Kaffila memoirs

For many of us, saying a last goodbye to Kaffila was quite a sad moment. Fortunately Kaffila will always live in our hearts and our memories. Here are a few of those memories.

As a 2019 fresher, I only got to experience about half of my first year in Kaffila before Covid-19 shut everything down. Of course as a board member I got to hang out there a bit more during the pandemic as well - we got to hold most of our meetings there, so most of my latest memories are from our beloved board meetings. However, the best memories I have from Kaffila are from those 6-ish months during my fresher year - when I tell you that Kaffila was the place to be, I mean Kaffila was The Place To Be. Whenever there was a coffee hour or I had a break between my lectures, I would find myself sitting on those old, scrubby sofas and drinking that free, bitter coffee. Kaffila would always be full of people and full of sounds, the atmosphere would be a mixture of oldies complaining about their theses, newbies ranting about their lectures, and laughter. More often than not we would have a Pig Passing tournament during those breaks, and man, was it intense. The yelling and intensity of the game made me be late from my lectures so often that I would be ashamed if it hadn’t been for a good reason (!). In Kaffila, it didn’t matter who you hung out with: it always felt like everyone was in the same boat, and coming to Kaffila always felt like coming home.

Lea-Lotta Huurtela

There’s couple of things that I learned in Kaffila and those things have stuck to me for the past 7 (oh god) years 1 Generally you can talk to anybody in Anglica I’m sure the distance learning periods might have affected this a bit, but generally I feel comfortable to walk into a space where there are anglicans and just talk about anything and everything, least likely your studies 2 Anglicans are loud You knew you were about to have a good time when you heard the laughter and babble from Kaffila all the way to the front doors of Signum. The times were especially good when the staff of the Phonetics department passive aggressively closed the door to the hallway.

3. Drink your coffee black. When I started, it was more of a rule than an exception that there was no milk in Kaffila. As a coffee deprived fresher I could’ve sulked and said “Miksei hallitus tee mitään?”, but when the addiction is strong and the need even stronger, you adapt.

Katri Sohlman

When I think about Kaffila, I think about how it was homey and how we loved it even if it was a bit old or worn out. The posters on the walls didn’t look brand new, the sofas had seen better days and the kettle was a bit rusty, but it was all just right for Kaffila. The whole place was so multipurpose too - you could do your Grammar homework there, or skip that Grammar class and take a nap instead, or drink a cup of coffee or tea and talk with your friends Anything and everything, all of the time, that’s what Kaffila was!

Otava Korkka

When I first set foot inside Kaffila I must say my first thought was “oh my god what is this”, but very quickly I came to love the space The best memories of Kaffila for me include finding weird relics (like the iconic Twilight blanket) and listening to older students tell me “you don’t actually have to read all of the ConLit books” and “yeah wish you the best of luck with that phonetics exam, you won’t pass” They were correct

Hanna Aro

The most memorable moments I got to make in Kaffila were the endless board meetings that somehow were made enjoyable by fellow Anglicans and, of course, the anglican pets! There were countless moments where Tenho would disrupt our meetings by begging for scratches or by escaping out the door into the hallway, no matter who made the mistake of going to open the door for latecomers or going to the bathroom.

Jenna Haaja