Friday OCTOBER 1 - Politics are everywhere

"Only small rocks aren't political"

This is what my lecturer from me "Perspectives to Finnish Culture" class said today. If you think about it, she's right. Whenever there's an argument or conflict of any kind, there's always politics involved.

I started my day oblivious of this fact that politics surround me. Mimmi and I had a lovely breakfast together and even got carried away looking at the photos I took last night and from previous days. I think she was surprised by the amount of picture taking I do. And by carried away, I mean we were both late for our 10 am lectures.As I walked into our classroom and plopped down beside Lucy, I made eye contact with our lecturer, a smart looking blonde Finnish lady, and her eyes gave me that all-knowing teacher's glance. I didn't break eye contact although I wished to fall through the ground. I knew she was going to ask me something. As I predicted, the first question went to Lucy and then the teacher asked  me to add on to what Lucy said which was even more difficult. The question was about Finnish politics. For just a millisecond I drew a blank, but then my mouth opened and information that I didn't know I had in my brain started flowing out. I talked about the welfare state, Finland's stable parliament that had remained essentially unchanged since 1907 and the egalitarian factor that Finland had been the first country in the world to grant women the vote. She half-smiled approvingly but somehow I knew it wasn't over at this point.
I was quite interested in her lecture because it was so personal and she didn't even use a powerpoint. We went on to the topic of political parties that were unusual in our home countries. This time I beat her to the punch, I raised my hand before she could pick me. Since some european countries like Holland have legalized marijuana, I decided to bring up the Marijuana party of Edmonton. Lots of EU kids chuckled at the notion of a party with a platform to legalize the green stuff. before I knew it, the lecture was over and we even got let out early today. It all went rather well considering I was late for class.

Lucy, Nicke and I went to the vegetarian restaurant where Mimmi had taken me earlier this month. That place has the most amazing soups. The Finns that I meet continually break the stereotype of the "typical silent fin." Two Finnish girls sitting across from us immediately engaged us in a conversation about where we were from when they heard us speaking in English.

Unfortunately after lunch, I was physically tired and super sleepy. I took a short cat nap when I got home but awoke when Mimmi came home. I was quite embarrassed to be napping and even more embarrassed to be caught doing it so I decided to visit my secret place lake to boost my energy levels. The lake welcomed me with rustling leaves and sunshine. I recharged my mind there but my muscles had remembered the hills that I had to bike up to get to the lake all too well. By the time I opened my apartment door, I was unbelievably tired once again. And yet the day wasn't over.

Tonight I had a Skype conference planned with InterScience Club of LIllian Osbourne school and Reinier (aka Pepe) was the guest speaker. Our conference went well and we celebrated by drinking some tea with strawberry and lemon swiss rolls. YUM.

Now the day was over.

My secret place lake with autumn colors

peace of mind and heart

Im quite proud of this shot