1782376_708733762499232_8365973628594215428_oVappu, the wonderland of every student in Finland! If you are a first year bunny or perhaps an exchange student about to celebrate your first student vappu, you are most likely about to experience something epic that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. That is of course if you do it the right way, with the right vappu spirit! Us who already know how good that first student vappu feels, often expect the one to come to be less fun, but at least in my case each vappu has surprised me positively by been equally great, although different from the previous ones.
I hope that I can give in this blog a lot of good tips so that you all get to experience the vappu of your lives, especially if it’s your first!

What is vappu all about?
Vappu is for celebrating! The usual themes are spring, the end of classes, that the exam period hasn’t yet started, that you just feel happy and of course that it’s vappu in itself calls for celebrations. Choose which themes you want to celebrate or just celebrate because you feel like celebrating.

When is vappu?10697368_704274832958998_4150322096649078248_o
Traditionally the actual vappu is on May 1st, and the vappu eve on April 30th. Those are the days that the ”normal” people consider as being vappu. But we students are of course special, so we start celebrating already earlier. Some start about a month earlier, some a few days. At Turun KY we start our official vappu events on the 23.4. and arrange something every day until the 1.5. so our official vappu will be 9 days long. Vappu doesn’t meen that you need be crazy partying every day, it just meens that from the moment you decide to start your Vappu you keep up with your vappu spirit all the way until May 1st.

What’s happening at vappu?10333235_714608985245043_7309681513973029161_o
Browse the calendars of TuKY, TYY and other student associations you are interrested in, and remember to check out the Facebook events as well. TuKY organizes a nice mix of different styles of parties, cultural events etc. with some easier days for sports, picnics and brunches in between the party days. Since the events don’t last all day, you can also choose events from other associations to create the vappu schedule of your choice. It’s also super nice to not plan everything in advance and try some parties and events extempore too. As a grand finale everybody will gather for a picnic at Vartiovuorenmäki on May 1st, where us economics students will find each other by the TuKY booth.

Is vappu expensive?
A lot of vappu events have an entrance fee, but even more are free of charge. So don’t stress about your finances too much, you can plan your vappu according to your own personal budget. And it helps of course if you have done your shopping for drinks beforehand during a boat trip to Sweden or Estonia for example.

What to wear at vappu?1044600_10151712275653466_1850299561_n
Usually students wear their overalls at all vappu events and often in between them as well. Sunglasses are a good accessory whether the sun shines or not. If the dresscode for some event is different it will be mentioned in the event description. From the vappu eve on 30.4. at 18:00 onwards the white student cap is part of the dresscode everywhere you go. In Turku, people gather at the Art Museum hill to put their caps on together. If you don’t have an overall yet, come buy one at the TuKY office at the Turku School of Economics for only 30 €!

A checklist for things to try at vappu?
– Drink champagne from your student cap, sparkling wine will do too if you don’t have any champagne
– Drink Sima921344_10151609538428466_21684879_o
– Eat some tippaleipä and munkki donuts
– Collect overall patches
– Chat with people you normally wouldn’t chat with: even us finns are more open minded around vappu
– Have fun
– Be broad-minded and try new things
– Go to at least one totally random party with people you don’t know
– Have more fun
– Stay up until the morning at an after party and as soon as the building’s regulations allow it, turn up the volume of the music as loud as you dare and keep on partying. This is usually around 7 a.m.
– Come up with some other fun or totally random things to add to you personal vappu checklist 🙂

Check out the official TuKY Vappu Movie from last year!

The official TuKY Vappu 2015 schedule:

Thursday 23.4. Bussikännit
Friday 24.4. The Super Fast and Colorful Vappu Sitz
Saturday 25.4. Game Day
Sunday 26.4. Amazing Race Turku
Monday 27.4. Kuntalaisbailut
Tuesday 28.4. Zen Day
Wednesday 29.4. Comedy Night
Thursday 30.4. Sikawappu
Friday 1.5. Vappu Picnic

Vappu wishes,

vappukuva (2)

 

Maria Helle

International Affairs Representative

international@tuky.fi