It's been a while since I wrote. First I had my two weeks of holiday, then I was on sickleave for a couple of days, and then we had International Week and I was too busy too write.
In the International Week, Anne and I organized the International Café in Rauma and Pori. The event was 'our baby', so it was nice to see how everything came together. In Rauma we had about 15 nationalities and it was a lot of fun! The students seemed to enjoy it as well, they were learning about different cultures and seemed genuinly interested. In the Social Services side in Pori we had about 7 nationalities and in the business/technology side we had 6. Most students brought snacks and honestly, the food was good! I skipped lunch twice because the food at the stands was just too tempting :)
The International Coordinator from my home university also came for a couple of days for the International Week. I was very happy to see him again, as he is my (ex)boss at the same time. In a way it is just nice to show people from back home where I live now and what it is like.
Since I came back from my holiday, Pori is completely different. Most of the snow and ice has melted and everything became a lot more accessable. Suddenly downtown is only 15 minutes away, while before it was at least half an hour because I couldn't cycle properly. Slowly but surely there is also green showing. I cannot wait to see what everything looks like in a month. Whereas I thought the city had a cold and grey vibe for the last month or two, I now think the opposite. Everything is going to be beautiful, I just know it. I'll post pictures as soon as I take them.
Last Saturday we went to the beach. This was my second time to the beach, but this time we cycled. It was about an hour and 10 minutes by bike, and it was a pretty nice road. The wind is pretty unfortionate but Pori is located next to the sea so it only makes sense. The beach looked amazing. Before it was all covered in snow, and now there was plenty of sand to see, and also green (according to my French friend the trees that are here are trees that are in the south of France, where there is a very hot climate) but at the same time there were still parts with snow and it gave a beautiful contrast. We had lunch there and made a fire and had a lot of fun together. Honestly it was just a perfect day.
The weather is so much nicer now anyway, it's not freezing anymore, the sun is shining, everything is nicer now.
