Sunday, May 15, 2011

Goodbye for a bit. (12th of May)

Two major things are about to impact my life.
1. My laptop is being sent back to HP tomorrow to fix it's stupid freezing problem.
2. Tomorrow I'm going to a spa hotel for the weekend in Tampere!

All this means is that my all inspiring effort at writing this blog will fall to pieces.  Not having my laptop for potentially two weeks... I'm probably going to go crazy...
Brace yourselves.



Today was lovely. I gotta stop saying that, but pretty much, right now everything is so great.
On my bike ride to school I nearly ran over a little red squirrel that decided to run across the footpath. I then saw another two jumping around in the trees. Squirrels are still such a novelty.
Art was fun, not entirely sure what we were meant to do, but the teacher gave us a picture and I just photoshopped it until I liked it.
It's annoying because at school we use photoshop elements, and that is really just a fail version of the photoshop I use at home... It's quite frustrating when you can't find the tools you're familiar with...




Image we were told to photoshop
Hayley version
In my other art class (where we make the tiny rooms) I painted the sofa, the bed and the bookshelf. I also painted a small christmas decoration as a little globe, so now my model bedroom has a globe in it :D
After school, me and Kiwi went to my friend's house for dinner and then got driven in another friend's audi TT to a lake. It barely fit us all in there XD I was literally sitting facing the side window as there was no room for my legs to go straight!
Such a beautiful lake... It was about 5km if you took the track around it. It kind of reminded me of Lysterfield lake back in Melbourne but without the beach on it. And with a lot more rocks.
The water wasn't even that cold! My friend went SWIMMING. There was a bunch of girls in bikinis not far from us. Gosh the Finns can be so optimistic sometimes XD

I know I wrote some more, but this website was having issues and it's taken me this long to post this...
I don't have my laptop anymore... and I feel lost without it...
When i get it back, I'll write more!

That, is all.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

RHETT!!

Finished 'Gone with the Wind' just now. I had put off the last 5 pages because I learned what the ending was like by accident. I wish he didn't leave! ARGG. I actually cried.

Three cheers for an amazing day! School, well, I don't even remember what happened... I think I was working on my bedroom model (for art we are making these little tiny rooms) and then in Physics, I do believe I fell asleep.
Lunch was porridge, with that fruit sauce they use often here. I quite like that porridge, but it's just a bit strange to be eating it for lunch.They had salad to go with it, and apple juice - which is rare.
We had Finnish class in Turku, so Kiwi and I rode our bikes there and saw that there was a really rather lovely market going on in the town centre. It was so hot! The ice-cream stand thermometer said it was 27 degrees but the thermometer above the buildings said 23 degrees, so I don't know which was correct. But who cares! It was HOT. I actually tanned today.
Turns out it was Kiwi's last Finnish lesson as next week we have a school trip into Helsinki and then after that it's cancelled due to the school being renovated. Then after that, it's the Summer holidays and Kiwi's leaving in the holidays. Nearly all the other exchange students are leaving this Summer holiday. Sept me.
Us exchanges congregated by the river on a random wooden dock thingy. I think we were all just lying there chatting for at least three hours. Soo damn good. There were so many people out there, sitting on the river bank, talking, sun bathing, drinking, smoking. It was the nicest atmosphere. So relaxed and content.
Random drunk guy was talking to all the people on the river bank. We were on this floating dock thing however, and were out of his reach. He poked my American friend in the belly button, and tried to hug him - that was fairly awkward. Got some photos ^^
View from the dock thingey
Drunk guy attempting to poke bellybuttons.


Rode our bikes to IKEA on the way home, took wayyy to many of the free sample chocolate and got an IKEA ice cream. I'm liking this tradition we're developing.
Got home, walked the dog, played extremely loud music to drown out the silent house as I cleaned it. Jumped on the trampoline with my host brother for a bit, finished my book.

That, is all.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

You must set yourself on fire

I'm having lots of good days, with not too much bad things to say...
Tuesdays mean sleep in, which means nothing to me as I can't stop myself from waking up at 6.15 EVERY morning. School starts at 9.25, which means I could literally leave the house at 9.15 and pedal my bike like a deranged exercise addict and get there bang on time. Which is what I did this morning.
It's annoying because I charge into class red faced and panting... but whatever. I'm the exchange student :P
It got to 23 degrees today. I can't describe how blissful it is... I really don't have the words, and I don't intend to get all corny in describing it's blissfulness. Well, anyway, after school I went to the gym to run, but abnormally there was someone using the treadmill. So, I waited... and waited...and then she swapped with a girl on the exercise bike and she took forever. I never saw it free. I gave up waiting and left with Kiwi (she had been swimming) promising myself I would attempt to run the now snow-free cross-country ski-path. Kinda didn't happen XD Kinda knew it wouldn't...
BUT I WILL!
Soon.

Ended up rocking up at a friends house and visiting Ruissalo, which is a nature protected island, and it's beautiful. We were going to throw frisbees on the beach, but, ended up just sitting on the rocks by the water discussing Australian weather - a topic of much interest to the Finns I have met so far.
Then, we drove back and had a couple of games of Tennis. I'm not good at Tennis. I think I managed to return the ball like 4 times :S
Pathetic.
But seriously fun :)
I wish I brought my camera with me today, but it seems that the days I don't bring it, the days I don't expect anything special to happen on have the most amazing spontaneous events!
I really ought to remember that and just bring it with me EVERYWHERE.

It's been a long day again, only getting home at quarter to ten, just like yesterday! There is daylight up until that point, and on that note, there's still light outside now -(11.03) Hey wait, I'll take a photo.
I totally took that photo at 11.04 and then it took till 11.21 to upload. XS



Not dark at all. Not really for 11.03 :)

That, is all.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Well I didn't expect to tan here!

I had an extremely strange dream in which my dog knew German. Don't know WHERE that came from.
Mother's day yesterday was really nice, saw both of my host parents parents, spend the morning in Naantali which is one of the most beautiful little towns by the ocean.
Kinda forgot to write for yesterday, so sorry for that fail!

Today is certainly worth mentioning though, school was like a rush, I don't remember anything that happened there, after school, me and Kiwi decided to see if we could ride to IKEA, which we managed very well without a map. That was really fun, and the 50c Ice creams <3
Then we rode into Turku and sat by the river for a couple of hours. That's when I think I got sunburnt. But it was soo good. Then we rode back to Raisio, and I ate dinner at Kiwi's house :) And cake :P Whilst we watched 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' which was actually really rather funny.
Seriously nice day! Temperature was around 20 degrees! I remember Finland in -20 degrees... XS
I've been discussing plans to visit Stockholm in Sweden, and I'm get quite excited about that! Probably around the end of July... Really cannot wait!!

That, is all.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Mynämäki

Today was so beautiful. SUN.
We had a long slow morning, and BBQ for lunch, and then took a drive to the town of Mynämäki, which is a country town a short while out of Raisio.
We went to a farm of my host mother's relative, and it was so picture perfect there. All the buildings were like out of a fairy tale and it was so green and warm, and there were fields for the crops they were planting.
So, I sat there and read more of "Gone With The Wind". I'm so glad it's taking me so long to read, I love this book XD I'm up to the part when Scarlett has been found crying on Ashley, and poor poor Rhett. Simply scandalous! I'm worried what Melonie will say!!
ANYWAY
We were driving around these country roads, and my host fathers knows them very well. He use to do Rally races on them... It was perhaps quite a bit frightening for me to be in that car in the front seat as we traveled at ~100km/h through these tiny winding roads, deep in the forest in the middle of nowhere. The roads even had jumps and that really stopped my heart! Yes it was... fun, maybe, but still, I prayed a whole lot in that car XD
After...that, we borrowed some movies from the movie store, and watched "The Switch" with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. I was expecting some fail American romance comedy, but it wasn't actually so bad, I thought it very cute. Perhaps there's something wrong with me.
All in all, a fairly lovely day ^^

That, is all.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Rhett Butler, You Scoundrel!

I'm up to the part where Rhett proposes to Scarlett. Was totally unexpected, but then, it had to happen someeetimee. I really like this book. I don't want it to end!

It was a sunny day, but really cold in the morning. I think the sunshine makes so much difference. Everyone is definitely so much happier.
Today in Physics the guy next to me had his own stomach trying to be heard. He was moving around trying to make noise to disguise it, but I heard. It made me smile XD
Randomly though Physics, the whole school went out into the car park and nature strips to pick up rubbish. That was actually kind of nice, as the sun was nice and warm, and I could talk with my friends. There wasn't very much rubbish, but plenty of cigarette butts everywhere. That was kind of gross, but so normal at this school.
People don't even try to hide smoking here, they just go and stand in big huddles smoking, even though everyone can see them, and they're pretty much all underage.
On another note, my English class was half cancelled, so we got to leave halfway though the class. I rode home and walked the dog through on the Ski track which now looks so lovely as a trekking track!
Then I made my sister's favourite meal dubbed 'Erin's Favourite' for that very reason for dinner at 3.30 pm (they eat dinner so very early). My host father decided to grill the chicken on the barbecue and that tasted really really good. It was only about 10 degrees outside, but he was in a summery mood XD


Then I went to IKEA.
Hehe.
I do rather like IKEA.
It's funny, because in Australia we pronounce IKEA kind of like EYE-KEY-A. Here it's said ICK-EAR (but without so much of that R sound). It's kind of like how they say IPOD as E-Pod-E (with the E's being said just as the letter E).

I ran around the store getting pictures in some of the awesome beds, and also got IKEA icecream ^^
My day was complete after that.
Here's some random pics.
It's called being COOL

IKEA Ice cream ^^

My new bed :D

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Bloody Pointless Post.

Yeah, I can't remember anything great that happened today.
Lunch was good...
I think I'm just going to try forget it instead.

That, is all.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Rather Cold Day

Today it rained. Quite a bit actually, thank God for my rain jacket my host family made me buy! XD
During class today, my stomach decided it wanted some attention, unfortunately my physics class was a fairly silent bunch and my stomach's performance resounded around the room. You could hear the clock ticking in it's intermissions.
I am certainly fitting the "Strange Exchange Student" stereotype.
I have a theory that all Physics teachers are a little bit strange, but cool at the same time. Just thinking back to my physics teachers in high school, every single one of them was classified as cool, but were always a little different. Turns out my possible theory is present here too! My physics teacher is very cool, but, just a little bit weird.
During his explaining of something in class, he randomly flicks to English and says to the class "Are you understand?" Now, he speaks perfect English, so he was faking being fob, and then he continued with "Solly, but my Engrish is not so vely bad".  Well, it made me laugh. :)
Here's something random that we were doing in art. Nothing amazing, but from what I can tell, the teacher only wanted us to superimpose the man (who happens to be some famous Finnish poet/writer) into the classroom.






We had Finnish class in Turku today, so me and Kiwi rode our bikes. In the rain. But it wasn't that bad when I consider the price of a one way bus ticket. To take the bus into Turku, perhaps a 15minute ride, is 3 euros 30. That's about $4.55 for ONE way, from school to Turku. You also have to pay the same to go back, but because I can get the bus to go by my house it's actually ~$5 to go the extra 3 minutes to my house from Turku. A DAILY ticket for ALL Melbourne public transport in the suburbs and the city for the WHOLE day is like, $5.80 for a concession. That's about 4 Euros 20. And here, that's nearly what you pay for for ONE 'one way' trip.
Sorry for my little money rant.
Class was actually educational, and then we sat in a place called 'Arnolds' which sold bagels. We sat there for a very long time with some other exchanges and discussed life, and other fascinating topics. That was a really nice conversation. :D
Then to the Library, where either an extremely drunk or quite severely mentally retarded man sat near us chatting to his invisible friend. Loudly. And then he started singing, loudly. It was all very distracting, but kind of entertaining.
Then I rode home and ate chocolate.
:)

That, is all.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Skip a Class

I'm not in a fabulous mood, but I guess I can blame the chilly wet weather for that. It was soo warm last week, and now it's just miserable. And so am I.
But oh well!
My day started off with an English test in English. All the questions were in English, and so were all the answers. I should've been able to do this blindfolded with both hands tied behind my back. Underwater. The FINNISH guy at the desk next to me got a higher score. Granted it was by one point, but still!!
He was pretty chuffed XD
Art was funny, as I get so sidetracked as I cannot follow the teacher's instructions. I end up doing some pretty weird photoshopping... I have no idea how the teacher is going to grade it!
I spent all of Physics doodling in my diary, so I have no idea what we were doing today.
After school I had the first day of my Uni Finnish Course. This was a bit of a fail.
I was not the one who signed me up for this, my host mother did. And then she told me which book to get and off I went.
This course was for people who have been studying Finnish for at least a year and a half, or for people who's spouses were Finnish. It was Finnish NUMBER FREAKING 2, not NUMBER 1 BASICS, or NUMBER ONE GENERAL, nor NUMBER ONE CONTINUED.
I have been here nearly 4 months, and I am struggling with the basics. The whole class was in Finnish, and all the students were talking to the teacher in Finnish and most of them were adults. There was no one else under that age of 26.
Ahhhh, it was baaaadd.
The teacher said I shouldn't really be there, but I was kind of understanding tiny bits of conversation and I could get the gist of what the book was talking about, so she said I could stay... but it was incredibly embarassing. There were lots of lovely people there though, so I guess that made it 'nicer'.
Anyway, I fell asleep last night writing this, so I am posting it this morning and I really ought to go get ready for school!!

That, is all.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Hyvää Syntymäpäivää Sisko!

This was the image I was referring to before! XD
Original
Hayley Version
Art Class Photo manipulation
I worked a LONG time on this :P I didn't change the strange ears though...
If you look like the original in real life, I might be able to save you... on the internet. Mind you, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz, so this was just me making her look nice in my opinion!
By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA! Today is her birthday :)

Ok, onto some tangents.
I hopelessly underestimated the weather this morning, and as I rode to school I could feel my fingers slowly freezing for I did not bring gloves nor a jacket. It was also windy, which sucks on a massive scale.
I called my house in Aussieland between classes to wish my sister a happy birthday, and it was hilarious because I couldn't tell which sister was which on the phone! The youngest sounded like a toddler, the birthday girl sounded like the youngest, and the second oldest sounded like my oldest sister! It was all very muddly, but lovely none the less.

b²-4ac=0

Hayley fail #1
As I had some letters to send, I went hunting for an envelope in around the offices, and then eventually found the secretary's office.
"Envelope?" I asked, drawing a square with my hands like an ignorant tourist.
*Blank look*
"....Ahhh.... envelope?" I drew the square in the air again a couple more times pathetically.
*long pause followed by polite laughter*
ignorant tourist
"This?" I pointed at the little drawing of an envelope I drew on my hand as a reminder for me to find one.
*continued polite laughter accompanied with a blank look* My drawing must have been pretty fail.
"Please wait a minute." She said, and started to leave the room.
"Oh! This!" I said, pointing at an envelope on her desk.
"O. K. You. want. this." She found some and gave me one.
I left that office with a major sense of failure, despite holding the prized envelope.

It was all very awkward. Well, for me anyway.

In Physics//Fysiikka class we are studying the electromagnetic//sähkömagnetismi theory//teoria. I am soo very grateful that we covered that back in Australia because I would have no idea what on Earth the teacher was telling me. The whole class is in Finnish so, the only part I understand is the equations. Even if I did understand Finnish, I would not be able to read what the teacher writes on the blackboard, his handwriting is atrocious! I tried copying it down into my book, but really didn't work out well. I have no idea how the other students figure it out.We were looking at the Cyclotron//Syklotroni and I found that was really interesting. Very basically it's a machine that accelerates particles using a magnetic field.

That, is all.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

How Temperamental.

Well, I survived yesterday, and today. I'm fairly positive about that.

I was meant to go into the town to meet my friend, but she had been out all night and had become sick so she couldn't come! Today was a freezing day too. ~7 degrees. Hahaha, I remember when anything over 0 degrees was warm, but after having a week of +15 degrees 7 is shocking XD
The strange part of today was the fact that one minute the sun was shining strongly, and you could get a bit of warmth from it, and then 15 minutes later, it's pouring with rain, and the wind is very strong. It even snowed a couple of times today, much to my surprise. Probably the last time I'll see falling snow for a very long time! The other strange thing is the light.
The sun rises so early and sets so very late. When I went to bed last night, (at around 3pm) I could see the light at the horizon. It wasn't very strong at this point mind you, but it was THERE. The sun takes forever to set here these days. When I was at the neighbours house for the evening this week, we sat outside warming the spa with firewood for hours, and there was still light! It must've been around 10.00 when I went went inside, and I could see everything clearly. It's only the beginning of May! I don't know what it's going to be like in July ^^

Here's a photo I took of two swans going down the river one day.

I helped my host father switch offices today, and got to see the production rooms of his welding company. It was amazing. The machinery was gigantic, and so were the things that they were welding. The rooms went on forever, and it all looked very confusing. But it was still very interesting to see where and how giant things are welded. The company makes things like parts for cruise liners which are often built in Turku. I saw pieces of a propeller for a cruise liner.
It.
Was.
Big.

When we drove home today from the house we stayed the night at, we borrowed their car, and therefore brought it back to them this afternoon (after we washed it and vacuumed it). But then we still had to get home somehow, so my host father called one of our other neighbours to come pick us up. So he picked us up in his Peugeot 307 CC. Hehe ^^ I like that car. As we were driving back home, I was startled to see some sailors from the navy waiting at a bus stop, in full sailor uniform with their hats and everything, and therefore had this entertaining conversation with our neighbour Sami.

Me: "Oh my gosh, Sailors! Did you see them?"
Sami: "... Sailors. They get all the girls."
Me: "Oh? How do you know that?"
Sami: "...Because I was one."
Me: O.o

Well, we came home, ate some Finnish style pie and I stayed in the sauna for agggeesss. I'm still so warm from it, and it's making me sleepy! I should have an early night... I haven't slept much this weekend.
Oh oh, Happy Birthday Sara! It's my little sister's birthday tomorrow (but it's already started in Melbourne due to time zones). I LOVE HER.


That, is all.

Vappu

Right now everyone is celebrating Vappu. It's a bit full on!!
We got drunk people every which way you look, and I've been switching between parties all evening. Half the time I've been at the neighbours house, and the other half I've been here at home. Both places are full of drunk adults, and sleeping children. It's kind of nice actually, so many happy Finns! I put a little girl I found asleep on the couch in my bed, and she didn't even wake up as I moved her. It was so sweet :D

OK, I'm going to visit the neighbours dog.

-The next morning-

Well! That was an interesting chain of events! I went round to walk one of the neighbours dog, and then when we got back, I was told (at about 1am) that we were going to our family friend's house, on the other side of town, by taxi, and I needed to get anything I might need for the night.
Taxi came, and I went to take a photo, but in my rush I realised I had left my SD card in this laptop.
I have never felt so lost!!!
We got there, and everyone was drinking there too XD I just got to drink Sima, which is an interesting drink that is confusing to explain. Whilst the adults enjoyed themselves, I continued reading 'Gone with the Wind', a book which has taken me much longer to read than I first assumed. The Grammy awards were on the television, but with the children asleep upstairs, it was pretty much muted and only had Finnish subtitles, which, I have a little trouble with. However, 'Gone with the Wind' is getting interesting, so I didn't mind. I'm up to the part where Ashley has moved to Atlanta and everyone loves Melanie for being so traditional. Don't know what to expect now, this book is mind boggling.


In the town centre, celebrating Vappu.


Students all waving their caps during the speech.

So now I'm home, and reflecting on the bizzare events of yesterday. I got to go into the town centre with the neighbours when the students all waves their caps. That was a lovely atmosphere, so many happy people in one place. I saw so many exchange students in the crowd that I knew and that was exciting.






There was a blue roan cocker spaniel standing just near me when we watched the speech at the town centre, he looked just like my darling! Me and that little dog shared a moment, whether it realised it or not!
In the town centre during the market.
I also go to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant which was really nice. There was a market in the evening and we wandered around it for a while, then took the bus back home. It was funny because the neighbours hadn't ever used that bus and little old Australian exchange student me had to help them out with the timetables and the stops. I felt needed!
Me vs. Sami in Ice Hockey (kinda like foosball)

I'm planning on biking into the town to see the morning market and meet up with some friends, and maybe the exercise will be good for all the junk I ate last night.

Yesterday morning was also Tuukka's Birthday party. I don't remember much about it, because I was up so late and woke so early to get there, but from what I remember it was nice. We had hired a building called 'Pomppis' that was an old swimming pool that had been turned into a play gym. Kids ran around like crazy, so I just read 'Gone with the Wind' and took a few photos. When we got home, all of my host mother's family came around for tea. There was like, at least 20 extra people there, and they all seems fairly nice. My host mother had been baking all week for this event and it was totally worth it.


White Chocolate and Blueberry Cheesecake

Finnish biscuits topped with crushed mint chocolate
\
Some Special cake I forgot the story of.

Fazer chocolate <3


Some tasty cookies

 3.14159265

Some soda of some kind

Tuukka's birthday cake ^^

There's probably a ton of other things I wanted to add, but have completely forgotten.
That, is all.