Skip to main content

Christmas is here!


This post has a lot of pictures, which means really bad formatting on my part. Apologies!

Christmas tree lighting! Notice the huge crowd?
This week I have my first visitor. Ironically, he lived on my floor two months ago and had been living in another dorm in Turku for six months before he moved back to his hometown in Italy. So Turku isn’t exactly new to him and he told me as much. In fact, he complained that there wasn’t really anything to do in Turku (to which the appropriate response would have been to say that he was here to see me so that shouldn’t matter. But that is now a lost opportunity).

The truth is that Turku is completely different now than it was two months ago, much less in August when I first arrived. I have said on multiple occasions that I love being in Turku and Christmastime might be one of the best seasons to pay a visit. Shops have put Christmas lights up. Kauppatori has a pathway cutting right through it that is adorned with lights, creating the illusion of a canopy covering part of the square.

And there is the majestic 20-feet-tall Christmas tree in front of the cathedral. I had the fortune of walking by moments before they lit the tree a week ago. The square in front of the cathedral was packed with the largest crowd I have seen gathered in Turku thus far, showing how important Christmas is to the city.

But my favorite are the bridges.

There are several bridges that cross the Aura throughout the city. Throughout the year, these bridges have colorful lights glowing in the darkness, making it a little more bearable when the sun already sets at 4 in the afternoon in early November. Two bridges in particular, though, for whatever reason, have been decorated especially elaborately for Christmas.

The first bridge


One is very simple, in both structure and decoration. Year round this bridge is lit up with a soft shade of green and blue light so it glows in the darkness. In honor of the holidays, the city has put small speakers that are tucked away in the railing. All day long, these speakers play music for the passers-by. This includes a variety of classical music, sometimes Christmas songs, sometimes upbeat tunes and sometimes pleasant orchestra pieces.





I’ve always wished that my life could have a soundtrack like there is in the movies and walking across this bridge makes me feel like I do.






A view of the second bridge from afar

Standing on the second bridge





The second bridge is much more elaborate. Like the first, it also includes music and lights but there are also pine trees that have been lined all along both sides of the bridge. The trees exude a faint smell of pine and there are always at least one or two people taking pictures or video as they walk across. When there is snow on the ground the bridge feels like a winter wonderland.










I love the amount of care and holiday spirit that has gone into the bridges, tree and city lights. It’s as if the city is saying that, even though the days are dark and the sunlight seems to be permanently be hidden behind clouds, there is still plenty to be cheerful about.


Ornaments at the mall





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Necessity of Finland

Before I moved out of my apartment in my hometown and left for Finland, I decided to have a few friends over for dinner. It was a big deal because 1) I didn’t really invite people over 2) I decided to make Indian food, on my own. I was extremely nervous the entire afternoon and stayed mostly quiet while my guests were there. They had fun, which was my consolation, but part of me was glad when it was over. This dinner came to mind the other day when I invited almost everyone I know in Finland for Ice Cream Sunday (I was rather pleased with the name). The people I called were classmates in my program, from my Finnish classes, friends I have met at events; in other words, an odd assortment of people who didn’t know each other very well. This evening I was not quiet or nervous. Instead I felt in charge and poised. I knew what I was doing. There were two years in between these two parties. In the intervening years I came to Finland. I completed a Masters degre...
1 comment
Read more

Working Identities

The halls of a TC building where I must be a doctoral student It’s been a while since my last post. To be honest, I haven’t done much besides school work, to the point that the I no longer know what to tell people when they ask me what my hobbies are. Which also means I feel a constant looming pressure of knowing I live in a big city with a reputation for never sleeping yet I spend my weekends holed up in my room or in the library (and the occasional coffee shop). This is not to say that I spend all of my time doing doctoral work. I have found two outlets in the form of jobs that have enriched this semester in ways that I didn’t expect. One is at a preschool, the other is working at the Graduate Writing Center consulting students working on academic writing projects. After not working for two years, I had forgotten what it feels like to be part of something that allows for change that you can actually see. Teaching is always rewarding as you watch children grow and marvel...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Perfect Day

A favorite activity of mine to do with people I don’t know very well has been the 36 Questions that lead to Love . The title is misleading because, while the questions are ostensibly meant for romantic relationships, they really can be used with anyone you want to get closer to. One of the questions on this list asks you to describe your perfect day. I have always described this more or less the same way: a day mixed with down time and some work, with no stress of commitments to make or deadlines but still with some purpose, and spent with people around me who I love. I’ve always described this day as an ideal that I will probably not achieve but one that I can dream about anyway. But the thing is, in Finland, especially in the past month, I have had more than a few days that fit the bill. I have a few things to thank for that. Chief among them is my boyfriend and his love of the summer cottage. We have spent almost every weekend this month at his cottage. The second is my cour...
1 comment
Read more