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!