Autumn Arrives and Time Flies!
Helsinki
Well, so much for my goal to write here weekly! Not only has autumn very much come to Helsinki since I last wrote, but I think it might soon be replaced by the beginning of winter! The long summer that lasted pretty much all of September was certainly nice though, and I think it's meant that I've had a little longer to enjoy the beautiful, vivid oranges, yellows and reds of the trees. Not to mention that we've been lucky with the weather recently too, and there's been some really sunny days where the bright blue sky perfectly contrasts the trees below. I wish it would last longer, but it seems that everyday when I go out the trees have fewer and fewer leaves on them! I'm also still on the hunt for a bigger coat that doesn't make me look like the Michelin man when I wear it, but so far I've had little success. There's certainly a wealth of second-hand shopping to be had here though which is great! And I've already gotten a new jumper (albeit I bought it way back in September when it was still like 20 degrees out)!
Aside from admiring nature, which I have been doing quite a lot of (including my first Finnish forest experience, just in the Central Park though) and second-hand shopping, I also took part in the 'Fuksiseikkailu' or Fresher's Adventure! This was just before autumn arrived, so in hindsight quite a while ago, but it was super fun! We went around the city as a team completing tasks at stalls for different student organisations. All whilst in fancy dress, of course (and whilst enjyoing some lonkeroja...).
Aside from this, I've been pretty busy with academic stuff, which feels odd to say consdiering the work load here is a lot lighter than back home. Also I can't say that the modules are as intellectually challenging either, so I've been feeling guilty and annoyed at myself for spending so much time on things that not only don't really matter that much (at least not compared to other things I could/should be doing), but also that just aren't very interesting or relevant to me. It makes me feel like I wasted some opportunities late year to really make the most out of the academic opportunities I had, but on the flipside it's nice to have more time to reflect on what I find interesting. I'm also annoyed that I only took one module this past study period - it would've been nice to get as much out the way as possible! I did struggle to find anything that interested me though... hopefully the courses I picked for next study period will be interesting!
I think this blog post is probably long enough, so I'll leave it there. I'm also planning on adding some photos to it, but there's some technical hurdles to overcome first. In the meantime, I'm still thinking about the theme of 'places I already know I miss' and fleeting moments from my last post, again because of the rapidly-disappearing autumn leaves. But further discussion of that is a topic I'll return to (hopefully) soon! See you then, and in the meantime - keep trotting!