I am in Helsinki. Its already my 3rd week here, but I didn't find the time to write here. The first two weeks were full of new experiences and parties. I came here on the 17th & so did my collegue T. We are living in the same building, but different apartments. The next day we had to do a Hospital tour through Helsinki, because T. had problems with her teeth and we were sent from one hospital to another. She finally decided then to fly home the next day and to skip the orientation.
On Wednesday the 19th the 3 day orientation started. The orientation was pretty boring as it consisted of every Official of the University saying "Hello" and "Welcome to Finland & the University". But also we did the necessary things like register with the local authorities, getting bank accounts if needed & buying the Helsinki Travel Card for the public transport. One of our tutors, Y., was then so excited that he organized on the first evening an inofficial first night out in the Amarillo. Wednesdays the beer 0,4l is just 1,50€, which is pretty cheap for Finland and especially Helsinki. The next two days were boring again, we were all just waiting for the official "first" night out on Friday, where we went to the KY Club.
My apartment is in Kannelmäki, about 15 minutes by train from the city center. I am living in a shared apartment with two spanish guys, S. and E., who are really cool. We do not just come along quite good, we often go out together, cook together or just sit and talk. The whole group I use to hang out with are spanish or italian guys. It's really nice not to be with germans all the time. We are starting a lot of things and have regularly 8-9 people in our small kitchen. We cook and eat together. We also go each Tuesday and Thursday to the sauna together, the best way to relax here. Right now we are planning a trip to Tallin together.
The first week of Uni was nice. Sometimes boring, because we had to introduce ourselves in each and every course again and after 3 courses you knew 90% of the people and their professional life. The subjects are really interesting and different from Germany. Here we learn how to set up your own business, instead of learning how to manage an existing one. Anyways, time went really fast and on Friday I went to Ekenäs, where A.'s brother F. and his wife I. were having a house warming party, with food, beer and, of course, sauna.
This week is already halfway through and yesterday we had our freshmen party. We were walking in small groups through the city solving fun tasks and drinking a lot. We had loads of fun and I had the first time the opportunity to wear my Haalari, the finnish student's "uniform", a coverall in a certain color. Every university has another color and student's wear them for certain events. For official events, organized by the students union you receive patches, which you can sew onto your Haalari. Every student can decorate his/her Haalari individually and you can see how active one is.
Now the guys and I are heading off to a park near the harbor of Helsinki to watch the Fireworks Championship, which is held on a small island off shore Helsinki. It's going to be awesome to see not only one set of fireworks, but several after each other.
Anyways I love Helsinki! There is always something to do and it's never getting boring with all the different cultures and nationalities. Internationalization is what makes life interesting. There is nothing more fascinating than meet and get to know new people!
~M~
On Wednesday the 19th the 3 day orientation started. The orientation was pretty boring as it consisted of every Official of the University saying "Hello" and "Welcome to Finland & the University". But also we did the necessary things like register with the local authorities, getting bank accounts if needed & buying the Helsinki Travel Card for the public transport. One of our tutors, Y., was then so excited that he organized on the first evening an inofficial first night out in the Amarillo. Wednesdays the beer 0,4l is just 1,50€, which is pretty cheap for Finland and especially Helsinki. The next two days were boring again, we were all just waiting for the official "first" night out on Friday, where we went to the KY Club.
My apartment is in Kannelmäki, about 15 minutes by train from the city center. I am living in a shared apartment with two spanish guys, S. and E., who are really cool. We do not just come along quite good, we often go out together, cook together or just sit and talk. The whole group I use to hang out with are spanish or italian guys. It's really nice not to be with germans all the time. We are starting a lot of things and have regularly 8-9 people in our small kitchen. We cook and eat together. We also go each Tuesday and Thursday to the sauna together, the best way to relax here. Right now we are planning a trip to Tallin together.
The first week of Uni was nice. Sometimes boring, because we had to introduce ourselves in each and every course again and after 3 courses you knew 90% of the people and their professional life. The subjects are really interesting and different from Germany. Here we learn how to set up your own business, instead of learning how to manage an existing one. Anyways, time went really fast and on Friday I went to Ekenäs, where A.'s brother F. and his wife I. were having a house warming party, with food, beer and, of course, sauna.
This week is already halfway through and yesterday we had our freshmen party. We were walking in small groups through the city solving fun tasks and drinking a lot. We had loads of fun and I had the first time the opportunity to wear my Haalari, the finnish student's "uniform", a coverall in a certain color. Every university has another color and student's wear them for certain events. For official events, organized by the students union you receive patches, which you can sew onto your Haalari. Every student can decorate his/her Haalari individually and you can see how active one is.
Now the guys and I are heading off to a park near the harbor of Helsinki to watch the Fireworks Championship, which is held on a small island off shore Helsinki. It's going to be awesome to see not only one set of fireworks, but several after each other.
Anyways I love Helsinki! There is always something to do and it's never getting boring with all the different cultures and nationalities. Internationalization is what makes life interesting. There is nothing more fascinating than meet and get to know new people!
~M~
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