Starting the adventure and the blog

            When I write I always find that the beginning is always the most difficult part – even for a blog such as this. Since beginnings can be demotivating I have committed to simply jumping right in and catching you up to my journey as I go along. Feel free to be a part of my travel log over the next few weeks as I write down my experiences.

            Today my adventure has begun with two of the four flights leading up to my final destination – Jyvaskyla, Finland. For the first three weeks of my trip I will be doing a study abroad program in a Finnish University with a couple other San Jose State students and other international students. I will be taking two classes, both largely focused on business and culture in European countries. One class claims we will be learning a little bit of Russian, so I tried to give my self a head start and checked out a ‘learn-Russian-while-you-drive’ cd and quickly realized that leaning Russian was going to be humorous, if nothing else! While I’m in Jyvaskyla I’ll be staying in some nice looking apartments only a short bus ride away from the University. Our group will have tutors who we have already been introduced to on facebook, who will be responsible for planning activities for us during the day and helping us transition into the Finnish lifestyle. During this part of my trip I will also have the opportunity to go on a couple of weekend trips to nearby countries. I am certainly looking forward to Finland and the study abroad experience!!

           

            The next part of my adventure will start midway through June where I will fly into Istanbul, Turkey to meet up with my parents and some other friends from my church. The majority of this trip will be educational and spiritual. We will be spending time with some missionaries we support (I’ll refer to them as Jack and Jill to protect their identity), while learning how they use prayer as a major component in their ministry. Throughout this trip we will also be traveling all over the country of Turkey to spend as much time as possible learning about the culture and the history of the country.

After about 14 hours of flying, I reached Istanbul where I took a cab to my hotel and spent the night. I figured that I would be fine with the time change because I had not had a whole lot of sleep over the last couple of weeks. I was right, I pretty much slept for 13 hours straight. I had a very nice breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and I will be heading off in about an hour to check into the airport. Once I reach my next destination I will meet up with several of my classmates and we’ll be on the last flight together. I am very much looking forward to seeing familiar faces!!