Engaging With Finland

First 2 Weeks in Finland Today, Tuesday, January 23  marks the end of our second week in Jyvaskyla. We arrived by train at about 2 pm on Tuesday, January 9th. The Journey to Jyvaskyla We traveled to Jyvaskyla by planes, train and automobiles. On Sunday, Jan. 7, Kyle drove us to the airport and helped us lug the bags to the ticket counter. He accompanied us as far as he could without a ticket and walked with us to the ticker checker in the security line before we had to say our goodbyes. Saying goodbye for a few months is new territory for all of us. The boys were thrilled to make their first flight across the Atlantic and loved that we were flying British Airways, so exotic. My good friend of 30 years, Ellen, happened to be at DIA that afternoon because she traveled from Durango, CO for an unexpected appointment in Denver the next day. She was my main editor for the Fulbright essays so the fact that she was at DIA to see us off on our Fulbright adventure was ...

It's been a over a year from application to departure and I am ready to leave behind the preparations for and anticipation of the adventure in Finland. I want to be in Finland: exploring new places, breathing Finnish air, smelling Finnish aromas, and feeling the crunch of my footsteps in the Finnish snow. Our in-person initiation into the Fulbright family started with the Orientation in August in Washington DC. Kyle, the boys and I went to the Finnish Embassy to start the resident visa process, toured the Lincoln memorial, and joined the crowds at the Air and Space museum to escape the wet and rainy weather. We visited family in Alexandria and rode bikes from there to Mount Vernon. Thank you Kathy, Chuck, James and Alice! Kyle and the boys went home after 3 days because Kyle, a high school Language Arts teacher, had to start work and I was fully scheduled with Orientation meetings. The orientation was exciting and a huge information dump: all necessary, relevant and helpful but...