Freitag, 25. Dezember 2009

Music

I played the viola in 2 orchestras and 1 string quartet and listened to some concerts. In this respect my life does not differ significantly from Germany ;-)

VIVO: In October I heard that the Finnish national youth orchestra needed still violas, got the notes only 3 days in advance and then there were 3 days of rehearsals and one big concert with the flying dutchman (fliegender Holländer/ lentävä hollantilainen), a Tschaikowsky symphony and songs by Mahler, thus a quite demanding program with few practices. The time was also too short to get to know the people well.

YLIOPISKUNNAN SOITTAJAT: The academic orchestra means more to me than the weekly rehearsals. Also nice free-time activities belong to it and it is my best opportunity to speak Finnish and get to know the Finnish life. The people are very nice and I felt welcome in the "altto" (viola) section. We played "Mathis der Maler" by Hindemith, ouverture and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde (Wagner) and a song by the Finnish composer Merikanto.

In contrast to the AOV (academic orchestra in Göttingen) we often just played through the pieces during the weakly rehearsals, but the rehearsal weekend was much more efficient. Then we also had lunch together and went to a bar in the evening.

The first concert took place in the big festive hall of the university, the second in a church in Tampere, so we made a day trip to another city. Unfortunately, both concerts were a bit unclean in the intonation, but all in all ok (AOV is better, though, I would say). However, a dinner or the bus trip after the concerts were both nice.

The orchestra is elaborately organized with lots of tasks for the members so that it works well. During the "syyskokous" (autumn assembly) all the functions were elected. The whole long meeting was of course in Finnish and I could not understand everything. We were supposed to write 2 names on a paper. There was only 1 paper with 1 name, I had written it, and everybody was laughing. Later somebody suggested me for "huivitoimikunta" and "kalustonhoitaja". I had no clue what that means and I did not even understand the explanation. Much later I found out that I am supposed to help with others to construct and prepare the concerts and tidy up afterwards. The other task is to prepare food on special orchestra events (highlight: christmas dinner).
It is nice to be integrated with some little task, but not as much to do as in the FSR in Göttingen!

STRING QUARTETT: Together with three others from YS we played as a string quartet "light music" while elegant people were eating from a buffet. We did not get any food :-( I had already missed playing some chamber music. But this one gig was not comparable to my string quartet in Hannover. I would like to find a chamber music ensemble in the spring term.

LISTENING: Living in the capital offers good opportunities to listen to good concerts. Outstanding was the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Schubert and Brahms in the tempeliaukiokirkko (church in the rocks). I was extremely lucky to get the very last ticket in the outsold concert :-) Once I also listened to my cousin Emil's concert in the music academy.

University

The fall term is already over in Finland because we started in September. I attended really interesting courses:

  • Introduction to Quantum Field Theory: basics for particle physics. The lecture was extremely good because Anca explained every detail.
  • Theoretical Particle Physics: this lecture does not exist in Göttingen so I am really happy that I could hear it in Helsinki. Masud did not show every step but gave a lot of motivation for the principles.
  • FYMM 3: advanced mathematical methods in physics. Very useful course where the applications of mathematical concepts were more important than their proofs, thus optimized for physics students.
  • Cosmology 1: I listened just for fun, but didn't follow this lecture seriously.
  • Suomi Jatkokurssi 2: Finnish continuation course where we didn't only study grammar like conditional passive and sentence equivalent participle and infinitive constructions, but also practiced speaking and learned a lot about Finland.

All courses included weekly homework as in Germany, but here the homework points contribute to 20-25% to the final grade. Some courses had midterm exams. The correction of the homework was not as strict as in Germany and another difference is that always the teaching assistant/ "Hiwi" (PhD student) presents the solution.

Most of the time the courses had a remarkably good didactical structure. I had been wondering if it becomes apparent also at university that Finland won the PISA test, but it seems indeed to be a country of education. Only in the beginning of the semester the courses started a bit slowly.

After 7 weeks there was a so called "period break", but I had 2 lectures and an exam and afterwards some free days. The second period also lasted 7 weeks. I appreciated this period break because in Göttingen I usually felt quite exhausted in the middle of the semester. While in Göttingen the exams were after Christmas, now all of them before.

  • disadvantage: 4 big exams within 9 days don't leave enough time to study everything thoroughly and prevent a bit the pre-Christmas atmosphere.
  • advantage: now 4 fully free weeks around Christmas are a very welcome time to relax and to travel :-)

Although a "Sie" exists in the Finnish language, it is hardly ever used (only very respectfully for elderly people). So it was rather strange in the beginning to address also profs by their first name and "du". A typical beginning of an email is then just "Hei," without any name.

Big update

So, now it's really time for the next big update. I won't list all events chronologically, but I will summarize the topics university, music, travelling, about Finland, pre-Christmas period, international life, Finnish, Germany.

Merry christmas!


Merry christmas/ hyvää joulua/ buon natale/ fröhliche Weihnachten to all readers of my blog!

Donnerstag, 17. Dezember 2009

Real winter


Snow with sunshine and up to -17°C are really nice :-)
p.s. I promise to update this blog in my holidays.

Dienstag, 13. Oktober 2009

Golden October

Today it was rather autumn than winter. See these colours:
But tomorrow there will probably be snow during the day and frost at night.
Especially on such a cold day it was nice to sit in a café with my two Finnish language partners Emmi and Laura talking about politics in Germany, winter in Finland, differences of courses at German and Finnish universities, this and that ... Next week we want to see a movie together at the German Film Festival in the Goethe institute! A good plan for cold and dark evenings :-)

WINTER!!

During the last days and weeks I enjoyed the autumn colours in beautiful sunshine, even though it was already quite cold.

But well equipped with frontlet, scarf and gloves biking is still a pleasure.

However, today we had the first SNOW! In October, unbelievable. Yet, it didn't remain on the ground, but melted immediately. One morning when I went running, some bridges and parts of the grass were already frozen.
Equinox has passed, so the days are shortening. From the beginning to the end of october the hours of daylight decrease from 11.5h to 9h. The minimum is reached at the 23.12. when here at 60° N the sun rises for 5:46h. In comparison Hannover (52° N) has then 7:40h of daylight. So the difference is not as big as I had feared.
Imagine what is the best you can do on a cold winter evening in Finland?! Of course, sauna! Our students' apartments house has its own sauna and today was the women's turn. I went there with my two French flatmates. That was great. According to the house rules we are actually not allowed to wear any swimwear in the sauna due the chemicals in it like chlorine. But it is possible to cover oneself with a towel. That's what we did, but all the others wore bikinis. So we'll probably also do it next time. But I think the real Fins go to the sauna naked, we exchange students on the contrary don't.

Helsinki

Lena and Alissa stayed here for 3 days. They were the first who visited me here, but hopefully not the last ones! We found out that it is possible for 3 persons to sleep in my 10.5 m² room.

We visited the Russian-Orthodox church, the white cathedral ...

... and one modern church which was built into a rock! Light enters the church through glass windows in the cupola.
The second largest fleet of icebreakers in Europe is positioned in one of the harbours of Helsinki. They are really impressive! Their names are for example VOIMA (force), SISU (persistence) and URHO (bravery).

Furthermore, we ate lots of porridge with blueberry soup, played Doppelkopf with my cousin Emil and Lena and Alissa visited even some lectures. Since their departure I have started to study diligently again ... But in 2 weeks we have one "free" week, i.e. only one maths exam and two lectures because one professor who is now at conference had the "brilliant" idea to postpone the lecture to our holidays.


Another boat trip

Fortunately I didn't need to leave from Sweden alone, but Alissa and Lena joined me :-) From the ferry we could see Stockholm in another perspective.
Compared to my boat trip from Travemünde we had quite high waves! But we survived the tour and had the deck outside nearly for ourselves alone.
Alissa and me (sometimes we have been taken for sisters):

Lena and me, inseparable flatmates:

In the next morning we approached Helsinki! Before arriving we passed the fortress Suomenlinna on an island.


During the passage the waves were ok for me, but when I left the ferry, everything around me was still wobbling and wavering. This state lasted for 3 days...


Stockholm

It was the official Swedish "Day of the Cinnamon Bun" (kanelbulle) when we went to Stockholm where we enjoyed them in a café :-)

There are beautiful colourful houses in Gamlastan, the old part of the town. Two years ago I took nearly the same picture: with Regina instead of Lena...


This Svenska Akademia contains the Nobel museum:

Sweden is still a monarchy and we could observe a ceremony in front of the castle with soldiers and the brass orchestra.














Montag, 12. Oktober 2009

Weekend in Sweden: Uppsala

2 hours from Köln to Stockholm Arlanda - I didn't go back directly to Helsinki, but Alissa and I visited Lena, my previous and sadly missed flatmate from Göttingen who studies now in Uppsala. Leaving the plane, I was shocked by the 8°C after t-shirt temperatures in Germany! Lena showed us the pretty town: river, nice café, old library, big cathedral...
In the evening there was a party in her corridor.
















On the second day we went hiking in a wild forest. For our picknick we even found a fire place! We crossed black water over wooden planks, found some blueberries and got quite wet in the rain. But it was a great trip into the beautiful nature!


















1 week in Köln

Our theoretical paricle physics seminar group met for the fourth time and during this week we learned a lot about supersymmetry. In fact, we have become a "sgroup" ;-) (insider for physicists). In our (little) free time had a guided tour through Köln in the evening, visited the cathredral (Kölner Dom) where we spotted amazing details like a fireman and a steinbock (this word is indeed the same in German and English) on the facade! Of course we also climbed on 533 steps to the tower.



Weekend in Hannover/ Göttingen


I spent the weekend in Hannover where I met my family and many friends. I also went with Alissa to Göttingen. One day before the election of the Bundestag the politing parties were still presenting themselves at the market place. The first picture shows whom Alissa and I met in Göttingen, the second is from Hannover.
Conveniently, I was in Hannover on the 26.09. so that I could vote personally. Afterwards I travelled to Köln.


2 hours in Riga

All I knew about Riga before was from the thriller by Henning Mankell: "Die Hunde von Riga", but my 2 hours at the airport of the Latvian capital were not as frightening as described in the book.
First of all, the main reason for my journey back to Germany was a kind of "holiday course" about supersymmetry in Köln (in Germany they still have their semester break), but I combined it with many other trips and meetings.
And then why Riga if I was travelling to Germany? Well, on Friday 25.9. I flew with Air Baltic and had to change flight in Riga. During the 1 hour from Helsinki I could see the Gulf of Finland and Estonia. Although Latvia has the currency Lats, I could pay a coffee at the airport in Euros and got the change in Lats. I read in a magazine in the plane that they want to introduce the Euro in 2 years.

The sight on the second flight from Riga to Hannover was so good that I could see the sparsely inhabited countryside of the Balticum and even the narrow headland near Kaliningrad (Königsberg). Yes, Helsinki is not only far in the north, but also in the east.

Finally I arrived at lunchtime at home.

Orchestra rehearsals

After the first orchestra rehearsal I had even more the feeling to have really arrived here. The people in my orchestra (Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat) are very nice and I try to speak only Finnish there. Luckily my viola neighbour studies German, so she can help me when I don't understand everything.
I thought every Finnish orchestra would play Sibelius (most famous Finnish composer) regularly, but in this term we play music by exclusively German composers: Wagner and Hindemith with German indications like "Sehr langsam" ;-)

big update

After nearly one month it is really time now for a big update! Some routine came to my everyday life and lots of homework belongs to every week. But in between I travelled to Germany and Sweden :-) So I have enough now to write about...

Dienstag, 15. September 2009

Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat

This is the name of the orchestra I applied for, it means Musicians of the Students Union. I thought it was more or less similar to the AOV in Göttingen. But when I arrived at the audition in the Vanha Ylioppilastalo (old students house), I had to fill in an application sheet in Finnish, answering questions about myself, my motivation for this orchestra, my previous orchstra experience and even if I study my instrument and had taken any viola exams. At first I didn't even understand some questions, but someone helped me.
Many violinists and violoncello players were practicing in the room for warming up, but I was the only violist. Before I started playing, I was asked several questions in Finnish, e.g. why I had a Finnish name. However, the people were nice and they told me that I should come tomorrow to the first rehearsal :-)

I am really happy to have the possibility to play the viola here and I hope to get to know nice Finnish students in the orchestra!

Finnish course

During the breakfast Corinna (my second Italian flatmate) and I noticed that we had registered for the same Finnish course! It started today. We are 25 persons from many countries in the course. The teacher who speakes a very clear and understandable Finnish is quite nice. She gave us lots of homework and the next lesson is tomorrow in the morning, so I have study a bit now...

Nuuksio Kansallispuisto























Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund (the early bird gets the worm) - we got up early and reached Nuuksio nationalpark (http://www.luontoon.fi/page.asp?Section=5131) near Espoo after one hour by local train and bus. The sunshine was particularly beautiful in the morning. From the bus stop we had to walk 2 km, but the air smelled already so Scandinavian and I found the first blueberries and strawberries and collected them like the "Children from Bullerby" on a grass stalk. At the entrance of the national park there was an information point where we asked which hiking route was the best. The woman answered "all". So we chose at first the yellow one (7km), along several calm lakes, forests, bridges, planks, blueberries.


Whoever goes hiking with me, will notice quickly that I am blueberry-addicted! We had picknick on a rock. In my opinion bread with cheese tastes approximately 5,000,000 times better outside in the wild nature than at home!
Afterwards we walked on a steep path (green, 2km) and the red one (2km). Many people were there to collect not only blue- and cranberries, but also buckets full of mushrooms.
This was such a great trip! We didn't see squirrels, but we heard and saw a woodpecker (Specht) knocking on a tree trunk.
When I came home, my flatmate Anne-Sophie prepared a lasagne for our flat and I made pancakes with blueberries.










Montag, 14. September 2009

Seurasaari








My weekend was really like holiday in Finland :-) I was outside in the nature nearly all the time. On Saturday, 12.09. I cycled to Seurasaari together with my neighbours Jan and Manu from the flat above mine. We live in the capital but it took less than half an hour to reach this beautiful, bicycle-free island.
We left our bikes at the mainland and entered the island via a wooden pedestriants' bridge. Walking around the island, we met many confiding squirrels. They were so cute!! I wanted to feed them with blueberries and they came interestedly to my hand, but finally they didn't want to eat them. Therefore they climbed upwards on our legs!
An outdoor museum of old Finnish wooden houses is also located on this island. There were even people wearing traditional clothes.
We rested on seaside bluffs, partly with a view on idyllic watersides and partly on factories at the other side. So we were aware that we were still in an urban region. We experienced the untouched nature on Sunday!


Music

One advantage of living in the capital is that there are lots of cultural events like several orchestras and theaters here. Last week on Thursday I went spontaneously to a concert of the Helsingin Kaupunginorkesteri (Stadtorchester) with my cousin Emil. They played a piano concerto by the Estonian contemporary composer Arvo Pärt and additionally the first symphony by Johannes Brahms which I had played in Göttingen in the AOV three years ago! So listening was a special pleasure :-)

Tomorrow I will have an audition for the students orchestra Ylioppiskunnan Soittajat. I have been practising Bach and Brahms in the last time and today I played for my flatmates and our neighbours from upstairs as a final rehearsal.

After the audition I want to search for a viola teacher. I really miss the viola lessons! But in this city is so much music that I am confident to find someone.

I was thinking about joining a choir, but then I noticed myself (!) that it would be a bit too much program if I also wanted to study, learn Finnish, play the viola, travel through Finland, spend time with my flatmates,... Consequently I didn't go to any choir rehearsal.

Orientation

On Thursday I took part in an orientation rallye in the city centre for the new physics freshmen (many) and exchange students (few). So this was a good opportunity to get to know some "native Fins".
The motto of the orientation -organised by Resonanssi - was Monopoly: In groups we had to find several streets and places which occur in the Finnish monopoly game. There the tutors had prepared funny games and tasks for us. Afterwards there was a nice party.

Courses

Last Tuesday (8.9.) the courses started. I take part in quantum field theory, theoretical particle physics, mathematical methods and cosmology. But the first week was quite relaxed since the exercise sessions and some lectures begin only this week. On the other hand, we had already homework in the first week.
In the first lesson every teacher asks if there is anybody who wishes the course to be held in English. That is good. But I would also like to participate in a Finnish seminar, unfortunately I haven't received an answer yet.
Tomorrow my Finnish course will start: 6 hours per week!

Opening Ceremony

The academic year started solemnly on Monday 7th with an Opening Ceremony in the huge hall of the university. The professors proceeded into the hall while the Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat (students orchestra) were playing the Andante festivo by -of course- Sibelius (the most famous Finnish composer). Three speeches were given about the university reform in Finland (this year there is a big change in the university politics to more independence), the connection of tutkimus ja opetus (research and teaching) and democracy in universities. Between the speeches more music was played.
In the afternoon there was the Opening Carnival - no carneval like in Venice, but plenty of students organisations were presenting themselves. There are e.g. political groups, associations of students from the different regions of Finland and groups for the departments. I joined Limes and Resonanssi, which organize parties, games, orientation rallyes, sauna events for physics students. Addionally I got my ESN card (Erasmus Student Network) so that I can take part in their trips for example to Lapland and St Petersburg.
Later free wine and pizza were offered in the university main building. Furthermore some chamber music was performed. I asked 3 students with violin cases (in Finnish :-) ) if their orchestra needed still violists. Yes, they do,so I will have my audition as an entrance exam for Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat on Tuesday. Let's see...

Jyväskylä

Last weekend (5./6. september) I visited my relatives in Jyväskylä. I went 300km by train to the north together with my cousin Emil. It was really nice to be in Jyväskyllä again, see my uncle, aunt and cousins, pick red- and blackcurrants in the garden for a milkshake,... We came back by car because Emil moved from Jyväskyllä to Helsinki.
From the train and car I could already see beautiful lakes and forests, but more about the Finnish nature 1 week later!

Sonntag, 13. September 2009

Dilemma

For me writing a diary or a blog is a dilemma: Whenever I experience a lot, I don't have time to write it down. But the other way around, when nothing happens, I have time, but nothing to report...
My last week was full of events!

Mittwoch, 9. September 2009

Finnish

The finnish language is so difficult:-( But I try to use it as often as I can. Today I took a placement test for a continuation finnish course. But I wasn't able to negate the konditionaali (the finnish language doesn't only have 15 grammatical cases, but they also conjugate the negation particle as a verb)...
I also take part in the ALICE program: Academic Language and InterCultural Exchange. German and Finnish students teach each other their language and culture! Because there were more interested Finnish students, I have now two nice Finnish tandem partners. Laura studies German and Emmi studied in Berlin during the last year so that both of them are extremely good at German and we can discuss about complicated topics. On the other hand, they will teach me Finnish and talk with me about simple topics of the Finnish life. Tomorrow we are going to meet in a café for the first time and I am looking forward to practicing Finnish and learning about the culture in such a relaxed and self-determined way :-)

Erasmus

The orientation week is finished now. But the tutor program will continue. Our tutor Mikko takes care of the international physics students. He showed us the different campuses, explained important things and yesterday we even had a discussion session about "cultural shocks" which may appear while living abroad. Now we aware that the so-called "honeymoon" phase (during which everything in the foreign country seems so fabulous) might be followed by a depression, loss of identity, homesickness,... due to non-understanding of the other culture. Well, I will see... So far I have been enjoying the start in Finland very much!

ERASMUS - commonly associated with lots of parties: yes, of course also here are many of them. However, the beer costs 4 euros and the music isn't always so good, but therefore extremely loud.
Further on, I like living in the international students' hostel. I usually have dinner with my nice flatmates and we often have visitors from other flats.

Dienstag, 8. September 2009

Food


Yesterday I baked traditional Finnish PULLA with lots of cardamom and cinnamon :-)
I am really delighted with the mensa food: It is tasty, healthy and you can take as much salad, whole-grain bread, water, rice, potatoes, noodles as you want and one glass of milk or juice is also included. In Finland there are 3 kinds of milk: rasvaton (fat-free), kevyt/ ykkös (low-fat with 1%) and täys (full-fat with 3%). While the former tastes like water, the latter (in a red package) is considered as the "evil" milk...

Helsinki








Please notice the blue sky on all of these photos. It wasn't added artificially, but aurinko paistaa Suomessakin :-) (The sun also shines in Finland.) But sometimes it rains heavily. I don't know how it is in Germany at the moment, but here some trees start changing colour already.
The famous white cathedral can be seen from everywhere, also when you leave Helsinki by boat. The first picture shows Esplanadi, a nice street with trees, flowers and noble shops connecting the city centre and the harbour.
I am really happy to have my bike here. Not only because I save a lot of money by cycling (the tickets are quite expensive - as everything here), but I also feel more "at home" here when I can go everywhere independently by bike. And I see more of the city, for example I can sometimes use cylce paths through green areas. But especially close to the city cycling is no pleasure since there are not always bicycle lanes and cars often don't respect the bikers' rights... Here in Finland most bikers wear helmets.
You can find rocks in the middle of the capital at several places! The urban image is also characterised by lakes, bays of the baltic sea and the harbour from where you can often feel a steef breeze.

Update of the last week

Now it is time for an update of my blog. Lots of things happened during the last week. From now on I will try to write my posts in English. In the following I will report shortly about: Helsinki, the university, the opening ceremony, Erasmus, my steps in Finnish, food and a trip to Jyväskylä.

Mittwoch, 2. September 2009

Eindrücke

Ich fasse mal meine Eindrücke über Finnland und das Erasmus-Programm aus den letzten zwei Tagen zusammen:
  • Mit dem Abhol-Service, Willkommens-Paket, der Orientierungswoche, Informationsbroschüren, Tutor-Gruppen,... scheint das Erasmus-Programm sehr gut organisiert zu sein!

  • Überhaupt macht das Leben in Finnland einen ziemlich geordneten Eindruck auf mich. Das geht allerdings auch mit viel Bürokratie einher. Schon bei der Bewerbung und jetzt auch vor Ort muss viel Papierkram erledigt werden. Alles ist genau beschrieben. Aber ebenfalls auch, was passiert, wenn man sich an die Regelungen nicht hält...

  • "Du gehst nach Finnland, ist es da nicht zu kalt??" - Allen Vorurteilen zum Trotz war heute im September nochmal Spätsommer: Bei strahlenden Sonnenschein konnte man im T-Shirt draußen sein.


  • Finnische Spezialitäten sind toll! Meinen Einkauf von Blaubeersuppe, Piroggen, Lakritz und Viili habe ich sehr zufrieden fotografiert.


Sprachen

Hier sind Erasmus-Studenten aus der ganzen Welt. Natürlich wird viel Englisch gesprochen. Aber ich habe schon viele italienische Studenten kennen gelernt, mit denen ich gerne mein Italienisch übe. Allerdings habe ich bisher noch nicht so viel Finnisch gesprochen, was mir auch noch sehr schwer fällt. Einen Platz im Finnischkurs zu ergattern, ist wohl nicht so leicht. Trotzdem werde ich morgen mal zum Uni-Hauptgebäude in die Innenstadt fahren und versuchen, mich für einen Kurs einzuschreiben.

Orientierungswoche



Heute ging die Orientierunswoche für ausländische Studenten mit Informationsvorträgen über die Uni, die naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Sprachkurse und über lebenspraktische Hinweise los. Es mussten auch einige Formulare ausgefüllt werden. Der Eingang des Studentenbüros ist bemerkenswert schön, mit Bänken und Blumen.
Die Uni besteht aus mehreren Kampus, von denen der naturwissenschaftlich -wie in Göttingen- im Norden der Stadt auf einem Hügel liegt. Mein Weg dorthin führt durchs Grüne. Glücklicherweise habe ich auf dem Schiff mein Fahrrad aus Deutschland mitgenommen, sodass ich hier gleich losfahren kann. Die Physik-Fakultät heißt "Physicum", die Mathe "Exactum" ;-) Die Gebäude sind modern und schön. In der Mensa gibt es sehr gesundes Essen und man kann so viele Beilagen, Brot, Salat und Wasser nehmen, wie man möchte.













Wohnen

Im internationalen Studentenwohnheim wohne ich in einer Wohnung zusammen mit zwei französischen und einer italienischen Studentin. Das Haus ist architektonisch nicht so herausragend schön, aber meine Mitbewohnerinnen und die Nachbarn sind sehr nett! Das Wohnheim hat sogar eine eigene Sauna. Um mein möbliertes, aber schlicht eingerichtetes Zimmer mit dem Nötigsten auszustatten, bin ich gleich am ersten Tag zu IKEA gefahren. In Helsinkis Umgebung gibt es zwei IKEAs, zu denen kostenlose Shuttle-Busse fahren.





Ankunft


Am 30.8. bin ich abends an Board der MS Finnstar gegangen. Dieses kombinierte Fracht- und Personenschiff hat mich nach einer entspannenden, 27-stündigen Fahrt über die Ostsee sicher von Travemünde/ Lübeck nach Helsinki gebracht.

Dort hat mich am 1.9. früh morgens freundlicherweise eine finnische Erasmus- Tutorin abgeholt und mir mein Willkommens-Infopaket samt Wohnungsschlüssel mitgebracht. Nachdem ich bei der Wohnheimsverwaltung alles unterschrieben hatte, bin ich endlich mit meinem vielen Gepäck in mein 10,5 m² Zimmer eingezogen.