FIRST WEEK VIEWS

Jyväskylä, 7.9.2007

Finnish study year starts in September. Since Monday, I have been officially a student. Again! There is really a lot of international students. Most of them are here on behalf of student exchange programmes, yet there is also a nice amount of 150 international degree students. Jyväskylä is a small city. Kylä itself means a village in Finnish. Just do not be mislead by this translation, Jyväskylä is by all means a city - with approximately 80.000 inhabitants. And half of those are actually students. However, our Digital Culture starts next week; now we are just listening to loads of practical information.

Now to my personal practicalities. When I came to Finland a week ago, I knew where I had been going; thus meaning the society here, as I had visited the country twice before. The fact that I already speak Finnish seems a nice benefit. At least it gives me more confidence when it comes , for instance, to food products. I also try to talk Finnish as much as possible, especially within the last days. The knowing of language as it would bring the culture closer, or at least I do not feel so isolated, so foreign.

The city is small, but that does not bother me. I do not feel good in big cities. I already know the streets and it is also not that hard to find them from the map. There is Lutakko for metal and I hope some punk gigs I intend to visit some time in the future, there are some interesting music bars. What else do one need, heh? Many things, still... too many, perhaps.

I do not feel like a tourist here. That and also all the time some errands in my mind is the reason I have not taken many photos yet. Also, I have again this Fake Finn thing of mine going on; I try to melt with locals as much as possible, not to appear as ulkomaalainen, a foreigner. Manly because of the language purposes. However, now I do have a Finnish phone number, and all of a sudden two Nokia cellphones in my bag (so this goes to those many things mentioned above). I had to open a Finnish bank account, too, and I had to encounter personal internet banking for the first time. Well, yes, considering some everyday stuff, I seem to be behind time in both countries, in Slovenia and in Finland. Oh, and I am going to study Digital Culture, beware...

Now I will pass the word to a few of my first photos...

My opiskelija asunto, student apartment community. It is called Roninmäki. No matter that Finland is supposed to be more or less flat (Lappi is different story), I live on the hill, mäki, again.

The view from my window.


Kirkkopuisto - Church Park in the centre.


Agora, university building in Mattilanniemi part of the campus.