Living in Jyväskylä

Jyväskylä is a city of approximately 140,000 people, about 4.5 times smaller than Helsinki and 2 times bigger than Lappeenranta, where I’ll be during the school year. Being so far north, both weather and sunlight conditions are more extreme. For example, the high temperature of this past week was 73°F, about 20 degrees less than in St. Louis. More commonly it has been in the mid-60s with intermittent rain. Sunset is at 11:10pm and sunrise at 3:30am, meaning it never truly gets dark in the summer. This can be quite disorienting, and I find myself staying up later because the amount of light in the apartment is deceiving. Blackout curtains and face masks are a must if you want to maintain any type of sleep schedule. I was surprised how well the mask worked for me.

Jyväskylä, though much smaller than Helsinki, still has the compact European feel while being surrounded by nature like forests and lakes.

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I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Jyväskylä. It’s nice to live in a city that is actually set up for walking and biking.

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Speaking of walking, it only takes me 4 minutes to walk to the nearest grocery store, which is open until 10pm. This means I can buy small amounts of food at a time or stop at the store on the way back from anywhere, as there are several K-Markets spread throughout the city. So far I’ve just been making simple foods like sandwiches, vegetables, and pasta. I save the Finnish cooking for program activities and the occasional school lunch. I find it easier to eat healthier when I live on my own because I can’t eat it if I don’t have it, which makes me more inclined to not buy unhealthy foods in the first place.

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On my second night in Jyväskylä, I heard a song being projected throughout the city center. It sounded like something from The Hunger Games. After further investigation, I discovered that the song plays at 8pm every summer night at Harju, a forested park across the street from me. It’s a cool tradition that I look forward to every night that I’m nearby.

Despite the 8 hour time difference, my family and I have been able to stay connected through texting, WhatsApp phone calls, and FaceTime. Since my free T-Mobile international data isn’t that great, I often go to the library to use the Internet.

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Thanks for reading and stay tuned to hear about my first week in the language / culture program! Spoiler alert: It has been great!