We arrived in Pori after a 3 hour train from Helsinki, where we were met by Suvi and her daughter Mikella, they drove us to the River Hostel in Pori. Myself, Barry, Patrick, Marish, and Eric stayed up until about midnight and reflected on the journey. On Monday 15th January I stared my placement in the Pori Art Museum. I was greeted by a lady named Ani who set out my tasks for the day, which were first to read and look at the pictures of a Power Point presentation from Eggert Peturssenin, an Icelandic artist currently on exhibition in Pori Art Museum (See pictures below). The second task that Ani set out for me was to continue and update a project that the girl who was there from the course last year had started. This consisted of having to look up and document lists of what artists had previously exhibited in Pori Art Museum over the years, and what they have been up to since they exhibited in the gallery. I had my lunch about 12pm and had a wander around the city center of Pori. It is a very nice city. I finished at 3 pm and went back to the hostel, waited for the lads to arrive back and Partick cooked dinner and we talked some more. This evening I might go for another wander around the city. Adam Egan, 15/02/16
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It's 4.15am. Everyone is very sleepy, it's not very easy to wake up so early in the morning, but we know that ahead of us is a great adventure and places, people and things to explore, so it's all very exciting.
We arrived at Dublin Airport at around 6am, and got a quick breakfast as we waited for our plane. The whole check-in and security check was fairly quick and painless, guess that's the benefits of early morning flights. Then we boarded our three hour long flight and were on our way to Helsinki. The flight was quite uneventful, although I forgot to bring anything with me to keep my mind busy, so it was a slow flight for me. I did however enjoy cup of blueberry juice that was very delicious. I never had blueberry juice before and this was also free! I then noticed that the sunlight was shining strongly on my plastic cup which created pretty reflection rings around it. I stuck a napkin in the cup and made art! Well, it's the photograph that actually ended up being the 'art'. Joking aside, I do actually like the photo I took. It reminds me that beauty is everywhere if we just look for it. Once we landed, we didn't even have time to say goodbye to Sarah and all the other people. Robin and the Pori group were off, on our way to Pori. We took the Helsinki Airport City Shuttle in quite a hurry, and arrived at the train station. Although we had little time to really take it in, the building was absolutely gorgeous. It was beautiful, perhaps art deco in style (a lot of the architecture reminded me of that style) We got a little confused when it came to buying our ticket to Pori. With few minutes to spare before the train actually departed, we decided to just wait for the next train and take our chances. This was a good call, because it gave us time to unwind and relax. With heavy bags and luggage to carry, and the realisation that most shops would actually be closed by the time we arrived in Pori, we decided to split into two groups to shop for supplies for our first meal in Pori. We decided to make Spaghetti Bolognese, so we bought ingredients for it. Despite being told that the prices are expensive, we managed to only spend half of the money that I had on me. We then went to our platform and awaited the arrival of our double decker train! My bags made me realise I am way out of shape, my luggage was really heavy. Stairs and Luggage don't mix. Thankfully we managed, and we got on the upper deck. Although we all wished it was brighter, the snow still looked beautiful. Especially when it glistened like glitter on the ground. We saw the smoothest untouched snow between some of the tracks and we were all in love with the beauty of this land. I personally missed snow very much, and it was an amazing experience to see it again properly in over a decade. Given we had three hours to spare it gave us a nice opportunity to just relax, catch up on some sleep, or like myself, use the laptop. The journey seemed a lot longer on that train than the hours it actually took to get there. Thankfully we arrived at Pori at by night fall and Suvi was waiting for us at the platform. We were all so grateful for that, I would not be able to manage finding our way to the hostel otherwise (I get grumpy without sleep). Suvi was a wonderful guide and gave us a quick peek at Pori, pointing out the nearby shop, that closes at 11pm, which surely will come in useful. We took a quick drive and dropped Robin off at his hotel, and then Suvi took us back to our Hostel and we were left alone. We stayed up for a little bit, jet lagged and all. I think most of us didn't fall asleep until 2am, given the fact that we have to be picked up at 8.30am the next day. I'm sure we'll pay the price for that the next day. The hostel is beautiful. It's very nicely decorated and our rooms are very cosy. I love my room, just enough space for both my laptop and space for all my sketchbooks. The others had rooms with extra beds as well, so they had a little less space. Given we were all tired, we all drank our tea, and went straight to bed to await the adventures that are to come for the next three weeks. I am already in love with this country. I am so grateful that I took this opportunity as I can't remember the last time I was this excited about something, as I am for this trip to Finland. Marian Kaczmarek |
Art+Animation 2016Barry Clifford Map of Pori |