Cindy Enjoys Rovaniemi
so cindy and i came back from russia and immediately PASSED OUT for 12 or 13 hours! but the next day we had a nice hike to the city centre in Rovaniemi. The fall colors were out then (October 12) and in just two weeks, we had our 3 or 4 inches of snow that has yet to fully melt! She and I agreed Rovaniemi was quite beautiful!
Rovaniemi's both a college town and an urban center for the north of Finland. It's the provincial capital of Lapland, and while not heavily populated with Sami (you have to go at least 100km north to start entering Sami villages), it is a gateway to the culture and the numerous national parks of Lapland. Rovaniemi (ROE vuh nyay mee) has all the comforts of any city sized around 50,000 people - shops, a downtown plaza with clothing stores, restaurants, cafes (though I must say there isn't one that's quite as nice as Open Eye or Driade or Strong's in Chapel Hill - but ZoomIt is growing on me...), and a nice view of the Kemijoki (translation - Kemi River). The pubs, groceries and a few restaurants are what stay open in Rovaniemi past 5 p.m. That's not only Rovaniemi - it's a common Finnish practice, as well as having almost nothing open on Sundays so we can all rest up :)! So in many ways I miss the feel of Chapel Hill and the random 24-hour places you can find at home, but Rovaniemi and Lapland are beautiful - I have made about 10 to 15 Finnish friends and acquaintances outside of my exchange student social circle, and definitely keep entertained.
I definitely enjoy studying at lapin yliopisto! or, the university of Lapland. I take courses in the Arctic Studies Program, which explores the geography, sociology and biology of the whole Circumpolar North - with classes ranging from natural sciences to studies in environmental law. Cindy's come along with me to my lectures, and even stayed home with me when I decided to miss a few here and there (full attendance is, literally, never expected in Finnish higher education!). But it's a great place to call home, and I am glad to have had the chance to come here this semester.
Oh yes, and we are 4 km below the Arctic Circle (Napapiiri in Finnish), but don't assume that it's that cold here. The weather's not too much different than Maine or upstate New York, and we get less snow than those areas where Lake Effect dumps it continuously in the winter. Though we're further north than Fairbanks, Alaska, our climate is much warmer due to the effect of the Gulf Stream reaching up to the Barents Sea. So we get to enjoy the Aurora Borealis at least weekly, plenty of snow, but at least until december, not much colder than -5F. So don't worry about me freezing :)!
A MAP OF ROVANIEMI AND FINLAND
cindy takes a stop at the cutoff along the bikepath to downtown. i live on the eastern side of the kemijoki, below the ounasvaara (ounas hill) which is where rovaniemen go to ski, hike and enjoy the outdoors. as such, i get to bike across the kemijoki daily to go to university, or to KESKUSTA (city centre), on the western end, and it's beautiful. we're all used to the uphill climb going home, and the 4 or 5 km distance to the university - 15 minutes or so. cindy enjoys the kemijoki!
the fall colors on our way to town!
cindy about to get onto the old bridge
and cindy and i looking up the kemijoki to the new bridge - JATKÄNKYNTYLLÄ, which is named after the traditional large stick of wood tarred and lit as a torch in the night. kyntyllä means candle! it's definitely one of the landmarks in the town (which looks very new, as it was rebuilt after being razed in WWII).
cindy enjoyed her days spent at the university of lapland, or lapin yliopisto more precisely! it's finland's northernmost university, and youngest, and my home away from home for the semester! and now as you can see it's under a nice nice blanket of snow! :)! i'm sure she's missing it now as she's taking her final journey home to north carolina, i will when i am in december! if you can see closely enough, the symbol is a snowflake with a torch inside.
(SNOW IN OCTOBER)
cindy was so excited to see lapin yliopisto under the snow that she made a snow angel outside!
friday night started cindy's last weekend in rovaniemi, and she went out with a bang at marleen's wonderful birthday party! as you can all see, we are wearing dutch flags sent by marleen's friends back in the netherlands (nederlands in dutch... and hollanti in finnish (or suomen as the suomalainen call their language!)). and ... csaba and me we wearing cindy. it was a fun night :).
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