#finnishexperience

[travelaround83]

Top Destinations in Finland: Your Ultimate Travel Guide!

[luvi69]

Finnishmetroexperience #finnishmetro #stolenshot #redseats #finnishexperience #alvaraaltotrip (presso Lauttasaari metro station)

[finnishchronicles]

Starting my Finnish diary..

So why am I writing a blog now? 

I moved to Finland in mid-March this year (2016) with a new design job in a Finnish social impact company (with time i will explain my job, what is a social impact company working in a Finnish design firm etc). So I am living here for about 5 months now in Finland and so far it has amazed me, surprised me, questioned my true believes, made think and re-evaluate several times who i am and what I really want, excited me, shocked me and may be driving me to live in a certain way, which I am still not sure if I love or just doing for the sake of fitting in.  

Of course everyone knows Nordic culture is different and new and their lifestyle and values are quite different from other countries. So to internalise and also relook at these experiences later in time, I thought why not share my experiences through a blog. So it might be wee bit biased and subjective !!! 

About me: I am a designer, trained in London and originally from India. 

[coffeetravelstories-blog]

H E L S I N K I // KY building. 

 Wappu, the BIGGEST party of the year for Finns. Initially to celebrate the end of the winter, it turned out to be a celebration for all Finnish students. There are some traditions, happening during two days. The 30th of April, the whole city (it doesn’t matter where you are because it happens all over Finland) gathers in the street. Students wear their overalls, sign of their belonging in a certain faculty; every faculty has its own color, depending however on the city in which you study. Every party, event, key moment of your student life will have its own badge, that you will put on the overall, which makes it unique and very personal. After partying a while in the street (at KY you get free food, free drinks and free balloons!) the tradition in Helsinki is to walk from the building to Esplanadi and to put the graduation cap on Manta (the fountain at the end of the park). Around 6, it happens, with a whole ceremony that us, exchange students, didn’t really get, but still funny to watch. Then, every graduated students put their hat on, and everyone leaves to get to the after party, a whole night of celebration. On the 1st of May, starting at 6am, EVERYONE gathers in Kaivopuisto, a huge park by the harbor. But when I say everyone, it’s unbelievable: kids, students, parents, grand-parents… It was even more impressive since well Helsinki is not the kind of city that usually has a lot of animation. The park is filled with music, balloons and they even had a bungee! We were so lucky this year to have such a beautiful weather, because it does not happen often, even the party is in May. When I arrived here in Finland, everyone told us to wait for Wappu, because it is such a big thing. You might get suspicious about it until it happens. For me, it was one of the highlight of my exchange, I lived it at a 100%. If you ever come to Finland for exchange, you have to say yes to every WAPPU party proposed to you, you won’t regret it!