Induction day 1 & 2

Day 1:

On Thursday it finally began. The first day of induction, meeting the other exchange students for the first time and finally taking a look around the campus of IT Sligo.

There are quite a lot of new exchange students coming from different countries such as France, Brazil, The United States and Italy. What surprised me though was the fact that about 80% of all the new exchange students were guys. Most likely due to the new international program for engineering or something like that. People seem really nice, though, so I'm sure we'll have no problem getting along and having a blast together.
On the first day we took a tour around campus, which is huge, I might add. I'm pretty sure I'll get lost on the first days of school. But at least all the buildings and centers for different programs are on the same area, which helps a lot. The campus seems really nice, there are a lot of different places for studying and/or just hanging out with friends. The library is big compared to my school's. And there are even some really comfy-looking lounges for students with sofas, music and things like that, if we for example want to take a break in studying.
I had lunch at the main cafeteria with some of the girls and I noticed one thing that Finland beats Ireland in hands down: school food. First of all, the school food was really expensive. Sure, if you went out to eat at a restaurant, the food wouldn't be that expensive, but for school lunch, something that you have to eat 5 times in a week at best, it's insanely expensive. And also mainly really unhealthy, foods like French fries, hamburgers and other fast food like that. Sure, there were salad alternatives as well, but they're a lot more expensive. Fast food is nice every now and then, but there's no way I could eat it on a weekly basis. So most likely I'll end up taking my own lunch with me to school. So it seems like it's one point for Finland and especially to its excellent school lunch.
In the evening, I went out with some of the exchange students I've met during the day and then we went to one of the local bars. It was a nice night, I got to meet some new people etc. Though I went home quite early cause the next day we would had the other day of induction and a trip to a waterfall. Or so I thought.

Day 2:

It was quite rainy when I walked to campus on Friday morning. But since we're in Ireland, so it's not surprising. Sadly, the planned trip to Glencar waterfall was cancelled due to the rainy weather. To a Finn who's used to hell of a lot worse than just a little rain it sounded rather weird to cancel the trip cause of the weather, especially when we're in Ireland, where yes, it does rain quite often. But oh well, at least we'll do the trip some other time. The waterfall is something I really really want to see while I'm here.
In the afternoon we got to take a look around the  Knocknarea Arena, a place where all the students of IT Sligo can do various sports with a reasonable price. The place was well-equipped with gym, a big gymnasium, soccer fields etc. Extremely good opportunities to do all kinds of sports, compared to my school at least.
In the evening I met up with the other Finnish girl here in Sligo and went to a goodbye party of some exchange student she knew. It was a fun night. Though in the beginning, we looked like the ultimate Finnish stereotype, with two Finns sitting by themselves at the table and all the others talking in big groups. But as the evening went on, we got to talking with some new people, even to a couple of Irish people. From the party we went to a night club that had a some sort of 90's theme party. Normally I'm not too big a fan of night clubs, but that club was actually a pretty good place, mostly due to the 90's music. All in all, it was a great night, perhaps the most fun I've had while I've been here in Ireland.
Tomorrow it'll be the first "real" school day for me, with actual classes. We'll see how lost I'll be at the campus. But considering that I haven't had actual classes since December, I'm actually really looking forward to them. And especially seeing what it'll be like to study in English in stead of Finnish. But I'll tell more about it all by the end of next week.

First impressions of Ireland

It's been almost a week since I arrived to Ireland and during this time, I've already noticed that this country is quite different from Finland in all aspects, I've experienced culture shocks (positive ones, though) and I've noticed that I really really like it here. So here are some of the things I've came across here, perhaps even a bit of a comparison between Ireland and Finland. So bare with me, this is gonna be one hell of a long post.

People:

You know what they say about the Irish people being friendly? Well, they're right about that! The people here are so incredibly and genuinely friendly. Finns aren't too talkative, we can come across as rude etc. etc. But here, it's the complete opposite. I've actually been greeted by total strangers on the street and at the grocery store. A thing that small, yet it feels so big for me. We never do that in Finland. Sadly.
And when I was trying to find a travel adaptor for my laptop, I tried on several different stores before eventually finding one. At one store, when I had asked if they had those and the answer was no, their reply was "So sorry love, we don't have them." Another shock for me. Till coming to Ireland, I had always thought that people referring to other people, even though they don't know them as `love´was just a British/Irish cliché, but I guess I was wrong. Even though for a Finn, hearing something like that from a complete stranger, may feel weird or a bit pushy even, I was surprised of how comfortable I was with it. And to be honest, I liked it even, it felt warm and friendly.
Another thing when I tried to find that adaptor was when I went to yet another store that didn't have them, there the cashier asked if I had visited some store (I had) and then he suggested yet another store, and I didn't even have to ask for it separately. And of course he gave me clear directions how to get to get there, when I explained that I don't know my way around the town too well yet. I don't think you'd get that much information from simply asking "Excuse me, do you sell. travel adaptors?"
So yeah, with people like that, it's so easy to feel like home in this country.

Ireland- expensive or cheap?

I'm gonna say, neither. The only good thing with Finland's high as fuck price levels, is that pretty much anywhere you go, you won't be shocked by the price levels. There aren't too many places  that are remarkably more expensive than Finland.
Sure, some things are more expensive here, but only a little. But even those differences are evened out by the products that are cheaper here than in Finland. Fruits and vegetables seem to be cheaper here, especially some more exotic fruits. But then things that are quite cheap in Finland, can be surprisingly a little more expensive in Ireland. Noodles are one example of that. And those are just a few examples of the price levels here.
The thing that surprised me was the amount and size of different stores in Sligo, especially when this town is quite small (less than 20 000 inhabitants) In Finland, if the town is small, usually the amount of stores is quite small and the selections at stores aren't too good. But in Sligo, there is without a doubt the best (and probably the biggest too) grocery store I've ever been to; Tesco. The selections are HUGE, there are at least 5 different kinds of pretty much any product. And the thing that might make the price levels a bit cheaper than in Finland, are Tesco's own cheaper versions of almost all products. Not to mention that the quality of them is really good. Not just some crappy, cheap products. So you can pretty much find anything at Tesco. The only question remains, why the hell can't we have this store in Finland too!

Climate

A lot of people have thought I'm weird for being so excited about the Irish weather, the usual reaction "but it's so grey and rainy there all the time" Sure, it's a little rainy. But compared to Finland, it's so refreshing to be surrounded by so much green in mid-January.So it really doesn't feel all that grey to me. And of course, with no snow nor minus degrees (yet anyway) the climate here is so much better and more tolerable than in Finland for someone who hates the snow and cold. And the days are a few hours longer here, it gets dark a little after 6 pm and it gets light around 8 am. It's not much, but anything for the few extra hours of daylight.
Even though it is rainy and it's "winter" here, the sun still shines quite a lot, compared to Finland. It's nice to see the sun after such a long time, cause sunlight during winter in Finland is so rare.
One thing I've noticed that the weather can change quite quickly. If you go out and at that moment it seems that it's not going to rain, it's still better take an umbrella with you, cause the weather can change really quickly. I learned that after a couple of times walking home from a grocery store without an umbrella, in pouring rain.
Temperature in Sligo is quite pleasant. So far the wind hasn't been too strong or cold, and with 3-9 degrees temperature, even I can say that it feels warm here. Though that might partially be due to the fact that it was about -20 degrees when I left Finland. We'll see if the weather starts to feel colder to me after a few weeks.

Living

I was preparing myself to the fact that regardless of the warmer than Finland climate, the flats in Ireland might be colder than the ones I've gotten used to in Finland. I was right about that. The common areas of my flat, especially in the beginning, were freaking freezing, even though all the radiators were on full power. But now that I've spent time here, it seems that I'm slowly getting used to the chillier room temperature, or then it just really takes a while till the flats start to get warmer. My own room has been nicely warm, though (thank god!), excluding the first cold night.
One interesting thing here are the faucets. Here there are different faucets for cold and hot water. And sometimes it feels like there are only two different water temperatures; cold as a corpse and hotter than hell. But after a while, I've gotten the hang of them. And at least the shower is modern, with hot water coming without having to wait for too long.

On Thursday, I'll meet the other exchange students for the first time. Something I'm really looking forward to. And after that, I'll most likely get to know the town more and will see some sights. But that'll be a whole new story, something I'll tell by the end of this week. So till then, bye!

"I'm going on an adventure!"

Yay, finally pulled myself together and started this blog. So off we go.

January 16th, 5 am, Helsinki-Vantaa airport. This is where it all began. Me, extremely tired, flying off to Ireland for 6 months. A dream come true really. Though this day was far from dreamy, it being one of the longest days of my life.

I was feeling a bit nervous on that day for I have never flown anywhere and now I would do it for the first time, and alone. But in the end everything went fine. I found my way around both the Helsinki-Vantaa and Oslo airport and everything. Everything was going really smoothly, a lot better than I had hoped, until my flight from Oslo to Dublin anyways. That flight was over an hour late. Sure, at the time I really didn't care cause I was going in and out of consciousness, but when I finally arrived to Dublin, the first thing went wrong. I found out that I had missed my bus to Sligo with just 20 minutes. This meant that I had to wait for the next bus for almost 3 hours. So I waited.. By then, I had already been up for about 30 hours and I was so beyond exhausted that I just sat at the bus stop in Dublin, not really moving anywhere. And then, when my bus finally arrived, oh boy the relief!

On the bus, I was supposed to sleep a little,but I couldn't. I was mesmerized by the gorgeous landscapes of Ireland. Now I knew why this country had the nickname `The Emerald Island.´ It was so lovely and green everywhere!

When I finally arrived to Sligo, it was such a relief and a pleasant surprise that my Irish landlord had come to pick me up from the bus station and to take me to my new flat. By the time we reached my flat, all I could think was "I'm here, at last. I made it." The first (and only so far) bit of a negative thing about Ireland was that the flat was kinda freezing. For my liking anyways. So the first night I slept with a cardigan, several socks, gloves and a scarf on, under a huge blanket. So much for Finns being hardcore when it comes colder temperatures, I guess.. Regardless of that though, I was incredibly happy to have finally made it to Sligo. And now, my adventure could really begin. This have only been a prelude for all things to come..