I hate you Petrozavodsk, you're awesome.

Life is slowly becoming "normal" here, meaning I've started to find my way around the city and although I really don't have a daily rhythm, I could have one if I wanted to. I got my room "upgraded" after complaining about the prison-level (yeah okay Finnish prison, not Russian) bed and a sore back and the passive-aggressive roommate. I got to move into a bigger room with a decent bed and more space and, most importantly, a lovely roommate. Olga is from Ukraine and studies Finnish. I feel a lot better about living in the общежитие (obshezhitie, dormitory) now.

One of the most wonderful things is that there are Russian sentences coming out of my mouth. They are rarely grammatically even close to correct but that doesn't matter. I'm speaking in sentences, not just single words like before. I guess four double lessons of Russian per week is helping. As well as sitting on lectures in Russian, as well as living with someone who actually wants to speak Russian with me. I also got a "tandem" in Russian. In tandem study two native speakers who study each other's languages get together to practise. I had the first meeting with my tandem, a medical student called Dinara, today. She's just lovely. A very talkative and a joyful person. We had a great time and I think I will learn a lot by just talking with her.

In Saint Petersburg with Atte and Xavier

Being an exchange student in emotionally quite hard, I must say. Just because each emotion is bigger than at home. Without the usual social safety net, sadness and loneliness feel stronger. There's so much going on that I feel excited everyday. There's interesting, wonderful people everywhere. Being here is rewarding and draining at the same time, like a friend of mine put it. I'm tired all the time but that's no wonder. It's hard to get to sleep at night and I have nightmares. The initial weight-loss has been tackled and the problem is now a more, well, sort of a traditional exchange student weight problem. I did sign up for a ladies gym just around the corner. The gym has some features that a Finnish ladies gym would probably wouldn't have, including a dance class titled "strip dance".

Some days I feel really alien in this city. The other day I went to a café and was given some really bad looks by a young woman. I couldn't figure out why. Possibly my shoes were too dirty (they're always too dirty) or my clothes were too weird or she remembered me from uni and didn't like foreigners. Sometimes it would be nice to blend in better. I've learnt to avoid speaking foreign languages too loudly on the phone. Some of my friends have been told not to speak English on the bus. I know this is nothing compared to something that many foreign people go through in Finland on a daily basis but it's interesting to see things from "this side". I went to Saint Petersburg last weekend and it was nice to be a little less "special" for a while.

Nevertheless, right now there's no place I'd rather be than the beautiful, dirty Petrozavodsk.