Akademy Day 5/6

Day 5 of Akademy was spent hacking too. Then I had a great meal at Plevna), Tamperelainen, which was mashed potatoes + lingonberry jam + Tampere’s famous blood sausages. Well it lived up to its expectations, the sausages were definitely good, but different. It was kind of like sabudana vada.

Unfortunately Germany lost :( The final will still be a good watch though.

Once again, I would like to raise my fictional hat to COSS and all the volunteers for the excellent organisation of this year’s Akademy.

The day trip was spectacular.

We were treated to Finland’s natural beauty in abundance. Merunlahti Centre for Nature Tourism has this camp like area right next to lake Höytämöjärvi with canoeing, slacklining and other activities.

The first thing to do was to jump in the lake, which was pretty cold. I have never properly swum in fresh water before ( which says something about India’s screwed up Nature ) so it was great. And unlike the sea, a lake actually has a reachable ‘other side’. So I swam across and back about 150 m or so. Give a human a log in the water and he is transformed to a 5 year old. KDE developers spent half the time trying various things like standing on the log, getting everyone on without falling off and other stunts, which was really funny and great ‘community bonding’. Maybe day trips should be done at the beginning of Akademy :)

I tried my hand at a bit of darts, but I am bad at it. Archery was more my thing. Slacklining was not. Canoeing was great though. I got a feel of the boat immediately, although it was my first time ever, I think I’ll be trying it again when I get the opportunity.

The food was great too. We had bread and fruits and BBQed corn and potatoes, sausages we could cook ourselves over a fire and marshmallows!

Now a sauna isn’t really my thing, but they had a great sauna house and so I took a few spins. When in Finland, do what the Finnish do. Get out of the sauna and jump into the lake!

Tomorrow is the last day of Akademy, and I will miss this place and all the fascinating people. I wish I had a hackspace like Demola, fast internet, food, no disturbances. Kudos to the organizers again.

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