Radisson Sas Hotel Oulu

Introduced to downtown with a drunk guy urinating in the middle of main street at 4PM alongside his patient friends....with the unsurprised locals passing by. Had a good time being shoved all over the place on a Saturday night in the chilly city with great nightlife.

So all you get here is a picture taken at 3AM or so, almost as bright as day.

... still hanging around to bring life to this place and bold colours adorned the walls that gave it a playful twist.
Perhaps what I liked best was the excitement and passion I heard from the coordinator about their programme and the direction it takes. She was approachable and sincere, and I also got a better understanding of the uni education system here. All in contrast with the experience in Tampere. However there is no scholarship on offer so I had ...

Today we took a cruise through an archipelago of twenty thousand islands to Aland Finland. It was an early start so we had a huge buffet breakfast on board followed by another as much as you can eat lunch. The scenery is magnificent as well! There is free internet connection on board , handy, as we cannot access it out in the woods!!

Four days until the trip starts. We have flight tickets purchased from Helsinki directly to Seoul and the hotel has been reserved in Seoul for the first 7 nights. We chose Hotel Shilla Seoul mainly based on the good reviews it has received on sites such as TripAdvisor (#2 of 200 hotels in Seoul). We got a great deal from Hotels.com for ...

1. Weaving the Incantation 2. A Servant 3. Born From Fire 4. Towards and Against 5. The Smoke 6. Better Unborn 7. Veil of Sin (Ei ennen soitettu, ikinä) 8. Silver Bride 9. Two Moon 10. Cares 11. In the Beginning 12. Silent Waters 13. Alone ----- 14. The Way 15. House of Sleep 16. Black Winter Day 

... and what should greet me on the other side? A massive Ikea! I walked a ways up the Swedish side of the river and found another crossing at the "Green Zone" golf course - a golf course that crosses the international border! I had wanted to try and get a round in at this semi-famous course, but due to time constraints it just wasn't possible. and after walking around the course for only a few minutes I'm kinda glad I didn't play - mosquitos everywhere ...

... a clue which way I was supposed to be headed I wouldn't have been in as much of a panic about missing my stop. no worries though, some friendly Finns on the bus nicely pointed out the correct stop. (which was fairly obviously a train station once we got there, lol). The train to Oulu was fine - I found a seat, stretched out and slept intermittently for the next 9 1/2 hours. in retrospect, would have been better to get a ...

... all designs were inspiring and bold. I plan to stretch it over a frame someday and hang it as art. With Kyle's undying appetite for Kebabs, he found a spot to order a plate and I had some falafel. For the record, we do want to try traditional Scandinavian foods, we just haven't found any affordable restaurants yet. Feeling like weary travelers, we headed back to Sweden on Saturday afternoon. Now it's Monday, everyone is at the University, and there is a bit of mist in the air.

When I got to Oulu finally, and Judy picked me up and brought me to their place, I didn't have much energy for anything but a nap- so that's what I did for the next 6 hours! That evening Steve and Judy were having a birthday celebration for Reuben, so there was some company ...

... travelling there by bike would you believe, everyone here rides bikes despite all the snow and the 3inch layer of ice that covers all the roads! It's been pretty cold this week with the lowest temperature being -21 one morning... we discovered pretty quick that if you dont sniff fast enough when its that cold your snot begins to freeze in the end of your nose!! Will soon be beginning our travelling/exploring so will be sure to keep you posted.