Your guide to the nightlife in Jyväskylä

Hi y'all!

Even though I strongly disagree with anyone who says that Erasmus is all about parties, I wholeheartedly support the idea that partying is an essential part of student life. Work hard, play hard, right? So, as most of you are new to the city I'd like to welcome you here with a short guide to the local nightlife!

I'll be your guide to essential parties in JKL!
Photo by Deniz Anttila 

There are several established student parties worth recognising here in JKL. As ESN parties are obviously always the best ones, I'll start from those. If you haven't noticed yet, we organise parties in Bar Bra in the city centre. The Kick Off party was apparently AWESOME (I couldn't be there as I was making a study trip to visit ESN Joensuu's similar event...) and the rest of the parties are going to be EVEN MORE AWESOME IF POSSIBLE so be there. After all, they are the parties we organise for you guys! I'd like to mention that in the Cultural Stereotypes party on 29.1 you also have a chance to win a free trip to Lapland... Just saying! Stay tuned via FB and the ESN Jyväskylä webpage.

We'll also organise a traditional Finnish sitsit party for you guys in February. More on that on it's  own blogpost as sits is a very special kind of party – many students have said that they have been the craziest parties they attended while staying in Finland! It's also a good chance to integrate with Finns, and if you have an opportunity to join some other student organisation's sitsit parties, do that! It's awesome and gets even better once you get the hang of it. Especially if you enjoy singing on tables and dressing up!

Other student organisations and especially subject organisations organise parties, usually in Bra or in Escape. If you wanna hang out with people who study something specific, check them out! Then there are a couple of interdisciplinary parties worth mentioning: Kolmiot, parties arranged in three different bars (Shaker, Ruma and Escape) at the same time (you get entrance to all of these three with one ticket!) and Poikkitieteelliset haalaribileet (Poikkarit), overall party organised in Bar Bra (you don't necessarily have to wear an overall, but you can get one from ESN and it's the best thing you'll ever wear so do that and blend in with the Finnish student crew). Kolmiot is generally held on the third Thursday of the month, and Poikkarit on the first Thursday of the month. You'll know that you have missed Poikkarit when you go to the city centre during that night and see a queue of people dressed in overalls of all colours going to Bra. And yes, Thursday is the party day of students in Finland. 

There's one more interdisciplinary student party worth mentioning: the pool party! Stay tuned for that one, as it's something quite unique in Finland :D

In the autumn semester there's a legendary student event called Kauppakadun Appro that gathers thousands of students to Jyväskylä. It's about drinking a degree for yourself and I'd say one of the coolest events in JKL as the whole city is one big party then! In the spring semester however, kind of a similarly noticeable happening is the Amazing Race organised during May Day, Vappu, where you race through the city as teams against time and other teams, kind of like in the famous tv format. May Day anyways deserves a post of its own later on so let's leave something to that one too :D It can be hard to get a ticket to one of those as both of them are always sold out, but even if you don't get a ticket you can be part of the party just by walking on Kauppakatu during the event.

And now as I have told you the places to be at, quick reminder of how to behave there:

THE TEN DOS AND DON'TS OF FINNISH NIGHTLIFE (you'll thank me later.)

1. Keep your ID (=passport, drivers licence...) with you. You never know when you're gonna be asked about that and if you don't have it, no matter if you look like you're fifty (ouch), you won't get in. Do not borrow your ID to anyone. Always use your own ID.

2. The bouncer is the king. Always listen to the bouncer. He's there for your safety, too. 

3. Don't be too drunk when coming to the bar. The bouncer has the right to not let in people who look too drunk. Finnish legislation is very funny and it's actually illegal for the bar to have drunk people in the bar (crazy, I know). They cannot sell anything to someone too drunk and they might end up losing their alcohol permit if they're caught with too many too drunk persons in the bar (unless it looks like they're actively trying to get them out of the bar). So that's why.

4. Leave your jacket in the cloak room. It's a couple of euros, but you're gonna drink your money anyways! In Finland the bars might charge you the cloak room fee even if you don't have a cloak during winter months, as they're trying to stop crazy exchange students from coming to the bar in below-zero temperatures without a jacket just to avoid paying the cloak room fee.

5. If you want to pay the lower price meant for ESN members at ESN parties, have your ESNcard with you! An ESNcard is not valid when left home and also NOT VALID WITHOUT A PHOTO.

6. Have cash with you, that way you and everyone else get their drinks faster at the bar :)

7. Do not bring your own drinks to the bar, it's illegal and will get you thrown out.

8. Do not steal other people's drinks, significant others or belongings, it's illegal and will get you punched by drunk Finn.

9. When leaving the bar, no matter how tempting, do not steal a bike to get home, it's illegal and will get you punched some day, when you run into the owner of the bike while on his or her bike. And you might be just a bit too drunk to drive that bike in the first place ;)

10. It's winter, it's cold. Do not sit down next to the sidewalk when going home. If you fall asleep (or pass out because you're drunk) you might get a frostbite or even die. Take care of your friends on the way home. 

Ok, got a bit serious with that last one but it's unfortunately true. Other than that, HAVE FUN HERE! So many parties, so little time! 

See you in the night!

Petra 

Repost: All the Finnish you need to know

Or, How to get lucky in Jyväskylä (or not)

So, it is time to go out and you want to meet the locals. Finns generally speak English, but a bit of the local language never hurt anyone. Don’t be scared to try!

If you have successfully disguised yourself as a Finn, the doorman might ask you for your henkkarit/paperit (ID). The age limit is usually 18, but during the weekend some night clubs only allow people over 20 or 22 inside.

Once you have gotten in, it is time for yksi fisu ja lonkero, kiitos! (One fisu shot and a long drink, please!) When raising your glass, you can say kippis! Or if you are up for the challenge, you can go for hölökynkölökyn! For some reason we Finns love to speak Swedish when drinking so skål is also a good option. Remember to drink your shots at once, Pohjanmaan kautta! According to old Finnish wisdom, viina on viisasten juoma (booze is the drink of the wise) and ei tippa tapa, eikä ämpäriin huku (one drop won't kill you and you won't drown in a bucket). Yhdet sille! (Let’s drink to that!)

After enjoying some liquid courage, you might be ready to go to speak to that cute girl or boy. But beware, trying to speak to a Finn can be a bit difficult. Or actually, it can be very difficult. Sometimes a simple lähdetkö tanssimaan?  (Do you want to dance with me?) might work, but usually it is a good idea to have some excuse to start a conversation. Of course you can try the classics: käytkö sä usein täällä? (do you come here often?), oliko sun äitis simpukka, kun sä oot tollanen helmi? (Was your mother an oyster, since you are such a pearl?). Or speak about the weather: on ilmoja pidellyt! (The weather has been something lately). But hey, if you are turned down, just move on. "Eteenpäin!" sanoi mummo lumessa. ("Forward!" said the granny in the snow.) Or find the group with whom you had your etkot (pre-party) and go have a jatkot (after party) with them.

When you want to say something nice to the Finn who finally agreed to dance with you, you can try: olet ihana/kaunis/komea. (You are wonderful/beautiful/handsome.) If you think you might get lucky, you can try saying Meille vai teille? (My place or yours?)  

Later on if you realize that this person wasn’t the prince or princess of your dreams, tell them that you love them, minä rakastan sinua, and watch that person disappear in two seconds.

And remember: kertaus on opintojen äiti. (Repetition is the mother of all studies.)

Now, go have fun and afterwards, come tell us how it went with these phrases. ;)

2014 with ESN JKL

The year of 2014 has come to an end and it is time to look back before getting started with the new one. I had the privilage of being the president of ESN Jyväskylä for the past year. And what a year it has been! It was full of joy, friends, smiles but also of tears. 

For ESN Jyväskylä, 2014 was an extremely busy year. We made quite a few changes and improved how we function. We grew and introduced many new events to our calendar. We put a lot of effort to make all of our events fun and social happenings for the international crowd of Jyväskylä. Therefore I was very happy to hear that we had been called the most active section in Finland. That may very well be true but at least I am certain that ESN JKL is the best section in this country. Or let’s just say in  the whole network. And I am not the least bit biased in my opinion. I just have learned to love ESN JKL very much over the years I have been volunteering with all these wonderful ESNers.   

I never would have survived this year without Annika, my lovely vice president (and the new president!). Thank you sweetie, you rock!

Most of the events we organised were very successfull but this year had also its share of failures and mistakes. There were some moments of panic when things got done just in the last minute. For example the songbooks for the sitsit party in spring were printed only 15 minutes before the party was about to start. At the same time  we were trying to figure out how to get some music for our show and fix the seating order that had curiously been mixed. Yet, in the end it was one of my favourite parties of the semester. 

Flag parade at AGM Milano: one of the best moments for me in 2014

For myself this was a year of growth.  Being a president of a local ESN section brings a fair amount of responsibilities and stress. Things do not happen as one might expect when working with international students and local restaurants and sometimes plans have to be changed in a heartbeat. Luckily our board has a habit of supporting and taking care of each other. And that is the reason why this has been the best year of my life: the members of our ESN JKL family. 

Farewell party, loving Jyväskylä

Sometimes, however, we cannot keep our friends as long as we would wish for. As every ESNer knows, the end of a semester is always a time to say goodbye to the friends we have made. This year we felt this more than ever before when we lost a member of our ESN family in November. The loss of such a wonderful person has been very hard to handle and understand. But no matter what, we will remember you. 

Struggling with this loss together with our family made me realise what a great gift friends are. They bring such joy to our lives no matter if it is only for a little while or for decades. Therefore I want to thank everyone who I was lucky enough to meet this year. I wish you happy new year full of love and friendship and I hope to see you soon!

With love,

Marjut