One week left

I've been really lazy updating this during the December.
I may lie and say not much has happened. In fact, some things have happened. University ended. Hence I became really, really lazy. Too lazy to write something here. But now, as only one week is left, I perhaps may update this one last time. Or the second to last time. The last post will then probably follow when I'm back home.

A short time after my last post, I made a little trip to Stockholm!
To be honest, I was not really in the mood to go there, especially as I had cought a little cold again and was just feeling lazy after finishing all the university assignments and having written all the tests. But I'm really glad I got my bum up and went there. It have been two really amazing days - despite the shitty weather on the first day - in Sweden's capitol.
Because it rained so much, we sought shelter in a very expensive shopping mall. And there we two girls tried on some fancy dresses. :D It was fun. Just Alex, the only guy at this trip seemed slightly bored.
The second day has been well spent in the historiska museet. The Viking-exhibition has been awesome! I loved every piece of it. So it was really easy to spend the whole day there.

After I returned from Stockholm, I visited also finally Aboa Vetus, the historical museum of Turku. There one can see parts of the old street layer and house walls of medieval Turku. A very cool and very archaeological museum. At the moment I'm dreaming about helping at the excavation there. <3

I finally saw my dream-man live on stage when I visited the Raskasta Joulua concert. It was so awesome and I'm more in love than ever with J-P. Leppäluoto. <3

I spent my Christmas at the place of my american friend Serena. It did not really feel like christmas for me actually, but it were two very nice days nevertheless. Because it snowed so much shortly before and during christmas, the outside was really wonderful. We played a lot in the snow. And we baked cookies and muffins. And cooked. And watched movies. Really cosy christmas. :)
The last christmas day (called boxing day here) I've been at another friend's place and ate some real Finnish christmas food. It is very different from the German food. And very much!

New Year has been quite nice but there's not so much to say about it. It's the same as in Germany. People get drunk as a fuck and fire fireworks into the air.

I moved away from my previous place because my rent contract ended at the 31st. I'm really glad I'm out there because I really froze my ass off in that room. Anyhow the heater did not get the room warm enough for me to feel well, although everything has been alright, according to the agency. Pff.
Now I'm at a friend's place and feel really well.

I've been to a recording of The Voice of Finland just two days ago. :D It was really interesting as it was my first time sitting in a studio during a TV recording. It was not live though. But actually it was kind of boring, as I did not understand everything which was said. And I hated to be clapping all the time.

So ... the obligatory To-Do list!

What I've done so far

- I've been to a Finnish excavation.
- I've been to Helsinki (3x).
- I've been to Tampere.
- I've been to Espoo (2x) and visited a school there.
- I've been to Tallinn, but did not actually see much of it because I was too tired.
- I've been to Stockholm.
- I've seen Ruissalo.
- I've been to six concerts (Moonsorrow, Unioni-festival, Turmion Kätilöt, Korpiklaani, Crimfall on the ship to Tallinn, Raskasta Joulua).
- I've been to a karaoke-bar three times.
- I met a lot of Finnish and also international metalheads \m/.
- I've been to a heavy Finnish halloween-sitsit! \m/
- I've been to a TV-recording.
- I improved my Finnish-skill a lot!
- I've been to sauna and established some kind of girls' sauna evening together with my Swedish friend.
- I started to learn swordfighting.
- I visited Turunlinna.
- I visited Aboa Vetus.
- I visited the art museum of Turku.
- I ate true Finnish christmas-food.

What I still have to do

- Prepare everything for my departure (sell my goods I don't want to take with me,  return books, sign out of university etc., pack my suitcases).
- Go to Lapland.
- See northern lights.
- Sauna more often.
- Visit more museums in Turku.
- Visit Levykauppa X.
- Become a Finn. :D
- Find a Finnish boyfriend. xD


I fear I have to abandon some of these eager plans. I won't have the time to go to Lapland anymore before I leave, I won't have the chance to go to Sauna anymore, I won't see any more Northern Lights except a miracle happens and same applies to finding a Finnish boyfriend. Next time, perhaps. I think the mistake was that I tried too hard, I perhaps should not be searching eagerly. So, my search is abandoned now.
I can still become a Finn though. I will continue working on it back home.

The dawn of the last month...

... and it's raining. Again.

Recently it has been raining too much for my taste here in Finland. The sky is grey, dull and dark. When I leave my apartment, it's dark and grey, when I come home from courses it's dark and grey. Sometimes it's dry but freezing cold. But lately, the temperatures rose and a lot of water comes from the sky. Unfortunately in form of rain. I dislike rain in December.
Yesterday I've been excited to see the sun for perhaps 20 minutes. It faded away so quickly though and left nothing but rain. I feel so gloomy and depressed lately, mainly because of the weather. But alas, the whole Finland-experience would be nothing without a winter-depression.

Apart from the weather, I can complain a lot about the university work I have to do at the moment. I've been having two exams last week in Finnish (which I passed both with a good mark - hooray!) and this week I had one in Finnish and today one in art history. I still need to finish one paper which is due on sunday, then I am free and can enjoy the shitty wheather. I could read a book. Or commit suicide. Whatever.

It's so sad for me this month, not only because my time here will soon be over - just 31 days left! :( - but also because christmas is approaching and I will be so far from my family this year. At least my mum promised me to let the christmas tree stand in the living room until I've returned home. =) And then we'll have a nice after-christmas. I'm kinda looking forward to that.

I've not been updating my blog very often lately, mainly because I was too busy or simply because not so much has happened.

I've been to an ice-hockey match though at the beginning of this month, at the 4th. It was the team of Turku against someone else.
It was very exciting for me to see this match as I love to watch ice-hockey from TV and have always longed for being in a stadium. Now finally, I made this dream come true!
[A picture will follow later]
In the first third not so much happened. In the second third the other team shot the first goal and the playing got a bit more interesting. There has been more action. However, the third third finally was as I'm used to watching ice-hockey. There have been bodychecks and aggressive play. The team of Turku scored a goal but shortly after the other team made a second goal. TPS was not able to catch up.
I had popcorn for 4€. I love the salty, Finnish popcorn. I prefer it so much to the sweet German one!

Last friday, the 5th there has been a TYRMY-event again. A Pikkujoulu. Prechristmas-party. It was awesome and I got pretty drunk.
We went to a karaoke party again afterwards. I sang a song together with my Japanese friend. :D It was the same song I actually sang the week before, too. There has been a karaoke-event at the 27th of November, too. At both times I sang Sonata Arctica's FullMoon. I was shaky and damn nervous at the first time and I heard every note I did not hit but the Finns liked it. Perhaps they were just too friendly to say how awful it sounded. However, my performance in December was not good. I was too drunk.

Hm. Despite of saying there was nothing going on, there have indeed been some nice events and happenings!
At the 6th of December, Finland celebrated its independence. Me and my swedish friend as well as a finnish friend participated at the Torchlight parade. I was surprised that this parade was not pompuous or cheerful, no, in contrary it rather felt like a mournful funeral march - especially as we headed to the cemetery. It ended up to be a very nice experience though.

For the second to last time I will have my list here:

What I've done so far

- I've been to a Finnish excavation.
- I've been to Helsinki (3x).
- I've been to Tampere.
- I've been to Espoo (2x) and visited a school there.
- I've been to Tallinn, but did not actually see much of it because I was too tired.
- I've been to five concerts (Moonsorrow, Unioni-festival, Turmion Kätilöt, Korpiklaani, Crimfall on the ship to Tallinn).
- I've been to a karaoke-bar three times.
- I met a lot of Finnish and also international metalheads \m/.
- I've been to a heavy Finnish halloween-sitsit! \m/
- I improved my Finnish-skill a lot!
- I've been to sauna and established some kind of girls' sauna evening together with my Swedish friend.
- I started to learn swordfighting.
- I visited Turunlinna.
- I visited the art museum of Turku.

What I still have to do

- Prepare everything for my departure (sell my goods I don't want to take with me,  return books, sign out of university etc.).
- Go to Stockholm.
- Go to Lapland.
- See northern lights.
- Sauna more often.
- See Ruissalo.
- Visit more museums in Turku, esp. Aboa Vetus!
- Find some cute christmas presents.
- Send postcards from Finland.
- Visit Levykauppa X.
- Become a Finn. :D
- Find a Finnish boyfriend. xD

Heviristeily

From thursday to friday, I've been on a cruise from Helsinki to Tallinn together with TYRMY.

I've never seen so many happy Finns. Finns can buy cheap(er) booze on the ship and in Tallinn, so Finns are happy! I, as a German, nevertheless thought "holy crap, this shit is expensive!"

Song of the day, I got not tired to sing together with my lovely Hungarian friend, was this:

I'm on a ship...
if you don't know ...
well, now you know ...

;)

However, I left this ship without a hangover. I was just a bit tired because I've been really sleeping perhaps for an hour or so, else merely relaxing a bit in the bus back to Turku.
I purchased some bottles of Koskenkorva Salmiakki, I love this shit, and some Glögi. Unfortunately, there was no mead in Tallinn.

On the ship, Crimfall was playing a gig, and another band whose name I forgot. I am not the greatest fan of Crimfall, mainly probably because I don't like the female singing, but the bassist reminds me very much of a German friend of mine. That's why I went to him after the concert and asked for a photo.

  

He asked if he should change his shirt because he was wearing some jacket. I said "I don't mind." And before I was able to think I said "You can even take our your jacket if you want". xD That's how this pic was made...

After the cruise, I went to the after party. There was a sauna. I think I never saw so many half naked men before... I kinda like this country. xD

Time flies by ...

They say, time flies by when you're having fun.
Well, I do definitely have a lot of fun here in Finland, but also university work is quite keeping me busy at times, especially ever since the second period started. Two courses ended, but one new course started and one old course suddenly developed into something much more workintensive. *sigh*
I have to write two learning diaries at the moment (which aren't just notes on the lectures, instead it's rather like a comment on the lecture). The one is from a lecture from the last period. Actually, I need to be more precise here: For last period's lecture I have to write a learning diary (which is already complete!) and some more individual learning tasks. Of the latter, I still need to write a few. I have time until the end of this month.

For the new course, which started this period, I have to write a learning diary too. It was the third lecture today, expected are at least 10 pages. From the first lecture I have already 1,5 pages full. So I will probably meet the minimum quite easily. I just have to write down my notes right after the lectures (which would be like now) and then it'll go quite smoothly.

For my Finnish courses, which I always considered to be quite fun and interesting, the workload suddenly has increased. I have to write a thing called mielipide until next monday and I still have no clue about what to write it. I will probably have to do it on saturday or sunday, because I won't be here on thursday and friday. BUT I don't have much time on sunday, neither on saturday, so ... AAAAAAAHH!!! It will be hard to write one page in Finnish!
I have two more tasks for the week after, also in Finnish. *sigh* I'm at the moment struggling whether I really want to do these tasks or not. I tend to think that the other courses are a bit more important, as I will have these in my final certificate, not the Finnish courses. Hm. I don't know. Tough decision.


----

Enough of school work said here!

It's the 12th of the month again, so it was about time for an update.
Now I'm here in Finland for 3 months already and only 2 are left. I already get sad when I think of going back home to Germany. :(

I wanted to update my list and here we go:

What I've done so far

- I've been to a Finnish excavation.
- I've been to Helsinki (3x).
- I've been to Tampere.
- I've been to four concerts (Moonsorrow, Unioni-festival, Turmion Kätilöt, Korpiklaani).
- I've been to a karaoke-bar twice.
- I met a lot of Finnish and also international metalheads \m/.
- I've been to a heavy Finnish halloween-sitsit! \m/
- I improved my Finnish-skill a lot!
- I've been to sauna and established some kind of girls' sauna evening together with my Swedish friend.
- I started to learn swordfighting.
- I visited Turunlinna.
- I visited the art museum of Turku.

What I still have to do

- Go to Tallinn (planned).
- Go to Stockholm.
- Go to Lapland.
- Visit a Finnish school.
- Sauna more often.
- See Ruissalo.
- Visit more museums in Turku.
- Become a Finn. :D
- Find a Finnish boyfriend. xD

Korpiklaani and some other monsters

I was so disappointed when I checked the tourdates of my favourite Finnish bands before I went to Finland because not a single one of them seemed to be giving any concerts at all or just not in Europe during the time of my stay here in Finland. Among these bands I looked up were Korpiklaani and Ensiferum and Kalmah.
So I thought I just have to take what I can get, so I bought tickets for Moonsorrow and Turmion Kätilöt right after I arrived here. :) These concerts have already taken place and I wrote about them in this very blog.

When I prepared my presentation about Korpiklaani two weeks ago, I found out that they in fact do give a concert here! They were in Helsinki to support Lordi who are releasing a new album. I went to the concert just for Korpiklaani though because I just love these guys!

The concert was really nice. I was aware of the fact that they are not as popular in Finland as they are abroad but it was really strange to see how few people were there to see them. It was easy to get a place in the third row although I just came to the stages 10 minutes before the gig began.
And the crowd was not as crazy as in Germany.
Here's the setlist of this evening:
Tuonelan tuvilla
Ruumiinmultaa
Metsämies
Juodan viinaa
Petoeläimen kuola
Sumussa hämärän aamun
Uniaika
Louhen yhdeksäs poika
Vodka
Ievan polkka
Rauta

The most funny thing this evening was for me when they played Juodaan viinaa. Jonne sang the first two lines of the first stanza, then stopped singing, smiled and said "Unohdin tekstiä" (I forgot the lyrics). He improvised something and sang than again the chorus. The second stanza has therefore been sung by Cane, the guitar player. It was awesome. :D
I did not notice any more missing text lines though ... but well, Finnish is not my mothertongue and if he sang something completely different, I wouldn't have even noticed.

If it was after me, they could have continued playing for the whole evening! But it was Lordi's turn quite soon.
I hope to see Korpiklaani again quite soon, either here in Finland or in Germany.

I will put some pictures to this post later on!

Halloween sitsit, perkele!

I've been to one of the famous finnish sitz parties (sitsit) organized by TYRMY. The theme was halloween, how fitting for the date!

The contents of a sitsit are mainly singing, drinking, singing, drinking, eating, singing, drinking, singing, drinking, eating, singing, drinking etc.
There's a lot of songs and also a hell lot of booze! Nothing else would you expect from a country like Finland. Perkele!

For me, it was kind of a pity that all foreign students were put together to one table. I would have loved to get into contact with some more Finnish people, but they were all too far away. Well, yes, Iiris was at my table, but she'll go to Germany anyway. :D
The worst thing for me though was that all the German speaking people were in one corner. I have nothing against these people in General, I just actually try to avoid German people as much as I can. Which of course does not succeed as I always find myself in the middle of a German group. *sigh* That's life.

The halloween costumes of some of the people have been just so great! Actually most people had stunning costumes. For example Jesus, or a faun, or an ice-hockey player or a crazy chemist or a spartian. There have been the bunny from Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire cat too! Most people were dressed up as something dead though. Vampires, skeletons, witches (which do not necessarily have to be dead though...) and so on. I just loved the costumes!
I had all my nice stuff in Germany - unfortunately - so I had to improvise and just wore my corset with a short skirt and bought myself a witches hat. xD I was sooo unique! There were like 3 witches on my table. :D

There are a lot of pictures on Facebook. Maybe I will copy some of them later, if I have the allowance.

Halftime!

I've been counting my days of my stay here recently and it turned out that today is the day of halftime!

From now on, I will have stayed more days here than I am going to be here. It's kind of sad that the counter of days to come goes to zero now rapidly. :(
But then, on the other hand, I kinda miss my hometown and affordable beer and my friends there, of course, too. Not necessarily in this order.

There are still so many things in Finland I'd love to do and I think I can't accomplish them before my time here runs out. Which, of course, is kind of sad.
University is just eating too much of my precious free time! And I don't have enough money for the most fun stuff, too. But I'll manage, anyhow.

University-wise two courses are finished now. One new one will start next week.
In December I will then be having 4 or 5 tests, all in two weeks, so it won't be much fun. Actually I should just sit down and learn for these exams the whole november. I know that I won't do that. ;P

Time is running out.
It always happens when having fun. *sigh* So I guess it's a good sign. Perhaps. Perhaps I'm just too busy though, which would be sad.

Well, anyway, there will be much more content in the following blog posts!