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 :)