Doctors, Essays, and Tourist Attractions

Ha! I suddenly remembered that I have a blog I've been neglecting for ages! The update has been on my to-do list, but first I've had to take care of more important (?), or at least more time-consuming stuff, which are:

- Familiarizing myself with Scottish health care
- Getting my essays done
- Exploring Scotland
- Acting as a host for Satu & Pasi
- Acting as an amateur online therapist for fucked-up friends.

That pretty much sums up all that I've been up to the past two weeks. A detailed description follows, as always. Not about the last point though, because as a therapist, I'm bound by discretion.

1. Getting Familiar with Scottish Health Care

First of all, you remember case #3 from the last post, the awful tinnitus I got from that loud flat party? Let's start with that.
So, on the Wednesday following the last post I decided to go and see a doctor about the beep, to find out whether it was something sinister or just some aftermath of the flu I had.
It wasn't all that easy, though. A bit of essential info: if you ever move to Scotland or to any place in the UK, be sure that you register with a local doctor straightaway. I didn't, and that's why I had to wait until the Friday to get an appointment. There are no such huge health centres here as in Finland, but only these wee street surgeries with 3-5 doctors. I couldn't find any huge private clinics either (like Diacor or Mehiläinen), just these little surgeries. Health care is not a profitable business here, it seems. And if you need to see a specialist, first you need to get a referral from your GP (general practitioner), stating your condition and why you need to see a specialist. Quite different from Finland, where you can surf the net for doctors, choose your preferred one, and book the appointment online. You can even choose to get a text message before your appointment to remind you.
This must be the first time I explicitly compare Scotland to Finland, but health care is one thing that really pisses you off if it doesn't work as efficiently and conveniently as back home.
ANYWAY. I got an appointment for that Friday 1,5 weeks ago. The doctor exceeded all my expectations, I loved him! He took me seriously, offered me some nasal spray to clear up my Eustachian tubes (korvatorvet, he suspected that they were blocked from the flu), and referred me to a private ENT specialist to explore my ears further. I also got some antibiotics for free from the University Health Services, in case I had an infection in my ears.
The tinnitus subsided a bit last week, thank god, but I still went to see that specialist on Thursday at Nuffield Hospital like planned (nice sightseeing, now I know that part of Glasgow as well). And what a relief! She ran some tests and found out that I have NO hearing damage whatsoever - in fact my hearing is excellent for my age. Her diagnosis was that my ears are extremely sensitive to loud noise, since the beep gets worse after noise exposure. There's no cure for it, but at least no I don't have to fear of being deaf in ten years. Since then, the beep has faded even more (now that I got my essays done and am no longer stressed out), and at this point I could deem the case closed. But seeing doctors was worthwhile though, now I know how the healthcare system works here and can boast about my excellent hearing ;)

2. Essays, essays, essays! Hate them!

The most plausible explanation for not keeping my blog up-to-date are the THREE 1250-to-1500-word essays due last week, one for the Scottish literature course and the other two for Culture and English Language Teaching. I made a personal record by writing one of them from start to finish within just 24 hours, something I've never done in my whole life (unless you count high school essays).
Just to take the above comparison between Scotland and Finland a bit further, I must share the printing show with you.
The CELT essays were due Wednesday at 3PM. I had taken my MacBook with me to Uni, 'cos I had to finish the last essay and wanted to avoid a 15-min queue for a PC before getting started.
I was finished at 2PM, and thought that an hour would be enough for printing. I couldn't print from my MacBook you see, so I had to allow for the PC queue and stuff, and I thought that an hour would be ok.

However, here's an important note for all of you studying in Glasgow: an hour is NOT enough for printing your essays! Allow at least two!

First, I stood in the queue for 15mins, cursing all those bastards who I saw surfing YouTube or some other all-important websites. Idiots! Don't you realise that some of us have essays due!
The queue didn't seem to be moving, so I gave up and sprinted to Round Reading Room, where you can always get a computer. I got one immediately, thank god, but I sighed way too early, since I didn't realise there was only ONE printer, and about 150 PCs! So, I waited, and I waited, and I waited. I got my papers in the end, only to find out that MS Word had messed up the margins and moved some subheadings in the last line of the previous page, so that the overall layout of the papers seemed utterly amateur. I couldn't tolerate it, perfectionist as I am, so I moved the headings back to their place, pressed the 'print' button again, and waited, and waited, and waited... Three minutes before the deadline the perfectionist in me gave up. Hands shaking, I stapled those amateur copies hysterically, and speeded like lightning to the English Department office. Made it! Just in time! But still! Fuckinell! I spent one hour for this printing show, and was compelled to hand in those frigging amateur copies! I hope the stupid layout doesn't affect the overall mark. So, all you exchange students out there, prepare for a show when you wish to print out your assignments...

3. Exploring Scotland and Hosting My Visitors

The past days haven't been all about seeing doctors and writing essays. I've also visited the noble town of St. Andrews, my beloved Edinburgh (again), and some tourist attractions of my home town, or acted as a host for Satu, my sister-in-law, and Pasi, her fiance.

First of all, St. Andrews, a week ago on a sunny Saturday. A lovely place. Great atmosphere, great ruins, great people. And Prince William. We didn't see him though. Damn. We saw:

- The ruins of a cathedral and of a castle, both dating back to the Middle Ages.
- A Scottish wedding and lots of men dressed up in kilts (gorgeous).
- Lots of colourful doors.
- A friendly old man (a local, but originally from the States), his lovely dogs and his lovely house covered in plant leaves.

The pictures speak for more than a thousand words.


St. Andrews Cathedral. Awesome ruins.


Gayathri climbing up inside St. Rules Tower.


The view from St. Rules Tower.


Lots of birdies in the towers! Hihi! :)


Graveyard.


Tombs. Wicked.


The castle front and me.


A jail in the castle. I wouldn't want to be thrown in there.


Then, last Monday I made a short visit to Edinburgh to meet Satu and Pasi, and mainly, to fetch the 3kg of bread and some other useful stuff (such as 0,5l of Salmari) they brought me from Finland. We climbed up the Calton Hill and had a dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Which was nice.


Satu and Pasi in Calton Hill.

Then on Wednesday, right after that notorious printing show, they came to Glasgow to stay with me overnight. It was kinda weird to act as a tourist guide when all I've seen of this city are the University area, local supermarkets, the main shopping streets, and people’s kitchens and flats. I did my best anyway. The first night we walked around the centre, had a dinner at Bella Italia and a pint at Drum & Monkey, and saw the seedy side of Glasgow's nightlife around the central station. Sitting comfortably inside the pub by the window, we witnessed, for example, a guy throw up in front of our eyes and saw another fellow rolling on a street totally hammered, 2m from passing cars. Next time I'll take my guests to the more civilised side of Glasgow, Ashton Lane and the West End.

On Thursday I gave them a quick tour of the University area and Byres Road, after which we headed to the centre again, first to a Celtic's store on Sauchiehall Street so that Pasi could buy a scarf, and then to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is truly worth a visit. It looks bleak on the surface but is actually quite impressing inside. And not infested by tourists, main point! Here are some pics to wonder at:


George Square and Satu's favourite lions.


It's spring here already! Can't you see the flowers!


Girls having a chat on University hill.


Glasgow Cathedral. Bleak outside, mysterious inside.


Glasgow Museum of Modern Art. Note the statue and his 'hat'.


Nothing else worth mentioning has happened.

Yesterday there were two parties on just 3 mins from my place. I was allowed to drink again (hated being on antibiotics!), gosh that Salmari tasted good! :D I've never fancied Salmari back home, but here I've started to miss the taste of salmiakki so much that even Salmari tastes awesome.
Today I started a new mission (now that I'm finished with the hiking boot show): I must find a backpack, since the one I use is breaking apart. I'll keep you informed on how this quest progresses.

This week is going to be the last week before the Easter Break, and Lauri is coming here on Wednesday :) At last!

I'll finish this post with a proof that I can't escape the teacher in me. This is all I got from St. Andrews:

A teacher-to-be cannot leave a tourist shop without buying some material for her future English classes! ;)

Three Cases from This Week

Just decided to provide you with some info about my current state.

1. CASE 1: LAURI'S VISIT. So Lauri didn't make it here last weekend - darn - I was feeling crap for a day or two, but not anymore, 'cos we booked new tickets for him already :) He's coming here in just TWO WEEKS! :)) So he's here between 14.3.-20.3. And actually that's even better than this visit the storm messed up, 'cos now he's here for longer and he's going to join the big big Highlands/Loch Ness trip with ISoc. We're going to see some of the most famous sights of Scotland and sleep in a real castle with tons of people. And there's going to be a ceilidh in the evening! :) I'm so happy! I have a dance partner! A ceilidh partner, all night, just for me! Lauri's going to love that. Can't wait to see him. Miss him so much!
I've forgot to mention this, but even though I told you in January that I don't really miss anything or anyone in Finland, that's not at all true anymore, I miss all of you! And I want to know how you are doing there! Please send me e-mail :) Or drop a comment here. Or use MSN Messenger. You'll find me online almost every night ;) I hope I'll find you too.

2. CASE 2: ESSAYS. Yeah, I got more time to write my essays when Lauri's trip was cancelled, but make a guess, did I use that time efficiently? Did I actually write essays all weekend? NO. I was partying, heehee! And here I am, stressed up, trying to finish my second essay ASAP, so that I can start with the third (and last) one. The first one is done, thank god. The deadlines are on Monday (for the second one) and on Wednesday (for the other two).
I've never been that efficient time-wise - as you all know, I'm ALWAYS late, and ALWAYS in a hurry. It runs in the family, my dad has the same flaw. Or is it a flaw? A bit of stress keeps me on the move, I think. What sucks though is that I had to cancel another hiking trip because of my bad planning. The first one was because of my flu, and this weekend's trip to Torridon because of these essays. Well, I'm going to St. Andrews with the ISoc instead. And on Monday to Edinburgh to meet Satu and Pasi who are spending five days there and bringing me some bread and salmiakki from Finland. Can't wait to see them! :)

3. CASE 3: TINNITUS. Despite the quite positive undertone in this post, it's not just happy happy joy joy here, actually I've been very down lately. I went to this party last Saturday, which was really nice and funny because of the dress code - people were asked to wear something 'half and half'. My friend Lotta was half devil, half angel; I was half partying, half sleeping (which reflected my mood pretty well). Which means that I was wearing a party top and pyjama pants :) Here's a pic for you to peer at:



So, anyway. When you go to a flat party, you wouldn't automatically assume that the music is going to be as loud as in a nightclub, and that you'd need earplugs. Neither did I, until I saw that the music was coming out of a freakin QUITAR AMPLIFIER!! Then it hit me hard that I might have got some real damage in my ears during that night without even realising it. At that point I was done, and walked out of the building as fast as I could.
And guess what, my tinnitus really got worse. When I came home that night my ears were ringing like hell. Since then my ears have felt blocked. Maybe they are? Maybe this will go away? Please, go away you damned beep! I can't sleep with earplugs on 'cos all I hear is that freakin beeeeep, and I can't sleep without earplugs 'cos the doors start slamming at 6:30. So I can't sleep at all, which just makes this worse.
Why me of all people? I always wear earplugs, except for this one single time, and is this the price to pay? Please people, use earplugs, take care of your hearing before it's too late. I'm not asking you, I'm forcing you!

So, if someone asks me what I got out of this exchange, I have an answer ready: a hearing loss! :D *lol*

The Odds Are Against Us!

*** SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST UPDATES!!! ***

No posts since Friday, sorry for that. I got the flu after all. So, it was wise that I stayed at home all weekend and skipped that hiking trip, 'cos judging by what the girls told me on Sunday, I wouldn't have come back home alive. While they were conquering two Munros, I was taking a wee 2km walk on the banks of River Clyde, almost fainting on my way home. Hiking would've killed me in that kind of condition. I was still quite productive and actually managed to finish my first essay. A big hand to me for that!

Anyway. During the weekend I was already thinking, half-jokingly, that I must be cursed, 'cos I got the flu just three days before Lauri (my bf) was expected to come here. I shouldn't have joked about that. Just two hours ago I got the proof that I really am cursed.

LAURI'S FLIGHT WAS F---ING CANCELLED!!!

So there he is, stranded in Copenhagen (where he decided to spend a few days as a tourist before coming here, don't ask me why), with thousands of other people!

Thanks to the elements, what else. It's snowing and sleeting, the winds are gusting up to 68km/h, and according to Weather.com, the next few days don't look any brighter for Copenhagen, so the situation is just completely fucked.

There seems to be nothing else to do but wait. I guess that somehow I just have to get myself focused and start working on my second essay. 'Cos if Lauri came here, say, on Friday, I would ask him to reschedule his return flight so that we could spend at least a bit more time together than just two days! Which means, of course, that I'd have less time to write my essays next week.

Anyway. Let's see what happens. I'll keep you posted.


*** UPDATED THU 22/02/07 12:00 ***

Having waited in the queue for 6 hours, Lauri was placed on stand by for a morning flight from Copenhagen to Edinburgh. The flight would have landed in Ed at noon today, and Lauri would have made it to Glasgow by 2PM.
That was too much to hope for though, 'cos that flight was cancelled as well. I kind of expected that to happen, so it was no shock for me at all. Lauri is fucked, of course, 'cos you can't really make yourself comfortable on an airport, after 4 hours of sleep on the floor, wearing the same stinky clothes you put on the previous morning.

Now he has been placed on the same evening flight to Glasgow he was supposed to take yesterday. I shall keep my fingers and toes and legs crossed that the flight will take off as planned. No surprise if it didn't.

Yeah and btw, the return flight cannot be changed, 'cos it's some shitty low-cost deal. Cool.


*** UPDATED THU 22/02/07 20:00 ***

This is surreal. The evening flight was cancelled as well. I was quite shocked to hear that, of course, but I'm starting to recover bit by bit.

No can do.

Now that there seems to be so much bad karma around, we decided that maybe we should bury this whole idea and try again in two or three weeks. There's no point in his coming here just from Friday to Sunday. I found out that if he wanted to change his return flight to Wednesday, for example, it would cost him £88. Not that much (compared to cancelling the flight and getting completely new flights for two or three weeks from now), but it would in turn mess up my essay writing schedules, as well as Lauri's businesses back home, with his school and job and stuff. The best solution in this shitty situation would therefore be to arrange a completely new visit and erase this mess from our memory.

So, what Lauri's trying to do now is just to get back home safe and sound before tomorrow morning, when a massive snowstorm is expected to hit Copenhagen.

As for me, I'm off to a pub to moan about my doomed life over a glass of red wine. CU guys.

My Destiny: Weekend at Home in Solitude

Hee hee, guess what.
I didn't make it to that Ben Nevis trip after all.
The odds were so dead set against me that I was obliged to stay at home all weekend.

Which is sort of wise, 'cos now I have more time to write my essays.

If I was a cunt, I'd hope it'll rain all weekend.
But I'm not a cunt.
I hope my dear Finnish friends will have a blast.
I will have a blast partying with topic sentences and thesis statements.

I see you wondering why I didn't go on the trip. You really wanna hear the whole story? Ok. Read on.

First of all, there was a problem with the new hiking boots. As you know, I bought a pair of brand new boots yesterday, and was so happy that I found them after all that desperate boot-hunting. But just like every time I'm boot-hunting, something went wrong again.

The boots felt really comfortable in the store. But when I got back home my feet were really swollen from seven hours of walking on concrete, and suddenly, as I tried the boots on again, they felt a bit tight. Well, not just a BIT, but EXTREMELY tight. My toes were squeezed. However, I decided to sleep over the night and try them on the first thing in the morning.

So, this morning I jumped out of bed, slipped the boots on, had a walk around the flat, and DAMN IT, they were still too tight! I therefore decided to make a quick visit to the centre after my literature tutorial and change the boots to another model I tried on yesterday, which was my second choice. That visit would've only taken an hour.

IF IT HAD SUCCEEDED.

I'll return to that later, 'cos besides the boot problem, there was another snag in the picture. Last night I slept very, very badly, and in the morning the tiredness, dizziness, muscle pains, joint ache, and a runny nose made me realise I might actually be turning ill. When I came back home after my Scottish Literature tutorial at noon, I felt absolutely miserable.

I thought however that if I went on that trip and had a good night's sleep in the hut before Saturday's hiking expeditions, the supposed illness might disappear as fast as it came. The illness factor was thus declared null and void. It was the shoes that ruined the plan. This is what happened:


I took the bus to the centre and went to the store that had sold me the boots, Tiso Outdoor Experts on Buchanan Street.

Me: "Hey, I bought these boots yesterday but they turned out to be too tight after all, so I'd like to change them to another model."

Sales clerk: "That's fine, which model do you wanna try?"

Me: "The Scarpas, size 40, they were my second choice yesterday and now I'm pretty sure they are the right shoes for my feet."

SC: (looks for size 40 on the shelves) "Sorry, we don't have size 40 anymore, here's size 41, I think that'd be fine for your feet."

Me: (stupefied, thinking, "oh, this didn't go as smoothly as I planned") "What, the pair I tried on yesterday is gone already?! This is not happening, this is not happening."

SC: (who has actually tried to make me buy size 41 already last Saturday) "Well, you can always try on a different model..."

Me: "No, I've tried all of them already and the Scarpas are the ones I want."

SC: "Well, give size 41 a try."

So I try them on and walk around the shop.

Me: "They're a bit too loose."

SC: (who insists on size 41 and obviously, wants to make me buy something) "Let's try them with a volume reducer and see how they feel." (tucks a pair of volume reducers inside the shoes and hands them to me) "There you go."

So, I walk around the shop again, with the volumer reducers on for a good while.

Me: "Umm, this is so complicated, I'd like to buy shoes that fit immediately, without volume reducers and stuff, and actually these still feel a bit too loose. And I'd really like to compare them with size 40. Could you check if the bigger Tiso store has size 40 in these so that I could go there to compare?"

SC: "Yeah, sure." (goes to the computer and comes back) "Yes, they have three pairs of size 40 and size 41 as well."


So what happens is that I walk a long way to Tiso Outdoor Experience again, like on Tuesday, thinking that if everything goes smoothly I might still make it to the trip if I'm really quick. But oooh no.

Me: (entering the boot section of the store, trying to be very efficient and quick) "Hiya, where can I find size 40 on those Scarpas?"

SC: "Hmm...." (searches on the shelves) "It seems we don't have size 40, but here's size 41, you wanna try that?"

The sky crashes down on me and breaks my neck.
"No, no, no, they said in the other store that you'd have size 40 here!!"
"Oh, they did? They should've called us before they sent you here, the computer database is often outdated, they should know that."

At this point I felt a huge dick grow on my forehead (a literal translation of a Finnish saying that is the only and the best one to describe this situation).
I was so pissed off that I was actually on the verge of tears. Good god, how much bad luck can a person really have? First she buys a pair of comfortable shoes, which start to feel uncomfortable after a while (how can that happen, I wonder!), and then her other choice has been sold out in all of the shops in just 24 hours!

So, the selection of boot sizes at Tiso stores made the decision for me: I wouldn't go on that hiking trip but write essays instead.

On my way home I popped in every outdoor store I passed just out of curiosity, trying to find those Scarpas. The first store didn't have them, the second did but only size 42 (congratulations to them for good business sense), and the third one had them, IN SIZE 40, MY GOD!, but the shoes are hand-made, and for some reason inside the right shoe there was a quirky spot sticking out, rubbing my big toe, so I didn't take them ('cos I wasn't desperate and in a hurry anymore), but asked them to order me another pair of size 40 instead, hoping the other pair wouldn't have any hand-made flaws in them. I will get them next week, and hopefully, the dark clouds upon my head are gone by then.

So this is how I ended up staying at home. You still wonder why I don't always have the time to update my blog? It's because I spend all my time on this kind of absurdity! ;D

The Road to Uni

Yes yes yes! Wheehee! I found hiking boots today! I won't die this weekend! I won't fall over a cliff! I won't break my bones! I won't twist my ankle!

...which is nice.

I even got a map, a route planner, a whistle, a first aid kit, some plasters and some paracetamol. And most importantly, a pack of earplugs if some bastard snores. I should be fine now.

I wish the weather is going to be allright. It's hasn't been raining for ages (well, today was rainy, but anyway). I just hope we get to see some mountain tops.

I just realised I haven't added any pics of the uni and my surroundings here, except for my home street. Because I don't have much to write about, I might as well post them now. So here we are:


This is where Kelvin Way begins, the road I walk every day to the Uni...


...past Kelvingrove Art Gallery...



...and Kelvingrove Park...


...and back home again, to the opposite direction.



And all the way there, this is what I see, the facade of the University Main Building basking in sunlight. Quite impressive, huh?

If you want to have good views over Glasgow, walk to the top floor of the University Library. This is what you'll see:

That's the north-eastern part of my home town. Notice the appalling tower blocks.

To finish this post, let's add one of my very first pics here, the University clock tower by night:

Wasn't I right about the Harry Potter associations? ;)

Ok, I'm off, have a nice weekend, where ever you are! :)
I'll get back to you on Sunday, hopefully with loads of stunning photos of the Highlands!

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.

How to Conquer a Mountain Top

I've heard that the temperature has dropped down to -25C in Helsinki. I feel sorry for you guys, 'cos guess what! It's summer here already! At least judging by the outfits people are wearing. No matter if it's below zero degrees, 'cos hey, c'mon, the sun is shining! And for Glaswegians, 'sunshine' equals 'summer'. This morning there was frost and ice on the ground, and what do Glaswegians do? They go jogging in the park in shorts and a t-shirt. No, I'm not kidding. Next time I have to take some pics of them and post them here as evidence. And that's not all: I'd estimate that at least 50% of local female students walk around campus in sandals or ballerinas, no matter what the weather. Me and the other Scandinavians are the only people with proper winter wear here. Maybe that's why I keep getting odd glances from people. There might, of course, be other reasons for that as well (considering how weird I get sometimes), but yesterday it must have been my ear warmers. On other days, it might as well be my zombie-like appearance, or on Monday, my wobbly pace.

The reason for my eccentric walking style was last weekend, or more specifically, the fact that last weekend I conquered the highest mountain on the Isle of Arran, which made my muscles rather stiff.


Yes, I've just spent the most amazing weekend here so far, on an overnight trip to the amazing Isle of Arran with the International Society. Before the trip I knew nothing about Arran, but now I'm convinced it's a must-see destination for anyone touring around Scotland.

We left Glasgow for Arran at dawn on Saturday. After sitting on a bus and sailing in a ferry for two hours, we could see Arran looming mysteriously ahead with its high, rugged mountaintops and ancient castles veiled in mist that was, luckily for us, clearing rapidly away and uncovering a cloudless azure sky.



We couldn't help wondering what good deeds we had done to be granted such a fair day. Needless to say, had it been misty and rainy, the trip wouldn't have been such a success.

The weather being so fantastic we decided to spend the day staggering steeply uphill, bathing in gallons of sweat inside our gore-tex outfits (except that mine isn't gore-tex, it's something much more hardcore called AIR-TEX! "Ja vain ysiysi!"). I didn't even have proper footwear, but who cares, I rely on my sneakers, they have taken me all the way up on Madeira's peaks and all the way down the slopes of Bavarian Alps.
The hike was strenuous, but definitely worth the puffing and blowing. The landscapes resembled Tolkien's Middle Earth, and the shades of light were so gorgeous I ended up filling up my camera's memory card. Some proof of this below.


Making our way towards the slopes of Goatfell, the highest peak on Arran we're about to tackle.


Having a well-deserved break with our big group.


Any orcs in sight?


Struggling my way up the mountain peak I felt like a winner. You really had to make an effort and struggle your way up there as the last 300m stretch up to the top was pretty steep and rocky. But the reason I felt like a winner isn't the effort I had to make but the fact that it seems I've overcome my so-called fear of heights. There was absolutely no sign of vertigo. I could stand beside a steep edge and still keep my head cool. So thanks to all those ramblings in Madeira and the Alps, I've actually managed to get rid of it. Here I come, Mount Everest! >:)


Done it!


I got to know two more Finnish girls, Anna-Kaisa and Lotta, both of them law students.


We spent the night at a big hostel in Lochranza, the northernmost village of the island. To put it short, what happened in the evening was basically a dinner (my difficult diet was well catered for as well), some drinking in our dorm (which I, surprisingly, didn't take part in but checked bus timetables for the following day instead) and later on, a skinny dip in moonlight (which I, again, didn't take part in, but documented the whole show though, with the result that about 30 pics of the Arran trip in my camera are of tiny, pitiful, cold-struck dicks).

The night was cold and damp, because the heater in our room decided to get some rest as well.


On Sunday we were very efficient and managed to see all the remaining important sights on the isle. Thus, I saw:

- The ruins of a 13th Century castle in Lochranza (see pic below)
- A whisky distillery (I even tasted the actual product – a bit bitter and tarred, I'd say, but bear in mind that this was my very first sip of this noble drink)
- 5000-year-old stone circles and standing stones in Machrie Moor (far better than Stonehenge, 'cos you could actually walk inside the circles, breath in the atmosphere and touch the stones)
- A cave on the east coast where king Robert the Bruce is said to have been hiding back in the 14th Century, just before he went and defeated the English, bringing to a victorious end the quest for freedom that William Wallace had started a few decades earlier.


Lochranza Castle


Standing Stones on Machrie Moor

The most memorable moment of Sunday was, however, watching a seagull (paying homage to the grand song 'Wishmaster' by Nightwish, I shall call him Steven) having his lunch on the rocks of Lochranza bay. Steven had found an eel, more or less of his size, and was standing there beside it, pecking it, trying to get a grasp of its slimy skin, but failing time and time again. Steven must have had Finnish ancestors, because he had more determination and guts than any other seagull I've seen. It wrestled with the eel for ages. Not succeeding, however, Steven got very clueless and frustrated. He was starving, and all he had caught was this slimy, damned creature he couldn't handle. So after some more struggling with the eel, Steven got very pissed and swallowed the freaking eel ALIVE. And to make it even more disgusting, there was the sight of that doomed eel's hopeless struggle back to light inside Steven's neck and stomach. We couldn't see whether it succeeded, because Steven decided to take to its wings, flying very, veeeeryyy low, because of that moving parasite inside his system.
Below is a very blurry picture of our hero. Because the pic doesn't really convey anything, I took a video of the whole episode to show you guys once I get back in Finland – hands up, who wants to puke?




So, all in all, Arran was (and IS) well worth a visit. I had such a great time that I almost didn't spare a thought on what my mum had told me on Saturday morning over the phone. Mami passed away that morning. She had just had breakfast with a nurse, and after that, she had closed her eyes and fallen in eternal sleep. That was a beautiful way to leave, just like she had always wanted. But it was way too early. It was the weakness, her body couldn't take it after all even if her spirit could have.

I guess you're wondering how I'm doing. Well, surprisingly okay. As I said, the weekend took my thoughts away from it all. On Monday I talked with my dad on the phone, and that helped. I actually went through the shock already two weeks ago when Mami was taken to the hospital, so I was sort of prepared. You can never be too prepared for news like that, but still, all in all, I'm doing very allright, so don't worry about me. Even if this might sound a bit selfish, I'm better off here in Scotland, away from the sorrow, the funeral arrangements and all. And for me, Mami isn't really gone, I cherish her spirit in my memories. For all those 85 years, she lived life to the full.


PS: Hauska suomenkielinen vuodatus ja lisää kuvia Arranin reissulta löytyy tietenkin Petran blogista, mistäs muualta. Muutenkin suosittelen tsekkailemaan Petran blogia, jos suomeksi tahtoo lueskella kuulumisia, koska liikutaan paljon yhdessä ja Petra(kin) jaksaa panostaa kielelliseen ilmaisuun - tuleehan hänestä lääkäri, lingvisteistä kyvykkäin ;) (jos et ymmärtänyt huonoa ironiaani, tsekkaa otteita lääkäreiden saneluista joltain vitsisaitilta).