On Friday, we had been staying in our friends Marleena's house, so we woke up in Oulu which was the closest large town to Raahe. We all woke up early and we were a bit sad that our time was almost over. Marleena drove us to the airport but we managed to get in a few more finish songs along the way. We didn't say goodbye but a see you later, as I felt like I would have to come back again to visit all the amazing people I met while on this adventure. I was a little bit upset parting ways but because everyone has some way of communication be it Facebook or WhatsApp, if I ever need to contact my friends here I could just send them a quick message. We got our flight from Oulu to Helsinki and met up with one of the other students on Erasmus from GTI - Emily. All of us had food and soon after we found the rest of the GTI gang. We took a taxi to our hotel checked in and then went exploring the city. We spent a good while walking around and when it got too cold and dark we went to Koti pizza, which I recommended as I had some in Raahe and it was amazing. We had a big feast, our last meal I joked. Once back to the hotel we all gathered in one room, made some tea and all talked about our experience of Finland. We went to bed early, eager and excited for the the finish line was insight.
Reflecting on the experience Before going on the trip I was sick and not in a very happy mood to be travelling. Once I got there I was feeling a lot better and more at ease. The accommodation was so great and the students who took us in and treated us like just one if the students were so kind to us it. The town of Raahe was like a fantasy winter world. it was everything I could ever ask for and more. The snow made everything magical and although the weather was cold we were so prepared with our snow clothes. I actually really enjoyed that type of weather. We did so much activities and I feel I got so much inspiration from there, things I would never have before. I think going with Tara and Broc made a big difference. It was really reassuring to know there is other people in the same situation as you and you have each other to count on. The trip would have been completely different and definitely not as wonderful if I hadn't been with those two. I was so happy in Lybecker college. I learned so much about using graphic design software and I've gained so much confidence in myself and I feel really good that I'm capable of doing more. Everyday I would go in do my work and then chat with everyone and the atmosphere was so relaxed. I got so much work done by the end of the three weeks. Words can't describe how much joy and genuine friendship I made here. I was very upset to leave but I felt I could easily contact them again with a touch of a button so I wasn't to distraught about it. I was beyond happy almost every day just to be there. I loved every single day of this trip and I hopefully will be coming back to my friends again. I keep joking and saying that although I'm going home and back to Galway My heart is in Raahe. On Saturday, we all woke up at 4am in the hotel and got everything ready. We took a bus to the airport where we met up with everyone. It was great to see them after all this time and to hear that everyone had a wonderful experience. We grabbed a quick snack to fuel up before the long flight back to Dublin. The flight was slightly somber as we were going back to our normal lives and back to work and GTI. It felt like we had paused our lives and went on this amazing journey and now it's over and back to reality. I'm sad to leave but I have to go home. You never know what the future holds if its meant to be I could end up back in Raahe some day. Once in Dublin the reality hit us and we got the bus back to Galway. Ready to tell everyone stories of our adventures and give the many Finnish souvenirs I collected along the way Reflecting on Lybecker From the first moment arriving at Lybecker we were very impressed. The first student we met was Ossi he was a student tutor and would later become one of our good friends. There was so much facilities and it seemed students could get the best experience with all the current technology. As I was interested in graphic design I was very eager to get started. Once I got set up on the computer I was ready to go. Before coming to lybecker I had no experience using the Adobe software and I was very nervous about it. The staff and students were so helpful. Everytime I was confused or didn't know how to do something, someone would ask me if I was ok and people were always eager to help. It was difficult at first getting used to the school schedule and the time of the breaks. I soon learned to really enjoy the break times socialising with everyone. I was also very impressed with the cafeteria as they had lots of vegan options and varieties of milks which is something we don't have much of in schools and colleges back home in Ireland. That's was excellent to see. There was a very accepting and tolerant culture around the school which was brilliant to be around. Everyone was respectful of each other and I felt people could be themselves and not have to worry about being judged or bullied. My whole project in Raahe was based on postcards. I captured lost of pictures of the town and then I wanted to change those pictures into my style of design and creating something beautiful and simple. I saw the town through new eyes and it really inspired me. I completed my project and was very happy with the results, it definitely captured my experience in Finland. Overall I had an amazing time at Lybecker and learned so much about the culture of Finish people and also many useful skills I can take home with me. All the staff were great and I felt very comfortable there. I am so grateful of the experience that I had and would definitely recommend the school to anyone interested in going to Finland. -Noel
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Today I had my first painting workshop. I was really excited to do a new process and take a break from all the graphic design work I've been doing. When I first went in I set up an easel and got my materials prepared. We also had a model to work from. We started off using ink and doing a series of between one and five minute poses. It was similar to the kind of drawing technique we would do at home so it was interesting to see.
I also found because I had done life drawing before it really helped me. After some quick ink sketches everyone moved on to continue their paintings and it looked like they were working on them for a while. I started doing a quick water colour painting because I only had painting for one day and I didn't want to start something big with the short amount of time we had remaining. After work we went home and in the evening all of our friends went to Ossi's House and played some games. I also tried to build a snow man as that was on my wish list for the last week. The snow was to powdery so he wasn't a great snowman! -Noel We're coming to the realisation that this is our last week in Raahe and it's sad. I am continuously working on Adobe illustrator, designing what were originally postcards but now they have turned into pictures of places and memories for me. I realised while doing graphic design for most of my time here, that I would love to do it as a career and I feel like i've come so far in such a short amount of time. I've learned so much about graphic design and was so inspired by everyone around me. They have a slightly different process here. At home we would usually plan loads and constantly prepare for projects and ideas. I noticed in the college they go head first into the project and just work with it which I found so interesting.
My work here is constantly getting more complex and I can see my progress in each design. My friend Marleena who is an amazing graphic design student is always helping me and I learned a few tricks on Adobe from her. She made me a hat as she likes to knit in her free time. I was so grateful and it was such a nice gift to have when I go back to Ireland. I got very annoyed with my current postcard design as I couldn't get it the way I wanted. I had to leave it and come back to it the next day. After college me and Broc went home and made dinner. We called over to Bea's House and Tony called over as well. We watched a movie and had some of my favourite tea called poor which is a tea from Oulu. After that our friend Amin called over for a few and once he left we went to bed. - Noel Tara here...The last time I wrote a post I was in Raahe - a lot has happened since then. Now I am in Kuopio, and it is just as cold here (-22) most mornings.
Amy and myself are staying in a student house with Outi. She is lovely and very motherly as she has children close to our my age. She is eager to improve her English and her enthusiasm is extremely wholesome. We have been in full gear! It is hard to catch a breath. Our downtime consists of saunas and doing our sketchbooks / it's therapeutic but still takes a lot of energy out of me. Today myself, Amy, Derek and Cat had the task to create a gif using Photoshop. We were given a Canon camera, a tripod and an empty room and we set out on making a gif. The aim was to make it about three seconds long and for it to loop. Our outcome turned out well. It was a good test to see if we understood how to use Photoshop. I thoroughly enjoyed it as I had no idea that Photoshop had some animation properties. We also got the chance to visit the local art gallery with the majority of paintings being from the 1800's. It was beautiful. All the descriptions of the paintings were in Finnish so it was a nice experience to just rely on your own instinct and interpretation to make a judgement about the works subject matter. We then went to a photography gallery which had two great exhibitions being displayed: 'where the children sleep' and 'moments'. Both were incredibly moving. It made me realise how I under appreciated photos these days, as they are just so widespread. Cameras are so readily available nowadays. I think that I had just lost touch with noticing quality photos, but this exhibit made me aware of the beauty that photographs possess. Afterwards we went out for dinner with the students in the college and we ate to our hearts content and chatted about each other's lives. Ingman and it's students have provided us with the greatest hospitality and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am of their successful efforts to show us a great time educationally and recreationally. Until next time, - Tara Monday was back to college and back to work. The weather was beginning to grow much colder than we were accustomed to, dropping from around minus ten to an average of minus twenty, which is actually colder than Ireland has ever been in its history! We wrapped up even more than usual and trekked out towards Lybecker.
Noel and I found ourselves to both be in graphic design for the day, and while he worked on another postcard to add to his growing collection, I took the time to research some of the artists we had come across during our stay, such as Kari Juva, a renowned Finnish sculptor who had donated around twenty pieces to Raahe, where he had spent some of his childhood. Others that I researched, but could find little information about, were Samuli Sarkkila, a model maker from Raahe in the early 1900’s, and doll artist Maria Morko, who had created an eye catching reproduction of what Kettukangas, a Stone Age village that sat near Raahe, might have looked like. All three individuals had really sparked my interest, and I am sure that the influence of these works will stay with me long after I return home. In the afternoon, we were invited by some of our classmates to once again participate in their weekly podcast, this time with another special guest, Zīla, a young teacher from Latvia who was accompanying some exchange students on their trip here. It was enlightening for all of us, I believe, to hear an honest report from the point of view of a teacher as opposed to yet another student. At home she teaches much younger people, around eleven years of age, and lives in Riga, the capital city. She informed us that Latvia has a population of around two million people, half of which all live in Riga. I believe that myself and Noel found something both comical and surprising in coming all the way to Raahe to learn about Latvia! Regardless of the humour drawn from it, it is comforting to know that despite all of our cultural differences, every one of us are resident in Europe, and will always have that mutual foundation upon which to build. Later that night, after everything had settled down and myself and Noel were almost ready for bed, we received a message from Pekka informing us that the Northern Lights could be seen in the sky. We rushed outside, not even sparing the time to lace up our boots, and desperately searched the Northern sky, zigzagging past apartment blocks to get a better viewpoint. We caught the slightest glimpse as we ran, eerie green clouds above a building, but by the time we had made our way around to see better it had gone. We wandered around for a while, hoping that it might shine once more for us to see, but we had no such luck! Instead we found ourselves stargazing in a nearby park, spotting familiar constellations and eventually locating the North Star. Even though we might not have properly watched the Northern Lights, seeing the North Star so very high in the sky is truly spectacular also, and gave us a good idea of how high up in the world we truly are right now.Monday was back to college and back to work. The weather was beginning to grow much colder than we were accustomed to, dropping from around minus ten to an average of minus twenty, which is actually colder than Ireland has ever been in its history! We wrapped up even more than usual and trekked out towards Lybecker. Noel and I found ourselves to both be in graphic design for the day, and while he worked on another postcard to add to his growing collection, I took the time to research some of the artists we had come across during our stay, such as Kari Juva, a renowned Finnish sculptor who had donated around twenty pieces to Raahe, where he had spent some of his childhood. Others that I researched, but could find little information about, were Samuli Sarkkila, a model maker from Raahe in the early 1900’s, and doll artist Maria Morko, who had created an eye catching reproduction of what Kettukangas, a Stone Age village that sat near Raahe, might have looked like. All three individuals had really sparked my interest, and I am sure that the influence of these works will stay with me long after I return home. In the afternoon, we were invited by some of our classmates to once again participate in their weekly podcast, this time with another special guest, Zīla, a young teacher from Latvia who was accompanying some exchange students on their trip here. It was enlightening for all of us, I believe, to hear an honest report from the point of view of a teacher as opposed to yet another student. At home she teaches much younger people, around eleven years of age, and lives in Riga, the capital city. She informed us that Latvia has a population of around two million people, half of which all live in Riga. I believe that myself and Noel found something both comical and surprising in coming all the way to Raahe to learn about Latvia! Regardless of the humour drawn from it, it is comforting to know that despite all of our cultural differences, every one of us are resident in Europe, and will always have that mutual foundation upon which to build. Later that night, after everything had settled down and myself and Noel were almost ready for bed, we received a message from Pekka informing us that the Northern Lights could be seen in the sky. We rushed outside, not even sparing the time to lace up our boots, and desperately searched the Northern sky, zigzagging past apartment blocks to get a better viewpoint. We caught the slightest glimpse as we ran, eerie green clouds above a building, but by the time we had made our way around to see better it had gone. We wandered around for a while, hoping that it might shine once more for us to see, but we had no such luck! Instead we found ourselves stargazing in a nearby park, spotting familiar constellations and eventually locating the North Star. Even though we might not have properly watched the Northern Lights, seeing the North Star so very high in the sky is truly spectacular also, and gave us a good idea of how high up in the world we truly are right now. Monday was back to college and back to work. The weather was beginning to grow much colder than we were accustomed to, dropping from around minus ten to an average of minus twenty, which is actually colder than Ireland has ever been in its history! We wrapped up even more than usual and trekked out towards Lybecker. Noel and I found ourselves to both be in graphic design for the day, and while he worked on another postcard to add to his growing collection, I took the time to research some of the artists we had come across during our stay, such as Kari Juva, a renowned Finnish sculptor who had donated around twenty pieces to Raahe, where he had spent some of his childhood. Others that I researched, but could find little information about, were Samuli Sarkkila, a model maker from Raahe in the early 1900’s, and doll artist Maria Morko, who had created an eye catching reproduction of what Kettukangas, a Stone Age village that sat near Raahe, might have looked like. All three individuals had really sparked my interest, and I am sure that the influence of these works will stay with me long after I return home. In the afternoon, we were invited by some of our classmates to once again participate in their weekly podcast, this time with another special guest, Zīla, a young teacher from Latvia who was accompanying some exchange students on their trip here. It was enlightening for all of us, I believe, to hear an honest report from the point of view of a teacher as opposed to yet another student. At home she teaches much younger people, around eleven years of age, and lives in Riga, the capital city. She informed us that Latvia has a population of around two million people, half of which all live in Riga. I believe that myself and Noel found something both comical and surprising in coming all the way to Raahe to learn about Latvia! Regardless of the humour drawn from it, it is comforting to know that despite all of our cultural differences, every one of us are resident in Europe, and will always have that mutual foundation upon which to build. Later that night, after everything had settled down and myself and Noel were almost ready for bed, we received a message from Pekka informing us that the Northern Lights could be seen in the sky. We rushed outside, not even sparing the time to lace up our boots, and desperately searched the Northern sky, zigzagging past apartment blocks to get a better viewpoint. We caught the slightest glimpse as we ran, eerie green clouds above a building, but by the time we had made our way around to see better it had gone. We wandered around for a while, hoping that it might shine once more for us to see, but we had no such luck! Instead we found ourselves stargazing in a nearby park, spotting familiar constellations and eventually locating the North Star. Even though we might not have properly watched the Northern Lights, seeing the North Star so very high in the sky is truly spectacular also, and gave us a good idea of how high up in the world we truly are right now. -Broc Today was our first full day without Tara, who was settling in at Kuopio already. We woke relatively early for a Sunday and decided to take a wander around the town, having learned to navigate the area without getting lost at last! The sky was a crisp, uniform powder blue, and every tree that we could see had been dusted overnight in a thick, glittering dose of snow. It truly did feel like a Winter wonderland...
After discussing our options for the day, we decided that we would make our way to the ice hole in order for Noel to give it a try. when we reached the beach, we discovered that more people were strolling across the ice than the land! As strange as it seemed to us, here it appeared to be business as usual with people walking their dogs, skiing individuals zipping across, and others making their way across the sea to some of the many wooded islands that dotted this portion of the Gun of Bothnia. Excited with the opportunity, we decided to join the locals and made our trek across the sea for the second time on our trip. The ice hole wasn't far off, particularly with our icy shortcut, and we made it there in no time. noel seemed a little nervous, yet altogether eager to try out this cultural activity which remained so novel to us. We reached the hut and Noel undressed, walking confidently down towards the cold, black water. Once in, the cold seemed to shock his lungs a little, evident by his shocked gasps. After a few seconds he returned to dry land, quickly redressing to escape the cold air. It was altogether an impressive feat to behold, and even more impressive to think that locals might do this on a regular basis. We returned home and began to work away at our sketchbooks. Looking back at all of the work I've done in these past two weeks, I have a good idea of where my work will be going in a final personal project: during our visit to Raahe's museums, we came across a collection of figurines from the 1930's and 40's, made by Samuli Sarkkila to represent the local people of Raahe at the time. He carved from wood and individual figure for each inhabitant and charged a few pennies for the opportunity to see them at town gatherings. I will work along the same line of thinking, carving from soap some small figurines to represent each friend that we have made during our time here. Once finished, I think I will distribute them to their likenesses as parting gifts, though the thought of having to leave soon is rather unbearable... - Broc We all woke up extra early as Tara was leaving today. I made her some porridge for breakfast and helped her get the last of her packing done. Our friend Ahmed and Ossi picked us up at the apartment and gave us a lift to the bus station. Antti also came along to say goodbye. Her bus arrived and she said her final farewells to everyone with a small bit of sadness in her smile but a hopeful glint in her eye's. After she left Ahmed drove us home. Its was strange just me and Broc In the apartment.
We made some dinner and made plans for the day. We felt pretty confident that we could wander around town on our own without any worries. We first decided to go to the church, which we've only seen from a distance. On the walk we took a detour through the sculpture park which was close to the museum we had been to a few days before. The sculpture's were so inspiring and enjoyable to look at. Broc especially liked them. We arrived at the church and just admired the look of the building. Unfortunately when we went to go inside it was locked. We decided to go get a coffee and come back to the church another time. We heard about this cafe called Hippu which was apparently the hipster cafe of Raahe. We went in and got some cappuccinos and I tried to ask if there was any vegan deserts and after an awkward conversation in basic finnish, there actually was a vegan cake so I had to get some. The barista was so friendly and there was such a relaxing peaceful vibe about the place. Me and Broc had some coffee and cake and just enjoyed it. After that we went to K citymarket which was another supermarket close to our apartment and had a look around and picked up some bits. We went home made some dinner. Antti called over and helped put the video he made on YouTube and me and Broc just had a relaxing evening enjoying or last weekend in Raahe. -Noel Today was Tara's last day at the college. So we were all a bit sad to see her leave, but excited for her next adventure. We were in the local paper a week ago and the reporter wrote an article about us. When the article was translated into English it made no sense and was so funny. Tara was inspired to create a 2D animation based on the funny translation. She used our apartment as the setting and was learning how to lip-sync characters. The animation turned out brilliant and was such a good thing to rewatch to remember our time here. I was still working on my project. I took lots of pictures of Raahe which I think captured the town and have been using Adobe illustrator to create postcard images. I have never used the software when I arrived and now I have gained so much knowledge and have a good grasp of how it works. Broc was also working on his project which involved making miniature wooden houses and people inspired by our visit to the museum. One of our friends Antti made a video of us as part of his final project. He was following us around when we went to the museum and while we were participating in other activities in the college. He completed it today and it was amazing (see below). We are all still blown away with the kindness of the students and how they have given us so much of their time and help to us. We all went home after college and made some dinner. Later in the evening everyone went to our friend Nico's house, which was great fun. We played pool and ping pong and just socialised for a few hours. Everyone had got together and gave us some parting gifts which was really appreciated. After Nico's, Tara and I went for a drive with Nico and our other friends Tony and Antti. They showed us the beach, the steel factory, the harbour and other areas around the town we haven't seen. We arrived back home in the early hours and went to bed. It was a fantastic day especially for Tara as it was her last memory of Raahe, and we were all together for it. -Noel Memory of Finland 2018: (Lybecker student project featuring GTI Art/Animation students): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscVyeeBpg0&feature=youtu.be Hei Hei, Tara here. It is my second last day here in Raahe- then I will move onto Kuopio.
I'm basically trying to get the brunt of my work done so I don't have to stress tomorrow. I want my final lip sync project to be complete before I go, so I have something concrete to show from my time in Raahe (Lybecker). Pekka has asked me to write a blog post for him to sum up my time in Lybecker which is exciting. I think I will draft it tomorrow and then actually write it on my travels to Kuopio- I think it deserves a bit of nostalgic factor to it. Antti has nearly completed his project of us. We get to see the final draft of it tomorrow- I'm super excited and will get him to send it to us upon completion. We also took a lot of group photos on the proper cameras here which will be lovely once they are uploaded. I packed this evening so I don't have to do it on my final day and I can truly immerse myself in the Raahe lifestyle for one more day. We also filmed Broc's final piece for his sculpture (Burning it down) and then made snow angels. Simplicity at best.... Until next time, - Tara Time is going by fast, which is terrifying but relieving, so much is happening but it's not stressful- just wonderful.
I started a new project this week- lipsyncing. I got to use professional recording software and it was nice to just play around with it and try out different infliction's. I'm not including any previews on this blog as I want the finished work to be a surprise to Broc and Noel as they star in this animation! It was fun to use my own idea also, that was spur of the moment rather than months of planning. The college celebrated Valentines day, they had a dress up code for the day, and gave out free cake and coffee at lunch which I thought was adorable. It really made the college feel like a community. One of the students even gave me a rose! I was flattered to say the least. One of our neighbours (Bea) - Made us dinner for the occasion; Lentil Dahl it was amazing. and then we went to Ossi's house to play a mock dating game in the company of everyone- I mean it was a wholesome valentines day to say the least. It has started to get warmer which is weird, at the moment it's only -1 whereas last week we were experiencing up to -22. We are currently recording a mini documentary about our time here in Raahe- one of the students Antti is doing the project on us. It has been cool to see how filming works in conjunction to being 'candid'. I honestly think this sums my day up, It's hard to keep track of all the little details and gestures I have been receiving and experiencing. Until next time, Tara |
Art & Animation 2017/18
Map of Raahe |