Dear blog,
I know it's been awhile but I have to keep this short. In about an hour and a half, the bus for Helsinki leaves and we need to be on it. Our flight is at 17:10 and we arrive in Shanghai at 9:10am... or something?
I'll be sure to post lots of pictures since my camera will be permanently attached to my hip during the duration of my stay.
Happy end of June and Juhannus to all!
x.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
:)
What a wonderful day!
I woke up around 8:30 [or got up then] to get ready for the EBEN conference, which I'm volunteering at this week. The theme of the conference is Business Ethics and we have people flying in to Tampere from over 20 countries [I didn't count but there were lots!] After breakfast, I rode my bike to the venue to see what help we could provide.
Today was the preparation day. We were shown how the projectors, microphones and lights work and are located in the various presentation rooms within Tampere-talo, a beautiful place if I may add.
We were treated to lunch for our help and then after noon the guests began to arrive. I was only scheduled to help out until 2pm so after that I headed home. I picked up some papers and headed over to the Maistraatti to register as an inhabitant of Tampere. It took about 30 seconds and the woman said: you are now tamperelainen! And it's barely 3pm now and I have to whole day to relax before tomorrow :)
Click here for photo credit.
I woke up around 8:30 [or got up then] to get ready for the EBEN conference, which I'm volunteering at this week. The theme of the conference is Business Ethics and we have people flying in to Tampere from over 20 countries [I didn't count but there were lots!] After breakfast, I rode my bike to the venue to see what help we could provide.
Today was the preparation day. We were shown how the projectors, microphones and lights work and are located in the various presentation rooms within Tampere-talo, a beautiful place if I may add.
We were treated to lunch for our help and then after noon the guests began to arrive. I was only scheduled to help out until 2pm so after that I headed home. I picked up some papers and headed over to the Maistraatti to register as an inhabitant of Tampere. It took about 30 seconds and the woman said: you are now tamperelainen! And it's barely 3pm now and I have to whole day to relax before tomorrow :)
Click here for photo credit.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Books! Namely: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.
I've been reading and raving about this new book called: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I'm about halfway through the book and although I can't say that I love every aspect of it, much like the entire point of her project, I'm learning so much and getting the most out of it that I feel the need to rave and recommend more publicly!
Now first off, I have to say, I am really enjoying the daily epiphanies this author has! I feel like they are all such important discoveries that could serve anyone, whatever their situation.
But wait.. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me first tell you what the book is about and what a happiness project is...
It's basically a project that sets out to make someone happy. Now I know that sounds either overly naive or overly complex, depending on your views, but happiness seems to be something people, once again, either give too much or too little thought to. So what Gretchen did is: research. She read everything she could get her hands on about happiness and then set out to make a list of 12 important chapters she wants to focus on in her life [these will obviously be different for everyone.] She then devoted 12 months of her life to these 12 categories. Not only that, but she kept a chart of her resolutions so they wouldn't be forgotten once that month passed. So by the end, she was juggling all 12... or, well... I'm not sure how the 12th month goes because I'm not there yet.
I'm not completely convinced I'm going to do this BUT in the meantime, I can do little things that go a long way, including making a list of things that I want to live by. [These are usually small, but would improved my overall happiness.] So here are a few things that just randomly popped in my head during these past 15 minutes:
- Learn a new word every day.
- Find my reset button.
- Spend more enjoyably.
- Read more.
- Spend at least 30 minutes outside each day [that includes winter, exams, holidays...]
- Take every opportunity to make new friends and strengthen old friendships. [This has been working well these past couple of months.]
- Answer your messages promptly. [This is a work-in-progress]
- Eat more home-made food.
- Don't gossip. [From Gretchen's.]
- Identify the problem. [From Gretchen's.]
- Treat yourself.
- Keep your word.
For photo credit click here.
Now that I've enlightened you with my randomness, I'm going to watch Germany school Australia :)
Now first off, I have to say, I am really enjoying the daily epiphanies this author has! I feel like they are all such important discoveries that could serve anyone, whatever their situation.
But wait.. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me first tell you what the book is about and what a happiness project is...
It's basically a project that sets out to make someone happy. Now I know that sounds either overly naive or overly complex, depending on your views, but happiness seems to be something people, once again, either give too much or too little thought to. So what Gretchen did is: research. She read everything she could get her hands on about happiness and then set out to make a list of 12 important chapters she wants to focus on in her life [these will obviously be different for everyone.] She then devoted 12 months of her life to these 12 categories. Not only that, but she kept a chart of her resolutions so they wouldn't be forgotten once that month passed. So by the end, she was juggling all 12... or, well... I'm not sure how the 12th month goes because I'm not there yet.
I'm not completely convinced I'm going to do this BUT in the meantime, I can do little things that go a long way, including making a list of things that I want to live by. [These are usually small, but would improved my overall happiness.] So here are a few things that just randomly popped in my head during these past 15 minutes:
- Learn a new word every day.
- Find my reset button.
- Spend more enjoyably.
- Read more.
- Spend at least 30 minutes outside each day [that includes winter, exams, holidays...]
- Take every opportunity to make new friends and strengthen old friendships. [This has been working well these past couple of months.]
- Answer your messages promptly. [This is a work-in-progress]
- Eat more home-made food.
- Don't gossip. [From Gretchen's.]
- Identify the problem. [From Gretchen's.]
- Treat yourself.
- Keep your word.
For photo credit click here.
Now that I've enlightened you with my randomness, I'm going to watch Germany school Australia :)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Jetlag.
I keep forgetting that blog posts don't need to be 30 pages about the daily epiphanies I have and put off writing about because they're too long and if I don't go into all the details then they feel incomplete and why write about them at all.
So anyway, I got back to Tampere yesterday! I landed around 6pm, got in around 8pm after a quick stop at Prima - Ideapark. Managed to get to bed at a regular hour - 12:30am - due to lack of sleep on the plane. And I woke up at 12:30pm today...having slept 12 hours, of which at least 9 involved light outside. Now this might all sound fine and dandy to you but since I have an interview/presentation/really short essay to prepare for Friday this was actually quite disastrous. The consequences of which I'll face tomorrow... since it's 2:17am and I'm still wide awake. BUT it really shouldn't be too bad and I can't wait to go, present, be interviewed and then CELEBRATE THE START OF THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Point being, the average European jet lag: wide awake but usually the darkness helps tell your body it's time to sleep. Current jetlag: sun appears to be trying to do me a favour and stays out 19h and 18 minutes a day.
I actually found a chart: [it was here but the format didn't hold so just check out the link below... it's quite different from what we're used to in Toronto, for example.]
Thank you: http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/tampere.html
So anyway, I got back to Tampere yesterday! I landed around 6pm, got in around 8pm after a quick stop at Prima - Ideapark. Managed to get to bed at a regular hour - 12:30am - due to lack of sleep on the plane. And I woke up at 12:30pm today...having slept 12 hours, of which at least 9 involved light outside. Now this might all sound fine and dandy to you but since I have an interview/presentation/really short essay to prepare for Friday this was actually quite disastrous. The consequences of which I'll face tomorrow... since it's 2:17am and I'm still wide awake. BUT it really shouldn't be too bad and I can't wait to go, present, be interviewed and then CELEBRATE THE START OF THE WORLD CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Point being, the average European jet lag: wide awake but usually the darkness helps tell your body it's time to sleep. Current jetlag: sun appears to be trying to do me a favour and stays out 19h and 18 minutes a day.
I actually found a chart: [it was here but the format didn't hold so just check out the link below... it's quite different from what we're used to in Toronto, for example.]
Thank you: http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/tampere.html
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Back in the USSR!
I am back in Canada for 11 days and it has been pretty insane. I can't lie.
First, the idea of flying across the Atlantic was exhausting. Since I obviously had to go, I got pretty excited [although mind you, a little later on in my journey] and now I'm drawing all these links between life in Canada and life in Finland.
For one, it is so crowded here! Toronto gets progressively more crowded and traffic gets worse and worse each year. Any local will notice. But it's a little different once you leave and don't see the progression take place. It can be rather overwhelming for anyone, any way.
The amount of time spent in a car is astronomical... I had to go down to the Chinese Consulate to get my visa for China. THANK GOD I went last Friday. The drive took me over an hour because it's in an area that is unaccessible by highway [not that the highways actually go at highway speeds during rush hour]. And it's open from 9-11:30am in the mornings so I just figured that would be better than going in the afternoons. I finally got there, lined up for an hour, dropped off my application and asked that it be rushed so I could pick it up on Monday. When I went back on Monday, the line for Visa applications was, quite literally, out the door. And the line for MONEY ORDER payments of visas was... well, I didn't have to wait at all!
The sad thing is, no matter which direction you're going these days, there is likely to be at least one traffic jam on the way. And no, you can't really walk anywhere worth going here... or at least I can't. I have to walk 15 minutes to the bus, take the bus for 30 minutes before getting to the subway and taking that for 30 minutes to get downtown... so that's not very ideal. And from this respect, I miss Finland.
That being said, I've been visiting people left and right since getting here and I am so overwhelmed. I meet up with someone for a few hours and then I have to say good bye again and I really wish I could see them more often.
And the moral of the story is... I either need to be in two places at once or everyone should move to Finland. [Both of which sound rather unlikely.] In any case, I'm definitely really grateful to get to see at least a few people every couple of months. And to know that friendships stretch out far beyond geographic borders.
... and that was my morning of individual reflection. Now I have to go meet Eric! And then this afternoon, it's off to Montreal for less than 24 hours, as per usual.
First, the idea of flying across the Atlantic was exhausting. Since I obviously had to go, I got pretty excited [although mind you, a little later on in my journey] and now I'm drawing all these links between life in Canada and life in Finland.
For one, it is so crowded here! Toronto gets progressively more crowded and traffic gets worse and worse each year. Any local will notice. But it's a little different once you leave and don't see the progression take place. It can be rather overwhelming for anyone, any way.
The amount of time spent in a car is astronomical... I had to go down to the Chinese Consulate to get my visa for China. THANK GOD I went last Friday. The drive took me over an hour because it's in an area that is unaccessible by highway [not that the highways actually go at highway speeds during rush hour]. And it's open from 9-11:30am in the mornings so I just figured that would be better than going in the afternoons. I finally got there, lined up for an hour, dropped off my application and asked that it be rushed so I could pick it up on Monday. When I went back on Monday, the line for Visa applications was, quite literally, out the door. And the line for MONEY ORDER payments of visas was... well, I didn't have to wait at all!
The sad thing is, no matter which direction you're going these days, there is likely to be at least one traffic jam on the way. And no, you can't really walk anywhere worth going here... or at least I can't. I have to walk 15 minutes to the bus, take the bus for 30 minutes before getting to the subway and taking that for 30 minutes to get downtown... so that's not very ideal. And from this respect, I miss Finland.
That being said, I've been visiting people left and right since getting here and I am so overwhelmed. I meet up with someone for a few hours and then I have to say good bye again and I really wish I could see them more often.
And the moral of the story is... I either need to be in two places at once or everyone should move to Finland. [Both of which sound rather unlikely.] In any case, I'm definitely really grateful to get to see at least a few people every couple of months. And to know that friendships stretch out far beyond geographic borders.
... and that was my morning of individual reflection. Now I have to go meet Eric! And then this afternoon, it's off to Montreal for less than 24 hours, as per usual.
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