Match Maker Finland

“. . . Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match, Find me a find, catch me a catch . . . Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Look through your book, And make me a perfect match . . . ” Fiddler on the Roof. Finland has brought many surprises my way. It feels as if I have already been here for more than 3 months. This match maker, Finland, has done quite a phenomenal job of connecting me to the right people, places, things, and animals at the right time. There are four match making events that have stood out like the beautiful wild flowers of the Great Smokey Mountains in the early spring season. The following four match making events are in short detail, but if you would like more description I can give it at another time. It can be rather difficult to truly convey the meaning of all of these without facial expressions, intonation, and body language.

Numero yksi concerns the exchange students of this semester. Never in my life have I been with such a large group of people who love to be inclusive, not exclusive. Gossiping, drama, and jealousy, seem to bounce of the force field around this group of exchange students that I love to hang out with.

(This is not everyone, but the pic contains most of us).

Numero kaksi deals with my roomies. For the past 2 and half years I have lived with other people, but I have always had my own room and either have had my own bathroom or have had to share with only one other person (Nicole, a.k.a. - Tina). Here in Finland, I not only have to share a bedroom, which contains a bunk-bed (I sleep on the top), but I also have to share ONE bathroom with three other girls. At first I was quite leery about the whole situation and almost convinced myself that it just would not turn out to be the best living situation. Boy was I wrong. Finland brought me my bedroom roomie, Eva from Czech Republic, and two French girls who are flat roomies, Annie and Delphine. Not a day goes by without some sort of laughter in the apartment! When I’m in a bad mood, it seems to dissipate when the girls enter the room. Couldn’t have asked for a better living situation. (Delphine and Annie)














(Me and Eva)

Now, numero kolme is a bit more light hearted and amusing (in my opinion). All exchange students have an opportunity to have a Kummi Family. What is a Kummi Family? First of all they are Finns who enjoy the company of foreigners and they invite you to become like almost part of the family. Before I met my Kummi Family, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t really have any expectations, except that they would be nice to me; I certainly had that one ;) Without great detail of the initial meeting and buying of food to take to their home, I will get to the main part of numero kolme of the match making events. As a background note, my favorite car has almost always been BMW 325i. Someday when I have lots of money I’m going to buy me one or at least, one like it. Thus, the moment we reached their car after our round in Stockmann, I knew that we were a match. They had a BMW 325i, and it was even a stick shift!! I was amazed. Of course, the car wasn’t the end all be all of the match making by Finland. I definitely felt even more chemistry between them and me when we arrived at their house and talked for about 3 hours! (Sorry, I don't have a picture of them yet).

Finally, numero nelja. Another light hearted match making event concerns a little furry creature, who will eventually grow up to be a big furry creature. One Sunday afternoon downtown, my couple of my friends and I stroll down the pedestrian street to find one of the cutest puppies I have ever seen! With a mostly black coat, but also with some brown and white, this furry creature and I locked eyes. All of the sudden, I was bombarded by paws and a tongue. A young little puppy on a leash had found its way to me. I was attached. Of course I obviously can’t have a dog right now, and can’t even have one when I go back to JC, but I can dream of a time on down the road when I could have one. However, it was rather distressing, because I didn’t know the breed of dog! The very next day, my task was to find out what breed of dog I had encountered. When I finally found the breed, I was stunned. Do you ever receive those forwards in emails that tell you to take a certain type of quiz and it will tell you what color you are and what it means, what type of dog or cat or other animal you are and what that means? Well, I have. A few years ago I took one of those silly quizzes that would determine what type of dog I was. My results showed that I was much like a Bernese Mountain Dog. As you are probably figuring out by now, they breed of dog I fell in love with that Sunday afternoon was a Bernese Mountain Dog!



Like I said Finland sure does know how to do match-makin’.