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.