Principal Lecturer Tuulia Potka-Soininen: 10 best things in Seinäjoki
1. Forest and peace of mind
When I want to be at peace, I go with my dogs Luru and Mörkö to Kyrkösjärvi, which has a great network of trails. These walks with the dogs are real lifelines for me. The length of the route isn’t the most important thing but the time I give myself. In the forest the mind rests. Kyrkösjärvi also has the Turvekammi, which can be rented for private use. I have spent family celebrations there and recently a colleague’s farewell. I always recommend the place to everyone.
2. Dogs and skiing
I am definitely a dog person, and not just in my own opinion. Sometimes we look after as many as six dogs when our children’s dogs are also here. Since I am also a passionate skier, the dog track in Honkakylä is my favourite place. The track is 11 kilometres round trip, and there are plenty of skiers with dogs. If skiing is the main thing, it’s worth choosing the city’s other excellent tracks. In Honkakylä the main thing isn’t a perfect track, but being in nature with the dog.
3. Training and a warm-water pool
The swimming hall is a very familiar and important place for me. I did competitive swimming as a child and teenager. Later I ran children’s swim clubs. At some point it petered out, and the trip from the shower started to feel long and the water cold. My sister and I have hired a coach. We have a training program and a private lesson once a month. We train three times a week. At the end of training it’s wonderful to relax in the warm-water pool.
4. Dream job and encouraging students
I have worked as an auditor, an accounting office entrepreneur and an accountant. I have enjoyed all those jobs, but now I really feel I am in my dream job as a teacher of accounting at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. The students are nice and determined. I encourage them to be active and confident. My dissertation on the fairness of taxation was completed a year ago. I did it alongside work, but the school accommodated me nicely by giving me a few months of research leave at the end.
5. Space for the mind and togetherness
I have travelled a lot in my life, but nowadays flying no longer appeals to me for environmental reasons. Fortunately, lovely destinations can also be found nearby. When I need space for my mind, I head to the Alajoki area. The landscapes are magnificent, and the eye can wander unhindered. Along the Kyröjoki river there’s also Seinäjoki Society’s fine Alajoki sauna, which we have often rented with friends. There is no hurry, and we have sat by the campfire late into the evening.
6. Provinssi and my personal history
The annual must is Provinssi, which never disappoints: great music and relaxed togetherness. I was already at the first Provinssi in 1979. I remember sitting on the grass with friends and munching on a salami roll. Memories have been made in many ways since: with friends, with a boyfriend, with my husband, while pregnant, with the children, with the family, collecting money for the children’s hobbies. These days we have again returned to our youthful ways and enjoy ourselves with our circle of friends. We always organize a Provinssi kick-off brunch at our home on Saturday morning for friends and our youngsters.
7. Cousins and useful advice
In the summer I spend time at my grandmother’s land in Peräseinäjoki. Kalajärvi is both a real lake and partially artificial. My mother and her eight siblings built a small cottage on the island in the 1970s. Later a shared cottage was built on the mainland as well. Now there are 18 of us cousins who are responsible for the cottage. It works well. We have a limited company, a board and shareholders’ meetings. Cottage turns rotate, and in August we always organise a shared cousins’ weekend. We sit up late into the night and solve the world’s problems. Indeed, the diversity of cousins is also useful. On one cousins’ weekend I was struggling with a reference problem related to my dissertation. Soon my cousin from the IT field solved it together!
8. Service and personal encounters
Good service in stores is important to me, and Seinäjoki has no shortage of it. The competition for customers is so strong here that real investment is made in service. So greetings, for example, to that lovely young man at Citymarket who makes even the checkout experience memorable. Personal warmth turns an assembly-line job into an encounter between people. I’m also a café person and, besides good products, visual appeal and service influence my café choice. Valkoinen puu café is my favourite.
9. Old and new
I’m a vegetarian and I enjoy eating in restaurants that make good vegetarian food. Fortunately, such places can now be found in Seinäjoki, for example restaurant Verstas and Piirillä. Törnävä Hospital used to be a psychiatric hospital that was called the “piiri”. Now the hospital is elsewhere, but a wonderful complex has been created in the beautiful surroundings of the piiri: apartments, shops, Hysteria theatre and all sorts of other nice things. It’s great that Seinäjoki now also respects the old.
10. Joy of exercise and climbing
I have two grandchildren, so the city is again seen through children’s eyes. Seinäjoki pays a lot of attention to children’s opportunities for exercise. Of course you can go on forest trips to your heart’s content. But it’s great that the city has created the Avaruuspuisto (Space Park) in the centre, where at least my grandchildren enjoy hours of climbing activities. We’ll go to the Traffic Park when the children grow older.
Text: Mervi Rantakari