Tuesday 25 January 2011

Kotka - Paikallissää - Ilmatieteen laitos

Kotka - Paikallissää - Ilmatieteen laitos Check this out! we have ridiculous amounts of snow this year! southern and central Finland have as much snow as Lapland!

Monday 24 January 2011

Alex has been born!

I would like to welcome our new little nephew Alex to the world! A nice little brother for Zara and Sienna. Congratulations to Angela and Paul =)

It has only been 2 weeks

School is really taking it's toll this semester, I have 3 days where most of my studies or all are in Finnish some days have 4 hours of being spoken to and expected to understand in Finnish... it is so tiring i actually don't believe it!

Fridays are my study day but they are being used to study as I have been researching my seminar report and starting to research for my thesis next year. This week I have one intensive course ending. But I have 2 exams in February and an allergist appointment. On the upside we have no classes on week 9 so that will be a nice lie in week at least unfortunately there is so much work to do to have "time off" but life is like that and master's degrees are not meant to be easy.

Eero is helping me improve my Finnish speaking and I am very proud of him for keeping his promise as boring as it must be for him to help me.

Weekends are a blur at the minute as school work is eating into them. I handed a project in early on Saturday at 10.50pm. I know it will all be worth the time and effort in the end or I hope so!

Sunday was fun, we walked to Jenny's for lunch with Britta and friends. It was great! and we meet the cutest dog in the world! Alas we can't have a dog yet but that won't stop me trying!

We are all going to learn to skate next weekend, poor Eero doesn't know what he let himself in for. Well he does and I think it bemuses him greatly that we are always moaning, laughing and messing around. He's happy when I am these days!

This was just a quick blog to prove I am still alive! we have 57cm of snow at the minute too! awesome!

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Suomi 3

So The day before we start this course we have an email; "Kurssilla puhutaan VAIN suomea." Which will be as hard as hell, I am used to English if i am not optionally trying or don't quite know what i want to say... to add to the fun we never practiced much speaking previously... But Eero to the rescue has actually start teaching me to speak which is great a few hours private tutoring a week, also a small group of us are gathering once a week to practice and learn some new words... yay!

I am also on a grammar course to try and get all these rules to live in my brain and not in my books!

shows the levels of speaking and learning we are on the B1 course now!

This is meant to be a hard course as the new rules are more complicated but we will see! 5 people dropped out after the first class and the surprise test...

Sunday 16 January 2011

Turku Kicks Off Its Year as European Capital of Culture

Turku Kicks Off Its Year as European Capital of Culture

Panda Factory Shop and good times!

Saturday was a cold day minus 22C but we were all excited!!! So we went to pick up Jen plus guest to go visit the Panda factory! yay!!! When we got to the Panda factory we discovered the shop was being renovated so it was a little less exciting than it should of been and no panda statue or person dressed up in sight =(

But there was loads of chocolate and liquorice to buy so we got Eero and a few gifts! It wasn't so sad as I thought it would be with me on my chocolate ban. We had a good time, then we went for coffee and pulla in a funky little cafe and we did the normal talking, giggling and not being aware of the people around.

Then we went to our house, shopped for some food to eat in citymarket where Graham grabbed my arm and we had a good old catch up! You see everyone in citymarket, I till you!! Then came home cooked pizza, more talking and watched Ice Age!

Jen and Tarmo left in the evening and then we watched Lost, had a sauna and a good chat with Eero.

Sunday was a slightly more annoying day, after I planned all my lecturers, double checked there timetables and room allocations. Sent a few emails and then got told 2 of the courses we not running, one of them was only in Finnish which is a core subject for me so I have to ect take it in 2012. I was planning to take 41ECt this semester now I am down to 35 but I am trying to take a book exam for 6ECt on another subject. Life is good though just frustrating when plans have to change!

Tomorrow is the start of the Finnish only speaking Finnish course which will be very strange for a week or two! Sunday night brought the start of a new era but one that has been promised before... Eero took out my Finnish books at his own and we got to speak with them for over an hour! And I am getting over my "y" and "u" problems! hehe

Eero has been sexy, cheeky and very romantic all weekend! <3 Let the good times continue!

Happy Birthday Nan

I would just like to wish my nan a happy birthday today!!!

Friday 14 January 2011

Russian Language Makes More Strides in Eastern Finland

yeah. I'm studying Russian next year!!

Russian Language Makes More Strides in Eastern Finland

1 week of school, semester 2

It begins again and I really don't know where the three weeks off we had went, I don't feel to rested as this vitamin deficiency is on it's last legs but I still feel tired and am struggling to concentrate for long periods of time.

I spent most of my holiday looking at my Finnish notes, trying to remember it all, it's going well I hope! Revising for the Bioenergy production and utilization exam today. I am hoping it went well but I don't like to tempt fate!! I saw Markku (lecturer) in the corridor and he asked me how I was getting and if I was enjoying being at school, impressed with my answer we both left happy...

I obviously looked to Finnish waiting outside the exam room as the next person who came immediately started to speak to me in Finnish, we kept up for a while then he used more complicated language and me being me was like "Hey, what's that mean?". Then we went in the exam... we were early in and started chatting to Prasad and he asked how my Christmas was and I told him, snow chaos and illness but I am getting better now... !hour 45mins into exam I had written all I could remember and deemed worthy to write about and left. Prasad had changed with another lecturer as he had something to do and I saw him while I was putting my coat on. He asked what I thought of the exam and I said well I liked it more than any other exam I have sat yet... I do love bioenergy though, only problem with a subject on it is I don't enjoy all areas and I find ethanol production and biodiesel boring... but there wasn't too much about it in the exam.

This first week has been crazy, my water management course is a little strange but there is no exam just an essay and with a schedule as heavy as mine, I think I am glad I have a break from one exam!

Thursday Eero worked from home, I had 6 hours at school and only had 40mins off all day for lunch. I finished class at 4pm where Eero came to meet me! yay! we brought a snow shovel on the way home and we currently have 52cm!! and needed to dig the car out.

Then I also received the email that English speaking is not allowed in the next Finnish course, Finnish only. Which was scary last night but today it doesn't seem so bad, I mean the point is to give us practise and confidence so I am now looking forward to Monday!

Tomorrow we met Jen... yay!!!! xXx

Tuesday 4 January 2011

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

New Year's Eve is also Eero and Elisa's birthday. Eero had work in Tampere so had to drive back to Jyväskylä to celebrate. We decided on a quieter year as since August it had just been constant moving around and doing things.

I think New Year's eve is very over rated to be honest and the best celebrations I have had are the one's here in Finland... I have done many things, seen many places on that night but none have been as good as the ones in Finland with good food, friends, alcohol and laughs,,, also fireworks on frozen lakes are pretty awesome!

Marlen has gone back to the states, Britta is in Germany so that left Jen and me here (many others obv but from our little group we were left!!) So I asked Jen around for food, fun and fireworks and a good catch up!

When Eero got home around 4pm, we empited the new shiny beautiful car (it's our new toy) of the luggage we took to UK, well brought back... my new wardrobe of £575 worth of clothes and extra Christmas presents. Then we went straight back out to pick up Jen from her apartment. Then to citymarket as I needed to do the weekly shop and felt like crap.

I thought I was coming down with flu in exam week I couldn't concentrate and I didn't do as well as normal... I just felt like death. Turns out it was a nasty vitamin deficiency which I am still solving but I am feeling well again.

So we talked and talked and talked, watched some DVDs and gave a running commentary of what they meant to say... hilarious! E made some pizza dough for us, we ate (not me!!) chocolates we got for Christmas and chips. I ate rice krispies hehe. Then we watched the people around us set off fireworks, well before midnight.. so pretty!! We went to buy fireworks but they only had €60+ boxes left and they get a bit boring after a while and that many would give me neck ache!!

Jen got us some sparklers instead so we decided to walk to ylistönrinne campus and watch fireworks from the top or from the bridge depending where people where shooting them from. Then we lit sparklers and played with them which was very entertaining. Jen and Eero shared a bottle of fizzy wine and I had my luxury cartoon of Ribena! Then we walked home, laughing and joking. Teasing Eero about anything but he gives as good as he gets. Looking at people's christmas decorations. Then we got home and watched more films and then we went to bed in small hours...

New Year's Day

There was no rush to get up and Jen left around 2pm as she had some work she needed to complete for her job. I gave her directions home as I still felt crappy with my vitamin deficiencies. Then E and me chilled out, watched some Lost. Sunday was a similar day but we watched Inception on DVD, I am on the fence with it, it ended on a predictable place for me but I have seen much much worse!!!

Eero decided he wasn't leaving for work until 5am Monday morning so I made him some breakfast to take and some snacks. Then got up at 4.30am to make him drinks and flask of tea. Then I went back to bed just before he left.

On the plus side I am eating a lot more variation now, things that I haven't eaten for years suit me now but I still have problems with the birch group and I don't do well with E numbers, artificial additives, colours and preservatives. But things are getting better and I don't see an allergist until February, where I am being retested to see what has changed or if the first one's were correct.

Dad is getting better now and they screened him to check it wasn't his cancer spreading it wasn't so that was good news. I am no where near as home sick as I used to be on returning but I have been here 13 months and I love it here more than I loved home, of course I miss my friends and family but needs must!!

Partial Solar Eclipse Visible on Tuesday

Eero got to see this in Tampere though he nor I realised it was a solar eclipse at the time. Unfortunately for me there was no sign on this in Jyväskylä!!!

Partial Solar Eclipse Visible on Tuesday