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 |
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
Great post i must say and thanks for the information. Education is definitely a sticky subject. However, is still among the leading topics of our time. I appreciate your post and look forward to more. 유흥알바
ReplyDelete