Sundown n' snowfall
Only two months left and so much work to do! The Media Lab has been super busy with a lot of us working well into the night but the projects are fun and interesting so the time goes by quickly. We've started watching movies once a week in the Media Lab, and as our department is quite international, we take it in turns to bring movies from our respective countries.
Out of school, I continue to explore Helsinki whenever I get the chance. A couple of weeks ago I played "tourist" with a friend of mine and we ran around the city and did things that one or both of us had never done before. After a quick bite at Cafe Engel - a great restaurant for breakfast and lunch, we started our day by walking to the marketplace. This is the main market in Helsinki. It's by the harbour and is always bustling on the weekends.
Once we arrived we discovered that there was a festival going on. As well as the usual food and craft stands, there were many old traditional sailboats lining the harbour... it was the Baltic Herring Festival! I'm not such a great fan of salted herring but all the Finns were pretty excited. The old sail boats were also crowded with Finns feasting on salmon soup and rye bread. We were craving something sweet however, so stopped at a crepe stall and bought crepes with jam and cream. It was really nice sitting outside, people watching and listening to a few guys nearby play the accordion.
After the marketplace we made our way to the Sibelius monument where I've been to before but it's such a nice sculpture that it's worth going back to in different seasons. We then walked to the Regatta cafe, kicking autumn leaves as we went. Regatta is a really cool little cafe by the sea, it's only open during daylight hours and serves beer, coffee and pastries. The walls of the cafe are cluttered with paintings and photographs, they've even made 90 degree frames to fit into the corners of the wall. We decided to make the most of the sun though and sit outside.
Since that day we've seen less and less of the sun, with daylight saving, the sun now sets at 4.30pm so I'm arriving and leaving uni in the pitch dark. I know it's nothing compared to the winter but I do hope the temperature drops so that we see some snow before Christmas. It has been below 0 a few times this last week so fingers crossed.