Random Info

As of tomorrow, I will have lived in Oulu for 2 weeks! WOW! I really can't believe it. It has flown by, but at the same time so much has happened that it feels like I've been here for months! So far I've only really talked about what I've done. For this blog I want to talk about what it's actually like to live here and how it's different than being back in Missouri. 

SCHOOL

Read my last blog for the details on how the academic system works here :P

APARTMENT LIFE

I live in a 2 bedroom apartment so it is very small. Our kitchen is basically a hallway. There's no room for a table and no living room. The people who have 4 bedroom apartments have a large kitchen with room for a table and couch, but no worries. I live in the building known as "club 16". It's called this because there is ALWAYS a party going on somewhere in this building. 

TRANSPORTATION

I think everyone who lives here owns a bike and that is how everyone gets around. My friend told me that Oulu has the most bike paths per person of any city in the world and I definitely agree with it! There are bike paths EVERYWHERE! It is so wonderful! The best investment I have made since arriving has been purchasing a bike. I ride it every day! It saves me so much money by not taking the bus and not to mention is much healthier. I also really get to know the city a lot better by riding all around through it. I don't think you can truly fit in here until you have a bike haha! But of course, a lot of people still ride the bus or drive a car (at least the adults. a lot of students don't have a car)

SHOPPING

There is a nice little shopping center 3 minutes (walk) from my apartment. There is Tokemanni which has a little bit of everything! There is also two grocery stores, a post office, a kiosk store, a chinese restaurant, a pizza place, and the university bar. It is so great to have them so close! but there is also a Prisma (the walmart of Europe) that's a short bike ride away if I need something more specific. It is hard to shop sometimes because everything is (of course) in Finnish, but I finally got a English to Finnish dictionary so that really helps me out! 

EATING

Most of the time I eat on campus because, with my student card, it is only 2.70 euro. You get bread, two drinks (water and juice, milk, or beer), rice or potatoes, one of four main course options, and salad. It's a really good deal! and it's a lot easier to eat with friends in the cafeteria than in my non-existent dining room haha! There are six restaurants to choose from as well.

PARTYING 

There is a lot of partying that goes on here. I'm pretty sure there is one every night. If an event is going on some evening, then there is usually a pre-party or most certainly an after-party based around said event.They are in people's flats or in the city centre. I feel like I'm a freshmen again! haha!  They are pretty fun, but sometimes I'm an old lady and have quiet nights instead :D hahaha!

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

There are a lot of student organizations at this university! They have something for pretty much everything and there is always an event going on of some kind. Frats and sororities don't exist here. That's an American thing. Instead, the big thing at this school are student guilds which are the different departments of study. (e.g. biology, business, math, etc). 

PEOPLE

I think I fit in really well here with the Finns. They are quiet at first but once you meet them a few times, they really start to open up! They don't care much for small talk because they place a lot of value on words. They are super helpful and very friendly people! I really love them.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

Finland has an excellent reputation for being very environmentally conscious. Waste is separated when thrown out so most everything is recycled. Cans and bottles can be turned in at the store for money so that really helps motivate people to do it (plus I think it's the law). Pollution is low because everyone rides bikes or takes the bus. Nature is very, very big here. There is water, trees, and other vegetation everywhere you look. Sometimes I forget that I'm in a city because of all of it. And at night time, you can see the stars so clearly! It's beautiful here :)

There is A LOT more I could talk about, but I think this is enough for now. That's quite a bit of type O_O

Man in a boat

Nähdään!

-Hannah

at the beach

1st week of classes=completed

CLASSES

My classes started on Monday (10, Sept) and I don't have any scheduled for tomorrow (14, Sept) so I have officially survived my 1st week of school here at Oulun Yliopisto (the University of Oulu)!

This week I only had three classes: Viking Age, Survival Finnish, and Identification of Plant Species. I am taking seven classes total. The others being Nordic Mythology (which starts next week), Humans and Environment (which starts the week after that), and Saami Culture and Introduction to Finnish History (which start the week of 8, Oct).

Classes here are set up very strangely. As you just read in the above paragraph, they don't all start at the same time. They don't all end at the same time either (e.g. my Viking Age class ends next week but my Plant class goes all semester). 

Not every class is at the same time every week either (e.g. the 1st week of my Humans and Environment class is Tuesday and Thursday from 10:15-11:45 but the 2nd week, it's on Wednesday from 2:15-3:45 and Friday at 9:15-10:45 and the next week is different, and the week after, etc etc.). Some classes don't even meet in the same room every time. 

Yes, it is very strange, but experiencing different ways of doing things is why I'm here so I'm down with it.

My Viking Age teacher is a very stereotypical Finnish metal head. He has long hair, a goatee, wears all black, baggy cargo type pants tucked into his big combat type boots, chains, big bracelets, and a red tie to put the professional touch on it. I like him!

My Survival Finnish teacher is a very stereotypical nice Finnish lady. Long blonde hair, skinny, smiles, pale, and very pretty. I really like that class a lot!

me being a creeper in plant class

My Plant class is a little terrifying.. I just had a plant course last semester, but this guy goes SO fast and it's hard to get all the information down before he changes the power point slide (which we don't have access to). He also pronounces the scientific names differently than how I do so that's a little confusing. And of course he uses the Finnish common names so I have no idea what they mean :P But oh well, I'll get it... Hopefully :S

Each class is different with how you're graded as well. For Viking Age, I do a group presentation and write an essay. That's it. For Survival Finnish, we have homework as well as an exam at the end of the course. My entire grade in my Plant class is based off of how I do on the one exam given at the end of the semester. NERVE WRACKING! O_O

UNI <--what everyone here calls the UNIversity

I haven't really talked about the University itself, so I'll do that now and make this already long post even longer (don't worry, I have pictures!)

Part of the main hallway (which is shown in blue
on the map picture). This is a really busy area.
There's usually always something happening here.

My kummi told me that it was built in the 60's. Makes sense because the whole thing is SO colorful everywhere! Blue, orange, green, red, purple, yellow, you name it! It is also one giant building! Not several separate ones like we have at Missouri State. I'm sure I'll appreciate this when winter comes. There is one main hall that you walk down to go through the entire building. The hallways that branch off of this take you to the different departments where offices and classrooms are located (as shown in the picture on the left).

Throughout the building, there are six restaurants, eight information areas, a bank, a paper shop, various computer labs, random computers along the walls, two libraries, an animal and geological museum, coat racks, and of course all the other typical services universities have (cashier's office, registrar's office, student center, etc).

Inside the Pegasus library. 1st (of 3) floor.

One of the restaurants. The menus and some seating
are in the hall. You go in to get the food and
additional seating.

One of the many coat rack areas available.
When you enter the building you hang your coat up and
then come back to get it when you're ready to go home.

Well I think that's about all I had to say about school. At least for now.. mwahaha >:)

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day!

<3 Hannah

P.S. I GOT A BIKE! Loooove it! I finally feel like a true resident of Oulu! :D

1st weekend!

Friday there was a Finland vs France futbol (soccer) game so I went with my kummi to the bar near the university, Caio, and met up with some others to watch it. There are a lot of French students here so it was packed and lots of cheering!

Yesterday me and 119 other exchange students took a bus to  Lämsänjärvi  for a fun afternoon sponsored by ESN and NISO (organizations on campus for international students). We played an ice breaker game called "bang" and then divided into teams and had ourselves an olympics of sorts. HILARIOUS! 

Wife carrying competition
(actual sport in Finland)

Had to get the condom around the egg
without using our hands

Then the girls went to the sauna. HOT! 

It reached 80 degrees Celsius

Then jumped in the lake. COLD!

Then we ate makkara (sausage) and karelian pie. YUM!

Today I decided to finally go check out the city centre since I'm pretty much the only one who hasn't really been there yet :P I walked because I wanted to know how to get there the pedestrian way and so I could really get a feeling for where I was. It took me over an hour, but I finally made it! I really need to get a bike.

The most famous resident in Oulu

A little beach area

City Hall

I love the streets!

beautiful

water everywhere

love this place

The past 3 days

WOW! I <3 Finland! I've been without internet for the past 3 days so sorry, but this is gonna be kind of a longer blog :/

Tuesday (4/9/12)

1st lunch in Finland

• The 1st day of orientation! All of the exchange students met their Kummi and went to the big cafeteria and had breakfast (traditional Finnish pulla and coffee). 
• Then we all sat in a big lecture hall and listened to talks about important things we should know. 
• Next was lunch! Yum! You go through a line where you get bread, 2 drinks (water & milk, juice, or beer), rice or potatoes, and then choose one of the main entrees. All this for only 2,70 euro! Then you go to the salad bar. You get really full for such a good deal! 
• More orientation followed. 
• I then went shopping at Prisma (the European version of Walmart) where I got a cheap-o phone
• Then to the lake that is next to campus 

Wednesday (5/9/12)

• More orientation!
• then they had a lot of booths set up (like they do at the beginning of MSU) to advertise all the different organizations on campus. there were a lot! but it was all in Finnish, so I didn't know what most of it meant :/



Me with my Kummi, Saara

• VULCANALIAN! A really big back to school type party. The legendary "party bus 69" only makes it routes on this day to take students to the party. The music was blaring and the bus was rocking! Once we got there, me and my friend met up with a whole bunch of other people. I met 6 other Americans! Crazy! I think that's all of us lol. But we soon branched off and I ended up in a totally different group far away where I met a lot more people. At this party, there was face painting (your country's flag and finland's one the other side), bands, drinks, food, and a TON of people! I think the entire 17,000 student enrollment was there! 

Thrusday (today)

2nd Finnish lunch

• This morning was our faculty informational meeting. I went to the biology and humanities one. Very informative.
• Then I went to the student center and got a number to wait in line to get my username and password. It took so long that I went to lunch with a friend and came back and was still waiting. 3 hours for the guy to tell me to come back tomorrow because that's when it's available v_v
• and finally, I just got back from a banquet at Oulu City Hall put on just for us exchange students. It is a beautiful building and great food, but I forgot my camera :( Other friends took pictures, so I will put their pix on here when I can.

And that's all for now really! I should make a post explaining all the weird/different/interesting/awesome things here! ...maybe after awhile.... I'm sure this is WAY more than enough reading for now!

<3 Hannah

P.S. I promise not all my blogs will be like this. I just want to record in detail the 1st few days because I never remember them very well. And it's exciting as heck to be here!!

Finally here!

What a "day" this has been!

Boring airport things:
My brother takes me to the airport at 4am. I had only slept 3 hours and was so excited/nervous. Long 7 hour layover in Chicago was made worse by boarding and then not taking off until 3 hours later v_v but at least we made it! I was sitting next to this Russian guy who showed me pix of his family at vacation and I made friends with a girl from Finland. Then I flew from Helsinki to Oulu! It is so beautiful here. Trees EVERYWHERE!

I took the bus to campus where I met my kummi, Saara. She showed me to my apartment and answered questions I had. I have SO many! I am totally lost here. Especially without a phone. I need to get one soon!

my room! nice view

bathroom. notice the shower

little kitchen area

I then met my roomie! She's from India and has been here for 4 years. I'll ask her how to spell her name before i write/butcher it. 

The apartment reminds me A LOT of hutchens/hammonds dorms except we each have our own room. 

main entrance to campus

I only walked around campus a little bit today. I'll go inside and tour it tomorrow at orientation.I also went shopping for some items. Let me tell ya, it's hard business shopping when everything's in a different language and package.

Well, that's pretty much it. I haven't unpacked anything. It's only 9:30pm here, but I am falling asleep while typing this, so I'm gonna go. 

Until next time!

-Hannah

better question: why not?

So it's come to my attention that many people don't know why I'm going to Finland. When I tell people I'm studying away there, their response is usually, "Why Finland of all places?". Well, I am here to explain why so everyone can know! 

1. They have a plant class that will transfer back for my major so I can graduate
2. They have a high American acceptance rate
3. Hardly anyone goes there so I'll have an unique experience and learn different things
4. I really love winter/snow/the north
5. It is a BEAUTIFUL country
6. I love their accent and language (even if it is really complicated)
7. I know I will love it there and have a wonderful time!

I honestly have never been more excited to go anywhere in my life! The next 2 weeks can not come soon enough!

<3 Hannah

Arrival Plans

Hey-o!

I'm bored so I thought I'd go ahead and tell ya'll my plans for how I'm going to get to Oulu. 

On Sunday September 2nd, I will be flying out of Springfield at 7:05am. I will arrive in Chicago at 8:45am. I leave Chicago at 3:45pm and arrive in Helsinki, Finland on Sept. 3rd at 8:30am their time. I then leave Helsinki at 1:45pm and arrive in Oulu at 2:50pm. I then take a 45 min bus ride from the airport to the University of Oulu where I meet my kummi, Saara! She is my student tutor/helper. She will give me my apartment key, help me out, and show me around. She has already been super helpful in her e-mails. I can't wait! :D

So that's what's planned. We'll see what actually happens HAHA!

Love you all!
-Hannah