How to Nick a Crocodile

Once again, I'm suffering from a serious lack of sleep. The reason for this condition is, once again, last weekend, during which I slept an estimated total of 10 hours. That's not enough. My system needs at least 8 hours per night to function properly.

On Friday I learned how to nick a crocodile from a bar.
Before undertaking such a mission we had been at Anna-Riitta's place to celebrate her graduation (she finished her BA degree, hooray!) by indulging ourselves in Finnish crepes with strawberry jam and chocolate spread (expect to meet a 10kg fatter Laura by the end of the spring). We continued the night at Aussie Bar in the centre. Since it was Australia Day (sort of an independence day for Australia) the place was packed with Aussies wrapped in Foster’s flags and some Australian equivalent of cowboy hats. The bar was pretty crappy, but Gayathri and Prue found the decorations so funky that the following morning both of them woke up in bewilderment, wondering, 'Whatta f--- is that huge blow-up reptile doing on my floor'.


My own lettu.


Caught in the act!


I stayed in bed until two o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, and managed to do absolutely nothing during the day, except for getting myself ready for the next party, which was to be held in Maija's flat.

That evening I drank a healthy amount of wine, which is the contents of one bottle, and found myself walking back home on my own at 5AM, concentrating hard on pressing my stomach and keeping the contents of the bottle inside instead of outside my digestive system. Not that it was the amount of alcohol – I was nearly sober by that time of the night – but my stomach stopped cooperating during the evening because of the crepes I'd had the previous day. Yeah, I know, you wouldn't want to swap bellies with me, but hey, that's my Achilles heel, and you might have something much worse, such as high blood pressure or a small weenie.

No worries, I got home safe and sound, since at an early point of my journey I realised that ok, it might be wiser to take a cab, even though I hadn't got a single penny left. However, my problem solving skills reached a peak at the moment I figured out I could ask the driver to take me to the nearest ATM first. I feel proud of myself for being able to work out such a neat solution.

On Sunday I stayed in bed until 3PM, and did absolutely nothing. It seems my to-do list just keeps growing longer and longer. Soon there's no way out of the to-do jungle.


PS: Mami is doing better, she even remembered I'm here in Glasgow and asked how I'm doing. Last week she couldn't even clutch her hand. There's a tough lady, I tell you.

What I've Learned

I've learned a lot this week: about the phases of the Celts and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 5th-century Britain, about St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, about the formation of pidgin and creole Englishes in the post-colonialist era, and about the early linguistic history of Scotland. Nevertheless, as dreadfully earnest as it may sound, none of them moved me as much as an incident that happened on Tuesday.

I was just about to leave for the ISoc movie night when I got a call from mum, telling that my grandma Mami had been taken to the hospital in the morning in very poor condition. My dad had found her lying on her bed that morning, rolling her eyes short of breath. She'd assumedly had some sort of a stroke during the night.
In the hospital it turned out that she didn't react to voice or clench her hands. Later on we were informed that she had a nasty infection in her lungs and a high fever that just wouldn't go away. So recovery from that state seemed a bit too much to hope for.
However, agains all odds she struggled her way back from the ICU to normal ward, and her condition is more or less stable now. No brain damage whatsoever. She still sleeps a lot and remains silent, but the doctors suggest she wouldn't even have the energy to talk. Let's see what happens. We're hoping for the best, of course.

So, after all, the most essential and noble thing I learned this week was that go and visit your grandparents while they're still here among us. Make them a warm cup of tea, give them a hug, and listen to their stories, maybe jot down a few of them. Their experiences might teach you a lot. Go ASAP, next week might be too late :|

Haggis, Bagpipes, and My Social Network

On Thursday 25th January Scotland celebrates one of its national heroes, Robert Burns, the poet. The celebration is like any festival in Finland – take midsummer for example. People gather together to celebrate, but nobody's exactly sure what they're celebrating. So like any given festival, Burns Night is a just another excuse for throwing a party :)
The International Society was a bit early this year and decided to throw the party a day before the actual festival, so we had our festivities already on Wednesday. And ten points to them, once again. They had organised everything from bagpipe players and Scottish country dancers to buffet snacks (haggis, aye!) and of course, their trusted accordion players, the same band we had at the ceilidh two and half weeks ago (dunno the band's name). And ALL FOR FREE. We didn't have to invest a single penny in this. Antakaamme siis iso käsi ISocille!
So first there was a Scottish march band, that is bagpipe players and drummers, and Scottish country dancers in their kilts, performing sword dances. After that the floor was ours for jumping and sweating, again, like that other Saturday. This time we didn't have to starve, as they had a free buffet for all of us to enjoy – I tried haggis, not that bad at all, unless you remind yourself of the infamous ingredients... Some pics of the performers below.





There was also an international pub quiz, and guess which was the first question? "Which country won this year's Eurovision Song Contest?" :D The Finns went bananas, naturally. Oh yeah, I don't know if I've mentioned this, but this place is PACKED with Finns! I'm aware of at least 10 Finnish exchange students, and I know there are even more as degree students. It's mysterious. We're invading the country. Beware, all ye lads and lassies!

After the ceilidh we continued the night on Ashton Lane, the bar concentration of West End, just a stone’s throw from the Uni. Again, I have to moan about the selection of bars in Helsinki. There are so few options! Here a whole range of tastes is represented in just one 100m lane. Of this wide array of clubs we chose The Loft, which turned out to be quite a stylish place to hang out, or to chill out, more exactly, 'cos they had comfy sofas all over the place :) Well, the real reason why we went there was actually the fact that we couldn't get in anywhere else, 'cos Sam was wearing shorts :D Sam-WISE as he is, he had thought they would be more practical in dancing, which they surely were, but not in getting in to clubs past the hawk-eyes of the doormen.

I don't know if you understand what I mean by 'we'. I could do the same as Petra did in her blog and introduce some of the people in this story to give you some idea what kind of maniacs and junkies I'm hanging out with. No, they're all nice people, really ;)
So first of all there's Petra, a medical student from Tampere, NÄÄS, whom I first met online at Irc-galleria, where else! :P Petra lives far far away at Firhill Court student apartments and has already slaughtered a poor innocent rat during laboratory tests. She has a blog as well, and that's in Finnish, so if you're bored of this English shit, just bookmark Petra's funny site and read that instead ;)
Then there's Anna-Riitta, a German major and English minor from Helsinki, studying at the same department here in Glasgow and doing more or less the same courses as I do. She lives 5mins away from my place in a fabulous basement flat with state-of-the-art facilities – wireless internet, TV, DVD player, well, you name it – BUT there's one drawback. To get coverage on her cell phone she has to put a pillow on the arm of the sofa right next to a window, and then carefully place the phone on the pillow. Otherwise – no coverage! :D
To continue with Finns, there's Maija from Helsinki, who I actually knew by face 'cos it turned out that she's also from SOKLA. So back home she studies at the primary teacher education like me. We've even been to same courses. Neither of us knew that we'd both be coming here. What a coincidence :)
Then the other nationalities.
Eva is a Norwegian girl majoring in music. She lives quite close to my place, which is why we quite often walk home together after a night out. She brought two guitars here with her, which makes her quite popular among the other guitar lovers. One of them is Sam, also known as Samwise, a hobbit-like figure from New Zealand. He studies philosophy and genetics, and according to his own words, with such a strange combination he might have to pursue a career at McDonald's. He shares the Party Flat with Harry, a music student from Australia, and Robyn, his German-Australian girlfriend. And last but not least there's Gayathri, a fun-loving Australian girl whose name caused confusion at first. Then there's a various group of girls and boys from the US and Canada (Amber, Sarah, Sara, Antoine, Dillon...), who I (or we) hang out with every so often.

There's one snag about the fact that my social network consists mainly of Aussies and Americans: I have started to pick up this terrible, hopeless, hybrid accent, a mixture between British, Australian and American pronunciation. Not a good example to my future students, huh? ;)

Contemplations

Instead of updating the previous post, I decided to share with you some of the thoughts that have preoccupied me lately. I'll update that post later, maybe.

I think everyone should go on exchange. It's an awesome opportunity to reflect on your life from a different perspective. It's easier here than in Finland, 'cos I've got nothing familiar around me, except for the few items I brought with me. So it's easy to put on your thinking cap and start meditating ;)

I have already resulted in one conclusion during these meditations. It's the fact that I will not spend the rest of my life in Finland. Well, at least not all of it. No, don't get me wrong, this isn't something I've come up with during the past three weeks. Britain (or London) has been my second home since 2002 when I was on that language course in the spring and at that summer 'job' whatever in the summer, and I've kept talking about moving here ever since. Well, now I'm absolutely sure about it. I've never had intentions of getting a bigger apartment in Helsinki, actually the whole thought of a huge loan has intimidated me. And again, don't get me wrong - I'm past the honey moon phase with this country. I've been here so many times. I know the pros and cons, I know that the NHS (National Healthcare System) sucks, that the trains are always late, that the standard of living is lower than in Finland (and still you pay twice as much for rent), that you need a car to get to places (even to the nearest supermarket)... But hey, why should I list all the downsides to it, I could never be that dryly down-to-earth. I'm not like that. I've just always sensed that there's something to this country and culture I find very familiar and easy to relate to. Life is short, I've gotta do something about this once I get back in Finland. I'll have to finish my degree as fast as humanly possible ;)

I've also been quite surprised by the fact that I don't really miss anything in Finland, except for Lauri, but we've been together for so long that it's actually nice to live apart for a change. However, I don't really miss home (by home I mean the apartment, not the whole concept of home). And I don't miss my stuff. I thought it would be harder to live here on my own, far away from everything. But it has turned out to be quite easy.
Last Tuesday I saw Motorcycle Diaries. Now I have some vague idea who Che Quevara is - hey, don't laugh, at least I have the balls to say I didn't know who he really is! ;) Anyway. The movie was thought-provoking, very insightful. It sent me thinking how it would feel like to leave all my possessions behind, sell them all, keep the money, and set off on a trip around the world, tour around some inexpensive coutries, in Asia for example. Just wander around with no predetermined destination. Look poverty in the eye and see different lifestyles. I think that would teach us people much more about life than any courses we take at universities and colleges. But who has the courage really. Materialism is our religion. Not mine though, even though the Ikea trip cheered up my mood ;D Let's say stuff isn't everything. I could settle for less. I somehow feel much happier here, 'cos I don't have all that stuff around me. I've got so much less to worry about. It's just me and my little room, my clothes and other more or less replaceable stuff, and the three valuable items I own - my laptop, my camera, and my mobile phone. That's all I have to worry about here, and my god, that's liberating. God knows what happens when I get back home from here. Oooooh beware! ;D Ha ha.

Let's finish this post with a bit more commonplace observations - that is, the good Scottish weather.
The weather has been very nasty lately. It hasn't actually been normal. I've heard that stormy weather has plagued the whole of Europe, so it's not just Scotland. We've had winds so tempestuous that it's been difficult to walk straight. The wind just pushes you back. I've still gone out in the evenings, 'cos there's no point in waiting for a fairer day - you'd spend all spring waiting for that.
However, today was a fair day. Glasgow was basking in warm sunlight. In fact, the birds are singing here already, acting out their mating rituals. And by the way, what do you do there, back in Finland? Shiver with cold at tram stops? ;) Hmm, I shouldn't be this smug, this might all come back to me in the form of good old Scottish rainstorms... ;)

Summarizing Last Week

I should update this blog more often. 'Cos if I don't, I'll have to write these ridiculous summaries for the whole spring. I promise this will be the last one.

So what have I been up to for the past days? Mainly studying and socializing. Here's a brief account.


The Studies.

Most importantly (?), my studies. I am starting to get some sort of an idea which courses I'm going to take for credit. Onomastics is a bit dull but okay. I don't have any prior knowledge about the subject, nor can I see what relevance it bears with my career prospects, for example, but the lecturer has made me feel so welcome that I just don't have the heart to drop the course anymore. She is an elderly woman and judging by her overall appearance, onomastic research is her life. She almost trembles from trying to control herself when talking about such passionate and thought-provoking subjects as masculine or feminine elements in Anglo-Saxon personal names.

On Wednesday I attended the best lecture here so far, sociolinguistics. It was about the acquisition of linguistic variation in early childhood, and believe me, I was all ears the whole time. I learned, for example, that mothers try to teach their daughters to speak proper English even if their own dialect and accent were far from standard, like Glaswegian patter or Cockney. The girls imitate their moms' dialect, but get corrected. As for sons, moms don't really care, 'cos boys are boys, they'll speak terribly anyway no matter how much you teach them. But girls - they have to behave properly and make a good impression. That's weird. It's funny how the society has different expectations and different norms of acceptable behaviour depending on whether you're a boy or a girl. That's evident even in the way mothers teach their children to speak.

On Friday I had a sort of 'group presentation' about reading tasks in the EFL classroom, as part of the Culture and ELT course. You know that feeling you get when you realise you're far too qualified to do something, hell of a lot more qualified than the others in the group you're supposed to work with, so qualified that you'd be happy to call the shot so that you wouldn't have to feel ashamed in front of an audience, presenting some shit, the embarrassing fruits of your group brainstorming, actually a very ineffective method of producing fresh ideas. But you'll never get the chance to even point out that you'd be happy to help 'cos you're almost a fully-qualified teacher, 'cos there's this dickhead, bossing about, acting like she knew it all 'cos her mother is a teacher and 'she said we have to do this and that', telling other group members what to do, being incapable of taking critique, and eventually, saying what the others have scraped up isn't what she meant originally. Right. I'm glad there're only two more tasks to go, 'cos our cooperation clearly didn't work. I feel over-qualified to this course, but I'll take it anyway, 'cos I'll obtain the credits with minimal effort. It'd be foolish not to take it.

Two more courses are starting this week. The other is about Scottish post-war literature and the other about the history of Celtic Civilisation from 400 to 1100. Both sound interesting, but I'll have to drop either of them, 'cos otherwise I'd have too much work. Let's see, let's see.


The Gym.

On Thursday I went and joined the Glasgow University Sports Association, aka GUSA. Their facilities are excellent. Besides the same amenities offered by Yliopistoliikunta, there's a bonus called the swimming compartment. Here you can use the pool for free, while in Helsinki you'd have to pay 4€ for each dip in the water. The gym is also ok, despite the fact that it's not a large area full of appliances but all the equipment is scattered around the building in different rooms, e.g. the steppers are in the cardiovascular suite. This caused some bewilderment at first, as I'm not a gym-freak who knows all the correct terms. I just want to get rid of my love handles and spare tires.


The Tiredness.

I've been socializing again, at the cost that on Friday I was so tired I couldn't maintain my balance but felt all dizzy and wobbly. But there's too much to do, too many interesting things going on! On Monday I was in a pub, as I told you in the earlier post. Every Tuesday there's a movie night organized by the International Society, and after that people usually go to grab a coffee to nearby QMU (Queen Margaret Union) and to chat a bit. On Thursdays there's always an international pub night at The Primary, the best occasion to meet other exchange students and new people. As for the other days, there's always someone grabbing you somewhere. It's kinda fun, 'cos I haven't been this active since my teenage years. I even feel like a teenager at times, 'cos I don't want to miss a thing. I don't want to come back home regretting that I never took part in the fun, because that's how you meet new people and make friends here. And there's nothing wrong with that, I enjoy every moment :)



Now I've gotta get some sleep, but I'll update and edit this post tomorrow as I've got a lot to add, so check back here again, ok. I know this is not the typical way of writing a blog, but hey, my blog, my rules, my long blatherings ;) And my lost readership, ha ha...

My Humble Abode

It's been a while since I spent the evening at home. Now that I am here, I decided to edit some pics for you guys and add them here so that you could get some sort of an idea of my surroundings. So I do this for you! Sit here all by myself, for your sake! Think about that! ;)

Ok. So first of all, here's my home street:




And here's the backyard and my window:



And the view from my window:



It's quite peaceful here in my room, 'cos my window is facing the backyard. So no street noises or other annoying factors.

And there below is my room before and after the trip to Ikea. Not so bad, huh? At least I'm satisfied. The colours could be better, of course, but hey, who cares about a hideous green carpet if the room is okay otherwise? No holes in walls, no rats, no wind blowing through a closed window... The only downside are the heavy fire doors that slam behind you every time you close them. This caused me sleeping disorders in the first week. People got up at 8am and started slamming those freaking doors. BANG! BANG! BANG! Why bother closing the door quietly behind you if you're in a hurry? However, I've got used to them by now, so actually they are a positive side as well. At least I feel safe and secure.

Before Ikea:


After Ikea:


Doesn't it look nice and comfy? :)

Monday Affairs and Glasgow Plusses and Minuses

I was right, there were many fine days to come. Today was a good day, at least.

I exceeded all expectations and made it to the city centre by 12:30 to collect the tickets for Clannad's concert. We (me and Anna-Riitta) even got quite ok seats even though the guy on the phone didn't ask for my preferences. After that I apparently lost the track of time at Virgin Megastore and spent 2 hours listening to Global Underground DJ mixes that were on sale. By the end of those two hours I had come down to two compilations I wanted to buy, one mixed by Sasha and the other by John Digweed, but then just before marching to the cashier's desk I realised that ok, for £9.99 I could get food for the whole week. So in the end, I didn't buy anything, just wasted two hours at Virgin Megastore :P But that's what I always do back home, especially in bookshops. I walk in the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa (Academic Bookstore), browse all kinds of titles for ages, and in the end, either buy them all or walk out of the store empty-handed.

After the trip to the centre I had my second lecture on onomastics. Today it was about bynames, meaning nicknames given to people back in the 14th century or so, to distinguish them from other people with the same name (back in the medieval times there were only like six boys' names in popular use: Richard, William, Edward, Henry, Geoffrey and Walter). So people got names like Richard the Lionheart. The topic sounds absolutely tedious, I know, but actually I found myself jotting down notes eagerly like a Real Student, or the sort of student I am back in Helsinki :P So maybe it wasn't tedious at all. Maybe I have to take that course for credit. However, I would still have been more interested in place-names, but that part of the course was covered already in the autumn. Damn. Well, I have books on the topic.

In the evening I met some friends at a nice pub called Drum and Monkey. Glasgow is full of places to hang out, so there's at least one good thing about this city :P Oooh well, there are many other things as well. Let me just make a list for you:


What's good about Glasgow:

- Lots of pubs, clubs and bars. And they're all SMOKE-FREE!! So all ya non-smokers don't have to care about cigarette reek here, whee :)

- The University is absolutely gorgeous. You can imagine Harry Potter flying around on his broom (is that the word?) in the inner yard. Actually I don't know if Harry Potter even has a broom, but you got the idea anyway.

- Kelvingrove Park is absolutely gorgeous as well.

- I live close to the Uni, the park and the West End.

- My flat and flatmates are ok. My room is cosy and warm, and my bed is comfortable.

- People at the Uni are all friendly and helpful.


What sucks about Glasgow:

- Shops close at 6PM. This city is for early birds only. I'm not one. Hey, take a look at the time stamp at the end of this post ;)

- There are no zebra crossings. This is true!! Either you walk 1km to find the nearest traffic lights, or just run across the street praying that you won't get hit. 'Cos here, it's the cars that rule. The drivers never give you way, even if you were already crossing the road.

- It's rainy and windy all the time. I knew this beforehand, so I don't really have the right to complain, but still, this is more than I can bear.

- Glaswegian accent sounds absolutely horrific. To be honest, it just pisses me off, partly because of the fact that I find it so difficult to grasp. I'm not the only one, most Brits are of the same opinion. I remember vaguely that Glaswegian accent was voted the most horrendous British English accent by Brits themselves. Where does this illogical, incomprehensible English derive from? Industrial past and the patter of the working classes, I guess.

- The tower blocks in the outskirts of the city are appalling. And there are many! Generally speaking, Glasgow isn't a postcard darling, but it's got a great attitude.


Ok, there was a list for you.

In the evening there was a farewell party to this German girl Mira whose room I'm occupying now (this was hers before), and after that I went upstairs to Sara's room to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Sara and Sam. I'd give that 3 stars out of 5.

Right. This post must have made a really interesting read. I'll try harder next time.

Light in the End of a Dark Tunnel

Hello my dear friends. I feel happy, for the first time here I feel really, really happy. Yesterday was probably the best day here so far, and now I feel that there are many more to come.

First, there was Edinburgh, my beloved Edinburgh, where I went on a bus trip arranged by our active International Society. Two bus-fulls of people set off toward this beautiful city at 9AM on Saturday morning - yes, I was tired, but the sight of Edinburgh one hour later wiped away my weariness. My god, that city is one beauty queen, I tell you. After the dismal streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh felt like a breeze of fresh and welcoming air. The sight of Arthur's Seat, the Castle, Calton Hill and all that took my breath away. All the time I was climbing up the castle hill towards the main gate and breathing in the ancient atmosphere I had this ridiculous, ear-to-ear grin on my face. I just couldn't help it. Gosh :D
First we checked out the castle. I had been there before, albeit nine and a half years ago. The highlight of the visit was, without doubt, the Stone of Scone, which assumedly was lying behind a protected glass with some glittering crown jewels (which I didn't find as interesting, 'cos I'm not really into such trinkets :P ). I have to consult my dad (Bruno the Self-Educated Historian) on this though, 'cos I wasn't 100% sure whether that stone was THE ancient and sacred coronation stone that was kept in England for 400 years or so and only recently returned to Scotland. Come to think of it, however, what else could it have been? A random stone kept behind a bullet-proof glass? I reckon that was the real thing. Wow.
Even the weather was in favour of at least the first half of our trip. After a wee bit of rambling around the Royal Mile and Princes Street, Scottish weather took us by surprise, again. The sky went all grey and started pouring down cats and dogs upon us poor tourists. That didn't matter, however, 'cos we (me, Anna-Riitta, Petra and an Australian girl Prue) found this huge Waterstone's bookstore, where we could easily spend the time we had left before the busses departed back to Glasgow. I made some real bargains and bought three books for the price of two - Kate Mosse's Labyrinth (a novel on the legend of the Holy Grail set in Carcassonne), Dan Brown's Angels and demons (haven't read that yet), and Zadie Smith's On Beauty (one of the most critically-acclaimed novels from last year). That's enough books for many years to come, 'cos I'll never have the time to read them anyway :D Well, I'm counting upon my looong and hot summer holiday in Finland.

Here's one pic taken in the castle. Anna-Riitta's expression says it all :D



The evening (and the night, obviously) was the icing on the cake. Sam & Harry threw a party in their attic flat, which will undoubtedly be granted the honour of being THE place to party and socialize during these five months. Besides Sam and Harry the Party Flat is shared by Harry's girlfriend Robin and this lunatic Indian guy, who is, scarily enough, a doctor.
That party really brightened my mood. I realised that wow, I've got these wonderful, crazy and artistic people around me, and what have I been doing? Like asking myself what the heck I'm doing here? Now I know what I'm doing here. I'm here to get to know these wonderful people, to spend six awesome months in Scotland. Now I feel alive again, like someone had lifted a veil off of my eyes and wiped away all the sadness and pessimism. Now that I'm reborn, I have even started to make plans for this spring. Today I marked all important dates on my calendar and checked when my essays are due. I also checked SECC's website for gig and concert listings and found at least three gigs that interest me - Faithless, Incubus and Justin Timberlake are on tour, whee! :D I even booked tickets to Clannad's concert on Friday, which is remarkable as the band hasn't thrown a gig for 10 years or so. I wonder why I didn't do that earlier, 'cos I've got all their records and have been a fan for like 10 years... Well, better late than never.

So this is all starting to look a lot brighter. No more crying, no more longing for home whatsoever. I'm really looking forward to this spring now.

Below are some pictures from the party. Enjoy :)


Sam, Sarah, Harry & Robin, Petra (in front of them), Gayathri, Maija, and the Indian doctor.


Me, Eva and Sarah.


LOL.


Sam and Eva making some music.

Booze and Blathering

Hi there people.
I haven't posted anything for a while. Sorry about that. Actually I haven’t felt like posting anything here for the whole week. But now I shall provide you with the latest news from this stormy, god-forsaken place.

I’ve been a bit under the weather lately. I've got no routines here yet, which is somehow liberating, but at the same time it makes me feel like I was floating in the air, I just can't get a grip. Every morning when I wake up I find myself thinking what the heck I'm doing here. I came here to study, but as it has turned out, I have only practised introspection and consumed alcohol. And frankly put, I don't even bother to think about serious studying right now. At the moment, I just want to party, which surprises even myself. It’s me, Laura, who is always the least wasted person in parties. I can already see the psychiatrist asking me a year from now where my drinking problem started, the answer being, “What do you think, in Glasgow, of course!” ;) He he.
Too bad my tummy doesn't co-operate with my intentions. I’ve been eating like a bird, 'cos most food just puts me off. Gladly I found oat flakes a couple of days ago at Iceland (that's a supermarket chain). I've had a terrible craving for oat porridge since last Saturday :D

Well well. What has happened since Sunday then.

On Sunday I felt lonely and miserable so I went to see Anna-Riitta in the evening. She found a perfect flat in the private sector, just a five-minute walk away from my place. I was green of envy. It felt so homey, at least compared to my 10-square-metre cave.

On Monday I had my first lecture about onomastics. I almost fell asleep. I wouldn’t have thought it that boring, but I mean really, the lecture was tedious :D This sent me off pondering that okay, in the catalogue this course sounded the most interesting, so what about those courses then that didn’t sound that interesting? What the heck am I gonna study here? Oh, well. As we all know, I’m not here for serious studying, which is attested by the fact that on Monday I also went out drinking again. Petra turned 23 so I kinda had to, didn’t I? ;D We were at Queen Margaret Union, the same place as on Saturday. Nothing special about that, except that it turned out that there must be something seriously wrong with my brain, ‘cos my toes didn’t curl when Petra tested my reflexes on my sole. She’s a medical student, so she knows. Maybe I’m just brain dead, too much booze and too little sleep, I guess.

On Tuesday I went to see my study advisor, who basically approved all of the courses I had chosen even though there was far too many. He just asked me to drop some of them once I have been to the first lectures and decided which I really want to take. I forgot to ask him what happens if they all turn out to be crap.

On Tuesday I also got a Vodafone pre-paid and probably made a world record by using 21 pounds of credit within 24 hours. The prick who sold the sim card didn’t bother to tell me that international calls cost 1,50 pounds per minute. PER MINUTE!! Well, actually even if he had told me, I wouldn’t have made sense of it. I was there with this Kiwi guy Sam, who basically had to translate every sentence to me in proper English. What, me, a student of English? Not! :D
Anyway. On Tuesday I made an 8-minute call, with the consequence that I ran out of credit as early as Wednesday evening. Not only I, but also my phone went mad after that. I ended up fiddling with it so much that eventually it blocked itself up and asked for the PUK code.
So on Thursday I was sort of compelled to go to the centre and drop by at that Vodafone shop again. This time the bloke behind the counter was much more customer-oriented, and sorted out all my problems.

After that me and Anna-Riitta hopped on a bus and set off on our trip to the outskirts of the city, where Ikea was to be located. Thanks to the bus driver, we found our way there, even though we couldn’t grasp his slurred Glaswegian patter at all. Nor did the locals, as it turned out.
Two hours of frantic shopping in the DIY heaven, and we were done. Rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing at 30 metres per second when we, two poor Finns, struggled with our 20kg bags back home. I was wet all over, mutta perkele sentään, it was well worth it! I got a bedspread, some sheets and pillowcases, plastic mugs and boxes, cutlery, knives, a bottle opener, a blanket, and most importantly, a table lamp. Lighting is everything. The new lamp wiped away the bleakness of my cave and replaced it with comfy warmth :)

Yesterday I was also drinking again. My digestion system has already signed itself off, so why bother curing it. Ok, I only had one glass of wine, so I wouldn't really call that Drinking with a capital D. But still.

Okay, that was my week. I’ve attended five classes altogether and wasted money on booze and blathering. Only one course seems worthwhile at the moment, but it’s concerned with so basic TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) stuff that I honestly don’t believe I would learn anything new here. I’m still waiting for two courses to start though. Maybe they’ll be worthwhile.

What is worthwhile though is tomorrow’s trip to Edinburgh with the International Society. And I reckon it’s so worthwhile that I’ve decided to act like a sensible adult and go to sleep early, as I don’t want to be totally knocked out when I see that gorgeous city again. So I guess it’s time for me to shut up now and wish you all a nice weekend there in Finland :)

Ceilidh and a Terrible Morkkis afterwards

I advised you to check back here if you want to know what ceilidh means. Well, it means LOADS of FUN! :) There were people from all over the world at the student nightclub on campus dancing traditional Celtic folk dances. First a five-minute practise, and then one two three four, and here we go. So ceilidh is about dancing to cheerful Scottish tunes, sweating like a pig, and naturally, drinking like a fish. And staying up until 5 o'clock, and having this terrible "morkkis" afterwards for getting way too wasted. Or PISHED, as they say here. Or piiissed, as they say in Australia. Sanotaan, että oli perse tukevasti olalla. Oh gosh. And I was supposed to study hard today, and buy a better pillow and a large bath towel from the centre. Oh, well. If I have to name one thing that sucks about Glasgow, it's that all the freaking shops close at 6PM every single day. Don't they have any business sense? People have just got home from work at six o'clock, but there's nowhere to go, since the whole fucking city is closed, sorry! Today shops closed as early as 5PM.
Well, at least I learned new idioms last night, so it wasn't all about pouring wine down my throat ;) In order to be a good student and practise one of these idioms, let's say that I didn't have a shit show in hell to wake up early, study hard and go to the city centre today. There. That's New Zealand English. Now I feel better. I'm not all that lazy. I have learned something.

Ramblings about the First Days

Dear web crawler,

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to my blog.

Or in a more informal way, I’m glad that you found your way here and even stopped by to read this. It’s always nice to have readers, even though I don’t really know whether the stuff I’ll be writing down here is going to interest you at all, as this is more or less a diary.

Anyway.

As many of you know, I’m going to spend this spring in Glasgow as an exchange student. I came here through an exchange link between the Department of English at the University of Helsinki and the Department of English Language at the University of Glasgow, so basically I’m here to study English linguistics. The courses I’m planning to take are about onomastics (that’s the study of place names and people’s names), the history of Scottish language, the history of Celtic people and culture and maybe sociolinguistics if that fits nicely in my schedule. I’m also planning to take a course on Scottish literature, which is kind of untypical of me as I don’t really consider myself a literature freak. However, the course might provide me a deeper insight into the contemporary Scottish psyche, so that’s why I’m taking it.

So that’s the study part. But like we all know, student exchange isn’t really about studying but finding new perspectives on life, widening your cultural horizons, meeting new people from all corners of the world and discovering yourself. Wow, that sounds rather lofty. To keep it more down to earth, let’s point out that maybe 80% of these goals can be reached by partying, drinking, travelling and socializing, and these are naturally going to be my main activities here besides studying.

So, Glasgow is going to be my home for the next six months, and this blog was set up to share the experience with you, my beloved readers. So thanks again for coming by. I’ll be updating this as often as I possibly can.


As this is my first post I’ve got so much to talk about that I don’t really know where to start. I’ll opt for the easiest way out and start from the very beginning.

I arrived in Glasgow on Wednesday 3rd of January. My 27kg of stuff didn’t though. My bags found it so nice and cosy in London that they decided to stay there for another day or two. This taught me a lesson. Never fly BA. Losing your luggage when travelling on BA is more of a rule than an exception, especially if you’re changing the plane in Heathrow.

However, at first it wasn’t the lost bags I was upset about, but all the food inside them. As many of you know, I’m on this special gluten-free, yeast-free and low lactose diet, and the thought of hunting this kind of free-from-everything food in a strange city on my first day didn’t really fascinate me. To give you an example, I had 3kg of frozen gluten-free and yeast-free bread in the other bag. All Wednesday my mind was haunted by the sad image of all that delicious bread defrosting in my bag somewhere in London, while I had to live on freaking rice cakes. My master plan was to throw the frozen bread in the freezer as soon as I get to Glasgow, so that it would have stayed frozen and in good condition all the time. BA ruined my master plan.

Once I got to my new home (that is, Kelvinhaugh Street university residences), I realised that actually I didn’t even have any clothes or basic hygiene stuff in my hand baggage. So I was compelled to leave the house for the dark and stormy evening and fight my way against the wind and rain to the city centre. Without a map, of course. My Collins Street Finder was still in London, inside my backpack safe and sound. Besides, for the first time I understood why they say you don’t need any umbrella in Scotland. Not that there’s no rain, but the rain attacks you from all directions, turning your umbrella into wreck. On top of that the wind bends your umbrella arm into steep curves.

With such a miserable start and the rainstorm and all, the first impression I got of this city wasn’t all that glorious. Actually I was on the verge of tears the whole Wednesday. I didn’t have anything familiar around me. I couldn’t even understand what people said to me. At McDonald’s I accidentally ordered a salad with breaded chicken, because I just didn’t understand a word the cashier asked me at the desk. The 2-hour sleep I got the previous night, together with flu and the feeling of getting even more ill might have had something to do with the overall feeling though.

There were positive sides to that first day though. The post-Christmas sales were still in full swing in all shops, so for example I got basic tank tops for merely 2 pounds each, a pullover for 4 pounds and 12 pairs of socks for 2 pounds. And I actually managed to find my special food at Sainsbury’s. I almost started shedding tears of joy when I found out they even had gluten-free cereal. On top of that all, my flatmates made me feel very welcome right from the start.

So I could cope through the day without getting a total breakdown, thanks to all these positive things.

Now I’ve been here for four days. It’s getting better day-by-day. The other bag (the one with bread in it) arrived already on Thursday afternoon, so I got my bread and all, yippee! Even though it had defrosted it was still cold, and I threw it back in the freezer again supposing it wouldn’t suffer that much. The backpack found its way back to me on Friday, and now that I’ve unpacked and spread my things in the room I have obviously started to feel much more cosy and homely here. I actually like my room. It’s nice to live in a little room again. Feels safe. Actually this whole flat is really comfortable, and even centrally located. I share it with two Indian girls, one Scottish lass and a French girl. But it’s just me and the Indians here at the moment, the others are arriving tomorrow, I guess. It’s even warm here – on the first day I had to ask the Indian girls whether we could turn the heating down a bit, as the temperature was around 26C in my room :D The Indians hadn’t noticed anything, perhaps because they’re used to living in the tropic…

I would continue a bit about yesterday’s drinking and socializing, but the international society is going to throw a ceilidh event, starting in about an hour, so I have to get ready. If you want to know what ceilidh means, check back here tomorrow and you’ll find out ;) By the way, congratulations if you really made it this far, I got a bit carried away and ended up blathering a bit more than I intended. Sorry ‘bout that.