Salolampi Work Weekend

Salolampi Work Weekend

Have you heard of Salolampi yet? Salolampi is a Finnish language camp that offers programming for all ages and stages of learners. It is located in Bemidji, Minnesota USA. It is part of Concordia Language Villages, which operates villages for 15 different languages (including English!).

It is where I started my infatuation with Finland, the cultures and the languages. You might call it a Finnfatuation. I first started attending as a 10 year old and fell in love immediately. To read more about that and my personal journey with the Finnish language and culture, check out this blog post.

Coffee Visits

Coffee Visits

Before I lived in Finland, I really did not drink coffee. I maybe would have some kind of sweet coffee drink now and then, but it wasn’t a regular occurance at all. When I lived in Oulu, that changed pretty quickly. I got a tiny yellow coffee maker (the tag said it was a coffee maker for a cabin) at a thrift store and bought some Finnish branded coffee from the grocery store. I figured I may need these not for me to make coffee every morning for myself, but rather for hosting guests. What I hadn’t neccissarily seen on the horizon were two years of coffee visits with friends and family of the friendship family (kummiperhe) I was connected with through the University of Oulu, as well as with some of the friends of my university friends.