Friendship Program

So I am participating in a "Friendship Program" where I pair up with a local to be friends haha.  He and his girlfriend seem very nice, and he has even done an exchange in Japan.

So far we have planned to go to the sauna and swim in the ice!

Hopefully the ice doesn't melt by then.

What I imagine, haha

Grades

Hopefully I will update this more often!  But my grades are good so I guess that makes up for it.

All 5(or A)

English Circle

I joined the English Language Circle.  It's for people who want to speak English.  Ironically I am the only native English speaker in the group, but it makes me feel appreciated :)

There is a good mix of people.  Many Europeans: French, Italian, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, Greek and some Middle Eastern, Japanese, Korean, and African.

So far we've played some games and watched a movie.

Just a random pic from a thrift shop

Another Movie Night

Another organization on campus hosted a movie night.  They played Kopps and Tyttö sinä olet tähti.  The first was Swedish and the second was Finnish.  Both movies were pretty good.

Tandem Partner and Movie Night

Meet with my language tandem partner for the first time.  She was a nurse and now a med student at the university.  She wants to learn English and I want to learn Finnish so this give us a chance to practice each others native languages and get credits.  Of course her English is much better than my Finnish, but she has been learning English since age 10.

Later I went to a movie night on campus.  They played Käki or "The Cukoo."  Very good movie about a Russian, Finn and Sami who came together by chance, none being able to speak anothers' language.  It felt very applicable to my current situation in a way.

The Cuckoo

BioBeer

Went with a classmate to a meeting of bioinformatics people.  Very casual affair with students and professors and technicians.  It was a good way to meet some people in the field, get advice and just make friends!

I had some Aura Beer, which tasted like any other beer to me, but it was nice not to have people pressuring you to drink more!  Not drinking alcohol is totally acceptable too!

Panimoravintola

SFO to TKU

Woke up at 3AM to go to SFO for a 7AM flight.  The first leg of the flight was domestic but the trip as a whole was international, unsure of what terminal to go to we went to international, and of course it was the wrong one.

Had to walk to domestic and my flight was messed up in the computer but luckily the baggage check lady fixed it.  Flew United to Newark which was a typical flight.  We had personal entertainment systems but had to pay to use them so they didn't get used, haha.  Flight actually landed early :)

Getting off in Newark we didn't know which terminal to go to for the connection to Copenhagen.  Had to ask around and take a shuttle to a different terminal, via hidden dirty stairwells.  Newark smelled funny.

We then almost missed the flight to Copenhagen.  We were just sitting at the gate and didn't realize our flight was boarding, haha, I guess we were brain dead from sharing dirty airplane air and stinky Newark air.  Flying SAS was much nicer, taller ceiling, more open, 2-4-2 seating.  Food was great and service was too.

Landed in Copenhagen, again not knowing which gate to go to for the connection to Turku.  Went to one gate but it ended up being wrong and had to go to another.  Gate lady didn't know how to change my FF number so now I have to take it up with EuroBonus.  Very small plane took us to TKU, so small we had to gate check our wheeled carryon.  But at least the flight was not full so I got a row to myself!!!

Finally arrive at my final destination where there was basically no one at customs :)  Tutor was waiting at arrival with a friend who helped us with our luggage and we took the bus to my apartment.  I was very surprised how smoothly it all went especially because I did not have a working phone.  Tutor took us around to do logistical stuff, sign apartment papers, pay for student union dues, meet with university coordinator... Finally time to sleep after 20 hours of travel plus 4 hours of walking around.