Day 1 in Finland

Seeing as I’m going to be in Finland for 4 months I might as well divert some of my time with something (kinda) productive, rather than spamming my friends with shitty puns and videos on Facebook…

So I’m going to be writing a blog.

In my mind I was going to plan this out as something fairly systematic going through various events, situation sand/ or aspects of Finnish life that I’m struggling to adapt to. Unfortunately I’ve already been here for a month so it’s probably going to end up sporadically disappointing and mundane with occasional sparks of originality.

Friday, 24th August.

Word of the day: “Epajarjestelmallisyydellansakaan”  “not even with his/her ability to avoid being made unorganised by others”.”

In the week up to my flight to Finland the reality of my decision to study in Abo Akademi (Finland) had only just set in. I’m not saying I regret filling out my form, but not telling my banks I was going to be abroad was probably a mistake. Another mistake was not looking up where I was going to be living, or even getting a map.
15:37

I arrived in Turku airport slightly soggy and smelling funky fresh. Stepping off the plane and surveying the forest of pines and thunderous clouds overhead, I had two thoughts: 1) “This is gonna be frickin awesome!” 2) “…where the fuck am I going?” Whenever I get to a new city I always managed to get myself lost for about an hour because I’m too awkward to ask for directions and I never think my destination is too far from wherever I am at any given moment. Turns out I was.

I got the bus to the centre of town, found a big city map and tried to find the university accommodation and quickly got lost. Turns out that 10 minutes on Google maps does not actually give you a good sense of where you’re meant to be going. Who’d a’ thunk it?

My next big discovery is that the Finnish people love cobbled walk-ways. They find them fun; they find them quirky. In fact they seemed to like the concept more than the people in York because they just love putting them just about anywhere. Sure cobbles look good but there is a reason why people invented concrete. Concrete is made for walking on. Cobbles aren’t – they suck. It’s as if one day they all got really drunk and decided to have a rock-cement fight and when the morning came they were too hungover to fix it.

My luggage kept slamming into my legs with every step; I nearly twisted my ankle so when I did manage to make it to the student village – 2 hours and three unbelievable hills later – I was walking with a steady limp. Coupled with the greasy sheen of 20 hours travelling, I wasn’t looking pretty awesome either but I tried to put on my best smile ready for when I got to the porter’s lodge.

But it was closed and wasn’t open till Monday, which would have been fine if I knew where my flat was, when I asked the students I saw they either didn’t understand what I was saying or the place I was going to didn’t exist. By this point I had already resigned myself to the fact I was probably going to die of exposure and so tried to make myself as comfortable as possible.

Now of course you’re gonna be reading this thinking, “Surely you should have thought about this? The university would have done something to ensure their students didn’t run the risk of being raped on the streets by a pack of homeless people.” And you’d be right: there was an opportunity for me to be get in touch with my very own personal tutor who would pick up my keys and even drive me to my accommodation.

But that is for the weak. I don’t need no help from nobody! Especially no crinkly professor who’s only looking out for my own well being. I’m a man!

Turns out I had the completely wrong idea of what the tutors were… they’re essentially the Finnish version of STYCs in York – you’ll find out more later.

Luckily ‘Mystery Finnish girl #1’ saw me sprawled on the pavement and decided that I needed help. To be honest I should have asked her name, or better yet given her my number (despite my overall smelliness and my phone having run out of battery 10 minutes after arrival.) Anyway from now on she will always be known as ‘Mystery Finnish girl #1’. After a couple of minutes trying to act cool I told her that I was lost and looking for my accommodation, at which point she got out her phone looked it up on google maps and told me I was on the wrong side of the city. I had to take a taxi there costing me a horrific 15 euros. Essentially I was in the Halifax college of Abo Akademi, miles from nowhere and full of exchange students and assorted families.

Using sneaky powers of persuasions I gained access to my block, found my apartment, found my flatmate (who was on a different floor) and found myself on an inflatable bed for the next three nights; which wasn’t too bad as they managed to provide a spare slightly soiled duvet so I wasn’t cold… Too tired to complain I passed out.

Future topics are going to include:

The Hellcruise!

Going out, conversational tips for public transport, overalls and Erik the Norwegian [ex] junkie and his magical adventures.