Wrapping it up

Hey guys!

My student exchange period is now officially over. I attended the graduation ceremony on last Saturday where some of my newly-acquired friends got their bachelor's degrees. Congratulations Andrada and Plaba! The last couple of weeks of the semester were probably the busiest I had during the whole semester, including the preparing of the creative writing portfolio, Jane Austen class final paper and the final exams for the other courses. However, I did manage to complete them all and as a prize got 3 A's on my transcript, in music reading, cultural anthropology and creative writing. The total of five courses (15 credit hours) I completed during the semester should translate to something like 25-30 ECTS credits, many of the courses contributing towards the advanced studies module of my major. All in all, study-wise I did much better during this study abroad period than I dared to hope.

One of the reasons that my studies went so well in Wise was that the environment was a very different from my home university. In Jyväskylä, a mid-sized Finnish city, there are a lot of things to distract a student from her/his studies. In Wise, however, there are no bars, no fancy parties and the student community is far less organized than in Finland. By saying that the student community is unorganized I do not comment on the sororities and fraternities, of which I did not get to know much during my semester. Knowing that greek societies are an essential part of many a student's college experience, I still think that organizations which exclude people based on their gender and demand high entrance fees do not deserve my sympathy.

The above is not saying that I did not have social life while studying in Wise. During the semester we had a tight circle of friends who studied together, went to the cafeteria together and even occasionally cracked open a can or two of beer together. I can be only thankful for all the great friends I've got with whom I hope I will maintain a lasting friendship although we are living in different parts of the world. Indonesia, India, China, Mexico, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Romania and Ethiopia are just some of the countries from which I know a little bit about thanks to my new friends.

Here are some final pictures. Thanks for everybody who followed by blog and stay tuned for the travel blog I'll be starting soon!

We barbeques some skewers! Tasty!

Very good price to quality ratio.

Yours truly.

Champagne popping to celebrate graduation.

The warm summer weather permitted us to play dominoes outside. Good times.

Goodbye, campus!

After all our roommates left, we had a feast with the leftover foods.

Graduation ceremony

The graduates!