The results are in...

Scaled Score/Percentile
Quantitative [aka. Math]: 40/58
Verbal: 38/83
Total: 650/79
**BREAKING NEWS** AWA (Analytical writing assessment): 6.0 out of 6.0

Boo yeah.!

[Total scores are between 200-800 and I needed minimum 550!]


Since getting home from Helsinki [Big thank you to my gracious hosts Matti&Anne!] I've just been really tired/working on my applications due next week/went shopping! Veera should be here in a little while and Xevi and Jose are arriving tomorrow. I hope to have pictures from our housewarming party up afterward AND this upcoming week and weekend!

New focus: get into university and learn Finnish.

Oops.

Dear readers,
My apologies for having neglected you for the past week. I've been studying for the GMAT and getting into a slightly more intense mode than the weeks leading up to this one. I recently purchased a pack of 5 full-length GMATS which I completed over the course of a week or two, in various degrees of intensity. First in chunks and, more recently, all together. I also woke up at 7am today in an attempt to mimic this Wednesday's course of events. So yes, I do think that sufficient rest is important on GMAT day.

If that wasn't the most proper and uptight paragraph on this blog, I don't know which is!

Anyway, I didn't do anything too interesting last week. I went to class Tuesday and Thursday and put up with horrible teaching on Monday and Thursday night class. [The one really fun thing we did in morning class on Thursday was make Valentine's Day cards for our friends! I made 3 and an impromptu on a coaster that evening at Pub Quiz.] Please don't ask me how my Finnish is - it's on hold. Saturday was the infamous kyykkä world championship, for which Juha awoke at 6:45am and proceeded to drink and play the day away until about 9pm. I did a practice GMAT so I didn't get a chance to witness the event [sadly.] Then I went shopping and treated myself to a new sweater and shirt from H&M. I'm likely going back today for a hat! [They're having sales until Wednesday! ...yes, this excites me.]

Sunday was ystävänpäivä [=friends' day] or as we know it in Canada, Valentine's day. Juha had to work so I kept him company and then after his shift ended we checked out 2h+k [a restaurant/bar] because I heard they had an amazing goat cheese salad.
Oh.my.god. I've never had a goat cheese salad before and this was DIVINE. Apart from the fact that it wasn't very filling, the cheese was incredible. I'd really like to go there again... or even start making my own goat cheese salads at home. Why not? I've been making salads all over the place for the past 2 weeks anyway!. Speaking of which, today is day 14 of my diet! The past few days I've been cheating without cheating and eating a bit too much of the foods that I CAN eat but shouldn't be eating all the time so, I gotta lay off on the bananas.
BUT speaking of bananas, I made a Kenyan breakfast this morning [yes, at 7am.] [I hope Amos isn't laughing at me.] It's called plantains in coconut milk and it tasted quite delicious. I think I made it right but definitely think I could've enjoyed it more had I not been afraid that it was too sweet for what I'm allowed after every bite. Either way, it was fun to make and I didn't even mind waking up so early to do it [before GMAT start time.]

Today! I want to register as an official searcher of employment at the employment office, and go buy that hat. Ah yes, and study. And go to my evening class and visit Juha's dad tonight, who's in town from China.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Helsinki to write the GMAT and stay with Matti and Anne!
Wednesday around 12:30pm, I'll be done the GMAT!

And some more randomness that doesn't fit anywhere in the illogical flow above...
- Juha and I are planning a trip to Romania for Easter this year. I'm pretty sure we're buying tickets tonight! April 2nd - 6th: Bucharest and Galati.
- Our housewarming party is next weekend and I can't wait to see our guests bestowed with out-of-town/out-of-country honour: Veera, Essi/Xevi, Jose.
- I called University of Admissions Finland and they received my application AND my supplements so one of my apps is complete and I can sleep better at night. [Next deadline is Feb. 26th.]

So yes, lots to look forward to.

Night class.

Bad news. My Mon/Thurs night teacher hurt her back and she might be out for awhile. We had a replacement on Monday and she was completely clueless. According to her, "the worst case scenario is that she stays on as our teacher for the rest of the session" aka until April.

Right now, I think almost anyone in the class can stand up and teach better than she did on Monday. Hopefully she'll be more prepared on Thursday or I'm just going to be really upset.

GMAT is in less than a week. After which I'm going to start the job search and put a lot more effort into my Finnish... and to do that I'll either have to study on my own or find new language schools. We'll see... there's a whole thing with registering to look for employment and unemployment grants that let you take language courses but I'm not currently eligible for this.

Averie got me obsessed with this song: Iron and Wine "The Boy with the Coin"

We might cook something tonight... maybe I'll take some pictures!

Bus Mare.

Traumatized. I took a bus trip – my first ever in Finland – on Tuesday. So judging from the first word, maybe you can guess what happened. That’s right, I got lost.
It wasn’t just around the corner either, it was to Hervanta and I ended up in some residential part of it and when everyone got off the bus… I told the driver I must have missed my stop. I’d gotten into the habit of actually asking people if they spoken English [it just seems more polite than me expecting them to] but after awhile it seemed obvious that everyone spoke English so I stopped asking. And another reason I didn’t ask this time was because when I actually need to speak with someone, I’m a little too frazzled so I skip the formalities.

Me: “Anteeks, but I think I missed my stop.”
Driver: *Stares at me blankly*
Me: “Puhutko sinä englantia....?” [Do you speak English?]
Driver: “*Mumble…*” … and then something that somehow made me feel as though he was asking where I want to go.
Me: “TTY.”
Driver: “TTY?”
Me: “Joo… yliopisto.” [Yes… the university.]
…
Driver: “Wait 7 minutes.”
Me: “Can I wait on the bus?”
Driver: “*Mumble*”

So I figured that was a no because it was somewhere between a joo/no [yes in Finnish or no in English] or an ei [no in Finnish]. The whole thing was really unclear and he obviously didn’t realize I was ready to turn on the water works. He looked at me really strangely when I got off the bus, leading me to believe that I could’ve stayed on it, and I waited 7 minutes for him to come back and drive the bus back in the direction from which we came. I found the place I was supposed to get off at and made it to acrobatics! [And I'm really happy I made it. I even managed to do 3 handstand presses... it must've been the pasta I had for lunch!]
It was the first time since I got to Finland that I a) wanted to cry and b) wanted to be in Canada. BUT NOW: I can ride the bus to Hervanta [I wouldn’t confidently say anywhere else] like a champ!

I can’t really explain why this was such a big deal but I guess it’s part of getting used to living somewhere new where you’re not at all fluent in the spoken language. You’re, not only, intimidated by the language but also the unknown surroundings and the possibility of getting lost and ending up in a situation where you can’t make yourself understood. That’s the part that makes in terrifying, I suppose. Regardless of whether or not you’ve traveled the world, this little aspect of culture shock does not seem to be more clearly explained than just freezing up and feeling very unsure of everything… so you definitely need to kick yourself in the butt sometimes and dare to get lost or not be understood. This is bound to happen again at some point so might as well get lots of practice!





Otherwise, I am exhausted. GMAT studying is getting more intense and less rewarding….or maybe more rewarding but I’m getting less happiness out of it. I was supposed to do 2 chapters today but that’s not going to happen. I skipped school yesterday to do 2 chapters and I have 2 math chapters left before finishing the entire Math book I have. Then I still have 100000 Verbal chapters before doing the full-length tests.

There’s an international student career information session today at 17:00 and I’m going with my Canadian buddy Sydney. But I can’t stay the whole time because I have to run-off to my other Finnish course which starts at 18:30. I am definitely not at all bored.

Fell on my butt.

The title says it all. Today, while walking home from class, I slipped and fell on my butt. And the most surprising thing, is that I think no one saw... well that's the second most surprising thing. The actual most surprising thing is that it took me 23 days of living in Finland until I actually fell on my butt. It's quite common here, especially if your boots have no grip. Anyway, I walked away laughing and for some strange reason, felt the need to tell this to this internet.

I made some friends in class today! One is named Donna and she's from Louisiana. The other is named Rabia and she's from Turkey but she's leaving for Curacao next week so she might be gone a few months. Her husband is being sent there for a job for 10 months. Donna and Rabia used to do a salsa class together but now that Rabia is leaving, Donna doesn't want to do it alone. I suggested going with her because it's not too expensive and I actually really wanted to try dancing somewhere. So I'll see how that goes. I think we missed the sign up deadline but the teacher used to attend our language school so maybe some strings can be pulled.

I FINALLY finished reviewing [most] of the material for the GMAT and now it's just down to a million practice questions before starting the full-length practices... which is gonna suck, as each exam lasts about 4 hours. I'm looking forward to noon on February 17th.

Anne and I made some AMAZING [and by we, I mean Anne] food this weekend! I was too full to each as much as I actually wanted to consume [all in sight]. But I am planning on making it again soon...
The food I've been making for myself lately include [this is more for my mom haha <3.]:
- Fried rice
- Tacos! [baha.]
- Tomato Salad
- Stuffed Peppers
- Cookies!
- Pasta with pesto and feta [an old classic]
...
It doesn't seem like much yet but I'm trying to find some things that are easy to make and will bring variety to my meals.

Meanwhile, I've put my drawing on the back burner for now. Gah! Between Finnish classes every day or twice a day [I have 7 classes every Mon-Fri] and GMAT studying and coffee dates, my robotic cow has been neglected.
I'll post pictures once they're ready/post-able.

Update!

So apparently people actually read this because I've had more than one person ask why I haven't updated in a few days... or actually accuse me of NOT updating. I'm sorry to have done this. I guess once I started getting busy, blogging was ON my mind but not so much part of my schedule.
SO - where to begin?

Since I left off with the language school POSSIBILITY, I went there the next day and they told me to come back Monday after 2:30pm. So yes, that was a crap morning because I had to walk all the way back home and nap off the disappointment for 2 hours. But in the afternoon, I finally checked out this awesome doughnut (is that really how you spell it?) place with my friend Nina so the day did look up at the end!

Friday... what happened on Friday??... I can't remember...Ah yes! I wrote motivation letters and probably went grocery shopping...or something along those lines.

Saturday Juha and I hung out in our apartment for several consecutive hours during one morning - so yes, that was pretty exciting (this hasn't really ever happened before)! We tidied up and I even started my online drawing course. I drew some lines and shapes and a duck and a cow so far! It's actually really motivating to be able to draw and recognize the animal so I'm pretty pumped about that. Maybe I'll upload some pictures of that once I can upload pictures...

Matti and Anne then came and saw our place for the FIRST TIME EVER (Juha's brother and his girlfriend)! We are also now the proud owners of a Nepalese sleeping bag so we can better accommodate Veera, Essi, Xevi and Jose once they come in February! Rushed off to Juha's mom for "lunch" (a few hours late), and hung around there playing Yatzee and Penguin Party before going to see our friend Heikki (re: FB status: He tricks like a champ.) perform in a circus show.
The circus itself was like no other circus I've ever been too because it was on a stage BUT the acts themselves were very impressive (almost all of them). The act we went to see was by Team Unito, which I finally got to meet that day! They tricked for about 6 minutes (a hard feat)!!
Btw, tricking is a mix of gymnastics, martial arts, break dancing?, acrobatics ... it's basically awesomeness all around. Sadly I was a little to short to see everything going on at stage all at once but everyone I knew there had the same problem so I was not alone.
Other acts included pole-dancing 'acrobatics,' a 25 minute drag-queen-one-man-show, an intensely impressive juggling act, and a hilarious MC from Miama via Sweden etc...

Sunday I saw Anne for a couple of hours and she gave me so many great ideas for things to do from now on in Tampere that I don't think I'll spend anymore time looking for inspiration on what to do! One of these things included going to volunteer somewhere before if you can get turned down for a job for not speaking Finnish, you can't get turned down for volunteering! AHA!
But also, I do feel my Finnish is improving... over the past 2 days at least.

Monday I hung out with Heikki and we went to the bank (fail.), to the post office, to some store with a Swedish name (Clos...) and finally, grocery shopping at a BIG grocery store (first time in Finland)!
[Oh and back to the language school who told me I can join a non-beginning course which I went to today for the first time ever! - But more about that later.]
Then at night I went to my ENSIMMAINEN [first but with : on the 'a'] Finnish class. It moved at a pretty good pace I think because I'd already studied the material we did in class but it was nice to review it in the structure of a class so I wasn't bored at all. Apart from the two Estonian girls in my class, I definitely think I'm near the top of the class. There's one other guy who has studied Finnish before though so maybe behind him but ahead of the others who were just learning:
mä, sä, hän, me, te, he +olla (to be) for the first time.
Then I got home and made a big meal of SEVEN stuffed peppers and a tomato salad - very Romanian. The meat in the peppers was a little bland but it was my first try so I was pretty happy with that!

TODAY I went to my very first daily language course in the morning. This was very very different from the course I had last night. There were about 25-28 people in this class (vs. 15-16). Most of them had been in Finland 2-4 years and I think they (maybe) understood more than me but their language skills were really limited. Otherwise, the class progressed really slowly because the teacher tries to get everyone involved but I think that's important. I want to keep going to this class (and the other) because I think daily and sometimes 2-times/day will help me improve a lot faster than just one of the courses. I also think that since both teachers speak Finnish all the time, I'll get more used to it and eventually start understanding more too.
THEN after class, I had a nightmare of a time at the bank but here it is in point form:
- take a number and wait... (times are cumulative)
- 20 minutes and I'm no closer to being helped.
- 22 minutes and the numbers finally start being called.
- 25 minutes and I go in.
- 27 minutes and I'm out with my new VISA ELECTRON BANK CARD!
"Go use it" the woman at the bank says.
- 28 minutes I put my card in the machine...
... 28.3 minutes, my card has been eaten.
... 29 minutes, ask a lady if she speaks English (she doesn't)
... 30 minutes, we go up to the info desk together and she explains in Finnish that the machine ate my card.
- 30.5 minutes, the woman hands me ANOTHER number to wait in the queue.
- 30.75 minutes I complain that I've already waited.
- 31 minutes, there's only one woman in front of you, she says.
- 41 minutes, still waiting.
- 42 minutes, get called in.
- 43 minutes, the bank woman goes to get the card.
- 53 minutes, she comes back and says "I couldn't find it so I have to call someone who can always find it... if you can wait awhile..."
- 60 minutes.... "the card has disappeared. We have to order you a new one."
- 61 minutes: "can I take out some money now?" She says: "You have to go to the teller to do that." "No offense but I've been waiting an hour..." "Okay, okay, we'll do it here." (And thank God for that because in Germany I FOR SURE would've been sent back to the teller because that's PROTOCOL.)

Went home and ate lunch. FASCINATING !
Studied for the GMAT for over an hour.
Juha picked me up and took me to TYY (Tampere University of Technology) where Heikki was teaching an acrobatics class from 4-6pm. Class was really fun but I am now tired. BUT I do realize I one can be IN and OUT of shape but one can also become IN or OUT of shape... so I'm hoping to make the leap back to "into." [That means I want to improve haha.] And also look for ways to maybe get into the Tampere gymnastics scene... but one step at a time. [Oh! And this class was good practice for my Finnish because I learn little words, one at a time, and you hear them repeated over the course of the two hours.]

SOOOO in summary, I now finally have a weekly schedule:
Monday - Friday: 9am - 11:30am (Morning Finnish Class)
Monday AND Thursday 6:30pm - 8pm (Evening Finnish Class)
Tuesday: 4pm-6pm (Acrobatics class - if they keep me)!

That's about it for now. I'll do my best to update again ASAP but I also need to catch up on my GMAT studying. =O

Bagoolarasabajaöninen.

Tänään oli ihana päivä!

(Today was a wonderful day!)

I woke up at - shocker - EIGHT AM. That's right, in the MORNING. I decided it was time to start my day much earlier than the aforementioned wake ups at 11am. The same wake ups which, my close friends know, are very uncharacteristic of me.

I studied GMAT for about an hour.

I then went to the uni gym to get picked up IN THE GASTROVAN then Juha and I headed to the THEATER to get some tickets for his mom and make a solid €1 profit! We then headed to a Thai&Laos place for their delicious lunch buffet. Their tomatoe soup was so spicy (tulinen aka fiery/spicy)... but overall, great restaurant! I was really excited because it was my first time eating out in TAMPERE (TamerFORS in Swedish) since the summer. While walking back to the van, we noticed a sign for a Finnish school and went in to ask. After a solid 10 minute conversation with the overwhelmed teacher there, Juha told me I can go tomorrow at 9am and see if there's room for me to register!
The teacher seemed really knowledgable and the course is from 9am-12pm, Monday to Friday for only €40/month! AWESOMENESSNESS! (I really, really hope I can get a spot.)
So after SKIPPING home (can you tell I'm still giddy?), and doing some daily shopping, of course!, I did a bit more GMAT studying.

Anyway, long story short, we watched "I love you, man" and I discovered the LONGEST word in the Finnish language (well not actually) EVER (lies):

"interior designer"

BRACE YOURSELF!

sisustussuunnittelija

...now try saying it out loud. And remember to emphasize the double letters. I said "sisustussynnyttelijä," which means interior birth giver. (Insert laugh here.)



And that's that. I'll let you know how language school goes!