Jane in Finland: Tuesday October 26 - Are we in Austria or Finland?

With the amount of Austrians in Jyvaskyla, you'd question your geographical location too. Attending an Austrian dinner with only German/Dutch speaking people also put me into this quizzical mindset.

This lovely dinner was preceded by my last Finnish History class (now I just have to write a killer essay and I'll be golden) which went well and ended with the professor thanking us for our attention. So many students whisper quite loudly and even full out talk here during class and the professors don't seem to mind or at least don't give any notice of it whatsoever. It's really quite strange because I originally perceived the Finns to be quite polite and quiet folk - yet talking during class is permissible?? It's a mystery to me.

Since today was Marina's last day in Finland we decided to do it right and start the festivities early at my flat with coffee, cake and pulla. It was great to have Olga, Marina and Stefan in my table-less kitchen. But all sugar and caffeine intake sessions must come to a close no matter how great they are so we parted our separate ways until Marina's going away supper tonight at Vera's flat.

Evening came surprisingly quickly when I had chores to do along with a lengthy bike ride to Roninmaki. But it was sure worth it. We were all looking forward to trying the Austrian-style dinner that Stefan and Marina were preparing. I really love these multicultural culinary exchanges that we have. This particular culinary exchange was devoured quite quickly (see before and after pictures of table) as we were all STARVING.

When I opened the door for Daniel and Suzy, I accidentally let out a sigh of disappointment followed by "Oh, hello" from me and shouts of "Is the food here ?" from the others. Woe alas, it was not the food yet. The unsuspecting Stefan thought we were so happy to see him when he finally arrived (late as always) yet it was the edible parcel in his back pack we were after .... hehe. Of course, the company was impeccable as well and the evening was a lovely one.