The Life of Finnish College Students...

After my three weeks of Pubic Health Clinical, I headed back to the university (MAMK= Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences) this week for a final group presentation and a test. Yippee. I actually really missed being at the school. I really like the university and the system and all that comes with it. For example, Finnish students have a subsidized hot lunch that they can get for 2.60 euros, and since I'm an official student here, I get it too. It may seem like a lot to pay, but it's buffet style and all the food is made at the school each day. They even make their own homemade bread. I die for that stuff! And I missed it while I was away at clinical. It's the little things in life...

Clearly the bread is my favorite...it's the first thing I eat everytime :)

I ate it all. sorry not sorry. 

Finnish students also don't have to pay for their tuition fees. It comes from the taxes and education in universities for bachelors and masters degrees are entirely paid for. In the bachelor's programs, the students even get a monthly stipend to help pay for housing costs. The students say that it doesn't cover all their costs, but it's pretty close. Some do have part time jobs that they pick up, but in comparison to the thousands of dollars of student loans we take out in the US, that seems like nothing! I can't help but think about how nice it is do be a student here. I don't think I would be in any hurry to graduate actually :)

A fun thing we did this week was an event called "Jääice."

 It was a winter sports activity and party that the school puts on each year. There are different competitions, sled racing on the ice, broomball, curling.

Getting ready to race with my Hungarian friend, Zofie. 

Yay! :) 

 They also had ice skating that we tried out. Unfortunately it was sleeting so it was hard to skate on the ice, but we had lots of fun with the sleds and just being the crazy looking foreign students. (The Finnish students came for the broomball...we came to try everything so we really stood out!!) 

They also had the most amazing hot dog sausages. So good!

Yes yes I know...these helmets...

Let's just say we knew we were setting a fashion statement.

Another cool thing that's happening right now is that each year in February, Savonlinna hosts an ice sculpture festival at the castle. This week was the preparation week where they carve everything. I first noticed something was up when I saw the ice slide in the market square! The public was allowed to go early this week to meet the carvers and see what they are working on. I met an American who comes every year to the festival from Philadelphia. I was really excited to hear that there was an American here...I hope I didn't sound too excited when I just walked up and said "Hi, I hear you're from the States." What I meant was, "please talk to me" :) The carvers have this week to make their sculptures, and then they are judged on Saturday. They will stay at the castle on display until they melt, which may actually be very soon because the weather has not even been below freezing recently.

Here are the beginning stages:

Celebrating Savonlinna's 375th birthday!

Beginning stages of the competition

Lastly, we had our final exam today for my Community and International Nursing class. I was happy to note that my study habits haven't really changed much even when I'm thousands of miles away from home. I still find time to procrastinate as much as I possibly can (I started studying last night), getting distracted (this time by a new book that I'm reading), and staying up so late and waking up early to finish studying leaving me so tired. But the test actually was pretty easy for me because it was in my own language and because I've taken Community Nursing back at BYU. The other students thought it was more difficult because it was in a foreign language for them, and they actually got to do it in pairs. I had to do it alone...though I had lots of people say they would be my partner :)

Sirkka and Sirpa, our two nursing professors

Before the test we had a little party, just to celebrate and have an excuse to bring foods from all of our different countries. So many types of foods. Some delicious (like the berry cake) and some not (rye pudding).

During the party we sat and watched the olympics. It was very tense in the room when we watched Finland ski for their first gold medal! It was very exciting, and since US was in 8th place, I felt ok cheering Finland on. They deserved it :)

 I'm proud to say my chocolate chip cookies were a hit :)

There are lots of fun things coming up that I'm really excited to share. Tomorrow I'm giving a presentation in a Kerimäki high school about Mormons, and Sunday night I'm leaving for Lapland and the Santa Claus village for a few days! So stay posted :)