Finlandia

I'm in Finland for the holiday. I've been trying not to call it home because it would seem weird to me. This is where I grew up of course and where my parents live but I just don't feel right calling this home when I only come here for a few weeks at a time on holidays and spend my daily life elsewhere. It is weird coming here, it feels as if I was never away but also I don't really do anything here. Just meet friends, shop, eat etc. Like detached from reality, like being on a holiday - therefore home does not describe it well.

What have I been doing? Not much but still I've been busy all the time. I haven't even had a chance to reply to people on facebook, that alone should let you in on how busy I've been; I'm always on facebook. I visited Triin in Tallinn and again it felt like we'd never been apart. Boys that we talked about were new but problems essentially the same as ever. Also was very cool to talk with her about EU, talking with her about politics always makes me feel so smart. She's mastered the skill of listening, I really feel like she's interested in what I'm saying. Bless.

In Lohja on other hand I've been seeing Jenna, Riikka, Anne and Laura almost daily. Well daily really, just not necessarily all of them everyday. :) Tomorrow Riikka, Anne and me will rehearse the dance from Beyonce's Single Ladies video; that should be fun. I'm even wearing a leotard! That's how dedicated I am. Hopefully there will be a video by the end of it. It will undoubtedly be extremely stupid but funny.

Tomorrow I will go shopping to Espoo with Minna. Surprise, surprise. And then by wednesday I should figure out where I'll be for new year's. I've got a fair amount of options now, the only thing is that original plans fell apart and as a result I've now promised to spend the new years with two people who will want to spend it in two different cities... Crap. 

Minna is obsessed about the Twilight-books and the film. The film premiers on January 2nd in Finland and we're going to go see it, I've already seen it in Maastricht but now I will see it in a proper cinema without any stupid breaks in the middle... Speaking of cinema, I just saw the most hilarious film ever: Zack and Miri make a porno. Modern day romance.

I'm preparing my departure to Maastricht by buying all the alcohol I can imagine. I now have 3.5 litres of different kind of vodka and 1.5 litres of different kinds of liquers. I think I might buy a few more bottles of each and then some cider, there are some new delicious flavours. I'm just trying to make the most out of my 30kg luggage allowance. So there will be mint vodka to go around at least for a few parties! ;)

To compensate for the decadence ahead, I have lived a relatively healthy lifestyle here. And I will come back to Maas more tanned than I left it, I have had time for beauty & health back here. Though my visit to Tallinn did not improve my confidence, damn the girls in Estonia are pretty! They all look like supermodels, makes my wholesome Finnish look seem mundane... Good thing I live in Maastricht. ;)

Finland

Despite studying politics, I rarely use this blog for making my political arguments known and I will refrain from party politics now as well. However, I must be sickeningly patriotic today because I am just so proud of Finland.

I recently did a group presentation with Anne, Nikki and Nicola. The topic was Research in the Lisbon Strategy and we had Finland and Italy as our case studies. When I was researching for Finland I discovered how well it is actually doing in R&D, like staggeringly magnificent, above and beyond the targets set by Lisbon which other countries claim are "utopia".

Then today when I was going through my daily news intake I discover an article on EurActiv, entitled "Finns plan massive R&D increase to fight crisis". So in the midst of a financial crisis when all the other countries are cutting back in R&D and adjusting their policies to more short-term perspective, my precious country has the wisdom to take a long-term approach and actually increase funding in R&D!

Maybe I'm naive here and the few macroeconomics courses that I have taken did not do the trick for me but is this not exactly the way all the countries should be behaving? When the financial crisis will go away, which it eventually will, Finland will once again come on top. And by once again I mean that after the bank crisis we had in the beginning of the 90s what emerged out of it? You heard of Nokia? Haha, we will rule the world!

And to show I'm not completely loony here, Sapir's report on the EU budget also emphasised EU's need to invest in growth and innovation which is exactly what Finland is doing now.

So today I am happy. I might have that exam that I have not really studied for but who cares. Tomorrow I will be in Finland!

I do study

I just read my recent blogs and in almost all of them there has been a sentence or two how I should be studying but am not. So just to assure everyone that I do study, I hereby announce that I am finished with my skills paper, four days in advance. Tadaa!

I'm one of these people that...

...needs to have something to look forward to. Preferably the sooner the better. Preferably something new every day. At the moment I've got nothing except flying back home to Finland which feels like ages away even though it's in 4 days. The paradox here though is that the lower your expectations, the better it will most likely be. So for example when you think you're just having tea with your girls and it turns out into this crazy party night that will be the legendary night you look back at.

...needs people around me. In the beginning when I moved away from home I thought living with flatmates would just be temporary thing before I make enough money to move alone. Now I feel that even if I would have the chance to move to a place of my own, I'd rather live with a friend or even friendS. In Finland having flatmates is perceived to be something negative but outside its borders I think it is a rather common occurance. I really love having people around me and someone to talk to all the time; with whom I can have fun just spontaneously without having to make arrangements to meet. On the flipside, I do like the independence of living semi-alone as I do now (I don't really talk to my flatmate nor is he around much), that way I don't have to leave a party at the same time nor do I need to explain why I came home at a certain hour.

...turns to blogging as a form of procrastination. I have an exam in 4 days, I really should start reading. But I just can't without inspiration and it just is lacking big time.

There's something in the water

Right, I've been complaining about the relative dullness of Maastricht. Scrap that. Minna was here and then Outi so I've had plenty of entertainers turn up. Parties have also been plentiful though I presume that will come to an end soon as exams are around the corner. But nevertheless, I have been busy.

Songs that I will forever associate with this autumn are:
Katy Perry - Hot n Cold which is Rogerhouse's party song, they were impressed with my ability to remember the lyrics but now we all know them
Kanye West - Love Lockdown. My personal favourite, must heart Kanye.
Amy McDonald - Mr Rock and Roll. The song always played in Rogerhouse, I don't know why or who started it but it's just always on.

Tomorrow is the Finnish Independence Day Party. I'm actually looking forward to it. But my philosophy with parties is not to expect too much of them that way I can only be positively surprised. Works really well, I can recommend. And my word is something worth considering, I'm like an Agony Aunt for my friends. I'm the one to come to if you need advice. ;) Because my life is obviously perfect...