First week in Finland

To get my complaining out of the way first let me just say...It is cold! It has been in the 60s all week so probably cold for a normal person but cold for me. For the next for months I will be studying at the University of Jyväskylä, JYU, in central Finland. I left the US flying from Dulles airport in DC on September 1 and arrived in Jyväskylä around 9:30pm on September 2.

One thing to know about using wifi or the internet in your dorm at JYU is that the system is confusing. I have not had internet in my room all week and I should have a maintenance guy come out on Monday. The internet on campus and in the cafeterias is good though.  

The next 4 days after arriving were all about orientation and all the info was the same as you hear at MC orientation. The most important thing and also most confusing is making your schedule which I have almost completed pending approval from my advisor at MC and hearing from the teacher at JYU to make sure the class is in English. My classes don't seem too bad and I don't have classes on Fridays at all and depending on the period of the semester I have additional days off too which will be great for traveling. One thing that is frustrating is that when applying to JYU you have to fill out a learning agreement of all the classes you want to take there and have it signed my MC saying everything will transfer when you come home. Now JYU signed off on everyone's learning agreement but when we began creating our schedules some of the classes we had chosen were no longer available which left many students, including myself, scrambling to find classes before they start on Monday and my schedule still isn't final. 

If you like parties JYU is the place to be. Basically Monday through Friday there are student parties all over the city. I went to a social science division party on my first day where I met a group of Finnish girls and ended up partying with them until 2:00am. There was also the JYUnity fest on campus which had free food and games to play.

So far my time in Finland has been very fun and I look forward to the start of classes!