I know, I should have written this post a few days ago, but there is so much going on in my life at the moment that it’s a bit hard to stare at the computer and write while there are so many other more exciting and engaging things to do around here … so, finally, here we go.

Touchdown! I arrived to Jyväskylä on Saturday night. Yes, it was a long trip considering that both Slovenia and Finland are in Europe, but time wasn’t money so the trip with Ryanair, Appartmenthaus zum Hahn and VR costed me roughly two days and 120 Euros (instead of one day and 800 Euros if I were to fly from Ljubljana to Jyväskylä). The journey itself was nothing extraordinary: late planes, punctual trains and lots of waiting. The decision to fly to Tampere and then take the train to Jyväskylä wasn’t bad at all because I first got to see Finland from the air and then enjoyed the countryside from the ground.

Actually, before I go on here are my immediate impressions and associations about Finland and Finns (after being here for a few days): reserved but very friendly, language challenge, lots of space, green, tidiness, expensive and definitely, water, and lots of it too … in all forms and directions.

Jyväskylä is located in the central Finnish region also known as lakeland. Now, this is interesting, because Finland is full of lakes, so from the perspective of practically any visitor, whole Finland could be called lakeland. It’s really hard to believe, but there are 180.000 lakes in Finland. There are numerous lakes in and around Jyväskylä, which also means that there is one right next to the building where I live. One might wonder where does all this water come from, but once you spend a few hours here, you simply cannot miss the biggest source of lake water: it rains on and off every single day. Even so that practically no matter how hard it rains, there are a lot of people walking on the streets who simply don’t pay attention to all this rain. At first it looks weird to see people strolling without umbrellas through the city while the rain is literally pouring on them. But you do get used to all this water pretty quickly. I can’t wait to see what the real autumn looks like when there’s supposedly even more rain, because, mind you, now it’s still August.

One other thing that made much more lasting impression on me is Finnish language. Although I’ve tried to learn some Finnish while I was still back in Ljubljana, I think that no matter how hard I tried back then I’d still be stumped upon arrival. It is downright amazing how different this language is; it doesn’t even sound familiar and on top of that Finns speak it in quite peculiar manner which makes it practically impossible to distinguish between words. So it is not surprising at all that they have a hard time with consistency in writing. Also, I have never seen so many meaningful long words in my life: they quite easily reach 20 characters and beyond. So what I am doing right now is learning how to read completely from scratch. All my Finish friends are laughing their asses of when I am tackling one word at a time, almost a letter at a time - and on top of this not even pronouncing words correctly. But I think we are both having a great time: they get a good laugh and I get to learn something from their linguistical guidance.

Now, as far as their silence and reservedness is concerned: yes, they are a bit quiet and reserved, but when approached can be very friendly and helpful. But, for example, when I walk into a store and try out my Finish on them, they just stare at me and almost ignore me half of the time. As if they want to say that it is OK if you speak English, just don’t touch our language. Finns below 30 are an exception, because they can be very talkative once they engage in a conversation.

Another thing that really stands out is nature and their utmost respect for it. True, Finland is one huge forest by the lake, but they also know how preserve their nature or not do any harm to it in the first place. It starts with their meticulous recycling of trash (they separate it into five categories) and extends to cleanliness. But there is one very important detail: they don’t overdo it, so it isn’t kitsch like in some Alpine countries like Austria and Switzerland.

But life has a price tag here, and a hefty one too. Some prices are just obnoxious. Here are a few examples: a beer in a pub can cost you 4,5 Euros, a packet of cigarettes is anywhere from 2 to 5 Euros, daily newspaper 2 Euros, a bottle of water 1,5 Euros, a liter of gasoline 1,3 Euros, rent for a 24 sq m apartment in Jyväskylä runs from 350 Euros on, and so on. Finns seem to be happy and relaxed people in spite of all those expanses because it looks like they earn enough so they can afford to live a normal life here.

Although I’ve been in Finland only four days now, I must say that so far I really like it here. The nature is spectacular, people are friendly and relaxed, the city is rather quiet and it’s extremely easy to get all sorts of bureaucratic things done in an instant. It’s amazing how easy life can be if there are no ill intentions, greed or envy.

Well, that’s it for now. Check back in a few days when I’ll write more about my continuing Finnish experience. And in meantime I’ll also upload a few photos, because I know that some of you out there are anxious to see those.

Mladen

Not that I’ve gone somewhere, but I did manage to get a jet lag - a packing jet lag, that is. Aside from rather brief moments of meeting various friends, I’ve been packing non-stop since Monday. The busy packing schedule left almost no time for sleeping, which finally resulted in a real jet lag. Although I must say all sleep deprivation doesn’t bother me that much after all, because I am satisfied with completion of this more-than-I-innitialy-anticipated complex task. Just imagine: I won’t be able to come back and grab that little something I’ve forgotten to take with me. And now try to imagine every possible situation that you could find yourself in the years to come. Hm, for me it resulted in 97 kg of impedimenta which will be on its way to Jyväskylä around the same time I’ll take off tomorrow. And then there is the burden of gazillion smaller tasks that needed to be done, dealing with bureaucracy not excluded.

Moving is supposed to be one of the most stressful situations that can happen to you. But I did not find it to be too stressful, I just got fed up with it really quickly. Actually, most of the time I was even having fun: picking out which books should I take with me (yes, for those who want to know, almost 70% of those 97 kg are books) and rearranging the contents of the packages so that everything will fit in the boxes. I guess it wasn’t all that stressful because I am really excited about the whole idea of going somewhere I’ve never been before.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this enjoyable experience in the last week or so: Ondina for passing on the boxes and moving experience, Črt & Maja for the pleasant under-the-doormat surprise - the Scandinavian phrasebook, and of course Uroš for dropping by for a late-night popcorn and beer session. It was fun spending time with all of you and everyone else I’ve managed to see before leaving.

Anyways, this is my last night in Ljubljana. In the morning my parents will take me to Klagenfurt where I’ll catch a flight to Frankfurt. I’ll spend the night in Frankfurt-Hahn (yep, you can almost forget about efficient flight connections if you are traveling on a budget) and then leave for Tampere Saturday afternoon. Once I get to Tampere I have to catch an evening train to my final destination: Jyväskylä.

I’ll write my next post from my room in Jyväskylä as soon as I get the Internet up and running. I can hardly wait to get there. Make sure to tune in for all the details.

Mladen

I guess Venice never fails to impress me. No matter how many times I’ve visited this small city, there’s always something there that turns the trip into an enjoyable experience. And this time around it was no different. When we (my mom accompanied me on this trip) arrived at around 9am we headed straight for the Giardini where the national pavilions are located and afterwards we went to Arsenale - a venue that was added to the biennial not too long ago - where individual artists display their works. There’s also a whole bunch of locations spread throughout Venice that either host performances or exhibitions that are directly tied to the biennial, but we’ve managed to visit only a few of those.

At this year’s biennial there were quite a few interesting and creative works on display that I really enjoyed. And I was taken by surprise to see so many video works. Now, I am not gung ho on painting, but I really enjoyed Ed Ruscha’s project Course of Empire (read an interview with Ruscha here). It consists of a series of black-and-white paintings entitled Blue Collar that he did in the 1990s which epitomize the American industrial culture and paintings that he did for this Biennale which respond or reflect on those earlier paintings. The black-and-white paintings speak about times long gone, while his new color series speaks in Ruscha’s words about his “doubts about progress in the world, and hopes for the world.” It is striking to see those images juxtaposed.

I’d also like to point out aero and sound installation Idiot Wind by the ProvMyza duet (Galina Myznikova and Sergey Provorov). It’s a series of dimly lit halls with varying degrees of wind force which escalates to strong wind at the end of the last hall where a small room is positioned. Ultimately this tactilely-aural experience (the halls are lined with hidden speakers emitting various ambient sounds) is the interplay between reflection on our immediate personal space and playfulness of audience that actively participates and cocreates this work. Idiot Wind is both contemplative and amusing at the same time.

Then there was also a piece (if it can even be called “a piece” since it is immaterial) by Tino Sehgal who has developed a specific form of art which takes shape only at the moment one’s encounter with it. At first, I was taken by surprise when I was approached by one of the pavilion attendants who offered to refund half of the entrance fee if I speak about market economy for several minutes. After she made that offer I peeked into a huge empty space behind the passage where she was standing and I immediately realized that it us at this very moment that are Tino’s work of art. His work thus presents the climax of Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel’s raison d’etre which they expressed in their manifesto published in 1963: “We wish to put the spectator in a situation which he initiates and transforms. We wish to develop in him an increased capacity for perception and action.”

Here’s a list of links to a few other artists whose works I particularly recommend at La Biennale 2005:
- Guerrilla Girls
- Eija-Liisa Ahtila
- Regina Jose Galindo
- Antoni Muntadas
- Robin Rhode

I mean I could go on at length about these and other works I liked, but I really think that these works speak best for themselves. So if you’ve got a chance to visit La Biennale, you should (it is open till November 6th 2005).

Mladen

Although I do enjoy reading some people’s blogs, I’ve never really put much thought into having one myself. I don’t know, but I am just not that much into writing diaries because I can imagine how stupid I would feel reading even about what I thought was interesting yesterday. Anyway, when I found out that I’ll be moving to Finland I thought quite a bit about how am I going to keep in touch with all of my friends and family and what would be the most convenient way to tell them about my experiences and about my new life. So starting a blog was an obvious solution and here it is.

Since this is the first post, there are a few things I think should be said - the where, why, when and how (what has already been covered, I guess) of the whole moving to Finland deal. Where? I’ll be changing my location from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Jyäskylä, Finland. Why? Primarily because I have enrolled to the University of Jyväskylä’s Digital Culture master’s degree program. When? I’ll be heading north on the August 26th. How? Hmm, let me see … by plane. Nevertheless, this question would be unimaginably more interesting if it were: For how long? I have no idea, but let’s say for starters it will be two years.

The preparations for my relocation have been underway for a while now since there are unbelievably many things that need to be taken care of before I go. However nothing has been too stressful so far. Quite the opposite, the feeling of canceling my at all times annoying ISP, even more so annoying landline and mobile operators, was downright cathartic. I’ll spare you the details, but should definitely mention that part of the preparations also included me going digital in one more aspect: I’ve gotten myself a nifty little digital camera so that I can enrich this blog with images which might even play more important role for those readers who’ll want to see what I am doing and not just read about it. Some might think that I’ve made the switch long time ago … well there’ll be plenty of time to explain why it has not happened before.

OK, that’s about it for now. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Venice to check out the biennial and to enjoy the city - it’s been a while since my last visit. I’ll let you know how it was when I get back.

Anyway, I expect this whole Finnish experience to be very enjoyable, so come back regularly, sit back and have fun.

Mladen