It was the time of the year again when a group of students pack themselves with school gear from AV-kioski into a big bus from Matkahuolto and travel all the way (3 hours!) to Nauvo, located in the Turku Archipelago, where all the gear is unloaded and then packed again - this time onto a ferry - eventually reaching the beautiful Seili island.

The Seili island is mostly known for it's sad past as the hospital island for the lepracy patients and later on as a mental institute, dating back to the 1600s. Nowadays the old mental hospital facilities are operated by Turku University, hosting the Archipelago Research Institute. 

But lucky us, since we get to stay there for a whole week during the end of August! 
My first trip to Seili was a year ago in 2015, when the trip was open to everyone in Degree Programme in Media and Arts for the first time (as it previously had been only to the fine art students). I fell in love with the island, so I went again. I agreed to do a behind-the-scenes-type of a video in exchange, which you can watch below:





If I'm asked asked about the best part of the whole trip I might answer, well, it's the food. After that I'd say it's the fact that you get to work on any kind of project you want. This year we had a great example of working in groups with students from different study paths, as there was music production students with us for the first time. My personal project has been documentative photography, for which I have used my fellow students as models. 

The week in Seili peaks at the Seili Annual festival where everyone showcases their work, even the Seili staff have participated themselves! The locals who live on the island joined us again for a great evening, followed by the legendary Lepradisko.


This year's Seili group with Kari.