First day of classes @ Helsinki University

I should've known it was too good to last. To the right you'll see the weather forcast for Helsinki for the next 5 days. Weather has been near 30 every day since I arrived. But, sigh, look at that. Highs of 31, 30, 21, 8, 8... gahhh. It's what I expected all along, but I was so spoiled..... And Friday I am going to visit my friend Heini about 4 or 5 hours north, so that means it'll be even colder.... Poor me. At least I'll finally get to use all my cool winter gear:) It's just such a quick change!

But enough lamenting about things to come. Today was my first official class here at HY (helsingin yliopisto=University of Helsinki). Actually, it wasn't official, but I went anyway. As my adventures earlier in the day had proven, my registration has STILL not gone through, so I am not able to register for classes, access the computer or library network, or do anything really. I'll check again tomorrow I guess. I wish this would hurry up though, since I don't have to buy textbooks (they're all available at the library... yeah social welfare system), I can't do any reading until I can get into the library. And I don't have anywhere to go in the odd between class hours. At this point I only have one class a day, but I have been heading to the city early anyway, so it'd be nice to have somewhere to warm up in between my explorations.

As for the class, today and tomorrow I have Economics and Politics of European Integration. It meets for 2 hours a day on these two days, for the next 6 weeks. It's a basic EU studies course, so it'll def. provide the basis for what I needed to get from my studies here. It's a great place to start. The class was quite full though, and I'm not sure what will happen if we continue to be oversized for the room...and since i haven't preregistered.... but we'll see I guess. The professor is a visiting professor from the University of Tampere, also in Finland. He's a published author on the subject, and quite the expert. He spoke English with a heavy accent, and it kinda made time pass slower since I was thinking the whole time how I could've said what he said in two hours in one. (I can't wait until I can start taking classes in Finnish...) Nonetheless, a class I'm glad to be taking, taught in a format I'm very familiar with (Power pointall the way).

So tomorrow I'll enjoy one more 30 degree day, class early, then try and figure out this registration thing once and for all! Wish me luck....