September 16, 2009
Moi! Mita kuuluu? (Hey! How are you?)
Today was my first day of real classes, I suppose. At least, courses I’ll actually be taking. It was an introduction day where they told us all about the course. Naturally, I had the same overwhelmed/panic-stricken reaction when I started thinking about the projects and what I was going to do and use and good ideas that will take me a lifetime to create, but that’s nothing I haven’t been doing for the past three years. The more important thing was that I woke up this morning feeling like, and intending to, take over the world. I rode my bike 30 minutes to school and didn’t get lost. It helped that I passed… Ellen, I think her name is… on the way when I went through the park which is where I got lost yesterday. I made some good judgments on paths to take; “this road is a little wider”… “this road has a few less rocks in it” and I wound up downtown easily. Once I was there, I turned down one street and saw “Aleksanterinkuta” written on a building. Street names here are just written on the corners of buildings. I knew that meant I was on the road that the Architecture department was off of. I looked one way and thought, NOPE, been there yesterday, and the other way was a sure bet. I was in the gates in no time. After class, I quickly rode my bike 30 minutes back to Linnanmaa (Campus area) so that I could make it to the Cashier’s Office to get my allowance. I miraculously navigated my way around campus and found a particular place to park my bike that I had taken a mental picture of days before when Timo showed me the way. I locked up the little pink speed demon and went inside. All my mental images were coming in so handy. I saw the elevator and smiled!!! Once I rode the elevator and got into the Cashier’s Office, the lady looked at my passport and handed me all these glorious Euros. I’m no longer broke! Smiling from ear to ear, I left the office and remembered which way to exit the elevator (you can go from both sides). I got outside and realized I had about 40 minutes before I had to be back downtown for the Materials class. [Interjection: By the way, I don’t think I’m taking the Materials class, it’s a long story and I don’t think I need it. I want to learn more about Materials so I am going to ask the professors if I can come and sit and listen to the lectures and presentations, but not participate. I guess sort of over-achieving, but I just want to become more knowledgeable in that area] I went home and made a turkey (I think it’s turkey but I don’t know cause I can’t read Finnish) and cheese sandwich and jetted off for another 30 minute bike ride. After Materials class, Brittany and I went to PSOAS and I told them my mailbox key wasn’t working. They traded me for the spare… that one doesn’t work either. I found out that I can’t pay my rent until I get a bill and I can’t get a bill if I can’t get into the mailbox to get it. Also, I have to get my registration sheet from International Relations but they’re open from such annoying hours that I have to go tomorrow morning and be late to my first day of… Design Competitions, I think. Then I can open my bank account, transfer money, hopefully get a working key, get my bill, pay my rent, and have my allowance automatically drafted to my account. Geez, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another. Tonight, I also made a fake Passport photo on my camera so I can turn it in and get my student card. I probably won’t end up getting it ‘til it’s time for me to leave. Haha. I was going to fix up a project from last year, but when I got home from this day, I was pooped. I took a nap and went grocery shopping and now I am working on a few other things for tomorrow. I will get to over-achieving on my project later, I suppose.
I finally learned how to ride a bike. Well… I’m learning. I never realized that I didn’t really know how to until I saw how you ride when it’s your primary means of transportation. It's kind of sad when little old ladies are flying by me on the bike roads. First of all, I didn’t realize there was a specific height for your seat that will give you the best pedal power with the least amount of strain. I also am now very conscious of my gears. They say Oulu is flat and in comparison to many places, it is. But there are definitely some hills I struggle on. And when it is raining… it is slightly miserable. I have learned not to stand on the pedals to get my power like I always did when I was a child… this is actually quite tiring. I only do it if I need a sudden burst of energy to get up a hill. I also have mastered the art of picking up my weight ever so slightly when I go over bumps: A. so that there is not so much pressure on my tires and B. so that I do not permanently damage my bum. So you see, you go to a foreign country and you learn things you never intended to learn. Things maybe you didn’t know you needed to learn. And now I’m convinced parking passes are extremely over-priced and unnecessary (we’ll see how I feel when I get back to the States on that one). And if you already knew how to ride a bike effectively, there’s always cross-country roller-blading with ski sticks. That’s one I always see the locals taking part in!
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