It's now been over a week since our orientation and we've all been so busy. When classes start at 8.15am it means you can pack a whole lot into a day.
I shall try and recall the week now.
Monday – I don't remember what happened. A lecture in Finnish, followed by a lecture in English re-explaining what they made us wait around two hours for the previous Friday. Later the beautiful sunshine beckoned us outside. A 20 minute stroll down the road led us to our perfect little beach. It was a nice moment of calm, really feeling the sun, and a chance to appreciate.
Tuesday – Yeah we get that off, so I think we went into town, as you do when you've finally figured out how to buy a bus pass. In a nutshell, Rose and I trekked up a hill looking for the bus office, only to find it lies on the corner our bus drives by... I'm sure we had more welcome lectures too, free meal included so we didn't want to miss that, miss that like we did the tour at 15.30, be on time it said, but we got really lost. Apparently we didn't miss anything (exactly cause we got free food, boom).
Wednesday – In class for 8.15am only to be done by 10am. In Gala we probably wouldn't even start class until then. We had no idea what to do with ourselves. I think I ended up doing important stuff that should have been done the week before. That night was a welcome party at Klubi for all international students. We met our tutors, this time at Noora's uber cool flat (yeah it has a sauna), but it's cool, we didn't get lost trying to find it this time, instead I forgot how to read the 24 hour clock and were very late instead. Lost or late, that seems to be our niche. The idea of getting the last bus at 23.50 (I'm guna get used to it!) went wooshing out the window, especially when we discovered beer was 2e and shots 1.50e. However, this is not a pint of beer, it's 0,33cl (?) so it's like just over half a pint, served in a pint glass, I know, I know, what are they thinking! Maybe they're just really optimistic. I also had a shot of Salmari – yup you guessed it, a Salmiakki flavoured shot, a true Finnish experience! It goes down pretty slowly...
Thursday – Woohoo, so home by 3 and up by 7 meant I got a good 'ole 4 hours sleep after my previous day of 19 hours, with 8 hours of classes ahead of me (including CAD! I'm guna make a t-shirt that says 'Shoot Me Now' every time I do anything CAD related.) Hey now, I'm not complaining, I just didn't realise what actual university life was like, having spent two years in Galashiels. (We were really quite amused by the novelty of going out on a Wednesday! Shame we left our knitting in Gala.)
Normally I wouldn't tell you when I do my laundry, but I did my laundry, and I'm going to tell you about it. First, I need to set the scene – imagine a World War 2 submarine movie from the 1950s, you're walking through the submarine, but oh no, we've been hit! Shut all the doors! Now really look at those doors because that is what the door to my laundry room is like, and it's a heavy double door that locks when you're inside. Really, the weird part is that you have to call up a number and pay by telephone – so modern these Finns. (You have to weigh your own fruit and veg too and put a price sticker on it. Their slogan should be 'Finland – the country that services itself'.)
Friday – Uh, well that's today. It's been kinda drawn out. In the morning we learned a really cool way of making a pattern repeat by drawing and cutting and taping. Then the afternoon consisted of the lecturer doing a lot of talking but not really saying anything, except every quarter of an hour or so, for four hours. Got a lot of doodling and origami done. Also, by the end of those four hours, I found myself in the position of Project Manager for our company. Feels kinda half scary and half like I'm in some surreal episode of The Apprentice.
Post class, finally, Scott and I milled around and then hit up this really cool pop up vintage fair. Pretty nifty stuff, I keep forgetting that cities actually have stuff going on.
Past, check. Present, check. Future...
On Sunday we're going hiking on this island called Ruissalo, followed by a little sauna sesh (this could be interesting...). Next week we're going to Helsinki with the class for a design fair, Habitere, and I can already predict a lot more parties!
Check.
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