Fazer chocolate factory visit

Thursday, 27.11.2008

Our German study colleague Anne organised a trip for a whole bunch of Metropolia exchange students to the biggest chocolate factory of Finland owned by "Cloetta Fazer" who produces "Fazer chocolate" which is the most known chocolate here in Finland as well as in the Baltic countries and partly in Sweden and Russia. And Finns really love their Fazer chocolate!

A representative of the factory, which is located in Vantaa, offered a short intro film and presentation about the company (history and future), guided as along an experience path within the factory to know how chocolate is produced (bust just very basic information). Nothing new for an Austrian chocolate lover :-).

Just to mention: Mr. Fazer, who founded the company, was a Swiss citizen :-).
Some facts: Consumption of chocolate in kg per head --> Finland (6,43 - 9. rank) - Austria (8,33 - 6. rank) - Switzerland (10,14 - 2. rank) - Belgium (10,74 - 1. rank)

As the factory was actually undergoing maintenance work, we weren't really able to see a lot of the production. We just have seen the part of consignment sale (packing). Nevertheless, we had the chance to eat as much Fazer chocolate as we wanted, for 20 minutes. Yeah, they have a looot of good chocolates there. But Milka and Lindt are not worse!! *gg*. Afterwards our tour guide said good bye to us at the "merchandise shop" were many of course used the chance to buy loads of chocolate. That's the way they make money ^^.

This tour took us arround 2 hours and was quite interesting to see. I won't have missed that.

Arriving at the Fazer factory in Vantaa

The "all you can eat"-bar :-)

Here we go ... 20 minutes time.

FAZER - the brand

The last stop was the merchandise shop

Tallinn No. 2

Wednesday, 26.11.2008

Today we (Heon and I) made another trip to Tallinn. For Heon it was the first time, for me already the second Tallinn visit. Same procedure as last time, same boat (M/S Norlandia) of Eckerö Line.
The only big difference of Tallinn this time .... there was a lot of snow and the city is not really willing to clean footpaths of this snow. Bad luck for the pedestrians :P.
Aaaand: You won't beliebe it. We have found a real christmas market here in Tallinn, WOW. Helsinki still has nothing to offer concerning Christmas. No real christmas lights / decoration, wether on the streets nor in the windows or homes of detached houses or flat buildings. Nearly nothing ... strange!

Enjoy the pics!

Yeah, a christmas market on the main square in Tallinn. Really nice!

And a big christmas tree

A park with a looot of snow, compared to my first visit.

Winter has arrived

Our lunch snack as Hesburgers.
Really nice, EUR 3,30 for a whole menu. If you are used to Helsinki prices which are appr. EUR 7,50 for this menu, Tallinn is a paradise.

My chickenburger with coke and fries.

On the way back on Eckerö Line.
Very tired after all day walking around.
We almost missed the boat because the way to the terminal was fully covered with wet snow which made walking very hard and slow.

Welcome Winter & Santa Claus

Sunday, 23.11.2008
About two days ago, we recognized that the winter is knocking on Southern Finlands doors. Our termometer showed temperatures of arround -7°C in the morning. A little snow could be seen already yesterday. But today, the "real winter" started.
Furthermore, Helsinki opened it's christmas street (the big joulukatu avataan) today at midday, so we took the opportunity and went to Alexanderinkatu and surrounding area, where this opening took place. There really have been a lot of people for the opening, but the "christmas street" is disappointing. There are just some christmas light on the streets, nothing else. NO wooden cottages where they sell hot wine, punch, chocolate fruits, langos. Actually, there was nothing, just a few lights. And the christmas lightning in my hometown Baden in Austria is for sure better than the one here. That's really boring, I have to say. So no Glühwein or Punsch for the Austrians in Helsinki. We miss it!
And it's really strong snowfall and heavy wind here. Enjoy the photos!

At the railway station in Helsinki ... on the way to Alexanderinkatu

A lot of people on the senatssquare (senaatintori).

Yvonne enjoying the winter experience.

Punainen risti ... the Finnish red cross selling staff for charity

Céline and Heon took the opportunity for a photo shooting with a snow man.

SantaClaus (in Finnish "joulupukki") is arriving with the tram this year, because his sledge isn't able to go on the streets as they aren't fully covered with snow (at least not at this time).
You can see joulupukki in the middle of the picture.

Afterwards, he went upstairs to the cathedral, spoke a few sentences in Finnish, Swedish and English, sang with the whole group up there and took a seat in his improvisational sledge to join a christmas parade along Alexanderinkatu.

The "christmas lights" along the christmas street. WOW :-(.

A winter-proved Austrian (me) together with a South Korean (Heon) not used to see that much snow at once.

The parade along Alexanderinkatu (the street connecting the senatssquare in front of the white cathedral and the biggest road Mannerheimintie at Stockmann).
The parade took appr. 5 minutes, that's it. Not really spectacular.

As this weather isn't really cosy, we rewarm ourselves in Fazer cafe. A good idea!

Half an hour later, everything was over. Just a few people on the street.

A snow-covered Mannerheimintie.

Stockmann shopping mall in a snow storm.

The eastern part of the railway station square (Rautatientori) . Wääää weather.

Let's go home again.... That's how it look like from my flat a few hours ago. Now, everything is covered with snow and the national weather agency asks all Helsinki residents to stay at home and avoid any car drive, because it's extremely slippery on the roads.

Nevertheless, it's a nice experience. That's how Finland should be at this time of the year.
The snow will get even stronger till midnight, so we'll enjoy a real winter wonderland tomorrow morning.

Wednesday Night

Wednesday, 19.11.2008

Today, a "small" party evening was planned. It's already a kind of "bye-bye" party, as many students start to travel all around the country or abroad and therefore won't see each other too often any more.

Homemade hamburgers ... far better than McDonalds crap :P

On the way to Amarillo Bar in the center.

France - France - Hungary

France/Hungary - Austria

Finnish girls x 2

And one part of the group

You won't believe it, he is Finn. :-)

I still have no clue what this Cherokee was doing ... or what he was trying to tell us.

One of our "Culture & Management"-team member, Tommi

Short conclusion: Nice evening and (for Helsinki) really cheap drinks!

Christoph in Helsinki

16.11.2008 - Christoph is visiting Helsinki

Today, Christoph, my fellow student of FH Wien is visiting me in Helsinki. He is studying in Vilnius, Lithuania this semester and is right now on a trip from Vilnius to Tallinn and Helsinki for 4 days. That's a good opportunity to meet each other here. It was quite short, but "successful", I would say. Just the weather wasn't as good as it could be ... like always :P.
Christoph, I hope you've enjoyed your stay here in Helsinki.

Here some photos that prove that Christoph really has been to Helsinki:

here in front of Kamppi shopping mall in Helsinki

Christoph in Ruoholathti, in front of the "Pricewaterhouse Coopers" tower.

Taking the metro back to Rautatieasema (main railwaystation)

Take a hot cup of coffee here at Roberts Coffee at the Olympiaterminalli.
More photos on studiVZ.

It was pretty nice to hear his experiences from Lithuania and how they study there. We definitely share the opinion that the Austrian (and German + Swiss) way of working is far better than the one of many other countries. Au ja!
Nice flight back home, Christoph!

Finland is ugly & do something against it

15.11.2008 - Finland is ugly & do something against it

As the weather here in Southern Finland is still not getting better (except for a few hours every 10th day ...) and it is getting dark earlier every day, you can really understand why Finland has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Then, I went out and took some photos of my area ... than you really understand why some Fins might not appreciate their life here ... :-).

Nobody on the street, rain, drizzle, fog, clouds, and a bit windy.

A "nice" unintentional pond in the forest ... because of continous rain during the past days.

A nice landscape, isn't it? Like out of the Finland-tourism-brouchure :-(.

An old RTW of Helsinki EMS

That's how they look like.

15.30 ... it starts to get a little dark here.

Okay, that's definitly NOT healthy for your body & mind .... so
a) take a sauna first
b) cook Palatschinken (oh, I'm sorry, pancakes) ... or better --> eat pancakes which are cooked for you :-D.

"Gyöngyi is throughing pancakes through the air"

Fill it with marmelade or Nesquick and enjoy.

And some traditional Korean food ... rice balls with tuna and chili paste.
Jep, a little spicy (at least for Europeans *gg*).

Germany - South Korea - Austria

Turkey - South Korea - Hungary (hungry)

Some French people have a problem with alcohol ... some without alcohol :-D.