5-19-13
Hello Blog Readers,
It’s the end of day two in
Jyväskylä. I arrived yesterday around
5pm. Suvi, my student tutor/mentor
picked me up from the train station then took me to the dorms. Once I got to my room I dropped of my stuff
then a while later met up with Suvi. She
showed me the student village and then we went on to the city center and
campus. It was the annual city
festival. From what Suvi said it is just
a celebration that the city has every year.
People filled the streets and there were booths, vendors, street performers
and festivities. We ate a booth that was
for the Friends of Japan Club, they
served curry rice and a potato pancake thing.
Suvi knew of the students in the club so that’s why we ate there. We walked the short distance to campus and
she pointed out buildings for me. Suvi
then had to leave to go back to the train station to pick up another
student. So there I was alone
again.
I stayed on campus and looked at some
of the wares being sold in the booths. I
came across two older ladies selling Marimekko stuff. Marimekko is a Finnish design company that is
very famous for its prints. I went into
one of their stores in Helsinki but it was out of my price range. This stuff was cheaper but still not
cheap. I just had to buy some stuff
though because I wanted Marimekko items.
The
Marimekko booth was just outside of the main building, something like a student
union. Students were milling around and
quite a few were inside. I followed the
crowd and went inside to see what was happening. One of the activities was a dance off. It was awesome. Just in the middle of the open area everyone
stood around in a great big circle. A
girl had a mic and was running the thing.
There were two guys running sound equipment and music behind her. The competition was really fun. The first two groups to “fight” each other
were two girls doing traditional African dance.
They even had some drummers as their music. They had a lot of energy and boy, can they
shake it. The group that danced against
them was a quartet of hip-hop/ballet dancers.
They dressed like nerds and did some twirling. It was cute.
The next battle was between five girl hip-hop 80’s dancers versus one
guy doing traditional Russian dancing.
Like in the movies where the guys dip down and squat then pop back
up. He did that. It was pretty cool. The final battle was between modern,
alternate dancers. It was weird; they
laid on the ground and moved weird. It
was just weird. The next group were like
circus performers crossed with hip-hop. They
did a lot of cartwheels and then they did break dancing moves too. The finale was between the traditional
Russian guy and the circus performers.
They determined winners by measuring decibel levels of cheers. Lots of energy and lots of fun. I would have enjoyed it more if I knew people
and had someone to talk to.
It was
about 11pm and I decided to go back to the dorms. I found my bike and headed off to where I
thought the dorms were. I got lost. Luckily it was still pretty light out so I
could see. I did a lot of pedaling and
wandering. Eventually I made it back and
then went to bed.
Aha! You
may ask, “where did she get a bike?” Alas, I shall enlighten you. I joined the Summer in ESN Facebook group it
is a page for international students at Jyväskylä to connect. They do a lot of selling of good on the
page. When students leave they can’t
take everything they have acquired so they sell it to incoming international
students. I found a bike on there for
€20 and messaged the owner to claim it.
Before I met up with Suvi again I met up with this guy. He was from Ireland, studying sport sciences
since January. I probably could have
fallen in love right then and there--knee-weakening Irish accent. And so I have a bike, its just a little old thing
but it is absolutely perfect. It even
has a bell. I need to raise the seat a
little though. My legs are too long for
it.
This
morning I took off to the city center and campus on my little bike and a biked
all around town today discovering and exploring. My legs are tired. It isn’t super hilly but just enough that I
know the seat needs to be raised so I don’t kill my legs. Needless to say my legs and butt are
sore. I am not in bicycle shape.
In my
exploration I found that Finland is very bicycle friendly. The sidewalks are suited for bikes. The town is pretty. Lots of apartment buildings and parks. Jyväskylä is very nature oriented. There are numerous parks, trails and
opportunities to be surrounded by nature only a few steps away from a busy
street. You can be on a busy street in
one instant and five minutes later be tromping through grass and fighting
mosquitos off nearby the water.
After
consulting my map many, many times I eventually found the Catholic church. They were having mass when I found it so I
didn’t go inside. I will find it again
later. I sat on the lake edge for a
while to rest from biking and meandered through campus for a while. After some more map consulting I found my way
back to Kortepohja, the student village.
It was about two in the afternoon.
I laid down for a little nap and ended up sleeping until about
five. Being a world traveler is exhausting!
After a
little meal I met up with Jia, a student from China but is studying in Atlanta,
GA. We went for a little walk that
turned into a big hike because I took a road less traveled that took us into
the forest. It was pretty and I enjoyed
talking with her but getting lost wasn’t so great. I was supposed to meet Suvi at 8:30 because
she brought a wrench to raise my bike seat but didn’t find our way back to the
dorms until 9. Whoops.
I think
there is a group of students meeting Suvi, tomorrow morning at 8:30 so she can
show us the way to get to campus. It is
10:20 here and it is still plenty light out.
Glad I have curtains. I’m going
to bed now, still tired even after my KSN.
First day of school tomorrow! How exciting!
Hyvää Yötä
Good Night,
McCall
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