Going Downtown For Internet Application!

I'm typing this from the comfort of my room now. We went to the city centre in the morning to *finally* apply for our internet connection. On our way there, we saw...

A Church

Town Hall

Another View of Town Hall

Someone feeling very cold

Warming the cars up (got to pay for it)

Some building

Next, we went to get our library cards, though I wasn't sure if I will be using it at all. But since it's free, I can keep it as a souvenir.

The sea that the library is built on

The library that is built on the sea

The people in Oulu just build anything on anything. A theater and library on the sea, a University (of Oulu) on a swamp, a ship in a market place, a science centre in a factory. Very determined people... Next, we went to the market place, which is divided into the indoor and outdoor portions. Unfortunately, there is only one stall in the outdoor section.

The lone stall outdoors

The indoor market place

The inside of the indoor market place

A stuffed young reindeer

stuffed toys in front of their meat

Different kinds of cheese

I think these are smoked fishes

Lots of salmon

Even more salmon

All their fishes

Seasoned salmon

Jukka-Pekka bought a small box of these and let us try some. They're eaten raw and they're one of his favourite. The small box costs EUR 5. Very expensive, and very very tasty, even to someone who doesn't really eat raw fish-me. I think Cherie will go crazy over this stall. Right Cherie?

Oulu policeman

Me, Policeman, Jukka-Pekka (my kummi student who has been such a great help)

Chinese restaurant in the vicinity with good food

Small fire outside the market place

After touring the market place, we headed to the bus stop to get back to the university for lunch. Lulu and Karina just had to go into shops selling shoes and I saw this fantastic and practical winter collection.

Beautifully designed crocs with cotton to keep your feet warm and holes to freeze your toes

Dressman - THE place for men's clothes

I think this is Finland's answer to Mac

A huge structure ouside my hostel

The last activity for the day was to set up our bank accounts. It was a 15 min walk to the bank, and the process for the application took slightly more than an hour. It was troublesome, as I had to go down to the city centre where the main office is once again as this branch did not deal with cash nor other forms of money. Having the option to pay bills through the ATM machine costs EUR 1 per month, and each payment of bill will cost EUR 0.70. Cash withdrawal and deposits are free though. Many forms of payment here have to be done through the banks, so I don't have much of a choice, but to open an account.

We were going back to our apartments when Karina realised her hat was gone. It was going to be torturing to have her ears exposed, so I lent her my beanie, since my coat comes with a hood. That's the good thing about having a coat with a hood. In fact, it protected my ears better than my hat. Next time, I will use the beanie, AND the hood.

Ok, it's getting late here, and I will prepare my stuff for tomorrow (ESN afternoon) and sleep soon...