Oulu

Oh Oulu. What can I say or not say about this beloved city of 130,000. Some call it the capital of Northern Finland, others call it the next greatest innovator of the 21st century. Take your pick. Regardless of your initial impressions I thought I would fill you in on some of the insights I have gained in my first week.



1) Don't leave home without your bicycle. (or at least that seems to be the motto of the Finns) Not only is Finland home to the world's most sauna's I'd like to bet they have the most number of bicycles (at least on a per capita basis).


2) The land of 188,000 lakes...need I say more...they are perfectly still and gorgeous...the only other city that can compare to this is Minneapolis

3) Finnish language - In my mind the Finnish language has very little practical purpose. A language known by approximately 5 million people worldwide and it is nearly as difficult to learn as Chinese or Japanese...Should I even attempt to learn this mystic language? I would feel a bit guilty if I came home completely empty handed, though I have to wonder who ever thought of such a language.

4) I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream!!! Much to my surprise one of the Finns favorite treats is ice cream. Portable ice cream shops can be found on nearly every street corner. Residents can be found at all hours of the day enjoying a cone or even two! Who would have thought that 60 degree weather coincided with endless amounts of ice cream?



5) Socks galore! Yes, this is the land of wool socks. Upon our arrival we entered our hotel rooms to find a book on Oulu and a pair of wool socks. Slightly perplexed, but still pleasantly surprised we gratefully accepted the gifts. Little did we know that socks is the common gift to visitors and tourists. We visited the local newspaper and there we received not one but two pairs of socks. When I return home from Finland I will have an entirely new sock collection.


6) We made the newspaper!!! Last Friday we visited Kaleva, the city newspaper and we made the Saturday paper! Check it out, though I will warn you the article is in Finnish. http://www.kaleva.fi/plus/index.cfm?j=660603


7) Open Container laws DO NOT EXIST. Sunshine and continuous day light lead to hoards of people in the street and parks drinking beer, wine, champagne, you name it. Although I don't quite understand it, I guess it's better not to question and do as the locals do...just kick back, have a beer and enjoy the sunshine!

8) There seems to be a lack of originality when it comes to people's names. Some common Finnish names we ran across include: Heikki, Marko, Pekka...and the list keeps going

More to come shortly...