Done!

I am done with everything basically. On Wednesday I had my thesis presentation and passed it with a good grade. This means that I am now not a student anymore and really have to look for work. I am unemployed now and that's something I dont want to be!

Anyways, now is weekend first. (Started this post on Friday last week!). I am back in Hamburg and am trying to fix A's bike, which is more difficult than expected. It's really getting christmassy here and we have more and more candles and lights everywhere. Also my mum gave us already an early Christmas present by making us a very nice Christmas calender.

In the time I again did not write - I wanted to but didn't find the time when I had the motivation and vice versa - we went to a concert of the Cat Empire here in Hamburg, which was nice.

 

Directly the next morning we took the plane to Cologne, where we were picked up by my brother. Together we went for the funeral of my grandma. She died in the age of 96, while I was on the Camino.

After that we went to Aachen. We were visiting my parents, the Christmas market and did already some Christmas shopping.

The next week was pretty eventless, but then on the weekend we had a full program. On Friday J. A's friend from Finland came to stay with us for the weekend. We did some tourist program with him and were walking around the city on Saturday. 

The funny thing was that also A's cousin T. from Canada was in Europe; he had some kind of conference in Amsterdam and had some days before and after to travel around Europe. As it goes they quickly changed their plans and instead of staying in Amsterdam the whole time they came to Hamburg to meet up with us.

J., A., and I wearing funny hats!

Even better, G. a girl from Canada I had met on the Camino, who was also traveling around Europe happened to be in Hamburg that exact same weekend as well. So we invited her over to our place for the evening. After some wine and beer we all went out together and had a good night-out in Hamburg.

After that weekend I went back to Aachen. I still had my mum's car and had to bring it back. Also I finally had gotten an appointment for my colloquium for that Wednesday that I didn't wanted to miss. I stayed in Aachen from Tuesday until Thursday and then came back to Hamburg.

The weekend was relaxed again. A. signed up for the Hamburg Marathon in April and on Sunday we went to L&A's place to have some Glühwein and play some board games. I really enjoyed that afternoon and it for sure would have been a long evening if A. would not have gotten sick exactly that day.

Now she is in bed already for four days, had a fever still yesterday and I am trying not to catch the cold. It sounds so bad, but at the moment I am sleeping on the couch, the bedroom is a quarantine zone and I am staying as far as possible from A. However at least Saint Nicholas came to her and brought her flowers instead of twig (here in Germany Santa's helper, Knecht Ruprecht, brings a twig to children who misbehaved during the year); I reckon that's how he treats sick people.

 

Anyways, I eventually fixed A's bike, made some really nice goulash and yesterday I used the time to bake an apple pie and make some roasted almonds. I will never get bored in the time before Christmas!

~M~

Vappu!

I am back in Helsinki! I came back yesterday from Turku, where I spent the Vappu Weekend with A. and her friends. Also my flatmates, S. & E. were there, which was super nice!

I came now just quickly in the one hour break home from uni, since it is better to be half an hour at home, eat a second breakfast and have some tea or coffee than sitting for that one hour in uni not knowing what to do.

Vappu was, as I said, really nice. I went already on Thursday evening to Turku, the guys came on Friday noon. We picked them up from the train station and were happy to finally be able to take off our jackets, since it was so warm. We then went back to A's place, were sitting there, drinking Mjöd/Sima and eating some pastry, of which I knew the name just two seconds ago, but forgot it now... wait... wait for it... ah ja... no... yes wait, they are called Munkar.Anyways, we were sitting with K. and E., two of A's friends, who joined us, on the balcony and the guys were still sewing batches onto their Halare. Then in the afternoon we went to a park, where the Finnish people were holding a ritual, where all people who did their A-levels are putting on their white hats at the same time. Then there is a choir singing and people holding speeches. During these speeches all the other people are drinking sparkling wine and so did we.

From the park we went top a middle party a N's place, we ordered and ate pizza. From there we went to another middle party and from there to a club.

Now I have to stop writing since I have to go back to uni. But I will continue and put pictures later on, when I am back!

~M~

Nothing new

I still didnt get any answers from any hotel, the stupid database, which I HAVE to use for one of my assignments is not working properly and I am starting to despair.

After a pretty good, but lazy morning in uni I came home and was so energetic, due to the good weather. I really had the power to do something, but then everything went wrong somehow. As I said, nothing was working, I am still waiting for responses from some hotels, where I applied for my internship and even the calls I made were not promising at all. I am really getting frustrated and annoyed with this whole situation.

Anyways, I got out my Halare and will sew more batches this evening. I have to get it ready for Wednesday, maybe, and Friday for sure. Friday is more important, it's Wappu! I will go on Thursday to Turku again and will then celebrate Wappu with the girls. I know that it's going to be so much fun and I am really looking forward to it. And since you have to wear you Halare, I have to fix it still.

Now I am drinking coffee and will go to Alko soon, to get some sparkling wine, since this is the traditional drink for Wappu.

~M~

Busy day

I am about to leave to Malmi. I have my Swedish class soon and I mustn't forget to go there. It is a quite busy day today. I've been in uni in the morning and then came home quickly, went to the shop and started to make a cake. It's S's birthday today and I somehow felt like baking.

After the cake was in the oven I had finally some lunch at somewhat 4 p.m. Now I just got the cake out and have to leave to class. After class I will come home quickly and then go to E's flat, since it's also her birthday today and she has a party. I actually feel a little bad, since it starts at around 7 o'clock, but I have class until 8.30 tonight.

Anyways, I hope she wont be mad, since I am coming anyways! So, now I have to run, to catch the bus!

~M~

The day after!

Wow, this was amazing! I am back from the Sea Battle, a party cruise between Tallinn and Stockholm. And as I said, it was amazing! So much fun, so many people, so much alcohol!

We started off on Sunday afternoon, when we left Helsinki with a ferry, since we had to catch the Baltic Queen in Tallinn. Already on the first boat, the Super Star, we met a lot of students from all over Finland. Together we were plundering the Tax Free shop for cheap alcohol and were starting to play drinking games.Since the rules were not clear and the trip just took two hours we didn't get far with the game. We were changing the boat in Tallinn and were obtaining our cabins. I was supposed to stay with three French guys in a cabin, but then I was asked to change the cabin. Since one French guy had some kind of childish argument with a girl he wasn't so happy about staying in the same cabin with her and asked me to change. So instead of three French guys I had three French girls as cabin mates... not too bad, if you ask me ;-)

The afternoon and early evening went on with drinking games and cabin parties. Then we went to the all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet, which was included in the ticket price. It was a lot of fun and a lot of good food was served. And since the alcoholic beverages were also included we went on drinking, of course! And well, this is basically the last thing I remember. I don't really know what happened next, but it doesn’t matter, I think. I was told that I, that we all together had a lot of fun!!!

The next thing I remember, however, is that I was waking up in my bed, with no sense of time, whatsoever, and with all my clothes and even my shoes on. Since, I didn't know what time it was (my cell phone died the night before, since the battery was empty) and didn't wanted to wake up my cabin mates, I left the cabin and was wandering around the ship. I at some point found a clock, but it took me like three attempts to read it. Anyways, I went to the reception of the boat to charge my phone. I left my phone there and went to the Cafeteria to get some coffee and food.

Then we arrived in Stockholm and since I didn't know anything about the plan of the others, so, if they wanted to go to Stockholm or if they wanted to stay aboard, and especially, because I met our nice tutors in the corridor, I decided to go with them. We all three were so hungover, that we looked for a restaurant right away. We were so hungry, that we didn't realize that it was just 11 o'clock in the morning. Anyways, we found a nice place with a nice terrace. It was so lovely, that we were sitting there for nearly two hours, eating our salad and pizza and just enjoying the good weather. Then the one tutor, J. wanted to go shopping, but S., the other tutor, and I decided to stay outside. I called M., one Italian guy, I was hanging out with to meet him. He was around with J., an Austrian girl and I., a Hungarian girl, so we went to meet up. We were walking around the city, having fun, feeding birds and just doing stupid hangover stuff until we went back to the boat.

When we came back we all went to get some hours of sleep, since the program was anyways about to start rather late. So I went to bed for like three hours, had a shower and was then ready to party. It was my aim to not pass out (yes, I didn’t go to sleep, I passed out!) before 1 a.m. like I did the night before. I didn’t wanted to pass out at all, I wanted to remember the evening, so I started slowly with the drinking and refused all invitations (and they were numerous) to join drinking games, since this was the main problem the night before.We went from SpeedDating to Folke Westside and later to Highride, the two Bands that were playing on the Sea Battle and then to the clubs. In the beginning of the evening the security had to close Ibiza, one of the clubs because it was too full. So we went back to the Starlight Palace, which was bigger and therefore not so crowded.

The night went on, we were dancing and having fun and suddenly we realized that it got light already. So we went downstairs to get our jackets to see the sunrise from the deck. We went up onto the Helipad and onto the bridge of the boat (actually a restricted area, but who cares, we were "intoxicated" anyways). We took some pictures, but went in quickly, since it was so windy and chilly. The club closed at around 8 o’clock in the morning and we decided not to go to sleep for the last two hours on the boat. So we wandered around and got some food.

When we were arriving in Tallinn I went immediately to sleep on one of the benches in the Terminal. I nearly slept three hours straight, just interrupted by people asking me if they could leave their luggage with me or telling me where they were going. Actually I don’t know why they did that, since I was anyways not observing the suitcases and couldn’t tell anybody, where to look for the people, they were searching for. Anyways, after the boarding I found a nice place to sleep aboard. It was in the front of the ship under a skewed Window, where the sun was shining on. Since I was freezing it was the perfect place to sleep, nice and warm. The area was crowded and one of the passengers was playing some “evergreens” on the guitar and singing to it. Perfect setting to relax.

After a while I got up, searched for the others and went with J., I. and M. to the Tax Free Shop to get something to drink and to buy chocolate. When we arrived in Helsinki I was almost fresh again and was happy to hear that we had a private taxi back to Kannelmäki. A., one guy from.. uh, I actually don’t know where he is from.. anyways.. he came with the car to the Terminal and offered to bring us home. It was really nice of him, since walking after these three days would have been hell.

I really have to say, I had an awesome time on the boats and in Stockholm. I met so many new and fun people. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to all you people, who were there! Thanks for all the funny and crazy stuff we did!

~M~

See you in three days!

I am about to leave to the Sea Battle. I will be back on Tuesday afternoon. It will be so awesome! My things are packed, the train to the terminal leaves in 15 minutes so I just wanted to post this quickly!

Anyways, next post on Tuesday, hope to "see" you there!

~M~

Feeling weird!

This was somehow a weird day! It passed and I have the feeling I didn't do anything, even tho I was occupied all the time. I think this feeling comes from doing stuff, but not achieving anything! I was searching on the internet for a solution of one problem all morning and early afternoon. But I didnt find anything and could not make up a solution.

I mean, I was out this morning with A. for a walk in the beautiful sunshine and we were talking about a lot of things, but maybe this was subliminally occupying my mind all day, I dont know. Anyways, it was good to be out, but I didnt feel like walking, so I stayed in, when A. asked me again to go out. I did the laundry instead, since I need my clothes the next three days for the Sea Battle.

After I had "brunch" at 2 p.m. I started to sew again on my Halare. Now after a couple of hours my pointer is hurting again, but I have just two batches left. It was really a pain in the ass to sew the letters of my name on. Its just so difficult and tiring. Anyways, they are on, they look good, I am happy about it.

I just folded all the clean clothes and put them into the closet and finally feel a bit better. It now feels like I have done something. It was anyways a weird day, since I was more or less all the time "alone" and additionally we got the message, that one of A's friends was heavily injured in an accident yesterday evening. So really weird stuff happening today!

However, A is going to cook now and I hope the food will make me happy... well, I am pretty sure about it! I will pack my stuff for tomorrow and sew the last batches on. I am so looking forward to it and I guess it will be fun.

~M~

Busy life starts now!

The busy uni life has started again. I have several course assignments to do in the next weeks and also have some group meetings during the following days. Also I will try to get back into shape for the summer. I know, also round is a shape, but this is somehow not my aim ;-) It feels good to be occupied again. I get stuff done, suddenly. Even tho it is hard to get up in the morning, since I was so used to have lazy mornings.

I am glad that I will have a break next weekend, when I am going onto the Sea Battle, a booze-cruise, organized by the ESN organizations from Finland, Sweden and Estonia. We will go three days partying on the Baltic sea. I didn't do it last semester, but from what I heard it's going to be awesome.

Now I have to go, to get my laundry out of the washing machine and put it into the dryer and stuff. Then I will do something for my uni... well maybe!

~M~

BBQ-time

Today we had a barbecue here in Kannelmäki. Even tho there is still a lot of snow we met with about 30 people in the park between the houses and grilled some stuff. It was basically just a nice get-together with the other ERASMUS students and I really enjoyed talking to people.

Now I just got back from the city. I went with A. to grab a burger and buy some bread. Then we walked back from the central station to Pasila and took the train from there. It was a nice walk at a nice spring-like evening. The temperatures were still mild (for Helsinki) and the birds were singing.

This was a really good Easter Monday. I am actually now supposed to read some stuff for the group meeting tomorrow, but actually I dont feel like it. Will do it tomorrow shortly before the meeting! Like always, shortly before deadline!

~M~

Pampasnationaldag 2010!

I am back from Vaasa and therefore basically also back to life! I was the last couple of days there with some guys to attend the Pampasnationaldag 2010. This students event takes place every year in spring and is a meeting of the Swedish speaking students in Finland.

S. and I left Helsinki already on Wednesday and went to Abo, since we wanted to take the much cheaper bus, which was organized by the local students union, up to Vaasa.So the party slightly started already on the train for us and went on in A's, flat, which we could use for the night. (Thanks for that, again!). Anyways, the next morning at 12 we went to the church of Abo, where we met up with K. & T., two friends of A., with whom we were sharing the room in Omena Hotelli. The bus ride, about five hours, we spent mainly drinking and S. was still putting batches onto his Halare, since he hadn't finished it, yet.

When we arrived A., who came from Helsinki, where she had had a job briefing earlier that morning, was already there and welcomed us warmly. J. another friend of A. from Ekenäs was staying down the corridor and so, since we were all united he just joined us for our first drink together in Vaasa.After ten minutes, when the second round started we realized that it would be better to write the number code for the hotel doors onto our arms, because we would, if we would keep the drinking tempo up like that, be totally wasted when coming back.

And actually this is also what happened. We went to Olliver's Inn. This music bar is one of the main places to be during these days. We met a lot of people we knew, also because there are not so many Swedish speaking Finns and the people going to the parties are basically always the same. Anyways, we met other friends of A., K. and T. and got to know new people.Again my opinion, that the Swedish speaking guys are so much more open than the "real" Finns, was proved. They were really appreciating, that S. and I were there to party with them, even tho we are "just" exchange students.The live music was good and the drinks surprisingly cheap, so we stayed quite long there.

The next morning started with morning shots, just to keep the alcohol level up and also to fight the upcoming hangover. We started slowly with the pre-party and wanted to round 1 o'clock to the olympic games, a fun competition for the students. The finals were said to be starting round 2 o'clock and we didn't wanted to miss them. However, at 12.30 one of our friends called to ask, if we would join them going to a middle party, since the games were already over. We were totally disappointed, that we missed them and were curing our tears with some more shots and other alcoholic beverages.

We were then just strolling around the city and the market place, like many other students. The sun came out and we were enjoying the good weather and the carefree living. We went to the shop and got some more supplies and also some food for before and after the party. We then went back to the room to have a small middle party with a couple of drinks, some food and writing onto each others Halares.Then suddenly K. had the idea to show us Salad Fingers a really really creepy animated video. Parts of the monologue from the movie then later became the running gags or punch lines, however you wanna call it, of the evening. The guys from the neighboring rooms, who came to join our middle party were so shocked and left totally scared off shortly after the film ended. You could tell, they were thinking we were weird.

Later that evening we went to Fontana, thii place to be on Pampasnationaldag in Vaasa. We were getting our batches for the Halare and then went dancing (and of course drinking). The club was pretty nice and super crowded. But now wonder, since The Capital Beat and Redrama were performing that evening. These two bands are pretty famous up here and I have to say, thats for a reason. They were really good and pumping up the mood. We were dancing and shouting and had a great time. When S. and I were dancing to The Capital Beat up on a platform the lead-singer was throwing us their latest album, S. caught it and now it's playing all the time in my PC and iPod.Also Redrama was awesome. I was walking around the club and realized suddenly that they were already on. I just ran to the crowd and through the crowd and was suddenly standing in the first row, rockin like hell...

Saturday we started the day again with morning shots and then fixed ourselves for the Sillis, a salty breakfast, which was held a couple of minutes with the bus outside of Vaasa. We got food and crisps as much as we could eat and a band was playing.We met they guys we got to know the evening before and were just enjoying beer and cider. That was basically it. Ah ja, when we went out, we met THIS nice guy and didn't feel that weird anymore for showing that very guy Salad Fingers the night before :-D

In the bus there was another guy standing in the aisle singing. We somehow started talking to him. When we got off the bus we walked a bit and had so much fun. Suddenly I stopped, since I saw one advertisement, which was so matching this moment.We just took this one picture with him and lost him then in front of Olli's. But this five-minute-random-meeting with a stranger was so funny and refreshing, I loved it! These are the real memories you take from trips like this I think.

As I said, after this Sillis, we wanted to go to Olli's, but when talking to people in the queue, we realized it wasn't worth waiting; They were standing there already for nearly three hours and had moved about two meters. So we reconsidered and decided to have again a middle party in the hotel room. Again some people from the other rooms joined and drank with us some alcoholic beverages. After about two hours in the room, round 5 O'clock, we all got hungry and went to Hesburger to get something to eat. (and now T., since you cant remember anything from this point, read carefully ;-) ) We were sitting there, having fun! Then we finally went to Olli's and actually got in. The night went on and we had shit loads of fun. Dancing, laughing, drinking. There is nothing more to say!

Then Sunday we packed our stuff and went back to Abo with the bus. We went on drinking in the bus... well some of us did and even found a juice, which tasted like sunshine dust ;-)

Anyways... it was a great time, the longer it lasted the better it got. However, now at least my liver is happy that it is over. I am back in uni and the new period starts. It was an awesome, if not to say one of the best weekends in my life and for sure the best in my exchange year here in Finland! Seriously guys, thank you for the company, it was awesome! I didn't had one minute or even a second, where I would have sighed and said "now we have a low point"! It was pure fun, the whole time! Even while sleeping, when some were talking and some got scared by the person lying next to her!

IT WAS JUST GREAT !!!

~M~

Keeping Track

This is day 2 of being off! Now that it is weekend I cant do anything about my internships and so I was sleeping long this morning. Got up round 12.30 and since then I am more or less doing nothing.

I was reading the news paper online and was searching for stuff on the internet. Since the weather here is still disgusting, that's basically the only thing you can do. Also regarding my current money situation there is nothing I could do about it. I mean, of course I am well off, but since I know that next weekend is going to be pretty expensive I am right now saving a bit. Further there is always a difference between money you have and money you wanna spend.

I started now to track my expenses, since all the small expenses, like coffee and one beer more in the bar, add up and let you spend quite much per month. Yesterday, for example, I was invited by J. to her place to have dinner with some guys. After that the others wanted to go out, but I did not really feel like it. I finally agreed to join them, since they anyways just wanted to go to a bar where there is normally no entrance fee. I think you know where it is going now. Yes, you are right; When we arrived there was some kind of concert going on and the entrance fee would have been 9€. So we reconsidered and went somewhere else.

I actually planed for the evening to go to the bar and maybe drink one beer or even nothing. However, since it was Friday evening, every place had an entrance fee. The others then finally decided to go into one club, but I didn't go with them. So instead of paying 5€ for the entrance of a club, where I didn't wanted to go, I left home. Even tho I did not go with them the whole evening, I had a great time. I think it is the small amounts of money you don't spend, that make the big difference. Especially here in Finland, where the living costs are anyways over the top it is important to be aware of you money situation.

~M~

Kannelmäki (Private) Hostel

----------------------Written on Friday----------------------

I thought I might write something here, since it's March and the weather is nice. I know this is not really a reason, but there was no other available.

Anyways, we have visitors right now in our flat. P. & C., from Italy are visiting us right now, M. from Spain is coming this afternoon. They were here last semester and were our neighbors here in Kannelmäki and most of all our dear friends and dinner guests every now and then. Also A. is here. She is out of uni and right now working on her dissertation.

On Thursday we all went together with the exchange students of Haaga-Helia to an ice hockey game. It was really nice and after I watched a lot of ice hockey during the Olympics I got really interested in this Finnish national sport. The game was fun, even tho it was slower and also the atmosphere inside of the arena wasn't comparable to a football stadium. Maybe it's just the Finnish culture, which was affecting the cheering and shouting.

----------------------Written on Saturday----------------------

On Wednesday I was actually supposed to go to a student party in the city center, but I didn't make it there. Before I was asked by S., a Finnish girl, to go out to Amarillo. She went to Germany on Friday and asked me if I wanted to join her "farewell-get-together" for a beer. It was so nice, that I stayed instead of going to the party.

Yesterday, on Friday, we broke the record of "number-of-people-having-dinner-in-our-flat" by far. The old record was 14, now we were 20 people, sitting in one room at one table. It was really funny, everybody brought food and we ate so much. We were so many people, because apart from C. & P., the two Italians also M., another ex-exchange student from Spain as well as three friends of E., my flatmate, also from Spain. Sounds difficult, but after all the maths, we are 10 people in the flat.

After the dinner we went to Circus to party. We were lucky, that we were entered into the VIP-List beforehand and so we didn't had to pay the entrance fee. The money was then invested into drinks instead. It was a fun night and we came home late/early ;-)

Today we had a hangover-day. Sleeping long, breakfast round 14h and lunch at 18.30! Damn good day, with half of the people. The other half, the friends of E. and E., got up after maybe 2 hours of sleep to catch the ferry to Tallin. Crazy Spaniards !!!

~M~

PS: I changed the Favicon, the icon next to the URL, of my blog. It is supposed to be the sign for the Departures on an Airport, a sign for traveling. I like it!!!