Lahti
So after a couple weeks of doing a lot of nothing I went to the WLahti Ski Games on Saturday. The World Championships of some Nordic Combined, team Ski Jumping and some type of cross country skiing were held there. As everything seems to be here, it was a lot of fun.
My friend Morag had told me about it the night before. She was going with a bunch of Germans and didnt want to be the only Anglo, so I went rather spur of the moment. After taking the bus at the ungodly hour of 9AM it took us about 2hrs to get there. Ana decided to improve my German so she sat beside me teaching me stuff and not letting me sleep. I did learn, but all the words I retained were ones I can really only use while cranky.
Arriving in the city revealed a party atmosphere that I would never have imagined for ski jumping. There were Finnish flags everywhere. And if people were not sporting the blue nordic cross they had the Black, Red and Gold of Germany. Because of the company even I was cheering for the Germans and helping to wave the flag. Except when Canadians were compting of course.
It was a long day out in the cold but we did manage to escape to the beer tent to try and figure out what some Finnish MC was saying as we wished we were not poor students and could afford the 4€ pizza and 5€ beer.
One thing for sure is that ski jumping is much cooler live. The jumps rise up so high and the skiiers just hang in the air. I could never do it.
After the winners were congratulated they put on a fireworks display over the trees. The atmosphere was perfect. But then it was time to go home. Which was quite hilarious as thousands of people tried to climb up a hill on which the snow had rapidly turned into ice making it a giant slip and slide. But we made it after only a few mishaps.
My enjoyable weekend continued on Sunday when I attended the final showing of the Tampere Film Festival. It was all short films so I got to see the 5 best. They were all quite different and I could not help but think that Dan should be there instead of be me, but I enjoyed them immensly so I am sure the directors would be happy none-the-less.
This week I have the unfortunate luck to have class. Yes. I am a university student. But her ein Finland March break is now. But not for me as for some reason the uni scheduled my Law of International Trade course for just this week. So I get to spend 5 hrs a day learning of GATT, the WTO and, once again, the EU. I am going to be an expert on the EU after this year. I know as much as any European, really. Though that is not hard as it is so damn complicated that it is no wonder all the courses here are trying to explain it.
My friend Morag had told me about it the night before. She was going with a bunch of Germans and didnt want to be the only Anglo, so I went rather spur of the moment. After taking the bus at the ungodly hour of 9AM it took us about 2hrs to get there. Ana decided to improve my German so she sat beside me teaching me stuff and not letting me sleep. I did learn, but all the words I retained were ones I can really only use while cranky.
Arriving in the city revealed a party atmosphere that I would never have imagined for ski jumping. There were Finnish flags everywhere. And if people were not sporting the blue nordic cross they had the Black, Red and Gold of Germany. Because of the company even I was cheering for the Germans and helping to wave the flag. Except when Canadians were compting of course.
It was a long day out in the cold but we did manage to escape to the beer tent to try and figure out what some Finnish MC was saying as we wished we were not poor students and could afford the 4€ pizza and 5€ beer.
One thing for sure is that ski jumping is much cooler live. The jumps rise up so high and the skiiers just hang in the air. I could never do it.
After the winners were congratulated they put on a fireworks display over the trees. The atmosphere was perfect. But then it was time to go home. Which was quite hilarious as thousands of people tried to climb up a hill on which the snow had rapidly turned into ice making it a giant slip and slide. But we made it after only a few mishaps.
My enjoyable weekend continued on Sunday when I attended the final showing of the Tampere Film Festival. It was all short films so I got to see the 5 best. They were all quite different and I could not help but think that Dan should be there instead of be me, but I enjoyed them immensly so I am sure the directors would be happy none-the-less.
This week I have the unfortunate luck to have class. Yes. I am a university student. But her ein Finland March break is now. But not for me as for some reason the uni scheduled my Law of International Trade course for just this week. So I get to spend 5 hrs a day learning of GATT, the WTO and, once again, the EU. I am going to be an expert on the EU after this year. I know as much as any European, really. Though that is not hard as it is so damn complicated that it is no wonder all the courses here are trying to explain it.
posted by Jesse A at 7:20 AM
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