The second week started on Tuesday, after the long weekend in Lake Finland and ended on Saturday morning. In this short period we had the last of the real excursions (Nokia), and also some sauna-excursions (Nokia and HPY). We also worked on our presentation for some time (Thu & Fri). Wednesday was mostly free for shopping, and we did that intensively. Some people also used the time to wash some of their clothes. On Tuesday we had a visit to the Heureka Science Park and on Thursday we had the National Party dinner... Friday, after the long delayed presentations, we had a little shopping time and in the evening we had the farewell party... I have some photos of these (mostly indoor) activities, but not too many.
Tuesday,
we started with a visit and lunch at Nokia. After that, we went
with the bus to the Heureka Science Park. On the bus, Conchi and
Chiara had been working on a piece of art... A Finger Portrait...
I remember at the time seeing some resemblance with Cio and
Barbara, but I doubt whether it was intentional ;-)
There was lots to see in the science
park, but the most fun we no doubt had with the TV commercial
that was made completely by visitors, assisted only by one lady
from the staff, who played the role of director. The camera men,
sound mixer and editors were all our people. The actors were 2
Finnish girls and Joao, in a leading role... Oh, yeah, the
commercial was for Flora, a brand of butter.
Tuesday evening, we paid a visit to HPY for a human resources talk, dinner and sauna, and some interesting conversation. These kinds of invitations, we were told, are customary in Finland for companies to draw in interesting possible candidate-employees, and in a way, we were regarded as such, I suppose. We just enjoyed it thoroughly!
On
Wednesday,
a lot of us went shopping for souvenirs and gifts for loved ones,
friends and family at home. Among the hot places was the market
near the harbour. I was in the company of Conchi and Chiara, when
our path crossed that of Guido, Edite and Jan (top row).
We had an extensive photo shoot at that fountain (which is one statue if you count a fountain as a statue, or even 5 if you count each dolphin apart, or none if you shouldn't count it... ;-) {inside joke}), which resulted in some of my favorite pictures...
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In the evening we went to Nokia for a
chat with some of their human resource people... They made us
enthusiastic about the Nokia Student Exchange Program, and
then invited us to a beautiful leisure room with swimming pool,
sauna and a dinner waiting for us. We were also each given a
Nokia cap as a present, of which Jani later 'warned' us that
wearing it in public (in Finland) was considered 'uncool'.
But for the photo, Massimo, Paolo, Fabio, Guido, Antonio and Cio
were happy to show it off ;-).
This is just another funny group
picture, with a statue on campus in Otaniemi. This is Thursday,
by the way. I had the opportunity to meet Andras's girlfriend
while she was in the SC97 in Ghent, and showing her this picture,
I asked her to find Andras... It took her a while! Can you find
him?
These are some images from the National Party dinner... Perhaps against expectation, I can say that I ate and drank only delicious things that evening, all prepared by the participants. (Again: congratulations to all the cooks!!!) I was unable to make the real Belgian speciality: french (sic) fries, because there was no frying pan... Well, that's just an flimsy excuse, to hide the fact that I'm not a great cook ;-). On the left you can see Conchi and Jesus making tortilla, on the right you can see some of the other specialities, including 2 Italian cakes (with carrots and apples), Spanish sangria, Portuguese port-wine, something Hungarian of which I forgot the name (sorry) and then some...
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On Friday,
we finalized and presented the presentation we had been working
on. It was just a pity that we were all very tired and somewhat
unable to keep concentrated for every presentation. On the photo
we see Guido, passionate for his subject, explaining something
that on first glance seemed way too complex!
Later on
Friday, we had our last shopping opportunity. One of the places
to be was Stockman, a bit similar to Harrods in London: gigantic
store selling just about everything. Here Conchi and Jesus were
lost in the hats department, and having fun at it !!
I don't have any
picture from the farewell party itself, but the happy-but-sad
expression on the faces of this picture, taken at sunrise on
Saturday, speaks volumes... "Don't go just
yet... I'll miss you all"
The last
goodbyes of Paolo, Jesus, Conchi (and Fabio, hidden behind
Conchi), as their taxi rides of in the morning sun... Until
we meet again, dear friends...
Now look at all the pictures from this period!
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Created: 20 Sep 1997
Last update: 23 Sep 1997
