Goodbye Oulu, hello Safeway

My three weeks have come and gone and I am now back home in Berkeley. Oulu is a distant memory...well not exactly. Though I may be back in Berkeley, it certainly felt like I was on another planet for a few days. Hopefully I managed to fool a few people at work. Jet lag gone, I've now re-joined the working world, atleast temporarily.

Though my travels home were fairly uneventful, there was one interesting twist. I arrived at the Oulu airport expecting to board the 7:45am flight to Helsinki only to be told that I was booked for the 6am flight, which had left an hour before I got there. Long story short, I took the last seat on the flight. Just to set the record straight, my flight itinerary did have me flying on the 7:45 flight. :)

Now with that behind me I can focus on enjoying the summer!

More to come soon!

Even though I had to work on the plane flight home I did manage to take a few pictures of the great views. Check out the shots of Greenland and Iceland.










<- Greenland
Iceland ->















Mike, Myah and I celebrating a great 3 weeks.




Team Oulu with Heikki and Vuokko













The park by the hotel

Finnish Sauna

Finnish Sauna Experience

One of the most well known past times in Finland is the sauna. In fact there are two saunas for every five people in Finland. Our team was lucky enough to be hosted by the city of Oulu at the city's sauna, Pehkolanlampi. The night began with smoozing and cocktails (a tar liqueur), followed by the sauna. After the sauna we all convened in the main lodge again for wine and dinner. Dinner consisted of the famous salmon soup...Apparently the record is 14 bowls. I was full after a bowl and a half.


Below are pictures of the surrounding scenery, sauna and main lodge.

Picture of the Women's Sauna

In Front of the Main Lodge

More Oulu Updates

More IBD Pictures

Myah, me & Tanya in Helsinki

Inside the hockey team locker room

Ship at the Port of Oulu

One of the 5 Technopolis locations

Oulu at its best

Printing machine at Kaleva newspaper

Finnish baseball Field (in Oulu)

Nao & Jun in Helsinki

Crane at the Port

Team Introductions

So many of you may know why I'm in Oulu, but for those of you who don't let me explain. I am working with 3 of my classmates from the Haas School of Business for the city of Oulu. We are performing a strategic analysis of the city and developing recommendations on how the city can better improve its positioning as an international high tech city. We arrived in Oulu on Sunday May 20th to a beautiful little city of 130,000 people. Though the city sounds small, we are discovering that the technologies being developed far exceeded our expectations.


Yes, this is right outside the hotel!


We are staying at the lovely Hotel Lasoretti located on one of the 188,000 lakes in Finland. We are about a 15 minute walk from the city center and another 5 minutes from the client site. Thus far we have been extremely lucky with the weather, as I did not properly pack for the Finnish weather.


A view from the back-side of the hotel. My room is on the top floor about five windows from the right.

Now that you know where I am staying let me introduce you to the rest of my team, aka 'Team Oulu.'





























Myah, Mike & Nao pose for the camera! Nao working at his computer while Mike
catches a cat nap.


Myah, the team entrepreneur is a native of Virginia. After her ungrad at Tufts, Myah worked at AOL and in city government for three years before making the trek out west to Berkeley. I'm not sure where we would be without her knowledge and insight. Her love for technology and digital media has led her to DMEC at Haas, though you can also find her honing her Wii tennis skills.

Mike, is a Chicago native, completed his undergrad at Northwestern before venturing out onto the corporate jungle, aka the life of a consultant. Though based in Chicago, he spent much of his in Europe living out of a suitcase; perhaps this was one of the reasons he took the plunge and came to business school. This summer you can find Mike in Pleasanton working at Safeway, after he returns from a four week study program in Paris...I think he's the smart one out of the bunch.

Our Japanese connection, Nao is a Tokyo native. Nao has extensive experience in the technology sector and his knowledge and experience is huge asset to the team. Nao keeps us all on our toes with his witty comments and thoughtful insight. Nao plans to travel for part of the summer and then spend the month of August in NYC. If anyone knows of a place to sublet in NYC let him know... :)


Last but not least, there is me...but if you are reading this blog, then you know who I am, so no need to write anything else.


Kicking back and relaxing after a hard week of work. What's better than sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and a beer in great company.

Well that's it for now...until next time! JT

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...