Official story about the Kyykkae-exchange

We organized a winter sport themed exchange in Tampere that lasted from 9.2.2010 to 14.2.2010. It had been a while since our last event but we managed to pull all the necessary strings so that we could organize the event. The participants came from 4 different LCs: Riga, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Ankara and ofcourse we got some support from LC Helsinki.

The main idea of our event was to give the participants an opportunity to play Kyykkä (finnish skittles – a traditional finnish game that involves throwing large sticks ) in the Academic World Championships, which is organized annually in our university’s campus. We registered two teams to the competition, which was later named “The Vikings” and “Nuke the Whales” (Not Scotland). During their week here we held scrutinizing Kyykkä practices to get the participants to top notch condition.

When the big day came on Saturday the 13th the participants were ready to rock. Everything started fine when Nuke The Whales absolutely crushed their opponent. However The Vikings had a small marginal loss. The players were given performance-enhancing doping in the form Hot Chocolate with MINTTU. I guess this gave The Vikings the kick they needed and they gained a win. However, the level of competition was found too much for the EESTEC teams and neither of the teams advanced to the next level of games. This however gave the participants an opportunity to get back inside after a whole day playing outside in -15°C.

The other activities included stuff like parties with saunas, welcome ceremony, excursion to VTT (Finnish R&D Centre) to check out the upcoming ITER Fusion Reactor, Tour De Cribs – a crazy checkpoint race around the organizers’ flats, eating reindeer meat (with jam), touring around Tampere, international evening and a huge student party. I certainly enjoyed my time organizing the event and I learned a lot. There’s always room for improvement but overall the event was a great success and everything went even better than planned. Thank you.

01/03/2010. Kyykkae Exchange. Leave a comment.

The Poster and the Schedule!

Heya!

Small update..Our preparations are reaching their final stages. So we had time to design a logo and poster for the event! Behold the Kyykkae Exchange poster

The Schedule is also reaching it’s final stages so here it is. However we’re still leaving room for some small changes.

02/02/2010. Kyykkae Exchange. Leave a comment.

Tervetuloa Suomeen ! (A guide to Finland)

It’s below 20 degrees.. everything is covered with snow and frost.. Your toes start to freeze and someone shouts “HAAAAUUUUKI”. No need to worry, you are in Tampere and in the middle of Academic World Championship of Kyykkae. Take a nice sip of your warm minttuchocolate and get ready for the next throw !

That is something that can happen in Finland and especially in Tampere. Now here will be a short guide for all you guys and girls coming to our kyykkkae-exchange. (and why not for others as well).

Things to get with you to Tampere and to perform with excellence in kyykkae.

Alcohol. We all know it keeps you warm and happy
Warm clothes. Clothes will keep you warm without a hangover. If you don’t have super warm skiing wear or something layers will help a lot!
Passport ( and Visa ofcourse if needed.. It’s good that you can enter Finland and aren’t stuck on the borders.. )
Personal healthcare and a toothbrush
A Towel. ( Read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy + We have a thing called Sauna in Finland. )

There’s the most important things. In addition for those coming to kyykkae-exchange:

Goods for The International Evening (read. alcohol + some original meal from your country)
Sleeping bag if possible.
Tons and Tons of the EESTEC Spirit !

When you have everything packed and ready you should probably be ready for the prices in Finland. Here’s a short list of different things:

Beer at shop = ~1eur per a can
Beer at a bar = ~3-6eur depending on a place
FastFood meal = ~5-7eur
Restaurant meal = 10-20+ eur
Taxi from Tampere Center to Hervanta = 20-25eur (yeah Taxi is expensive)
A bus from Tampere Center to Hervanta = 2,5eur

So now you have your pockets filled with money. Just get in to the plane and arrive safely to Finland.. And you will be totally lost with the Finnish language Again, no need to worry because here we have a list of important things you need to know in Finnish: