The 20th and 21st of March 2016 letter entries

 

Sunday, 20th March 2016

Dearest Friend,

Once I got full confirmation about being accepted for the Erasmus programme and was eligible for the Erasmus Grant (which covers all travel expenses and includes enough spending money to triple the actual trip) I then got ready to pack. In the end, I got my preferred placement in Finland – which was fantastic news and made me really happy.


As the plan was to go over as a group of media students, to explore a variety of working roles in media production, TV and Film, we were set a group assignment to take turns in updating diary extracts of the unique positions we were all given on a blog relating the whole Erasmus experience online. 

To best make this happen, we each agreed that the five of us would update the blog by taking turns, depending on the given day; to write what we make of our working plans and activities, and to conclude if the results reached our best standards. 

To end, we would also add videos or pictures of our group dynamic mixing with the other students that we would be working with here in Finland – doing film work, editing and sound technician, and journalistic techniques by recording interviews with sources of our task, and also receiving data from many of the teachers in certain fields of media. 

This task given by GTI, and instructed by Grainne, would later be evidence of attendance and efforts of work to certify us for doing the Erasmus programme, so we understood that updating the blog was highly important through this experience.


On Sunday, 13th March we departed Dublin at 9:50a.m. and arrived in Helsinki (Finland’s capital city) at 14:50p.m., so the plane journey was three hours long. When having got there, we got a private bus which brought us to our destination; a desolated town called Pori that’s located near a frozen lake.


Even though we’re approaching the budding month of April, in Finland the atmosphere has been very winterly and cold. For instance, since I got here it’s been snowing down and the pavements outdoors are covered in snow; it sticks to the ground very quickly here. 

Not like Ireland, where it mostly snows and rains pretty much the same time and results in sleet – so the snow hardly ever sticks.


Already I get the feeling that Finland would be the perfect place to go winter camping; during the long bus journey to Pori we passed many large and spread out woodlands, and apparently many Finnish people go ice-fishing – which sounds fascinating… 

What I did find hard to comprehend (I don’t know if it was a joke or not) is that many people hunt and eat polar-bears…!


Everything about this place has been mesmerizing for me so far. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that we can even gaze up at the northern lights some nights. 

For me and my Irish peers this has always been a delightful sight – but most Finnish people find it so daily that their used to the Aurora Borealis atmosphere, which makes sense but every time I catch a glimpse at it above it always stirs a delight with me inside!


I suppose you should know that I am staying in separate quarters from my Irish friends. This wasn’t the initial plan, as one member from my class was meant to be my roommate, but apparently, he had an awful breakdown and wasn’t able to make the Erasmus trip. At least he is seeking help and is getting rest back home. 

My teammates and I all sympathize with his absence and hope for the best… 

One of our instructors came to speak with me personally once I was settled into my quarters, and he said he understood if I was unsettled with the change of plan and wanted to try working out a way to stay in the hostel with the others, if I wanted. 

I thought long and hard about that, and I decided on staying put. I find it cosy here, and I know I got better standards of accommodation compared to the hostel, so I think I made the right choice!

Yours, Jay.


Monday, 21st March 2016

Dearest Friend,

I definitely think I made the right choice in regard to my living quarters. 

It’s a nice bungalow styled apartment with four basic rooms of necessity; the dining room as you walk in the door with a side table and two tall stools that is beside another door, but that large room is private and used for language lessons. 

Opposite my mini “suite” there is another building for activities such as gym work and dancing, as well as that the house is used as a fancy, financial-worthy hostel for tourists. I also have a small kitchen right next to my fancy toilet and shower room, which is styled like you’d find typical in cabin woods or expect in a wooded sauna. 


The shower is very different than the type and style I have at home, where it’s supported by a closing shower door or is connected to the bathtub, to avoid the splashes of water flooding the floor/room. 

But the shower provided here, and I’m sure tradition to Finland’s style and plumbing, is more exposed for the whole bathroom floor; there is no need for protection against water, the tiles slant more inward in the centre so the flowing down amounts used for shower water reach the drain perfectly.


After my long and busy day of travelling, and later settling into my new place, I barely gave notice for the change in conditions here. 

Not in a bad way, I mean in a very interesting way. Before going to bed on my first night, I rushed to the shower without even thinking. And so I began undressing and later scrubbing my body, without giving much thought on my surroundings. I guess the hot water caught me out of whatever daze I was in and made me more alert. 

I looked down at my feet and seen that the water from my shower was going outside of my reach and towards the toilet where another drain was. 

Not until closer inspection did this actually occur to me as normal. In the spur of the moment, I thought I created a close disaster!


When I finished having my shower, I found the mop which I’m sure is provided for whenever unnecessary puddles are found, so I was very relieved to have that save… 

Once I tidied up the “mess” and got dressed, I actually found that the whole change of living here as pretty cool. Ever since that discovery, I’m on the look-out for more creative ways of living, and so far I have a few ticks noted!


Then there is the bedroom, which is really something. It’s medium sized; with two single beds, an office desk for study, a couch and coffee table, as well as a mini plasma television, and also a room temperature system… So, I’m pretty lucky! 😊

Yours, Jay.

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