Sunny nights in Pieksamaki

Okay so now it all begins! It has been a hectic few weeks, but I have made it to Europe and finally got this blog up and running.

For those of you not yet aware, I quit (or as I prefer to believe, "retired") from my Government job to study a second Masters degree in Europe. This time I will study a joint European Master in Higher Education at the Universities of Oslo (Norway), Tampere (Finland) and Aveiro (Portugal). The programme is for two years and I will move between the three universities, starting with Oslo next month. It is all funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus Mundus scholarship scheme, so I can seriously claim to be a professional student now. For more info on my course and other courses where you can get paid to study, refer to: http://www.uv.uio.no/hedda/masterprogramme/heem.html http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html

I left Perth on Tuesday last week (3 July 2007) and flew to Singapore, then via London to Helsinki. I know some of you were interested in my initial flight to Singapore with the budget carrier Tiger Airways (www.tigerairways.com), as they offer perhaps the cheapest way to escape from Perth to Asia. Tiger Airways are cheap, in every sense of the word. The flight was cheap (about $350 one-way) and so too was the terminal I arrived in at 3:00AM (the budget terminal, not the regular one), but once you add in the other costs of upgrading luggage to 20kg, paying for every kilo of excess baggage, booking a preferred seat, buying a packet of chips and drink onboard, it does start to add up. Free of charge however, Tiger left my suitcase to be washed in the rain on the airport tarmac.

The flight itself was comfortable as I had a seat on the emergency exit row, but it was strangely hot inside the plane. Perhaps it was an attempt to induce further purchased of overpriced beverages, but the real oppressive heat was when I arrived at the semi-air conditioned budget terminal in Singapore. The advertisements for the airport carried the slogan “Singapore Airport Budget Terminal- Enjoy the Experience”. Sweating it out with my wet luggage, whilst waiting half an hour for a bus to the main terminal, was an experience I could have easily gone without. Still, it was cheap, and as I am a cheap kinda guy on a student budget again, I'd travel with them again.

The flight out of Singapore to London with British Airways, was far more comfortable, despite its 13-14 hour duration. Being from Perth you get used to long-haul flights, as unless your planning to holiday in a mine site, you will generally have to fly for 3+ hours. The transfer in London went without incident and before I knew it, I was with my girlfriend Katri in Finland and ready for her home town of Pieksamaki.

Katri's parents’ house is on a street aptly translating to “forest school road” as it is near a world renowned school for forestry studies and is very close to forests (obviously!), freshwater lakes, berries and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are Finland's answer to the Australian blowfly. As with the Australian blowfly, my personal technique to repel these nasty creatures is to violently flail my arms around my head and swear loudly.

The landscape here is extremely tranquil and beautiful, though slightly less so when I am dealing with the mozzies. It's commonplace for rivers, lakes or coastlines to be without houses, fences and traffic here in Finland. There are strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and many other fruits ready to be eaten immediately or used in Finnish cooking. I have done well raiding Katri's parent's fridge of blackcurrant juice and blueberry tarts, while they have been on summer vacation at their cottage. I'm sure I will enjoy them even more once my stomach adjusts from my regular steak and potatoes diet.

It’s summertime and if I am lucky, the temperature outside will get above 16 degrees and an even warmer 60 degrees in the sauna (the pic below is a Finnish smoke sauna in the forest, not a little house!). The days have been rather wet and overcast, but the wonderfully aspect of a Finnish summer is that an overcast day can easily become a warm and sunny night. Looking outside at the heavy rain this afternoon means we may postpone our cycling, walking and berry-picking until it brightens up later tonight!