Life in Joensuu #2: Oktoberfest, the lakeside & more snow!

Another month has gone, which means it's time for a new update on my stay in Finland! 

October was busy, not as eventful as my first weeks here, which was fine. We kicked it off with our own version of the best-known event of the month: Oktoberfest. The local ESN team (Erasmus Student Network) organized a sitsit, completely in German style. Sitsit is an evening filled with good food, drinking and singing. There's a list of rules and if you violate them, you get punished by the toast masters. I didn't really know what to expect from that evening, but it was well fun! I'm not sharing any pictures from the Oktoberfest Sitsit here, because I don't know if other people mind having their picture posted. Sorry!




As you can see from the #fromwhereistand snap below the title - gotta keep up with the latest internet trends, right - autumn arrived in Eastern Finland! And so did winter, again! (Ain't that a plot twist.) I still have to get used to the seasons here. If my memory serves me well, autumn stuck around for two weeks before it started snowing for the second time in a month - it snowed again last week, and right now on this Friday morning! The snow keeps coming and going here and the funny thing is, it surprises me each time.
Anyway, we also got to enjoy a few lovely autumn days. One sunny Friday I headed to the lakeside with a friend. The lake is just a five-minute walk from where I live, so it's great to take a break from studying once in a while and go enjoy the view. This is without a doubt my favourite place in Joensuu. There's several tiny peninsulas connected by cute bridges, with reeds everywhere in between. It looks so fairytale-like.



All in all, October was great. However, I was looking forward to November a lot. Tonight I will be on my way to Helsinki! I'm going from Joensuu with a friend and I will be meeting my mum there too. We haven't seen each other in two months, so we should have plenty to talk about. I'm also curious to see the city. I've heard Helsinki is beautiful, so I can't wait to walk around and explore. More fun news: In two weeks I am visiting Tallinn! A lot of trips as you can read, so I will have a tight schedule this month. Combining travelling with school work and deadlines is hard, so just to give you a heads up: I don't know how much time I will have for blogging. I do have a few blog posts ready, but if I don't post anything for a while, then please bear with me - I'm out exploring the North!

I hope you all had a great October! What are your plans for November?