Helsinki life!

Wow, I can't believe it's already nine days ago since the last time I wrote! Time is passing so fast here and I am occupied all the time. There is nothing really special happening, it's just everyday-life.

Last week A. had her birthday, she turned 22 and so I've been at her place for like 2 days. I left here directly after uni on Tuesday and went straight to Turku, because I am off on Wednessdays anyways. I was packed like a donkey, because I had so much stuff and especially the gifts for A. with me. The morning of her birthday we got up early, because she had to go to uni. She was pretty surprised as she saw my presents. As I do not have the paper and the ribbon to wrap a gift I just made it from old newspaper and other stuff. It actually looked good because it was colorful and twinkly as well.

Her brithday-day we spent preparing the get-together in the evening. A. was making a pie with bacon, peppers, broccoli and egg and I was baking a chocolate-rasberry cake. Awesome! We had so much fun doing it even tho it took sooo long as I was whipping the cream for hours until we realized that we bought normal cream.... no whipping-cream! Anyways, in the end everything worked out perfectly.
When the crowd arrived we just quickly fixed the punch with wine, cider, vodka and frozen strawberries... and what else do I have to say?! Ah ja.... it was a great evening.
We played a drinking game, ate pie and cake, spilled some red wine over the carpet and went out to the club. Because it was Wednessday it was not that full, but we had an awesome time. Dancing, drinking and laughing ...

The next morning after two hours sleep I got up and missed the train... therefore I missed a group meeting for uni, which was pretty bad, my group, well some of them were really mad at me afterwards... understandably!

A. just came then the same day to Helsinki and we spent the weekend here. Cooking with my guys and having a lazy weekend!

This week I finally started to work. I am working in the German school, where I have to supervise children from 1st to 4th grade in the afternoon. It's awesome to just play with them, to be a kid myself again and get paid for it as well. I really enjoy the time there and it's relaxing... sounds stupid, but it is. Today I will go to "work" again, which helps me a lot as living here is super-expensive... even without partying!

Anyways, I enjoy the time here and try not to worry too much about money and health. As long as this works out I am fine and have an awesome time !!!

~M~

Kräftskiva och snaps!

Finally I find the time to write something again. I was either busy or ... ja ... I was sick last week. Nothing serious, just a light flue. Still enough to make me dull and lazy. Hence I didn't had the power to write here.

Anyways, now I am fine, now I am writing! Even tho I was sick a lot of things happened. Anne and I have been to the baptism of A's neighbor's daughter. Her neighbor was taking care of A. when she was small and so they are still kinda close. It was nice to come out of the city again, to go to Ekenäs and see something else.

During the weeks it's just normal program with uni, assignments and stuff. I am not really motivated right now. I reckon it's because the requirements here are pretty low and I don't feel a real pressure. As a result I am not working for uni..... yet ;-)

Last weekend, which basically just ended, A. and I went to a Kräftskiva. M., a friend of A. and nowadays I would say also of me, invited us to her home. Her home is, very Finnish, located on an island, so we had to take A's mum's car and then a ferry to get there. The Kräftskiva (crawfish party) was a lot of fun, we drank and laughed a lot. On the next day we got up pretty early... well, for us it was early and went back to Ekenäs and then to Turku with the train.

The Saturday evening we spent in the fair center of Turku, where the TurkuSex, a yearly sex fair, was held. It was pretty funny, as the Finnish people have certain klischees, including leather, latex and whips, about Germans. Of course, just this stuff was sold there and you could even try it out in the SM-studio ... However I wasn't turned on... no seriously, I was NOT !!!

The next day, we had an awesome day. Sleeping long, having breakfast at 1 pm and then going out for a walk. It was really nice weather, 25°C, and so we went to eat ice cream. After that we just stoped by J's place, simply because we were in the area. It was good to see J. again, it's always funny with her. We didn't stay long, because I still had to leave this evening. However, I couldn't leave without dinner and so we ordered Dennis' Pizza in. It was, like always, amazing food and after I woke up from my food coma I took the last train back to "Hesa" (Helsinki).

It was nice being again in Turku. I really like this town, it's so different from Helsinki. It's anyways always the same, that you like other places more than the place you are at at the moment... well at least for me it's like this. Maybe it's because I always strive for something else, something new to see, to experience.

~M~

Hauska tavata!

I am in Helsinki. Its already my 3rd week here, but I didn't find the time to write here. The first two weeks were full of new experiences and parties. I came here on the 17th & so did my collegue T. We are living in the same building, but different apartments. The next day we had to do a Hospital tour through Helsinki, because T. had problems with her teeth and we were sent from one hospital to another. She finally decided then to fly home the next day and to skip the orientation.

On Wednesday the 19th the 3 day orientation started. The orientation was pretty boring as it consisted of every Official of the University saying "Hello" and "Welcome to Finland & the University". But also we did the necessary things like register with the local authorities, getting bank accounts if needed & buying the Helsinki Travel Card for the public transport. One of our tutors, Y., was then so excited that he organized on the first evening an inofficial first night out in the Amarillo. Wednesdays the beer 0,4l is just 1,50€, which is pretty cheap for Finland and especially Helsinki. The next two days were boring again, we were all just waiting for the official "first" night out on Friday, where we went to the KY Club.

My apartment is in Kannelmäki, about 15 minutes by train from the city center. I am living in a shared apartment with two spanish guys, S. and E., who are really cool. We do not just come along quite good, we often go out together, cook together or just sit and talk. The whole group I use to hang out with are spanish or italian guys. It's really nice not to be with germans all the time. We are starting a lot of things and have regularly 8-9 people in our small kitchen. We cook and eat together. We also go each Tuesday and Thursday to the sauna together, the best way to relax here. Right now we are planning a trip to Tallin together.

The first week of Uni was nice. Sometimes boring, because we had to introduce ourselves in each and every course again and after 3 courses you knew 90% of the people and their professional life. The subjects are really interesting and different from Germany. Here we learn how to set up your own business, instead of learning how to manage an existing one. Anyways, time went really fast and on Friday I went to Ekenäs, where A.'s brother F. and his wife I. were having a house warming party, with food, beer and, of course, sauna.

This week is already halfway through and yesterday we had our freshmen party. We were walking in small groups through the city solving fun tasks and drinking a lot. We had loads of fun and I had the first time the opportunity to wear my Haalari, the finnish student's "uniform", a coverall in a certain color. Every university has another color and student's wear them for certain events. For official events, organized by the students union you receive patches, which you can sew onto your Haalari. Every student can decorate his/her Haalari individually and you can see how active one is.

Now the guys and I are heading off to a park near the harbor of Helsinki to watch the Fireworks Championship, which is held on a small island off shore Helsinki. It's going to be awesome to see not only one set of fireworks, but several after each other.

Anyways I love Helsinki! There is always something to do and it's never getting boring with all the different cultures and nationalities. Internationalization is what makes life interesting. There is nothing more fascinating than meet and get to know new people!

~M~