Orientation...

After around 45 minutes on the bus (getting confused why cars were over taking us on the left hand side), we arrived at the train station, where we found some lockers to put our bags until we had time to collect our keys. Then we made our way to orientation, thoroughly tired from the journey. We arrived at the building, where we signed our names and began tours of various buildings and lectures, the final one in which we were split into our tutor groups. These people were to be our friends for the next few days as we acclimatised to the country. Laura, our tutor, was a Finnish third year Social Psychology student who was to show us around, how to get our student cards, library cards, travel cards etc... A long list to do indeed!

Once day one was finished we made our way back to the train station and then across the city to the accommodation office, where we received our keys. I opened the door to my room feeling like I wanted to die (40 hours awake helped). Once the initial euphoria of not having to carry 31 Kg of dead weight around with me, it dawned on me that I had forgotten a) my Ethernet cable to connect to the Internet, and b) I had no sheets for my bed. Needless to say, I spent the next two nights sleeping in a hoody with my towel over me. Funny, I know, but at the time not so much.

During the orientation I had made friends with some lovely people from many places, including Spain (with whom I am now re-learning Spanish - at the cost of a vice versa arrangement), Germany, Hungary, China, and Italy, and these formed the group with which we went to the first ESN (Erasmus Student Network) party. Pre-drinks of Finnish vodka and a whole load of 'I don't know what' formed a fantastic night out, the first of many I hoped. After hitting the bed at 3 am I awoke the next morning to the sound silence, that is Helsinki on the weekend.....