Welcome to Jyväskylä

I couldn’t sleep last night, so I stayed up eating chocolate and doing math. I took the train this morning to Jyväskylä, and didn’t sleep then either! I was met by Illke, my “tutor”, who took me to my apartment. It’s a nice place structurally, with a big window facing the woods. But it’s totally disgusting! Again! There are three locking bedrooms which share a kitchen, hall, and bathroom. The common areas are so gross that even I can’t do them justice with words. For example, there’s a half empty jar of pickle juice in the cupboard. Not the fridge, the cupboard. There’s a mop with brown slime all over it. There were a number of buckets filled with moldy piss smelling water. So gross. The only comparison is the house I shared with nine people my junior year of college – the one that hadn’t been cleaned out in nearly ten years.




So I walked my ass thirty minutes through the snow to the housing office, who said they would “write a letter” to the other tenants, and that I had to stay in that apartment until at least February. I don’t think that I can live with anyone who could let his living space get so filthy. It’s just not sanitary. I’m going to be here for five months. I hope this works out.

I stupidly asked for a “survival package” again. I should have learned my lesson from the last time I was here. The “sheet” is a piece of blue canvas that doesn’t even cover the bed, and the pillowcase has a whole in it. I think I’m going to have to splurge on a real pillow, a real blanket, and a real set of sheets. As for the cooking stuff, well, you be the judge of if the twenty euros is worth it.

I stopped by the library on the way back from the housing office to use the internet. Yay! Finally I can check my email. Thanks Mom, Jess, and Toby for sending me emails. I love you guys! I also stopped by Pekka Koskela’s office in the math department. He wasn’t there, but his “Ministry of Funny Walks” poster was! I think I’m going to like this guy.

I saw the northern lights when I was finally walking home. It was pretty dark (4pm), and to the north there was a blue glow extending maybe twenty degrees above the horizon. Beautiful! I would have taken a picture, but I’m sure it wouldn’t have come out.

After I came home, I had to pee, but it was too gross. So I cleaned the bathroom. Which was SO GROSS. I can’t emphasize enough how INCREDIBLY GROSS it was. It was REALLY, REALLY, GROSS. Now, I’m not an elitist snob (ok maybe I am), but I didn’t fly halfway across the world at the invitation of one of the worlds best mathematicians to clean up years of caked on shit from somebody I’ve never even met.

So that gets me up to the present. 7:30pm, Monday January 2, 2006. Lonely. Tired. Angry about the filthy apartment. Oh yeah, the power adapter I brought with me doesn’t fit! It is square, and all the outlets are recessed in to a cylinder. The prongs are right, but the voltage converter is shaped wrong, so the prongs never have a shot of making it in to the wholes. See illustration. So what I need is actually just the plug adapter, not a voltage converter. Stupidly, I think I have one of those somewhere, but I certainly didn’t bring it. Anyway, I hope I can find one, because I only have 40% left on the computer battery, and about 50% left on the camera. If not, maybe someone can send one to me? When I get a chance, I’ll look up what “type” plug Finland has. It’s D or F or something.