Jane in Finland: Monday September 20 - Lighting speed, don't blink

It's September 20th already ... I've been in this beautiful country for almost a month :O it's crazy how time flies.
Time also flies when you hope to get a decent sleep but have a library book to return at 10 am. This was too early for me especially after my physically exhausting weekend. But I made it (since the book wasn't even checked out on my account). Just after 10 I realized that I had 1.5 hrs until the Student's Union building opened so I could get my student card. I've been shopping deprived for almost a year now since I found out that I would actually be going to Finland and started saving. During this 1.5 hours, I made that year worth it. I found some gorgeous European styles and rejoiced especially at a winter coat I found that would be perfect for Lapland in November. To top off this fantastic morning, my student card was ready and looked great when I went to pick it up. I had lunch with Annelies today and we talked about our trip to Tallin this weekend. Hopefully she gets her student card in time :S
my sports lecture went well. I found out that Finland was the most active country in all of EU. It was proven in statistics!
My evening activity with Tanja, Karolina, mark and Malwina proved this statistic to be true. It was the first time I met Karolina and she turned out to be a very friendly girl from Poland. mark, Tanja's workmate, came along on our hike as well because who can refuse such impeccable company? We went on a 3 km hike in a very scenic part of Jyvaskyla. The terrain was not a terribly difficult one but the constant rain that we've been getting made all the rocks and moss VERY slippery. We all survived with minimal falling. Again, I felt I was in some enchanted forrest. Finnish nature doesn't cease to amaze me. As we hiked past a swampy area with a gorgeous lake in the middle a lady that was no less that 65 years old was climbing out after her leisurely swim. Another good example of the statistic I learned in class.
the car ride to Mark's house was silent as we were all quite tired from our adventure. Suzanne, Mark's girlfriend, was super interesting to talk to because she was born and raised in South Africa !!! She told us horror stories of poisonous centipedes crawling up her neck during the middle of the night, diminishing my desire to go to South Africa by the minute. Each one of us was from a different country (Romania, South Africa, Finland, Germany, Poland and CA-nada eh ) yet tea and poulla (my favorite Finnish pastry, remember?) brought us all together this lovely September evening.