Where are your student overalls?
Student overalls bring back memories of Vappu celebrations and good times. Do you remember how to tune your overalls, or what it means to change a leg?
Paavo Nurmi rose from the sea in 1961
In the 1960s, Finnish technical students made an unprecedented master prank, which is still unparalleled today.
In 1961, a group of students on their way to Gothenburg for the students' spring festival, decided to stop off in Stockholm to leave their business card on board the Vasa ship, which was planned soon to be lifted. The night before the lifting, they took a miniature sculpture of Paavo Nurmi's running statue on board.
Marine archaeologists were astonished when a bronze sculpture of a runner was found among historical artefacts and debris on the Vasa, which had been at the bottom of the sea for 333 years. It soon became clear that it represented a Finnish sports hero.
But how on earth had the artefact ended up on board? The speculation crossed the news threshold and on their return from Gothenburg, the technical students held a press conference in Stockholm, where they revealed their prank.
Historical prank (jäynä) in search of a winner
Over the decades, the Finnish technical students have invented numerous pranks, but none have matched the master prank of 1961. Prank is designed to provide surprising amusement for both its creators and its targets. A real technical student prank is mischievous, often to the extreme of appropriateness, but it never seriously offends anyone.
However, the Swedes' sense of humour must have been a little tested, as the Vasa Museum does not say much about the technical students act. In the Polytechnic Museum in Otaniemi, on the other hand, a sculpture of Paavo Nurmi as a runner takes pride in a place of honor in a display case.
Do you still remember the Wappu when you became teekkari?
Wappu is the biggest and grandest of student celebrations. The traditions of celebrating Wappu are honoured with care, all the way from the capping of the freshers, the declaration of the Wappu rowdiness and the capping of Havis Amanda. And the herring breakfasts are served in Ullanlinnanmäki in Kaivopuisto.
Täffä’s spaghetti since 1966
The student restaurant Täffä, run by the Swedish-speaking student nation at Aalto University, has been serving its legendary Wednesday spaghetti lunch for over half a century.
Did you borrow something from the Kalkkunaklubi cupboard?
Kalkkunaklubi was the student union “bar” of the Helsinki University of Technology, located in Teekkarila on Lönnrotinkatu in the 1930s and 1940s. The name was a playful twist on New York’s famous Stork Club.
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