Turku, Finland

Moi! from Finland.  Much like Canada the weather here is quite cold (reaching -28 last week) and the snow is often and constant.  The only difference is that the weather doesn’t stop anyone from going about their day.  Both myself and the large group of friends I have made already (coming from other schools in Spain, Italy, Austria, France and even Fleming College) managed to go out on the town every week Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Being a student here you get perks and free entry to almost all clubs and pubs on those three days so partying is a huge part of our weekly lives.  I even took a day to go hiking in the city of Ruissolo where we ended the day ice swimming and relaxing in the sauna (the water was 0.5 degrees celsius and the sauna was 104).  However aside from all the fun, I’m having here, I still have to go to school.  The good news is I only have to go three days a week, the bad news is that it’s about 35 minutes by bus and 10 minutes walking, so my travel time exceeds the time I’m actually in a class.  All in all this trip can only get better with numerous events and other trips (Poland, Russia, Lapland and Estonia) being arranged almost monthly for exchange students.

Michael Tchoryk