Sunday allready?!

The first few days here went by so fast...

Beautiful waterfall on the way home

Thursday and friday "the orientation days" started at 8:30, so we had to wake up quite early. But on the upside, luchbreak starts at 11! They talked us trough library services, computer systems, student health care, how to survive in Jyväskylä, but the thing we remebered the most is the Student Union JAMKO & International Club IC. We received an event calender with lots of parties, trips to for example Riga and Lapland and even a cutural tour.

Meeting some Finnish people

Friday afternoon started off with a beach picnic at "Tuomiojärvi" beach. It didn't take long before we met some other students. The funny thing is, we practically only met local Finnish people. Everyone told us it would be very difficult to get some Finnish friends, because they are very much on their own, not very sociable, but they are really friendly and kind. We just kept talking all afternoon, until we realized we couldn't go back to the appartement by bus anymore. So we had to go straight to the afterparty at club Bra. First we went to the Macdonald's to get a real Finnish meal and prepare ourselfs for another night of drinking lots and lots of tapwater.

Spanish lunch invite

After arriving home with the nightbus and waking up quite early because the sun was shining so bright again, we prepared ourselfs to go the beach 300m from here. We spent the afternoon relaxing and meeting other exchange students. It was even very nice to just take a swim. Then we got invited to a birthday party in someone's appartement, about 50-60 in a really small place. A lot of Spanish people were hanging around and invited us to a Spanish lunch the day after.

Today the sun is shining again and they predicted 25° outside, so we're probably going to the beach again this afternoon.

So see you again in a few days !

Arriving at Jyväskylä

Dear friends and family

Still trying to figure out how this blog"thing" works, but until then, this is my first impression...

Lake "Myllyjärvi"

Despite the fact we missed our first train from Helsinki to Jyväskylä, everything went very smooth. Our tutor Saana was waiting for us and gave us a fast introduction to our home and facilities around here. This morning I first started to realize this is the place we are going to stay for the next 4 months. I started the day with a good run, and so I could explore this beautiful place a little bit more. Our flat is in the middle of the forest, and we have a lake almost literally in our backyard. Everything around looks so calm and peaceful, almost like a fairytale, nevertheless, the city center is only 10 minutes by bus and 5 minutes on foot there are a few supermarkets and even a MacDonald's! 

Weird clouds, big power supply

The only thing we still need to figure out are the busses and their routes. Today we ended up  in small village called "Mustalampi", with a busdriver not speaking a word English... But eventually we did arrive home and prepared dinner: "Dr. Oetker's famous Ristorante!"

One thing I was a little bit afraid of, that acohol would be very expensive, but 15€ for 20 cans of beer and 15 cents for a recycled can, is just perfect! It's almost like earning money to drink beer?!

And on that bombshell it's time to end my first but certainly not last blog!


Moimoi (Finish for goodbye)

ps: Quote van de dag: Sanne zegt: "Zo nen bos maat, tis gelijk gans d'ardennen op énen berg!"