Orientation

Our first orientation session started happily; we oohed and ahhed at the comfy lecture hall seats and the desks that you pull forward from the front, which is PERFECT for lefthanders such as myself who always get stuck on righty desks. Here is an informative photograph.

All the relevant important people gave introduction speeches, but when we were then told it was the students turn, people just laughed. There are 170 of us this semester so I was expecting some 'turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself' type of dealio. After being told how Finnish people are very practical and value effective time managment, it was such a nice contrast to know that it was important to them that every single person got to stand up and introduce themselves to the group. I felt proud to be the sole representative of my continent (and probably hemisphere come to think of it).

In Australia I often feel that my time at uni is wasted by incompetent lecturers and compulsory tutorials where either a few people dominate conversation and no-one learns anything, or no-one wants to participate at all. So in a way, the system here is a dream come true, because (depending on the classes you choose) there's no lectures, no tutorials, no requirement to even buy the textbook. Education is free in every sense of the word; you pay no fees, motivate yourself to do the readings, write essays, and take an exam when you feel you're ready. It's also a little bit scary, because if you're struggling and you don't bother to ask for help (or don't realise you need it) no-one will know until it's too late and you've failed. But hey, it'll be interesting to figure all these things out!

Not being particiularly close to uni, there is a lot of walking to be done. On the first day of orientation we walked the road between Kuntotie and uni four times, which according to my calculations is about 15 k's all up. Not exactly an everyday occurence in my nice comfy life! While walking I also took some photos of the pretty surroundings.

This is the ugly bridge I walk over to get to and from uni and the city.

Over there is the pretty candle bridge

It was my first turn in the sauna yesterday, there's a pretty involved system where you can pay for your own private sauna time or go at specified male and female group times. A big group of us girls went together, and I'm sure by Finnish standards it wasn't even hot but every time someone threw water on the rocks I felt like I was choking to death on molten air. It was so relaxing though, afterwards I felt like a sleepy cloud.

We had dinner at my apartment after, which involved a lot of juggling around of food preparation, but ended up working really well when we temporarily moved the dining room into Giorgia's bedroom. I love talking politics with people from around the world, it's like our own cute little UN. So there's a nice photo of that too.

I have two more cute things to share for now. Waiting at the bus stop the other day I spotted this little fella growing on the side of the road.

In case you were wondering, it was the perfect size for a fairy to sit on. If I'd had Avoc with me I might have let him test it out, but it's difficult to stop him eating foreign objects and I don't want him to get toadstool poisoning.

Secondly, the police in Rovaniemi are very tough and fierce and a force to be reckoned with, as exemplified by this cute little reindeer they were playing with in the city. I assume he's their mascot, as he gets to wear a little jacket with the police logo on it. I got to pat him, it was awesome. I always think it's fun how reindeer have furry antlers and big awkward looking feet for walking on the snow efficiently. We went and got a bagel after, and I couldn't bring myself to eat the reindeer one immediately after patting his cousin outside the mall.

 That's all for now!