May Day

Hyvää Vappua! Happy May Day! We've had quite the busy week over here celebrating. Vappu is the second biggest holiday celebration in Finland (first being Midsummers). I've never seen so many people out in Joensuu – I didn't even know that many people lived here. Although May Day is officially May 1st, the festivities ran throughout the entire week. We started the week with the flying flags event at the university, where we each wrote about our experiences in Finland on the back of our country's flag. Then we let them go together to demonstrate what the exchange students bring to Finland. The next day we went on a bus tour of Eastern Finland. We stopped at various places to explore and socialize, then we were back on the bus to the next stop. On Vappu Eve there was a parade of students from the university to an island across town.

In Finland, all students have different colored jumpsuits according to their major. They collect badges from different events that they take part in and cover their jumpsuits in them. On special occasions (Vappu being one) all the people that have graduated from basic school (high school) wear their graduation caps proudly. It's really a big deal to be able to show off your cap. After the parade, people gather at the island where there is music playing and they hang out with their friends. People continue partying wayyy into the night, since the next day is a national holiday. On the actual day (May 1st), everyone gathers in the city center where there are vendors selling May Day balloons and streamers, a vintage car parade and plenty of socializing. As the day goes on, people begin to make their way to the island to have a picnic with their friends and family. Although it wasn't exactly picnic weather, I'm talking 35 degrees, we enjoyed spending time eating with our friends. All the Vappuu activities may have gotten in the way of a little school work this week, but I can't miss out on the culture, right?

It seems that every time I start to talk about the amazzzzingly wonderful weather in Finland, it comes back to haunt me. Remember last week when I was raving about how perfect the weather was... well I take it back. It has snowed at least three days since then. Not cool, Finland, not cool. They say that warm weather is coming, but I'll believe it when I see it. Yesterday we spent a good amount of time outside, when it suddenly began to snow. I looked at a Finnish guy near us with what I'm sure was a “you've got to be kidding me” face. And his apt response was, “It's Finland, what can I say?”.