Lohja's nightlife

Now I'm not a big fan of going out in Lohja. The Finnish anti-social mentality is very obvious in bars. You only approach people you know. In Lohja that is practically everyone; so most people actually have a blast meeting their old friends. This is why everyone goes out on Christmas Day. But I don't know anyone outside my circle of friends. I did my high school in Helsinki and then went to uni to another country. So I didn't really had the chance to stay in touch with a lot of people.

Aside from this, going out in Lohja is a bit of a sham because the places here are complete dives. You pay sometimes up to 8 euros to enter what elsewhere in the world would be where the drunks and homeless people hang out.

But yesterday, I had a blast. I expected nothing, knowing from experience it would most likely suck. We had some friends over at our place and then continued to a new club that just opened in Lohja, Prime. We even had one of our friends, Laura (the one who's just turned 18 and loves to drive) being the designated driver because it was snowing and freezing cold outside.

We queued to get in to Prime, met some funny people already in the queue. Nothing like bonding over bashing the bouncer.

And then inside it was fantastic. It was a real club. Far from being the swankiest I've ever seen but for Lohja's standards it was amazing. It was really new so didn't smell of vomit either, always a plus.

They played regular club music and had a decent enough dance floor. And I even met Annukka who I met in Newcastle in 2005, the only Lohja person I've met on my time abroad.

So I just really hope people keep going to Prime because I want the only decent place in town to remain open until the next time I'm in Finland.

On Christmas

Perhaps not in the proper holiday spirit but I'm all about keeping it real so here's:

Top 4 reasons why I dislike Christmas

1. Obsessing over cleaning. Now I don't enjoy cleaning anyway but particularly over Christmas my sister gets obsessed about it. In what I consider to be a perfectly clean and tidy house, she feels the urge to clean. Fine if she would do it herself but noooo, she expects everyone to participate.
2. Too much food. I don't get it why we need to stuff ourselves on Christmas. My family buys food like there would be eight of us eating when there's only three, possibly four. I go to the shop with them and tell them to stop buying stuff but then they get angry at me for spoiling their fun.
3. Complicated family relations. People not getting along, awkward new family relations, who should go where. It's complicated enough as it is without the whole holiday-who-visits-who-at-what-time hassle.
   
4. Presents. Now I bought mine over the autumn, when I saw something I knew someone would like, I bought it. So by the time I was going home, I had everyone's presents all wrapped up and everything. Then I come here and all people talk about is how they haven't bought any yet, how they don't know what to buy and the ones they bought they feel aren't sufficient.

None of this is making me feel particularly festive. In fact, I think next year it'll be me alone on a tropical island.

Here I am!

I'd completely forgotten that I hadn't updated this space since my arrival, which by the way went rather smoothly.

So here I am, in Lohja. It's cold and snowy, just how I like it. The darkness is getting to me though. I sleep like a hibernating bear.

All is going rather smoothly. Riikka is recovering from her toncils operation so we keep her company. Meaning we go to her place and make fun of the fact she can't speak. We're not nice people.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and I'll get back to you at some point. Probably before next year but who knows.

Home is where my luggage is

Tomorrow Finland is once again calling me. At 10.45am I will start my journey towards Lohja and if all goes according to plans, I will be back home around 1am (GTM +2).

Why does it take me 12 hours to get from Cardiff to Lohja you may ask. It's because I'm taking a bus to Heathrow. These buses are notorious for breaking down so I'm leaving myself around four hours extra to make it to the airport. But even if that were to happen, Heathrow is not my favourite airport and I'm sure my flight will be delayed even though I'm flying with British Airways. In addition to this, I don't know whether the whole luggage-handling strike has been sorted out in Helsinki so might well be that it will take me longer.

I just needed to write down all the things I can think of that can go wrong, just because I like saying "I told you so."

In the meanwhile, things here in Cardiff are good. I managed to finish everything in time so I'm now up to date with my school deadlines. Even got a brilliant idea for a magazine I could pitch next term. I might ask your opinion on in Facebook sometime over the holidays so I would love it if you could contribute.

I've also got my luggage full of presents. So much so that I had to literally stuff the few clothes I'm taking and I'm not sure how am I going to fit my toiletries and make-up with me as well. Damn stupid liquid rules for carry-on luggage!

This time around going on holidays is a bit different. I've got no goodbyes to say to anyone, we'll all be back in a few weeks time. And I'm also only going for a few weeks instead of the month I'm usually away.

Going back is extra fun this time as I get to see all my Lohja-peeps: Minna, Jenna, Riikka, Anne and Laura. Laura has turned 18, Anne will come back from her Erasmus, Riikka from Sweden and Jenna has graduated. It's all pretty momentous. We've already planned a big pile-up.

In case I don't find the time to update this space, I wish you all a merry Christmas and see you next year! I'll be coming back to Cardiff on the 29th, assuming the BA strike doesn't affect my flights...

Edit

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the blogs and end up neglecting one or two. EU-UK one is my absolute favourite though. I love finding out stories, writing about them only to find out a few days later some mainstream newspapers are running similar stories.

But that's beside the point. What I meant to talk about was how swamped in work I've been and therefore unable to update anything here. Not that I have much to say even now.

Suvi was in Cardiff. We had a blast. We ended up having a massive night out the day she got here so kudos to Suvi for staying up 20 hours straight and still being entertaining. The rest of the time we remained indoors (weather was crap) and were entertained by Mark.

One thing I could however go on forever about is how I hate editing videos. I have no patience for it. And since I don't know the software that well it's even bigger of a pain in the ass. The same goes for photoshop. I just love Microsoft's Paint.

One of the things that bother me most with writing articles is the reliance on others. I can't write an article when I feel like it, I need to constantly wait for people to get back to me. I miss writing essays when it was all up to me. Well, I miss that aspect of it but not the content necessarily.

I do find myself gravitating towards EU-related topics. And weird ones, like the Covenant of Mayors and transposition of directives. Guess Maastricht had some influence on me after all.

Thursday

A lot will be going down this Thursday. Most significantly, my friend Laura will be turning 18. She's one of those people that I remember thinking were really young. She's Riikka's sister and I remember Minna visiting Riikka's place and telling me about little 10-year-old Laura. Seems like ages ago! The first time I properly got to meet Laura I remember thinking that she can't be Riikka's little sis, she's so mature and tall.

Nevertheless, Laura has been hanging out with us for years now, making me feel old. She will finally turn 18 and we can include her in all of our fun and games. Would be so lovely to be in Finland to celebrate it but suppose we just have to make up for it in December. I just hope that all of my darling friends know that it's the most difficult being abroad when my friends are feeling really down or celebrating some momentous achievement. I'd love to be there for you!

Aside from this glorious festivity, on Thursday my mom is going on a holiday. Not significant you think but I think it is pretty wicked. She's going with a friend of hers, on a girlie holiday in what must be the first time since 1997. So kudos to mom!

Most fun for me will be of course Suvi coming to Cardiff. The most amazing friend ever will come and visit me once again and we get to experience all fun UK-stuff again! Yey! We'll even have a thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, organised by Mark.

On Saturday my grandma is going on a holiday which I found out she only booked yesterday. Such a globe-trotting family I have!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, I think it should be joyous on all accounts. Though I bet I just jinxed it here.

The ex that keeps on coming back

I don't remember when I first became interested in the EU. Must have been when I was 15 and took part in an economics competition in my school (which I won, might I add) and had an excellent history and society teacher. So when I went to high school, I took part into one European Youth Parliament session and even took a voluntary EU course. I remember loving it.

When I applied to universities in the UK, I believe only three out of the six were politics related. The rest were economics and language related - I was accepted to study Economics and Turkish at the SOAS and not accepted to Oxford to study Turkish.

I then notoriously ended up in Newcastle and then Maastricht to study essentially EU politics. But then February this year I had that existential crisis, what do I want to do with my life? And journalism dawned on me. So I prepared to abandon EU and concentrate on other stuff, possibly write about the EU in a distant future when I'd be experienced enough to be hired on the Economist.

So here I am in Cardiff, happily writing about loads of different stuff but at the same time keeping up EU as my hobby by writing the blog. On Twitter I started following the EU Commission's Representation in the UK, they started following me and even forwarded me their blog there.

So this Monday I was getting started to properly start finding my work experience placements. So I post a tweet about me trying to find them. The EU London Rep then tweeted me what kind of work experience I was looking for and I told them I'd like something to do with writing. They then ask me to send in my CV which I obviously did. And the next day they get back to me saying that they'd love to have me there!

So after somewhat abandoning any hope of ever working for the EU, they find me and ask me to work on what is essentially an ideal job! You have no idea how excited I was and still am.

It is a wonderful example of how social media is a whole new way of connecting people. I do a little happy dance about it especially as the only reason why they would have been interested in me was indeed my blog, so they must think it has some substance to it.

Yea so essentially my ego just grew exponentially. As if I needed that.

Why blog about personal stuff?

Today one of my lecturers commented on my UK-EU blog. I realised there and then how public all of my blogs are. This blog may not bear my name but people will still link to my other blogs and therefore easily find out my identity. So why should I write about personal stuff and reveal all that to people?

Unlike some may suggest, it is not fulfilling a narcissistic desire to expose myself and "become famous".

I have lived in five different countries over the past five years. I have made lots of new friends in that time from different countries with whom it is at times impossible to keep constantly in touch with. So I hope if they genuinely want to know how I'm doing they'd read my blogs. And whilst they are almost all on facebook, facebook is very limited in the communication it provides. I could obviously write notes there and just have people who see it on their newsfeed look at it but I think blog better suits my purposes.

When I started this blog I did kind of mean to make it public so that all those people who stumble across this and might want to go and study abroad could read about my experiences. But also it is there so that all of my friends could see how I'm doing by reading this. Reading this blog is voluntary, I don't want to impose my status updates or notes to everyone who I've befriended on facebook.

If you are indeed reading this, could you leave a note saying why you read it? So far the only person who I know to read this is my sister.

I do intend to keep it personal but at the same time, I won't usually name people and certainly not in a negative context because this is public. I don't want to be that kind of a person and also from a legal perspective that might be considered slander.

I am considering about making this private but at the same time I feel puzzled as to why I should hide who I am as a person. Though potentail employers might find this blog, surely everyone can see that I write this to keep my friends updated which would not reflect me as an employee.

Also I sure hope it doesn't paint an unfair picture of me as a person, right?

Blogging

I'm really getting into the whole blogging vibe. I started another one, this time compiling all the stuff my friends say and I manage to write down.

Boring you might think but give it a go. Quite a good revelation into why I have such a good time here in Cardiff.

Sunday

Kanye West's Love Lockdown

Great song and it seems to speak to me today.

Me

I love Wordle. These are some of the most common words in my blog. Sums me up pretty nicely.

Truth is in the dreams

I value sleep a lot. I prefer to sleep 10 hours a night. Normally this has not been a problem. Being a politics student meant that I could study whenever I wanted and rarely had any morning classes.

In Cardiff however this is hardly the case. We are now kicking into proper working mode and there are so many deadlines and stories we need to be working on in parallel that it is just constant work essentially. I'm in front of this computer (or my computer at the maglab) for most of the time I'm awake.

But not only that. When I'm walking down the street I tend to carry a camera so if I see a nice spot I will pause to take a picture in case it would fit into a story later on. Also should I run into a possible story I have the possibility of recording it somehow.

When I'm out with friends I tend to think what stories I could write about stuff they say. I quite often keep a notepad with me if someone says something funny and take it down.

So how this relates to my sleep is firstly that I don't have much time to sleep. But when I do get into my bed, exhausted, my mind doesn't stop. Perhaps it is still the novelty of all this, but I keep going through stuff that I need to do, what could I write about and those kinds of things.

I have gone to bed, rolled around for a few hours only to get up in the early hours of the morning to write a new blog entry or write down what I just thought for an article.

When I finally do fall asleep it's all about the stuff I do during the day. Twitter, interviews and story ideas are now regulars in my dreams. I need to find a switch to turn it off sometime soon.

Oktoberfest

This is how they celebrated Oktoberfest here in Cardiff.

Odd, right?

Languages

Living in the UK means that I'm most of the time surrounded by people who only speak English fluently. So naturally they're curious how I function with my English and I have to answer questions like in which language do I dream or think.

These are really difficult questions for me to answer. It takes me a while and I don't think I can give a proper answer.

I have at times had a conversation and then had to afterwards contemplate did I just speak Finnish or English. When I'm forming a sentence I sometimes stop to look for the right word and I go through a list in my mind first in the language I'm currently using and then try the other language to see if it would remind me of the word I'm looking for. Most of the time I'd say it depends on the context which language I use. English tends to be dominant because I live mostly in an English-speaking environment.

But what makes me uneasy is that I find it easier to communicate in English. Most often I translate English phrases directly into Finnish rather than the other way around. My brain is attuned to English. But it's also weird because I'm not a native speaker so I'm not perfect in the language but I'm still better at it than my own native language.

Finnish is a difficult language. Me living abroad and studying in English means I don't write in Finnish and only speak with friends and family. Because of this also my dialect in Finnish is overly Lohja, I'm not hearing much else. So the grammar said byebye already in sixth form and whatever remained was gone a long time ago. I get asked where I'm from in Finland when I speak Finnish because I speak it a bit funny.

Same here in Cardiff. Most people outside from Britain would say I have a British accent. Some English think I have a Welsh accent. But those from Wales have a hard time pinpointing where I'm from, they usually guess something along the lines of Canada and South-Africa.

I guess I'm just ambiguous.

Journo

As I'm embarking on my journalism career, there are things that I need to write about that take me away from my comfort zone. So far I quite like it. I need to come up with fresh ideas constantly and then write about them really concisely.

Today I'm cooking dinner for nine people. Not one main course but two. I had this idea to do a cook-off between Welsh and New Zealand so now I'm cooking a lamb dish from each country. I've never cooked anything like this before so I'm quite eager to see the end result.

I've invited eight friends, all from different countries to come along and judge so hopefully it will be a fun evening. Assuming I manage not to burn anything down.

Fingers crossed everyone!

Dangerous

My house here in Cardiff is pretty much ideally located. It is close to the city centre and the university, has shops close-by and some studenty places to go out.

The problem with being so close to the city centre is that it is potentially quite dangerous for my wallet. The amount of shops with ridiculously cheap prices (in comparison to Finland) is amazing. Today I went into town to buy washing rack and to send a letter, ended up buying a jacket and shoes. They're both absolutely adorable and admittedly I needed a new jacket but I can't keep on justifying my purchases for much long.

So thank you credit crunch and thanks also the Finnish government for the student grants. ;)

Back to school

I have now finished my first week at uni. Whilst all my fellow postgrad friends have had a leisurely week with one or two induction lectures, we've been put to work from day one. I still can't quite get my head around at how cool the course is. In media law we're looking at cases that celebrities have filed against papers, in online journalism we're meant to have a blog and be on twitter and actual production of magazines is about everything that goes into making a magazine. I did quit shorthand, it was taking too much time. I have such a different starting point to the others that any free time I have is spent on learning about the media environment in the UK. Whilst the rest are informed as to who's publishing what and who edits this and that, I'm completely in the dark. So I'm taking the time to understand the symmetries and synergies in the industry.

What I love about is that whilst it is time-consuming, it doesn't feel like work. It is what I might do anyway, only now I'm about to make it my profession. And alluding to that, I have decided to devote this space purely for my friends and personal endevours and have created a more professional blog at wordpress. It is a blog about how I think the EU is represented in the UK. Mainly I think I will focus on how the EU appears in the news but occasionally I'm sure I'll draw upon the numerous encounters that show how little British people care about the EU. It combines my passion for the UK-EU relationship but at the same time should show that I'm aware of what goes on in the media.

I have met so many nice people here so every night I have happily spent having fun with them. Like previously mentioned, my flatmates are adorable. Also the Greek diaspora here in Cardiff seems absolutely wonderful, I think I will be able to carry on a conversation in Greek by the end of this year. All in all, we're a lovely international bunch. I do however have some British friends through my course but I'm definately a rarity. Most of the internationals rarely get any interaction with British people, they like to put us into different houses and even the courses seem to be divided in terms of nationality.

I have three different projects needing completion so I think I should finish updating all of you and get to work.

First impressions

Here I am, back again! As I'm trying to diversify my vocabulary, I won't use lovely but instead will announce that my time in Cardiff has so far been absolutely sublime. I met a wonderful group of people already at the bus on the way to Cardiff. My flatmates in our cabin-like "cosy" rooms are marvellous, I've got Mark from the States and Damien from China who are completely adorable. I haven't felt lonely for a second whilst I've been here and tonight was the first time I stayed in because I reasoned to myself going out six nights in a row is not good for my wallet nor my liver but I still would've loved to have joined the peeps at our local pub that we already adore.

I won't go on longer on general wonderfulness, on a more factual note my course seems to be rather intense, I've already got homework and can only expect them to increase as the days pass by. It appears to be extremely organised, useful and impressive on all accounts so I should keep reading this post later on when I become exhausted by it all.

So far everyone has assumed me to be British so I suppose my confidence on my language abilities is back on the rise. I hope to become a bad-ass journalist just to annoy my thesis supervisor. Well, maybe not just because of that.

Anyways, I'm off to get my well-deserved rest if I may say so myself and will commence writing on this space as soon as I find the time and motivation to do so. I'm guessing either that my enthusiasm for writing will increase over time as I develop as a writer or I wish never to see a keyboard on my freetime for the rest of the course. You'll be the judge on which is the better option. Nighty night!

Off to Cardiff

It's that time of the year again. I've spent a wonderful summer in Finland and have almost forgotten that I've ever been anywhere else and so now I obviously need to move again. I've done this every year for the past five years now and have not really felt anxious about it since that first big move in 2005. Admittedly I was moving away from home for the first time, alone, to a country I'd only visited a few times to live among complete strangers. It turned out great but the first week I was in shambles. I was alone in the flat and had no one to talk to, didn't even have internet. Then when I went to shop for all the essentials, all the shops were different! I had no idea where I could buy plates, food etc. I ended up going to McDonald's, eating it in my own room and phoning mom in Finland who tried to persuade me to still apply to the University of Jyväskylä.

Five years later I'm making that big move to the island again. Only this time around I'm fairly confident that I'll find people who'll agree to talk to me, I know all about the shops and have even got a bank account all set-up. But like in 2005, I'm a bit anxious. When I've moved back and forth to countries after 2005, I've known all about the place I'm going to or I've had my parents to drive me there (silly really but they have driven me to Copenhagen and Maastricht). I guess I'm still a little girl in some ways. Now it's just me and my luggage again.

I have however learnt something. I'm not putting on any make-up tomorrow. When I moved to my room in 2005, I remember being really grateful to all the tutors who helped to carry my luggage to my room... until I saw that my mascara was all the way down to my cheeks and I looked like a sweaty racoon.

Wonderful

So thesis hazzle is now all behind me. I managed to redo it and then yesterday I get an email saying that I've graduated the same time as everyone else. Pretty neat. I didn't get my distinction thanks to the fiasco but still got a stellar overall grade so I'm pleased. As if any of it matters now anymore, I'm a Master's in European Studies.

Also got back from my fabulous holiday in Greece with my homies Minna and Suvi. An excellent holiday and I'm already adamantly planning another one. Before the holiday I was on a cruise with Iiris, Tuuli and Uschi and I just have to say it must have been the most fun I have had in years.

I also cut my hair, I now have a Vidal Sassoon inspired bob (courtesy of watching ANTM non-stop and desperately in need of a makeover) and I loves it. Cardiff is working out fabulously, they keep sending me information in time and generally are being extremely helpful without even asking for it.

On Friday I'm going to Tartu to see Suvi and hopefully also Triin. Then I have a trip to Jurva planned, going there with Jenna to see Minna. And after that I have my graduation party to organise and attend. Whii! So everything is lovely again. Lovelier than ever.

The Pessimist Within

I've picked berries, managed to finish my thesis, got allocated to my first choice of accommodation in Cardiff, hosted a friend in Lohja and booked a holiday to Crete with Minna and Suvi. Tomorrow I'm heading off to Linnanmäki with Suvi who offered me free tickets and food there. These are just the main events of all the nice things that have happened in the past few weeks. It's been so wonderful that I've now started envisioning the worst case scenarios that could burst my bubble. Thankfully my mother in her great wisdom pointed out that after probably the worst spring we've ever had ( my parents are getting divorced and the events leading to that accumulated throughout spring, making it somewhat unpleasant to say the least) this might be the start of something nice.

Every night we've had our friends over and we've done something fun. Anne, Riikka, Laura, Jenna and Minna are simply amazing. Like Bryn - my visitor from the island - said, it is wonderful that I've found such a marvellous group of people here in Lohja. Also my darling little one, Suvi, has been a constant source of joy throughout the summer. She even agreed to quit her job a week in advance so she can join Minna and me on a trip to Crete on the last week of August. Amazing.

Before heading off to Crete I've got to practise my shorthand which is surprisingly nice and easy. I also need to stress about the results of my thesis and whether Kela will grant me money for studying in Cardiff - reference to worst case scenario mentioned before. And I will also head off to a cruise with Iiris, Uschi and Tuuli, my friends from Maastricht in a few weeks. So all things wicked cool.

If I pass with my thesis - no matter what the grade -and get money from Kela I will be the happiest girl on earth. It's truly scary, how could I ever top that off?

Lovely summer

Who would have known that my uneventful summer in Lohja could turn out as fun as it has. I stick to my previous statements that not much has happened but overall it has been so pleasant throughout. I spend my days sitting in front of my computer, typing occasionally. My word count is currently at 7,786 and I have just started working on the case study. So it's going on smoothly, nice enough considering that I fully intend to send it to Maastricht on Monday.

And then after I'm done pretending to work I join Minna and the girls and we hang out together. We play boardgames, go for a walk, ride around town checking people out or go the cinema. I'm loving it! Tonight we're going to see Harry Potter! Yesterday we were in Helsinki by coincidence at the same time as James and Oliver Phelps, the boys who play Weasley twins who were there to promote the film. I caught a glimpse of one of them. Incredible, I'm practically famous.

Sadly enough we have heard nothing of the saskatoon job, the woman promised to inform us when the job would start but we're assuming either the entire harvest was crap or she decided not to employ us... Fingers crosses we'll hear something about it later but not impressed by her thus far.

Aside from ongoing pleasantness, nothing much has happened. Still planning trips but as they are still in planning phase I choose not to talk about them, it always seems to jinx them. On August 20th I am however going on a cruise with some friends from Maastricht. That is going to be wicked! And then next weekend a friend of mine who I met at Cambridge Model European Council in 2007 is going to visit Finland. That is übercool because he studies Finnish! It's almost supernatural meeting people who study the language but have not lived in Finland nor are dating a Finnish person. Also to add to his coolness, he loves the Eurovision. There aren't many of us in the world so we must present a united front.

On this positive note I go back to writing about European chemicals directive.

Spinster for life!

I read romantic novels, you know those cheesy women's pocket books for which some less discreet names exist. I read one or two before I go to bed (I read really quickly) in order to blank out my mind before bedtime. But tonight I was reading "Kept by the Spanish Billionaire" I came across a paragraph that I just have to share with the world:

"Four hours later, Rafael had to admit that he was enjoying himself. As novel experiences went, spending time in the company of a woman [the heroine of the book in question] who had no particular interest in the news, no knowledge of the opera, little experience of the theatre and an unhealthy interest in reality television was an eye opener. There was no intellectual conversation about the state of the country, the world economy, and, certainly in the case of Elizabeth [the boring, recently dumbed ex of the hero], the frustrations of the American legal system."

Oh well, guess I'll just get back to writing my thesis then. No need for beauty sleep as there are slim chances any man might ever stay awake through a conversation with me, let alone be attracted to me... :D Priceless.

Saskatoon

I was joking with Iiris about me being broke and that I should get a job picking berries to get some money. The next day I see an add for saskatoon berry pickers, ring them up and tadaa, I have a job! I may be the world's most over-qualified berry picker but I thought I might as well do something about the poor money situation. It should also be good exercise so all thing's considered I'm quite happy. Also, Minna will be joining me so at least I will have company and with her around it might turn out to be fun.

The last few days I've spent working on my thesis. Have actually read through everything, nicely colour-coded all the notes I've taken and written 500 words for the introduction. 500 bloody good words I may add, I am a future writer/journalist after all.

Things that make me write

Funny how it always seem to be the negative things that make me pick up my virtual pen and write an entry here. I've been having a perfectly wonderful time recently but have not really felt like writing about it here. I've restrained myself not only because of lack of time but also because I have a feeling it might come out slightly derogative and I would not want to condense the happy times in a few sentences like: I had a lovely time, met lovely people etc.

But what sparked my motivation to write tonight is that I was researching for my thesis - yes, the motivation is slowly creeping in, happily coinciding with the approaching deadline - and discovered an anomaly. Looking through Finnish books on the topic of my dissertation I discovered that my local library, Lohja's library, actually is as well stocked as Helsinki University's library. Extremely odd, don't you think? Given that there are about as many students at Helsinki University as there are inhabitants in my hometown.

Generally things are pretty much the same as ever. Still no definate plans for the rest of the summer, situation with the parents is still... flammable, avoiding thesis and so forth. I have no job for the summer so I've been pretty active with selling loads of stuff at the flea market. The things people buy, honestly... The crappiest things always get sold first. I'm happy I just leave my stuff there and don't have to see the people who buy it or I might sigh everytime they make a stupid purchase. But as long as the money keeps pouring in I'm not one to complain...

I've also been *horrible* with keeping in touch with people so if you consider yourself a close friend of mine and haven't heard from me, don't take it personally. It's just that not being online 10 hours a day cuts down my correspondence a lot. So all my love to everyone and have a lovely July if I don't get to say it to you personally.

Love you much.

How to pass the time

If it weren't for facebook, I might have easily forgotten I ever went to Maastricht, things here have gone back to how they always were. I even have a daily routine. *gasp* During the weeks it's basically me sitting in front of the television or laptop, just passing the time. Then during the weekends the girls come here and we have some fun.

Last weekend we set about to make our own version of Lohja's Next Top Model. It was sooo much fun. I was the stylist/hairdresses/make-up artist/creative director/photographer. The girls randomly chose their "personalities", we had a shy girl (that forgot that she was meant to be shy quite often) from Sammatti, fierce black girl from the Centre, the bitch from Ojamo and nice & religious but insecure about her body girl from Vivamo. We even had those videos where the girls bitch about fellow contestants on camera, I'll see whether I can download them here.

Aside from that nothing major has happened. Me and Minna plan to make money by hitting the flea markets with all the stuff we need to get rid off (I have a huge black bag full of clothes that I don't need!). Then tomorrow I'm meeting with one of my friends I haven't seen for probably a year now and possibly see her boyfriend of like 3 years also for the first time.

The most exciting thing to look forward to is midsummer, juhannus, when Triin will be in Finland and we're going to her friend's boyfriend's cabin in Hanko. Wicked!

Back in the old country

Maastricht is behind me and am now settled back in Finland. Despite some major changes in both the decor of my house as well as the number of inhabitants my life here seems to quickly return to what it always is here. For some weird reason, I always seem to find myself too occupied to spend much time online despite having very little to do. This I have deduced is because I'm not living alone. In Maas I was free to do as I wanted most of the time and at home merely spoke to people on the phone or skype. Here I have to keep up a conversation on a regular basis and partake in house chores based on not my own will but how my mother and sister choose. The worst part is that I find it really difficult to be with people for a prolonged period of time. I'm so just so accustomed to solitude that when I'm in company I tend to grab a book and immerse in that, leading to Minna sometimes talking to me and me not hearing her. I guess I was made to be a hermit.

I've already gotten some curious enquiries as to what have I been doing here. And though "nothing" doesn't appease anyone as an answer, it describes my feelings quite aptly. I mean yes, I read the entire Twilight saga in two days. I sometimes scare myself as to how quickly I can read, also takes some of the excitement away. Then I had some friends over for a Singstar party after which we "went out" in Lohja. The walk to town was nice as was the singstar but going out in Lohja is not really my cup of tea. I don't know the people here and Finnish people don't get acquinted with new people so it usually makes me feel like an outsider. Then we did the very Finnish thing of getting something to eat after a night out from these kind of like hotdog stands... The queue was immensely long and combining that with drunken Finns obviously there was a fight as well. A young couple vs. a young boy and his mother. The women had their own argument whilst the boys took it out on a more physical way and the police came to break it up. I found it melancholic and scary, it was so ordinary that people just stood and laughed whilst on the other hand the people fighting could have just as easily find something offensive in me and take it out on me. From what I have seen, Finns are the most agressive nation when drunk. Even worse than Brits.

Essentially I feel out of place in Finland. The one thing tying me to this country is the language and even that is going down the drain. I went to the dentist where my Estonian dentist commented on my accented Finnish. I even sound foreign now. In addition to feeling out of place in my home country, I should be working on my thesis which has zero appeal to me. So I keep postponing it. Hopefully it'll be done at some point.

But what keeps me going is the prospect of escaping this once I'm done with my thesis. I am counting on going to Bulgaria to see Kalina and possibly some other friends as well for a Maas-reunion by the beach. In addition me and Minna would love to have a short girlie week off somewhere, preferably Greece or Turkey. And what I wouldn't give to be able to visit Italy over the summer. But so far these are only plans, of their probability I know not. Since I haven't got a job seems somewhat unlikely. But fingers crossed.

Leave with a bang

The anticipation of eurovision very succesfully drew away the attention from the fact that I will be leaving Maastricht on saturday. In fact, my parents and my sister will join me here in Maas tomorrow for a few days; after which we will start our drive back to Finland.

So the days leading to Eurovision were spent very succesfully, meeting up with my friends every single day. There was the gala which was a lot of fun, I've been told. I "lost track of time" once we got there. And then Eurovision was also a success. But then it hit me that I'm leaving so I'm not really sure how I feel. Yesterday I took a day off so to say and stayed home aside from seeing Star Trek at the cinema.

Today I've organised to go out with a group of my friends and have a drink or two before my family arrives. So hopefully this night will be a lot fun and won't turn into a sad goodbye, not the way I want to go. But admittedly I have never been this sad to leave a place. So many nice people here. Though, granted, the likelihood is that I'll cross paths with most of them later on in life when we all will proceed to take over Europe and the world.

Plans back in Finland include hanging out with the girls, meeting up with all my friends that I have not seen for months and so forth. I'm even organising a reunion for my elementary school people in July. Sometime over the summer I should fit in visits to Outi in Cyprus, holidays with Minna, holidays with Suvi, visiting Silvia in Italy and so forth. Where on earth will I get the money is beyond me but perhaps I'll get so many stories published that I'll be able to live off that. Hah!

Eurovision

It's only 9 days away. And I have the fever already. I keep listening to past and current entries, following news about Finland's Eurovision entourage's adventures, talking about it to every single person I meet, posting links on my facebook page. Essentially I'm so immersed in it that everybody must hate me. You can't get me to talk about anything else these days. With my head injury and everything everybody has been really nice. I've had visitors come over and to keep me entertained they've watched videos with me. I bet most people thank heavens that Eurovision is only once a year.

The whole head-thing has provided plenty of amusement over the week. Admittedly I may have over-dramatised it, I have lived a cushioned life and have only broken one toe and had a few stitches in my head once before. Like a friend of mine pointed out, we Europeans have it easy. And aside from the few days of discomfort that immediately followed, the only nuisance about it now is the disgusting state of my hair. I can't wash the hair around the cut so as to not to dilute the glue until saturday so it's nasty. But for example yesterday we had our last tutorial and needed to present an article that I had not read. So I gave a presentation on it and when I felt that I was not making sense anymore I just said "I have a head injury, I cannot be held accountable". Works like a charm.

But once this week is over I will have finished my last remaining uni assignments aside from my thesis and can resume my normal hair-styling routine. Next week we have the two Eurovision semi-finals, Gala for the European Studies students, Bachelor party for a friend of mine and then to end a brilliant week, the Eurovision final. A brilliant last week in Maastricht I tell you. Then the week after that my sister and parents are driving here to pick me up and I'll be leaving Maas for good. So I'm making the most out of Maas while I still can.

How it all went down ... literally

So yesterday was one eventful day. I was a bit upset so Barbara invited me to her place for some fun time. I had a lovely time with her and Marius. Then things got exciting. We were waiting for the bus and decided to play hopscotch to pass the time. I go last and with my enthusiasm I really go for it with speed and end up head first on the ground. I didn't even realise at first that I was bleeding but then it becomes apparent. Barby and Marius take me back home, Barby cleans the wound and even makes me drink water with sugar to prevent the shock. Love her, a proper angel.

We then take the bus to town (quicker than getting a taxi to Smeermaas) and on our way Barbara tries to keep we awake and talking, and I just try to breathe. She asked me when I was born to determine how sane I am and I could not remember for the life of me when I was born! You have no idea how scary that was. I could not remember who some people she was talking about were and when we finally get to the hospital I couldn't remember my home address. I like to think I was calm and I think I did all that I could at that point but I was pretty worried when I was forgetting things.

We were then received by a Dutch doctor who did not really speak English that well. She first tried to apparently tie my hair to close the wound (Barby was holding my hair and witnessed this) but then resulted to glueing it shut. Yes, apparently this is the new alternative to stitches. Finally she did her thing and gave us a note that had all the instructions. Too bad it was in Dutch. Nevertheless, Barby had to come and stay at my place because I needed to be woken up every hour to check that I'm still up and running and not taking a turn for the worse.

We then take a taxi home, on the way there I hear Turkey's entry to Eurovision this year and I mention it to Barbara who sighs of relief because apparently that is a sign that I'm getting back to normal. We get home, settle down on the couch. I was still nauseous and couldn't get much sleep before 4am but then me and Barby both fall asleep and wake up at 6am to check I'm still among the living. And then around 9am Kalina comes and Barby can go home and rest. Kalina kept me company all day, got me food and provided some TLC. And then when Kalina went home Francesco came by to say hi.

So apart from my disgusting hair that will remain disgusting for a week before I can wash it, good things have come out of it. All my friends are showing how lovely they are and really love is in the air, they're so amazing. And I know never to play children's games anymore, I'm officially too old.

Odd reasons to be excited about moving to Cardiff

1. Tesco home delivery - I can do my groceries online, have the benefits of a huge selection, compare prices and finally have someone else deliver it to my door. Saves time and money.
2. Moving into student halls - If I get my first choice I will have my own bathroom, have a person cleaning the kitchen and the common areas, a reliable landlord and should something go kaputt, there would be someone to fix it! Oh the luxury of a working fridge and freezer and cupboard space!
3. English - People will speak English, even the teachers. No longer will I have to consider whether an idiom is familiar to people outside the island and can once again become fluent in the language I adore. Say no to Euro-English and embrace the one and only genuine one!
4. Travelling - Easy transportation where ever I want! And cheap as well.
   
5. Learning - I will learn new skills, actual skills that will benefit me in my choice of career. No longer will I have to not study for exams because it's about a topic that I could not care less about but will still get a good grade. I miss going to the library just because I wanted to learn more.
   

Incidents

Overheard in the streets of Maastricht:
Woman 1: "How can it rain all day long?"
Woman 2: "Yea, it happens quite often here"

Happened yesterday:
I'm walking alone to Marttiina's place, just minding my own business. An older man, around 60 with grey hair stares at me so intensively that he trips a bit and the DVDs he's carrying fall on the ground. They were porn films. He quickly gathers them and I continue my way chuckling at old dirty men.

To-do list

Future - sorted

I got in! Starting the Postgraduate Diploma programme in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University in September.

Cardiff will be the fourth university I have entered since 2005. By the age of 24 I will have a Bachelor's degree, a Masters and PG Diploma. Not bad.

Cardiff

Future almost sorted out now. Cardiff informed me today that I'm first on their reserve list, essentially the first one they'll contact if one of the people on the firm offers list turns down their offer. The really amazingly wonderfully nice woman at the administration even added that every year people get in from the reserve list, just the numbers vary. But given that I have priority it's pretty much certain that I get in. How amazing is that?

Obviously I won't exactly book a ticket yet, the others have to confirm their places by May 1st so I assume after that there will be some definate answers either way. But if all goes to plan in late September I will return to the island. If nothing else, it should make for a few good blog posts about my frustration with the bureaucracy and companies that I have happily forgotten now...

I hope going there will change my life from the crappy soap opera it is at the moment into more like a sitcom. My first choice of student hall is an all-female hall, apparently dubbed as the Virgin Megastore. Whilst Cardiff as a city seems to boast quite a few rugby players... I think this seems like a promising combination. Can't wait.

Finnish Invasion

I had my sister, Anne, Riikka and Jenna visiting me for a week, the latter three being semi-sisters. Being reunited after months of separation in a new city (well, new to most of them, obviously not me or Minna who had visited me before) was a blast. We did pretty much all the touristy things you can do in Maastricht which included walking around town, taking pictures next to random statues, eating waffles, drinking beer and even taking the tourist bus that looks like a train. We were even filmed, Greenpeace wanted us to "turn the Earth". Thankfully the weather was amazing throughout their stay so they all had a really good impression on Maastricht (methinks).

Still no news from Cardiff so keep your fingers crossed. So far all my plans depend on me getting in there, if not then I'm pretty much clueless as to what I will do. Most likely take a gap year, go somewhere remote and do something to get me by until it's time to re-apply.

Otherwise plans for this week include catching up with people and making most of the few days of sunshine that are still to come. Then on Saturday me and bunch of other Maasies are heading up to Bruges to attend a sports day for all the Master European Studies people across Europe. And as you might have guessed, I'm not attending any of the sports. I'm the head of the cheerleaders.

The Island

Greetings from Bristol. Yes, that is a picture of me taken with Mac PhotoBooth with silly effects. But what does that mean? Well that I'm in a lovely hotel room with a Mac that has internet! So my addiction is served, I could access facebook after staying offline for almost two days. Tragic in a way.

To go through things chronologically, lets start with me getting to Cardiff on Sunday. The day got off to an early start as my mother woke me up at 5.30am thinking that I'd already be at the airport. I then proceeded to make my way to Eindhoven first by taking the train at 7.30am from Maastricht to Eindhoven, then a bus from the centre of Eindhoven to the airport. Then got on my flight and everything was just fine and dandy and on schedule. Then I take the bus from the airport to Bristol only to discover they're doing some work on the rails which leads to me having to take a train, then a bus and then one final train before I'm in Cardiff. Overall about 8 hours spent traveling from Maastricht to Cardiff.

I then arrive to my hotel in Cardiff which turns out to be a quite glamorous affair if slightly aged (picture wonky halls with creaking floorboards) right in the centre, next to the Cardiff Castle. I could actually do my sightseeing from my room's window. In addition it was a really nice sunny day and I did some shopping. All in all, everybody was really lovely and the city seemed really nice, packed with cafes and places to shop at.

Then today I finally had that interview. And picture this, I walked into the building where the interview took place and saw people in suits. I felt under-dressed!! After speaking with some people I find out that

a) they all seem rather young

b) they're all British

c) they all have done internships or written articles to magazines/newspapers/radios.

Someone thought I was Welsh from my accent. And one person heard I study in the Netherlands and started impersonating a "Dutch" accent which was more like a sad attempt at a German/Austrian accent. I then corrected him that I'm actually not Dutch to which he reacted by a sigh of relief (thinking that I'm British) and saying that good because otherwise I must have felt out of place. Weird I tell you.

But then my small group of 4 other people proceeded to the interview process. We had a small test on current events. I know like 6 of the answers (out of 30) and guessed a few more, one of the answers I actually knew because Eoghan had joked about how the UK home secretary's husband charged adult films from her expense account and they had a question on it. I sent Eoghan a thank you text. Then we had to correct the grammar and spelling of one text and then write a news article. All very relaxed, not really a stressing exam situation at all. But throughout the process, the person conducting the interview, who is actually head of the course, kept on emphasizing the need for practical experience in order to get in. Also like previously mentioned, the people had done so many internships already or at least edited their university's student paper or something. One girl had actually taken a gap year to gain more experience in order to get into the course. Oh yea, we were told that over 100 people applied for the 30 places they have and only about 50-60 were invited to interviews.

So by the time we got on to one-on-one interviews I was pretty sure I was not going to get in. As I was the last one to be interviewed I also heard the comments from the others as they came back. None of them were that confident afterwards and a few actually got the impression they won't get in because they haven't got enough experience. So when it became my turn I was pretty relaxed thinking that there's really nothing to lose here and I'll just do my best and if that is not enough then too bad for them.

But to my surprise the interview went on really, really well! She understood that I haven't got experience but then we spoke about the work experience I do have and how I could relate that to journalism. Towards the end she actually commented on how well I "come across" and how professional and determined I appear to be. And then she asked why I chose Cardiff when I could get into any university in Europe I want to. We spoke about my level English which apparently is very, very good but how the fact that I'm not a native speaker might influence my grading in the course. I then said that I know my English isn't perfect at the moment since I've been living in Euro-English zone but it's bound to improve when I move back to the island. But the point is that she alluded to the grading of the coursework, something that would not have come up unless I was being seriously considered for acceptance. Overall, I came out of the interview thinking that it was the best interview I have ever had. If I don't get in then I can at least rest assured I did my best.

They will let me know by the end of the week. I really hope I get in, the University and the city seemed amazing. The course seemed fabulous, exactly what I hoped it would be. In the meanwhile, it's back to Maas tomorrow, have to get up at 5am to catch the bus to the airport...

Transposition & the Island

Karma is a bitch. As it has been evident all year long, studying has not been high up on my list of priorities. So it serves me right that for the past few weeks I've done nothing but. After about six weeks of rather leisurely existence with not much school to worry about, the deadlines kicked in, big time. Without going into details of how many papers and exams I've had to do, it has kept me up until 4am, made me stay at the library from opening to closing and, worst of all, made me dream about transposition.

Whilst normal people have no idea what transposition means, I know it by heart now. And please, don't even think about asking me for a definition. Believe me, it is nothing interesting. And coming from me who makes my friends remember all the member states of EU by heart and haves quizzes about them, that's saying someting.

So this sudden episode of my life, back to shool: the revenge, has pretty much denied me of any social life. Today when I met up with friends to have a few drinks and enjoy the weather, I actually jumped out of joy for the fact that I was out of the house and not doing school-related stuff. Enjoying weather stems from the fact that it is about 20 degress here in Maastricht. I heard in Finland it's still below zero...

Thankfully things are brightening up. Tomorrow there are supposedly parties of some sort to celebrate the end of hibernation, on Saturday there is a dinner & drinks with friends. On Sunday I am actually going back to the island. I got an interview at Cardiff University on Monday for their journalism program. So because there aren't really any good connections from Maastricht to Cardiff it's turning out to be a bit of holiday for me, I fly on Sunday morning and come back on Tuesday. I quite look forward to not only seeing what's Wales all about but also going on a holiday all by myself.

And, don't tell this to anyone but I am actually really excited about being back on the island!! Shhhh!

It's all about timing

Procrastination. I learned the concept and the word when I in high school, doing the IB (which in this case means International Baccalaureate and not International Business and will forever in my mind be associated more with high school than with snotty economics people though similarities are sometimes striking) and since then it has stayed with me. Next week I have a group paper due for which I should be working as I type, a take-home exam for which I should be - not revising but reading for the first time - the material the course has covered and another paper about policy evaluation due. In addition I should seek direction in my life and look for jobs and maybe, just maybe work on my thesis. But me being me and thriving under last-minuteness, I have spent today doing the following:

- I woke up at 11.30am and went to the library. At the library I researched for EuroMUN which is a month away and therefore not really high up on my list of priorities, especially as it essentially doesn't count towards grades, credits or anything else. And I also chatted with Kalina.

- I then gave up the pretense of getting anything done there and came home to chat with Suvi, helped her find information on the exchange possibilities at her university. I suppose it is pretty impressive that I can find information in languages that I don't even speak but nevertheless, this helped Suvi but did not really contribute to shortening my to do list.

- I then tried on some outfits for the EuroMUN conference. Again, a month away but at least I have an outfit and shoes to match already picked out.

- After this I chatted with my sister and hearing her talk of ice-cream I developed craving for some so I ventured outside. In the rain I might add. I had been hoping for rain, as it makes it funnier to watch people cross the bridge outside, especially as it was really windy as well today. But obviously it rained when I went outside. I did get the irony though and was laughing my way to the store, making myself look like an idiot to whoever might have caught a glimpse of my crazy grin.

- Then I decided to finally start watching Gossip Girl. After all the jokes about me being one I thought I might as well do research on what it is all about. And now I'm addicted.

- So as it is already tomorrow, past midnight I mean, I predict myself staying up a few more hours watching a few episodes and then getting up in the morning (early as I'm meant to meet my group for the paper), cursing my decadent slacker ways for not getting more sleep.

Springtime

It is finally here. Spring! Very suitable that my friend Suvi (whose name means summer in Finnish) came to visit me. She is an amazingly funny person who was just the right one to cheer me up and at the moment I feel almost exuberantly happy.

So much so that I find the stories about my flatmate funny when otherwise they might be considered tragic. For example, I cleaned the entire house prior to Suvi's arrival. This mean that not only did I hoover and wipe the dust, I also washed all the dishes that my flatmate had left lying around, essentially the amount of unwashed dishes that tend to pile up when you don't do your dishes for two months. I had in fact tried to constrain myself and not even do my own, just leave the shit lying around like he does and see whether he'd notice the difference. Of course he didn't. In fact, here's the conversation that took place when he got back home that day:
Mia: "So, I cleaned the entire house today..."
Flatmate: "Yea, I noticed."
... silence ...
Mia: "Uhmm, so from now on, could you please do your dishes like once a week or something?"
Flatmate: "Sure."
I don't know whether I'm oversensitive here but I think at some point I would have inserted a "I'm sorry for being such a slob" or at least a "thank you" but nothing.

After this incident I thought it could not get much worse. But alas how one is mistaken. I was sitting in the livingroom, doing work for uni when I hear a familiar sound. Drip. Drip. Drip. Flashback to last spring? Very much so! It was indeed raining in my house again. Flatmate, in his infinate wisdom, had left the house for a few days and left his window open. Strong winds and heavy rainfall arrives to Maastrich, making the water come down to his room. His room is upstairs, above the livingroom and after some time, the water accumulated enough to make the water come down through the floor into the livingroom where I was working. So I immediately go to his room (which by the way has no furniture except for a broken bedframe, it's just piles of clothes lying around with a mattress on the floor without any duvet or bed covers, quite nasty), find the window side of the room completely soaked (his clothes included) and close the window. So I text my flatmate to inform him of the situation. His response? The following text:
"Sorry about that haven't been home since yesterday morning" Wow. Once again no real regret, actually making it out to be a normal thing to leave the house with your window open for days and no sign of thank you in sight.

So I'm happy that I'm happy enough not to worry about this too much. Maybe I'm on drugs without noticing it... Because lately I've also enjoyed working for the group paper we're doing, I'm researching on UK's transposition of the biofuels directive, and the other day we had a lot of fun at a tutorial with me joking around all the time. I must be high on something!

Facebook

Has anyone else noticed the amount of journalists/politicians/other important people writing something about facebook on their blog? Maybe it's just a Finnish thing but it sure happens a lot, I can't enter a site without there being some mention of facebook there.

Now I'm not the one to criticise talking about facebook, it's just the tone of some of the blog entries annoy the hell out of me. Like all these journalists vent about how useless facebook is, how addictive it is, how fake the whole "friends on facebook" concept is etc. Bloody hell, if you don't like then don't use it! I'm not about to worship anyone for taking two weeks off from facebook!

I use it a lot. I know a lot about people thanks to facebook and I am aware that people might know a lot about me if they put a lot effort into it. I've got a link to this blog from my fb-profile for god's sake. I know there are a lot of less than flattering of pictures of me out there but if it comes as a surprise to any future employer that I go out and consume alcohol then by all means don't hire me from your moral highground. All these people going around and preaching about user content possibly being used by fb for marketing purposes or about how privacy settings are complicated just really make me want to punch them in the face. Is everyone here new to internet???

Until I become a spy or intend on committing a treason I don't care who deals with my data. If the Americans or the Chinese get a kick out of reading my skype conversations or looking through the pictures I have on facebook then go ahead. I still feel like a private person even if Albert Heijn (a grocery store in the Netherlands) uses my customer card to check through what I buy and use it for targeted advertising. I'm not bothered about big brother scenarios because essentially I feel that the amount of information out there is too much for anyone to process. Kill them with kindness.

Gossip

There are about 100 people studying for a masters European Studies here in Maastricht. Majority of us have not studied here before so we only know each other so it follows that we're a close community. We know each other well and interact outside lectures on a regular basis. I really like this, especially as we got such a cool mix of people most of which I think are actually amazing people. I keep referring to people in my posts and saying how cool friends I have and the fact is I've never made so many friends as I have here.

But from having such a community it follows that news travel fast. Essentially we gossip a lot. More so than I have ever before. But I refuse to see it as a negative thing, it is perfectly natural. I don't spread rumours nor make up stuff, I would also never circulate something that I know to be untrue or that would hurt anyone. We've joked about creating a gossip girl style blog but we won't (so if somebody does, it is not me nor my friends!). But I also know that me and my friends are not the only ones transferring information, we're just open about it unlike some others.

Also, it is not like anything particularly scandalous has happened. Like at our Brussels trip it was probably me and my friends who stirred up the most conversation - and on my part the worst was probably on the way to the hotel from the bar I was singing something loudly and then screaming that I'm German (so as not to incriminate my own nation).

But it is actually quite thrilling to know who hooked up with who (I can think of about five such events that I know of), who likes whom etc. Just be aware that even though you think nobody knows, somebody probably does. Internet and social networks make secrets practically an impossibility. Talking to your friends about something is natural but the friend will likely be friends with someone else so the story keeps on circulating.

So this is me being open about what I do so no more bitching about me gossiping.

Surreal

Lately my life has felt surreal, as if I was having an out of body experience. I find it hard to believe some things are actually happening to me. Without going into details, I'm particularly upset about one thing but here's where my amazing friends help me. Suvi for example heard about my distress and booked a flight to Maastricht the same day. That's devotion. So with friends like mine life can't be too bad even at its worst.

On Tuesday I went to Brussels with my fellow students. It was an amazing trip, had really a lot of fun. The lectures themselves weren't too thrilling, further proving the point that being a Brussels eurocrat is not for me, but the people were so funny. The story about the trouble of getting to Brussels has been told so many times that I will not expand on it further than by telling that due to the drivers not having documents/licenses we had to wait at a Belgian service station for 4 hours, making the normally 2 hour trip last for 6 hours. But what's better than being stuck in a bus with your best friends in the middle of nowhere. Proper bonding I tell you.

Aside from schoolwork I have not much to do, so I look forward to St Patrick' day and then Suvi's arrival on the 20th. In her honour I'm doing a party with an animal theme, we even intend to decorate the house like a jungle... All to keep my mind happily occupied elsewhere.

Observations

On Finnish women: Finnish girls are really independent. To the point that I sometimes wonder why do we even bother dating men. They are a nuisance most of the time anyway. I read an article when I was in Finland where foreign men commented on their views on Finnish women. And they all said the same, Finnish women are really strong, independent sometimes to the point of being a bit selfish in the sense that we insist on doing everything ourselves as we do not trust others to do it properly. Essentially everything I could relate to myself, rather scary as I've been thinking that I am special having lived abroad and assuming that has rubbed off some way. And then when we went out on Wednesday I observed that all the girls there were really good-looking and all had to make the iniative whilst the men just sit around and wait for the girls to come to them.

On Finnish men: Like already mentioned, they have a very easy life. They have women who do everything (women have to be masters in professional, social and family life) and all they have to do is to look sombre and sullen. Because I made a really brilliant observation - at least it was so to me - that on Finland a man is a man when he is distant, man of few words and more prone to action. This explains why there persists this gigolo-prejudice to foreign men; men who compliment women and take iniative in talking to girls are actually doing the opposite of what Finnish sense of masculinity dictates.

On Finnish mentality: It's sometimes difficult for non-Nordic people to understand to understand the fundamental difference here. Compliments are a non-entity in Finland, they are treated almost as nonsense but at least pointless. If a man would say to a woman that she is beautiful she would just be embarrassed, not believe him and start questioning his motives. On a related note, if generalised on a more societal level, in Finland if you are rich then you hide it, you don't flaunt it. You can wear brands but nothing ostentatious because that would seem like bragging. A typical, wealthy citizen would never wear a shirt with "DIOR" reading in big bold letters nor would they drive a flashy car, Mercedes is about as far as you can go.

I think especially with women this leads to a nation filled with high-achievers, superwomen who never realise the extent of their superpowers because they are expected to do all this and are never complimented on any of it.

So excuse me for being americanized here but just as an FYI: I like compliments.

On to a more personal observation, I realised how much I love writing. I love writing creative pieces, reports, articles and even text messages (though the actual act of writing them I am not too keen on). But nevertheless, this helped me to solve my existential crisis I have been struggling with lately. Though I love politics, studying theory is not my thing nor is bureaucracy. So it seems like journalism is the logical next step. I'm hoping to get into a Masters/diploma course on it that would actually equip me with vocational skills rather than useless theory so that I could then pursue it as a career. Fingers crossed it works out, so far all the good courses that I've found have already had their application deadline but I'm hoping to talk my way in...

Blast from the past

Of course I had to jinx it. As if I was ever going to have a smooth trip home when I said out loud that hope nothing happens. I ended up stranded at Köln's railwaystation, stuck in the train not knowing what was going on. By some weird chance there was a Finnish family sitting next to me on the train, on their way to the same flight so thankfully I got a taxi with them to the airport. I would have not figured out that there was some fire in the tracks ahead of us, preventing the train from continuing or even if I would've, I still would have had to pay the 95 euros it took from Köln to Düsseldorf airport with a taxi. Insanely good luck considering the circumstances but I would sometime like to experience travelling without any malfunction during any leg of the journey, is that too much to ask?

Also I had to jinx it with this other thing as well. I was just talking to Kali about obsessive exes and used my first boyfriend as an example and how he'd still tried to contact me last year. And of course today he tries to befriend me on facebook and even dares to send a message on fb that it's been such a long time that I can't be upset with him. So I replied that it has indeed been a long time but I still recall you being a nutcase so perhaps just give up trying to contact me ever, argh. Oh how I wish I could full-out rant about his crazy ways but lets just leave it at this. Also I was a total bitch with him but I guess some people never learn.

Escape

Carneval is here. I had not heard of it being celebrated outside Rio and New Orleans until I came to Maastricht but now I indeed find myself corrected. The lovely people of Southern Limburg sure do love their carnaval. The streets are filled with people dressed in the ever-adorning colours of red, yellow and green. Parades keep on going up and down the street. And by nighttime the entire adult population is as wasted as they come. It started today but some people took a head start yesterday making my walk to Kalina's a memorable experience. For some reason it makes men delusional and all the men were checking me out. Some old men tried to dance with me. Thankfully I've mastered my "f*ck off"-look which discourages even the most drunken specimen.

Nevertheless, as you can gather I am not too keen on the event. The intention was to escape the mayhem to Amsterdam but Kalina had to go to England so I found myself puzzled over what to do. To add to the despair, next week is also my birthday and I had a vision of myself stranded alone in Maastricht with a bucket of chocolate, being on facebook the whole day. So I booked a flight to Finland. I thankfully know some people who will be there so I have company, my family will entertain me and I have the luxury of a car and a fully-equipped, clean, functioning kitchen. I intend to cook a lot, try some recipes. Lets hope this is not a first sign of nesting, I'm still too young.

So today I'm in a better mood, there are some parties that I can attend, people will be happy and all is well considering I will leave Maastricht the next morning. Fingers crossed the buses, trains and planes all stick to their timetables.

Oh yea, we had a really cool evening of playing Wii at Barbara's and Marius' place. Love wii! The only clutch of the evening was leaving their place, the last bus did not go to Maastricht so we had to walk from their place in the middle of the night. Five kilometres may not seem like much but it is the most I've walked from point A to point B in a long time. On our nocturnal walk we stumbled into the ponies pictured above. They were quite scary, perfectly still and just staring at us. Reminded me very much from the cow incident about a year ago....

A Bad Habit

Keeping things real here, lets address my drinking behaviour. I party here in Maastricht every now and then; I know, you would have never guessed. And when I do some people find it unfair/irritating that it is somewhat difficult to tell when I'm drunk. There aren't any usual telltale signs such as me getting overly loving or aggressive. I may agree to things I normally wouldn't, I say yes more often than I would otherwise. For example:

X: "Mia, do you want to com and watch a football match, Germany vs Norway, tomorrow"
Mia: "Sure! I'd love to"

I don't forget things like keys or phones nor do I get lost. But I drink and text. Here again it's disturbing when I text I just get a bit more sarcastic and manage to write grammatically correct so people don't realise the extent of my drunkenness. It's not something completely idiotic but also not something I would do if not under the influence, when I remember in the morning what I've texted I tend to laugh. They would make a great book though.

Last night's party was excellent. A lot of people showed up so drinking games didn't actually feature that prominently (too many people to get any kind of discipline or grab everyone's attention) but there were some rules I'd set in the beginning that people had to obey. There rules were as follows:

1. If you complain about the music you must take one shot


2. You must refer to everyone by their nationality, not their name. If you forget -> drink


3. If you mention anything university-related you must go to the naughty corner and take a shot


4. You can only swear by saying perkele, vittu or saatana. Failure to comply will lead to you taking a shot


5. Whenever you hear a song by Britney or Kanye West you must drink

This worked fabulously, people got used to the name thing pretty quickly. Some countries were a bit difficult as there were like 5 Germans and 3 Romanians but they had numbers in addition to natiolity. I myself broke rule nr 4 the most... I can't swear in Finnish. In the naughty corner people had to act/ask questions that were of rather sexual nature, a lot of fun. Overall, a memorably party.

On a non-party related note, I must write down a conversation I had with Deborah. I was standing next to her and as it happens, her face is at level with my boobs (= she's shorter than me). I then said "This must be familiar to you from childhood..." To which Deborah replies "No actually I was a bottlechild from early on." My love to Deborah, lovely German girl who I quite often laugh at, not with.

As you can tell I'm at a pretty up-beat mood. I also got an email from my thesis supervisor about the research proposal I did one afternoon, day before the deadline. It passed and he didn't even have criticism about it. Hahahahahahahaa..

Time guildens the memories

Today I missed Newcastle University and hated Maastricht's Uni. Reason? Uni Maas does not believe I graduated from Newcastle. Seriously. I have given them my transcripts, diploma, everything they requested. But apparently I only delivered them to the registrar's while I should have also known to send the exact same documents to my faculty. Why they don't have a centralised system is beyond me but nevertheless. I then went to show my BA Diploma in person, the original with holograms and watermarked paper and everything. The woman in adminstration did not think it was real!!!! Reason? The signatures weren't handwritten. Obviously they expect from a university of 17,000 students for the vice-chancellor to handwrite his signature on every single diploma... I mean there was an easy solution, I emailed my former faculty in Newcastle to send some proof to Maastricht and they replied immediately today that they have now sent it. So thumbs up for Newcastle. But Uni Maas gets shitty reviews from me.

Yea, so in Newcastle I loved the university but hated the country. In Maastricht I love the city but hate the university.

In other news, today I was just walking home from the university and on the bridge there was a group of teenaged Dutch boys. They had two fancy cameras and as I passed them by they took my picture! And started taking more. I had such a classic response though, I lift my hands up to protect my face and kept on walking. The paparazzi are after me!

Voices...

I listen to music a lot these days since have this lovely new computer.. And I keep hearing two sounds that are making me paranoid. First, the sound of a new message on skype. Second, the sound of new message on facebook. So there are a lot same sounds in the songs and I'm sure they put them there just to annoy me. They get a kick in me thinking somebody loves me and has written me only to have me discover it's all just in my head.

Another cause for joy, with my new laptop I can connect online from my room. The wireless is more efficient in this or something. So I'm in my room most of the time, love it. I can block out the disaster that it our kitchen with its mountains of bottles (me & my friends' doings) even though they are under the table, its dirtyness (my flatmate and his "storage") and piles of dirty plates (he has not done his dishes since December). I'll clean the house again by Tuesday though because I'm having a party.

I've invited some people over next week and the aim is to play drinking games. I've already made up some cool rules, it's going to be great. I'll even decorate with rules and special elements. I always need to have a party to look forward to, how else would I survive here... ;)

One of my favourite sayings

Life's a bitch and then you die.

Loveletter

I just said goodbye to a really good friend of mine, Silvia. She was here in Maastricht on Erasmus and now it's over. She's flying back tomorrow and I just had to say goodbye today because I couldn't stop the tears and I didn't want for it to become anymore difficult for her tomorrow... But it's horrible to see her go. She's been such a big part of my life here. I see her so often at her house, she's such an amazing person with whom we always had so much fun. We've gone through the same relationship troubles and everything... We were like our own little Sex and the City. She's so open, unassuming, beautiful, intelligent and funny. I sometimes find it hard to believe I've found so many great people here, there are only a few gems in this world and she is definately one of them.

I first was rational about her departure. Logic says of course I will see her again. It was great for me to meet her and that eventually chances are that I will say goodbye to the most of the people here. Then I wrote on this book where she collects like well-wishes of her friends and I got really emotional. So I tried to stay positive, cheer her up because she was quite sad and I just wanted her to feel better. But now that I left her place and said the final goodbye, it was so difficult. I'm feeling sad for her because I knew she would have liked to stay and that when she goes back people won't understand what she left behind and will just assume she'll resume her life as normal. But I'm also kind of lost myself, what will my life be like without her?

Other things seem trivial. I will resume writing about silly things once I get over this.

Resolute and serious

I have come to the conclusion that I will never get married.

On an unrelated note, I now have a new laptop. Love it. Way prettier than expected. Though it was full of these silly games that I immediately went on to remove. Not the usual solitaire ones but crappy ones like Chicken MAtch 3 and Agatha Christie's Murder on the Nile, what ever these may be they are now out.

I'm so bloody serious. No sense of humour. Like Obama.

Life without laptop

Surely it comes as no surprise to anyone that I am addicted to computers/internet. So having lived the past two weeks without one at home has been life-changing. As a consequence I've discovered some lovely parts of Maastricht, read all the books I brought with me and spent a lot of time at the library. As it turns out, without my laptop to distract me I only have books and the TV to entertain me at home and since my flatmate also wants to watch TV, it is quite often out of the question. So I've been hanging out with Kali a lot (admittedly I do that anyway but now we can't have our catch-up sessions on skype) and generally avoiding home.

We have a rather stupid course at the moment where we have to do a paper and submit a research proposal for our thesis. The weird part is that the essay is 100% of our grade whilst the research proposal is only pass/fail yet it actually takes more time and in the long run is more important... And having to work on both of them only at the library isn't going too well. I hate studying here and writing is practically an impossibility since the keyboards here suck.

Which is why it is a very good thing my mom is coming on Saturday to bring me a new one which will enable me to work from home. I also seem to have contracted bronchitis so I shouldn't really be at the library at the moment but staying at home is not really a tempting option either.

Since this turned out to be one of those "I'm not too keen on studying"-posts once again, I should also point out that I got an 8 from the last course, the one for which I only revised a day. I'm just so damn smart that studying is just pointless. ;)

Back in Maas

Feels like I've been back for ages when in fact it has only been two weeks. But so far it has been really nice to catch up with all my darling friends and the parties have been abundant. So much so that I have actually relished the few nights of non-events.

Also the 15 bottles of alcohol that I brought with me are almost gone. Not that I drank all of them myself - I have been a very good friend and have promoted Finnish alcohol to the extent that I have converted quite a few. Minttuviina (mint vodka) remains a crowd pleaser but also new favourites such as kissanminttu (mint & chocolate liquer) and raspberry cider have emerged.

In February when Maastricht goes crazy over carneval me and Kali are going to Finland. Not to draw any links with the alcohol but since our previous plans fell through we have now decided on that. We'll go on a cruise and then make a little trip to see Suvi in Tartu. So much fun to be had.

My mom will be coming to visit me next weekend, an event sparked by the fact that my laptop broke and she will bring me a new one. I can't buy a new one here in the Netherlands as I need a Finnish keyboard. Not that I write in Finnish a lot but since my lastname involves these lovely letters (which I can't now write because I'm using library computer) it would be a bit of a hassle.

Without my laptop I feel isolated from the world and need to keep myself occupied all the time because going home would be useless as I have nothing to do there except sleep. Sigh.