No Internet Connection

Hei! Hello! Greetings!

     I am so very sorry that I have deprived you from readings.  I have not had internet connection since I got off the train.  We didn't get out University passwords and usernames until Monday afternoon.  The student dorms do not have wifi in them and campus is a good 30 min walk from the dorms.  I came to class early this morning to see if I could use the campus wifi but it was unsuccessful.  It is so frustrating when technology is in a wicked battle against you.  After class got out at 2, I took my little bike down to the IT building and a very kind man helped me.  He successfully was able to connect my computer to the wifi.  Thank you! I must say, Jyväskylä's IT blows UW's IT out of the water, by a long shot.  It was almost a strange experience to go into IT, greeted by friendly people AND leave with a problem solved!
     Anyway, that was my little rant, back to daily life.  Class is wonderful.  People are amazing.  The weather is perfect.  I am happy.  Finland is peaceful.  They are very connected to nature.  Trees and green everywhere.  Walking paths here and there and everywhere!  There is so much daylight, I feel like I can accomplish a lot in one day because I have so much time in the sun.  I haven't really been able to take complete and full advantage of the sun yet because I've been busy.
     Class starts at 9am and gets out at 2pm.  We have a lunch break from 11:30 to 12:30.  This afternoon some of my classmates/friends I think were going to try to sunbathe or go to the lake or something.  I ventured to IT and now am writing and connecting.  I'm sitting in the main building looking out from the great glass windows.  People are soaking up the sun and enjoying the lazy, summer afternoon.  Oh how I want to join them...

     We went out last night, a group of nine of us, gathered at 8pm and got to know each other.  It was mostly students from my Finnish Language and Culture class but we were joined by Tereza (sp?), Becca's roommate from the Czech Republic, Sebastian, a boy from Holland, and Sasha a boy from Russia.  It was such an enjoyable night.  People are so interesting and we were all so culturally diverse. It was entertaining to interact with everyone and ask questions of each other's countries.  We discussed stereotypes a lot.  I wonder what they all think of American's.  There are three of us here and I feel like we are all different but we're getting lumped together because we are americans.  I don't think I like that so much.  :/  I look forward to getting to know everyone better and to meeting more people.  We have a free time program tonight that is a BBQ.  It is just outside of our dorms and I think many of the international students are attending.  It is at 6pm and will be a good way to eat some yummy food and talk to people.
     Enjoy the pictures!
hei hei,
McCall