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Below is a current photo grabbed from the Rovaniemi, Finland webcam overlooking downtown Rovaniemi, Finland in Lordi Square.. They just got a fresh batch of snow and it’s still falling. You can see people are out walking around (click on the photo to go to the webcam for this location). Current time in this photo is about 4:30pm Finland time. View more Rovaniemi, Finland webcams here
Each time I prepare to go to Finland, I spend a few days recapping previous trips, looking at photos and mentally contemplating things I want to see, places I want to go, how I’m going to blog my next visit and generally all the great times I’ve had. This typically involves looking at old photos and videos from my trips. I uploaded a few new photos into my flickr account that I included below- be sure to stay tuned into the FrozenReindeer Flickr feed as it will be very active when we get settled in Finland.
Also, take a look at my YouTube Channel and stay tuned for some updated footage this time around.
FrozenReindeerTV on YouTube- subscribe to this one for any future updates
Finnamerican on YouTube- old channel, no updates. FrozenReindeerTV is the new YouTube Channel. When I can move files from Finnamerican to FrozenReindeerTV I’ll be doing that but it is not allowed on YouTube…yet. 
On Friday, July 25th, 2008, Tarja Halonen, the president of the republic of Finland became honorary Dr. Tarja Halonen. The ceremony took place at 10am in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) as part of FinnFest 2008 in Duluth, Minnesota. Below is a photo and video recap of the days events including the music of the Sieur Du Luth Festival Orchestra; a welcome address by UMD Chancellor Kathryn A. Martin; The singing of the Finnish National Anthem (I did not include the U.S. National Anthem but might upload later); The Honor Song; The presentation of Tarja Halonen’s degree; Tarja Halonen’s speech and address to the crowd, followed by the performance of Finlandia conducted by Gaetano Colajanni. Enjoy!
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PHOTOS
Photos From left: 1) waiting outside the DECC for Tarja Halonen; 2) stage prior to Tarja Halonen’s arrival; 3) arrival of Tarja Halonen’s husband and Delegation of the President of the Republic of Finland; 4) The color guard leaving the stage; 5) Performance of the honor song by MA-IIN-GAN singers; 6) Procession of Tarja Halonen to stage
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VIDEOS
Part 1 – Academic Procession of Tarja Halonen to stage
Part 2 – Tarja Halonen walking to stage
Part 3 – Welcome Address
Part 4 – Finnish National Anthem
Part 5 – Introduction of Tarja Halonen
Part 6 – Awarding Tarja Halonen her degree
Part 7 – Tarja Halonen’s Speech
Part 8 – Finlandia performance (part 1)
Performed by Sieur Du Luth Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Conducted by Gaetano Colajanni
Finland performance (part 2)
Every time I come to Finland I work out at a local gym. I just can’t go more than two weeks without some type of exercise. The first couple of times I visited Finland I went to a gym that has in the past two years moved further away from downtown (can’t remember the exact name off the top of my head). But in May, 2007 and currently, we have a found a gym that is GREAT for short term stays (a few weeks) in Rovaniemi, Finland.
The gym is called Kuntokaruselli and it is located just a few blocks from the downtown center (Sampokeskus is straight and a quick left from the photo above) and you can view the line of the river from outside of the front door (directly on the other side of the street from the photo below. Here is a link to the exact map location (http://www.kuntokaruselli.com/yhteystiedot.htm)
What is great about this gym is for short term membership you can get a set of ten one time passes for 90€ for adults/ 70€for students (converted to dollars it is about $130/$100 as of Jan. 2, ’08). Last May, my boyfriend and I each bought a 10/day pass for 70€ each (we were here for about a month and worked out a couple times a week). And this time, because of Christmas, we only had about ten days for working out so we purchased one pack of 10 for 70€ and split it (5 passes each for $50 a piece- student prices).
This is such a great thing because every time before that I came it was always such a hassle to try and find a place to work out without paying the daily fee (about $12-$15 each time when converted to euros) and with this there is nothing to sign, you just pay, get your passes and give one each time you go. It is also a really good gym. You can view the website to see more (Finnish only: http://www.kuntokaruselli.com). For English readers: two treadmills, three bikes, couple of elliptical machines, free weights and machine weights and a stretching/floor exercise room along with locker rooms)
If you’re looking to exercise on a short term basis this place is GREAT!
Finland Traditional Christmas photos Cont.
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
Before Dinner (or near the beginning of the meal if there is a large
crowd of people getting food) A quick toast to the Christmas holiday
is given preceding a Schnapps shot. This year the shot was from the
Lakka Cloudberry and was quite strong in my opinion. Above is a
picture of the bottle.
Traditional Dinner on Christmas- Rovaniemi, Finland
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
After breakfast in the late hours of the morning, we hang around at home and have a Christmas sauna around 2pm (usually have sauna for a couple of hours so everyone can go). Following the sauna we have dinner. Traditional dinner in most Finnish homes is a roasted pig. It is prepared the day before and cooks overnight in the oven. Then, cooked and seasoned throughout the day of their “Christmas” on the 24th (I use the quotation marks because for me, Christmas is celebrated on the actual Christmas day of Dec. 25th). The pig is served with mashed potatoes and a thin, clear gravy. Sides include a variety of mashed vegetables from carrots to squash and mixed potatoes and a traditional meal layout of breads and sauces. Above is a picture of our half eaten pig following the meal.
So, I’m back in Rovaniemi, Finland for a few weeks and plan on dropping a few blog posts. I have been EXTREMELY busy this semester with school and as those dozen of you who read this blog can attest to, the blog has been pretty bare of anything the past few months. I’m on a little break so hopefully I can find time to post some videos, photos, and recaps AND, I plan on incorporating as much Finnish in my posts as possible to help me practice between courses and use all this newfound language I have acquired over the past few months…Don’t know the ‘past-tense’ yet so it should be interesting what I will be able to say.
So far, it is DARK but, very little snow which was very surprising! The whole ground is usually covered by this point in the year and there is tons of grass showing through everywhere….can anyone say global warming?!? Kind of weird. The four hours of daylight haven’t changed much though- the sun goes up around 10-11am and I would say it goes down right around 3pm…yeah, tad scary. And when the sun is ‘up’ yeah it isn’t really up. Looks like sunrise/sunset the whole time… Below you can see what 10am looks like outside of Matti’s parent’s window…Good thing all I’m really doing is reading and watching movies Great weather for relaxing!
Well, off to do…something. Celebrating a graduation today with family arriving so busy day…look for more posts (hopefully) later!
Hei hei!
-Angela
Originally uploaded by frozenreindeer
Additional photos from Rovaniemi, Finland have been added. I upgraded to a Pro Account on Flickr so in my free time I’m gonna try to get EVERYTHING uploaded from Finland to London, Paris, Shanghai and around the U.S.!
This photo on the right is from Rovaniemi, Finland’s Snow Show back in Feb. 2004. Ice sculptures were built across a large snowed in area with lights inside and out. The show was put on by Anamorphosis Architects featuring work from a lot of artists including Yoko Ono, VERY cool!
