 |
Sunday, August 29, 2004
 Welcome to "Edu in Oulu" weblog! Tervetuloa "Edu in Oulu" weblogiin!
Pages 1 2 3
  
I am Eduardo Gouveia from Portugal and this weblog is about the 4 months I spent in the magnificent city of Oulu during my Erasmus programme during September-December 2004. It was created in February 2005 and it includes the relevant stories of my experience. I hope it is useful for those thinking of going to Oulu someday. I would recomend it to anyone, and during this visit you'll understand why... :)
The articles are not necessarily in a chronological order of events, since all of them were written after I returned. There isn't only one page on this blog. To see the other pages, go all the way down until you see "Next Page". If you want to be updated on this weblog, enter your email on the right side window, below. Kiitos!
Feel free to ask me any questions at edcarpediem@hotmail.com
|
my personal website: |
see the photos: |
|
|
  |
Posted at 10:43 am by edcarpediem
Permalink
Monday, August 30, 2004
Before Going to Oulu - some perspective...
Like I said, I'm Eduardo Gouveia from Porto, Portugal. I study Industrial Engineering and Management at Faculty of Engineering of Porto University (FEUP). After gladly deciding to take the Erasmus programme during Fall of 2004, another question tormented my mind: Where to go? My possibilities were limitless, although I prefered to stick to the "standard" destinations, because of paperwork issues. They were mostly Nordic cities (2 in Sweden and 4 in Finland). I always wanted to be in a Nordic country, especially Finland (not just visiting, but actually living there). I wanted Finland because it would be the most extreme kind of experience for me. I believed there was no similarity between Portugal and Finland except the Euro currency (boy, was I right...). The city of choice was obvious: "Helsinki", I thought. The rest of the preferences were Tampere in second and Oulu in third. Well, it happened that two students with better grades than mine got the first two vacancies, and I got Oulu (I'm still thanking them for it...).
What did I know about Finland? Just that it is cold, the language must be really weird, it's full of blond, tall, cold but honest people (lowest corruption rate in the world), "where Santa lives", 70% of forest, 20% of lakes, "they beat us 4-1 at football", and of course, I knew about ten rock/metal finnish bands :)
Obviously, I did a lot of research about Finland and Oulu, so my knowledge became greater by the day. The more I got to know about it, the more I wanted to be there (it's only natural). I saw a lot of pictures of the famous "police-man statue" (Toripollisi) and I couldn't wait to be in front of it (it's just one of those things).
In a short line: Oulu is the 6th biggest city in Finland (120 000 hab.). It is considered to be the Northern Europe's centre of competence, having a considerable amount of high technology ability concentrated in the area. Oulu University is the 2nd biggest in Finland (its airport is also the 2nd busiest). You can find more on Oulu at: www.oulu.fi .
During the "waiting time" (deciding what courses to take, getting the paperwork done, reserving housing, etc.) a lot of people told me: "Are you nuts? You're gonna freeze!", and others asked: "Where the hell is Oulu?", while the remainder wondered: "When will you shut up about that Oulu thing? You're getting on my nerves!"
I couldn't help it. The excitement was beyond me. Spending 4 months away from home, alone, where nothing was familiar to me, was indeed a challenge. I wasn't really aware of what I was doing, I just decided I was going for it, without being afraid. It would be easy to stay in Portugal, but I would always be thinking: "what if...?", and if one has the chance to do something like this, he should take it.
So the packing started, and my "3 take-offs and 3 landings in one day" were just the beginning of a really wonderful Fall...
Posted at 07:12 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
To get to Oulu, I had to get 3 flights (PORTO-FRANKFURT-HELSINKI-OULU), so you can imagine how my day was. Certainly not ordinary... I left Porto at 7:40 and arrived in Oulu at 21:30. My first impression of finnish people couldn't be better, and I'll tell you why.
In Helsinki, I asked this lady on the waiting lounge for a short translation, which she did, and then we started talking about what I was going to do in Oulu, and that I was a student and I was going there for 4 months, etc. It happens that she herself had two daughters in Oulu University, and because in Finnair domestic flights the seatings are free, we sat together and talked the whole trip. Once in Oulu, she told me that she and her husband (who picked her up) would give me a lift to Linnanmaa (campus area). I was really astonished. There I was, in god-knows-where in the North of Europe, at night time, all by myself, and a couple who would give me a lift as soon as I hit ground. Well I just went for it, after all, it's Finland... And it would be easier to find the street with their help (the world famous Yliopistokatu).
finally ... FINLAND
After being dropped off, my kind Kummi-student (it's like a student tutor), Kirsti, was waiting for me at the bus stop. She showed me my building (16), flat (3rd floor), room (305) and introduced me to my new two flatmates: Andreas from Austria and Emmanuel from France. They looked like nice guys, and we got acquainted pretty fast. But deep inside I was thinking "Who the hell are these people? Am I supposed to share a flat with these two?!? I'm screwed." And they surely thought:
Andreas - "Who is this guy?!?"
Emmanuel - "He looks like a fresh one, we can play some tricks on him!"
My room was pratically empty (only one bed, table, chair and wardrobe). For that I would like to thank the previous tenant, Mr. Cristoff (also world famous for never being sober :) ). Every time I checked out the other rooms, I felt like the most unlucky guy, because all of them had something left by the other inmates!! Also, my window view was to the trees of the back of the building, so I had the chance to see some squirrels in pure action...
my lovely window view (Sep and Dec)
The next day I met Aaron, the 3rd and missing flatmate. Here's our amazing dialogue:
Aaron - Hi! I'm Aaron. I'll be your flatmate, I guess.
Eduardo - Hi. I'm Eduardo, from Portugal. Are you american?
Aaron - Yeah... easy to tell ah?
Wow! My first contact with an american ever! Now I could put in practise all the slang I learned in movies and tv-series that we import from them. It turns out he studies film-making. How cool is that? Quite talented too!
Well, these flatmates of mine really turned out to be great people. I'm going to miss them a lot...
Posted at 11:53 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Orientation and first impressions
The Orientation programme... now that's something every University should have for the exchange students.
From Sep 1 to Sep 3 we were supposed to do it, so that we could be easily integrated in the University and the City itself. Also, we had the chance to meet the other exchange students ("only" 200 of them). It included a "Welcome Coffee", paperwork filling, some important lectures about culture difference and also a guided bus tour around Oulu.
I followed it with attention, it was a way to keep me busy and meet some people. Actually I had some fun doing this. One funny episode occured during the "Welcome Coffee". The person who was welcoming the students, at one point, had to say the name of all the countries represented out loud, and whoever belonged to that particular country had to stand up, so that the other compatriots could get to know him/her. I was expecting that when mentioning Portugal, I would be the only one standing and feel a little shy. But guess what, the guy two places aside from me also stands up. We were so surprised! We shook hands right away and everybody laughed at the situation. That is really a big coincidence. Not the biggest one, though. Many coincidences tend to happen in Oulu, such that one realises what a small world this is. I'll save the bigger ones to myself...
Another thing I enjoyed very much was Zach Shelby's lecture on "How to live in Oulu as an exchange student". Zach is a former american exchange student, that was in Oulu for some months and then decided to stay for some years. He was really funny comparing the finnish lifestyle to others and actually making fun (in a good way) of finns, while some of them were watching. Hilarious!
So, later, talking to João (the portuguese one), I heard that there were also two more portuguese guys and one girl since August in Oulu. WOW!!! I couldn't believe there were actually 5 of us there! That's a lot of "tugas" (that's what we call ourselves) in this town! But I can't complain, it seemed that the germans and austrians were really upset because there were about 50 german-speaking students among us, so they felt like they never left their home. I was personally expecting not to listen to the portuguese language at all during 4 months (except phone calls home), but I have to admit it was reaaaaally nice to speak my language every now and then with these amazing portuguese friends (João, Pedro, Rui, Helena). I would like to thank them for helping me out with some initial stuff. Helena, for example, showed me where the supermarkets and all the stuff were. It doesn't seem much but it was very helpful in the beginning. Obrigado Helena!
The guided bus tour was very interesting. We got to see some main points of the city, the famous Technopolis, the fun places and the Nallikari beach (Yes!! there is a beach!). The guide gave all of us a "tar" candy (very popular in Finland). Now, if you know what tar is, you would be wise to avoid this at all cost. But I wanted to try everything, so I went for it. Oh my God!! It was probably the most awful thing I ever put in my mouth, but still I finished it. I realised I had some of the finnish "Sisu" in me! (Sisu is a finnish word that is a mix of determination and bravery, common amongst the finns).
During this orientation period, I didn't get any sleep at all. Which means that on the first 3 days in Oulu I was a total "zombie". The whole cultural shock and being away from home got to me, and I just couldn't turn off at night. Gladly, as days went by and I got to know the people and the place a bit more, it got better. So, be prepared for some heavy emotional impact if you're coming to a totally different country. Just believe that it gets better with time, as you adapt.
After some days, I started realizing some things. First of all, finnish language is totally different from any other you may have heard about (it seems that it has similarities with Hungarian - which was obviously really helpful for me...). Then, the city is really well organized, and everything seems to work in harmony and effectively. I saw no poverty, no wandering dogs, no mess of any sort. That impressed me in a real positive way. The urbanism is amazingly well planned. No building is out of purpose or abandoned (at least in downtown) and the streets are clean and functional. Overall, as I got to know the City, I figured it really had the ideal dimension for a good quality of life. That means that it's not too small because it has everything one may need (big supermarkets, University, hospital, airport, railway station, industry, technological center, amazing nightlife, sports facilities, theatre, library, etc) and it's not too big because there are no traffic jams, no unnecessary noise, no confusion. It is a quiet and peacuful place with lots of parks and... guess what... bicycles! Yes, bicycles! I have never, ever, seen so many bikes riding around. While in downtown, sometimes I feared to be ran over by one. They were everywhere. It is the most popular mean of transport in Oulu. It's almost mandatory to have it. I found out that Oulu is actually world-famous for its bicycle paths. You see, along the roads and streets for cars, Oulu has paths destined for pawns and bicycles. It is common for people to go from Linnanmaa to Downtown (6 km) by bike. I would advise the beginners to not do that for themselves because you'll get lost easily, as I've heard.
Back at my flat, things were rolling. Of course I had to buy some things for my room, which I could sell later. And that's another good thing about Finland and Oulu - the 2nd hand stores. And also how easy it is to sell stuff to others (students for example - through the exchange mailing list). You can get really good deals in these stores (furniture, sofas, lamps, clothing, etc). Many students buy 2nd hand bikes that are later sold to other students. So, whatever money you invest on your "well-being" in Oulu, rest assured that you can get most of it back at the end, if you do things in time. I personally didn't purchase a bike, because I knew that soon it would be too cold to ride one. I guess that if I had to decide again, I would get one. But the buses work fine, and if you have a Oulucard (the bus card), you can travel in any bus, anytime, in the premises of Oulu, so that worked for me. But a bike sometimes would come in handy, I'll admit...
Posted at 11:30 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Fuksi stands for "1st year student" and Sauna stands for... Hell on Earth. Of course everybody knows what sauna is, but how many of you have tried finnish sauna? It's a whole different story. Sauna is actually the most famous finnish word in the planet. In Finland no one is "allowed" to use any kind of clothes during sauna, otherwise the "sauna spirit" would become angry. It also reaches 100 ºC easily, if not more. And that's what expected me on my 4th day in Oulu...
My coordinator, Juho, welcomed me to my new department's Guild (OPTIEM) by inviting me to this event they organized for "fuksis" called Fuksisauna (yes.. something about fuksis having sauna, you guessed it). After I met him, we walked for a bit around town towards Pikisaari, which is an island in the middle of Oulu where the Fuksisauna took place. When I got there, the fun had already begun. The students had divided themselves into teams, and they had to go through some strange competitions, like Relay Drinking and Running (I invented the name...), which consisted on each member of a team drinking a glass of beer (vodka?) and then running, going around a chair and returning to pass it on to another teammate, who would do the same thing. The fastest team wins..
Needless to say that I didn't get a word they were saying, but Juho helped me with that, and it took no big effort to realize they were surely having lots of fun. I had the idea that finnish drank a lot, but one thing is to hear about it and another is to witness it live! I learnt to respect that as time went by, and now I am very confortable with that aspect of their culture. Still, the initial impact was kind of surprising.
After the sun set down, we went indoors, where Sauna was happening. "Allright, my first finnish sauna! Can't wait to get in there!". Down the stairs I went, and.. Whoa! Girls changing! "Ok, now I screwed up... Hey!!, Juho, is it the girls' turn? Oh.. it's boys'... but the girls are changing here.. Can I change here? Someone said - Suuuure, noooo problem, just go! They don't care!" (what about ME caring...?). Well, nevermind, turned myself to a wall, changed (got naked to be accurate) and 5 seconds later a girl with a towel around her was already asking me stuff, having noticed I wasn't from those parts. She was very nice, although slightly altered ("better get used to this..."). So there I went, and as soon as I opened the sauna's door, I felt the most intense heat ever and realized this wasn't going to be good... Inside, all the guys were singing, happy, some really drunk.. and I was struggling for survival. It was really crowded too. Well, I managed to stay inside for 10 seconds or so... great premiere, ah?
One thing about saunas that foreigners should know... There are mixed saunas quite often, especially if it's a student party or something called "sauna-party". They have no problems with nudity at all! So, be prepared to leave your clothes outside and your prejudice at home. For me, who attended 2 or 3 of them, it was only a matter of survival (trying to breathe in and out) as my first saunas were. But don't be surprised to be invited to a thing like this, and after a while you will forget there are naked women in there, you will accept it as a natural fact...
After putting my clothes back on, I decided to socialize. It was so much easier now that they're all drinking. I saw how amazing the change of behaviour can be between sober finn and "happy" finn. It's radical! They really know how to have fun, believe me, and are the best people to hang out with after a couple of beers. I made two or three friends in a matter of minutes. I spoke about myself over and over and what was I doing there, etc. They all seemed very interested, and actually they were. That's another thing about the finnish people in general (yes I know it's dangerous to generalise). They are very genuine in their actions. If they ask you "Mitä kuullu?" (How are you?), they really want to know how you're doing, for example.
To end the night, Juho, Olli, Jarno and me decided to visit some pubs. (surprise!!!) We went to one called Never Grow Old. It's usually a reggae/latin music bar, but that evening there was a live band playing - The Lunatics. I was very eager to hear some music, as I am an amateur composer and guitar player (my website - by the way). The band played instrumentals and they just simply rocked. I loved it! Do I need to say that the lead guitarrist had some beers before performing? I thought not...
That night I discovered the most hilarious thing a finnish person can do: speaking bad words in Portuguese. You have to believe me, this was just awesome. I was literally rolling on the pub's floor laughing like hell as I kept hearing Juho, Olli and Jarno saying words like "caralh*, filho da put*, foda-s*". Ok, it may not sound like a big deal, but you just have to try it to see how funny it is.
Fuksis, sauna, girls changing, live concert, laughter attacks - what a crazy day... let's do it again sometime!!
Posted at 12:10 am by edcarpediem
Permalink
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Yliopistokatu and surroundings
Time to talk a little bit about the area I'm located in. Yliopistokatu means "University street", so you can probably guess what how far it is from where I had to go to take my courses. This place really gives meaning to the word "campus". Let's see: 4 tall buildings filled with international and finnish students plus laundry rooms and saunas, next to smaller houses (also for students), a Sports Hall, a secondary school, a kindergarten with playground, tennis courts, 3 big supermarkets, post office, techology companies HQ's, restaurants (mostly pizzerias), a bar, the University ("only" the 2nd biggest in Finland) and Technopolis. Also nearby, we have Tellervontie and Tapiontie (streets where more students live), 2 big lakes, the Bothanical Gardens, a library and guess what... a gorilla that knows how to read!!!
this is what happens when gorillas live close to schools...
Posted at 04:19 am by edcarpediem
Permalink
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Students like parties. In Finland every reason is good enough to have some sort of celebration, and you'll know some of them as you keeping reading the blog. One of the most obvious is the beginning of the school year. This is 14th September and the event is called "Vulcanalia". The name has some edge to it, don't you think?
This was the time in which I learned that finnish students are quite the experts in saving money for partying. Here's what happens: they organize a "before-party" at somebody's flat, where people start drinking beer and other light drinks, just to get warmed up. Then at the real party, they can go to a club or pub, where drinks are usually expensive, and drink 1 or 2 beers that last for some hours.. until they all go to the "after-party", again at someone's flat, where the heavy drinking takes place. This way they save a lot of money and still have a lot of fun.
Vulcanalia was my second student party after Fuksisauna. We went to Meri's place downtown, and this was where I actually met most of the colleagues of my department. That's because I had already lost all shame and gained a lot of nerve. 15 days in Finland make you a less shy person because you really have to "do it yourself" if you want to meet anyone at all. So I started the usual and routiny approach:
- Terrrrve! Minä olen Eduardo, minä tulen portugalistaa. Mikä sinun nimi on? Hauska tavata!
me wearing the finnish tekkari hat
I realised that it is true that finns like that you speak finnish to them. They wonder why the hell should you even try to learn it in the first place, and I could tell they appreciate the effort very much. At least the ladies couldn't let go of my hand until we were finished talking (was it me or the beer I had before?).
Also, I saw the finnish students' hat for the first time. They wear it on several ocasions, like these student parties. It seems like a sailor hat (don't be offended, but that's what I think!) The "tekkaris" (technical students) however, wear a slightly different hat. It has a kind of "rope with a broom at the end" (can't explain it better than this). They tie a nut on that "rope" for each Vappu they went to. (Vappu is the biggest student party on 1st May).
There was a big concert scheduled for Vulcanalia in Oulu. Kemopetrol were playing. Another band I became a fan of. Singing in english helped, I guess. Unfortunately, I got off this "before-party" a bit too late and couldn't get in the concert. Well.. it was fun anyway.
Posted at 11:46 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I had the previlege to play football in the University league for our guild's team OPTIEM. Because I come from Portugal, my colleagues must have thought that I could play like Figo or Cristiano Ronaldo, or somewhat close to them. My responsability was huge! I could not let them down. I was so out of shape for not doing any kind of sport for several weeks, but I just can't refuse an opportunity to kick some ball around. No real portuguese can ever do that !! (otherwise the "football spirit" will be mad)1.
Niittyaro football pitches So we went to Niittyaro, a place in the middle of nowhere that had these 2 great football pitches, made for 7-player teams. OPTIEM played against REAL KROUVI. The weather was rainy and my sports shoes were not very "sporty", but I had to use what I had with me (aaah if I only had brought my football boots from Porto - but who expects to play football when going to Oulu?!?) After putting on my green team's jersey, they decided to place me as a striker. (Great! I don't have to be afraid to lose the ball up front, it's worse to lose it at the back...). We completely controlled the match, and were winning 2-1 at halftime. Then I received a pass from Aki (great football player, for a finn... just kidding, dude :)) , quick turn and GOOOOOAL!!!! Yes! I scored a goal for Optiem!!! How cool is that? I wish someone had made a video of it. I'm going to include that on my Curriculum. My moment of glory! Then we still made it 4-1. Easy.
I do feel the need to say something here. For those about to to play with Finns, hear me out! They are not soft!!! They kick ass (and the rest of the body too if it's in the way). I thought they played like babies, but soon I realized that they are actually great players, very tactical and physical. And they don't fool around. On our second game, we faced SIX PACK LIONS (how finnish is this name?) and I was very confident... until I got a taste of finnish harshness myself. Protecting a lost ball with my frail body, I couldn't stop a guy from trying to shoot it to our goal, as he was in full speed mode. Result: hard kick at my ankle and need to be replaced. Well... I got the chance to take some pictures and rest for a while until I got back in the game to try to prevent our 2-1 defeat. But without success. Needless to say I didn't play anymore, for I really got injured from that one. It was good while it lasted.
I think the team was highly dependable of me, because they didn't qualify for next round during the next matches. We, in Portugal, call that sort of team "Eduardo-dependent". Hey guys listen! I'm sorry I got injured and made you look bad. Next time I promise I'll kick some ass myself! Ok, now all of you must ignore this paragraph since... it's really not true...
1 please check the "Fuksisauna" article (Sep 4th) for the analogy...
Posted at 07:15 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Finnish language - the whole truth
Terve! (Hello!)
Now I'll discuss with you the whole truth about the Finnish language. Many people say it's difficult to learn. Some foreigners are in Finland for 10 years and can't even order a meal in a restaurant. I say it's a matter of dedication and practising every day withouth being afraid to speak nonsense. Regardind Finnish as a learning language, we can name some characteristics:
Advantages:
- only one gender (neutral). There is no distinction between he and she (both are "han").
- there are no articles (such as "a" or "the").
- each word contains a lot of information, so sentences don't have many words (maybe a disadvantage..?)
- each letter of the alphabet is read in the same way in all cases. An "Ä" always has the "Ä" sound, as has an "O" or a "Y", for example.
- few verb tenses (it doesn't have the Future tense for example - weird ah?, a language with no future... :)
Disadvantages:
- Finnish has 15 declinations (considering that Portuguese has none and German has 4, that is a lot!).
- totally different language from any other in Europe. For example "Yliopisto" means University (Yli for "high/upper" and opisto for "study") and in other european languages we have: Universidade (PORT), Universidad (ESP), Université (FRA), Universität (GER), Università (ITA), you get the idea. And most words are similar to this case. You can hardly guess what a word in finnish means.
Curiosities:
- it doesn't have the word "please".
- repeated letters are very frequent ("tt", "kk", "aa", "mm").
- uses a lot of sufixes.
- many words sound like italian mixed with japanese (at least to me...)
Basic Sentences:
- Mitä kuuluu? (How are you?)
- Minä olen Eduardo ja minä tulen Portugalista (I'm Eduardo and I'm from Portugal)
- Haluan kahvia! (I want coffee!)
- Hauska tavata. (Nice to meet you)
- Yksi isotaksi, Yliopistokatu kussitoista, nyt! (one big taxi, Yliopistokatu 16, now!)
- On kylmä! (It's cold!)
How to pick up a girl in Finnish:
(never worked this way...but feel free to try it, at least you make them laugh...)
Haluatko tanzia? - Want to dance?
Sinä olet kukka ja kukka on kaunis, siis sinä olet kaunis... - You are a flower, and flowers are beautiful, so you are beautiful also...
Mikä sinun puhelinnummero? - What is your phone number?
Haluatko nukkua kanssani? - Do you want to sleep with me (sleep only)?
Meille vai teille vai metsäteille vai.. eriteille? - My place, your place, in the woods, or different ways?
- Eriteille! - Different ways!
Ei se mitä, Elämä on kaunis suomessa... - It doesn't matter. Life is beautiful in Finland...
Juoppoporo song by Eduardo Gouveia:
Oulun Naiset ovat kauniita!
Minä olen juoppoporo ja mä tarvin apua!
Torstaina Rovaniemellä, kolmetoista naista saunassa...
Minä tulen Portugalista,
ja suomi on kieli vaikea.
Mutta elämä on helpompaa
jos juon... sata olutta!!!
I dare you to translate this... maybe later I will :P
Posted at 11:54 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Life without a guitar.. not possible!
As some of you may have already read in these pages, I am an amateur musician and guitar player. The mere thought that I had to live without my electric guitar for 4 months was almost unbearable, but I was sure that I would be busy enough not to miss it.
But as days went buy and I the more I heard about these 2nd hand stores, it was only a matter of time until I decided to purchase one. So Juho (yes, again) drove me and Aaron (my flatmate who also wanted a guitar) to downtown and helped us choose a couple of acoustic 2nd hand guitars. For a really good price, I got a blue Squier (preeeetty). In Portugal I would never have this kind of equipment for this price. And it didn't seem "used" at all. Hyvää!! :)
The idea was to keep it in my room for the most boring times and practise some minutes a day, and even (why not?) compose new songs based on my new experience. But it turned out to be for some other purposes, like playing in parties and performing duets (dozens) with other guitar-playing students. It was a lot of fun. I took the piece everywhere and it played beautifully. I missed playing "live" for some time and now I had some chances to do it. It's the best thing!
My dreaming mind had this plan once that consisted on the following: taking 1 or 2 other students and go downtown (Keskusta), while snowing, and perform for some minutes. The repertoire included some popular songs (Cat Stevens, Bryan Adams, Nirvana, Radiohead...) and also some improvisation. Of course someone would have to make videos and pictures of the event (that goes without saying). I would call this thing "Keskusta Concerto". Unfortunately, it never happened due to lack of time (yes, it's true). I had all the songs prepared, with lyrics and all but I couldn't do it alone, so it was hard to get other people to include something like this in their agendas. It was my fault, because I waited longer than I should have to plan this. Anyway, thanks to all that agreed to it and to those whose enthusiasm got me going (yes you girls from ESN). Sorry to let you down :( Maybe next time...
Finally, I had to make the decision to sell it or keep it and bring it to Portugal. My dear friend Olli from Oulu liked the guitar so much that helped me make the decision, which was to sell it after all. So I did. I'm sure he'll take good care of it and give it really good use ;)
I'll miss that guitar, but Olli will let me play it when I return to Oulu some day...
(Won't you?!?!) :P
Posted at 11:10 pm by edcarpediem
Permalink
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
EDU IN OULU is a weblog about the stay of Eduardo Gouveia in Oulu for 4 months in the Fall 2004 as an exchange student under the Erasmus programme. It includes the relevant stories of this experience and it may be useful for those considering to go to Oulu as exchange students in the future. Please enjoy! :) To see some nice pictures about it, click below ;)
Any questions, anytime to:
edcarpediem@hotmail.com
|
|
|
|
