<3 Tampere

Sami has been crying my ears full about how he would have wanted me to join him for SXSW in Austin, Texas, where he is currently mentoring aspiring young filmmakers, watching spectacular 3D films, buying too many Stelton hats and probably partying so much his feet and liver will come back in unrecognizable conditions (just kidding)! 😉

However I’m super glad I went to Tampere to hang out with some of the other Finns I moved here for (I still love you the most honey)! 😉

Tampere is a really beautiful city full of atmosphere, smack in the middle between two lakes, with plenty of nice old buildings and finnishness all around (communicating with hands and feet with a grilled food vendor on the city market place was an interesting experience – delicious food too)!

The trouble when moving somewhere new is that you have to figure out how to meet people and not get lazy about it because you have a boyfriend with really nice friends.

Even though I pride myself of being a rather independent and outgoing person, I have my tired moments at parties too, where I just want to lean against my boyfriend or chit chat with someone I know very well (like everybody else). If you don’t have anyone like that in a crowd at that given moment, chances are you end up talking to that other really interesting person on the sofa taking a breather next to you.

Also, most people mingle at parties and as it can be pretty hard to fall into other people’s ongoing conversations (especially if they speak some obscure language like Finnish), it might be easier to pick someone who is not already otherwise engaged in some deep discussion. So if you keep looking approachable while taking some time off, chances are you’re not gonna be alone for long (and I mean that in a non-creepy way).

Well that was all for now from my ‘passive networking techniques 101’! 😉 My point of this being, that even though my boyfriend is really sweet and good at introducing me to people at parties, it’s still much more effective to just be forced to create connections on your own.
And I really feel like I ran into some very very nice people, who could potentially end up being future friends or working colleagues. And I certainly enjoyed hanging out with old friends and the other usual suspects as well!

Until next year, Tampere! 😉

Ach ja, hät’ ich ja fast vergessen, ein kleine encore für den Herrn Dorra:
Noooordisch, wooo wooo wooo, nordisch by nature!

Freetime Macho

Yesterday I went to the Finnish premiere of ‘Freetime Machos’, a hilarious and very touching documentary about ‘the most northern and third lousiest rugby team in the World’. They had a very nice party afterwards with some great bands playing and plenty of good conversation with people I already new or got to know that night! 😉
I’m waiting for my Finnish music lesson to be continued, Jaakko! 😉
See you all in Tampere!

A piece of family history just arrived by post today:

Imre Kiralfy’s Grand Historical Spectacle “America”.

“Introductory
In bringing before the public this, my latest work, “America,” a few words in reference to the labor, care, and attention that have been bestowed upon it may interest the reader.
Early last summer I decided to create a spectacle, to be called “America,” (dealing with the history of four centuries of American civilization,) for production at the Auditorium in Chicago during the period of the World’s Fair, 1893.
To do this in a series of tableaux would have been a mere trifle…”
Imre Kiralfy

to be continued!

Today’s mission:

Find a place for my stuff to move into (read: suitable furniture) and a couch to crash on during Tampere Film Festival! To be able to hitch a hike with someone driving from Helsinki would be nice too!

Ulla suggests kierratyskeskus.fi & Fida for my furniture hunt. I’m gonna check out couch surfing for free and friendly couches and then all I need is a Finnish version of turen.dk or mitfahrzentrale.de. Any ideas?

Finally Helsinki!

Arrived last night too tired to stay up to watch the Oscars! Which is just the same, because the Academy obviously cares more about cute Dolphins than they care about an entire people!

Enough ranting, because I’m actually in a splendid mood! I’m finally here, I’m finally in Helsinki!