The Beginning of Yet Another Chapter.

How appropriate that this is my 95th post... since my German blog had 94 posts and my Finnish blog had 94 before this one, I have equated Mannheim with Tampere in the blogverse, only to start at 1 in Helsinki.

Today was my first day entering the Hanken building... as you can imagine (or read from my previous post), I've been super nervous, stressed and scared these past few days. I ended up not sleeping last night because of stress, excitement and wayyy too much reading of Stieg Larsson's The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

But the point is, and I knew that it would be, that there was no reason for all that anxiety. The people I've met so far are all in the same boat and all seem really friendly. Hanken has welcomed us with open arms and we discussed the program in a nice small meeting between 20 people. We were served champagne and finger-foods! The program director seems really great - not only is she amazingly nice but she's well organized and takes a personal interest in helping everyone out.

Tomorrow the official orientation starts at 9am! I'll have more to write after that ;)

Body Image --> Points for Finland.

So I was watching this show/documentary the other day on TV about a woman who is determined to shed some light on sexual education in Britain and basically all things related to it [I forget what it was called]. Her main problem was that teenagers growing up with the internet have unrealistic views of how bodies should look. Her solution? Bring in 5 women, call an assembly, and line the (obviously indifferent) women up naked to show the kids what real women look like. She tried to tackle stereotypes of the perfect chest... so on and so forth.

Of course, this has to somehow be Finland-related (or not, but in this case it is). I started thinking about how nudity in Finland is about as normal as eating breakfast. You head to the sauna naked with your friends, family, etc [usually girls with girls and guys with guys as you get older] so it's not like you've never seen naked people before. This probably doesn't solve the body image insecurity that many teenagers go through, and even adults obsess over but it must be an improvement!

Just a random tid-bit.

Otherwise, Juha's been on vacation for the past 2 weeks so we've just been lazing around town. Traveled up to Kajaani and Kuopio last weekend. Next week Radical Ninjas [the band Juha plays in] are playing a gig right here in Tampere so we're staying close and the guys are rehearsing lots. Also, I have unofficially but officially decided that I will be attending university in Helsinki in the fall, meaning: Hanken!

Bundle of randomness.

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!