The Infamous Finnish Sitz!!
January 16th 2010 23:14
Time: 12:30am Date: 17/01/2010 Location: My Apartment, Helsinki
If there was one word that was to come to mind when I mentioned the word Finland, what would it be? A couple of weeks ago, I honestly couldn't answer this question but after having been here for a total of 8 days now, I can tell you what I would say...alcoholics! They drink a good amount of wine, a generous amount of beer and a whole lot of vodka or snaps as they would call it here!
Lat night we had our first Soc&Kom 'Sitz' (a Finnish and Swedish tradition with a 3 course meal, alcohol and outrageous singing)! Smart casual was required and the table was set for a spectacular good night ahead. Song leader Elin was introduced who laid out the general rules for the Sitz evening. These were as follows:
- noone was allowed to leave the table for any reason until the plates were cleared after the meal (as Emma found out during the evening, she left the table and had to sing a song standing on the chair with everyone watching!)
- you must all join in
- you must drink after every verse basically
- if you want to drink more (which people did), you have to bang on the table and yell out Tampoo!
The key to the Sitz was to sip your shot of vodka after every verse instead of taking the whole amount, however this was a given =P Beer was served with entree' and wine was served with main course and then Punsch (a Finnish liqueur) was served after dessert! Meanwhile, my team shared the points in trivia so Salmiakki (another Finnish shot) was awarded to the prize winners. Cider was also on the menu, not to mention the Cloudberry liqueur that was hanging around!
The lyrics to the songs summed up the evening which are sampled as follows:
"vodka, vodka, drink of laughter makes me feel so nice and warm. In my head the morning after, there's a raging, roaring storm!"
or "golden drops are nice, I have reflected, have reflected. But their strength is not to be neglected, be neglected. Both your head and heart will be affected, punsch, punsch, punsch!"
When we got sick of too much singing, we headed to Molly Malones, an Irish bar down the street. The rest is history...
Be sure to check out my videos and photos on my Facebook page to experience the magic of the truly amazing Finnish/Swedish 'Sitz'!
Really Long Link
If there was one word that was to come to mind when I mentioned the word Finland, what would it be? A couple of weeks ago, I honestly couldn't answer this question but after having been here for a total of 8 days now, I can tell you what I would say...alcoholics! They drink a good amount of wine, a generous amount of beer and a whole lot of vodka or snaps as they would call it here!
Lat night we had our first Soc&Kom 'Sitz' (a Finnish and Swedish tradition with a 3 course meal, alcohol and outrageous singing)! Smart casual was required and the table was set for a spectacular good night ahead. Song leader Elin was introduced who laid out the general rules for the Sitz evening. These were as follows:
- noone was allowed to leave the table for any reason until the plates were cleared after the meal (as Emma found out during the evening, she left the table and had to sing a song standing on the chair with everyone watching!)
- you must all join in
- you must drink after every verse basically
- if you want to drink more (which people did), you have to bang on the table and yell out Tampoo!
The key to the Sitz was to sip your shot of vodka after every verse instead of taking the whole amount, however this was a given =P Beer was served with entree' and wine was served with main course and then Punsch (a Finnish liqueur) was served after dessert! Meanwhile, my team shared the points in trivia so Salmiakki (another Finnish shot) was awarded to the prize winners. Cider was also on the menu, not to mention the Cloudberry liqueur that was hanging around!
The lyrics to the songs summed up the evening which are sampled as follows:
"vodka, vodka, drink of laughter makes me feel so nice and warm. In my head the morning after, there's a raging, roaring storm!"
or "golden drops are nice, I have reflected, have reflected. But their strength is not to be neglected, be neglected. Both your head and heart will be affected, punsch, punsch, punsch!"
When we got sick of too much singing, we headed to Molly Malones, an Irish bar down the street. The rest is history...
Be sure to check out my videos and photos on my Facebook page to experience the magic of the truly amazing Finnish/Swedish 'Sitz'!
Really Long Link
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