ZOMG. I have lots to update BUT TODAY was a very important day - it still is - because today was the day that Hanken published it's admission decisions. I was really uncertain about how that would go, especially following my last 2 rejections letter. I turned on my computer, checked my email but they hadn't written me yet. I checked my other email, my Facebook, etc... and then noticed a new email. And yes, I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are two main reasons for all those exclamation marks:
a) I get to stay in Finland, worry-free for 2 years.
b) I didn't have half the prerequisites they specifically asked for but I did have a strong application [I got more adamant about this as time went on haha.] so I'm really happy they didn't just say no because I hadn't taken a few extra marketing courses. [Now I'm just hoping that this wasn't a mistake and that I won't get another email later telling me that I got the wrong email. That is however, highly unlikely.]
In other news, not that I can focus on anything else right now, SUMMER IS HERE! I love summer. And I welcome the sun and the heat... but my brain doesn't function so well in them. I may have to buy a hat or something. I get really dazed. I think I drank over 2 liters of water yesterday and it still wasn't enough. Mind you, I did spend most of yesterday keeping Juha company during work. So I wasn't even actually in the sun!
Last week, Eeva and I had our usual Kokkikerho [cooking club] and cooked up one of my favourite dishes so far: Mediterranean Vegetable Rice Pie - A-M-A-Zing! I can't wait to make that again.
Thursday Mia and I went to Koskenranta and ate an avocado. It wasn't meant to be a picnic or anything, but rather, a sampling of avocado. [She'd never had it before!] We also went to 3 different coffee shops trying to find decaf coffee before finally settling on a decaf cappuccino from Cafe Europa.
Friday was very confusing. I wanted to see an exhibit at TR1 on the Finlayson grounds and asked Kate to come but her phone was dead and things got complicated haha. I ended up at the park with Heikki, who was studying math. Then Mia came and we all spoke Finnish. Then Juha came with some coffee and Batchi Balls [sp?] and we played [more Finnish!]. Needless to say, it was a great day to practice Finnish. After that, Juha and I headed over to that exhibit and later took a walk around Keskustori, where Finland's first McDonald's [25 years old] had burned down that day. Along with it went several +1M euro flats that were newly renovated and situated on top. The street was closed down for hours and I think the area is still taped-off.
Friday evening I had dinner at WokWok with Mia before she left for Italy! Mia's mom also came by! I later finished my dinner at Jonne's with Jonne, Anne and Juha while watching the hockey game. Belarus vs. Finland was pretty slow and uneventful but Finland won 3-0 in the end! We had lots of time to chat and catch-up. Anne had just gotten back from a trip to Prague and Copenhagen.
Saturday was Juha's Birthday!!!! We delivered some flowers in the morning [work-related] and then had most of the day to enjoy without having to worry about work. We lazed around, had lunch at 2h+k [2 huonea ja keittiö - 2 rooms and a kitchen], went for a short walk through the park, went grocery shopping, went to Nina's tuparit [unofficial /house warming], met up with Heikki, met up with Tuomo, ran into Antti, met up with Jonne 2, went to Doris, met up with Jonne 1, went to Tillikka [it was closed], went to Armas, met up with Eeva. Called Pena, went home, fell asleep in random places, woke up, went to bed!
And now I'm burning with impatience to check out what courses and such Hanken has!!
P.S. We bought our tickets to China last night. June 20-29th, Shanghai here we come!
Showing posts with label anne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anne. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wensday. [I mean that is how we pronounce it anyway.]
On Monday Donna messaged me to ask if I wanted to come with Helsinki with her on Wednesday to drop off her husband at the airport then hit the shops! I was so excited!!! I had also been dreaming about the vegetable salad I'd eaten at Maya - a Mexican restaurant - and I got to take Donna there! We hit the shops thereafter. Donna bought a beautiful purple wallet and a silk shirt from Esprit! Then we drove home and chatted the whole way back... Donna also sampled my muffins - all THREE batches - and has been raving to all of Tampere about them so I'm really happy someone other than Juha enjoyed them too!
Last night I got a big of downtime before heading out! Anne, Nina and I met up and dressed up [although beforehand] and headed to Lavatanssi - a barn dance that happens every year. Everyone dresses up in 1920s barn clothes and they teach you dances there and then and you can then do them all together. It was pretty entertaining to watch! People had really gotten creative with the theme... I felt like I was in a movie almost! Unfortunately, we didn't partake in the dancing BUT we chatted lots, so no time was wasted!
Today, I decided to make apple cinnamon muffins... they're out of the oven, I've taken tons of pictures and they're ready for sampling. Sadly, I haven't worked up the courage to try them yet. So I can't say how they taste just yet.
Tonight, after my Finnish class, Donna is coming by to pick up me and Juha and bring us to her place. She's making her INFAMOUS goat cheese salad [tweaked to perfection, or so I'm told!] and I'm really excited about it. Our friends Lauren and Kimmo were supposed to come along as well but turns out Lauren got the flu bug. Get well soon Lauren! [even though you don't have the link to this blog quite yet.]
Stay tuned for muffin pictures. [Yes, I'm talking to you Kelly <3.]
Last night I got a big of downtime before heading out! Anne, Nina and I met up and dressed up [although beforehand] and headed to Lavatanssi - a barn dance that happens every year. Everyone dresses up in 1920s barn clothes and they teach you dances there and then and you can then do them all together. It was pretty entertaining to watch! People had really gotten creative with the theme... I felt like I was in a movie almost! Unfortunately, we didn't partake in the dancing BUT we chatted lots, so no time was wasted!
Today, I decided to make apple cinnamon muffins... they're out of the oven, I've taken tons of pictures and they're ready for sampling. Sadly, I haven't worked up the courage to try them yet. So I can't say how they taste just yet.
Tonight, after my Finnish class, Donna is coming by to pick up me and Juha and bring us to her place. She's making her INFAMOUS goat cheese salad [tweaked to perfection, or so I'm told!] and I'm really excited about it. Our friends Lauren and Kimmo were supposed to come along as well but turns out Lauren got the flu bug. Get well soon Lauren! [even though you don't have the link to this blog quite yet.]
Stay tuned for muffin pictures. [Yes, I'm talking to you Kelly <3.]
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Friday.
You'll have to forgive my tardiness. I'm a little behind on blogging as I've had little energy to do much of anything lately.
Last week, my goal was to get to page 100 of my "From Start to Finnish" language book by Sunday. I proudly reached my goal Saturday afternoon and gave myself Sunday off. Of course, this made for a difficult start on Monday as I felt too tired to study much. But anyways, let's go back to Friday.
On Friday, I attended my very first demonstration. [Yes, this may shock some of you who know me well.] Anne invited me to come along with her and I jumped at the opportunity to try something different and do something useful. The event itself was an anti-fur demonstration. Apparently the fur trade has already been outlawed in the Netherlands and Ireland and the people we walked with wanted the same laws to be put in place in Finland.
Personally, I think the fur trade was useful before synthetic fibers started being used for warmth and I can see why people would be attached to it historically. On the other hand, if you think about it, it's a little useless and causes unnecessary harm [aka. death] to animals and needn't be killed. So although I can't pretend this issue is something I think about on a regular basis, I saw merit in demonstrating against the fur trade and trying to incite some change.
I felt a little funny being there at first. It's really hard for me to separate real protesters from fake ones in my head but this was a challenge I knew I'd sort of have to confront while being there. By fake protesters, I mean people who just like to protest anything. For example, there were individuals at my university who were in favour of abolishing tuition AND the teaching assistants' strike to increase their salaries from $32/hour because this is Canada's lowest TA wage. UNBEARABLE! Those poor starving TAs... and where should the money to fund such wage increases come from if you abolish tuition... Anyway, I didn't mean to get all riled up. But I'm not a big fan of those people... so back to the anti-fur demonstration!
It was really interesting and I really enjoyed myself. I was a little sleepy and Anne felt the same. We were both in dire need of a nap but still, we were given a sign [I wish I had a picture of it] and we marched with it. We were both annoyed at one of the protesters who decided that drinking a beer while demonstrating would be a good idea. I guess Anne and I saw eye-to-eye on what should and shouldn't be done at these things. The march took us up the main street, down a secondary street and in front of a department store which sells fur. Standing in front of that store made for an uncomfortable 10 minutes or so as we chanted "Shame on you Halonen" in Finnish. [Halonen is the name of the store, and incidentally, the Finnish president's last name. But that was only coincidental.] We then headed back to the main square. There were some speeches but we ran home because after over an hour outside, our feet were numb from the cold.
It's hard to really reflect on everything because the demonstration was in Finnish so I couldn't tell how people were feeling. Anne mentioned there was some hostility in the air and people seemed pretty angry. Yet Anne and I both felt that the right approach would be just to smile and inform people, instead of being angry at them. Since everyone was there with friends, we all joined up in little groups and took what we each thought appropriate from the experience, and gave what we thought was appropriate in return. I'm probably not making much sense now and I have half a mind to delete this whole post but I'll keep it anyway.
Point being, if there are any policy changes, they won't be instantaneous but if you hear anything [Anne!] then let me know.
Post-nap, I hung out at home in the evening and then went to see Janne Laurila in concert with Anne! [It was indeed an Anne-filled day!] I was really excited for this show because I'd heard a few songs by him [ok seriously, just one but that day two!] and I liked his style. I was pleasantly surprised when he played a whole set and I enjoyed every single song. I guess it's handy he works at the bar right near my house and plays shows there pretty often. I definitely want to see him again.
That's it for my Friday update. I'll write more later but for now, I have a date with a handsome fellow named Juuso and his owner's sister, Nina.
Last week, my goal was to get to page 100 of my "From Start to Finnish" language book by Sunday. I proudly reached my goal Saturday afternoon and gave myself Sunday off. Of course, this made for a difficult start on Monday as I felt too tired to study much. But anyways, let's go back to Friday.
On Friday, I attended my very first demonstration. [Yes, this may shock some of you who know me well.] Anne invited me to come along with her and I jumped at the opportunity to try something different and do something useful. The event itself was an anti-fur demonstration. Apparently the fur trade has already been outlawed in the Netherlands and Ireland and the people we walked with wanted the same laws to be put in place in Finland.
Personally, I think the fur trade was useful before synthetic fibers started being used for warmth and I can see why people would be attached to it historically. On the other hand, if you think about it, it's a little useless and causes unnecessary harm [aka. death] to animals and needn't be killed. So although I can't pretend this issue is something I think about on a regular basis, I saw merit in demonstrating against the fur trade and trying to incite some change.
I felt a little funny being there at first. It's really hard for me to separate real protesters from fake ones in my head but this was a challenge I knew I'd sort of have to confront while being there. By fake protesters, I mean people who just like to protest anything. For example, there were individuals at my university who were in favour of abolishing tuition AND the teaching assistants' strike to increase their salaries from $32/hour because this is Canada's lowest TA wage. UNBEARABLE! Those poor starving TAs... and where should the money to fund such wage increases come from if you abolish tuition... Anyway, I didn't mean to get all riled up. But I'm not a big fan of those people... so back to the anti-fur demonstration!
It was really interesting and I really enjoyed myself. I was a little sleepy and Anne felt the same. We were both in dire need of a nap but still, we were given a sign [I wish I had a picture of it] and we marched with it. We were both annoyed at one of the protesters who decided that drinking a beer while demonstrating would be a good idea. I guess Anne and I saw eye-to-eye on what should and shouldn't be done at these things. The march took us up the main street, down a secondary street and in front of a department store which sells fur. Standing in front of that store made for an uncomfortable 10 minutes or so as we chanted "Shame on you Halonen" in Finnish. [Halonen is the name of the store, and incidentally, the Finnish president's last name. But that was only coincidental.] We then headed back to the main square. There were some speeches but we ran home because after over an hour outside, our feet were numb from the cold.
It's hard to really reflect on everything because the demonstration was in Finnish so I couldn't tell how people were feeling. Anne mentioned there was some hostility in the air and people seemed pretty angry. Yet Anne and I both felt that the right approach would be just to smile and inform people, instead of being angry at them. Since everyone was there with friends, we all joined up in little groups and took what we each thought appropriate from the experience, and gave what we thought was appropriate in return. I'm probably not making much sense now and I have half a mind to delete this whole post but I'll keep it anyway.
Point being, if there are any policy changes, they won't be instantaneous but if you hear anything [Anne!] then let me know.
Post-nap, I hung out at home in the evening and then went to see Janne Laurila in concert with Anne! [It was indeed an Anne-filled day!] I was really excited for this show because I'd heard a few songs by him [ok seriously, just one but that day two!] and I liked his style. I was pleasantly surprised when he played a whole set and I enjoyed every single song. I guess it's handy he works at the bar right near my house and plays shows there pretty often. I definitely want to see him again.
That's it for my Friday update. I'll write more later but for now, I have a date with a handsome fellow named Juuso and his owner's sister, Nina.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Day 2.
So today is the second day of a completely surreal life, and I have to say, I really like it here. Before I rant about today, let me tell you a few really random things.
When in Austria, there were a million Romanian people there. There were Romanians in our hotel, on the ski slopes, in restaurants, in the bathrooms, in the shops... you get the idea. And this happens every year! But really, it's quite remarkable. I heard almost as many Romanians as I heard German speakers. This is something quite difficult to get used to because, like many Finns, Romanians are used to saying whatever they like without being understood. Our last night of the vacation, at a restaurant in Munich, my aunt [or dad's step-cousin... I'll just call her my aunt!], pointed out a woman sitting near us wearing a red track suit. And I commented: yeah, straight out of Romania!
... as it turns out, they were straight out of Romania...and it was embarrassing. But that just goes to show that you can't think no one understands you. And just maybe, maybe next time she won't go out in a track suit... but I guess that's up to her. And not really the way you should find out what people think about what you're wearing. So if you're reading this woman with the red track suit, I'm very sorry if I offended you.
In other news, we had Mr. Järvinen over last night for some cocoa. I also saw Anne and Jonne for a few minutes. Juha and I hauled 2 Ikea CD/DVD racks, 1 full-size book shelf, 2 garbage bags full of clothes, a few really long pieces of wood and some toilet paper... oh and an iron and an ironing board... with the seats does in the VW Golf and in very illegal ways. I had no room at all to move in the passenger seat and had to remain fairly hunched over since my seat was so far forward. Otherwise, the trip to get all these things was a success and we saved a lot of money! We also bought a pasta pot [5L!], some BLUE mixing bowls and other household tidbits for here and there.
Now here's the good part. For that full-side bookshelf, we couldn't find the metal rods that keep it standing so we cut up some pieces of wood and made it sturdy in a very makeshift way. We haven't put books on it yet but it looks pretty good! ... especially since we managed to make it stand up straight [it didn't start that way...] Go team!
I was so exhausted last night I finally got my wish: to fall asleep on the sofa while watching a movie. I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't had the time to fall asleep on the sofa since... well...I don't remember the last time I fell asleep while watching a movie. [My mom can tell you how therapeutic it feels!] So yes, I crashed to the movie Snatch around 11:30pm. Epäonnistuminen, I know. [=fail.]
We accidentally overslept until 10am this morning so we didn't do anymore unpacking. I then walked 2.7km, according to google maps, to have lunch at Päivi's [Juha's mom] with Päivi, Anna and Juha at 1pm. Since my face had just finished defrosting, I got a ride in the Gastronauttimobile to the train station to meet my new friend Nina at 2pm, for the first time, I may well add. Overall, I really feel like the freezing weather is just an extra effort one has to make to get everything done. And I mean that in a good way. I get home and I feel really proud that I met up with people and got things done despite how cold it was outside. So weather is not impacting my social contact in any way... but I hear this weekend it's supposed to be another 10 degrees colder... from -15 to -25 so I MAY decide to stay home on Saturday and avoid frost bite.
Note to self: I need a scarf.
And now, back to researching unis, deadlines, requirements and all that jazz.
Word of the day: hissi - elevator.
When in Austria, there were a million Romanian people there. There were Romanians in our hotel, on the ski slopes, in restaurants, in the bathrooms, in the shops... you get the idea. And this happens every year! But really, it's quite remarkable. I heard almost as many Romanians as I heard German speakers. This is something quite difficult to get used to because, like many Finns, Romanians are used to saying whatever they like without being understood. Our last night of the vacation, at a restaurant in Munich, my aunt [or dad's step-cousin... I'll just call her my aunt!], pointed out a woman sitting near us wearing a red track suit. And I commented: yeah, straight out of Romania!
... as it turns out, they were straight out of Romania...and it was embarrassing. But that just goes to show that you can't think no one understands you. And just maybe, maybe next time she won't go out in a track suit... but I guess that's up to her. And not really the way you should find out what people think about what you're wearing. So if you're reading this woman with the red track suit, I'm very sorry if I offended you.
In other news, we had Mr. Järvinen over last night for some cocoa. I also saw Anne and Jonne for a few minutes. Juha and I hauled 2 Ikea CD/DVD racks, 1 full-size book shelf, 2 garbage bags full of clothes, a few really long pieces of wood and some toilet paper... oh and an iron and an ironing board... with the seats does in the VW Golf and in very illegal ways. I had no room at all to move in the passenger seat and had to remain fairly hunched over since my seat was so far forward. Otherwise, the trip to get all these things was a success and we saved a lot of money! We also bought a pasta pot [5L!], some BLUE mixing bowls and other household tidbits for here and there.
Now here's the good part. For that full-side bookshelf, we couldn't find the metal rods that keep it standing so we cut up some pieces of wood and made it sturdy in a very makeshift way. We haven't put books on it yet but it looks pretty good! ... especially since we managed to make it stand up straight [it didn't start that way...] Go team!
I was so exhausted last night I finally got my wish: to fall asleep on the sofa while watching a movie. I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't had the time to fall asleep on the sofa since... well...I don't remember the last time I fell asleep while watching a movie. [My mom can tell you how therapeutic it feels!] So yes, I crashed to the movie Snatch around 11:30pm. Epäonnistuminen, I know. [=fail.]
We accidentally overslept until 10am this morning so we didn't do anymore unpacking. I then walked 2.7km, according to google maps, to have lunch at Päivi's [Juha's mom] with Päivi, Anna and Juha at 1pm. Since my face had just finished defrosting, I got a ride in the Gastronauttimobile to the train station to meet my new friend Nina at 2pm, for the first time, I may well add. Overall, I really feel like the freezing weather is just an extra effort one has to make to get everything done. And I mean that in a good way. I get home and I feel really proud that I met up with people and got things done despite how cold it was outside. So weather is not impacting my social contact in any way... but I hear this weekend it's supposed to be another 10 degrees colder... from -15 to -25 so I MAY decide to stay home on Saturday and avoid frost bite.
Note to self: I need a scarf.
And now, back to researching unis, deadlines, requirements and all that jazz.
Word of the day: hissi - elevator.
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