It’s time to put on the traditional party gear and experience the student parties with the authentic Finnish student way - the ESN overalls are here!
For those of you who have been wondering about the funny get up most students face the student night life in, the colorful overalls filled with hilarious patches, those are the thing we’re talking about. And now - they’re available for you! The ultimate memoir to take home to remember your exchange period for, not to mention that they are crazy comfortable. They’re nice and loose for sporty events and dancing, keep you warm during outdoors events and you won’t have to worry about your party gear getting dirty as overalls are supposed to be a little grimy!
As long time students ourselves we can say that we’ve basically spent a majority of our studies in the overalls. They’re handy for both outdoor and indoor events, and ladies - when you wear the overalls, you don’t need no bag! Wallet, phone, all these usual things that require that you take your bags everywhere, they all fit in the overalls’ pockets. Incredibly handy, right? Hence you’ll end up doing archeological findings from your overall pockets sooner or later – “Ah so that’s where I put that bar of chocolate / drink ticket / city map / lipstick / bike key / almost anything two years ago!”
A couple of rules concerning the right way of honoring this magnificent outfit:
- Never wash your overalls. This might seem like a veeeery unlikable rule, but every stain holds a story to it, respect them! If you really feel the need to wash them, however, there is a loophole to this rule - you can wash them if you’re wearing them. This, of course, leads to other hilarious set of stories to be associated with the overalls, thus why it doesn’t break the rule.
- Only wear the overalls for student events. They are comfortable, we know, so comfortable and easy to put on that you might be tempted to put them on even outside student events. But this isn’t just a piece of clothing we’re talking about - this is your uniform. Even though they are great outdoor wear, you shouldn’t try to fight Finnish weather with them as people will think that you are either a) drunk or b) going to be drunk very soon and wonder why they don’t know what event is going on. Your personal superhero costume, that shows that you are a part of something awesome - you are a proud member of the ESN family!
- Don’t wear your overalls all the way up. This way of clothing is reserved for a specific group of students, and it might confuse some folks. The right way to wear the overalls is to tie them to your waist by the sleeves, and folding the back so that the ESN logo can be seen. It might seem a bit tricky at first, but you’ll learn it soon, and more experienced overall wearers can always teach you the magic to do it. A belt comes in very handy here! On some outdoor events, however, you can take advantage of the warmth the get up offers and wear them all the way up as long as you roll it back down to the traditional position once you get indoors.
- Fill your overall with memoirs! I’m not talking only about patches, I’m talking about anything you can attach to them. A lot of students have a plastic glass or cup hanging on them to always be ready when someone offers a drink, all kinds of cheap jewelry, balloons, event passes, anything you run into while partying in them. In some cities people also write to the overalls, in some schools people are very strict not to. In Jyväskylä the atmosphere on that one is rather loose :)
- Have the time of your life while wearing them. And this is the most important rule out of them all. No buts, no ifs - this will be your fun-gear, that will work as a memory bank of your amazing time abroad. Collect as many patches as possible, wear them as often as you can, and enjoy the time you spend in them to your fullest! You will soon notice that putting on the overall brings a certain who-cares mindset with it, and also people not wearing them tend to be more forgiving towards overall-population.
So what can you do to get your hands on these beauties? In Finland students order their overalls usually via student organisations, so for you the provider is ESN! We had to wait for our last order for waaaay too long, but now the beautiful blue overalls are finally here. The price for your student uniform is 27 e with ESNcard, 30 e without. Keep an eye on ESN Jyväskylä’s Facebook, since the date and place for the sales will be announced there soon!
Here are some events in the rest of the spring where you should/could wear overalls (I know I will!):
- Some sits-parties
- All the interdisciplinary parties (Poikkarit and Kolmiot)
- Snow Day on 12.2
- Pool party in March (yes, for the pre- and afterparty!)
- Rinnerieha, Pörssi’s skiing and other snow/winter activity day in Laajavuori in March
- Vappu in April-May (so you’ll be wearing them for about a week in a row then, stay tuned for blog posts about that one!)We're looking forward to seeing you all suited up at the overall-parties!Heini & Petra
