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Published: September 11th 2014
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Hello again!
This week has been all full of new things! Some good, some a little frustrating, but all in all, I still love my new temporary home.
Since I last blogged, I experienced European nightlife for the first time and it was so much fun! The dancing here is a lot more like dancing and a lot less bump and grind. Going out can be really expensive though so we usually stick to student nights where we are able to get discounts. Other than it being generally cheaper to drink at home, another benefit is that for every can we recycle at the grocery store we get 15 cents back. Talk about inCENTive. (keep your face palms to yourself, you all know I love word play).
After going out on Saturday, I woke up with a small cold. This was not the best way to start my first week of classes but better my first week than finals week. I am fighting my cold with a large amount of 100% OJ and blowing my nose every few minutes. It's working too! It is getting much better and I hope it will be gone by the
weekend!
This week I pretty much planned out and purchased tickets for all of my traveling while I am in Europe. Traveling around the continent is much cheaper once you are already within Europe so I am trying to seize this opportunity as much as I can. Next Wednesday I will be meeting up with my family friends Rachel and Bridget and I can't wait to drink wine and coffee in Venice with them! It is going to be amazing! I also contacted my friend Chelsea White, who is also a Pi Phi, because she will be interning in Ireland for the next few months. I planned a trip to see her in November! This one I am really excited about because I have always wanted to go to Ireland and am fascinated by Irish culture! I only wish I could take Cora and Anissa with me because it was in high school that we began listening to the Pogues, drinking Guinness, and watching things like PS I Love You together. I also signed up for the University sponsored trips to St. Petersburg and Lapland which is in Northern Finland. This is where I may see the northern lights
and go to Santa's village! Basically my life is a fairytale and the reality check will be unsettling when I come back in December. If I come back.
Other than making travel plans and fighting a nasty cold, I have been focused primarily on obtaining a bicycle. I had reserved one the day after I arrived in Finland and was told that it would be ready at the beginning of the next week. By Tuesday, I decided to stop by and see what was up because bus fair is ridiculously expensive and my feet were killing me. Sadly, the piece of frame I had picked out was kind of a load of junk and needed quite a bit of work. I have such an eye for quality transportation. That's a shout out to my beloved acura integra Lucille. I love you baby. I'll be home soon. Anyway, I was finally able to get my bicycle on Wednesday and it is a blessing! I get to leave my apartment closer to class and I can keep up with my friends! My bike does this charming thing though where the seat can turn a 360 if you want it
to because the bicycle repairman oiled it up when I had to ask him to lower the seat... three times. So embarrassing.
The highlight of this week, (other than the ESN kick off party last night where I danced for hours and got proficiently drunk with my friends) was meeting my host family! This is part of the reason I chose to come to Finland. Most study abroad programs I looked at did not offer host family living situations but what was unique about Jyvaskyla is that while I would live in the international student village with a shared apartment with another international student, I could also sign up for a host family to hang out with and show me the ropes around Finland! I set up a coffee date with Arja and Juha on Tuesday because it is the day that I don't have any classes. They were extremely nice and seem very interested in spending time with me so that we can get to know each other better, and I can get a better understanding of Finnish culture. I am so excited to form a relationship with them and I will see them again on
Saturday after Arja finishes an impressive run around the lake!
This week, what I have learned most about Finns is that they are generally very nice people. There is a stereotype that they are shy and with this comes an assumption that they may be reserved but so far I have found this to be untrue! If anything, their shyness has come to mean that I don't have to make small talk with the grocer or the bus driver and I love that! Although, I actually did have a funny experience with the grocer at the small store behind my apartment complex. I went in to purchase beer before Nathalie's birthday party around 10 PM. I get up to the counter and the grocer tells me "You can't purchase beer after 9". At first, I thought he may be messing with me since people are usually able to catch on that I am an exchange student fairly quickly. So I was like "Seriously?" He affirmed that he was serious and although I knew the answer, I couldn't help but irritatably ask why. He just kind of laughed at me and told me it was the law (obviously).
I then just kind of pouted and headed off without any Beer to Bring of my Own. Then the next day I came back to pick up a pack before a student party and he was there again. He chuckled at my reapperance and acknowledged that I was back again. I replied, "Yep! And I'm here on time!" Now he recognizes me whenever I come by which is nearly everyday. It is kind of a cute acquiantance that I have formed here in Finland.
Also classes have happened and a little homework blah blah blah.
Pusheen hasn't been out a lot but I think I will show him around the apartment complex soon and maybe even around campus!
Send me love.
In the form of earthly goods. 😉
Miss me and don't forget me,
Hannah
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