Spring in Finland ♥

 This spring I was volunteering at global.me project in Tampere, Finland.
 
Global.me is a national project of AIESEC Finland supported by European Voluntary Service and it is basically about enriching the multiculturalism and culture diversity among the youth in Finland.

     

I already wrote my thoughts about the project at official globalme.org blog, but here are - in photos mostly - gathered memories about my last two months in Finland.

Our journey started in the middle of April

Together with 11 other volunteers from Romania, Italy, Slovakia, China, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria I spent first week in Finland at Ahlman School in Tampere. We were getting to know each other as also we got to know Finnish educational system, their culture and all the cool, funny and weird Finnish habits (;

 -our classroom and our class- 

Improving our presentation and improvisational skills, brainstorming, planning and creating workshops was on the daily to-do list.

And breaks after the hard work followed ;)

-"barbecue" at Ahlman School; pancakes and coffee-

During first week training we also visited school´s surroundings and city of Tampere..

 -View on Pyhäjärvi lake in Tampere; on the way to Pyynikintori-

..we found some nice view points..

-view from the Tower-

 ..and after seeing Tampere from above, we check also its indoor places :)

 

Week of training passed bye very fast and after training we went to AIESEC national conference in Vantaa. Beside of all AIESEC activities, traditions, celebrations...we notice lots of tress, really lots of squirrels and had a lot of time for chillin´ and watching lovely midnight sunsets..

..or were they sunrises? 

Well in Finland in May it is hard to tell: sun is setting after midnight, rising before three. You have a feeling that it is five in the afternoon but in reality you missed the dinner time already. I haven´t seen really dark night till going back home.. ..haven´t missed it either if I´m honest.

 

 From Vantaa to the capital

After the conference we visited Helsinki. As real tourists we had a tour around sunny capital. One of many actually. Somehow we found ourselves dragging luggage around Helsinki quite often in weeks that followed. But that is already another story ;)

There is a place near Helsinki definitely worth visiting: Suomenlinna Island. It is a historical maritime fortress and one of Finland’s most popular sights. The fortress was built in the 18th century to fortify defences at the eastern part of the Swedish Empire. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is surrounded by sea and bordered by cliffs and sandbanks.   

-Suomenlinna Sea Fortress-

-Suomenlinna Sea Fortress-

Next to beautiful nature and old cute wooden houses

you can also find some living creatures there.. marines ;)

 -marines on their daily training-

I visited Finland for the first time in summer 2010. Back there I went with a ferry from Tallin to Helsinki and I remember very well one of the little islands on the way. 
Here it is - still there :) Would be a nice place for a summer house..

 

-Island close Helsinki; on the way to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress- 

Back to the project
 
After weekend in Helsinki our big group split in three teams of four trainees. And we went to work in three cities: Tampere, Jyväskylä and Mikkeli. Start bringing our ideas, plans and the whole mission of the project to reality. My city was Tampere and I was there together with Arianna (Italy), Zuzana (Slovakia) and Valentin (Romania). And what did we actuality do there: visiting local NGOs, kindergartens, language courses and schools, creating international atmosphere among their members/pupils/kids and discussing about global issues.

For following project objectives we needed to plan some sessions and workshops..

 ..promoting our events and activities around city of Tampere..

 ..and after visiting local NGOs..

..presenting our countries..

..promoting different culture, possibilities of traveling and working abroad and being ambassadors of global citizenship..
(and convincing everyone why Slovenia should be their next destination to visit :)

We were also teaching Fins how to dance ;)..
(not as easy as it looks)

 

-forcing Finnish youth to move and cooperate with us ;)-

 -making fun of ourselves and putting us to awkward positions-

And after work some time for ourselves

We lived near Tampere in a district called Hervanta. There was a million ways how to spend our free time there and we had more than millions ideas..

..we prepared some international dinners with AIESECers..

 

..or went chilling next to our closest lake Näsijärvi..

 ..sometimes we took a walk around the lake..

..or maybe watch some ´Lego buildings´ from our terrace..

..we were enjoying the sun..

 ..preparing our guys to establish new boy band..

 ..had some picnics..

 ..putting smiles on a flatmate faces - one guy, three girls in our flat;
no further explanation needed I guess ;)..

 ..when our work was really stressful, we spent the afternoon just staring in the frozen lake..

 ..later on we were swimming in the same lake..

..and all the time keeping spirit high no matter what..

..sometimes the locals prepared us a real Finnish barbecue ♥..

..sometimes we were making some nice photos..

..sometimes we were memorizing midnight sunsets..  


..or nice views from Pispala.. 

 ..there was even a Bon Jovi concert in the town..

And if there was nothing to do in Tampere, we went on a road trip :)

 ..beep beep´m beep beep yeah ;) .. 

Next to Tampere where we worked, I visited some other places in Finland.. making lots of memories like:

..jumping into the lake after sauna in Jyväskylä..

 ..sitting on a boat in Turku, taking a beer, forgetting the time getting the sunburns :)..


..thinking wtf while watching super-size-daisy in Turku..

 ..had a look into the Olympic stadium in Helsinki..

..trying to find some Moomins in Naantali.. 


..passing the bridge and..

 ..sneak into the Moomin World, Naantali..


..visiting Improvisation shows for some high quality laugh ;)..

   ..taking home made coffee at super classy terrace in Juupajoki..
 

..had a walk around lovely Porvoo.. 

..took photos of Porvoo´s unique houses..

 ..left piece of my heart in Hameenlinna ♥

We even got the chance to took a ferry to Stockholm..




..so hello Sweden here we come..

 ..and hello Sweden, here we are!!

But there is no place like home. One of the views I miss the most
was the view on the midnight sunset from our flat in Hervanta: 

The project was well organized and I really enjoyed working there. Although it was very challenging to animate kids in kindergartens, bring attention from Finnish youngsters and cover organizational issues in a team and with NGOs - but definitely - big challenges brought big satisfaction and joy after facing them!

Places I visited, work I have done and most of all the people I have met during this six weeks created million unforgettable memories that will always stay with me. I can just say thanks to all and each of them who made this happened! You are in my ♥ 

Couldn´t imagine better spring!
. . . 

  ♥

Tanja V.