Last week the weather had been perfect, and we were itching to get out of town. A family joke is to make a note of UNESCO World Heritage site visits, so when initially researching day trips in the area, I came across Old Rauma and I knew I had to go. The old part of town is listed as a World Heritage site and is (probably) easily accessible from Turku on the bus.
Just when I thought that my paperwork and bureaucratic processes was coming to an end…ug. The first day I was here, I applied for social insurance at the Kela office in Turku as a spouse of someone who was eligible. The application was straightforward and I wasn’t worried. But yesterday, exactly a month later, I received a letter in Finnish denying my application. Thanks to some google translate and our supervisor at the university we figured out it was because we hadn’t registered our marriage in Finland. This all comes down to the apostille. Remember that?
My new position is with the Research Unit for the Sociology of Education (RUSE), which is part of the University of Turku, which is within the Pharmacity building, which is part of the Science Park in the city of Turku. Got it? Good. The office is in a mixed building, with some private offices and other research groups affiliated with the university but not a classroom-type building. However, I am super curious as to what goes on at the Functional Foods Forum down the hall!
The office building is called Pharmacity and is part of the Science Park, not technically part of the main campus of the university but close by. I did have to negotiate campus to get my university logon and a key to the building and wandered around like many other students during this first week of school. This part of the city feels more like a central business district than the main city center, which is more shopping and restaurants around the square. Science Park feels more like where people work instead of play. Now including me! In addition to the keys and logons that I was able to get on campus, I also had to get a tax rate calculated by a municipal tax office (helpfully close to Pharmacity) using my contract which is very different than the US system. It took about 25 minutes of waiting and about 2 minutes of actual calculations and official paperwork which I then had to turn into someone in my office.
I’ve spent the last two days working with data in Excel, so nothing to really write home about but still fun nonetheless and I always enjoy being part of a team. The walk from our apartment is about 15 minutes or so and the most important thing is to try to not get hit by a bike. :O