tail end of the trip

My stint in Finland this year is almost at an end.

The time has really flown. During last year's visit, I was feeling kinda home sick already by week 3 (the same was true of my field trip to Nicaragua).

This time around, I seemed to have successfully kept my mind focussed on the tasks I had to accomplish (most notably, an invited scientific paper I needed to submit by mid-June). Despite the work, it has also been incredibly relaxing living here at the research station and being able to go for walks in the forest if I needed a break (not to mention trying to gorge on as much smoked salmon as possible).

Earlier this week, I was invited to dinner at the home of one of the researchers. He lives in the nearby village with his wife. They have an amazing home, filled to the brim with old books, paintings and all kinds of interesting 'stuff'. We had a great night eating home-made pizza, singing songs (it was mandatory in between the schnapps), and talking about quirky science stuff like kamikaze sperm.

Tomorrow is mid-summer eve. We are planning a bbq here at the station. I'll then be leaving my students behind (they are still busy with experiments) to go to visit my friend's folks, who live in the city of Tampere (my most favourite city in Finland). Then it will be back to Helsinki for a couple of days before my (sigh) long flight back to Melbourne.