One Week In...

So, I have officially been in Finland for 1 week, and so much has happened! It took me 28 hours to get to Jyväskylä, but the real stories don't come from the journey here, but rather from what has happened since I got here.

Going to the supermarket was definately my first eye-opening experience to the fact that I was no longer in America. Everything was written in Finnish, and unfortunately my poor hands didn't know where to start thumbing through my dictionary at, so I just wandered around for awhile looking at the pictures on things - trying to become acquainted with the items and their placements.

The next biggest surprise was the main method of travel here. According to Wikipedia, Jyväskylä has a population of 129,777. I'm pretty sure over half of those people ride their bicycles everywhere. There are more bikes than cars, and almost every building has a bike rack outside for people to park. It's pheonominal to see so many bikes parked in the shopping center in town - and I doubt you'd ever see anything like it in the United States. I have opted out of the bike riding experience, because not only am I unfamiliar with where you can and cannot ride them, I also know that a lot of cold and snow will soon be here. I do not want to ride a bike in the snow - I'll take the bus thanks.

I have three roommates, and somehow I think I got into the 'penthouse' of student dormitories here. All the students' rooms are large, but the kitchen and sitting area is where the real importance is. I am lucky enough to have a kitchen that more than one person can stand in at a time! I have a full-sized european oven (much smaller than one in the USA, but apparently everything is bigger there...), and lots of counter space. One amazing thing I noticed about the shelved in the kitchen, is that the shelved located over the sink look like dish-drying racks. So instead of five shelves above the sink, I have four dish drying racks, and only the very top shelf looks like your stereotypical kitchen cabinet shelf.

My roommates' names are Satu (Finnish), Marika (Finnish), and Bergen (American like me!). They are all wonderful roommates, and I couldn't have asked for kinder people to live with! We have two and a half bathrooms here as well as having a good kitchen! I think that will probably come in handy at one point or another.

I have met wonderful people from all over the world as well, from places like Italy, France, Iran, Belguim, Holland, Canada, and Japan. (Sorry to all you countries I left out!)

I'd have to say that my favourite memory I've made so far, was when me, Victor (French), Antonia (Italian), and Ludovica (Italian), decided to make quiche. We went to the store, and it took French, Italian, English, Spanish, and the help of the grocer's Finnish/English ability to procure the neccesary ingredients to make the quiche.

Also, I have recently acquired my first, genuine European chest cold/cough. It is NOT fun, but it's also not too dehabilitating, so I continue to go around town and hang out with friends. That's all I can remember for now, but I will continue updating this so you can all see what is happening in my life! I'll also try to add pictures, but who knows whether or not I'll be able to figure that out...