Job Interview.

Today I attended my second ever job interview in Finland!

It was a long morning leading up to the interview but surprisingly, it went by fast and was rather painless. We had an 8:30am research seminar lesson and I'd gone to bed a bit late but I surprised myself but getting up easily AND catching up with an old friend on Skype.. around 7:12am. (Gotta love how productive time differences can make you feel... and so not annoyed at early mornings.) After class, I went to get a coffee before our second class started and everyone arrived. The first part of that class was a presentation that Di and I had to do (well, each of us had different presentations) as punishment for having missed a lecture (due to Switzerland trip, see last post.)
I'd had a bit of a panic getting myself organized the night before because I was supposed to read and analyze a thesis - or more specificly, the interview portion of the thesis. Upon logging onto our school's online thesis database, I discovered that I counldn't open any of the files. Luckily, an FB status update and 15 minutes later, my good friend Evgeniy came through and emailed me, not 1, but 4 theses! So yeah... it didn't take too long to come up with a 2.5 minute presentation.

Then lunch with tons of people (playing musical chairs as people came and went) as Sara, Mette and I grabbed a table at the back until the late afternoon. Alex came to join us and later walked with me to my interview because the sun was shinning and it was such a nice day to be outside!

The interview went really well. I felt really confident because I'd be referred to the position by a friend but I also knew that I was the kind of person they were looking for. Still, that didn't mean I didn't have to prove myself. I was there for almost an hour and there were lots of questions about career plans, future, hobbies, reasons I came to Finland, languages I speak... etc. Ultimately, I felt they got to know me pretty well and liked me. In turn, I found out my interviewer had lived with a Romanian girl before so that was a neat surprise! At the end, they told me that they would definitely offer me a job, but unfortunately, training starts next week and I'm going to be away but if the project time is lengthened, then they'll be in touch for the next training session.

So I walked back to school pretty happy! What you have to realize is that it's not always about going in, selling yourself and getting the job, but also about how the interview makes you feel. And I felt that I gained a lot of confidence, good practice and experience from my one hour there. Sometimes it's easy to get all tangeled in your replies and say something that sounds bad... so thinking really fast about what you're gonna say before you say it is a big help.

Otherwise, it was nice to hang out with everyone at school again before heading back to Tampere. The funny thing was, as I left school to run and try to catch the tram, a bus went by and splashed a HUGE puddle all over my pants, boots and purse. Then to top it all off, the tram drove off without waiting for me... even though I was running after it, soaking wet. It wasn't until after it pulled away that I started to try to wipe my purse and well... there was nothing I could do about my pants or boots but the walk to the station helps dry them off.
(Photo credit)
Still, nothing could ruin my mood today!

Juha met me near the train station and we went grocery shopping. Then I dragged him to Eurokangas (European Fabricland) to score some CURTAINS for my room in Helsinki. I dropped 62 euros on those babies and I hope they'll be perfect! (And that Anne likes them too.) I was inspired by some pastel coloured buildings close to Hanken so I tried to recreate the atmosphere of the street in my room. They're hemming the ends for free and I get to pick them up in 2 weeks.

As if that isn't exciting enough (my Helsinki room needs spunk, you'd be excited too) I get home and check facebook only to see a random picture of a friend on my profile. I click and, lo and behold, she's dating a Finn! I comment on the photo, I stalk around a little and then she messages me. Long story short, her boyfriend now lives in Canada but they're coming to visit Helsinki in May. We were both so excited we couldn't stop smiling (she was in class) or dancing/being hyper/cooking dinner (I was at home.)

So yeah. That's my day. And I'm freaking ecstatic about it!

Mid-end week stress.

It's funny how every once in awhile I get soo stressed and one thing that always comes to mind is: "I'm doing soooooooo many things at the same time and OMG there's no time to blog about it." I'm not sure if that's sensical or not but that just seems to be the way it happens. I guess when there's nothing going on, I don't feel inclined to write because there isn't much to say but now... well! I need a nap.

School is done for the period! Almost! I have a multi-period course so until we get the project to bed (the project which I have yet to obtain- due May 13th or something), there's no rest for the wicked.

After celebrating Finnish independence day on Monday and Mos Nicolaie, I worked Tuesday, Wednesday and today, Thursday. There've been pretty long day but I'm happy to say, I made it for my second gymnastics class yesterday! My friend Santtu was at the gym too and I didn't know he went there so that was pretty cool :)

Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Bucharest... bus time unknown... my flight is at 4:45pm and I arrive after midnight. This is the new flight as the first one I booked was cancelled due to the Finnair strike. I'm not sure how that affects me because I'm not flying with them but I think they have some understanding with the airline.

I'm listening to Bloc Party now in an attempt to relax.. but I just realized I have to write another email so I'm gonna leave this for another time.

Last but not least: Canada in 12 days!

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.

Mini-stress?

I'm not sure how capable I am of having a melt-down due to stress because I really can't say I've been stressed about much these past few months. That being said, I know myself to be capable of increased amounts of feeling overwhelmed [illiterate much? I know. :/ ]...

So here I am, trying to plan my schedule for this coming period [1 semester = 2 periods], without a place to live in Helsinki [Thanks student housing association! If I applied 4 months early, then who the hell got all the spots?] and without fully understanding how the system works. I don't know if I need to do this right now... but we're in grad school. I am not under the impression that I'm gonna go to orientation and someone will hold my hand and help me figure this out. Nor do I want to send people 100 emails asking questions which may be answered next week. But having learned from experience and some 'oh-so-helpful' advisors at McGill, if they're gonna do anything in the first week, they'll make you cry. [That man was evil. And I'm not the only person he made cry.] Okay so as this story gets progressively more confusing and you can tell I haven't been in school for awhile, I'm unsure about the point of this post haha.

Point being:
- I'm taking 2 courses in the first period. They are Mon/Tues at 8:30am and 2:30pm so I should make some friends asap so I don't hang out alone for the 4 and a half hour break.
- I want to join some clubs and actually get involved in school stuff this time around... not to mention a job. A job would be SOLID.
- I want to take a Finnish conversation course here in Tampere but it's on Wednesday evenings and my 2nd period will slightly resemble Satan's face...with and without that course... and even worse without an apartment.
- I'm trying to find other Finnish courses I could take but every website has its own hoops to jump through.
- I'm also looking for an active and a creative course to fill my time with... so any suggestions for places or even activities to give me a starting point would be greatly appreciated.

Kbye.

P.S. I heart The National.

Kesäyliopisto - Summer University.

So I'm gonna rewind a bit because it seems I've fallen a little behind. Let us go back, all the way back to June 28th-July 9th. The Summer University course I'd signed up for: Upper Level Intermediate 1 was running during that time. I attended every day that I could, though we were still in China until the 29th.
I have to say - that course was great! It ran from 9am until 1pm, we had a 15 minute coffee break about an hour a half in and that way, we all got to meet and make friends. The morning usually consisted of correcting homework and covering new grammar material... while the post-coffee-break portion of the course was more participative and had us talking in groups, reading and translating texts or playing various games. I learned a great deal, and the best part was, I remembered a lot of it at the end of the 2 weeks. I also got to meet some really cool people and we now have a facebook group so that we can get together and practice.

Now part two of this story is not as hopeful. I signed up for yet another week at the summer university: Upper Intermediate Level 2. Sadly, this class was completely different. We have a new teacher and her "methods" are unknown to the world... talk for 4 hours in Finnish, present Finnish grammar as a grammatical reference guide would, without rules, just blobs of information, no exercises until 2 days later, charts of word types inflected in different cases that we simply copy from the projector. And guess what? I really want my money back... But everyone is on vacation and refunds are not generally commonplace. So I wait.. and see what August and the return of some of the finance/invoice people has in store for me.

With the huge disappointment that was course 2, I have to say, there's a bright side! A lot of my friends are toughing it out through the course [which I can honestly say is extremely admirable.] While I have chosen to enjoy my summer... I think I can benefit more that way and be happier overall! So yesterday Juha and I went Mini golfing with Claudia and Emrah...the boys won :(. And I met Mia for a French lesson thereafter! I've also been tutoring people in English - I have 2 students. I earn a very modest income but HEY - I earn SOMETHING! So that feels pretty good.

This weekend is a getaway weekend! I haven't left Tampere since we got back from China...which I realize is not so long ago, but we're headed up North to Kajaani. Juha's family lives there and has a mökki there [summer cottage.] It will also be the northernmost point I have ever visited!! So I'm bracing myself for an all-Finnish weekend and hope I can keep up to the best of my ability.

And now, I'd like to start posting some China pictures!

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.

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