Escaping darkness on the Finnish streets

.. and another way to fight autumn mood - take a walk along the brightly lit pedestrian bridges!

@Ratina bridge, Tampere
Photo by Vasilisa Paukova

What to choose?

I recall that at the time when my interview at Her Campus (click to read) was published, my day were less hectic. Today I was being interviewed for the third time of my Helsinki life, feeling puzzled how to manage time between law studies, language studies (even though I am happy to be relieved from Finnish language studying related struggles - this all happened so many years before!), favourite hobbies (I often see dreams when I am dancing  - I miss my dance team back home), networking and just relaxing. And it is still taking into acount the fact that being Karelian, I don`t need to get adopted to challenges Nordic weather is providing us with every day. Actually, moving to Helsinki was a good way to escape first snow at the middle of November.

However, Helsinki offers so many ways to struggle with autumn worries. It starts from the Fazer cafe and shop just around the corner, continues with student events of all types being held every day, dozens of Christmas decorations which makes me get into more festive mood. Not to mention Christmas calendars  - in Russia, we are just starting to have those (and still linked to New Year`s eve date, as far as I remember). It is just pity that some of them, with surprise toys, are tied for children, not adults, as the surprises are pictured on the package sticker. I just wish there was a special edition for grown-up children as well!

 And a good advice for such a book warm as me - just escape to terrace at the 7th floor of Kaisatalo and enjoy the breath of fresh air. Good both in sunny and rainy days!

Well, it is obvious that Christmas decoration hysteria in early November is mostly done for the benefit of trade. But still, what a great way to fight off autumn depression it is. This weekend Tampere welcomed me with dozen of christmas owls, setting festive mood in my mind! 

Porthania valtaus

Speaking out worries and wishes is a custom there. In my home city, the action starts from collecting signatures whereas there it seems to start from actual communication. One may say that still public discussion doesn`t have that much weight and may be trapped in the financial difficulties or obstacles of the political will, but communication is the key point there. In conversation new ideas are born, networking is created, and I just regret a bit that I was running to the EU law lecture at the moment when I was given this leaflet. Well, my justification would be that to use mechanisms (including legal mechanisms) you need to try to get the academic grasp of them!

Nature&City

View from the window of my student apartment is so calming, helping me to struggle with actual legal problems of European consumer law! Finnish nature is not really difficult from the Karelian nature, but the attitude towards it is so different. Nature is an inevitable part of city, making it is so easy to escape from daily worries!

Recently I tried to surprise my colleagues that I have recently seen a squirrel in my student building, running from the first floor to the third. Well, actually there it is not a surprising story - some buildings have roes as permanent visitors! Not to mention hares and hedgehogs. Still when I see a hare (or rabbit?) on my way I try to run after him, so little I am used to be in close contact with nature. Hopefully, hares don`t become too scared of me.

Helsinki

Today I realised that already 3 months have passed since I came to Helsinki. It wasn`t first time I came to the Finnish capital, but first time as a student of the University of Helsinki. Three exams passed, as well as one essay, as well as one conference, and I have so many open-minded and inspiring people there from whom I can learn and whom I can try to help and inspire as well.

And, surely, I cannot refrain from making a short summary of my first assumptions of living there:

1. A small city feeling

I am a provincial girl - I mean, I am from a small city of Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, which population amounts to around 260 000. Moving to a bigger city would surely be stress for me, but not to Helsinki. You may see crowds at the streets, but not often, and even if it happens, you can easily change your route and enjoy silence of Kaisaniemi park.

And the venues are so close to each other - actually, I had to travel more in Petrozavodsk. Faculty of Law campus, cozy Kaisatalo library of the University of Helsinki, UniCafe student canteen (which was serving tasty Zambian today to support African development, actually!), student venues (where awesome debates are held), gym (I do my best to find time for yoga classes) are situated so close to each other, saving precious time. Leading law firms are also nearby, which is of less relevance for me at the moment, but still relevant, as I go to seminars to practice my legal Finnish and gain understanding of Finnish law.

2. Events

There is a common belief in Karelia that life is boring in Finland. Too boring that going there will mean sacrificing best ages of your life. I have no ideas what these beliefs are based on and what is taken as a comparison. You can actually find so many events, including free events there! I really will not forget my first experience of watching ballet outdoors - it was a chilly August evening and we had to reserve places at the steps of the Helsinki Cathedral in advance, but it was worth it. Much more events are to follow, and I am happy that I can participate in some of them (not all! exams are coming!) and even organise something. 

3.International atmosphere

I may say so much about that, but what I want to say is that you can easily learn any language there and for free. I finally started to learn Swedish: intonation is not easy to learn, but language cafe will surely help me in that. Understanding finally texts in both official language is just great, and finally I managed to grasp why svenska is such a beautiful language.

Learning Swedish

Last week I went to the Swedish language which was marked by three main things: I lacked my interned connection, I forgot to install offline dictionary but still I could get engaged in conversation!
Of course, it is not that easy and lack for words can be noticeable, but still I could get express myself.

So, tha basic idea of any language should be as follows:
1. Forget you gadgets=don`t worry that you don`t know too much
2. Don`t be afraid to ask for translation
3, Smile when you hear something you don`t understand :)
4. Improvise when forgetting words, even change topic!