Hey there!

I usually write my blog late in the evening which is not a good idea: afterwards as I read the posts I find it funny how my brain doesn't work in the evenings, the texts miss a so called storyline and I write like Yoda (like my German flatmates used to call me as I wrote German since my word order was funny :D). Anyway I'll try writing before noon as my brain is still at its best ;)

I have been very busy lately: meeting up with friends, coaching every now and then and working of course. Last weekend I went to watch a flat water kayaking competition 200km North from Helsinki. It was a perfect way of avoiding law courses...! ;) Meeting up with old friends that I used to train  and spend all summers with, and spending quality time with my relatives. I did not feel like kayaking anymore, I used to compete 10 years and enough is enough but I definitively started missing those good old days when sports and the teammates were the most important thing in the summer! I have taken up some kayaking myself as well, I have been training with the juniors once a week and it has been wonderful! It is such a tough sports since both endurance and power are needed. The weather conditions in Finland are extreme as well, but therefore we used to go down south for 3-4 weeks training camps :)

From our club house: a perfect weather for flat water kayaking - the sea is seldom this calm

Oh, May 30th is worth mentioning: it was the day when all high school students graduated and the small school children had their last day of school before the summer holidays. The date changes from year to year but it's always a Saturday in the end of May or the beginning of June. Since the high school student have the same exams on the same day at the same time they also get graded the same way; the best grade is given to the best 5% of all Finns, the second best grade to the next 10% etc. I think it's a good system since you "compete" against all Finland so you see your own level compared to the other Finns. Anyway the graduation day is an important day here since it's the official date for the summer holidays to begin :) (well, sadly students don't have summer holidays since everyone is working but it's the beginning of summer! :)). I myself was helping out at a friend's cousin's celebration :) Usually the day goes like this: students graduating go to the schools in the morning where they get the graduation hats and they get scholarships etc listen to the teachers' speeches etc. Then they go home where they have invited guests (at around 1/2pm -->) who bring them graduation presents and get food and sparkling in turn :) In the evening the graduates go out to the city centers still wearing the hats and celebrating :) Some poor students still have entrance exams after the graduation day but most of the entrance exams are before the graduation day. I think it's very cruel to have the exams after the graduation day! The poor students have been studying all spring to the matriculation examinations where after they have to study to the entrance exams. It is a very stressful spring for sure! Here are some pics from my graduation day (3 years ago) :)

The hats are waiting on a table: one by one we are given the hats.

My turn to get the hat. I was the second last since they are given in the alphabetic order.

Finally the principal says something like: "now you can put the hat on your heads"

After the graduation day we send thank you -cards to the guests who attended the celebration.

Since this stupid blogger doesn't allow me to add any text after the last pic I have to write it here. Sorry for the mixed outlook. Well, it's not that I have so much more to tell anyway :) This coming weekend I'll meet up with my friends from the university so it's time for some road trippin' again :) The weekend there after is the midsummer weekend, a traditional Finnish summer celebration! I'll tell you more about that later :) Have a great week!