Thurrrrrrrrrrrrsday, or the post alternatively known as "I said burr...."

I was told that at the coldest, today windchill factors put the temperature at -44. Considering the fact that I still can't feel my toes, I'd believe it. Exposed skin is a bad thing, but I couldn't find any good way to completely cover up my face, so I was left power walking from place to place to keep damage to a minimum. And I'm still going out tonight. hah! We have the International Student "buddy groups" kickoff, followed by the ESN international student night at Baarikärpanen, a local pub. The best thing about it is that happy hour is from 22-23.00, ergo 10 to 11PM, and beer/cider is but a single euro. In any event, the thing that I most enjoyed about today was watching people walking along the street. Every time one exhales, a blast of condensation, breath smoke if you will, hits head on. Walking along the road people look like steam locomotives, sans tow. Of course after smiling slightly about this observation my face froze like this and I looked like a maniac the rest of the day, but it was worth it.

In other news, today began the class I've been most looking forward to. It's taught by a guy named Burkard Auffermann. Last spring he came to Brown and gave a seminar of which I was one of a handful of particiapants. I went up to him today to see if he by chance remembered me. I was quite surprised by his response. "You were the guy sitting over to my left side." I didn't think this guy would even remember being at Brown, let alone the place I was sitting while he gave his lecture. We had a good conversation then (longer than I've had with any professor previously anyway) and it was awesome. I'm so glad to be taking his class (Finnish Foreign Policy). I'll learn a lot, and I'm not afraid to ask questions, for once.

Tomorrow I'm catching a 7 am train to Tampere, then Jyväskylä and ultimately a bus to Saarijärvi to see my friends Heini, Tarja, and Tiina. I CAN'T WAIT to see them all again. Heini I saw in Ohio about 3 years ago, but the other 2 it's been about 4 years. I won't be updating this weekend then, but (if Heini is the same as she's always been) expect pictures and wild stories when I return!