WHY NOT FINLAND?

Hei! I'm studying abroad in Oulu, Finland and people always ask "Why Finland?". I don't know why you should study abroad in Finland but I'm about to find out!

[whynotfinland]

Hei :) Sorry for the stupid question but I just HAVE to ask it to you XD In one of your photos, when you're in the bus with those guys.. is the blonde one Danish? If yes, is he called Emil? Please don't hate me :( I've been to Oulu too and it's possible that I've met him during the summer language course I attended there :) P.S. Your tumblr is just fantastic, you've been in almost all the places I visited :)

Whoa!! yes he is Danish and yes that is Emil wow this is a small world :) I don't hate you and I'm glad you like my blog. I wish I was back in Oulu so I had more to blog about

[whynotfinland]

Reasons to go to Finland: Fratelli's Pizzeria

This is mostly just to go to Oulu but this place is perhaps the best pizza I have ever eaten. It even gives Italian and New York pizza a challenge. the best part about this place is that the pizza is only 7 euro and a normali could easily be split between 2 or 3 people. It's also open late on thursday thru saturday so if your out late at night and find yourself hungry then this is the place to go!AAAANNNDDD they give university students a discount!! I would definitely go back to Oulu just to eat pizza from Fratelli's again :)

[inspirationlane]

[whynotfinland]

i miss Oulu :(

[whynotfinland]

Reasons to go to Finland : Oulu under a blanket of snow

Oulu literally has the most perfect snow I have ever seen. It is softer and whiter than powder. The people who clean the streets do such a good job that you hardly ever see dirty snow. It's a winter wonderland :)

[whynotfinland]

REASONS TO GO TO FINLAND: walking on frozen water

Before I left Oulu I finally got the chance to go to the lake by campus. The lake was frozen so we were able to walk on the lake. It was one of the coolest experiences ever!!! 

[whynotfinland]

This was a Sami Rapper that I heard in Oulu. Even though I don't understand a word he is saying he still sounds awesome. Listening to the music I heard in Finland makes unpacking alot easier :)

[whynotfinland]

ah looking at your pictures makes me miss home so much! (I'm from Oulu)

i feel the same! i just got back home but I already miss Oulu so much!! I am definitely going to have to go back to visit :)

[whynotfinland]

Bye Finland....you are one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. It's unreal how perfect your snow is!

[barfola3000]

[whynotfinland]

this is how feel now that my time in Finland is coming to an end :/

[whynotfinland]

Last Night in Oulu

As the days, hours, minutes, and seconds wind down reality is slowly creeping in. I haven't fully accepted it yet so  my departure from Oulu is more like a looming storm waiting to hit. Tonight we had our last farewell party. Everybody brought something write on to give each other messages. Things like t-shits, overalls, tote bags,  were covered with warm wishes and some just wrote on each others bodies. There were alot of hugs given, tears shed, jokes told, memories written. There was drinking, dancing, and then some more drinking. The most shocking part was that people had brought their luggage and were literally getting in a taxi for the airport right after the party. This made things real. As we were still saying our goodbyes we could see people actually leaving. Now, even though I have a train to catch to Helsinki and two more days to go before I'm back in the states I find myself unable to sleep. Leaving Oulu is like leaving for college the first time. You know that things will never be the same and that the next steps you take are ones into the future where you have to grow up and change. The one difference is that when I left for college I was excited but leaving Oulu is nothing but sadness because you are waking up from a perfect dream that wasn't a dream.

[whynotfinland]

Saying Goodbye

Today is my last day in Oulu. It's 6am and I haven't slept at all because  I don't want to lose a single minute on something stupid like sleep. Anyways this past week has been all about getting ready to go and saying goodbye to all of my friends. We had a christmas party and a few going away parties and it just keeps getting harder. These are just a few pictures of the lovely people I have met.   Part of me wants to just be home already so I can skip this heartbreak but the other part of me doesn't want to go home at all. This sucks.....someone turn time back three and a half months...

[whynotfinland]

HAD to take a picture otherwise I wouldn't have believed that I saw this. Only in Finland :) I mean really...who thought this was a good idea...

[whynotfinland]

These Finns really know how to celebrate their Independence Day. What a great night :) Also if some knows the name of this song I would really love to know it 

[whynotfinland]

While we were at the reindeer farm we got to hear some real yoiking! Yoiking is kind of like singing but it is not exactly that. It's also not yodeling. The yoiks are centered around a specific subject like  something in nature, an animal, or a person. This one is about fire So the best way to explain it is with a video. The woman in the video is the mother in the family that owns the farm. 

[whynotfinland]

The best part of studying abroad is the amazing people you meet. It sucks to think that in five days this will be over and I wont see these wonderful people anymore. This is hard. i don't want to leave.

[whynotfinland]

Sami Culture Trip: Day 5

This was the last day of our trip. We stayed the night in Inari and in the morning we went to the Siida Sami Museum and Sajos, the Sami cultural center.

The Siida museum was awesome...i just wish i wasn't so tired. We had a guided tour and that took up most of the time which sucks because i didn't get to look around that much. The second floor  was awesome because the walls displayed an image of what the area looked during each month. They also had the average temperatures for each month and other facts. The best part was that the temperatures were listed in Celsius and Fahrenheit... SCORE!!

I actually said that out loud and everyone laughed but I know the other Americans were just as relieved :D Being in Finland has improved my math and made me better at conversions, but it's nice to not have to do that when you're dead tired.  The funniest part was when our guide told us that during the summer, people liked to work outside during the evening because it was cooler....in the hottest month (July) the average temp. is 45 F/ 7 C...BAHAHA that's ridiculous!

Then we went to Sajos. We took a tour of the center and learned about their work to teach northern Sami,  Inari Sami, and Skolt Sami (3 of the 10 Sami languages) to those who didn't get to learn it or lost the language when they were young. Then we went to the gift shop where I saw a 400 euro spoon...really...i just...why...just why? Then we took a long bus ride back to Oulu. All in all it, was a great trip :)

[whynotfinland]

Sami Culture Trip: Day 4

This day was definitely the most tiring day of the whole trip. To start off I stayed up really late and only got two hours of sleep. After breakfast we went a reindeer roundup to watch how it was done. However, the round up was not happening when we got there so we head off to a different place to take a hike. We were going to hike to a river that was considered sacred to the Sami. It was said to have healing waters. After that hike we really needed healing. We were hiking in snow that went up to my knees. On top of that I am not in shape and we were the first ones to hike there since snowfall. Needless to say i was in extreme pain afterward and I fell more time than I could count. After lunch though I realized that I really enjoyed that hike. After lunch we packed up and rode to Inari (in Finland). We went to a reindeer farm where we got to feed the reindeer, practice our lassoing, and have some tea/coffee while we listened to yoiking by a fire. Yoking is kind of like singing but it is very different from it as well. I will put up a video for you guys to here