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.