Impossible Missions, Missions Impossible

I've got complaints about not updating my blog often enough. That's true. But I've got lost in the to-do jungle. I saw this was bound to happen. To account for the absence of updates, I shall present you with my jungle, or the missions that have taken up all my time and energy during the past week.

Mission # 1: Read 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' for the Scottish Literature Course - CHECK

If you want to make yourself feel and seem monumentally stupid, go and attend a literature tutorial without giving a single thought to, well, actually without even seeing the book or the poems the tutorial is going to be about. This has happened to me twice so far, first on Friday two weeks ago and then last Friday, well enough to convince me that I don't fancy the feeling of being and seeming stupid at all. Last Friday I spend the one-hour tutorial just sitting there behind my desk, rolling my thumbs, going through the shopping list for Saturday in my mind, at the same time trying to act like I had read the book from cover to cover and understood everything the more active literature freaks were talking about. This might have worked if I had been sitting in some far, dark corner of the classroom. But no, I was sitting right next to the most active people and just two metres from the teacher's hawk-eyes. So, every time she went, 'What do you guys think about this?', I felt my heart jump and started wondering where I should look now in order not to face the teacher's questioning gaze. So all I remember from that class are views of the ceiling, the curtains, and the door. Therefore, after last Friday's tutorial I marched straight out of the classroom to the library and ordered all the freaking set books at Play.com, promising myself I'll never want to go there unprepared again.

Mission #2: Get the Books from the Royal Mail Deposit – FAILED

Play.com was quick, but I wasn't at home, and the packet of books was obviously too big for my mailbox. So Royal Mail had left me a note, stating I should contact them to arrange a redelivery or to arrange the parcel to be delivered to the nearest post office. I picked the number, waited on the line for half an hour, and eventually, gave up. To avoid waiting for hours in the phone, I should just go and get the parcel from the Royal Mail deposit on the other side of the city. I haven't managed to do that yet.

Mission #3: Buy Hiking Boots to Prevent Getting Serious Injuries on the Mountains, e.g. Death – FAILED

I'm going hiking in Ben Nevis and the surrounding area this weekend with the mountaineering club, which I joined this Tuesday at their pub meeting. Sounds kinda fun. But I'm having some slightly nervous second thoughts on this. Why? Let me tell you. In case you didn't know, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, rising up to 1344m. According to Lonely Planet Scotland, there are some minor facts to chew over before venturing on an adventure up to the top. First of all, 'the summit plateau is bounded by 700m-high cliffs and has a sub-Arctic climate'; there can be 'snow on any day of the year'; the summit is 'wrapped in cloud nine days out of 10', and if the cloud is thick, 'visibility can be 10m or less'; AND 'in such conditions the only safe way off the mountain requires careful use of a map and compass to avoid walking over those 700m cliffs'. Right! Off and over we go mates! 'Cos guess what, I haven't even managed to find proper hiking boots yet!
I have tried, believe me! I spent all Saturday rummaging through outdoor stores in the city centre, and came back home empty-handed. But that was kind of a half-hearted attempt, so no surprise I didn't find anything. I made a more serious effort on Tuesday this week, walking far far away to a HUGE outdoor store, so huge it calls itself not just an ordinary outdoor store but 'Outdoor EXPERIENCE', and seeing the selection of boots I thought that ok, if I'm not gonna find myself a good pair of shoes here, I won't find them anywhere.
The thought was proven false. During those two sweaty hours I spent in the shop trying on different shoes I managed to come down to one pair, which felt quite nice and comfortable. But there was the size that worried me. Size 40 felt okay with normal sport socks but a bit tight with thicker ones. Since it's winter now, I might opt for thicker socks when hiking. So I tried on size 40,5. That was okay with the thicker socks, but with normal sport socks, way too loose! So, I tried on both sizes over and over again, walked around the shop, struggling with thoughts like 'After a month the winter's gone, and then the thicker socks might be too much, so let's take size 40', but then again, 'It's winter now, so I have to wear thicker socks, so let's take size 40,5', and again, 'Oh, but in a month I'm gonna be so pissed off if these 40,5-sized boots are too big and have still cost me £99, so let's take the smaller ones'... This went on for about one hour, during which I got so hungry and hysterical that in the end, I had to give up and walk back home empty-handed again.

So, with respect to the Lonely Planet quote, I don't even have proper hiking boots yet, let alone a compass and a map (or a torch, an ice axe, crampons, and other useful stuff mentioned in the form I signed joyfully on Tuesday's pub meeting), and what have I done? I have signed up on a hiking trip to Ben Nevis. Oh, goodness gracious.

Mission #4: Get Some Rest – FAILED

I was dead tired after the Arran weekend, but I still haven't managed to get a good night's sleep. Last week I was, again, coming and going all the time. If I was not attending classes, I was at the gym, or in the city centre in search of food or those damned boots, or doing some basic household chores, such as washing my smelly clothes, or keeping in touch with people on MSN (ok that's not very energy-consuming), or out with friends. Partying isn't as hardcore anymore as it was in the first weeks, but I still like to go out in the evenings and see some friends. Last week I stayed at home only on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday was the movie night, as usual, and greasy nachos at QMU afterwards. On Thursday I went to Global Village festival at QMU with Maija. Good exotic food and nice performances. I saw capoeira for the first time in my life, amazing! On Friday Petra wanted to celebrate because her first exam here was over, so we went out with Maija and Gayathri to this Cheesy Pop night at the QMU.


Maija, Petra, Gayathri and me at QMU

On Saturday I went to a party where about 80% of the people were, oddly enough, Finns. Furthermore, the last thing I heard before leaving the party was the voice of Ultra Bra's Terhi Kokkonen singing about tram connections in Helsinki (Ultra Bra - Kirjoituksia). I even had some salmiakki in my bag, so that was a truly authentic Finnish night out! The only things lacking were salmari and sauna.
This week I've mostly been studying at home, except that today I had a delicious and extortionately expensive Valentine's Day three-course dinner with some friends at a fancy restaurant called Bar Budda. Which was nice. The fanciest thing was surely the huge portion of fruit salad, with creme brulee on the side. Which turned out to be creme brulee with three pieces of fruit on the side, but who cares about minor details...



Mission #5: Start Writing Your Essays, You Lazy Bastard! - CHECK

The fact that I haven't spent much time at home has had the consequence that now I'm stressed out because of the heaps of assignments I need to do before the end of the term. I have four – yes, FOUR – essays due in just THREE weeks. That makes 21 days if you count tomorrow (Thursday). But in fact it's less than that. Four days out of those 21 I'm going to spend with Lauri, who's coming here on Wednesday evening next week. About 6 days out of those remaining 17 I'm going to spend exploring the Highlands with my deadly insufficient gear. So, that makes 11 days to write four essays.
Okay, I might actually have just three, 'cos today I sent a desperate e-mail to my Sociolinguistics course convener, asking for a permission to submit my essay later, after the Easter break. On what grounds? To balance my workload a bit. I'm doing four courses at the moment, three of which are ending by the Easter break and only one continuing until the beginning of May (and my Erasmus agreement lasts until the beginning of June). So about 90% of my assignments for the whole spring are due the week starting 5.3. (which is when Satu and Pasi come here in the hope of getting entertained, which might not happen, 'cos I'm entertaining myself with those freaking essays ;D ).
Nevertheless, I'm optimistic. Today I started off with the first one, which is actually quite simple, just designing a task for EFL learners and analysing it from a theoretical point of view. Basic, basic stuff, but I still have to get it on paper, which takes time.
For next week I have scheduled a 1500-word literature essay about that book mentioned earlier.
Then there's only one to go, about EFL stuff again.

So if you hear nothing about me for the next few weeks, just imagine me having fun in the world of academic writing, partying with topic sentences, having a wee pint with linking expressions, and in the end, picking a fight with thesis statements, those evil bastards.
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So, these missions have preoccupied me lately, with the result that I've been neglecting my blog. But I didn't forget about you guys. Do you remember that in the previous post I promised to take a pic of joggers in their shorts and t-shirts on a cold winter day? I kept my promise. Here we go:



And these are schoolkids. It's below zero degrees, and even the teacher is wearing summer gear. I knew there was something badly wrong with the school system here.