Having double espressos.

Spotting bizarre campaigns.

Seeing Lars von Trier's Melancholia, which was a beautifully

disturbing movie.

Taking a long Sunday morning walk on the windy streets.

All in all, a pretty good weekend!

Crossing the Bridge

2011-05-27T13:58:00.004+02:00

It's a privilege to get to spend the summer in a great city like Malmö, right next to another great city like Copenhagen. And with the Öresund bridge, it's so easy to go explore the Danish capital. So yesterday, we crossed the bridge for Allan's work meeting and some hanging out.

Ecoego, a little store specialized in ecological and organic products.

A beautiful mess.

I visited a couple of vintage stores, but unfortunately came out empty-handed.

Organic is the word in Copenhagen.

It's not just Finnish railroads that manage to mess up everything.

The day ended in a drawing & drinking hangout with some comics artist in Malmö. Here's my attempt.

Run to you

2011-05-25T19:50:00.002+02:00

Malmö, Malmö, how I've missed you. The glorious parks, the lively streets, the incomprehensible Swedish dialect. And our little home, where we've been hanging out today. Part working, part taking it easy.

We did step out a couple of times, though - first to go for a walk in the park, then to get Allan proper running shoes and sports gear! He still isn't quite sure how it happened, but during the winter he agreed to start exercising with me come summer. And now I'm making him live up to his word. This should be interesting!

Whee!

2011-05-24T16:39:00.000+02:00

Time to revive this little blog, there's another Malmö summer ahead! At the moment I'm at Helsinki airport, waiting to board my plane to Copenhagen in fifteen minutes. Hooray for free wifi - they even had it on the plane! Norwegian, I salute you.

I'll spend about three months in Malmö. Part of that is spent working, but there'll be lots of time for play & pleasure. I'll be reporting my adventures on an irregularly regular basis!

Time to say... See you soon!

2010-08-23T11:46:00.000+02:00

Well, this is it. My bags are packed, I've done the SMS check-in, I've said bye to the people I spent my summer with. It's been 80 days, almost three months, and it's time to go home - the other home, anyway. Being the sentimentalist that I am, during the last couple of days I've been crying my eyes out, thinking of the heart-breaking goodbye looming around the corner. And now it's just a couple of hours away. Where the hell did the summer go?

Parks and picnics. Marketplaces. Shopping malls. Work. Road trips. Train trips. Meeting the family, meeting the friends. Cooking, eating out a lot. Baking. Munching. Five seasons of Lost, one season of Fringe. Movie nights, at home and out on the town. Groceries. Dishes. Laundry. Hoovering. Whiskey, wine and even champagne. Discussions, disagreements. Fights and tantrums. Kiss and make up. More kisses. Gentle touch. Waking up together. An overwhelming feeling of loving and being loved. That's where the summer went.

And now the summer's ending. But only the summer. For us, it's just the beginning.

-Karoliina

Minority Report

2010-08-11T17:50:00.000+02:00

Oh wow, I must be the worst blogger ever. I think I made a fundamental error in the beginning, writing long and comprehensive posts that took forever to write. Short posts on a more regular basis would have been the way to go, but it's kinda too late now. But if I ever start a blog again, I'll be wiser.

At the moment, I have less than 2 weeks left before I return to Finland. It's hard for me to say "before I go home", because I feel I am at home. Mentally and physically. I've left my mark on this apartment, and it feels as much like home as my apartment in Oulu. And it's not just the stuff I've dragged in of course, it's the everyday life we've shared for more than 2 months now. Our own habits and routines. It's gonna suck so bad not to have those.

But it's not time for goodbyes yet. I still have lots of wonderful days left. And I have a great summer behind me. It's not a given that long-distance relationships stand the challenges of everyday life, and I've heard of cases where couples broke up pretty soon after finally living in the same city. Naturally we've had our challenges as well, combining the lives of two grown-ups with very different pasts. Not to mention operating in a foreign language. But luckily, our challenges have mostly been minor things. Things like how high should pictures hang on the wall and what can you recycle and what not. On the bigger things we pretty much agree, and as for the smaller things - well, we've been trying to learn the subtle art of compromising.

The whole summer hasn't been smooth sailing, though. I've had some quite disturbing, yet very healthy experiences of being in a minority. I always knew that the Swedes think that us Finns have a funny way of speaking Swedish, and that maybe in their eyes we're a bit uncool - they used to rule us for centuries, afterall. But during this summer, I've had experiences I never thought a Scandinavian could have within Scandinavia. I've felt slightly discriminated, nothing serious but still a very uncomfortable feeling of being ignored and neglected due to being Finnish and not speaking fluent Swedish. A feeling of being an outsider. And let me tell you, it feels very insulting and degrading. It has nothing to do with our circle of friends, quite on the contrary. Everybody I knew before and everybody I've met have been very nice and very patient with my deficient language skills, understanding that I really want to learn and therefore, I need to practice. The problems have been elsewhere, on a more official level. But like I said, it's also been healthy. I have a bit better understanding of what real "outsiders" might experience here in our "tolerant" Scandinavia.

Only when you have to operate with a foreign language for a longer time, you realise the incredible importance of language. With insufficient language skills, you feel like an insufficient person. Whatever you have inside you, whatever you're thinking and feeling, you can't quite express. A lot of the time you decide not to say anything instead of saying it wrong, or stopping in the middle of the sentence because you're missing a key word. You get scared that the people you're talking to will roll their eyes, look bored or awkward and walk away with some lame excuse. That's definitely something I'll try to remember next time I'm talking to someone who speaks less than fluent Finnish. And no matter how uncomfortable it's been at times, I think it's something all of us self-righteous majority members should experience.

Was that enough Swede-bashing for 3 weeks' worth? Good. And for the record, I still think the Swedes are awesome and that Sweden is a country I one day (soon) want to live in. There.

-Karoliina

Sunday Morning Yellow Sky

2010-07-25T20:08:00.000+02:00

This is what Sundays should be like. Exploring an open-air flea market and discovering hidden, inexpensive treasures. Stuffing your face at a munchy brunch buffet. Going for a long walk out in the fresh, windy weather. Coming home to take a bubble bath and enjoy a delicious meal your significant other made you. Perfection!

During my walk, I had a less pleasant experience. When I'm out walking, I usually go where my nose is pointing. It's a great way to discover new places. But today, I suddenly found myself in a rather shady neighbourhood. The buildings were ugly, there was garbage on the streets (and we're talking Sweden here - there's no garbage on the streets). I should have realised I was heading in the wrong direction when I saw a fence with nails on top of it, five centimeters from each other, covering the whole top of the fence. And sign after sign with the text "neighbours against crime". Nothing happened to me, but I felt highly uncomfortable, and I could feel some hostile looks on me. It was one of those places where you can just smell the hopelessness, despair and hatred.

I guess I was faced with the other side of the "folkhem", and reminded that despite the pretty parks and such, this is a big city with the problems of a big city. And of course Malmö is world-famous for social problems in certain areas, often associated with immigration. But as I got out of the shady area, I soon arrived at Möllevången (which I stubbornly misspelled in my last post) and realised something. Möllan is an immigrant district, with lots of foreigners and exotic stores. But it's also one of the liveliest, most exciting areas in Malmö. The atmosphere there is very friendly, I've never felt threatened of uncomfortable there. It feels like the immigrants and original population have blended and formed a genuine community. It was clearly visible during the Möllevångfestival, and I heard that that's what the festival was actually founded for - learning to know each other by partying together, basically. Sounds like a brilliant concept! It would be great to see more initiatives like that, in Finland as well. Embracing diversity instead of fearing it.

Speaking of fear, I'm so hooked on Lost again I can't believe it. Before coming to Sweden, I was watching season 5. Allan has never really watched the series, so together we started watching from the beginning. I thought it might be boring, but it's almost just as exciting, and it's fascinating to look for stuff I didn't get on the first round. Lost is some great storytelling!

So let's push play. Bye.

-Karoliina

There Goes the Neighbourhood

2010-07-23T19:41:00.000+02:00

Yay, weekend! And a great way to start it was Möllevågnsfestivalen, a festival "from the people, to the people". It takes place in the district of Möllevågnen, a very colourful and lively district with lots of exotic little shops and cool cafés and restaurants. Yes, it's what some might refer to as "multicultural", but in the bestest way.

From what I've gathered, the festival is run and organized by volunteers, and anybody can participate. There's performances of all sorts, street markets, yard sales, free yoga lessons, a wonderful mix of everything the district has to offer. I read about a fashion show by local designers, and at the street market you could buy unique clothing, jewelry etc. made by people living in Möllevågnen, or Möllan like it's usually called. When I was checking their website earlier, I noticed there was a "wish list", a list of smaller and bigger stuff they hoped people would donate or borrow to make the festival possible. So it really is from the people!

At the counter of the restaurant where we ate, I saw a piece of paper asking people to sign up for volunteering at the festival. There was one name, with no phone number or adress, and in the "what would you like to do" column they'd written "have fun, get drunk". But I suppose that's a one-off, since the festival seemed pretty big and well-organized.

They advertise these as best pizza in town. Hell yeah!

I bought these at the street market, at the incredibly
pretty booth you can see above.

This is some actual street culture, all the people coming together to offer each other a unique experience. Walking by a booth after booth of the most imaginative creations, looking at the colourful mix of people, I kept wondering if something like this would be possible in Finland. Claiming the streets for two days, turning a part of a city into a festival. Would be worth trying, anyway!

Now that I got started on posting pretty pictures, I might as well post a few from last weekend. On Saturday, me and Allan visited my colleague from work. The evening started with a great dinner and ended, well, after maaany glasses of wine, champagne, beer and, to make sure we go overboard, whisky. But let's not get into that, let's look at the pretty table Sari-Anna made instead.

On Sunday, after some very painful and hungover cooking and cleaning, we had our Icelandic friends over for tortillas. How grown-up is that?! Instead of watching MTV munching chips and dip, we were making our own guacamole. Oh but trust me, we've had those other types of Sundays as well.

I don't know if Monday is becoming a movie night or something, last week we went to see Sex and the City 2, and this Monday we saw When you're strange, a documentary about The Doors. It was pretty entertaining, loads of archive material - and Johnny Depp as the narrator! Still, it didn't really offer anything new, and I felt like there wasn't much depth to it. But there are worse ways to spend a Monday night than looking at Jim Morrison and listening to Johnny Depp's voice for 90 minutes, so I'm not complaining.

Today, I have precisely one month left of my time here. It seems way too little, and thinking of my departure is just breaking my heart. But then again, a month is a long time, and last winter me and Allan would have given anything to spend a month together. So instead of mourning about my time running out, I should enjoy it.

...

In fact, I think I'll turn off the computer and do just that.

-Karoliina

In the land of smørrebrød

2010-07-17T10:22:00.000+02:00

Man it's hot. Absolutely suffocating. I do like summer, but this endless heat seems to drain all my energy. And it's really been record-breaking hot, in the neighbouring city Lund they measured the highest temperature since 1753. But I suppose I have to try and enjoy it while I can...

And so we spent last weekend in equally hot Denmark. It was a great trip, I got to meet Allan's mother as well as one of his oldest and bestest friends. Allan's mother is a very sweet lady, the kind of woman who asks if you want a few simple sandwiches and then loads the table with everything from fish filets to meatballs to tons of different types of cheese. (The Danes do like their sandwiches, or smørrebrød, and living with a Dane, I've realised that there's so much more you can put on a sandwich than cheese and ham.) It's a shame we don't share a language, but we found means of communicating combining Danish, Swedish, a little translation help and lots of hand gestures. But maybe I should start learning some Danish. Or learn to speak and understand it, written Danish I can somewhat grasp but the pronunciation... Blimey.

Anyways, we spent Saturday at Allan's mom's place in Ejby, then hopped on a train to Fredericia where we met Allan's old friend from high school and his wife. Wonderful people, and a really nice evening that consisted of eating well, having drinks and going to the beach to play with their two dogs.

View from a bridge, approaching Fredericia.

Zenia's munchy food.

Teh beach.

Janus and Zenia.

Instant friendship with Nemo and Fenris.

Long live Denmark.

Graveyards don't need to be gloomy.

Denmark was great, and we're planning on doing some more travelling there in August. This week in Sweden has been quite active. On Monday we went to see Sex and the City 2 (he volunteered, I swear!) which was quite boring actually. I love the series, and compared to that, the movies seem like candy floss. Very cute and pretty but nothing really in it. Tuesday was a special night, we had dinner with Allison who was also an exchange student in Malmö in 2005 and is now travelling Europe with her friend and sisters. With my Icelandic friend who also lives in Malmö, it was like a mini-reunion.

Allison is wearing the white t-shirt, Smári is the guy in
the back and Allan is the hairy one.

There was lots of reminiscing, we had some fantastic times back in the good old 2005. There's actually going to be a bigger reunion in late August, I really hope it won't be just me and Smári who show up.

Apart from movies and dinners, we've spent time treasure-hunting at flea markets and decorating the apartment. We've both been busy with work as well, and I've gotten to drive around in Skåne some more. I'm starting to know the area better and better!

Now it's time to go make some decadent sandwiches. Trevlig helg allihopa!

-Karoliina

Points and Views

2010-07-08T22:45:00.000+02:00

Oopsie, it's been quite a while. Days just go by so fast. I guess it's a good sign, my life here has really fallen into place. I've been here a bit over a month now, but in a way it feels like I've been here forever. I feel like I belong here. And it's not that I don't like my life back in Finland - on the contrary - but it's also been a good opportunity to sit back and think about my life and what I want to do with it. I've always felt that new situations are the best way to learn about yourself, it's like your personality's being shaken up like a snow globe and you can see different parts of yourself from a new angle.

There's also a downside to getting too comfortable with my new everyday life, the risk of not making the most of my precious time here. You know how you never really visit the sights and other interesting places in your hometown cause you can do it anytime? It's the same effect, feeling like I've got all the time in the world so "let's just stay home tonight". And that's great of course, especially since it's something we don't usually get to do, but I try to make sure we get out and explore. My job sees to that as well, and this week I've visited a couple of big summer events outside Malmö. It means I also got to drive around Skåne, and it's so beautiful out there! I really wish I could take pictures while driving (but don't worry, mom, I won't!).

Speaking of pictures, here's some random shots around the city. Malmö is a great place to be in the summer.

This weekend, however, we're getting out of Malmö and travelling deep into the Danish countryside to visit Allan's mother. She lives on the island of Funen, and I'm looking forward to the train trip across (what I hope to be) beautiful landscapes. But mostly I'm looking forward to getting there, since I'll be meeting Allan's mother for the first time. We don't really share a language, but I'm sure that things will go just fine. It'll also be great to see my boyfriend's childhood, well, hoods.

Here's some of our hoods in Malmö, two views from our balcony. But first, the greatest vase I've ever seen (and it's mine now). Have a great weekend, stay in bed and drink champagne if you want to!

-Karoliina

Confessions of a Party Girl

2010-06-28T21:11:00.000+02:00

I might officially be a grown-up now. My midsummer was very nice and laid-back, instead of drunken crowds and binge drinking and late-night karaoke sessions it was all about spending lots of time in the kitchen cooking, picnics and other forms of outdoors life, and very moderate alcohol consumption. And I didn't mind at all! I suppose it's only healthy that when you start reaching 30, you find other ways of celebrating than being drunk out of your skull. (OK, some exaggeration there, but you get the point.) You also start appreciating being able to go jogging on midsummer Sunday morning, instead of crawling to the nearest shop for cola and chips.

Some years ago, I would have found this extremely sad, boring and middle-aged. Now I just find it refreshing. I've had some really great years being single and partying, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I think it's very advisable to enjoy life on your own when you're young, there'll be plenty of time for responsibilities and commitments later on in life. But it's also good to realise when it's time to move on, cause eventually, what's more sad - an ex party girl with Sunday morning workouts and lots of great memories, or a middle-aged party girl who doesn't realise the party's over?

But to get back to where I started, here's some pictures of my grown-up midsummer.

Pildammsparken in midsummer evening sun.

OK well some drunken crowds anyway...

Midsummer picnic. Strawberries and potatoes included!

Today, it was time to get back to reality - and my first radio broadcast. In my job as a news reporter, I've gotten used to short live broadcasts, and in the past I've also done some live reports. During my studies, I hosted some longer shows, but that was several years ago. (A funny detail: the last song I played on my last school radio show was the first song in today's broadcast. And our music is being chosen in Stockholm.) All in all, live broadcasts aren't exactly new to me, but I was still kinda nervous - there are all those buttons and slides and jingles and at the same time I need to sound like talking to the microphone is the only thing on my mind. But I'm happy to say that I didn't really fuck up, no wrong buttons or introducing the wrong interview or anything. And it was fun, once I got over my nerves. Can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!

After I left the office, I sat down at Gustav Adolfs torg, a marketplace in the heart of Malmö. I could suddenly see myself there, five years ago, life flashbacks in a movie. There I was, going to that café after arriving at Malmö and checking in to the hostel I spent my first night in. And there I was a couple of months later, shopping for halloween accessories at H&M with some exchange student pals. And here I was, going home after a day at work. In Malmö. Life sure has its twists and turns.

The one with the brown marquise is the one I'm talking about.

A little glimpse of Gustav Adolfs torg.

Malmö says over and out. Have a great week!

-Karoliina

Like the Midnight Sun

2010-06-25T17:33:00.000+02:00

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!

Princess, Half a Kingdom etc.

2010-06-21T00:31:00.000+02:00

What a beautiful wedding! I'm talking about crown princess Victoria and Daniel Westling of course. They said "I do" yesterday in Stockholm, and Sweden was watching, in tears. I know I was. Despite being a bigass royal spectacle, the atmosphere of the wedding was surprisingly relaxed and down-to-earth. And so full of love! It was wonderful to look at the bride and groom, they seemed to be so in love and just immensely happy. This picture from SVTs wedding blogger, Ebba von Sydow, says it all.

There's something so fascinating about the whole story, an ordinary guy marrying a princess. I suppose that's the key, Daniel Westling brings the mysterious, intriguing royalty closer to us all. And the story isn't unique, of course, in the past years Scandinavian monarchies have seen several love stories between an ordinary person and a prince or a princess. Watching Daniel's parents throughout the day, I kept wondering what they're thinking of right now. Eva and Olle from a little village called Ockelbo, sitting among Europe's royalty, being one of the most important guests at a historic event. Sure they've had many years to get used to the idea of their son dating a princess, but still it must be kinda mind-blowing. Well, I'm sure one of the things they were thinking of was "well done, son!"

The Swedish press seems to be very satisfied with the wedding, and no wonder. The marrying couple was absolutely radiant, the dress was beautiful and elegant, the speeches were touching, even the weather was good. Like Aftonbladet put it, "we wanted magic - and we got it." Sweden certainly got its magic moment. Personally, I was delighted to see a little bit of Finland as well. Our president Tarja Halonen and her spouse Pentti Arajärvi were among the guests, and during dinner I was happy to see them engaging in conversations with other guests - and felt sorry for them when they were looking lonely, they were sitting quite far away from each other. But I'm sure they had a blast. Another Finnish input was having Mark Levengood as one of SVTs reporters out on the town during the day. Levengood is a journalist, and one of the most well-known and most popular Finns in Sweden. The little nationalist in me was happy to see him in such an important role. And he's really good, too!

Now that the wedding mania is vaning, I wonder what the Swedes will be obsessing with next: royal babies, or princess Madeleine's love life? There's always something to obsess with the royals. I won't have time for that, though. I'll have my hands full with my summer job, and it's starting tomorrow. But I'm sure if an ordinary guy from Ockelbo can rise to the occasion and become a prince, I can handle this!

-Karoliina

Happy Worker

2010-06-18T21:59:00.000+02:00

So, my lay days are about to end, and on Monday I'm starting my summer job. I was lucky enough to get a job at a Finnish radio station called Sisuradio. That means I'll get to work in my own field, media, and in Finnish. Sisuradio is a part of the publish broadcasting company of Sweden, Sveriges Radio, and it's a national channel with local offices around the country. The main offices are in Stockholm. I'll be doing interviews and reports as well as hosting the regional broadcasts. I'm excited but a little bit nervous as well. It's always frightening to start a new job and this takes place in a region I don't know that well, and I'll have to use quite a lot of Swedish. But I do like challenges so this should be just the thing for me.

As for my Swedish skills, it's going better all the time. It's a language I've heard all of my life as my mom is bilingual, and I've also studied it for years. Still, it's been a challenge to start actually using it since it's just so much easier with English. But after coming here, I've made sure to speak Swedish whenever I can, and it's starting to pay off. It's just funny how much it varies from day to day, one day I feel like I can express myself very well and have decent conversations, then the next day it's a challenge to have the most simple little small talk. But I guess that's part of the process. Oh and it doesn't really help that I'm living in an area with the most difficult dialect in Sweden. My boyfriend told me that when he first moved to Sweden, he noticed that Scanian (the dialect of the Skåne region) was the only one they would text on Swedish TV. No wonder it's hard for me then.

But now it's time to put my language skills to a test. I'm starting my job on Monday, and right away I'll be sent to do an interview in Swedish. And not only that, I'll also have to drive to another city. I've never driven a car around here so here's hoping the car has a navigator. It'll go fine I'm sure, and at least the Swedes had the decency to switch to right-hand traffic decades ago.

First it's time to relax with a serious TV marathon, though - Saturday is the day of the royal wedding! They had an article in the newspaper today, asking different experts how to survive the marathon. So: loose clothes - check. Proper breakfast - check. Healthy munchies - check. One advice was to come to an agreement with your man about dividing TV time between the wedding and the football world championships, but luckily my man couldn't care less about football. So, let the royal games begin!

-Karoliina

Prime Time

2010-06-15T19:31:00.000+02:00

First off, I’m pretty relieved with the choice for Finland’s new prime minister, Mari Kiviniemi. A good while ago, our then prime minister and the leader of the Center party Matti Vanhanen announced that he’d resign in June. Therefore, the party would have to elect a new leader who’d also become the new prime minister. On Saturday, the 41-year-old Mari Kiviniemi beat her older male contestants and will now become Finland’s second female prime minister – except that the first one only held the post for two months before she was forced to resign due to using classified information during her campaign. Let’s hope it goes better for Kiviniemi. Her victory was covered in the Swedish press as well. Dagens Nyheter, which is the biggest newspaper in Sweden, described her as fresh and uncorrupted by scandals, but not so colourful and quite distant, and not even a husband working in advertisement has managed to add colour. However, according to DN there are people who think that this might change now that Kiviniemi will have the highest power. All in all, DN presumes that Mari Kiviniemi is the only party leader candidate who has even theoretical possibilities of saving the Center party. Dunno about that, but it’ll be very interesting to see what happens with a youngish female prime minister after all those grumpy old men.

Sweden is also pretty occupied with politics at the moment. The parliamentary elections will be held in the autumn, and you can definitely tell by the amount of polls and political debates and speculations. I’ve been trying to get a hang of it all, since soon I’ll be working at a radio station and have to know what’s going on in this country.

This week is not about politics, however. It’s the week of the royal wedding! Crown princess Victoria will marry her long-term boyfriend Daniel Westling on Saturday, and the whole country’s going nuts. Seriously, I knew it would be a big deal, but I had no idea just how big. It’s everywhere. They have all sorts of special products, ranging from fridge magnets to chocolate to china. Shops have special displays of stuff related to the wedding and the royal family. The tabloids invite people to send their regards which will then be printed and sent to the royal couple. Last weekend, one of the TV channels broadcast wedding-related movies every night. One of the most overboard things I’ve seen was a campaign at our neighbouring mall, where they were searching for a look-a-like couple who’d be styled and photographed in royal style – and I bet that’s not even among the worst. They’re really making the most of it! But no wonder, the wedding will be a historic spectacle that costs about 15 million euros. I’ll certainly be glued to the TV on Saturday... Unless I want to go to a nearby park, Folkets Park, where they’re showing the whole thing from a big screen. Naturally, you can also get married in the park. I heard that June 19^th is a very popular wedding day this year, but come on! What bride wants to compete for attention with a princess?!

"The wedding is more fun on a big screen."

"Get married here on June 19th."

So that’s what’s going on in the kingdom. As for me, I’m still on holiday, and living accordingly. Yesterday, I met up with a couple of old friends, and we ended up in the aforementioned Folkets Park to look at some animals with the other friend’s 2-year-old son.

Scandinavian cooperation: Therèse from Sweden,
Smári from Iceland and Karoliina from Finland.

Per Albin Hansson doesn't seem to like Folkets Park.

Today I took a walk and discovered another great park called Pildammsparken. I don’t know why, but Malmö is just full of awesome parks! If only the weather would get better, I’m craving to go out for picnics and drinking wine in the sun. So far the summer here hasn’t been too kind, it was glorious during my first weekend but after that it’s been rainy and grey and chilly. Not nice! I’m in the South, goddamned!

Umm, ok.

Oh and KISS stopped by. We couldn't be bothered to go to the concert, but that wasn't even necessary cause we could hear it from our balcony and even see the fireworks. Now I'll have to find out if there'll be some concerts over the summer that might actually interest me.

Puss o kram!

-Karoliina

Seven Days a Week

2010-06-11T20:45:00.000+02:00

It's been a week already, but so far only one blog post - I've been too busy enjoying my life instead of writing about it. And there's been a lot to enjoy: exploring Malmö and its streets, shops, cafés and restaurants, catching up with old friends and meeting new people, finding out new things about Sweden and the Swedes, and first and foremost, settling to everyday life with my boyfriend. After all those months of being apart, it's wonderful to wake up together every day and just do normal things like laundry, groceries, cooking, cleaning and watching TV. In the long run, and in "ordinary" relationships, those things usually become a bore, but real happiness lies in things like your partner offering to take out the trash for you. Skype won't do that. So appreciate everyday life while you can.

I think it's about time to show you the neighbourhood. We live on Per Albin Hanssons väg, about 3 kilometres from the centre of the city. Our street is named after a Second World War era prime minister who was born here. Well actually, here:

Here's Per Albin himself, his very own pub and one of the cute street signs on his street:

Our friend Per Albin wasn't born in a bad neighbourhood at all, it's very pretty around here. Lovely houses and blossoming gardens, plus a chestnut tree fit for Totoro.

Our house and our part of the street aren't as pretty, though. But, we live right next to a big mall, and we have a video rental store right downstairs so it's not that bad. We even have our own little wino gang, enjoying their summer days in the park across the street.

My first week in Sweden has been smooth sailing. The only thing interfering with our peaceful being has been graduating students driving around in convertibles and trucks, honking and shouting. That's another thing you don't see in Finland. But sure, they've earned their celebrations. I just hope they shut up soon cause I sure as hell have earned some peace and quiet!

-Karoliina

Du gamla, Du fria

2010-06-06T20:26:00.000+02:00

So here I am! I've just spent my first weekend in warm, summery Malmö, and it's been awesome. Like I predicted, all stress and worries were gone with the wind once I got here. Now it's all about lazy, hazy summertime bliss. (Until I start my summer job, anyway.)

Finland and Sweden have a very special relationship. After being a part of the Swedish kingdom for centuries, Finland is a bit like a little brother, jealous of what big brother has and does. But we don't admit that of course, we disguise it with jokes and detraction. Well, I like Sweden and the Swedes. I think they're generally more open, social and friendly than Finns. I really feel at home here.

Today happens to be Sweden's national day. And their way of celebrating is quite different from ours. In Finland, independence day is serious business. We have pompous ceremonies and soldiers marching and it's all very dignified. What do the Swedes do? They put up little flags on buses and set up a stage in the middle of the market square where they have entertainment ranging from new circus to a concert by the Idols winner. They wear t-shirts in Sweden's colours and go out in the park to have a picnic. Sure, it's early June opposed to our 6th of December, but that can't be the only reason. The Swedes celebrate their country, we treat our independence like a relic. Maybe it's because independence is such a new thing to us afterall, less than a 100 years. I guess it's easier to be laid-back about it if you've been independent for a thousand years or so.

We decided to do as the natives and have a picnic in Slottsparken, an amazing and huge oasis right next to the centre:

So, congrats Sweden on your national day! Thanks for letting me be a part of folkhemmet for three months, I think we'll get along just fine!

-Karoliina

P.S. I do have the little brother syndrome as well: hearing the national anthem felt like a stab, thanks to hearing it so many times after yet another hockey disappointment...

I Believe I Can Fly?

2010-06-03T23:12:00.001+02:00

This is it, then. My bags are packed, almost the entire 28 kilos they allow. (Dragging my luggage to the airport by bus will be a nice morning workout.) My home is ready to be "abandoned" for three months. I had bye-bye dinner with my sister and our friend. I even said bye to my sister's chipmunks.

As if it wasn't stressful enough to try to remember everything, Blue1 arranged a nice little surprise by sending me an SMS in the afternoon, saying my flight was cancelled. My first thought was, goddam volcanic ash, not again! But na-ah, it was a good old strike. Pilots gone ballistic about something. Now, I do believe that people should have the right to go on strike if they're being treated unfairly. But, after six months of combining frequent flying with endless strikes, delays, lost luggage, technical problems and - when all else failed - volcanic ash, I do believe in my right to skin these pilots alive. Seriously, I'm this close to getting rid of airlines for three months, and that's when you start misbehaving?!

At the moment things are looking good, though. They booked me on another flight, then cancelled that, but booked me on a third one. After queuing for ages on their service line, of course. All they did voluntarily was send me a text message.

Anyways, better go to bed and hope I won't be woken up by any unpleasant messages. Bon voyage to me, see you guys in Sweden!

-Karoliina

A Royal Mess

2010-06-02T11:41:00.000+02:00

What's a better way to prepare for a long stay in Sweden than watching a documentary about the royal family? Nothing! A Finnish channel just broadcast the first episode of a documentary series about the Swedish royalty. Sure, monarchy is pretty outdated in today's world and only serves a ceremonial purpose and costs a hell of a lot of money, but I do have a sweet tooth for that stuff. I mean, come on! They have castles and horse carriages!

I couldn't care less about that tabloid thing they've got going on these days, scrutinizing the royal family members' every step and reporting their every move. Same goes for other celebrities. Who really cares? But to get an authorized glimpse into the life of the royalty, I just find it fascinating. Like a whisper from a forgotten world. A world that, for the most part, deserved to be forgotten, but it's nice that the romantic and elegant parts live on. I definitely wouldn't want to be a part of any royalty, but the fantasy appeals to the little girl in me.

Anyways, it's weird to think that I won't be here to catch the next episode. Or the ones after that. I've been sick for the past few days so I've been watching a lot of TV, and I've discovered a lot of programmes I won't see. I won't be able to attend my favourite festivals either. But hey, who cares about TV or festivals when I have a whole new adventure ahead of me, and with an amazing person!

It's getting real close now, about 30 hours and I'll be on my way. I came down with a badass stomach flu on Sunday, so for 2,5 days I could hardly remember where I was, let alone think of where I was going. Today I started packing for real, and I've now got 10 kilos of clothes packed up. I'm allowed to take 28 kilos in total, but maybe I'll save some space for the return trip - you know, for royal souvenirs!

-Karoliina

P.S. Can't wait to see the royal mayhem when princess Victoria gets married on June 19th...

Tickets to fly

2010-05-28T20:43:00.000+02:00

And then one day, the girl bought flights with the return date three months ahead. Now, I know I said I'd be buying a one-way ticket, but those bastards cost as much as return tickets! Buying a one-way ticket would be romantic of course, but since I know around when I need to be back in Finland, and since airlines have been getting their fair share of my money lately anyway, I decided to be practical about it. But one day, my friends, one of these days...

Booking the flights calmed me down. Now I have a set time, and by then I simply have to be ready with everything. It'll be great to change the scene completely, I've had such a hectic winter and getting away from my everyday surroundings will help me unwind. And man, do I need to unwind!

So, what kind of scene will I be going to? A pretty nifty little scene, I would say. Malmö is Sweden's third largest city, and has around 290 000 inhabitants. Still, especially the central parts are really easy to grasp. It's an old city, and you can definitely tell by the pretty houses around the centre. (I happen to loooove old, pretty houses!) It's quite a vivid city, too. Malmö is an old industrial city, but lately it's been striving to become known as a cultural city. From what I know, they've done a pretty good job, too. The comics scene definitely seems to be booming, and there's even a new festival on the way. All in all, it's a really nice city with a lot to offer.

It's pretty, don't you agree? These pictures were taken last autumn, during my fateful trip to Malmö. They don't exactly fit with the present season, but so far I don't have any summer pictures from Malmö. That'll change soon, though! A week from now, I'll be posting brand new pics from summery Malmö. Ooh the joy!

Oh, and I suppose I need to start packing. Three months and 20 kilos, let's see how that works out...

-Karoliina

La-la-la-la life goes on

2010-05-26T16:18:00.000+02:00

Festive spirit is in the air, let me tell you. My little sister graduated yesterday, and the day was full of graduation ceremonies, celebratory Indian meals, partying and karaoke (my personal favourite). And it didn't end there, I'm now in my hometown Kemi to help my mom prepare for Saturday's graduation party. You know, the kind with family friends and catering and gift boxes from a jeweller.

My sister now has a BA in Journalism, from an institution that translates as "university of applied sciences". I finished the same degree three years ago, and watching the graduates' celebration made me feel nostalgic. All that enthusiasm mixed with confusion: what happens now, am I really ready for working life, will I lose contact with these people I just shared four years of my life with, is this the last time I'm ever walking through these doors?

Change is scary. It's a step into the unknown, without knowing whether the things you've learned so far will carry you through what lies ahead. But the thing is, you learned that stuff going through the previous unknown. And the one before that. Change is very liberating, nothing beats the feeling of taking a leap of faith and then realising that things are working out just fine.

That's why I'm looking forward to my next leap of faith, my summer in Sweden. Sure, a lot of people do much more radical things, but to me it's a pretty big issue to go live and work in another country, even if it's just the neighbouring monarchy. I'm starting a brand new job, that includes using a language I'm far from being fluent in. I'll be away from my family and friends. I'll be living with another person for the first time in my life. I'm not completely familiar with the surroundings and circumstances I'll be living in. All in all, a lot of stress factors. But I'm not worried, really, cause I know from experience that things will work out. And it's such a great chance to learn new things and grow.

This is the hardest part, the waiting and anticipation. The uncertainty without a chance to do anything about it. Once I get there, I'll be in the situation and I'll know what it's like. Now I can only guess. I suppose that's what keeps so many people from making changes in their lives: it's not the change itself, it's the inability to bear the uncertainty beforehand. What's so fearsome in change is fear itself.

But let's not get too gloomy, it's the season of happy parties afterall. And right now, I'm off to make meatballs with three kids between 2 and 6 years old. And if I don't make it on time, I'll really have something to be scared of.

-Karoliina

It all began a long time ago...

2010-05-25T22:17:00.001+02:00

Once there was a Finnish girl with a weird fascination for the neighbouring monarchy called Sweden. She wanted to take a closer look and decided to spend one semester as an exchange student in Malmö, located in Southern Sweden. She met some great people, had the time of her life, and thought it was a city she could consider living in. During her studies in Malmö högskola, she attended a lecture about comics and flipped through a magazine that contained a comics reportage about the comics festival of her hometown, Kemi. Despite hardly ever visiting the festival, for a moment she felt like home.

Four years later, by a twist of fate, she returned to Malmö as a representative of that festival. She was quite happy with her life, studying in a university and living in a city she loved. But during that weekend in Malmö, she was introduced to a long-haired Danish comics artist - and nothing would ever be the same again.

Now it's been more than six months of travelling back and forth about once a month, spending sleepless nights talking on Skype, maxing out our phone bills and longing, longing, longing. But there's light at the end of the tunnel: in less than ten days, I'll be flying to Copenhagen to spend my summer in Malmö. It'll be a whole new experience in so many ways, and I'm both super-thrilled and a bit frightened. This blog will be a way for me to reflect on things, and for you to follow my adventure in the Swedish society. Välkommen!

But first, there are so many things to take care of. The least of which isn't booking the flights. Is it even possible to book a one-way flight these days?