Scandic Kuopio

... a bit the role of guide, I had to try to look at the city from the perspective of a Brazilian tourist and, trying to arrange things to do (the almost constant rain didn't help at all), for the first time the city striked me as very boring. A sad new perspective, but I guess it is true, after stripping the city of all the particular meanings I planted there. Anyway, then Erika left and the last practical string tying me to Helsinki (and to Finland, for ...

In Kuopio finding a place to sleep. Indoors as it really is getting to cold to sleep in my tent! So I decide to go to hostel, the first since the start of my trip. It was a great decision as I had the change to meet some great people there! Just after my arrival a Spanish chica checks in as well, my roommate. We start talking and laughing and end up not stopping till we have to split up ...

So I've completely changed my thesis topic. It is definitely a good thing in the long run, but a little scary/stressful too. I have a lot of work to do. Although I know that I have come a long way, the fact that I just wrote my second one page research proposal, the first having been approved almost a year ago, does feel disturbingly like "back to square one". I often say that I can justify anything, and fun as that can be, it turns out that ...

after reading the article on CBC's homepage this evening, I wrote this letter to good old steve. I hope that maybe this will inspire a few other fellow canadians to do the same. this is too important for us to let slide. From: Lisa Cockburn Date: Oct 20, 2006 Subject: Proposed Clean Air Act Not Strong Enough Dear Prime Minister Harper, I just read the news about the Clean Air Act your government is proposing. I am writing directly to you because ...

... philosophy and metaphysics. I brought it with me to Finland last year along with a few other "comfort books", with the vague notion I might want to reread it at some point, but as it started to gather dust on my bookshelf, it seemed to have been a silly thing to have lugged overseas. But when I woke after my first good night's rest here this September, feeling at a complete loss over my thesis topic, feeling unsure about even the basic direction to face in trying to take ...

... once our "Golden Rax" had worn off! We began our quest to find an Internet terminal in the town so that we could e-mail loved ones or just update travel diaries. However it appears that as Finland has the greatest amount of technology per capita in all of Europe (To add a little perspective: 91% of Finnish people own a mobile phone!), there is no need for any public Internet terminals apart from in the public library, which was shut, maybe tomorrow then!

... i am not ready for that to end in 2 months. my life is so much simpler here, i have fewer possessions, fewer memories, fewer loose ends, fewer obligations, yet i have more purpose than i currently would have in edmonton. i came here with a specific goal and i am pursuing it, the further i walk on this path the more sure my footing becomes. certainly being here is not without challenges, and sometimes peace can feel more like lonliness ...

... i have discov**ed that th**e IS a good music scene (thank god, i won't be able to handle the lame student night club for too much long** oth**wise!) and i am going to a show tonight with some house, breakbeats and techno. i have made some really cool friends already, had 3 of them ov** for dinn** last night - made a "canadian" dish... a cass**ole! next week we are going to learn some traditional finnish cooking at sanna's place. well, i'm off to begin my friday night!

... stupidly excited about snow. People don't seem to understand my enthusiasm, I'm told that after one long winter that will all change.. Kuopio is centered around the main town square which hosts a market hall and there are various outside market stalls. Kuopio is also proud owner of the worlds largest smoke sauna fitting 60 people, as it says in the name the sauna is heated from the smoke from the fire rather than the ...

... tunnel going under the water (okay, we couldn't see it, but it's cool ;)) and when we were at the North Cape (the utmost point of Europe), it was very windy - we really had to "fight" against the wind to not be blown away ;-) and very beautiful as well. After that, we went back to Lappland to stay in Inari (at the Lake of Inari) for the night in a hotel. There, some other exchange students also joined us and we decided to stay there for one more day to take a ...