The Importance of Fine-home Furnishings.

This week I learned the importance of fine-home furnishings for one's mental and physical transition into a new environment.

I got in on Sunday night and my internet was broken... wow... it feels like that was 2 weeks ago. Monday, I got it all sorted it out and by the time I got home in the evening, I was connected to the world wide web!

Tuesday, I dreaded going home and sweeping so much that after class Sara and I chatted and met up with Anna-Riikka [I hope I got that right], and later, her boyfriend Jose at Nolla. Iida was there too. I got a call from Heli, inviting me to dinner and pre-drink at her place, and I met up with Sanna and May beforehand. The medicine girls slowly arrived at Heli's and by 10pm we had a pretty big group... or like 8 people... or maybe 6 but you get the point. I had left the house at 7:45am that day so after 30 minutes in the club, I was pretty tired and went home. I got home around midnight. I took a few minutes to dust my shelves haha.

Wednesday I woke up, in my boring room, on my mattress on the floor... I didn't think a chair or two would really change my impression of the room but after Juha arrive, we cleaned the floor, brought in a big chair, a coffee table, an air mattress and a desk chair. We went for dinner at Tuk Tuk, had ice cream and went to Matti and Anne's to watch I love you Phillip Morris [it's worth seeing.] Matti and Anne were also kind enough to lend me a table of theirs for a couple weeks.

Waking up on Thursday had a completely different feel to it. I have furniture in my room! I even came home after lunch to hang out here for a bit before going to the Welcome Dinner... from which I arrived home around 3:45am. [Also, our flat is complete with the arrival of our roommate! Whose name I still haven't managed to learn. Shh.]

So yeah, furniture is important... and you get a whole lot more out of it than just functionality. Hoorah!

First Impressions of Planet Earth.

So this is pretty much life at H@nken in a week-format:

Monday, 6:45am wake up.
Take the train to Helsinki.
Go to class at 10:15am.
Go sign HOAS contract, print syllabus, eat lunch, run around doing bureaucratic things, get library books.
Go to class at 2:30pm.
Make groups for the "upcoming" project due October 7th. [And arrange to meet the next day.]
Take the tram to Matti and Anne's, read, hang out, make/eat dinner, read, go to bed.

Tuesday, 7am wake up.
Read. Eat. Return library book [1/2].
Go to group meeting at 10am. Organize research plan for project. Discuss options.
Eat lunch.
Take the 13:06 train back to Tampere.
Arrive in Tampere at 14:52. Meet Jackie and Juha at the station.
Go to Hesburger. Eat french fries. Walk home. Nap. Walk to WokWok. Eat.
Go to Makuuni. Pick up car. Watch "The Ghost Writer." Enjoy. Go to bed.

Wednesday, 6:15am wake up.
Eat. Pack. Leave.
Load a few things in the car. Drive to Helsinki. Drop off car.
Take the tram to the train station. Drop off Jackie's stuff.
Run to 10:15am mandatory attendance guest lecture. Enjoy profusely/take notes.
Meet Jackie. Go to train station. Inquire about bus times. See Jackie off.
Go to bank. Go pick up keys from HOAS. Call Sara. Meet Sara. Drink coffee. Have a long meeting discussing project [later find out it's only worth 5%] and life in general. Take tram to car. Have Sara lead the way to my apartment. Move 2 things into the apartment. Meet new roommate: Nina. Drive to TAIKK. Pick up Pirjo. Have Pirjo drop us off. Walk with Sara to tram. Go to Valintatalo and stock up on some necessities for the night. Come home. Cook dinner. Read. Eat. Read. Write [no computer] report for project. Read. Take a shower. Go to bed in empty room void of any light... not even ceiling lamp.

Thursday, 7am wake up.
Eat, 'pack' aka put a shirt in my bag. Take the bus to school.
Go to the computer lab and print articles to read for the weekend. Type up project from the night before. Meet Sara to discuss everything not related to project. Be interviewed for school's external relations marketing campaign. Receive free t-shirt and lunch. Eat. Run to catch 13:06 train back to Tampere. Sleep on train after hopeless attempts trying to read. Arrive in Tampere at 14:52. Walk home. Talk to Juha. Read. Go to Sale. Read. Make dinner. Read. Skype with Mom. Watch TV. Pass out.

Friday, 8am wake up... and after some hesitation 8:30am wake up.
Re-read syllabus. Eat. Write assignment due today at 2pm. Eat chocolate. Listen to 'Rocket in the Sky' by Benny Benassi. Dance a little. Watch interview from yesterday. Sweat. Re-read assignment. Facebook. Receive duck delivery. Blog... and here we are.

I'm hoping that conveyed the serious hectic nature of this week... but don't worry, there's more next week, due next week and to do this weekend. So I'll be sure to keep you all posted.