Midterm Exams

I have finished my midterm exams now and I can enjoy my little holiday. I am going to go to the Marble Mountains http://www.skimarble.com/ with some of the other exchange students. I need to mention that there is going to be a Mexican who is going to learn to snowboard in two days! Is that possible? I will let you know after the weekend. So we are leaving on the Friday morning and we will be back on the Sunday evening/night. There is a possibility to skiing or snowboarding on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday evening there is also a big party where we all are going. It starts with a snowboarding competition and after that the “after ski” will take place. The midterm break will last until next week Thursday.

It seems that lot of the students here will spend their midterm holiday by skiing. It remains me about the “winter holiday” we have in Finland during this time. It is one week off from studies and most of the people go to enjoy the snow. It is not unusual that people rent a "cottage" next to the hills (there is no mountains in Finland) and spend the week by skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing etc.

I could also mention something about the exams I had. I did operations management test on Monday and that went quite well. Half of the test was multiple choices and the other half was normal problem solving exercises. On the paper there was a question on the front page asking who is sitting on your right and on your left sites. Good way to limit cheating and team working! My other exam was financial management one. That was a really challenging exam. Most of the students said the same. The structure was again the same that half multiple choices and then problem solving questions. Hopefully I did well.

So only one class left, then group meeting, shopping, kickboxing, laundry and packing and I am ready to start an amazing weekend. But I still don’t have ski trousers... That’s why shopping tomorrow. No, I didn’t leave it for a last minute...  

My Birthday Weekend!

It has been snowing so much lately. University was even closed on the last Thursday morning because of the snow storm we had. It was my birthday on that Thursday so it was really good present for me to be able to sleep late as all the morning classes were cancelled. I still had a one class on the afternoon and after that I went to the Kickboxing with my friend Fern. I am not sure if I have mentioned that she is the girl who came here with me from Bournemouth University. On that moment I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen later on.

The plan was that all the exchange students are coming to my lovely little flat to celebrate my birthday and after that we would have gone where ever the wind had taken us.

Suddenly I got a text message from Fern saying that she wants to give my present to me before the party will start. I went to see her and she got the best present for me: Tim Hortons French vanilla coffee powder. My favorite drink here.  The story get even better as then she said to me that taxi will come to pick us in a second and I am not allowed to ask anything if I do not want to hear any lies. Being totally clueless I took to the taxi with her and ended up outside a one house. I still didn’t know what was going one. One of the exchange students opened the door for us and as soon as I stepped to the dark living room (in this moment I knew what was going to happen) I saw the candles and light was switched on and everyone was shouting happy birthday to me! My first surprise birthday party I have had. It was amazing night. French students had made their traditional “pancake” food which was delicious. They also showed all the messages they sent to each other when planning my party and I was amazed how many messages they actually sent to make my day so special. All the exchange students here are a really good reason to be here.

Once again there is a snow storm here. Rest of the day university is going to be closed and it is impossible to see anything if you go outside. I am also getting a bit ill now. It is really bad timing to be ill as next week we are having our midterm exams and I should be studying a lot but I am just not feeling too good. I will try to rest today and do more work tomorrow and hopefully I will feel better soon. 

So next week I will have two exams and after that we are having a short break. It looks like snowboarding is going to take place during that time. I cannot stay in Canada without snowboarding even once! But that is everything this time.