The True Spirit of Scandinavia - an Elderhostel Trip

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - Turku, Finland
We arrivied at the harbor in Turku at 7:00am without any breakfast on the ship. We were hoping for coffee and a roll but no time. We managed to get our luggage on the elevator, then down the gangway and then a long walk through the terminal to our waiting bus. Our new site coordinator, Heikki Toimi, was at the bus to welcome us. The drive to the school took about 30 minutes. We will be staying at the Finnish folkschool named Paasikivi Opisto located in the community of Harjattulantie. In addition to being a school it is also a golf and recreation center. It is just a short walk down to the edge of the property and the Baltic Sea. Originally it was a dairy farm and the barn was converted to the folkschool. The silo became a staircase to the second floor. It is now painted white with a red clay tile roof and it's surrounded by forest on one side and the golf course and the Sea on the other. Bright orange poppies grow on the hillside along with tiny white flowers called snow drops in the states. There are also wild pink and purple lupines growing along the path to our lodging which is about a ten minute walk from the main building.
We had breakfast in the school dining room in the main building and got settled in our rooms which are located in a new looking one story lodge complete with sunroom, saunas and an indoor pool! After admiring our new room and surroundings we walked back to the main building and found our meeting room. It was a small college type lecture room with writing desks and chairs set on various levels with the professor at the lowest level. We had a welcome to Turku, Finland speech. Turko is the oldest city in Finland and was its first capital before it was moved to Helsinki. Finland was occupied by Sweden between 600 and 700 years. In this part of Finland the street signs are in both Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish language resembles German to some degree. It has many very similiar words to German. But the Finnish language is completely different. Supposedly it comes from some obscure tribes in Siberia and is part of the Finno-Ugric linguistic family that includes, in one branch, Finnish, and Estonian, and in the other Hungarian. It is so different from the other European languages because it is not based in Latin. For example the Swedish word, "centrum" or center of town resembles the German and English word. I didn't take Latin but I'd guess it's from Latin. But in Finnish the word is, " keskusha".
After lunch we heard about Finnish history. In 1809 Sweden lost a war to the Russians. The Swedish King Gustav Vasa IV (the king who had the Vasa hurriedly built and added an extra deck for cannons, and the the boat sank on its maiden voyage in 1628) mistakenly thought he could defeat the Russians but he lost both the war and Sweden to the Russians. Thus, Finland now belonged to the Russians until the Russian Revolution in 1917. At that time Finland declared themselves an independent country!
After dinner we heard a local singing group of four men. They sang in four part harmony and without musical accompaniment. They sang a variety of songs, introducing each one before hand. They conculuded with the wonderful and moving, "Finlandia" by Sibelius. It was fantastic to be in a very small community in Finland surrounded by forest and the Baltic Sea and have the privilege of hearing Finlandia sung by native Finlanders in such a heart felt manner!
At 7:30 we had a guest speaker who spoke on the Kalevala, the National Epic (Poem) of Finland by Elias Lönnrot and published in 1835. Our lecturer was also an expert on Japanese literature and could speak Japanese. It was very interesting but many people were tired including us and it was difficult to stay awake. Kalevala has inspired many writers such as such as J.R. Toiken author of Lord of the Rings.
We are happy to be in Finland but it has been a very long day. So we will quickly bid you good night from Finland. Phyllis and Gene

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