I Heart Finland

I've just spent an entire day in the lovely country of Finland. The day got off to a rocky start with me being detained by the guards to "further investigate my passport." 10 min later, my passport was stamped, and Whit and I were on our way!

So Whit and I met our friends Markus and Antti from our partnering firm, 15/30 Research, and got our first surprise of the day: being picked up in a Cadillac Escalade! So not Finland to me!

After a stop at a cute coffee shop (not one Starbucks in all of Finland), we were off to a student art exhibit. It was honestly the most amazing work I've ever seen, and I can't wait to showcase it to you guys in upcoming research reports, issues of the magazine, etc. Those few hours at the exhibit made the entire trip worthwhile. To see such amazing ideas, forward thinking, collaborations and innovations coming from young people was inspiring.

I did an interview with the local FInnish paper, which was also fun. Next was another highlight of the day - meeting with an entertainment company called Sulake, who created this amazing onlin site habbohotel.com. If you haven't heard of it, check it out, because it's going to be MASSIVE.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had another reporter waiting for me from FInland's major business magazine. I was pretty out of it by that time (I've gotten little to no sleep since I've been in Europe), so hopefully my answers weren't that bad. It was quite an interesting discussion on ethics in marketing, U.S. youth vs. Finnish youth, etc. Markus plans to translate the highlights for me.

Too tired to enjoy a traditional Finnish meal and even shopping (yes, I know, totally horrendous news), I enjoyed the comforts of Hotel Kamp. I'm glad I was so jetlagged, b/c I don't know if I would have gotten to sleep. Since we're so far north, it doesn't get really dark at night. It just looks like it's 5AM. WEIRD - but totally cool.

Time for tea and a quick nap before the flight back to London. Let's cross our fingers that they'll let me back in! I have to finish my shopping!

Peace, Love, & Shopping!

TW.