Travelling Makes You Older

Well, especially when you're "roughing it" while you're travelling (as the expression goes). I have travelled rough many times over the years - from since I was a young teenager camping (I don't need no blow up mattress, just give me a sleeping bag and a tent), to the numerous long flights and overnight train journeys without a bed just a seat, and to the many early morning and late night trips where I get only a mere few hours sleep. While travelling is fun, it is also ridiculously tiring, which is always failed to mention in travel brochures, and of course, when you're tired and haven't had a decent bed to sleep on or even had the privilege to shower, you begin to look haggard resulting in you aging faster than others.

I often come home from a trip and look myself in the mirror, and quite often am revolted with my reflection, with the massive black bags hanging beneath my eyes and noticing that my attempt to control my hair has failed, now it results in a frizzy mess which makes me look slightly crazy.

It's not only the exterior of myself that looks old, but I feel old inside. My back hurts. My neck hurts, I think I pulled a muscle and now it feels cramped. I have a mark on me, possibly a bruise or I have been bitten by something harmless, but no less, they have still decided to leave a mark on me, those pesty insects. Why does it hurt when I bend my fingers? Did I sleep on my hand? I'm dehydrated. I'm exhausted. I just want to sleep until tomorrow and be bright as the sun again.

As I get older in age, I start to begin to feel like my body can't handle the travel as well as it did 3 years ago, and perhaps I have become too accustomed to my home comforts. Alas when I am trying to crack my back, I often hear myself saying "I'm getting too old for travelling rough!"

It's a lie of course, I can still easily travel rough, and enjoy it - after the side effects have worn off and I don't look like an older woman, but a jolly and bright 20 year old. Yet travelling doesn't just age you in the physical sense, it also makes you old in your mind.

The idea that travelling makes you wiser because you have gained more knowledge from the outside world is definitely true. However, while I appreciate all I have learnt from the different cultures and countries I have visited, the knowledge I have appreciated most is self-knowledge: the many epiphanies I have during moments of travel when I am away from home.

When I first went on my big trip around Europe and UK alone for the first time when I was 18, I had left my home town having pissed off many of my high school friends. This simply because I was a know-it-all and thought I was better than my local town because I was doing far greater things and seeing the world, and I left with the threatening thought in my head that I wouldn't come home and wouldn't want to come home. (In fact I think I may have said this to one of my friends, that I might not return, and instead choose to study in the UK and not in Perth). However, when I began my trip of Europe with 50 other strangers (whom I would be with for the next 2 months) I was literally like a little fish in the ocean, whereas before I had felt like a big fish in a small pond. I was the youngest of the group, freshly 18, whereas majority of the group were 23 and above. No one really took me seriously, even if what I had say was something educational and relevant to the history of the country we were currently in. But they didn't care. They ignored my opinions and facts, they said I was too young to really know what I was talking about, and they thought I was some rich kid who was enjoying their gap year through their parents money funding them. It hurt a lot. Especially since I had been saving my own money for the last 2 and half years, so I was funding the trip myself; and furthermore I had just finished my university entrance studies on history, so when I said facts I was sure of what I was talking about. It wasn't everyone on the tour, but it was some, and it was enough to make me feel so completely small. Yet it was a good slap in the face, because seeing them being opinionated, 'know-it-alls', and smug towards me made me realise my own behaviour to how I acted back home. In high school I was always getting in arguments with others over nothing really, and the arguments would never get me anywhere, it was just an excuse I guess to really piss the other person off and perhaps maybe to feel powerful over them. It wasn't right, and there was no need for it. When you're a teenager though, you don't always realise these things until later on, and for me it was the year after I graduated. Spending time away from home really helped reflect on my actions in high school and who I really was as a person. And I didn't like what I saw. I didn't want to be that person who comes across as smug or opinionated. I had met those people on my trip in Europe, who were much older than me, and was so annoyed by how they treated me, so why would it be ok to treat others like that, especially the people who had been my friends for the last 5 years. So when I returned home, I wanted to be a better person. I tried being much nicer, a better friend, less opinionated (you don't always have to be right), less smug (above all, that was the most important, nobody likes a self-absorbed person, ever), and just really much more giving and kinder to everyone - even to those people who perhaps did annoy me at some point in life, but there is no point holding grudges, they never get you anywhere except becoming a bitter person who no one wants to invite to their birthday parties, since you ruin all the fun.
I hope I have become this better person that I seeked to be, and changed from my old ways (if any of my close friends, or family, are reading this, they can tell me if I have succeeded or not).

While my last trip abroad made me appreciate my friends much more (and of course my family) and made me reflect on myself, this trip abroad to Norway has definitely made me appreciate my home: Perth, so much more.

I used to be anti-Perth, I didn't exactly hate the city, but I wasn't completely in love with it. Especially with regards to work. I always said to myself (as my family, and close friends, would know) that as soon as I finished my degree I would more than likely move to the east coast, because there were more job opportunities there (for what I was studying, anyways). My view of Perth had always been "Well it is a nice city but there are so little opportunities here. It's definitely a great place to raise a family or retire, but to have a fulfilling career or to have a great social life, not exactly, the east coast takes it all". Yes I was cynical, but I have learned. Just before I left for Norway, I was volunteering at the local radio station and I also had a career mentor through my university who was offering me (and still offers me) much advice on career pathways in Perth. Through the radio station and my mentor, they helped me to discover, and in fact uncover, all the glories that Perth had to offer in regards to the arts/media/culture industry. It was as if they had forced me to take off my cynical blindfold and really open my eyes to what Perth had to offer - and there was so much. Thus, when I had to leave for Norway, I actually felt torn: I was excited for a new adventure, but I was just beginning to fall in love with my city and didn't want to be separated anymore. Since being here in Bergen, the love for Perth has grown ever stronger. I liked Bergen and did enjoy my time here, but there was a part of me always longing for Perth. My thoughts would often flicker to all the stuff I wanted to do when I get back, all the new places I could volunteer with. It was that last push I needed to make me realise that Perth is amazing, and I don't need to go the east coast to relish in a fulfilling career or great social life, because it was right on my doorstep the whole time.

So on that note, back to the whole point of the story, travelling really does make you older, in your maturity and mind. It is the one thing that makes you incredibly thankful for what you have and who you have in your life. It pushes you out of your comfort zone so much that it forces you to realise, and makes you reflect on yourself and your life. I'll always love travelling for the beautiful places I get to see, and the amazing new friends I get to meet, and of course the experiences it gives me - but it also makes me incredibly thankful. Thankful to my family and friends who support me, and still are loyal and love me even though I have gone off wandering for months on end. But they know I will always come back to them. And I always come back with even more love in my eyes for knowing they are still always there for me.

I relish every epiphany I have when I am away because it brings me closer to myself and of course to my real home.

Rovaniemi

I visited Rovaniemi in Finland where Santa Claus Village is located. I really wanted to go to meet Santa and see the reindeer, and while I did do these things, I also stumbled across something that made my trip even more magical...

I was wandering around the village not really sure what else I should do  - I was on my own and had already chatted to Santa and be pulled in a sled by reindeer - then I noticed there was a tepee and it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the adjacent tourist buildings, it was as if it had just sat itself there out of nowhere.

I noticed the door open and through a quick peek I distinguished there was some sort of flame burning inside. My curiosity got the better of me and I ventured inside the little tepee. It turned out to be a sort of cafe with traditional Lappish drinks and foods. The main specialty was the salmon, which is cooked in a traditional Lappish way.

I didn't have the salmon, but instead I tried Lappish coffee - it's made by heating the pot over the open fire and the coffee tastes amazing. Usually I don't like drinking coffee without milk (and sugar sometimes too) but this coffee tasted so rich and powerful that it would of been ruined if I put anything else in it. It wasn't bitter, instead you can drink it easily and no tingling after taste was left, only goodness. The owner served me the coffee with a cinnamon bun and gingerbread cookies which was a real nice treat.

Visiting this tepee (which is called "Santa's Salmon Place") was one of my favourite memories of the trip, particularly because of the owner.

Since I was on my own I sat there watching the fire and noting how he was making the salmon - as he could see me watching he came over and started talking to me about his salmon and other Lappish traditions and cooking methods.

He told me that everyone cooks salmon different, the way he cooks it has been passed down in his family for generations, so it was a very special and sentimental recipe. When I watched and listened to him I realised it would be very hard to cook the salmon like he does even through taking notes, it is definitely a method that could only be learnt and taught through the generations.

After discussing the salmon, the owner asked me if I had ever tried cloudberry jam (which I hadn't) - so he gave me a serving of the jam on the gingerbread cookies and didn't even charge me for the serving. It tasted really good, the cloudberries are sweet but not as sweet as strawberries, and it was really refreshing too. Then the owner also gave me (for free as well) a serving of the berry juice - I can't remember the name unfortunately, but I remember it was made with cinnamon, blueberries, cloudberries and a few other ingredients, and it is served hot. It was really good, like a cheeky fruit tea, but much heartier and fresh, the smells of the berries and cinnamon are really powerful, they just fill your nostrils making you feel like you're in an aura of complete goodness.

I offered to pay the owner money but he insisted - I think he appreciated that I was so interested in his place and the Lappish culture and traditions.

I realised then that there are some perks to being a sole traveller - if I was with someone else, perhaps I wouldn't of had the same conversation with the man and got to learn new things about the Lappish traditions; and that's the beauty of being on your own, you are never really alone, whether you get to meet other travellers or get to have conversations with the locals, nevertheless you will always be surrounded by company - you just have to look for it.

Do you dare to bare?

I sure did when I visited one of the swimming halls in Helsinki, and to be honest, it was actually a very enjoyable experience and felt really natural.

To be honest, and I'm not going to lie, I was very hesitant and nervous at first as to whether I would go nude or not. Growing up in a country where body image is taken very seriously, a little too seriously in fact, it was hard to pluck up the courage and be around all these other women who were all confident with their bodies. However, after going back and forth to my cabin removing another piece of clothing each time, I finally convinced myself to go completely naked.

The convincing came from seeing the other women - who all were naked - and I thought that I would definitely stand out more for wearing bathers than for not wearing anything at all.

What I appreciated about the place the most was that there were women of all ages, from young girls to old ladies, and everyone was of all different sizes. Nobody bothered looking at you, sizing you up and judging you for your size, because everyone was too busy showing love to their own body and being confident flaunting the skin they were in. In a society, especially Australia, where we are (particularly young women) are so concerned with our body image, it was really comforting and refreshing to go to a place where no one judged you, because everyone was here just to relax and swim and sweat on a Sunday afternoon for 2 hours (or more if you're keen).

This made me applaud the Finnish tradition since they have accepted nudity among strangers (but let's be clear, in regards to sauna's, men and women have separate hours), thus in a way helping people to not really care about body image and size. I thought while I was there that perhaps if there was something similar back home maybe then people would be brave to bare all as well, but then I thought that maybe this ease of nudity in front of others is just embedded in the Finn's way of life.

I was discussing to my friend back in Australia about the swimming hall - even though back in Perth most of the girls will be semi-naked in scantly clad bikini bathers, I doubt majority of them would still have the courage to bear all in a place where it is socially acceptable. Yet what I find most concerning isn't the fact that they won't have the courage to flaunt it all even though they are almost at the stage; what is more worrying is the fact that most of the people on the beach are all of the general same size: the girls are all skinny and the boys are all flaunting a six-pack and guns blazing in their arms. What about the people who hide away because they don't fit that standard, or who are worried that they don't fit that standard? They feel they can't even go to the beach and bear even some of their body because of fearing that they don't fit in to the socially accepted body image that has been portrayed to us through media for our whole lives.
Yet in Helsinki at the swimming halls, majority of the women were of a slightly larger size - not unhealthy, but very curving - and to be honest they were actually the most confident women walking around the swimming halls that day.

I would encourage most women (and media to be frank) to visit the swimming halls because it both challenges and changes your "socially accepted" perception on body image.

Unlike No Other Place: Finland (Helsinki, Part 2)

So in the last post I recounted what Helsinki had to offer to me on Thursday while I was there, continuing on with this theme I will share my favourite places in Helsinki from the activities I did on Friday and Sunday.

Friday in Helsinki – Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna is an island located just off the coast from Helsinki – it’s sea fortress dates back to the 1700s when Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden. However although its construction began during the Swedish rule, there are guns that face west on the ramparts at Kustaanmeikka (an area on the island), which demonstrate the period of Russian rule (in the 19^th Century).

The island and sea fortress is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1991) as its preservation will allow future generations to see the European military architecture of the 1700s.

The island is quite small, so it is easy to explore on foot. I didn’t visit all areas of the island, but I did of course visit one of the main parts of the fortress. It was actually a scary experience. I was by myself, so this clearly did not help ease my fear. I walked through the fortress and decided to wander through the old archways and see if I could find anything. It was a bad mistake – it was dark and cold, and no one was around. Suddenly I heard some eerie noises, and at the moment decided to walk quickly out and into the open space. I decided soon afterwards that it was haunted, and better to be visited in a group instead of alone. I can’t imagine what it must be like at night…

Since I was at Suomenlinna in the morning, I decided to have my breakfast here. Now I had read that traditionally Finns usually have coffee and a sweet bun (usually a cinnamon bun) for breakfast. Keeping up with trying to embrace living like a Finn, I decided to have the same – and to be honest I was gladly obliging since I love coffee and anything sweet, so for me this was actually an ideal breakfast. Unfortunately the café didn’t have any cinnamon buns, so I chose something else, which I was later informed, consisted of butter and sugar in a bun. I thought to myself that I was being incredibly unhealthy and was willing myself to have a heart attack in the future from too much butter consumption – yet, regardless it was a very tasty bun and didn’t seem to overpowering with butter and sugar, there was a sort of calculated balance. The coffee was amazing though. Usually I don’t like to drink coffee just black, it has to have at least milk, and quite often I’ll take it with a teaspoon of sugar; but the coffee here in Finland was really nice and I didn’t need to take it with milk or sugar in order to enjoy it. (Lappish coffee was even better – but more will be said about this in the next post).

 

Suvilahti Cultural Centre

Probably one of my favourite places in Helsinki – it used to be an industrial area with the Suvilahti power plant generating gas and electricity for Helsinki for much of the 20^th Century, but now it is a cultural haven. What I loved most about the cultural centre is that it has kept the remains of the power plant, so to any unknown walking they would still assume this is in fact an industrial area.

Among the cultural events, they host open-air music concerts in the summer and circus performances. In fact, in 2013, Finland’s biggest circus school, Circus Helsinki, made Suvilahti their new home and area of practicing their performances.

 

The cultural centre is big on creating culture and arts, and most of all to get the youth involved. They even provided a wall whereby people could use it for their graffiti art (instead of on the streets):

Hakaniemen Kauppahalli

This is an old market hall not far from the Kallio district (definitely worth a visit, the coolest vintage, antique, local designer, and record stores can be found in this area) – but back to the market hall… When I mean market hall, I mean that it is a market hall of food. As soon as you walk through the arched doors you are immediately thrown face-to-face with local produce. Walking around (I walked in a clockwise direction), I first walked through the meat area; there were so many different cuts and types of meat, I saw some that I was completely unfamiliar with. It was incredible, if you are a lover of meat or wanted some fresh produce to make dinner, then this was definitely the place to come. The only problem I had was that I hate the smell of raw meat, and there was a LOT of raw meat so the smell was quite strong. However if you keep walking around, you’ll begin to move away from meat and towards the seafood area. Again, like with meat, if you are a seafood lover and wanted to make lunch/dinner, this is an ideal place to stock up on ingredients. Keep walking and you’ll soon leave behind the fish and arrive at the baked goods section. All the lovely breads and pastries, this is definitely a nicer smell than the raw meat and seafood. Continuing on, you’ll find yourself moving away from the fresh produce and come to preserved jams and other goodies, like chocolate! The chocolate they had looked incredible, but the price tag was quite high, and while they did look like amazing chocolates, I really couldn’t bear to part my money for a piece (and besides, their chocolate in the supermarkets are by Karl Fazer, still amazingly delicious). The market hall offered many areas to sit and eat, whether it be cafes or bakeries, so if you’re lazy and don’t cook, you could still get a taste of Finnish local produce.
I loved this market hall, and I think if I come back here (which I definitely will be trying my best to come back to Finland soon), then I would definitely get all my local produce here to make an awesome meal and feel good for supporting the Finnish local industry :) 

Sunday in Helsinki – Design Museum

I went to the Design Museum especially because I had read about their current exhibition: “Don’t Shoot the Messenger: The Expanding Field of Graphic Design”. As I had mentioned before in my last post, since I am particularly interested in topics like this due to studying Communication & Media Studies, I have a massive interest in the arts/culture and media industry.

While the Design Museum has a permanent exhibition on Finnish design over the decades – which I must say was incredibly interesting – my heart was beating towards the upstairs exhibition about graphic design.

My expectations I had of the exhibition were completely wrong, they were exceeded as the exhibition was much better than I had anticipated. There were designs by a range of artists from all over the world. There was one about the importance of poster art – it was stating how in today’s society there is an argument that with technology there is now no need for poster artwork and prints, but the artist disagrees. I do too. Especially since I have been part of the poster group for Hulen in Bergen, I can see there is a huge importance still for posters. People who are overcome by technology take for granted the importance of these artworks, but the thing is, if a person is walking down a street and there are posters placed on the wall, they will still catch your attention, regardless of whether you find out about upcoming events through social media. Back home, whenever I walk the streets in the city, I come across posters and I always stop to look at them, because sometimes there are events we miss seeing via digital media because we are too busy using it for other things, like socialising.
I found a pattern emerge with the exhibition – while I had originally thought with the title “The Expanding Field of Graphic Design”, the attention would be placed on digital graphic designing as we know it today, I was completely wrong – what I found was majority of the exhibits were graphic designers fighting against the digital age, all stating the importance of graphic design as a substance, an artwork that should still remain in the real world, not being swallowed up and overtaken by online media. All around the floor were many texts which asked questions about the importance of graphic design, and they helped not only make the exhibition an even more enjoyable experience, but it also provoked me to think more about my perception of graphic design.
While I loved all the artists’ works, there was one part of the exhibition I completely fell in love with. It was on the importance of books, not e-books, but the hardcover books that people have seemed to forget about with moving their lifestyles completely online. They had showcased loads of different books with placing the importance of their cover designs. There were long quotes placed around the rooms suggesting this – how we often sometimes will pick up a book just by being lured to the cover. While the saying goes “don’t judge a book by its cover”, the fact remains that the cover of a book is incredibly important. The cover of a book will reflect the story that’s within, or it’s a piece of the writer giving the reader slight glimpses into their unknown minds. The covers of a book are important, they speak so many words without us even realising it, and sadly people just often take it for granted. However, all book-lovers understand the gloriousness that not only comes with an amazing read, but the attractiveness of a book cover which we look at again and again and can evoke so much. Sometimes it can be completely simple, and provide no clues to what the novel is about, but that makes it even more alluring, because it holds secrets inside that you just have to discover.
All in all, I really appreciated the exhibition, and the team at Design Museum presented it in such an effective way that made the whole experience for me very thought-provoking, and I’m sure it did to many of the other visits, who I observed seemed glued to the various artworks.

 

Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall

I ended my weekend in Finland in completely bliss and harmony - AND in a traditional Finnish way, by going to one of the swimming halls to sit in saunas and swim in pools NAKED.

First things first, about the swimming hall: the Yrjönkatu swimming hall is absolutely beautiful, it was built in the 1920s and it features an interior of Roman archways and tiled floors. The colours of the archways are white and the walls are a beige colour, making the crystal clear blue of the swimming pool stand out. The pool really dominates your attention, especially if you’re on the second floor above. As you look over from the second floor, all you can see is the pool. It practically begs for attention, and you simply can’t look at it and not want to dip your toes in and submerge yourself for at least a quick swim. Apart from the swimming pool, there are also three saunas: one is electric, one is steam and the last is wood – which I was told was a proper traditional Finnish sauna. (I can’t remember if I went in the steam or the wood sauna, I would like to believe it was the wood sauna, but my feeling is that it was the steam one – which doesn’t matter, at least it is better than the electric one).

The rules of these swimming halls are simple: men and women have separate hours (they do not swim together), you must shower before going in the sauna/pool, and you can choose whether you want to swim naked or not (it wasn’t until recently that this changed, I think sometime in the 2000s, before it was compulsory to swim naked, but now they allow the options of bathers if you wish – but where’s the fun in that?).

Now the day before I was going to the swimming hall I had no doubts about getting my kit off to go in the sauna and pool, however on the actual day when I was standing there in my cabin, the decision to go bare was not as simple as I had thought. I lacked courage, and it took me three trips to my cabin to finally wear my birthday suit. These were how many attempts happened: 1) I arrived, looked over the balcony to see who and how many were actually naked, there seemed to be only older ladies which made me think perhaps it was only the traditional Finnish women who still swim naked, so I went in my cabin and put my bathers on; 2) walked out (you get giving bathrobes by the way, so you are not walking around naked, only when in the saunas, showers and pool), saw there were more people in the pool and walking around with their tops off but bather bottoms on, so I went back to my cabin and took my bikini top off; 3) thinking I was ready to finally relax, walked into the shower room where the sauna was and saw EVERYONE was naked, all ages groups and there were many my age, alas I walked back my cabin took off my bottoms and hence finally had the courage to be completely bare. I thought to myself I would have stood out more for wearing my bathers than not wearing anything at all.

The whole experience was rather enjoyable actually, and completely relaxing. I went to the saunas first and sat there for a while warming my body up. Satisfied I had enough heat, I walked down the pool and swam some laps. There is something really so liberating at swimming naked, it feels so natural that you start to begin whether the inventions of bathers were really a good idea and that surely our human bodies were designed to be nude in the water. When you swim naked, you truly understand how constricting bathers are against actual swimming, I swear the material must hold you back because when I was swimming my breaststroke laps, I felt like I was gliding through the water (although I probably didn’t look this way, more like a struggling marine animal who can’t swim properly). As I started to feel like I had done enough laps, I headed back up to the sauna for my last sweat session. I was in there longer this time, and oh boy did I really sweat. It happened so suddenly, I felt a few drops coming off my back then it all of sudden felt like rainfall was coming off my body! Clearly my body obviously needed a desperate detox, and I felt I probably haven’t been treating it with the best of love while I’ve been away – which is often the case when you are away from the comfort of home. Afterwards, feeling like I really shouldn’t sweat any longer or I could faint, I sat in the seat and tables situated around the balcony and ordered a refreshing drink. It was called “tuorepuristettu mehu” and was made up of apple, ginger and celery, and it was meant to be detoxifying. It was really refreshing and tasty, but it went away too quickly – definitely needed a bigger glass!

(NB: see more about the swimming halls in the upcoming post)

No Sunday Brunch??

The only thing I found strange about Finland was that there were no cafes or restaurants open on a Sunday (except for a select few scattered around). What made me found it even weirder was because the shopping malls were still open – I could understand if the shops were closed then perhaps cafes/restaurants would be closed too.

It was very bizarre, and I wondered whether there is a tradition on a Sunday for Finnish people to stay home and cook?

Regardless of this, I could still easily live in Finland though, and I would just make an amazing Sunday brunch and dinner at home after buying all my produce from the market hall. I think my ideal Sunday would be a morning walk along this beautiful park (on a street called Merisatamanranta), then make a mouth-watering brunch, followed by a visit to the swimming halls in the afternoon, then dinner and a movie or book on a comfy couch. Aw simply bliss! I’ll somehow have to try create a similar day back home in Perth I think.

I have only the best memories of Finland, there was not one bad thing about the place, and I will truly miss it deeply in my heart.

Unlike No Other Place: Finland (Helsinki, Part 1)

The Finns are quite possibly the nicest and most welcoming people I have ever met. They treat almost like you were part of their family or a childhood friend; they were all so welcoming while I was there (in both Helsinki and Rovaniemi) that I actually felt ‘home’ in a sense. It was incredibly heart-warming and I immediately fell in love with both the country and it’s people.
While I have loved all the places I have visited on this trip, Finland has been the only place where I felt I could be happy to live. I don’t want to leave Australia, but if there were any other place I could choose to call my new home then Finland would have top the list.

Alas, it pains me so much to be living so far away. I wish I lived closer to Finland because I know I would definitely visit the country as often as I could.

What attracts me to Finland is its uniqueness, particularly against the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark). What most people don’t know (including myself before I read about it) is that although Finland is often classified as being part of Scandinavia, it actually isn’t, the correct term that it is part of is the Nordic Countries.
Yet you can tell it really isn’t part of Scandinavia – it’s culture and lifestyle (and language) is so much different from Norway, Denmark and Sweden (although, it perhaps shares some similarities with Sweden since they border with each other). I found Norway, Denmark and Sweden were very similar in their culture, and their language is uncanny to each other (in fact the Norwegians can understand both the Swedes and the Danes); and this could be perhaps to them being under the same governing rule many years ago. Finland is really different – the language (COMPLETELY different), the people, the architecture, the designs, the lifestyle, the culture, etc, it’s all original – and I think perhaps this is why I fell in love with it, because of it’s originality and uniqueness. It’s not Scandinavian, it’s Finnish.

So here’s how I tried to embrace the Finnish life and culture with what Helsinki had to offer:

Thursday – Kiasma (Museum of Contemporary Art)

First stop was Kiasma (Museum of Contemporary Art), I originally went there because I had read about an exhibition that was featured there by Mika Taanila called “Time Machines” which was an exhibition created with beautiful videos and challenges the art stemmed from technology. However, while I enjoyed visiting this exhibition, Kiasma offered so much more. The other exhibition they were showcasing was by Erkki Kurenniemi called “Towards 2048” – this was incredibly cool, again it’s exposure of technological innovations, but through music instead of film. Erkki is Finnish and has designed and built many electronic instruments since the 1960s. Some of the inventions I had never seen before, and some of them exposed sounds that were incredibly eerie and had tremendous affect on your mind. There was on particular invention that really struck me – it was a chair with speakers on either side of the head-rest; the person sitting in the chair then had to connect wires to their head, then magic would happen because the wires measured the frequencies coming from the person’s brain and it would convert them into music – hence the aim was that whatever you were feeling, this machine would turn it into music. Unfortunately I didn’t get to test it because the machine was slightly broken, but I did read next to it that there are still inventions being tested today to create something similar.

The other exhibition I really loved was Kiasma Hits: it was some of the best art from over the 15 years the museum has been open. Majority of the artwork is themed around the digital age, which I absolutely loved since I am studying Communication & Media studies, so all this stuff interests me greatly. I loved all the Kiasma Hits collection, but there were a couple that really stood out and affected me. The first was by an artist who sadly I can’t remember the name of – I walked into this room that was empty and just had white blank walls, after reading the description it stated that there were spots in the wall which would pick up the body temperature when you touched it, and in response the wall would reverberate this heat back to the person touching it. It was a really fun experience, and I spent a good amount of time stroking the wall in all different places to find these ‘spots’ and the feeling you get what heat is reverberated back to you, I just can’t describe, it sort of feels like magic really. Speaking of ‘magic’, the second artwork I really loved was by Markus Kåhre; it actually freaked me out when I first saw it. Again I had walked into a room, a very small room this time, which was dark at first but as I turned the corner I saw a dimly lit study space with a desk, chair, and lamp with a mirror facing it. At first I wasn’t going to go any further because I thought it was just a room showing a study space; however then the thought occurred to me perhaps the mirror would reflect something different if I went closer. It reflected the desk, chair, and lamp, but what it didn’t reflect was myself! I was completely freaked out, expecting to see my own reflection and to then see nothing. Afterwards there was a sign outside asking “how would you feel if you were invisible” and from my experience, it feels absolutely horrible, you feel like nothing, just completely non-existent to everything else.
Alas, what I loved so much about the whole museum was that it affected your mind in ways you weren’t expecting, and you leave the museum thinking about new things or old things in a new perspective. The whole museum really was mind-altering.

Arkadia Bookshop

This was quite possibly one of the COOLEST bookstores I have ever visited. When I first walked in there was a reading area and the reception, and the man was incredibly nice and told me to explore all the nooks and crannies of the whole shop. Downstairs is really where the store gets its ‘cool’ vibe. As I walked through the numerous books on shelves and in boxes covering all topics in all different languages, I came to a room which had artwork and a chalkboard, I discovered this was where they had events like readings, debates, concerts, etc. Continuing to walk through the doors into new rooms, I came to the end, which was the chapel room – they had left wine and water on the table that you were welcome to help yourself to. The rest of the store had many different reading areas, games to play such as table soccer, and just incredible amounts of books that you were welcomed to simply read or buy if you chose to. Some of them were new books, others were old with their creased spines indicating just how much the book had been read over the years. I could spend days in here just reading and simply loving being surrounded by all the different books.

Kanna’s

This restaurant has been around since 1939 – traditionally it was a sailor’s ‘hangout’, where the sailors would come to eat big portions of hearty meals and seafood while enjoying a pint of some alcoholic beverage (and I am told it was also where they could come to pick up a new sailor wife, or perhaps just a one night fling). In my Helsinki map made by locals, their description of Kanna’s stated “If you want to enjoy big portions of traditional Finnish food and feel like a hardworking sailor from back in the day, Kanna’s is well worth a visit”. They were not lying about the portions, after my meal here I felt like I didn’t need to eat for the rest of my holiday.

I was a little greedy and chose to have an entrée as well as a main, however this was solely because they had reindeer but only as an entrée. I really wanted to try reindeer, and it is eaten regularly by the Finns (particularly in the north in the Lapland region, but I’m not sure if it is eaten often in Helsinki except by tourists like me). Anyways my entrée was lightly salted reindeer marinated with jaloviina and thyme and served with ligon berry vinaigrette (I absolutely love ligon berries since coming to Scandinavia, they eat it with a lot of meals and it tastes so good!) and horseradish cream. I must admit I wasn’t blown away with the taste of reindeer, but it was tasty nonetheless. I think perhaps it could be related to venison as a similar cut of meat, it was very tender and had no fat (which I loved because I hate fatty cuts of meat), but it was quite thin slices. Overall it was good, but it’s not like I’ll be craving to have reindeer again once I’m back home, to be honest I’ll be more excited about having a good slice of roast beef once I’m back home.

Afterwards for my main, I had a meal called “Finnish way of living” – I immediately chose the dish specifically for its title, but the food was amazing as well. It was fillets of Baltic herring fried in butter and filled with onion and dill, and it was served with mashed potatoes, beetroot and pickled gherkins. When I received this meal I realised they weren’t lying when they said ‘big portions’. It was huge! Usually whenever I order fish I generally only get two fillets, but these guys gave me four! I struggled to finish the meal, but I did my best and only left some remainders on my plate. I quite enjoyed mixing it with the pickled gherkins, but not so much with beetroot. That’s still a vegetable I’m trying to gradually love, but it’s taking a while for my taste buds to agree.

Overall Kanna’s was a really nice treat; they offer good food for a relatively cheap price especially considering the portion sizes you receive. It isn’t fancy, but that doesn’t matter because you can still see glimpses of the old sailor hangout from the 1940s. Furthermore there was some quirkiness to the place too, for example the sign for the toilets. There were two doors opposite each other and a sign in the middle, which stated “Men to the left, because women are always right” – it gave me a good giggle and topped off the great experience I had at Kanna’s.

- See more about Finland in upcoming posts -

Oslo: Sculptures, Markets, Ibsen, and all the city's magic

A little while ago I visited Oslo with my friends in Bergen for a weekend trip. We took the train from Bergen to Oslo, which was quite a difference in travel time (the train journey takes around eight hours, whereas a flight would be roughly one hour and a half), however we had heard that this is one of the most beautiful train journeys in Europe.

It definitely was.

I have travelled to many places in Europe via train (especially in the UK, all my journeys there have been on a train), and have enjoyed many of them. Yet the Bergen-Oslo railway offers so much more. Usually I just see the ocean or forests, but on this journey I got to see mountains (actually loads of mountains), with valleys, snow, glaciers, and lakes in between. The most magical part of the journey was definitely seeing the town Finse – I was told this is the highest point the train will take you up (although I could be wrong). It was almost like entering a scene from “Into The Wild”, apart from the train station itself, there really wasn’t any civilization to be seen. People actually live in Finse, but at this point in time I could only see people waiting at the train station, everywhere else I looked was just the mountains and glaciers and snow covered ground making it seem like no one actually lived here, they just stumble across it on their train journey to another destination.

(Above: Finse - one of the glaciers can just be made out)

This is my other favourite moment on the train (picture above). I don’t know which town it was, but what I liked best about it was how the mountains reflected in the lake below – it was such a beautiful landscape, one that really makes you appreciate nature just that little bit more for how naturally mesmerising it can be. 

What I found bizarre before arriving in Oslo, was how much the people in Bergen hated the capital city. In the weeks before our departure to the city, many Norwegians had said to us negative comments, that Oslo was an ugly city, or it was horrible, it had nothing to offer, and the comments continued this way in this tone. I was really taken aback by it, and didn't take their comments too much to heart, but at the same time I tried not to have too high expectations of Oslo.
Well, I don't know why there is hate from the Norwegians in Bergen towards Oslo - perhaps it's city rivalry - but all I know is that I completely loved Oslo and was in awe of the city as soon as I stepped out of the train station.

So here's some of my favourite places and moments from the trip:

The Norwegian National Ballet and Opera:

Unfortunately I didn’t attend any events held here, but I still felt lucky enough to see it. Before I arrived in Oslo, I was very curious to see it as I had heard rumours that it was giving the Sydney Opera House a run for its title of great designs. I can’t really conclude which opera house is better, but nevertheless the Norwegian Ballet and Opera house is absolutely lovely. It’s completely white: the building itself and all the pavement and walls leading up to the house; hence it gives the effect as if you’re in a typical snowy winter day – although the time of day and weather when we went to visit helped to give this effect too (we had visited at dusk and it was an overcast day). It’s right by the sea and if you were coming past on a boat, you couldn’t not see it, it begs for attention to be seen with its different shape and gleaming white colour.

I think if I get the chance to go back to Oslo, I will definitely look at getting tickets to the Norwegian National Ballet and Opera.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

This has to be one of the weirdest, but coolest, places I have visited on my adventures abroad. As suggested by the name, it is a sculpture park. You can spend hours here and visit it on numerous days to see all that it has to offer. Sadly, we only had an hour or so here if we wanted to see everything else we had planned, but an hour was definitely sufficient time to get a sense of the oddness that the park offers. What is odd about it is the statues themselves. The ones we saw were all of people, all displaying weird and wonderful emotions. Plus they are all naked which adds to the strangeness. You can definitely view things in a different way if they are shown naked. For example, there were many statues of men and women, young and old, all hugging and holding each other in different positions – now this is quite normal and natural behaviour, yet when you add the aspect that they are naked, it causes you, whether willingly or not, to change your perception of the image portrayed. A particular statue (that my friends found disturbing, but I thought quite funny) was of two children on top of their mother’s back ‘riding’ her. Now this is usually naturally for young children to play pretending they are riding a horse when on a person’s back (which more often than not, is usually the parents job). Yet, the statue makes you question this innocent childhood game:

Whether the statues were meant to be funny or serious, I do not know, I guess it’s open to any interpretation which is what most art tries to accomplish. What I loved most about the sculptures was the emotions the artists had captured in their human portrayals. For example one of the most famous statues in the park is this:

Most people will walk past this statue and look at it, and immediately think of different moments in their life from viewing this emotion – like it reminds them of when they were a child, or reminds them of their own child. It’s such a natural emotion that everyone goes through at some point in their life that it causes so much effect.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park is a little further out of the city (i.e. if you’re planning on walking), but it is definitely worth walking that little bit more or parting way with some of your cash for the bus fare.

Markets

Some of the best things about travelling (as I have mentioned in many of my posts) is stumbling across unknown places, the places that you might not always find in your dependent guide book.

In Oslo this happened to us when we were walking around the area, Grünerløkka. We went to this area since one of our friends had told us it’s a good area for cafes and vintage shopping. While we did find a café, on our walk back to some other place (I can’t even remember what exactly we were looking for), we came across a market.

The market was amazing, it was relatively small but they had stalls outside and also some more inside a building; and it smelled incredible! As soon as we crossed the little bridge to see more, our nostrils were immediately filled with the tasty smells of Norwegian waffles. It’s quite a good luring bait actually. 

One of my favourite stalls at the market was handmade jewellery by Anima Soleil. There were many different designs of necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc, but the ones I loved most were these inspirational bracelets. They were either gold or silver bands with inspirational messages engraved on them. I fell in love with them instantly, and so I just HAD to buy one. My good friend Emma helped me choose one, and she picked out one which said “Everything Will Be Alright” – particularly because every now and then we will start singing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”. Now I know it isn’t the exact words from the song, but every time I look down at the bracelet and read those words, it instantly takes me back to all the memories I have had here in Bergen with Emma.

Henrik Ibsens Gate

My favourite Norwegian writer has to be, without doubt, Henrik Ibsen. I first was introduced to his plays in high school, where I had to study Ghosts. I really enjoyed his play, it was controversial and the imagery was so powerful in regards to his vivid descriptions of the props and costumes. Most plays I have difficulty reading – as my literature teacher had once explained, they are meant to be performed, not read – however Ibsen is possibly one of the only playwrights were I can easy enjoy simply reading his works, I don’t need them to be performed.

So, as you can tell, when I had read about all the monuments to Ibsen in Oslo, I went a little crazy and was persistent to my friends that I had to see them, whether with them or alone. I ended up going alone, but I didn’t mind.

Among some of the different monuments to Ibsen (there’s the theatre, his grave, etc), there is a street actually dedicated to him, called Henrik Ibsens Gate. On here there is the Henrik Ibsen museum – which is actually his old (last) house but converted to a museum) – but what I was impressed with most was that on the street, they have quotes from all his plays engraved in the pavement. They are all in Norwegian, so I couldn’t recognise some of the plays, but I was still intrigued by it anyways.

It is possibly one of the most fascinating ways of showing dedication to a loved writer in their home country.

Litteraturhuset 

All lovers of literature should come here. Or perhaps those who just love a cup of coffee and some good hearty meals.

It’s a bookshop, but a café/restaurant as well – it is perhaps one of the easiest ways to appeal to me as I love a good book and a good cup of coffee or plate of food.

We stopped in here on our way back from the sculpture park, and I think there is something cosy about drinking coffee and eating cake next to tables and shelves filled with books.

Overall the place does actually even more than just books and food, they also host events here like readings, signings, concerts, debates making it an ideal hang out for book-lovers, students and anyone else who is interested in those sorts of things.

It’s a good thing that they didn’t have a huge range of English books (or from what I could see anyways), as I definitely would of spent hours here trawling through the shelves and tables.

Departure Gate Snacks

I thought I would post a little something whilst waiting in the departure gate lounge at Bergen airport.

Whenever I travel, I always usually have around a 2-3 hour wait at the airport before going on the plane, and instead of looking at duty free products, I choose to go to the newsagents and buy magazines/newspapers along with the usually food to binge on.

Yet I always fall into the terrible trap of choosing chocolate, or other sweets and accompanied by a cup of coffee. Needless to say after greedily indulging in these snacks and then embarking on a flight, I always regret it and my health suffers along with it.

I don't know why, but even though I have travelled a lot and know how dehydrating a flight is, I seem to still choose these products which do not help me at all on my journey in the sky.

For one, coffee is dehydrating as it is, plus it makes me go to the bathroom much too often than usual - which is a terrible thing to have to endure whilst flying. 

Then there's chocolate, most of my flights are early in the morning or late at night which are both terrible times to be eating sugary snacks, yet I do it regardless and my teeth are always aching after the journey (which I have put down to my high sugar diet, something to work on for the new year perhaps?)

ALAS I am learning! Even if it has taken numerous flights to learn...

So while I am sitting here in the early hours of the morning, I go to my regular before flight stop at the newsagents, and while my nostrils are being filled with the smells of baked delights and I can hear the coffee grinding, I take a stand and choose the following to get me through the flight and the rest of my day: a banana, a ham & pesto sandwhich (filled with capsicum, lettuce and red onion), vitamin water (a bit of a cheat, usually I would just choose regular water but vitamin well is just too good to resist sometimes), and nuts (to snack on for later).

And in all honesty, I feel very awake now and balanced, unlike feeling sluggish like I usually do after having my chocolate and coffee. 

And on that note, I am ready for my trip to Finland :)