All about Vappu and Eurovision!
Heippa!
Alrighty... I wanted to explain Vappu!
Ok, so Vappu is celebrated on May 1st, so on May Day for us, I think lol. And its like, Labor Day. But, its a really big deal here. This is the day that all graduates really celebrate finishing school, and also, anyone who has ever graduated school celebrates! Its so awesome. Everyone that has graduated ever... so 19 year olds to 90 year olds, go out on the streets wearing this goofy white hats that they get when they graduate. And the celebrating is over a couple of days. The real partying and drinking (yes, drinking... that is what people do in Finland lol) really happen the day before the actual Vappu, and we get time off of school too. Everyone is outside. Helsinki is crazy! My exchange student friend who lives there went into the city just to look at all the people and she said it was insane! Like, all of Finland's 5 million people are all celebrating together. And they sell these big ballons so people are carrying those everywhere, and some people dress up in funny costumes. And different universities (i think its universities...) well, the people from those where Formula One type uniforms, like the jumpsuits. They are different for each school. So its fun to see people walking around in those. I went to Helsinki on the actual Vappu later in the evening and there wasn't much going on. But my host mom told me that on the morning of Vappu, the big Esplandi park is full of like, middle aged adults, and of course other ages, just having picnics and celebrating. It's just such a fun day :-).
Balloons!
They put gates up so people wouldn't ruin the grass and stuff
This is a cool shot - kind of looking to the harbor, the Upsinki Orthodox cathedral is the in the background, so is the president's palace, and the awesome fountain the I forget the name of... And look closesly at the people... can you see their hats??
And today starts.... EUROVISION!!!!!!!
AHHHH!!! It is SO exciting that Eurovision is in Finland!!! It was such a surprise that Lordi one for Finland last year, so this is a HUGE deal for us!
Hmm... Eurovision? What is Eurovision? Is that what you are asking right now? I imagine you are :-). Eurovision is a song contest where about 50 countries of Europe compete with an artist chosen by their people. And then, the people of Europe vote on the internet, phones (like American Idol) for the country they want to win. And get this - they can't vote for their own country! I think the whole thing is amazing. It is so amazing to see an entire continent coming together through music! It's like a dream of mine :-). So today is the first day of the Semi Finals. It starts in 7 minutes! I'm watching as much as I can before I fall asleep... haha. And there is again, semi finals tomorrow and Saturday is the finale! And my friend and I are probably going to go to Helsinki just to see what it is like in the city because there are people from all over Europe in Helsinki right now, and they've been there all week. My host mom works in the center and she said there's all this stuff set up, so I really want to see it! Then we're going to find some restaurant or something to watch the finale! I'm so excited :-D.
All for now!! (My dad will be here in 6 days! YAY!) Love!!
Alrighty... I wanted to explain Vappu!
Ok, so Vappu is celebrated on May 1st, so on May Day for us, I think lol. And its like, Labor Day. But, its a really big deal here. This is the day that all graduates really celebrate finishing school, and also, anyone who has ever graduated school celebrates! Its so awesome. Everyone that has graduated ever... so 19 year olds to 90 year olds, go out on the streets wearing this goofy white hats that they get when they graduate. And the celebrating is over a couple of days. The real partying and drinking (yes, drinking... that is what people do in Finland lol) really happen the day before the actual Vappu, and we get time off of school too. Everyone is outside. Helsinki is crazy! My exchange student friend who lives there went into the city just to look at all the people and she said it was insane! Like, all of Finland's 5 million people are all celebrating together. And they sell these big ballons so people are carrying those everywhere, and some people dress up in funny costumes. And different universities (i think its universities...) well, the people from those where Formula One type uniforms, like the jumpsuits. They are different for each school. So its fun to see people walking around in those. I went to Helsinki on the actual Vappu later in the evening and there wasn't much going on. But my host mom told me that on the morning of Vappu, the big Esplandi park is full of like, middle aged adults, and of course other ages, just having picnics and celebrating. It's just such a fun day :-).
Balloons!
They put gates up so people wouldn't ruin the grass and stuff
This is a cool shot - kind of looking to the harbor, the Upsinki Orthodox cathedral is the in the background, so is the president's palace, and the awesome fountain the I forget the name of... And look closesly at the people... can you see their hats??
And today starts.... EUROVISION!!!!!!!
AHHHH!!! It is SO exciting that Eurovision is in Finland!!! It was such a surprise that Lordi one for Finland last year, so this is a HUGE deal for us!
Hmm... Eurovision? What is Eurovision? Is that what you are asking right now? I imagine you are :-). Eurovision is a song contest where about 50 countries of Europe compete with an artist chosen by their people. And then, the people of Europe vote on the internet, phones (like American Idol) for the country they want to win. And get this - they can't vote for their own country! I think the whole thing is amazing. It is so amazing to see an entire continent coming together through music! It's like a dream of mine :-). So today is the first day of the Semi Finals. It starts in 7 minutes! I'm watching as much as I can before I fall asleep... haha. And there is again, semi finals tomorrow and Saturday is the finale! And my friend and I are probably going to go to Helsinki just to see what it is like in the city because there are people from all over Europe in Helsinki right now, and they've been there all week. My host mom works in the center and she said there's all this stuff set up, so I really want to see it! Then we're going to find some restaurant or something to watch the finale! I'm so excited :-D.
All for now!! (My dad will be here in 6 days! YAY!) Love!!