The first few days in Lapland were a bit of a whirlwind. It's pretty hard to believe, but in August, Lapland is quite warm. I was able to walk around in jeans and a top and not feel cold. It was weird because I expected it to be colder, I'd bought so many jumpers with me and bought so many things to keep me warm. I was pleasantly surprised to not have to wear it all straight away. I was quite glad we'd arrived on the 18th, because it gave us some time to explore our new home and get used to it without having to worry about getting there and immediately going to uni the next day. We went on an adventure to town, went hiking and just generally felt very outgoing. We were in a beautiful environment and we wanted to explore it as much as we could.
Uni was the next big hurdle. For the first few days we had to walk as we hadn't been able to get bikes from the secondhand shops we'd visited with our tutors. On the first day of uni, there was a large group of us who hadn't been able to get bikes walking to uni together which made getting there and being there on the first day so much easier. The first day was a bit daunting, especially when we had to stand up and tell a room full of international exchange students your name, where you were from and what you were studying. With our tutors, we also had a tour of the university and we got to know the areas we'd be frequenting over the next few months. The next day was an early start for those in the faculty of arts and humanities, this was when we met Eilidh, our Scottish friend, who was to become a big part of my first semester in Lapland.
We didn't have too long to adjust to the uni as we went on an excursion the next week to Raattama, in the North of Lapland. The group we went with would also become a big part of my first semester. The excursion was a fabulous ice breaker. Katie, Lucy and I had all gone on the excursion with around fourteen other international students from our faculty so it was a good opportunity to get to know different people. Eilidh and Louisa (who we'd met in our first few days in Lapland) were there too and we spent a lot of time as a five. It cemented the friendship between us and from then on we became a team.
After we came back from the excursion we went straight into university. Adjusting wasn't a quick thing, in a way I spent the whole semester adjusting to being in Lapland and adjusting to the university I was in. What struck me the most was how different the uni's were. Lapland was very laid back, I had few set deadlines and was told to create work without much research which was something I was not used to at all. It made me feel very grateful for the way that Coventry works, because I know when my deadlines are very early on and although the way of working at Lapland is very free and gets you out of your head a bit, it was slightly unsettling to not know when my work needed to be done by or how much I needed to be reviewed.
In a way, I suppose I'm still adjusting to this now. When semester two starts I'll be with new people and doing new courses. Adjusting is a process, one I think that will continue for the rest of my time in Lapland.