LiViNg AbRoAd

Trip to Russia

2007-10-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody !

On Tuesday I will leave Finland for one week to go to Russia !!! That sounds like having lots of fun in that country where I have heard that a 1L vodka bottle costs only 3€ !!!!

I will tell you how that Russian stay was !!!

C ya !

So close...

2007-10-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Guillaume and I in the bus. I had bought make up !

Waiting for the game to start...drinking beer !

Pascaloooooooouuuuuuuuuuu

That was before the game starts !

That Irish pub was full of French!

Nicolas is focused on the game !

Like all the French people, I watched the rugby semi final France VS England last Saturday...Unfortunately, everybody knows how things end up... It's such a pity because we were better than these fucking English guys... Without Johny Wilkinson, that team does not exist.... But that's the game and we have been beaten...

See you at the next world cup English men...

I told you I would do it !

2007-10-16T06:31:00.001-07:00

I promised you I would published an article about you girl !

That little piece of woman is just awesome !! I met her last summer at EASYDIS !! And I must admit I do not regret it !!! It's just the beginning of a great frienship story between her and I !

Above are some shots of her... Guys she is hot ! But she has got a boyfriend and everything's fine between them !!!

Tallinn

2007-09-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

I went to Tallinn for the week end. Let me tell you some things about that city!

So the first thing you have to know is that the Euro is not the official currency is that country. Actually it is the Estonian kroon. So I had to change euros against kroons... Just to give you an idea of the change rate : I payed 32.90€ and got 500 EEK. This is about 15 kroons for 1€.

Life here is pretty cheap. You eat very well for 5 or 6 €. I paid 20€ for 2 nights, you pay a 24 can beer box about 9€, a carton of Malboro costs 16€... So there are lots of things which are interesting to buy . Unfortunately, I tried to buy warm clothes for the winter, but concerning clothes, it was not that interesting...So I bought nothing!

Tallinn is a really nice city. Actually you must distinguish the city center and the rest of the city.

The city center is very very rich...and the suburb very very poor. I have never seen so many expensive cars in a city center before coming in Tallinn. I saw one S5 of Audi, one S8 of Audi, one A5 of Audi, 3 Mazzerati, 3 Cayenne Porsche, 2 Ferrari, 1 CarreraS4 Porsche... It was unbelievable to see that in Estonia...

The city center is very tradional. It is a former medieval city. Nevertheless we can see the influence of Russia and Sweden in the architecture especially for the churches.

Girls in Estonia are sweet... I love them !

My week end in Tallinn

2007-09-17T00:25:00.000-07:00

On the way to the harbour

The group waiting for the tickets

All ready to board

The first checking point

Gambling is allowed on board

So much alcohol !

Buy 2 get 3 ! That's what I like !

Martin ( left ) & Rouven after " visiting " the shop ! 120 beer cans !

Rouven are you an alcoholic? !

The Italians bought 2 bottles : 1 vodka bottle and 1 honey liquor !

" Prost " Olga!

Guillaume ( left ) & Fabio ( right )

Tallinn here we are!

One more checking point

Our hostel room

Many people in the room!

Fabio, Rouven and Lisa

1 Estonian girl...They are all like this...No comment...

We were hungry. That's an Estonian burger...just disgusting...

Fabio was about vomiting!

That's where we partied

I like the one on the right!

Stefi and Paolo

It's time to go to bed !

It's time to get up !

An OM fan even in Estonia !

We took a small train to visit the city !

In the restaurant, waiting for the meals we ordered

Stefi & Martin, you look so nice !

What are you doing David?

No photo of Bon-bon... Back to " The pub with no name" !

Bo-goss Guillaume !

On Sunday morning... Hard for Rouven!

Hard for me too !

On the ferrry back to Helsinki

On the train back to Tampere! German guys never stops drinking!

Hi guys!

I went to Tallinn (Estonia ) for the week end. I was with 14 other Erasmus students... 3 Frenchs, 5 Italians, 2 Czechs, 4 Germans and 1 Spanish. So it was an interantional group! That was great. I really enjoyed my time there with all these guys. Actually we partied all the week end long so I guess you can easily imagine how tired I am today ( Monday ).

This is the way this week end went on :

Friday : we left Tampere at 17h07 pm by train to get to helsinki. From Helsinki, we took the ferry to go to Tallinn, it took something like 3 hours. Once in Tallinn, a friend of us was not allowed to get in Estonia because he had lost his ID in France and the official paper which proves he lost his ID was not enough for the guy in charge of checking passports. So he had to sleep in the boat and made the trip back on Saturday morning...

We arrived at the hostel at about 02h00 am ( on saturday ! ) and we immediatly went partying... Of course everyone of us was completely drunk...We bought lots of alcohol on the boat, because it was tax free prices... :o

Saturday : We went to bed at 05h30 am and only 4 of us were brave enough to get up at 10h00 am to go sightseeing! Actually I did not drink alcohol during the whole day because i had the hangover...! I started drinking at about 06h00 pm and actually I did not stop until midnight. In the evening we went to a restaurant. Then we went back to the hostel to pre-party ( ! ) and then we moved to a club named " bon-bon "...It's the worst memory I have of that 3 day stay in Estonia... That club sucked so much... And it costed about 10€ to get in...So we decided to leave and to go back to the same club as we were the night before!

Sunday : I went to bed at 06h00 am and got up at 11h30am. Then we ate in a restaurant. We were at the harbour to take the ferry at 3h00 pm and we left at 05h00 pm. The guys bought lots of alcohol ( 5 of 'em bought 120 beer cans each... ) but I only bought 1.2 kg of toblerone chocolate!! Finally I arrived at my place at midnight ! I was completely exhausted ! and really hungry because I had not eaten since noon !

Above are few shots of this wend in Tallinn...

Image Processing: the Lena story

2007-09-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

If you are familiar with image processing textbooks and articles, you must have seen the following picture:

For the curious: 'lena' or 'lenna' is a digitized Playboy centerfold, from November 1972. (Lenna is the spelling in Playboy, Lena is the Swedish spelling of the name ). Lena Soderberg (ne Sjooblom) was last reported living in her native Sweden, happily married with three kids and a job with the state liquor monopoly. In 1988, she was interviewed by some Swedish computer related publication, and she was pleasantly amused by what had happened to her picture. That was the first she knew of the use of that picture in the computer business.

Actually that photo is the most common used in Image Processing !

Here is the Lena's shot I like!

2007-09-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

Just a thought...

2007-09-10T01:04:00.001-07:00

Sometimes life is just a question of choice...

My bed before...My bed after

2007-09-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

My bed before

My bed after

Hi guys!

today i've decided to buy a sheet for my bed. Actually I have been sleeping on the mattress for 3 weeks and I started feeling a little fed up with that...

Look at these shots...sorry for the beer cans next to my bed :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMIE CHOUXXXXXXX :-)

2007-09-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

My grand mother turns 80 today ( 08/09/2007 ) ! Now she is very very old!!!

Happy birthday granny! In Finnish they say : hyvää syntymäpäivää !!!!!

My grand-mother is the one in the background wearing a red vest.

Kamarro... even in Finland....

2007-09-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

Such a shame for my Finnish friends... They listen to Kamarro.

Watch that movie... I did not believe what I heared...

Helsinki

2007-09-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

The train station in Tampere

The train station in Helsinki

The train station seen from the outside

The tramway in Helsinki! I prefer the one in Marseille!

A church built in the rocks

An orchestra performing in the church

The restaurant where we had our lunch. It is a real typical retaurant

For 8€ you could eat everything as much as you want. Take a look at the choice...There are also the next photos!

That's the dessert... I did not try that...Nadia told the taste was not good!

That was my 1st plate!

France is everywhere!

A nice avenue in Helsinki

Don't know why but I like that building!

Look at the bird on the head of the statue!

The market square. In the background, an orthodox church

A protestant church seen from the boat we took to get to an Island... See the photos below for the island and the church!

A tiny island in the middle of nowhere!

This island... a lovely place!

Still on the island!

A church on the island

A typical Finnish house

Remember the orthodox church in the background?

A guard...Fail to understand what or who he is waiting for!

A protestant church

The orgue in the church

Nice square. The one we can see from the church

Karl Fazer Café

The Nokia store. Nokia is a Finnish company which employs 50000 people around the world...25000 in Finland!

Hi everybody!

I went to Helsinki yesterday ( the 7th of September ) with Nicolas and Nadia. We left Tampere by train at 9h07 a.m and arrived in Helsinki at 10h50 a.m. In the evening we left at 18h06 and arrived in Tampere at 19h52.

The weather was really nice there. It was not too cloudy ( ! ) and it was pretty warm (about 15°C ! ). And it was not too windy. So it was a good day for visiting the Finnish capital!

What can I say about Helsinki? Actually it is a lovely city which looks like a real big city!! What I mean is that compared to Tampere, Helsinki is really big. It is the capital! There are about 600000 Finnish living in that city. Not very much compared to Marseille for example, which is only the second biggest city in France with 800000 people.

I'm not going to expand on what I saw there, it would be too long. Just read the comments under the photos.

The Onnela party_ the 6th of September

2007-09-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Tuomas and Martin drinking beer in the queue

Pascal drinking beer in the queue

Crowdy...

Definetively too crowdy...

That Finnish concert

Rouven ( a German guy ) dancing with an Italian girl

One good-looking girl!

The most beautiful girl of the party!

You don't see anything but trust me that girl is hot!

Hi everybody!

On thursday evening I went to Onnela bar 'cause there was a party organized but UTA and TUT! That was the opportunity for me to meet people...!

What could I say about that party? Actually I did not enjoy my time there. It was just too crowdy! For instance, I had to queue for 2 hours before I could get into the bar. So I arrived at Onnela at 10h00 p.m and i got into the place at 00h00... That was not the perfect start ...

That bar is just immense. There are many different rooms with its own kind of music. There was a concert of a finnish band I did not like very much. Actually I must say I don't like the Finnish music very much . But I have come here to get to know the Finnish culture. And Finnish music is part of the Finnish culture. When you are an axchange student, you must be open minded otherwise you will never get accepted by the others... I think I can say I make the necessary efforts, that's the most important.

There is an other thing I must tell you. That's about the Finnish girls. The girls in my university are not really beautiful. Actually, I'd say there are lots of ugly ones and a few who are very very beautiful. And there is no intermediate level! But I don't know why, at Onnela, I found that all the Finnish girls were good-looking...

Above are some photos of that party, and also photos of finnish girls...

Peyton place_ the 4th of september

2007-09-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

The Finnish team : Pasi and Tuomas!

Me!

Martin and Tuomas

Hi everybody!

On Tuesday the 4th of September I went to Peyton Place to have fun with my friends.

I went there with Martin and Tuomas. We met Pasi. So we played a game of billiards! 2 against 2! Martin and I against the Finnish connection : Tuomas ans Pasi!
Of course, the Europeans won !!!!!!! ( sorry Pasi and Tuomas, I know you're Europeans too! )

Then Martin and I went downtown 'cause there was a party organised by UTA, which is the university of Tampere ( I am studying at TUT, which is an other university in Tampere ). We thought we could meet people from UTA but actually there was not many people at the bar... So we took a taxi to get back to Hervanta. 18€ for a drive of 7kms...kind of expensive!!

Tianschi's lunch

2007-09-08T03:23:00.001-07:00

That's what we ate!

" Bon appétit " Tianschi!

He eats with chopsticks!

That was my plate

I ate everything

Hi everybody!

My Chineese roomate cooked for me last sunday (01/09/2007). He made a sort of typical Chineese meal composed of water, noodles, sausage and cabbage.
He told me that the sausage could be replaced by fish...but I hate fish!
Tianschi ate that meal with garlic. It was kind of impressive to see him biting in an entire clove of garlic... I could really not. Garlic is just too "spicy" for me.
Oh, there's also an other thing you have to know. Tianschi eats with chopsticks, that's very funny actually. He told me how to do, but I just can't!

Above are some photos of that meal.

The Karaoke Party!

2007-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

The view from Martin's flat

3 German guys and 1 Czech guy

Lucach, 1 Czech guy!

Aurélie, Pascal and Martin

OM and the the Finnish wine!

Me...after 2 beers!

4.8°C at about 11h30 pm on the 31sy of August... no comment

The bar

The group for the karaoke. some people had left...Pascal :-(

The pizzeria

Can you read? 3.7°C at about 02h30 a.m...

Hi everybody!

well yesterday I went to a karaoke party with my friends. We were about 11 ( 4 german guys, 1 Turkish guy, 3 French guys, 2 Czech guys and 1 Finnish guy)...So as you can read, it was a real international group! That was really nice to speak with people from other countries...and I can tell you we must be proud to be French...France is very appreciated abroad... But that's not the matter of that article!
The evening started with a pre-party at Martin's flat. We drunk beers ( oh damn beer is just disgusted, I just hate ) and some Finnish wine. After that we moved to the bar where we sang...English songs! I wanted to sing at least one French song but i guess they do not even know who Cloclo or Les Démons de Minuits are !!!!!! But anyway it was a really pleasant evening and when the bar closed ( at about 02 am, we went to a pizzeria ). I went back home at 02.45 am.
During the karaoke time I sang with a German guy "Mambo number 5"! That was an historical moment!!! and also a really nice one!

Just take a look at the photos and the movies above. It's worth doing !

My 1st sauna party!

2007-08-31T02:22:00.000-07:00

Martin & I have just arrived that we are " forced "to go to the sauna!

Nice to meet you JESSUUUSSSSS-CHHHHRRRRRIIIISSSTTT ( Pasi ) !

Martin and Ali (Turkish guy)

The changing-room of the sauna

I'm much more tanned than the others!

After the sauna, the guys drunk beers...come on beer is just disgusted!

Thanks a lot JEEESSSSSUUUUSSSSS-CHHHHRRRIIIIISSSSST for that "sauna experience"!

Hi everybody!

well I could not go to Finland without trying what is called here "sauna party"! The principle is very easy : boys and girls meet themselves as mother nature made them, which means naked, in a sauna. Drinks are allowed to be brought in the sauna... so some people drink beer, vodka or any other alcoholic drinks!

How could I describe the atmosphere in tha sauna? well I'd say it is pretty hot in here ( of course it is hot in here 'cause the temperature is about 60°C ) but hot in the way that people sing, laugh and drink. Actually that's not at all like in France where nobody speaks in a sauna! In Finland there is lots of noise and it's much more friendly!

If you are too hot in the sauna, you can go out and have a shower so that you feel better. And after that you go back into the sauna! That's what I did quite many times actually 'cause it was too hard for me to stay there more than 10 minutes ! You can also go outside completely naked or with a towel around your waist. The temperature difference makes your heart pump very very fast! But trust me when I say that after that you feel very well, actually much better than if you had not done it!

As I told you , the temperature in the sauna was about 60°C. Actually it's quite a low temperature for a Finnish sauna. Pasi ( the one who looks like JEEEEEESSSSSSSUUUUUUUSSSSSS- CHHHHRRRRRIIIIIISSSSSSSTTTTTTT ) told me the average temperature for a sauna is about 80°C. Pasi already went to a sauna where the temperature was 120°C but it was really too hot for him...I do not even wanna think of what it would have been for me... I would have died for sure!

Above are some photos of this sauna party! Take a look at them!

Bonnie all these JEEEEESSSSSSUUUUSSSSS-CHHHRRRIIISSSSSTTTT were for u !! Take care of you girl...

The 1st GYM session of my entire life!

2007-08-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

The temperature when I woke up...

The weather when I woke up...

Here we are! In the Tamppi Areena!

That's the place where I was tortured!

I look as if that stuff was easy for me!

Very impressive, isn't it?

Smile guy, you are on my blog!

You should really take a look at that video!

So here we are, I had told many of you that when I am abroad, I will go to GYM sessions... I have decided to start today and I will try to go there as often as I can.

The only thing I can tell you is that I just hate all the exercises you have to do to bodybuild... but I guess I will have to do them if I wanna see changes in my body shape!

My second school day at TUT

2007-08-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

The room we had the Signal Compression course

The signal Compression lecturer is in the corner of the room!

Nicolas is waiting for the lecturer!

The room we had Digital Video Processing

Back from the university...wet and frozen...

We are working but also laughing!

First bad piece of news of my stay in Tampere... I have not been allowed to follow the course intitled : " Finnish for Beginners I". That sucks 'cause I wanted to follow it for meeting other Erasmus students.... Well I'll have to find other ways to achieve that purpose.

For my second school days, I've had 2 courses : Signal Compression and Digital Video Processing. And on the contrary of the course we had the previous day ( Digital Image Processing I ), these 2 courses lasted the time they had been scheduled...so about 2h00! And guess what... I've already had homeworks.

If you want to have more information about these 2 courses you can go to the course homepage which provides you information about the course.

Signal compression : http://www.tut.fi/public/oppaat/opas2007-2008/kv/laitokset/InstituteofSignalProcessing/SGN-2306.html
Digital Video Compression : http://www.tut.fi/public/oppaat/opas2007-2008/kv/laitokset/InstituteofSignalProcessing/SGN-3106.html

I am pretty glad because all these courses seem to be very interesting, especially Digital Video Compression. The lecturer is very competent ( even if he is an Italian guy but nobody's perfect ! ) and manages to give a real interest for his course.

Above are some photos of the rooms where the lectures take place. There is no comparison possible between the study facilities of the ENAC and the ones of TUT. I would say that all the study facilities at TUT are much better than the ones at the ENAC ( without any hesitation! ).

The MIK's Back to School party!

2007-08-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

The Huuma bar!

Some people were standing outside, but it was freezing...Crazy Finnish guys!

The dancefloor!

The bar!

Martin and Pasi!

Nice photo!

To celebrate the 1st day of this new school year, every student at TUT was expected at HUUMA, a sort of bar/discotheque in Hervanta, located in the main street of that district (Hervanta).
I went there with Martin ( the German guy ). I met there Pasi , one of the international tutors. I also talked with other Finnish guys. That's was very pleasant. Pasi told me how to do to deal with Finnish girls... It won't be easy! He told me that Finnish girls have more interest for exchange students than for Finnish ones because "we are more "exotic"! " .He also told me he will keep in touch with me for all the events organised by The University of Tampere ( UTA ) where there are much more girls than at TUT ! So...

Above are some photos of that student party!

My 1st school day!

2007-08-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Pascal, Nicolas and I are on the way for TUT!

That's the room where we're gonna have our first lecture!

That's the course!

The course has begun for 35 min and I'm already fed up with it!

The teacher!

Nicolas and Pascal at the bookstore.

The textbook we need for that course...68€ : really expensive !

Hi everybody!

Today has been my first school day at TUT. Like for all my previous starts of the new school year, I was pretty anxious. But as usually , things went well.

Actually today I've had only one course intitled "Digital Image Processing I". The course was given by a Finnish I presume, even if I'm not sure at all. What stroke me the most was that he was very strong.The kind of guy who spends his week bodybuilding! And his accent was just awful!
That course was expected to last 2 hours but actually it lasted only 45 minutes! That's the kind of things I really appreciate!

Above are some photos of this 1st day at school.

What's the weather like in Tampere?

2007-08-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

The weather for that 1st week spent in Tampere was quite nice! We had sun and not too many clouds. It was about 15°C in the morning and about 25°C in the afternoon! But since yesterday ( saturday, the 25th of August ), weather has become worse and worse. I mean very cloudy and windy. The temperatures have fallen and now today, it was about 15°C in the afternoon, whereas in Marseille, France, it was about 35°C/40°C ... Arrrgggghhhhhh!!!

We have been told that the autumn weather was very humid : lots of rains and strong winds...

By the end of November comes the winter weather that you can easily imagine...snow snow and snow.

I'll keep you in touch about it !

Above is a photo took at about midnight on Thursday.

My best friends

2007-08-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Above is the list of my very best friends!

I think of all of you guys. Take care of U and see you soon in France...or even in Tampere !

Sorry Romain but I do not have any photos of U so you are not in the list. But you are one of these guys I really appreciate! Never forget that!

Only a thought...

2007-08-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Is life worth living?
That's just a thought I've had at that time... We should all think about it...

My 1st weekend in Tampere

2007-08-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

Well it makes exactly one week I've been living in Finland and I've gone throught my 1st weekend in Finland.
Pascal's accomodation is downtown and Nicolas and Nadia were in Turku so I had to find something to do on my own...Not very easy when you do not know too many people yet !

On saturday, I woke up at about 11h00 a.m and I met Pascal at about 2 p.m at Mc Donald's, in the central square.I had my lunch at Hesburger, which is the local fast-food! We visited a little bit Tampere and walked to the forest where we found a pub to rest. That's was nice and I saw nice places in Tampere. Then I went to the stadium without Pascal to see a game of Tampere united, the local soccer team. I met there Martin, a German guy very cool. At the end of the game, we went to a mall ( it was about 18h30 ). All the different stores were already closed... What a shame ! Then we went back to Mikantalo and Aurelie ( a French girl ) invited me to eat at her house because I had nothing to cook at home! Afterwards Martin, Aurelie, 2 italian girls, my roommate,a friend of his, and I went downtown to a sort of bar/disco. We arrived there at about 10 p.m and we left at about 01 a.m. We had a good time there, thank you all of you guys to have come.

Today ( Sunday ) ...I've just done nothing ! I woke up at 01.40 p.m. I went to LIDL to buy some food to eat! I bought a shaving gel bomb so that I could shave... I had not done it for one week and it was just horrible ! I've also prepared all the stuff I'll have to do tomorrow...because tomorrow is my 1st school day...damn! At about 6 p.m Nicolas and Nadia went back from their trip to Turku with lots of images of beautiful landscapes in their mind! Hope you spent good time guys but I don't care about that.

Tomorrow I'll go back school... I really do not want but that's life I guess. I will show you my timetable as soon as it is completed!

The TUT campus

2007-08-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

The TUT campus is 10kms far from downtown. It is located in Hervanta, which is a part of Tampere ( like Rangueil in Toulouse ). There are 5 bus lines which make the connection with the center of the city everyday. It takes about 20min to get there.

The TUT campus is very big, actually much bigger than the one of the ENAC. I would say the particularity is that all the different buildings are interconnected. That's for the winter time I guess!

On the contrary to the ENAC, there is no outside sport facilities! Everything takes place inside. There are many sport facilities at TUT and you need to pay the Sport Service Fee before you can use them! It's about 28€ for the whole year.

There are also 3 canteens where you can have your lunch ( Zip, Newton and Edison ). They are ruled by the company Juvenes. With the student card you can have a real good lunch for only 2.35€. That's pretty cheap!

As far as I'm concerned, I will mainly have to stay in Tietotalo.

The Orientation Programm

2007-08-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

The start of the new year for all the Erasmus students accepted at TUT ( Tampere University of Technology ) was on the 20th of August. During the whole week we had lectures about all the different stuff an Erasmus studying at TUT has to know : a TUT presentation, the Cultur shock, a presentation of INTO ( which is the international Student's Club ), a presentation of our tutor ( he is the guy in charge of helping us in every obscur case ), the presentation of our department and the different courses we can sign up for ( I belong to Department of Information Technology and I will mainly study Signal Processing ). On Friday the 24th of August, we had a Tampere city tour. Actually I slept because we were sitting in a bus all the tour long !

I also had to sign up for the courses I want to follow during the three periods I'll be there. I have to confess that was the most boring thing I've had to do during the week because it took me lots of time. In fact you have to make your timetable on your own by checking on the internet when and where the lectures and the exercise sessions take place. So you have to be careful so that there is no time collision in your timetable...That's almost impossible. The deadline for signing-up for the courses is on the 26th of August. I've already made my timetable but I will give you it as soon as it is sure I will follow the courses I have applyed for.

Every evening, we had freetime activities where all the Erasmus students met so that everyone of us could get to know the others. We met at the Peyton Place on Tuesday, a BBQ was organised on Wednesday at TUT then we moved to a sauna, we went downtown on Thursday to a sort of club whose name is Le Cabaret ( that sounds French! ), on Friday INTO organised an International Food Party (every Erasmus student had to prepare a food speciality of his ( her ) country. That's was very nice! ).

That year we are about 500 Erasmus students ( I'm not sure at all !! ). We are about 60 french people... So that's not very easy to improve the English, you are surrounded by French people all the time ! But I would say that it is the Spanish connection which is the biggest here at TUT. There must be about 70 or 80 people from Spain.

My flat

2007-08-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

One of my main worries was about my flat because I applyed for a tenancy a bit late so I was on the queuing list until...the 15th of August i.e 3 days before I left. But fortunately everything has fixed properly and now I have a roof where I can sleep under.

My flat is 71m^2 big and my bedroom is 23.11m^2 big ( which is more than twice the area of my bedroom at the ENAC! ). I've got a kitchen, a bathroom and 2 toilets. I have to share these facilities with 2 other roomates. At that time, only one has arrived. His name is Tianschia ( or something like that !) and he is from China. He is just adorable!

Nicolas and his girlfriend ( Nicolas is a friend of mine also studying at the ENAC ) are living in my bedroom because Nicolas has no tenancy. He applyied also too late !
My bedroom is quite empty for the moment, I need to buy sheets for my bed, a desk light and many other stuff. For the moment, there is no decoration except my flag of the OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE which is used as a curtain 'cause there is no and in the morning I get awake by the sun...at 5h00 A.M!

That's my adress, if you want to send me letters ;)

Insinöörinkatu 60 C 148 Cell 1

33720 TAMPERE FINLAND

The D-DAY

2007-08-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

The D-DAY was on the 18th of August, even if I arrived in FINLAND only on the 19th of August.

Here is the schedule of my 2 last days in FRANCE ( until next December :) ).

18/08/2007

I took the train to Paris at the train station AIX-EN-PROVENCE TGV at 10h44. I arrived in Paris about 3 hours later and I had to take the subway to join Wilfried, a very very good friend of mine who hosted me at his house for the night. In the afternoon I went to surcouf to buy a transformer for my laptop 'cause I had forgotten mine at home... It costed about 65€... I was so angry against myself...

I spent my evening hanging on the phone to tell my family a last goodbye and I had fun with 3 former schoolmates (Wilfried, Fred and Axel ) and a friend of Wilfried. We watched the rugby game FRANCEvsENGLAND, we talked, Fred tried to create a disco atmosphere but sorry guy, you still need to improve as a real DJ, especially if you mix french music of the 70's or the 80's ;)

19/08/2007

I took a taxi to get to PARIS CHARLES DE GAULLE. I arrived more than 3 hours before the registration started so I was not in a hurry at all !!! I've had the time to go into every duty free shop but I found nothing very interesting to buy. Eventually I got registred and I had to pay only 5 extra kgs, the person in charge to register me was very nice and she understood my situation ( or maybe I charmed her... but she was ugly and at least 35 years old! ).

I took off from Paris at 10h50 and landed in Helsinki at 14h30. I had a connection flight for Tampere at 16h00 and I landed there at 16h35!

The very last preparations

2007-08-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking of my stay in FINLAND for several months but while the D-DAY was getting sooner and sooner, I had to think of the very last preparations...I confess my mother did a lot for me so THANK YOU mummy!!! She went to the travel agency and bought the plane ticket for me, she remembered me to contact the TOAS, the agency in charge of giving a tenancy to every exchange student, and many other stuff like these 2 previous ones ! Nevertheless I went to the bank by myself ( such an exploit ! ) to talk of the best option not to pay too many charges every time I will go to an ATM in FINLAND. I also thought of all the stuff I had to bring with me. Concerning my package it was pretty hard for me to take everything I would need for 6 months of living in a 70*50*30 big suitcase whose weight had not to exceed 20kgs ( or you have to pay an expensive extra, about 5 or 6€ per extra kg). I must admit I failed because my suitcase weighted 31kgs...much more than 20!

Above are some pictures of a part of all the stuff I've brought with me!!

What's up???

2007-08-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!!!

I've been living in Finland for 4 days right now! Things are going pretty well for me even if I feel a little bit homesick ;) My everyday life is not very exciting and I miss all of you guys! But I'm sure things will go on better for me pretty soon, actually as soon as I have finished all the fuck*** stuff ( the signing-up for my courses, the registration at the international office, the payment of my tenancy... ).
I will do my best to update that blog as often as possible so that we can keep in touch you and me!
Take care of U !!!