School Destress *deep breathing*

Well, I'm not sure what's up with me this month. I have taken to being really hard upon myself and somehow set some unachievable things to do, which I didn't do then got angry with myself because I didn't do what I knew I wouldn't be able too.

Silly things too, like keeping my hour and half daily exercise to destress with mom and dad here, there was no time for this and luxury food resulted in weight gain, both I knew would happen but I was still angry I let it happen. And it isn't like I put a lot of weight on, it's coming off again now I'm eating normally and exercising again. Sometimes, I just move the frustration of not learning Finnish as quickly as I would like to other areas, unfortunately sometimes it snowballs there... but as the old saying goes "one snowflake never feels responsible for the avalanche".

Then mom and dad left us some money for staying! I got mom a new Halti coat and she got me my new blue coat! When they left, Eero and me went to look for my new coat, rubber boots and a school bag.

Rubber boots were torture, the two pairs I loved didn't fit, one size two small, other size so big my foot came out the boot when walking... then I ended up having to get the same boots as a friend as it was the only damn pair that fit in the shop... o.0

I loved my bag from last year but it just isn't very practical so many zip separation areas in it the inside is quite small which is no good for the long days I have next year and the food and drink I need to carry to eat at school. New bag cost me 50€!!!! then we came home and I put all my badges and brooches on it so it's shiny and I'm happy.

Eero, has seen my stress with Finnish and has actually stepped up, seems he can actually see how stressful it can be being foreign sometimes when some people won't use English even when they see you ran out of sensible Finnish lol. He is also very pro me taking these extra Finnish courses with the other school and as many as possible with my school. Hopefully, there will just be one more advanced course to do back in Tampere but that all depends on cost.

Saturday, was my granddad's birthday. We got him a £65 bottle of whiskey and a card. Sending them a photo card of mom and dad's time in Finland. Nan is still really ill awaiting her hip replacement which is being prosponed due to anemia! One the plus side, dad and granddad's cancer's are stable.

Also Sunday, we went berry picking with Jenny, we found an awesome spot at the last minute and ended up with almost 5kg of blueberries and some raspberries. Great day!!! Later, I made some Finnish blueberry pie... yummy.

Also I got into zumba tone up dvd's before mom and dad and was doing them daily, they did nothing for me. Last night I tried some of my new dvds I put away when I got zumba and this morning I ache like a B*?!*?! so I have 5 of those dvds to rotate through during the week, and I am one of these weird people. I LOVE DOING THE DVDS!!!

Biking with Eero again, he is so much fitter than me though but it's good fun and we don't stop so its a good workout. He has found me some good 8km routes I can do in 35mins during the week when I am pushed for time as some days I will be. I am hoping that I will have time for my workouts everyday and I am very motivated again which will only increase when results are starting to be noticed =)

Facebook Group for Learning Finnish

Today, we set up a group on facebook to help each other learn Finnish and share useful websites and the flashcard links to which we are making =)

Join us and improve your Finnish today!

Very Productive Days

So there next conference I have applied to speak at is Jyväskylä's own international conference. This is an exciting wait to see if I get in! Conference itself is 6 to 9th June.

I have also spent a few hours updating my CV, writing a cover letter for summer work, then another for summer school. I have applied for Summer School at Jyväskylä but we don't find out until June. If I do get then it's only a week from the 15th August and it has a field trip and an exam. The downside is it's a competitive course as there are only 50 spaces! We will see, I am quite lucky this year.

I also applied for summer work, the company will remain nameless for a while but I only applied to one company. For as restrictive as it is, it's a leading company so I just thought aim for the top. I would love to get a place there as it could be a great lead for future employment but we will see! Choices for that are confirmed in April.

We are also buying a new funky camera as I don't like the one I brought to move here with. Eero has agreed that I can spend a fair bit of money on getting a professional camera!!! Alas, I am a little annoying that currently the company won't send to Finland so this gives me an extra shipping cost to get it sent to here and the camera isn't cheap. ho hum... I need to ask Dean if he will check it works and the ship it to me.

Also waiting for the last few books I ordered. I have also found some learn Swedish and Russian audio Cd's that I really want but first I must finish learning Finnish.

I have done so much yesterday and today that now we get to go a walk into city, hopefully I can get some good photos on route!!

Oh yeah Friday morning in Jyväskylä -29C!! unfortunately this cold snap is hanging around for at least next week! But it does make the scenery so beautiful!

School, school and erm school

Basically, my every waking minute has been put into working for school, so many modules, well 3 of them in fact end in next 2 weeks and one ended 7th February so there has been so much work to do to make sure assignments, essays, presentations and exam preparation was done and is being done. I don't think the one exam I sat will do much good as I didn't have much time to put into it but I passed along with 11 others and 19 failed so I am happy that even those odds are good!

Finnish course is going well and I am becoming more confident though still a little scared of making mistakes and sounding like an idiot. Today someone gave me great advice about making mistakes while speaking is the best way to learn so maybe I will try that now! worst thing that can happen is no one understands and I go back to English. Someone else also gave me some advice as not to let the Finns know you are a native English speaker as they will want to practice English destroying any chance of practising my Finnish... that conference on languages was great... more details in a later post!

I have my 16 page seminar to write, exam Monday, work due Friday and lots of odds and ends I need to sort out and finalise. I know this will all be worth it in the end and I am very grateful for what what life is giving me at the moment.

Last night I had a nasty allergy think it was to the yoghurt I had been eating.

Tuesday was my seminar presentation, I have never given a Research Presentation before so I was a little nervous and hoped that what I had to present was correct and that I knew what I was on about. I was nervous and it showed I couldn't keep still... there were only 7 of us and 2 lecturers. Funny thing is I was not aware then that Wednesday I would be giving a presentation to 150 important people!

I sent mom and dad a 20kg parcel of cakes, biscuits and sweets to distribute among the family as a thank you gift for all the help, support, letters, chocolate and even cat sitting that happens to make my life easier. Nan and Granddad, Paul, Dean, Mom, Dad, uncle Law and aunty Hilda and my "in my eyes" aunt and uncle Roz and Jim... I don't know if she gave anyone else anything!

I called home yesterday and spoke to dad for 25 minutes who appears to have been showing off to mom that he knows things she doesn't about their holiday here later in the summer, my life and other things.

I also went to the dentist last week to make sure this vitamin deficiency has stopped affecting my teeth, it appears to have been caught in time not to have done much damage and I am having a professional clean end of February to remove most of the damage which isn't really visible, xray didn't raise much concern so that's something. However, they are removing my pain in the ass wisdom tooth and the others as a precaution. Bryan if you read this or Dean or Paul, don't tell nan that I am having more than one out as she will worry to much and I don't need to be stressed that they are worrying themselves into an early grave! and its precaution not urgent must something I choose to take. I got a new super duper tooth brush on the way too!

Allergist is Tuesday too, I'm excited and scared at the same time. I am reacting to a lot of things but I am nervous that these things will be hard to find and the problems will continue... I just want to be normal!

School Dayz

School is taking up most of my time, though it is well spent doing so but it can be a little crappy knowing all I do is work, walk and go see Eero. But the return of exams grades and maintaining 4 and 5's are making all the "urgh" worth it. I suppose it is because a lot of my friends are eramus student's and keep getting to go away as they don't have much on at school, unlike those of us who study full time.  I am loving this renewable energy course though and trying to keep up with the Finnish course.

The Finnish course I love but it is the hardest for me, never learning another language I have to undo 26 year's of bending letters from being a native English speaker. Hard thing to do but most of the time in shops I am understood and natives seem happy you try to learn and speak. Alas progress is progress... I just wish I had more time to listen to my audio cd's.

Dear Santa,

I have been good all year, please c0uld I have more days in the week or more hours in the day?? these days and hours do not have to contain daylight so long as my lights work.

Thanks

P.S

I leave the reindeer carrots and you cake and a drink and it's a deal, right?

Eero, has detected my distress with speaking Finnish and is starting to help me now, just hoping it lasts longer than the other attempts for him to help... one has to hope!

I have however attended all of one subjects lectures then dropped it at the last minute. I could see so me conflict impending with the lecturer and it is a bonus course so I thought I would cut my losses and run.

OF course, exam weeks are approaching again and technically start for me next week with 2 Finnish speaking exams, one is enough lol and another presentation in English... I am excited about them all sadly... I am enjoying exams which is sad!!!

School keeps me walking 8km a day or more and it keeps me busy when I am not there... I am excited about next semester when all my waste management and water management courses start! haha!

Lost in thought (long post)

Even though like most people here I own a bike on the whole I have spent my time walking around as it allows me to think without ending up in the woods, in the lake or on the roof of a car. The only reason I wear a bike helmet is I like to ride fast, so loss of concentration could hurt.

But the last few weeks I have to admit on the whole of my walking I have been lost and completely consumed by thought. Not to much university related really just reflection on life here so far, ups, downs, wants, needs and where I think we will be in the future.

Of course being female (whether or not we openly admit it) most of us still carry the childhood dream of weddings, family, house, cars but that doesn't really consume any of my time. I know we will marry, I think we both have an idea on what kind of place, when (I'm not in any hurry though I would like to before my old granddad parents leave this world), home will always be around Tampere (after we are done studying with Jyväskylä), the rest time for me solves. I have access to cars but no real need for one of my own even though I could probably justify it still in my own mind! Though in all honesty it is more present things that take my thought.

The new start in school of course starts people asking why you move and all kinds of questions. I mean take for example, it is quite common here amongst Finns for partners to come from different cities sometimes even different parts of the country, people commonly separate for school and met back up weekends and holidays. Don't get me wrong here, we were long distance (UK to Finland) for 18 months and all though very possible it puts new strains on relationships but gives great strength to other areas. There is also a higher number of my UK friends in long distance relationships now so maybe it is the "modern way" (to quote the Kaiser chiefs). Currently we are long distance again as I live in Jyväskylä and Eero in Tampere, for as much as I know the arrangement is working and fine, I still count the days until he moves to Jyväskylä. Life is more fun when we can share experiences, when there's always someone to help carry shopping and even when I have to spend ages cooking allergy friendly foods its much better when someone else can eat some of it so I don't have to live of the same thing for days.

Maybe the difference was working properly for 15 months, I suppose it changed a lot things in my life and made me want the proper life rather than the stereotypical student life. Mind you, I can't wait for the day to live in our own apartment again, i need more space that we have in the student flat and more furniture.

I was also bemused as from the start of the intensive course I have been waiting for the sports stickers to come out so as you can go to the gym, do hobbies and sports supervised. Then I get my timetable where Monday, Wednesday I don't finish school until 6pm and Thursday not until 5pm, finish early Tuesdays at dinnertime though I use the afternoon to revise and make course notes, do homework and study Finnish. Currently I go home to Tampere every Thursday evening, so I am not impressed that currently I am struggling to fit in sports.

Into the bargain sports place where the new gym is is 4km away so 8km to get there and back on top of the 6km minimum I do every day. Most classes I want I have classes when they are on. And I can't do my own fitness DVD as the PC with the CD player on here in Tampere! But I am in quite good shape at the minute and the shape isn't round! I just want fitness DVD's as I love to do them.

I ordered some course books off the internet last week and they have all arrived. The waterstones books have declared as lost for the 3rd time and have been resent again so they will have taken 5 months to deliver...(amazon all the way from now on).

Finnish class is coming on leaps and bounds, though I got paranoid after speaking with someone at the bus stop the other weekend and checked in English that I answered right in Finnish, I did the guy seemed bemused but still! We have class 3 times a week and it is really exciting and we learn a lot each lesson but not as much as the intensive course. Mom said she wanted to learn too so as a surprise gift we sent her a good book and CD for beginners, she is now a happy bunny that gives random Finnish words on the phone.

Last week I got another humorous job as a great work experience post was advertised the catch fluency in Finnish, everything else I had so maybe next time! Not that I actually have the financial need or time for a job but work experience is always handy, plus I like to practice what Finnish I do know.

Alas, my allergies have started to cause trouble again and I have no idea what is triggering them. I have my suspicions (tomato, butter) I even stated to drink bottled water to check that it wasn't a change in water that disturbed them but it appears not. So I guess I have to go to the doctor next week and see if I can get referred to an allergist here (Tampere or Jyväskylä). Until then I guess I eat like a sparrow and hope for the best!

Eero has gone to the summer cottage today, I wanted to go but allergies wanted to be stupid as they have been for a month now, seems it is not a glitch but something has changed after that last allergic reaction to the bug bite or sting.

Mun tyypillinen päivä

This is something that the first course touched on but we didn't have time to study it on the course so now we did it!!

Arkipäivänä mä herään puoli seitsemältä, viikonloppuna tietysti myöhemmin. Mä juon vetta tai kofiinitonta kahvia ja mä yritan lukea päivän lehden. Mä en yleensä syö aamulla mitään. Sitten mä lähden yliopistolle. Mä menen pyörällä mutta kun sataa tai on tosi kylmä mä menen kävelen yliopistoon.

Yleensä kahdeltatoista mä syön leipää ja Englantilaisetta juustoa. Mulla on ruoka-allergiaa ja intoleranssi Suomalaiset maitoa.

Sen jälkeen mulla on melkein aina joku toinen luento. Iltapäivällä mä luen sähköpostit ja teen jotain opiskelutehtäviä. Jos on hyvä sää mä käyn kävellen mun poikaystävän kanssa.

Joskus seistemältä mä menen syömään. Kotana mä teen nopeasti jotain ruokaa. Melkein aina mä laitan pitsaa tai lasagne.

Mä käyn suihkussa illalla. Aika usein mä juttelen kavereiden kanssa Facebookissa tai baarissa. Melkein aina illalla mä en tee mitään erikoista. Jos telkkarista tulee joku hyvä elokuvia, mä katson sen.

Usein mä valvon aika myöhään ja olen netissä tai luen jotain. Yleensä mä menen nukkumann joskus ykdeltatoista.

Any mistakes are my own!

1st and 2nd July

Nothing to exciting to blog about really. Ran a few errands in the city, finished off with a quick visit to the city today. Spending more money but such is life! and this new life is definitely worth that money. It is still really hot and sunny here, hope it stays that way for when mom and dad visit.

1st July, I had an email from Jyväskylä confirming the language course booking, telling me times and general information. They said that I should get a further email soon with a tutor's contact details... I don't really need the "standard" tutor stuff I have been here and we have set up all that I need in order to survive here but it would be nice to have a friendly face and maybe just maybe get some new friends from it =). I am really looking forward to starting at Jyväskylä now and everything is slowly falling into place.

Nan and Granddad have called a lot this last week, they appear to be worried about when they will see me again... they don't know it will be December time as there is no October half term breaks at Finnish universities. They haven't asked. They seem excited that there's a chance Eero is coming for Christmas and a chance we may go abroad for it. Who knows yet though, it is far from sorted or organised. It does seem like a fair option considering I have spent two Christmas' here.

We both still have the end of a nasty cold, it's been a week and I still keep having random fevers but thankfully they now burn out in an hour. Eero is at Heikki's tonight (2nd), Eero even got me some rice wafers and water from the shop, bless him.

I haven't picked up my Finnish books for over a week thanks to a cold, well the lack of me being able to focus and concentrate. So I have resorted to reading my normal books. Waterstones are now resending my books as I never got the other order so hopefully I get the books before we get visitors!

I am enjoying summer though, the sun is great (mosquitoes aren't so great)and the grass pollen isn't as evil (yet). I'm getting slight itching in my eyes, nose and throat so I know the pollen is there but it's not killing me like it does at home.

Work in the city is progressing well, they are putting stalls up for Tammerfest 2010. I think it will be a good festival but it's quite expensive as you pay to see the separate artists you want to see. I am half hoping to go see Poets of the Fall again but we will see.

I am missing the wok wok crew and I hope we regroup soon, I don't think I have seen them since the end of May =( but still we have facebook and I know they are alive and well!

The weekend's weather forecast is hot and sunny up to 30C and we are going on a day trip to almost Turku tomorrow and to the moomin world!!! whoohooo!!! plus we get to see Katri and Pekka!!! Katri and me can buy moomin things while we distract the boys with football but more on those antics after they happen!

o_0

I have so much I need to do I don't know where to start...

I need to sort the wardrobe as the contents are currently on the bedroom floor, go to city and sort this right of residence, go to city library, clean up the few flurries of mess that have appeared since yesterday.

I'm waiting for books to be delivered before we go away that haven't been dispatched from UK yet.

I have to put more time in to learning Finnish and make Eero teach me more speaking.

At least all the university things should be sorted out, just need to ordered a lyyra card. Also need to research a lot of things before university starts! It's been 2 years since my last degree =D

So time to go offline and do some work...

It's cloudy today (can't see the sun but it's still 21C out there!)

Life on Mars

Time seems to be running through my finger's since I got here. I'm sure it was only a month ago when I got here but the calendar disagrees. It's been 3 and a half months since I got here. The initial culture shock has passed. So has the longest coldest winter for a while, it was minus 15C average in the day from December to the end of February 2010. The odd few milder days but they were few and far between. I have enjoyed the 3 months of snow just as I thought I would. Breaking my toe in January was a bit of a mishap that stopped my learning to cross country ski until late season. Now, I must wait until next winter to learn to skate!

I should really now focus my energy more on expanding my own social circle as the only person here that's not a mutual friend is Irina, from my Finnish course. There's my first thing to resolve, shouldn't be too hard!

I need to find another Finnish course and put more time into learning. At least I am starting to solve this getting up at 8am and I am still motivated to learn. It's actually a very interesting language to learn. Complicated that Finnish words don't translate to English words all the time and you have to translate the meaning not the words themselves. I am quite surprised at how much I have learnt on the course, my word count is definitely a lot higher than it was and now we have a few basic conversation rules! Eero is also proud that I'm learning which is always a good motivation to learn... we also have Finglish, the language I speak when I pronounce something Finnish with English letters. I do love him teaching me stuff though, it's fun.

When I moved here, we did decide there was no need for me to rush into getting a job. So the planned 3-4 months of not working are almost up. I think that would be a good time for me to start to find a job. Just to get out the house, earn some money (my handbag collection needs expanding) and be "normal".

Around seven weeks before I find out if I bet the competition for the master's degree. For once, I am actually unsure. Normally I know if I stand a good chance but in a new country, who knows. Time will tell!

It look's like a busy weekend ahead but I'm not sure it makes interesting reading though but at least it's a record of what goes on here!!!

A New Life

So, my ticket was booked, Eero was coming to get me from England (I feared it would be too much crying for me and mom but neither of us cried!!) I enjoyed my leaving party from my friends at our local bar (Ye Olde Foundary) and even the extra Christmas party hosted by my lovely "aunty" Jayne! I was so excited about that party Emma even made us a suitcase leaving cake which mom wanted to devour as soon as she picked up Eero and myself from the party!

Lucky for some, 13th December 2009 we landed in Tampere city airport and forever began! I came to a new city with no job just a plan to enrol for a master's degree, language course and then get a job so as we could afford more luxuries (and I could get a car too!!).

It was a busy few weeks in a brand new apartment block, I spent the first 3 weeks just sorting boxes and moving things around. You would of thought it was a family of five in here not just us! I spent Christmas 2008 here so I was quite excited about being here 2009, even though I missed being with my own family. I guess we get to go back to England some Christmases.

After Christmas, I started asking around for some language courses. We found one and I enrolled a 3 month beginners course. I was so excited!