22 September, 2011
By  Taisa Sganzerla (Brazil)
Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP)
in Finland in August 2011

Helsinki Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in Finland. It attracts almost 300,000 people every year in the late summer, and has been held since 1968. Prior to that, the festival concentrated on events related to classical music, using Jean Sibelius’ international fame as a classical composer as its main marketing tool. It was then opened up to popular music as well, and later to diferent art forms. Nowadays, cinema, theatre and live performances play a big part in the festival’s attractions.

Helsinki Festival is largely inspired by the famous Edinburgh Festival, the biggest cultural event in the world, which happens in Scotland every August. The basic idea is the same: many cultural events happening simultaneously around the city, either in art and music venues or in public spaces.

The biggest challenge to Helsinki Festival’s organizers, then, is to become as attractive to international tourists as Edinburgh’s. Acording to Ms. Sini Koskimies, Senior Communications Officer of Helsinki Festival, European tourists do not fly to Finland to attend the festival because its main attractions can be easily seen elsewhere in Europe. “But people go to Edinburgh Festival because of the uniqueness of the event, not because of the artists performing in it. This is what we need to build: something unique about Helsinki Festival that would attract an international audience regardless of its attractions,” she said.

One of the festival’s main events is The Night of the Arts. Held on 26th of August in 2011, performances and live concerts took over the city streets and parks. Most events were free of charge, but not all of them. The FCP group had the chance to see a Finnish reggae band at the Hakaniemi area for free – unlike normal customers, who had to pay to get in.

Still, many free attractions can be seen for free all over town, such as painting workshops in Kallio, dancing performances in museums and even a cinema session of Sergio Leone’s classic Dollars Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), a great option for new generations who didn’t have the chance to see them on the big screen the first time.

Taisa Sganzerla
Brazil
 

20 September, 2011
By Ekatha Ann John (India)
Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP)
in Finland in August 2011

Meeting Santa Claus in Rovaniemi

The moon had a celestial ring to it, the ancient forests looked like wizened men swaying to the cadence of the chilly Artic winds, an invisible brush painted the sky in rich hues of orange, red and yellow, a distant chime pervaded our senses …welcome to the enchanting Rovaniemi- best known for housing the much loved character with a not-so-flattering figure and snowy white bush muffling his words; who sneaks into our houses to drop goodies and leaves to the sound of tinkling bells and scuffling boots.

Rovaniemi’s magic left the entire group bedazzled from the moment we landed, but it was still to fully unveil the wonders it hid. Our first stop was to have a rendezvous with the city’s celebrity…Papa Noël! After a quick round of shopping at Santa’s village and sending post cards to our folks back home from his post office, we visited the man himself in his burrow.

Dusty shelves full of ancient scrolls and manuscripts, a leviathan grandfather’s clock with deep resounding gongs, a dark narrow tunnel, cheerful elves trotting about..and finally the man we had been waiting to see all these years.. the Christmas postcards didn’t lie.. he was exactly how we imagined him to be.. jolly and rotund, with flushed cheeks, a snowy white beard and stars in his eyes. He peered at us over his round spectacles and greeted us with warmth and laughter. We sat around him and asked him all those questions we had been waiting to ask for years. “I have always been a good girl, but I haven’t received any gifts all these years?” came one question; “Is Rudolf the reindeer’s nose really red?” came another, among a myriad other questions. Santa patiently answered our queries with a twinkle in his eyes and a smile tugging at his lips behind the snowy white bush.

Meeting reindeer in Rovaniemi

Even before we could stomach the fact that we had just met one of the world’s most celebrated characters, we were ferried to meet celebrities of a different kind..these ones with four legs, garbed in brown fur coats and bejeweled with crowns on their heads….Reindeers!! We waited with bated breath to meet Lapland’s most famous creatures. As a herd of reindeers trudged towards us, we pet them, fed them and a member of the group even tried grunting to them in their language! (the grunts only scared them away, but that’s besides the point). After a round of ‘oooohs’, ‘aaahs’ and ‘awwwws’ off we went to dig into the same creatures we pampered an hour back. There is no denying the fact that as gentle and cute as they are, reindeers make for a tasty meal!

I now have a distant look in my eyes and a smile plays on my lips. I have become oblivious to all around me. Something has cast a spell on me. No one knows who or what. My heart whispers.. “It’s the magic of Rovaniemi.”
 
Ekatha Ann John, India 

13 September, 2011
By Clément Beuselinck-Doussin (France)
Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP)
in Finland in August 2011

Finns play rugby

5 259 250 inhabitants in Finland. 374 rugby players. My blog could stop here; everything has been said: rugby is insignificant in this Nordic country. An evidence? Finland is ranked 93rd in the International Rugby Board from 93 countries! But behind this “insignificant” statistics is hidden a story that must be told.

“It was in 1999, just after the rugby World Cup”, says Thierry Demoulin, smiling slightly. The Frenchman, who settled in Helsinki for love, can be considered as one of the fathers of rugby in Finland, as he has held the coach role for several years.

For him, what does shine through in Finnish rugby is, firstly that “they never give up the fight” and secondly, the respect they show to opponents and referees. “No cheating, no discussing. I've never seen any red card for an intentional bad move”, he says, as an example of their discipline.

How did rugby invade Finland? 

Helsinki Rugby Club ball

Cardiff , November 6th, 1999: France loses the rugby World cup final against Australia. Helsinki, few weeks later: an Englishman, a Frenchman, a South African, an Australian and a Finn drink pints of beers in an Irish pub and elaborate Machiavellian plans.

The coldest months over, it's time to play with the magic oval ball. So, for the Finnish 1st of May celebrations, Vappu, when most of Helsinki is drinking and celebrating national labor day, they head to Kaivopuisto park. The grass tries to peep through a white thick coat of pure snow. It's not a problem for these tough, rugby playing boys: “as we all know, rugby players are made of more than just sugar”, reads the Helsinki Rugby Club (the first Finnish club). After that, word of mouth starts to take effect...

Jim McLoughlin as coach for the first training sessions, international matches played on flat gravel pitches (the first one ended by a loss to Sweden but had the boys tasted victory, scoring one try), registration to the FIRA (the European association for rugby), and an exponential growth of the number of players: Finnish rugby is born! Or at least, it has a heart.

And then the Helsinki City Council officially states in 2000 that the pitches at Myllypuro can be used for rugby. Now Finnish rugby has a home.

Few shortcomings

Twelve years later, at the cusp of the World Cup, which starts on September 9th in New Zealand, it's true that Finnish rugby is still lacking some concrete improvements. One of the first reasons for this is the shortness of the rugby season in the country - basically from June to September, that means during summer holidays. “It's hard to gather people and to have a proper team with the same players”, explains Mr Demoulin. “If we could have younger players, with no kids, it might be easier”, he adds, smiling.

However, promotion of the club aimed at younger players has started, such as the rugby festival to be held next spring, due to bring together some 350 kids or like the tag rugby exhibits in downtown Helsinki during the World Cup. But since there is no national championship for young teams nowadays, it's difficult to keep them motivated.

Women in good shape!

In compensation for the relatively low international level of the men, we must consider the women who pass the rugby ball since 2005. Pretty tough girls, these Finnish women, but still feminine. Do not stereotype them. Miina Porkka is a 25-year old blonde, svelte girl who scored three tries as a flowing runner full back (as number 15) over the 42 points her team Warriors inflicted on Tampere Rugby Club (19 points).

This water resource management student left ice hockey for ever four years ago: “it is not only the contact I like, it's more the speed and the varied positions you can play”, she says. Selected for the national team, she and her mates participated to the 11 May Women's European Trophy in Spain.

It was only in 2007 that women played their first international match. Nowadays, they are among the twelve best 7's rugby teams in Europe.

Let's be honest: for both men and women the road is long, still, and the next step is to overtake Sweden. Till that day, coming soon we hope, let's pray for climate change. Then the seasons will last longer, so the involvement of youngsters will grow and Finland will become a nation of rugby!

Clément Beuselinck-Doussin
France
 

13 September, 2011
By Siân Lewis (Great Britain)
Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP)
in Finland in August 2011

It doesn't get much more authentically Finnish than waking up in Lapland in a cosy log cabin overlooking a misty lake in the middle of nowhere, having a breakfast of rye porridge, salmon and cheese and heading off for a walk along the attractively named Small Bear's trail, the 12km Pieni Karhunkierros.

Boys on a bridge

The path in the Oulanka National Park snakes over winding wooden boardwalks, three rickety rope bridges stretched across rushing waterfalls and down seemingly endless stairs built into steep hillsides. On the four-hour walk we stood on the edge of enormous canyons, dipped our feet in lakes and caught glimpses of the cold black Kitkajoki river through the trees.

As we trekked, we watched for the green and orange markers that mark the way. Our lovely guides Janne, Andri and Johannes had informed us that it is very easy to wander off the beaten path along a tiny trail and find yourself alone in the wilderness, at the mercy of bears and moose and with only cloudberries for nourishment. So we kept an eye on the markers and nervously scanned the forest for moose-like shapes, which was not easy as a certain South African and a certain Frenchman in our group decided to hide behind trees making disturbing reindeer-like "aruuuuga!" noises at intervals.

Pieni Karhunkierros Trail

The air was heavy and humid but the going was mainly flat, so we weren't too exhausted when we eventually arrived in a secluded little clearing, where open-air shelters and a Sami teepee were arranged around a big fireplace. Our guides lit a fire and served us a traditional Lappish lunch: salmon soup with cream, followed by coffee made in black pots on the fire, eaten with spicy sugar bread. We were all very content after food and a chance to rest our aching legs, so it didn't seem like things could get much better - until we looked up and saw a reindeer in a bright red collar and her baby watching us curiously from the top of the hill, like a scene in a Lappish folk painting.

Siân Lewis
Great Britain
 

13 September, 2011
By Francisco de Borja Durán  (Spain)
Foreign Correspondents' Programme (FCP)
in Finland in August 2011

Media placement day at Iltalehti 

Two sparrows irrupted in, disturbing chatter and everyone’s breakfast for a minute. It was a stylish cafeteria in the centre of Helsinki; glossy paraphernalia, high ceilings, mirrors on the walls and columns… All of it altered perception of the real dimensions of the place, one could simply not tell at first sight where the other end of the room was. Surely, it was spacious enough, for the birds flew around comfortably and they certainly didn’t stumble as much as the security guard who was trying to force them out.

As conversations resumed, the three of us also went back to debating the comings and goings of Iltalehti, one of the two big tabloid newspapers in Finland. “In every shop you will always find the two together, one by the other: Iltalehti and Ilta Sanomat, our main competitor”. Panu Pokkinen, editor-in-chief of Iltalehti, was having café latte and a carelian pie with a topping of smoked salmon that made me wish I had not turned down his offer to buy me breakfast. I was having plain coffee, as was the third in question, Heikki Rusama, web producer of the newspaper.

Being welcome not only the editor-in-chief, but also and most especially by the web producer of this particular medium wasn’t just a happy coincidence. Iltalehti is a big, nationwide newspaper, but it is also the most visited website in Finland. “Every other Finn visits our web”, summarised Panu, after explaining some figures. As I would find out after coffee, they do put a lot of effort into keeping the site fresh and kicking. The online news desk, with its various fancy monitors, reminded me of a command control centre out of a sci-fi movie.

Learning about the relation between print and online media during my work placement day was fascinating. While Heikki explained to me what his job consisted of, I began to realise how challenging a time this is for newspapers. Having an attractive online offer is a must if they don’t want to lag behind, but at the same time, readers are not ready to pay for online news as of yet. The strategy that most written media seem to be following is to divulge breaking news and most relevant information online, while saving the details and best pictures and writing for the print edition. The way Panu Pokkinen had put it right before the sparrows flew in is, I thought, an excellent representation: “Online news is like the morning coffee that gets you going, the print edition is like your occasional café latte, when you sit back and enjoy”.
 
Francisco de Borja Durán, Spain 

Latest articles

• Muxlim, the past, present and future (Berza Simsek, Turkey)
• When culture takes over the city: Helsinki Festival and The Night of the Arts (Taisa Sganzerla, Brazil)
• The Magic of Rovaniemi - “When we pet and fed and ate reindeers..." (Ekatha Ann John, India)
• Yes sir, Finns play rugby! (Clément Beuselinck-Doussin, France)
• Hiking in the Lapland Wilderness; Pieni Karhunkierros (Siân Lewis, Great Britain)
• Online espresso, printed latte (Francisco de Borja Durán Real, Spain)
• Ruka rapids (Sian Lewis, Great Britain)
• My Work Placement Day (Daniela Späth, Germany)
• White water magic (Sarah Baldiserra, San Marino)
• Extreme YLE (Sarah Baldiserra, San Marino)

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