NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!

Yesterday evening we finally saw the famous Northern lights that we have all been hoping to see while we are in Finland. It was predicted that the "aurora activity" would be very high on Monday and Tuesday (today), so at 9:30pm a group of us walked down to the lake...it was -20 degrees!!
At the lake we were rather disappointed as the Northern lights were very weak and we couldn't see much activity. We tried to take some photos, Batek (from Poland) was there with his tripod always ready to take photos of everything...We stayed for about 20 minutes and then to returned to our warm flats...

We decided to "drown our sorrows" in Amy's flat, eating the left over milktart, rice-cake and vanilla cream cake from the tea party the day before.
But there was still hope...

We have a "northern lights alert system" in our flat...Wolfi who stays on the top floor of the building has a perfect view of the sky and northern light activity...so whenever northern lights are detected I recieve a skype message "nordlichter!!!!" from him...then I pass on the skype message to as many people as I can and we gather in his flat, and stare out his bedroom window...

Later that evening I receive a "nordlichter!!" alert from Wolfi so I run upstairs...we look out his bedroom door and see the most amazing sight...green and white northern lights...moving all the time into different shapes...YIPPPPEEEE!!! finally... Photograher: Wolfgang Weiss

Photographer: Wolfgang Weiss

Tea Party!

We arrive back at the university (after lunch at Rainer and Leila's house) at 4:45pm, and we immediately head to Amy's flat to attend a Tea Party (which already started at 4pm). When we arrive we quickly put our apple cake (which was in the fridge overnight) in the oven to heat up. The table in the kitchen is crowded with every time of cake imaginable. The idea of the tea party was to bring a cake or sweet dish from your home country. Petra and I try and taste every type of cake, and we make sure we don't miss one! but it turns our our eyes are bigger than our stomachs and by the end of the tea party we feel rather full and there is no need to prepare anything for dinner!
Chatting and eating, and eating...and eating...and eating...and eating (in the photo from left, Michelle (North Carolina, Amy (SA), Sophie (France), Ceylon (Hong Kong), Dora (Germany), Daniel (Germany), Barbara (Prague), Petra and Wolfi)
Wolfi, after having too much cake (suffering from a "sugar high") hehe...
Our AMAZING apple cake!
Some more cake...

After the tea party a group of us decide to go ice-skating, as we are all suffering from "sugar highs" from eating too much cake! We go ice-skate at 6:30pm, in -20 degrees weather!! brrrrrrrrrr, it is cold but we make sure to ice-skate extra first to keep ourselves warm. Later on we start a snow fight with huge chunks of snow that we break off from the side of the ice rink...my ice-skating has improved considerably while I have been here and I am able to skate at quite a fast pace...which is much more fun especially if you are dodging huge chunks of snow that is being thrown at you...

Finnish church service

Today I decided to attend a Finnish church service. Daniel made arrangements to go with his Kummi family to the 10am church service so I decided to go along. I was very curious to experience a Finnish church service and to compare it to our church services back home. At 9:40, rather tired and in need of more sleep, Daniel and I walk down to the Lutheran Church which is situated on campus, just a 5min walk from our flat. It is a beautiful sunny (but icy) morning, I checked the thermometer before we leave (we have a thermometer outside our window & we check it everyday to see how cold it is) and it is an icy -18 degrees. We meet Rainer and Leila (Daniel's Kummi family) outside the church and proceed into the church. It is a small, quaint church and everything inside the church is colour coded either green or white. The organ begins the church service and we try and follow as best as possible, throughout the church service. Even though we don't understand anything, I find it a rather peaceful experience and throughout the church service I gaze out of the glass windows surrounding the church and watch the squirrels playing in the snow covered trees outside.

We also have communion and then after the service we are all invited to enjoy tea, coffee and, the very popular Finnish bread - Pulla - in a room adjacent to where we had the church service. We sit with Leila and Rainer and chat, drink tea (I had a delicious apple, cinnamon and raisin tea!) and eat Pulla. It is wonderful to chat to some local Finns, as I find that for the majority of the time, we are surrounded by other exchange students, so it is refreshing to experience some local culture.

After church Rainer and Leila invite both Daniel and I for lunch at their house (which is located 3.5km from the church). Rainer and Leila are a wonderful couple! At their house we all get involved in some baking and cooking. We first bake a delicious chocolate cake (I will definitely make sure to get the recipe!). Then we help with peeling of the potatoes for a potato, salmon, cheese bake that Leila was preparing for lunch. Throughout the baking and cooking we chat about Finnish culture and interesting facts, as well as answer questions about our own countries (South Africa and Germany)...

While lunch is baking in the oven, Daniel and I decide to play a round of chess. Both of us haven't played in years so we are quite evenly matched...we abandon our our chess match as soon as lunch is announced, by now we are rather hungry and eager to eat! The food is delicious! The potato/salmon bake is accompanied by carrot salad, three different types of Finnish bread served with creamy cheese & slices of apple and onions , a Russian type of sauerkraut (which actually tastes really good!) and a delicious red wine. After lunch we enjoy a really good cup of coffee (the best coffee I have tasted in Finland!) and chocolate cake. Rainer and Leila have a beautiful elegant house, and as we sit, chat and eat chocolate cake and ice-cream, we can hear the crackling of the fire in their elegant fireplace...

At sunset, they then drive us back to the university where we attend a tea party at Amy's (South Africa) flat...where we continue eating...

Hiking shoes, hot chocolate, ice cream & biscuits... and baking!

This morning at 11am, Petra, Sarah, Daniel and I walked into town to do some shopping. On our shopping list: hiking shoes (for me), boots (for Petra), and hiking clothes (for Sarah and me). It was -6 degrees outside and snowing really hard. It took about an hour to walk into town (approx 6km), and we walked fast and brisk to stay warm.
I was able to buy myself some hiking shoes that were on a sale. They were marked down from 70 euros to 50 euros:)

After the shopping we went to our favourite local coffee hangout (Coffee house) for some hot chocolate. They make THE best hot chocolates and we were tempted to have a second one, but restrained ourselves.

When we arrived back from town, my Polish roommate, Carolina, invited me and Petra for some ice-cream and biscuits...so we indulge ourselves! Later more people join us and we demolish a whole "brick" of ice-cream. In finland one can buy these box ice-creams that look like bricks but taste really good. The flavour for the day was "Nougat"...YUM!









Before...









After...









Then after indulging ourselves we had to go to Daniels flat to prepare a apple cake for a tea party tomorrow (that one of our other house mates are hosting) where everyone has to bring some sweet dish from the country they come from...Petra, Daniel and I decide to bake an apple cake together...
Petra and I were peeling and cutting the apples while Daniel was preparing the dough for the base...

The mystery of the cold breeze - uncovered!

Ever since Petra and I moved into the flat, our flat has been very breezy and chilly, even though our heaters are on all the time. We couldn't understand where the cool air was coming from because we had made sure that all the windows were closed properly and we couldn't find any cracks or openings anywhere that would let cool air in. So for three weeks the mystery remained uncovered....

...until today when Batek (a polish friend of our roommate) discovered that the aircon in Petra's room was switched on and had been on ever since we moved into our flat!

A relieved Petra, laughing at the situation...we don't understand how we could've missed it!


To be honest, I didn't even notice that we had aircon's in each room until Batek pointed them out to us (the white square box in the photo, we have one in each room)...hehe

Nonetheless, we are now looking forward to our much warmer, cosier flat!

Carcassonne!

Tonight after ice-skating a group of us get together for a game of Carcassonne, in Wolfi's flat. Basically you have to build as many complete towns, castles and roads in order to get the most points.

Bruno (France) and Wolfi get the game ready so that we can start playing...






Then Petra, Patrick, Wolfi, Bruno and I play while Daniel watches and gives advice to the people playing for the first time (i.e. Petra, Bruno and I)...








Only six people can play at one time so Paul, Lind and Marko sit on the couch engrossed in some magazines...

Snow fight!

It was a warm day today (-3 degrees) and the snow was coming down hard while Daniel, Paul and I walked to university for lunch. It was just too tempting, and we started a snow fight.

The battle begins...
Daniel aims one at me, while I'm trying to take a photo...alas, he misses!
Then Paul and Daniel battle it out all the way to the entrance of the university...


The snow is soft and slushy and we arrive at the entrance, wet and covered in pieces of snow...
One of the entrances to our university (the closest one from our flat)!