A little bit here now

Good morning everyone,

So yes, I'm still alive and doing well! I have now arrived in Seinäjoki and have already bought the most important things (fitted sheet, etc), and Nina, if you're reading this: the foldable tupperware is already very practical :)

Last week, there was also a kitchen upgrade, and now we can actually toast our bread/toast (the only real bread we could find so far was from Lidl) and not just "char" it in the pan 🫶🏽

What's funny here is that in the whole "exchange students" group, there are somehow a lot of Germans and incredibly many French people :) So firstly, I always have someone to speak my own language with, and yesterday I could test in real life if I can understand drunk French people even a little bit. Short answer: no. BBUUUTTT at least a few numbers and "d'accord" have stuck with me from school French, so... well. It was enough for Uno 🤷🏻‍♀️

But don't worry, I'm still learning English here as well. Fortunately, my roommate is not German, so in the morning, we regularly try to speak English for breakfast! Otherwise, we are getting along very well with English, but in the early morning or late evening, we often can't think of German or Czech or just NO words 👍🏼

By the way, my roommate's name is Lada and she is incredibly nice, so I really lucked out when it comes to random roommate allocation!

And as for the degree of coldness, I was mistaken: it was cozy in Helsinki. In Seinäjoki, it is sometimes extremely unpleasantly cold. Fortunately, we only have to walk a maximum of 15 minutes to the most important things (university and supermarkets).

In the last few days, we have also had the funny situation that a lot of the snow has melted again due to above-zero temperatures, and beautiful slippery ice has formed. I slipped once since then, so now I'm being very careful overall. ☺️

Oh, and last week I had my first "lessons" in "Finnish Language in Culture," and although I won't be able to have real conversations in Finnish for a while, I can manage "thank you" (kiitos), "excuse me" (anteeksi), "hello" (hei, moi, or terve), and goodbye (hei hei, moi moi, or näähdään)! Oh, and the numbers, of course!

Another very important point for me: EVERYONE here is or has somehow been sick. Well, almost everyone. Many people. But so far, I'm doing well! A little scratchy throat, but I'm ignoring it for now!

Apart from that, a lot has happened, and I'm incredibly happy to be here!

I have attached a few pictures for your visual pleasure :))

Right now, I'm sitting on the train to Tampere and thought I'd do a little brain dump. We're going on a little day trip today!

I won't read through this whole thing again, so sorry for any spelling, typing, or other errors :)

Love you all!

Miri