Stockholm with friends (Reprise)

Our second visit to Stockholm had different starrings but led to a similar experience: we enjoyed a beautiful city under a wonderful weather. I really don´t believe in stupidities because otherwise I would think that somebody has put a spell on Helsinki to avoid good weather during the whole summer: everytime that we leave Helsinki, the sun comes, and leaves again when we return! Because this is not a real summer in Helsinki, but well, that's another issue. So we left Helsinki on the Silja Line ferry, Sonia, Mónica, Isabel, Alfonso, his parents and sister, and me. The trip is worth from the beginning: the city and the bay look great from the great ferry, both cathedrals stand magnificently while Helsinki becomes more and more tiny over the sea. The trip through Suomenlinna islands is also beautiful, the seagulls are our companion during the first hours and when the wind blows hard and your n*ts start freezing, there's no option but going inside and enjoy the great pleasures the ferry offers (see previous posts). The Silja Line ferry is impressive when you first get in because of the Promenade: this is a great hall with a height similar to that of a 6-7 floors building and limited at both sides by enourmous walls spotted with the windows from cabins and also decorated with those futuristic elevators through which you can see and admire the whole corridor. That's the place where most cafes and restaurants are located giving to this great hall the appearance of a busy street in a elegant district. Apart from that, it is similar to the Viking Line ferry, duty free shops, restaurants, pubs, casinos, discos... There was something disgusting in the air during the whole trip and also when we returned: an annoying smell that reminded us of a not very clean WC, I know you understand what I mean. That repulsive aroma mixed at times with the alcohol perspired and sweated by most passengers, giving a very-difficult-to-forget flavour. I don´t know why but there's always some kind of sordid atmosphere in these ferries. It is not only the rivers of alcohol, the flood of drunk people and the ocurrence of embarrassing situations in the dancefloor; it is the image of children playing slot machines... with their parents (!!???!!!) and remaining in the casinos until very late! So, if you take your children with you, please consider the PlayStation room or any other places deliberately made for young ones. Regarding the city, nothing new under the sun: Stockholm is simply beautiful and the lively streets are always full of people and fun. Because we knew already most of the hot spots of the city, we spent most of the time just walking around and laying on the grass here and there. It is a pity that I did not go out in the night because Mónica and Isabel did and returned to the hotel stunned due to the incredible beautiful people they saw in a very exclusive pub. (According to their own words) they appeared as flashy, vulgar, poor, guetto girls trying to find a husband amongst all those rich men. It was hard to make them realise that they are not so tacky, and much more important, that Spanish guys, we are also good choices ;-)

Pox-MUSCLE

I´ve always considered this blog a personal thing and always wanted to keep my professional issues apart. However, this time I've decided to show the report I've written for the Annual Review of my department (Applied Chemistry and Microbiology). Here, in Finland, I do something more serious than just travel around and go to parties. Like this, those who don´t know what I'm doing here in Finland can have a general idea.

There it goes...

Dr. Mario Estévez, Marie Curie Fellow in EU Pox-MUSCLE Project.

“You are doing research on the forefront of meat science!”. Those were the exact words pronounced by Eero Puolanne (Professor in Meat Technology at Helsinki University, my mentor in Finland and foremost, a honest man I am honoured to call my friend) after reading the abstracts of the communications I will take with me to the 54th International Congress in Meat Science and Technology to be held next August in Cape Town (South Africa). I was grateful for such a compliment but I knew he was, as usual, right. During the preparation of the EU-Project draft, I was aware that we were designing an extremely challenging research project that had high possibilities for being selected and funded by the EU Commission. The Pox-MUSCLE Marie Curie project is devoted to study the occurrence, factors and consequences derived from the oxidation of proteins in muscle foods and to the development of successful antioxidant strategies to inhibit the unpleasant effects of protein oxidation. The relevance of the present project is explained by two facts: i) the evident lack of knowledge on this issue and ii) the great significance of the results that we are obtaining in terms of the overall understanding of precise chemical mechanisms involved in the fate of proteins in postmortem muscles and in terms of the application of the results in real foods, characterising the risks derived from the oxidation of proteins and establishing successful strategies to inhibit such risks in muscle foods. According to our expectations, the project will provide novel, sound and impact results which could be relevant for other research fields since the experimental design for muscle proteins and natural antioxidants could be applied to proteins from other foods such as fish and dairy products. The influence of the upcoming results on the meat industry and the consumers’s trends of consumption are more than probable. In fact, after one year of work, I can proudly say that some of the objectives have been fulfilled already by publishing 2 peer-reviewed articles, sending 2 posters to International Congresses and participating in other research and docent activities. Of course, I would not be able to do this by my self. The reason why I am doing this post-doc stay in Finland is because I wanted to work with best research group in Europe working on oxidation issues and I knew that Marina Heinonen (Supervisor in Chief of the Project) was the leader of that group. Together with the excellent supervision by Dr. Heinonen, I am fortunate to count on the wise advice of co-supervisor Prof. Puolanne and the priceless help of other colleagues (Vellimatti Ollilainen, Petri Kylli, Riitta Kivikari) and skilful technicians (Miikka Olin). The possibility of working in Finland and complete this great research work is a unique opportunity to gather invaluable personal experiences and obtain a valuable professional maturity which would allow me keep on working in Spain at the highest scientific level.

Åland Islands

A couple of weeks ago we visited these interesting islands. It is actually an archipelago that consists of over 6,500 skerries and islands situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. It is an autonomous, demilitarized, monolingually Swedish-speaking region and historical province of Finland. It has had relevant strategic value and nowadays, people in Åland live somehow independently but still sorrounded by two countries (Sweden and Finland) with which they share languages and traditions. I know from the Spanish model, that speaking a different language makes a big difference, and most Åland inhabitants do not consider themselves Finns at all. They still share traditions and also the food...but I would say that people from those islands remind me much more of Swedish than of Finns. The landscapes in these islands are incredibly beautiful and the only pity is that there was very few people, empty streets...I would have expected lively streets in a place that is considered a turist destination for Finns and Swedish. However, it was very nice to travel through the islands and enjoy good weather. By the way! We were witnesses of the mid-summer celebrations. They lift big poles decorated with flowers and sing some kind of childish songs. Recommendable if you like countryside, sea life and rest in a quiet and cozy place.

The video summarises the exciting experiences you can live on board the Viking Line ferry going from Turku to Mariehamn (Capital city of Åland). Yes, that couple was drunk (and probaly mentally retarded) but those who dance, let's say, seriously, are even more pathetic.