Great time in Riga!!!!

So Saturday night, 8 of us exchange students (1 Italian, 2 Canadians and 5 Germans) boarded a RyanAir flight to Riga, Lativa for a three day trip. We arrived in Riga around 10pm local time, exchanged some money and bussed to the city centre. We checked into our hostel (brilliantly called Riga Hostel) which in in the Old Town of Riga. It is a new hostel that just opened in June and we were all surprised at how nice it was. Everything was so clean and bright and new! We dropped off our packs and headed into the street to do a little night sightseeing. Being Saturday night, the streets were full of partyers and very drunk Latvians! Riga has a bit of a problem with the sex trade and most clubs are basically strip bars, so we stayed away from the bars and clubs and opted to walk around. We went back to the hostel to hang out in the kitchen where we watched some TV and met some British people and other Germans.

The next morning we were ready to go out by noon (pretty impressive seeing as there were 8 of us and only 1 shower!) and headed to this really great pankūkas (pancakes)restaurant recommended by the girl at the Hostel. It was called Šefpavārs Vilhelms and there we had the msot amazing pancakes I have ever eaten! There were different kinds, some filled with meat, cheese, bananas, apples, etc. as well as potatoe pancakes and a huge variety of jams (my fave was the peach jam) and for 3 pankūkas and an orange juice, it only cost 1,50 lats which is equal to 3$cdn! I was blown away with how cheap it was!

We spent the rest of Sunday taking a self-guided walking tour through the Old Town. Some parts of the Old Town date back to Medival times and most of what was destroyed during the wars, has been impressively rebuilt. The Old Town is made up of narrow cobble-stoned streets and lined with beautifully coloured old buildings that house everything from shops to cafes to strip bars and casinos. There are a number of really old churches, including St. Peter's Chruch where we took an elevator up the steeple 72 metres from the street to see beautiful views of Riga. The architecture in Riga is a mixture of medival, Swedish-influenced, art-nouveau, baroque, etc. and the city is over 800 years old! Sunday night we stayed at the hostel playing cards with others who were stayting at the hostel and some played a few drinking games...

Monday we were again out by noon and decided to take a "Panorama" boat tour of Riga. This wasn't so exciting, but it was relaxing nonetheles and we all enjoyed laying on the deck in the sun out on the Daugava River! We then decided to leave the Old Town and go into "New Riga" where the shopping districts are. The girls split from the boys so we could shop more, and spent a few hours looking in shops and trying on clothes. Monday night we went to a pizza restaurant for dinner and then went to a Jazz Club called "Hamlets". I had never been to a jaxx club before, and was very impressed with the musicians there. It was a "jam session" night and so there were all kinds of people playing jazz..it was really great and we all really enjoyed the music and the club!

Tuesday we again went into the New City to look around before having to leave. We walked to a beautiful park right in the middle of the city called Esplanåde which was very reminiscent of Central Park in Manhatten. While walking through the park on our way to see a beautiful Orthodox Church, we found a row of trampolines...it cost 0,5lats (1$cdn) for 10 minutes, so we all kicked off our shoes and had 10 minutes of childish fun! It was so great! We were all like children the way we were laughing and carrying on...it was really cool! We then saw the church and made our way back to the hostel to check out and make our way to the airport.

I was sad to leave Riga! It turned out to be such a surprisingly beautiful city and I am so happy I had the opportunity to go...I recommend Riga to absolutley everyone who goes to Europe! It's not at all what I thought Eastern Europe would be like...the city has done very well at rebuilding after the fall of the Soviet Union, although there are still some scars to be seen which adds to the character of the city...

Today I am exhausted from three full days of walking and touring! It's going to take a while to catch up to sleep! Lol...

All my pics from Latvia are on my Msn Space...I posted the link before, but I hadn't realized it had restricted access before, but I have made it public now so some of you should be able to get on it now to see all my pics...Here is the link again: http://spaces.msn.com/members/julezmay/

Love, Jules :)

I can't beleive September is half over!

Wow, another packed week in Tampere! On Tuesday, the university had what they call "Orienteering". You get together teams of 4 or 5 and go to various stations throughout the city and each station is hosted by a different department and has tasks that need to be completed. The idea is for the teams to complete the tasks uniquely or quickly (depending on the type of task) and get as many points as possible...the pic on the left is my team (I am taking the pic so therefore not in it). There is Steve in the front, then in the back from left is Alex, Anke and Jan. Our team name was "Pretty Much the Sweetest Team Ever"...our tasks ranged from acting in a park to beer tasting to improv. We won the station sponsered by the Bio Med department...our task was to interpret a very long Finnish chemical name and draw what we thought it meant...Thanks to my superb crayon-drawing abilities and my team mates' superior explanations, we won....a box of latex gloves! Plus, our art has been framed on the wall of the Bio Med student union clubhouse! It was the happiest day of my life...hahaha. We did even better though, and won Best International Team (!) which got us all a free beer at the student pub, Yo-Talo. Overall, very funny and fun afternoon.

Thursday a bunch of us international students went to a Finnish Elite League (like the NHL) hockey game...Tampere has 2 Elite teams who are bitter rivals: Tappara and Ilves and they were playing each other in the first game of the season...The game wasn't so unlike NHL at home, but European hockey is a lot less rough and sometimes gets frustrating when they can't just bash another player against the boards to get the puck! But overall, it was a really fun game and I hope to get to see more over the next few months...

School is slowly progressing and picking up pace...I started a class on American Media and Culture this week which is very interesting and the prof is great, but it is at the same time as another class I want to take that starts next week so I haven't decided on which class I am going to take yet. I also started a Finnish History Seminar this week which sounds like it will be interesting...history in Europe is so much older than at home, so it will be interesting to learn about Finland in Medival times, etc. I also have discovered what they call "Book Exams" here...basically there is a book list for each course listed and you read the books and show up to the exam in November or December. It's an alternative way to get extra credits, and there are no lectures, just reading on your own time. I'm still not sure if Carleton will recognize these credits, but I have started reading while I wait for Carleton to e-mail me back with an answer. Finnish class is going well and has really picked up this past week....there are currently 5 pages of vocabulary that I need to memorize with more on the way! Yikes...

Here's some exciting news: next week a bunch of us exchange students are flying to Riga, Latvia. Over here there is a super cheap airline called RyanAir which flies out of Tampere so we all got round trip flights to Riga for 40euros...we are sharing an 8-bed hostel room which will cost us around 10euros each per night...I am really looking forward to it! I never thought about going to Latvia and it's a place I know nothing about...but Riga looks like a great city...here is a good website: http://www.balticsww.com/tourist/latvia/index.htm I will be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Apologies that the picture link I posted last time doesn't work...I'm still trying to find a place to host all my pics so far...one German student here is trying to set up a website so we can all put our pics up together, so I am looking into it..I will keep you posted! I'll get these pics up somewhere sooner or later!

I think that's all for now...I'm going to get back to my reading!

Love Always, Jules :)

This week...

Classes started this week but so far I have only had 1...it seems that a class will happen or start whenever a professor wants it to, so classes start randomly throughout the semester...some of my classes don't start until October and one only last 4 days! My only class is Elementary Finnish which is going pretty well so far...I have it Mondays through Thursdays every week during the entire semester for 2 hours a day. Pretty intensive, but I don't know how exactly else I would learn the language! It's not difficult to learn, but it is completely unlike any other language...I find the pronounciation challenging! This week coming up I have 2 other classes starting: Media and Culture and Finnish History. Other classes I'm taking: a Political Science course on Terrorism, Russian Contemporary Politics, Philosophy and American TV, Welfare Socities in Transition, and North American Studies. I know it's a little ridiculous to come to Europe and take North American Studies, but Carleton needs me to have 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) in order to get full credits back home, and there are not a lot of English courses being offered here, so I am pretty much taking everything I can to get as many credits as possible!

On Tuesday, I had my first Finnish sauna experience...the student union (called Tamy) booked a public sauna just outside of town and a bunch of international students came...the sauna was unbeleivably relaxing and jumping into an extremely cold lake afterward was even more refreshing! Here is a pic of the lake we were at (called Lake Näsijärvi):

On Wednesday, Steve (the other Canadian here), Venla (my Finnish tutor) and I went to a Football (European Football that is) match...it was a World Cup qualifying round between Finland and Macedonia...Finland won 5-1! Overall, the whole european football experience was so much fun, and I am hoping to start following it more closely, even when I get back to Canada.

Thursday night there was a huuuuuuge party thrown by the business student union (called Boomi) which was really a lot of fun...here in Finland, the bars don't close until 3 or 4am and while the busses stop running anywhere from midnight to 1 or 2 am, they start running again around 4 or 4:30 so it is never an early night when you go out around here!

Friday was a rest day after partying...Saturday was my birthday! It was such a great day! My flatmate Claire made me a cake and then her and I, my 2 other flatmates and 2 other girls spent the afternoon shopping downtown and went for lunch...it was great! Saturday evening, Steve and I went for dinner at this great Italian restaurant with his Finnish tutor, Kaisa, and her friends (it was her friend Teija's birthday too). After, we went to Steve's and he held an awesome birthday party for me! We invited as many international students as we could and the turnout was awesome!!! There were soooo many people there! We stayed at Steve's and then all got on the bus and went to a club downtown to party, and again it was not an early night!!!! I am happy it is finally Sunday and I can stay home and rest and eat junk food! Lol...

That's the week in a nutshell...there is so much going on again this week, so I will try and post soon! Also, I can't easily post pics here on this blog, but I have all my pics up on my MSN space here: http://spaces.msn.com/members/julezmay/

Love, Jules :)

Excellent first weekend!

Hi Everyone! Finally getting into some sort of a routine as I settle into my flat which I got on Thursday...I should be getting the internet in my room soon so I will be able to post some pictures of my first week here in Finland!

So far I have been having a great time...there have been a lot of parties and meeting new people from all over! I have three flatmates: 1 is from Germany, 1 is from France and the other is from Taiwan...they all seem to be very nice girls and so far we all get along really well and are getting used to each other!

This past weekend, Steve and I went to Turku, a student town here in the south of Finland. My Finnish friend Kaisa goes to school there and she let us stay with her. We arrived on the train on Saturday (the train is 50% for students...we paid only 10euros each way for a trip of almost 200 km!) and then walked around Turku. It's a beautiful old city, as it used to be part of Sweden and is a port city...some of the architecture goes back to the 11th Century which was great for me because I have never seen such old buildings! After sightseeing all afternoon, we relaxed a bit and then went over to one of Kaisa's friends' houses and hung out (and drank of course, lol) with a bunch of Finns...this was great for me because here in Tampere, it is easy to get to know only International students when you wourself are an international student.

Sunday we awoke a bit late and Kaisa made us a great breakfast...while we were getting ready to leave to catch our train, Steve was online and found out that the Canadian Women's Hockey team was playing in the final game of the Four Nations Tournament in another town closer to Tampere called Hämeenlinna...we quickly decided to take a detour home, got our train tix changed and headed to Hämeenlinna to catch the gold medal game between Canada and the USA! We were very excited about this...to see hockey again and to watch our home country kick butt against the US was so much fun (Canada won the game 2-1 and won the tournament).

Finland has been really great so far! I've been slowly learning my way around the town...I've only gotten lost once or twice...I've definitely learned not to try and take any shortcuts until I get to know my neighbourhood better! My first class is today--Elementary Finnish--so hopefully after a few days, I will be able to teach everyone a few words! Here is what I know so far:
-Moi, or moi-moi (pronounced moy-moy) means hello as does Terve...
-Joo (pronounced yaw) means yes
-yliopisto means university
-ateria means meal, as in Big Mac meal, lol...
-Kiitos mean thank you
-Kippis means cheers

Very small vocabulary, but hopefully that will change!
I'm off to class now...I promise to have pics on the internet soon!

Love, Jules :)

Still here...!

Unfortunatley, I haven't had much time to post....I just got my user account for the school network yesterday...I got the keys to my flat this morning and will be moving in this afternoon sometime...I don't know anything about my future roomates...apparantly there are 3 other girls I will be sharing my flat with so I'm excited to meet them...I won't be getting internet in my room until probably next week sometime (something I have learned: nothing gets done quickly in Finland!) so I'm not sure how often I will get to update over the next week...

Everything here is so great! Tampere is a beautiful old city...I have pics, but won't be able to post them until I get my own computer up and running...I've been staying in a dorm room, sleeping on a mattress on the floor, which doesn't sound great, but it's really like a big slumber party...but I am really looking forward to getting my room today and unpacking finally!

There is another Carleton student here, Steve, and he and I have been meeting all kinds of people from all over Europe...there are a lot of German students here and so far, I think Steve and I are the only Canadians. We're going to another Finnish city this weekend, Turku, to meet up with my friend Kaisa which will be great-we want to see as much of Finland as possible!

Next Wednesday, Steve, Venla (my Finnish tutor here in Tampere) and I are going to a football match here in Tampere...World Cup qualifying match between Team Finland and Macedonia and we have great seats, midfeild, third row from the feild...Steve and I are very excited about our first European Football experience!

This afternoon is a bus tour of the city and then an international party tonight...looking forward to meeting more people!

Off to class....

Love, Jules :)