New people, new languages, new skills..

One part of the university

I know I haven’t exactly been the most active blog writer lately but I will try to mend my ways. As I already mentioned in my latest post, last week we had the welcome days at the university which meant getting to know a lot of new people. Surprisingly enough Finns are the second largest group among the exchange students right after the loud and lively Italians, and so last week we found the fifth Finn Heini and rumor has it there are still four to be found. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I will leave here in August speaking also some more Italian then what I’ve learned from Elisa di Rivombrosa...
What’s at the same time a bit amusing, annoying and most of all confusing, is the mixing of languages in my speech now that I’ve been talking more English with the exchange students. Many of them speak fluent German whereas a few speak for now very little or none, which means changing the language according to the members of the conversation. So you can imagine that after meeting a bunch of new people within just a couple of days, it was not only troublesome to try to avoid asking for someone’s name, nationality or major for the third time but also to remember in which language we last had our conversation. So it’s not only once that I’ve started a nice conversation in German only realizing after a moment of silence and a very confused look that I had chosen the wrong language and the other person had not just understood a word I said.

The sight of Freiburg from Schlossberg

Well, back to activities. Here in our student dormitory there is not only great opportunities for doing sports or having a picnic, but also parties on a weekly basis in a house which is for free time use only and located right next to our building. So on Wednesday I got to experience something that, as far as I know, has not yet reached Finland – a Déjà vu -party! I just admire the inventor of this simple but brilliant idea: every drink you’ve bought before midnight you will get for free after midnight! (Mom if you read this, I don’t want you to worry – this party takes place only once in a month…)
Another great thing about the parties here in our dormitory is billiard! This is the first time in my life that I’ve played billiard (two times here now) and I don’t understand why I haven’t done that before. I just love the game! Lucky me I have the chance to play it here every week almost for free. Isn’t that what student exchange is for, learning new skills…?

Speaking of games, on Sunday I took part in playing soccer with other international students. There was not really much going on here at Easter (which gave me the chance to get some rest), many students were spending the holidays for travelling and so we had only 6 players this time. But it was so much fun! Although I don’t have that much experience in playing soccer, nor do I enjoy watching it on TV too much, I do love to play it. And if the billiard wasn’t already great enough, playing soccer is also possible every week!

 My days here have been quite filled all kinds of activities, hanging out with friends and trying to get my courses and studies organized, but on Easter I had some time to just take it easy and spend some time just by myself as well. It was nice for a change, but on the other hand I also had more time to think about what is going on in Finland and how my family and friends are doing. And my dogs. I miss them so much. I’ve dreamed about them, I’ve talked about them and I’ve shed a few tears watching pictures of them. It’s weird living here without them for the first time, although the fact that I have roommates helps a lot since there usually is always someone home – only a few days ago I noticed how fond I am of their company. 

There is nothing more important I could have on my wall.

Travels and more

It's been a while since the last post and quite a lot has happened during that time. Over a week ago we did a one-day-trip to Strasbourg with four other exchange students. It was my first time in France and as I'd heard many people praise how beautiful Strasbourg is, I had pretty high expectations but the city didn't let me down.

Since we didn't have any study-related program in Freiburg so far, we decided with my friends Anni and Elina from Tampere to pay a visit to our mutual friend in Regensburg. So last weekend I spent in a lovely little city in Bayern (Bavaria) with dear friends after an 8-hour train travel (that's what you get wit cheap train tickets).

Regensburg and the lovely Donau-river.

And finally the welcome days for exchange students at the university took place this week so we got to know the campus area and were given a lot of useful information concerning our studies and time here in Freiburg. Also I did some more research on what courses I could take here and they all just seem so interesting that I can't wait for them to start (as crazy at it may sound). Also, I've met so interesting and lovely people here already that I'm really looking forward to what the summer has to offer.

Feeling at home

It's simply impossible to understand how fast the days go by here. I've lived here almost a week now and about million things have happened in that time. By now I've gotten to know many other ERASMUS-students, got most of the administrative paper work done and explored the city centre.

On Sunday there was a marathon in Freiburg which we went to see because a friend's friend was participating and so we decided to join the cheering crowd. The marathon had 11.000 participants and it felt like rest of the city was on the streets cheering.

On that day we also met another Finnish exchange student Hanna, who lives right downstears and with whom we get along very well. And although some time (very little) has been spent just between us Finnish girls, nearly all conversations between us are in German or English when other exchange students are around. We came here to improve our German, but it's still nice to be able to also make jokes and ask for the right word in German in one's own native language now and then.

My way to make some use of one of the many schnapps glases, German
nature and our kitchen table.

Every day I feel more and more at home here and I'm very lucky to have a room in a newly renovated house by a lake and parks. The possibilities for different activities are amazing in our student housing estate - for example the Sunday afternoon we spent playing beachvolley.
One thing that also helped the process of adjustment was a trip to Ikea which is only in about 15 minutes bus drive away from our house. Not that I would have needed much anything from there as the kitchen and everything in my apartment is very well equipped. But with two quys (and a girl I still haven't met) as roommates just a couple of things were needed in my opinion. Not surprisinly we Finns were feeling quite at home in Ikea whereas for the Romanian girl Adelina who joined us for the Skandinavian shopping trip it seemed to be somewhat of an experience. A positive one for the most part I think (just all the walking didn't get that much appreciation).

The view from our balcony. German students have an interesting way of decorating trees.

A little something from Ikea that I thought would nicely lighten our shared kitchen.
Seemed to please my roommates as well :)

The first days of travel

1.4.2014 - how long had I waited for that day to come! Finally it was time for me to head off to a great adventure. On that Tuesday the plane took me from Helsinki to Zürich, from where I continued by train to a little town in Switzerland called Gunzwil. I stayed there a couple of days visiting a relative, enjoying the sunshine, mountains and animals - and trying to make some sense of the schweizerdeutsch the people around me were speaking. Luckily my relative spoke hochdeutsch with me and everybody also seemed to understand my German - after all my schwizerdütsch limited to a happy "Grüezi!"

An essential part of Swiss culture. This is right next to my relative's garden.

My journey to Freiburg continued on Thursday by bus. From Zürich to Freiburg only for 8 euros, not bad! And what's more, I also made friends on the way. A nice Ukrainian girl was looking for the same bus as me, and as we started chatting, we realized not only did we have the same major and dream job but also the same kind of sense of humour. So the 2-hour bus drive consisted of sharing study experiences,  talking about politics, travel experiences and dreams - all this in German of course! I'm so happy for such a good start linguistically, so far no English has been necessary.

At the bus station in Freiburg I had my Finnish friend Elina waiting for me, who kindly showed the way to my new home. And what a warm welcome did I have there! Only one of my three roommates (who are all Germans) was at home with his friend, but before I knew I was being offered a welcome schnapps and freshly cooked food. For some reason it didn't take me long to like these people. Only some hours later I found myself in a Freiburger club with Elina and her roommates. The club was in the 18th floor of a building so it had quite a nice view over the city.

My new roommate and his friend from Mainz made sure that I didn't get bored on Friday night either: a tour through some of the best/student-friendliest bars and restaurant was quite a nice way to spend my second night in Freiburg.

In addition to all that, during the first three days here, me and Elina have been jogging in the near surroundings, cooking together, trying to find a near-by flea market without success and just enjoying all the great things we have here.
This was a very shortened version of everything that has been going on, next time more pictures!