Sunday, September 30, 2007

cottage weekend

I'm back.
This weekend was the 'Cottage Weekend' for all exchange students. We were put in two buses and went to a house in the middle of nowhere. During the day on Saturday we had Finnish Olympics and tried on for example wife carrying (I got carried...) and throwing Nokia rubber boots.

For dinner there was an international theme, we all had to cook something from your own country. T and I did some potato salad and herring to that. Believe it or not but I've actually started to like herring! Tried it on Friday when I was at T's place to prepare the food. I decided to try it since it was a long time since I've tasted it, and I liked it. One more thing of the list of things I don't like. Anyway, there was a lot of good food and it was fun to try on all the different things.

Later in the evening it was time for the sauna. Of course there has to be a sauna involved and the jumping into the cold water in between. It was fun that so many tried on the sauna and actually got into the cold water. I think we were about 30 people in the sauna!

The party continued until 6am for me and I went to bed. But had such a trouble falling asleep since it was so hot in our room! We were 13 people in a small room with four bunk beds. In two of the beds we were sleeping two and there were three people sleeping on the floor. I shared the bed with a friend since there was not enough beds for all of us. There were people everywhere! So it was so hot in the room and with no air.

At 10am it was time to get up for breakfast, after four hours of sleep. At this time some people were still drunk since the party continued until 8am. But it was a lot of fun. A memorable weekend to say the least. Everybody slept on the bus ride home.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

korvapuusti

Today I went with E and S to some second hand shops. I love walking around in shops like that trying to make bargains. I actually bought some LP records. Not for playing though, I have the covers on the wall. I saw some nice cover at Myrorna once in Sweden and got the idea to put some on the wall but never bought any. Since they were only one euro each I decided to buy some and put them on the wall to make my room feel a little bit nicer. Have no idea what the artists/bands are but the covers looks nice.

After that we went to this really cozy café that S had discovered. One of those cafés by the water that is so easy to miss. I had a great, newly baked 'korvapuusti'.

Really cute café by the water.

A typical Finnish swing. Stéphane and Emmi.

Apparently you GET 5 cents for a coffee refill from the Café. Odd.

got it

We got up at 5.30am and went to school to by the tickets for the party called Sillis.. We were all very tired and thought it was stupid to have it that early in the morning. It was all such a hassle. Because the information to us, the exchange students, we got before hand did not explain all things concerning the ticket sales and the events. KY, the student union, has been great at organizing all these fun things. But there is a big problem, they are not god at giving us clear information about everything that is going on. A big disadvantage to us against the Finnish students.

In the end I got a ticket, after a whole lot of waiting. Not everybody was that lucky, the ticket ran out and some of the exchange students didn't get any. But our little Ida gang got them and I'm looking forward to the party. Although there won't be that many exchange students there. Let's try to get contact with the Finnish students for once. If they'll let us.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

early morning

Today I did not do much. What a big difference from all the other days. But I did go with M to the swimming pool, we actually found our way through the woods. Even though we both have the worst sense of direction. Well, it took us a little bit longer to get there than going home.

Tomorrow is an early morning. Have to take the bus at 6am to queue for some tickets. But it's supposed to be the best party, Sillis. The annoying thing is that they open the doors at 7am and then you write down your name on a list. At 9am they start calling the names and you can by the tickets. And you have to stay there for the two hours. My tutor told me we should even be there at 6.30am to be sure, apparently the tickets were already gone at 7.15 once.

So now we just hope it will be worth it. To get up 5.30 am to buy some tickets for a party.

Monday, September 24, 2007

sleepy

Friday was all about relaxing. Can't do much else after that crazy party night.
Monday and time for school again. Everybody was tired. Went home with the idea to study. Apparently I was tired since I fell asleep. But tomorrow is another day and I've got no classes. Will get up in a reasonable hour to start with my readings. Can you believe it.

like

The party was crazy on Saturday. As always.
A lot of fun. As always.
I like my people.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

party with sofas

Now I need to get ready. We're leaving for a surprise party (once again) in Kamppi. Then we're coming back to Ida for a party here. Not in the laundry room thank god.
It doesn't happen often. But sometimes I do eat pasta. Not with tomato sauce though. Here fresh pasta with salmon and fresh spinach.
Mmm...

stockholm: world's greenest, most livable place

Read about it here.
My city.
Makes me proud.

koofta

Today was a rather calm day. Couldn't sleep good at all and woke up so many times during the night. Or maybe night is the wrong thing to call it since I got home really late, or early depending on how you see it. But I managed to get some sleep and then also do some minor adjustments to the assignment that I sent in today.

In the afternoon I went in to town to meet up with Emmi. We did some shopping and made some bargains since it was sale and then we had some dinner. I had koofta sandwich which was pretty good, but it was noway near the koofta dish we had in Singapore.

There was no party tonight so in the evening we chilled in 1F just talking and watched a movie, Sunshine. A strange movie. It started out pretty good, but in the end it just got really weird. Don't watch it.

afterparty in the laundry room anyone?

Yesterday was the HSE party and it was good, a lot of fun. But we started the evening with a Swedish themed preparty at E & A. Well, we were three Swedes, two Finns and one Dane but we could talk in Swedish. We had a good time listening to some Swedish music.

After that we joined all the other exchange students at the KY Club and it was a nice place. But apparently there planning wasn't the best since they ran out of sparkling wine and pear cider that was supposed to cost only one euro in the beginning of the evening. I guess they didn't count on that many people coming and taking advantage of the cheap booze. Not good.

Then something strange happened. We were many that wanted to go home to Ida, but we ended up in a laundry room in Pasila. After some time we convinced the others to go home and I finally got to go home to my bed.
The preparty

Me and Swedish Timo

Finnish Hanna and Emmi

Danish Stéphane and Swedish Andreas

Thursday, September 20, 2007

kuntis

Yesterday I actually managed to finish my small assignment. Well, a few minor adjustments tomorrow and I'm done. Apart from that I haven't done much for school. Had some classes but that's about it.

Tonight there's a party for student at my school, HSE. I'll probably be a lot of people there and they have good prices for drinks all night. It's the opening of KY's own club with the inventive name KY Club. We'll see if I manage to take the last bus home at 1.35am but I didn't manage yesterday. It depends on everyone else that lives at Ida I guess.

Well, know I'm off to Emmi's place before the party.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

wine and dine

I actually made it to school at 10am today to work on my assignment. I actually managed to write most of it. Only have a small part left. I actually started to study. I feel proud.

In the evening we didn't go out. But there were still some alcohol involved. We took it easy and cooked together in 1F here in Ida with five friends. Had some food and some wine and just talked through the night. A lot of fun.

Now I just have to go to sleep to be able to wake up for my class at 10am and prepare for a night out.

Monday, September 17, 2007

hard kock kafé

Signs from Asia. Strange.

What kind of smoking corner is this? And look at the eyes.
Who actually came up with this idea?
Club St, Singapore

Anyone wants a beach?
Bantanyan, Philippines

The Dutch send their deceased to Melaka, Malaysia.

Oh no! Because I just love durian.
Ho Chi Minh airport, Vietnam

Don't pee here! Go around the corner!
Little India, Singapore

Be aware!
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

All these big cities. And then Halmstad? What's that about?
Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

It's not the band's bar.
Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

You never know what might hit you in the head.
Bantanyan, Philippines

And the favorite.
Unfortunately they didn't sell any t-shirts or other souvenirs.
Bantanyan, Philippines

weird

It's strange.
My room is very warm.
It's like in the summer.
And I don't even have the radiator on.

late

This day started very well.
I woke up at 9.06 and I needed to catch the bus at 9.26. But I actually made it. Apparently I must have shut the alarm off on my cell phone by mistake. I usually use the snooze function but I guess I pressed the wrong button. At least I woke up. Even though I got to sleep longer I was so tired in school. Unfortunately I fell asleep and woke up at 7pm, but hopefully I'll be tired enough to fall asleep at a descent hour tonight. Tomorrow I'll try to go to school to get some work done. If I stay at home I don't think I'll get anything done.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

law

Alfie is on TV. I have a weakness for Jude Law. He must be the most gorgeous 35 year old guy there is.

wasted

This day has been totally wasted. This weekend has been totally wasted. Wasted on doing absolutely nothing. Well, except of course partying and hanging out with friends. These two weeks has been chaotic. No studying and only fun.

There was another party last night. A friends birthday and then we ended up at the club Onnela. Next week will be a new week. Next week I will start to study. Next week. I promise.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

små grodorna

Yesterday was a lot of fun. The sitsi was basically the same as in Sweden and they even had some Swedish songs. Every country had to stand up and sing a song from their country. So we stood up on the chairs and of course we sang 'Små grodorna' (a song about small frogs). We even did the moves. After that we went to Studio 51 and talked and danced all night long. On our way home we stopped to eat a hamburger and then a cab home.
I was so tired, but nothing strange with that really since I got home after 5am. Now it's just to get ready for another party tonight, it's a girls birthday and there's gonna be a party. We'll see what happens.

Friday, September 14, 2007

sitsi

It's time for the exchange students to experience a true sitsi. I'm used to them since we have the same thing at home and it's a lot of fun. With all the drinking and signing, well there are some eating as well. The Scandinavian culture is focusing a lot on drinking I guess and that's a different experience for many. It's just for them to get used to this culture. Many are putting a lot of effort into it. When in Rome do as the Romans do.
Why study when you can watch Scrubs?

lazy

Been awake for one hour know. I wished I could have slept longer since I'm still tired. It's so annoying to wake up and not be able to fall asleep again even though you are tired.

I'm still in my bed with the tv on and the computer next to me. I need to do research for an assignment that I need to hand in next week. On the other hand I rather just stay in bed and watch Scrubs. Maybe I should get up to get some breakfast. And then come back to the bed to watch at least one episode of Scrubs.

I'm thinking 'yes'.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

overheard in new york

Maybe on You...

Hipster girl #1: I was blowing him and it was taking, like, 20 minutes, so I finally told him to hurry up since my jaw was hurting.
Hipster girl #2: I hate that! How can they take that long to just finish?
Suit nearby: If you would do it right, it would only take two minutes.

--2 train

Overheard by: TP

Don't Try to Understand Hobo Scavenger Hunts

Hobo: Excuse me, is this the Six Train?
Young guy: Yes.
Hobo: Thank you [urinates on rail].

--6 train platform, Astor Pl

made up my mind

So to go or not to go, that was the question.
After thinking about it I decided to follow my heart (that's sounds like a real cliché). I'll worry about money later on, if it will be a problem. Right now I just wanna have fun with my newly found friends. So, now when I've decided I can stop thinking about this and just look forward to the trip. I also talked to my sister so I'll probably meet her when I'm in Stockholm. She'll be working at the radio station then (oh, that's sounds so grown up for my little sister=) ) and I'll meet her for lunch or something.

The plan was to do some studying today. But many minutes was wasted on thinking on whether to go or not. Have some time now before I have to go downtown to buy the ticket for the trip.
I should try to be productive. I doubt it will work.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

People were heading out tonight again. I decided to stay at home because I need a good night sleep. Even though I'm sitting up late and it's 1.20am. I need to go to bed. Now. I need to gather some energy for tomorrow. And Friday. And Saturday. Lots of parties. And since it will be a busy weekend I guess I should try to get some school stuff done tomorrow. Hopefully.

stockholm?

There's this weekend trip coming up. To Stockholm. It would be fun to go just because everybody else is going. If I go there will be a lot of fun, and you don't wanna miss 'a lot of fun'. On the other hand I don't know if I wanna spend that much money on going to Stockholm, a city I've already seen a few times. To say the least. Because there will be trips later on I rather go on.

But. There's always that 'but'. And I've got to decide by tomorrow since I need to buy the ticket. I guess I have to sleep on it.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

parties and no sleep

When will we ever get a good night sleep. Tonight was another 'gathering'. I guess we could use the word 'party' as well. But at least I'm home at 1am so it wasn't that late. Still, I've got to get up early tomorrow since I've got a class at 10am. But we have to have our priorities straight, first comes partying and then sleeping. (Don't know at which number studying comes in...)

I guess early is relative, but for a student a class at 10am is early if you have a party the night before. Now I'm gonna get into my bed and look forward to the interesting lecture tomorrow morning. So interesting that I'll probably sit and paint flowers on my paper like last time.

finnish vs thai

I can't seem to get rid of this food theme that seems to be going on here. There are some food here in Finland that we don't have in Sweden so it's nice to be able to eat it more often now. And even though I don't have my kitchen I still love to cook. Of course, as always, it isn't that much fun to cook only for yourself, but I've got to eat.

To lunch I had some 'karjalanpiiraka'. Love those.

I found this bag of sauce for Phad Thai so I made my version of it.
It was good.

home sweet home?

So here's where I live. My home for the next four months.

Here's where I get my beauty sleep.
And my uncle was nice to bring me a carpet and a lamp.


I also got a TV, aren't uncles great!

Outside of my room is the kitchen.

Here's our kitchen, not the nicest one (I miss my kitchen...) but it works.

Our 'living room' that we barely use.

mmm... mango

Had one of my mangoes yesterday. Just like I had it in Asia. It was really good, but of course not as good as the ones in Philippines. It took four days before it was ripe enough to eat. But it was worth the wait.

Monday, September 10, 2007

baarikärpänen

We're going to that bar tonight, 'Barfly' in English. It's nice since they have beer, cider and shots for one euro. Can it be any better? We're pretending that the weekend isn't over. I think we'll have a seven days weekend here. And there's always something to celebrate. Today I'm celebrating that I survived the class even though the teacher kept repeating the word 'actually'. I think that's worth a cider.

actually

First class in 'Introduction to Management' today. It seems like a pretty okay course. It will probably be rather easy since it's a introduction course. The lecturer was pretty good at English although he had that special Finnish accent. Something really annoying was that he was saying 'actually' almost every minute. When you start noticing something like that it's hard to focus on what he's actually saying. Instead I sat drawing flowers on my slides. Something to keep me awake. I'm thinking I'll have some nice pieces of art at the end of the semester.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

study this time?

Yesterday I had been here for a week. It feels like a month. So much has been going on the whole week, activities and parties almost every day. This exchange semester has started very well and if it will continue in the same way it can't be nothing but great.

But the bad thing is that I really have to study this semester. In Singapore I passed my classes without much effort. I rarely studied and passed my finals with about one day of studying. I would never have passed the courses at home with so little work that I put in to those courses. I'm feeling it won't be that easy here.

Well, I have a plan. The plan that every student have in the beginning of every semester. The plan that 'this time I will start to read and study in the beginning of the semester, not two weeks before the exam'. At the start of every semester I've had this plan. So far I haven't been able to follow it through. What about this time? Well, we'll see. The odds are not that good.

party at ida aalbergin tie

After a whole day of rest on Friday it was time to go out of my apartment again. I went to the city with M to buy some things and we just walked around in the stores.

Then it was time for a night on the town. The guys wanted to see this soccer game between France and Italy so we were heading to a sports bar. What someone hadn't thought about is that Finland was playing as well and what game were they showing? Of course the Finnish game. But then there was actually this bar showing the game so we went to Aussie Bar again. The plan was to go to this club in Kamppi mall, but the line was so long so we decided to take the bus home.

But the party didn't stop there. I took my Jägermeister bottle and M her tequila imported from Mexico and went to the guys living in 1F. We really had a good time with many laughs and shots. We have to do that again soon. It became another late night, was home after 4am. But at least this time I could walk a few meters and then I was at home. So that's why this day has been totally lazy. I know I need to figure out everything about school but that's another day.

Even though I'm not a fan of tequila I of course had to try the real thing.

The gang from the party at Ida. Here we have Marc, Anders, Maxim,
Andreas, Darius, Maria and Ken. Me and Mirelle is missing.

Friday, September 7, 2007

view of helsinki

Here you can see pictures from our first day in Helsinki. We were just waling around town.

Shuyuan, Catherine, Maria, and Denisa at the Esplanade.

A tram in Helsinki.

mursujaiset

A really interesting day yesterday. A looong day.
Well, it didn't start that good since I on the bus remembered that I forgot my wallet at home. Had to turn around and go home to get it. Missing the first part at HSE i rejoined at KY at 8.45 were they had just started with the breakfast (but as a true Swede I was of course prepared and had already eaten breakfast since I didn't know what was gonna happen). Got a warm welcome since they were singing 'Helan går' when I got in, so I had to take a shot to catch up. So that was the breakfast for the day, sandwiches, fruit, tea of coffee and of course shots. Shots of vodka and Salmari, a liquorice shot.

After that we found out why we needed to bring a toothbrush. It was to clean a statue. So we did that. Then we marched through town to the Senate Square with police escort. They had closed the street right through the city center just for us.

Then it was activities through the whole day, collecting points just as I did during my kickoff week in Jönköping. We did good, everybody was really getting into it and making an effort.

Then there was time to party for real. We were at a preparty and then we headed to Royal Onnela an night club where we stayed until closing at 3.30am. We had so much fun. Talking and dancing all night long. The plan was to go to KY's afterparty, so we did, after we had eaten an amazing hamburger from McDonalds. I was hungry after all that dancing. Arriving at the KY I suddenly felt really tired and my bed sounded like the best place in the world at that time. So we didn't stay that long and took a cab home at 4.20am. It wasn't that expensive, only 20 euros and splitting it by four it's okay.

So that was my day in short. 24 hours of fun.
See the pictures here.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

mursujaiset

Time to go to bed. Have to be an early night since I've got to get up before seven. I'll need a good night sleep for 24 hours of partying tomorrow. Will be interesting to see what the day will bring. With a toothbrush and all. I'll tell you all tomorrow. Well, I guess I'll be home on Friday. Tell you then.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

the weirdest things make me happy

Today when Maria and I was grocery shopping they had 'tarjous' on all the fruit in the store. Everything cost 1 euro/kg. Like heaven for me. And it wasn't just like apples and bananas. It was really a lot of different fruits.

So I bought one melon, two star fruits, one pack of grapes and three mangoes. Of course the mangoes won't be as good as in Philippines, but hey, you can't have everything.

first day of school

Well, not maybe first day of real school. We had some activities at the beach. Some tug-of-war and sack race. It was fun, although I took it a little bit easy since I'm having a cold. Don't wanna get even more sick, especially not before Thursday which seems to be a very interesting day. Basically it's starts at 8am and ends 6am the next day. If you make it that far. Also I was told to bring a toothbrush. I wonder if I'm actually gonna need it for something.

After the beach we had some dinner and then Maria and I decided to go grocery shopping and make it an early night since we both were tired. So we skipped going to the baarikärpänen (barfly) tonight. But we had a great time there yesterday, meeting a lot of new people and great when everything costs one euro. Even the shots. And I talked to another teenager exchange student. They are everywhere, not only in Helsinki.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

possumunkki

Another day with the girls. Just walking around in the city. Apparently everything is closed on Sundays. Not even a mall is open. At least we know for sure know. It's strange, even Stockholm has stores open on Sundays. Instead we just walked around and took photos, I'll show you later. I had the girls try 'possumunkki' and they liked it. It's a kind of donut only found in Finland, haven't seen them in Sweden at all and they are really good.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. Well, no classes but it's a orientation day. So we'll be busy all day. Gonna be fun to meet all the exchange students.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

first day

Home after a day and evening in town.
Walked around.
Met people.
Had dinner.
Met more people.
Went to a bar called Aussie Bar.
Was a nice day.

no jetlag this time

Sitting in my new apartment. Not the best but definitely livable. The flight was okay, it's nice with a 45-minute flight instead of 14h flight that I had to Singapore.

I'm waiting for my uncle to bring my things, the things I left at his house this summer. After that I'm gonna go with some girls to the city. This one girl Cathrine that got picked up at the airport the same time as me and her two roommates. Need to pick up a bus card and get something to eat.