Aima Meets Jyväskylä

Finns are proud of their strawberries. The berries grown within Finnish borders are the sweetest, the reddest, and the all-around best. Which obviously means that we had an obligation to go strawberry picking.

And so we did. Marita, Kaisla, Unna and I drove to the fields, armed to the teeth with buckets and a determination to hunt down the sweetest of the strawberries. "Pick a row. Pick berries." Two hours and four heaping buckest later, we drove home to meet Jenna.

Jenna is one of the other girls from YFU, and we became friends quite easily during orientation. She's the one out of the fourteen of us exchange students that can actually speak Finnish.

Her host sister, Saara, had wanted to meet a friend in Kangasala, and Jenna remembered that I'm here, too. Arrangements were made so that she would spend a night here, and then I would commute back to Jyväskylä with her to spend a day with her host family.

We spent the rest of the day swimming, and then we went to Reinola, the youth group here. Basically, we talked with people and cooked lettu (pancakes, but closer to crepes) over a bonfire.

The next day, we all went to Tampere to show Jenna around. Then Jenna and I boarded the train headed to Jyväskylä.

I met the Sormunens: a lovely family. We biked around the lake and visited a big flower shop/iitala outlet. Then, it was off to visit the Alvar Aalto museum. I was told that there are many Japanese people that come to the city to study architecture. (Alvar Aalto is a famous Finnish architect from Jyväskylä) We walked around the city center, but unfortunately, it was a Sunday, which meant all the stores were closed. No shopping for Aima. After dinner, I got back on the train and headed to Tampere.