Time Flies

Hard to believe I've been here for a week already! How time flies! Part of it is explained by the fact that we've had loads of coursework for our leadership class last week and also still final assessments we're finishing up for Anglia Ruskin. The fact that it is light until well after midnight and again at 4am is part of the problem as well... before you know it is almost 11pm as it is now as I sit here typing but if I were in England now with this kind of light, it would easily be just 8:30pm or so. That being said, we are hardly sleeping simply because we are so thrown off by it all, but also because we've got so much going on.

Most of the goings on this past week have been coursework, unfortunately, though we had an interesting course on Leadership and Management. We've also been busy with other activities such as exploring our surroundings and making trips to the grocery store where we've had loads to explore! It started with our first morning here... we woke up quite early, again due to the light, and were feeling pretty energized by our recent arrival and wanted to explore. Adeline and I took a quick walk around our buildings here which form part of Kortephjan or the 'student village'. Just behind us is a small lake (Finland is the land of 1,000 lakes) surrounded by large trees and through which runs a short path which people ride and skate on. The little wooded paths to the lake, with lily of the valley flowers just waiting to bloom, is swampy due to the amount of snow and ice that only just recently melted as well as the recent rains so unfortunately we could only get so close. The trees have a majestic beauty about them that is mesmorizing ... rays of sunlight stream through, bouncing off the white trunks as they reach for the ground giving life to the young ferns and flowers.

'Kortepohjan', the student village where we live, is a complex of several modern style buildings of varying heights. Each have their own sauna, though only two saunas are open each night so one must pay close attention to the sauna schedule published and distributed to all of the students or else you might just end up in one with the guys. Men and women go to sauna separately except among family and close friends. Sauna is a nude affair where you immerse yourself into a wonderful natural wood covered room (those on the 9th floor with windows offering varying views of Jyvaskyla and the lakes that surround us) and then pop out for a quick shower or brief moment of cool air on the terrace. You'll know you're with Finns as they throw water on the coals every few minutes causing the temperature to soar, today over 90C. We have taken to going just about everyday since the temperatures outside are still quite chilly (still 2C at night and not more than 12C or 15C during the day) and the whole experience is just wonderfully warming and refreshing and leaves you with red faces and damp hair bundled up against the brisk evening air.

Sauna plays an important role in Finnish culture, but the food here is also quite interesting so long as you know what to look for. I say this since the streets of Jyvaskyla are lined with pizzerias serving massive thin crust pizzas for only 5 euros while regional and traditional cuisine is few and far between. Our first morning here, Mother's Day in Finland, the stores were closed so our Finnish friend Marika invited us to her studio flat also in Kortepohjan for some Finnish breakfast. Marika spent the fall semester with us during EMICC in Cambridge so we know her very well... she and Venla (the girl on the right in the picture) are the international student tutors (or advisors). They have been so wonderful and have organised our arrivals, accommodation, events, courses, and just about everything else under the sun, including our first breakfast. Finnish breakfast consists of bread - all sorts of wonderful varieties - cheese and some sort of ham/salami with tea or coffee and wonderful honey.