Back in School!

      I suppose it is only natural to post about school, as I am here to study abroad. On Monday we began our day with an orientation with all the students participating in the summer study abroad program at JAMK University of Applied Sciences. There was around 70 or so students gathered, a rather large group! The director of the University shared with us the vision of the school and the fortunate opportunity we are experiencing as we are not only going to be meeting Finnish student, but students from all over the world who have come to study at the University. This University in particular prides itself as being an international university as it has many relations with different countries and other universities through out the world.
      We have found this to be true indeed! Yesterday as my group was on the bus traveling home we realized that we knew more people from different countries than we knew from Finland. We've met people from Argentina, Mexico, Vietnam, France, Japan, South Africa, Tennessee, Russia, Spain, Canada, Ecuador and Finland! Some of these people have come for the couple week summer program, others for 1 to 4 years of study and others came to study and after 8+ years others have discovered Finland to be their new home. Almost everyone we have talked to regardless of origin have spoken very highly of Finland as a country and a culture.
     Aside from the experience of meeting so many people, we are also experiencing Finnish classes. I am taking two classes which will reduce my workload for next semester by two classes. (YEAY! - No more crazy semesters!) My first class in Russian language and culture which is taught by a Russian teacher who has lived in Finland for many years. The emphasis of the class is actually learning Russian and understanding the culture of the country. The language is definitely difficult as there are many different characters and sounds which seem unfamiliar to a native English speaker. Our teacher understands that we are only in her class for 12 days, so there is a slightly reduced expectation as she wants us to understand what we can, instead of trying to understand everything. It has actually been fun sounding out letters and words with the other non-American students in the classroom. The emphasis on culture has also been enjoyable as she has shown us youtube clips of popular music groups and she will be talking about religion, food, clothing, education, politics and other aspects of the culture. I'm sure this class will make me want to go to Russia to explore the culture even more, guess I'll just have to add it to my very-long-short-list of places to go.
     My other class is Business Culture in Spain and Latin America which is also taught by a woman who moved to Finland from Mexico and over the years has married Fin and practically become Fin. The class is comparing Mexico, Spain and other Latin American business cultures to each other and the rest of the world. Today we talked about Mexico and the general practices they have in their business environment. The best part of the class so far is not only learning about the particular country, but asking for similarities and differences found in the other students countries. That type of experience is something we will only have in a school like this!
     These courses seem to be very fascinating so far and enjoyable. Unfortunately, all good things seem to have a price. Neither of these classes are without work, one is wanting a six page culture comparison paper and the other is wanting two five page individual papers and a twenty page group paper. Yikes! As I will be traveling each weekend to different places and these assignments are all due in two weeks at the end of the program, I will not have time for procrastination and should start writing real soon. It would seem summer break is over and we're back in school!!