Under 100 Hours!

Oh, I'm so close!

Last lectures are over, all that is left is The Exams. This week was full of studying as usual, and the weekend was amazing. On Friday night we had a Farewell party for the international students and we baked some pie with Kaisa. It wasn't as good as it should've been but it was ok. After all the eating and gift things me and Kaisa decided to go and have one ciders at a Irish pub and they had ONE type of cider in there :D But we were happy, even I though it was apple cider :P After that we came back home and just hang out with some international students. On Saturday I finished my readings and packed my big suitcase! It's quite heavy and full, though I still should be able to fit my blanket in it. And all the rest of my stuff needs to go in smaller bag, I don't know yet how, but that needs to happen. In the evening we went to Cory's place (got invited by Nathaniel :>) and it was so much fun! We stayed there until 4 am and came home, but this time we went straight so sleep ;) I wasn't even that drunk so I feel just fine now :)

Sorry, still no pics as this connection is as usual slow and shit.

Oh yeah, and Ash straightened my hair! It's never been like this, sleek and smooth! I like it but I'm too lazy to do this my self :P

I have one review session this evening and I'm going to go through the notes before that with Kaisa. Luckily I don't have exams tomorrow but I need to go through some notes and call Miki. Next week I also need to go to the bank and do all that leaving stuff... Going to be busy, busy!

I've just been talking with Tarmo the whole day, he went to his parents yesterday. He'll be here in five days!!! Miss him so much...

I still need to try to concentrate on my exams... I'm not happy about the fact that the hardest and most important exam (Neurobiology) is on Friday, so I can't afford to let my mind slip...

Fun Four Months

Oh last weekend was amazing! I did nothing related to studies ^^ And on Saturday night we had Judith's goodbye party and it was so much fun! First we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat and after that we went to Joe's place, Sports Column and Summit. In Sports Column there was some wrestling going on on tv so it wasn't that nice place, especially when they run out of smirnoff ice!!! And Kaisa and I just drank total of three of them!!! And while we were on our way to Summit we found some more people to join us! After the bar closed we went to Andrew's place, but before that we went to liquor store to get some more booze. After that we went to Cory's place and finally got back home. But oh no, the party wasn't over, me and Kaisa came to my place to amuse Tarmo :>
We finally went to sleep around 7 am :D The next day I didn't have as bad hang over as I thought I'd have but I really couldn't move much.
Meike came to do some analysis here but otherwise I was just laying in bed and surfed in internet.

And I've been here now over four months! Amazing! I can already say that I'll see my love next week!!! So excited!!!

We didn't have classes today as there was supposed to be an ice storm. But I got that e-mail only at 2:30 pm so it was already a bit too late for me but I went to library to do my lab report. And in the morning there was several power cuts so I read the rest of the Developmental biology... But I really don't get it, it's not even that bad now! It's only raining water! It's not even slippery as there isn't minus degrees outside! And it really pisses me as today I'd had the most interesting lectures ever :/ And it really isn't bad! I know it'll be slippery in the evening as the temperature drops...
And the funny thing is that here they don't use stud tires! Only chains :D And Cory laughed at me when I said that I even use stud tires on my bike during winter! :D And I laughed at the chains... But I don't get it, here it really is winter, why don't they use studs??? And then they use salt! LOTS of it. It's really annoying because your pants have white stripes on them and then the salt comes in and argh! Use sand! No wonder you can't even touch the Iowa River water because all the salt goes in there :F It's really bad for the environment!

We also had a fire alarm, again, last night. I was already in bed but luckily wasn't sleeping yet. Dezerae said that there's been more fire alarms during this semester than ever in a whole year! I don't get it, what's wrong with this years people?!

What else... I'm really looking forward to next week and the day I see my babe again! Missing him so much!

I also remember how I said two months ago that "Oh, two months has gone by, I guess it's going to slow down now..." But no, time really went by fast :) And I'm really happy that I came here, I've learned a lot. I've had great courses (though I still hate the exams...) and I believe this did good for my English as well :> Though I know I make more mistakes now as I don't pay attention as much anymore to what I'm saying. But I'm more confident and not as afraid to speak anymore. I've also learned to appreciate more for what I have and how thing are in Finland. And as I have said before, this was not easy but it was worth it.

But it's not the right time yet to say these goodbye things. I'm just starting to realize that it really is over soon... But I have a whole life waiting in Finland and I really need and I want to go back. I'm happy to go back :)

Thanksgiving Trip

So, it was awesome!

On Saturday we woke up very early and I didn't sleep well since my throat was really sore. But so we went to Boston via Chicago, walked the Freedom Trail, visited Harvard campus area and walked through Newsbury Street which is "European shopping street". Our hostel was great. It was clean and we had total of six girls in our room. Also breakfast was included! We also could sleep well since the girls were quiet :) We also went to eat some sea food (Boston lobster) to a restaurant that was recommended for us. The food was good and we had some wine with it too. Though I now know that I'm not that big fan of sea food. It was ok but now that I've tasted it, I don't need to taste it again. Plus it was quite expensive :P

After Boston we headed to New York where our hostel was in Harlem. Though it was easy to get in there, metro was close. On the first night we went to see Broadway and it was overwhelming. Bright lights all over. We also went to see the city from heights (Empire State Building) at the night. It was beautiful. We came back to the hostel and we had this obnoxious woman in our room. She was in her 40ies and for some reason she had all her stuff all over and a dog at some of her friends place and it seemed that she just had gotten some new job and left there early making a lot of noises, swearing in the middle of the night to some girl who snored (snoring really bothers me but I woke to her shushing, not to the snoring). She was really annoying. We also had a mouse in there (it ate Paolas milkyway bar and chips) and ten girls in one room. It wasn't that nice place but it was cheap. The next morning we headed to see Wall Street (ate our breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts where there was nice and friendly men who laughed at us) and the Statue of Liberty and all that stuff. Unfortunately it was raining and we got wet though it stopped raining after we got to Ellis Island. After that we went to see WTC (really not much to see) and what else? We went back to the hostel quite early to pack our stuff and go to shower... We slept a bit better the next night. In the morning we went to see Central Park (it was really beautiful!) but I got really cranky as I didn't get my morning coffee. So we went to get my coffee and ate lunch. After noon we headed to the airport to go to Washington.

Kaisas friend Ingrid picked us up and we drove to Charlottesville to her place. On our way we ate at IHOP (international house of pancakes, what was the international? Maybe the Swedish pancakes??). Next day we just rested (our feet were screaming some rest) though we went to see the university and helped a bit with the Thanksgiving dinner the girls made. We spent most of the day watching Gilmore Girls :) The dinner was at the next door apartment and it was really good. Kind of Christmas. We ate a lot! Finally after the dishes were done we got to bed. One day rest was really nice since my feet were really sore for some weird reason. I've walked great distances before and it's never been like this. And I had good shoes! But anyhow, on Friday morning we got Greyhound bus back to Washington DC.

calling there a weird looking man opened the door, he was talking in theAnd oh my god but the driver was annoying! He got lost!!! And we arrived over an hour late to Washington since he drove really s l o w l y on the town area. Annoying! We kept swearing to him in Finnish with Kaisa (I really will get in trouble after I get back in Finland as I really need to remember that people CAN understand what I'm saying :D). So we went to eat some lunch and headed to our hostels. Paola slept in different hostel as she booked her stuff later than we did so there was no space left. In the bus we seemed again to be the only white people... We found the hostel (it was someones house!) but the door was locked. We tried to open it but nothing happened. There was a sticker that said that we should call someone... Just when I was phone. For some reason he didn't have our reservation but we finally got a bed for us (it was king size so we shared it and it was cheaper than the original reservation!). He showed us the place and he was really nice and sweet (though still looked weird...). So we left our stuff there and headed back to downtown to see all the sightseeings. White House etc... We were already quite tired and mine and Kaisas feet were still not playing with us and they really hurt. So Paola saw a bit more than we did since we really couldn't walk anymore that much. We got something to eat and headed back to our hostels. The keeper was sitting on a sofa and said "Welcome Home" when we came in :) There we watched some tv and some South Korean guys tried to get us in the bar but we had to get up at 5 am the next morning so we said thanks but no thanks. Again we slept badly (it was really cold since someone left the window open!). So we got up and got a bus. The hostel keeper waited at the door watching us to depart safely. He was really sweet! Even though we were first a bit worried, he was really nice and the place was the comfiest place of all the places we stayed :) There was even a cat there and he was so cute! Made me miss our cats really much...

So we headed to Amtrak train and to airport and came back to Iowa City via Chicago. The week war really hectic though we got one day "off". But we saw a lot. And it was an awesome trip! So fun! And every evening we got hot chocolates from Starbucks so I don't know how I can now cope without it!!! Need to drink some tea...

Today after I came home I just unpacked my stuff, cooked some food and did laundry. I also talked with Tarmo (he had his birthday today!). And in a half an hour I'm going to Kaisas to see some movie.

It's so quiet in here! Everyone's somewhere else and it's nice. I plan to sleep late tomorrow. Though I need to read tomorrow... I have an exam on Wednesday... It's under month left! Cool! I really miss everyone. And I'm starting to be more than ready to leave back home.

Under one month... Time has gone by so fast. It's been awesome time though it hasn't been easy. But I'm happy I came here, I've learned a lot from myself and the world. But it's not time to talk this talk yet, that comes in a month :)

But I'll head downstairs to see the movie. Oh how nice it's to be back home again :)

I bet I forgot thousand things to mention but as the week was hectic I can't remember everything :D And if I wrote everything this would be a book... :P

Don't Know What to Think

Quite long time since I last wrote in here but I've been too busy... I have lot to write about and first comet the update of my life :)

So I was supposed to have Endocrinology exam week ago but as we waited it to start the lecture room filled with strange people and eventually there was no space for all. It turned out to be some other exam and our exam was canceled. It was supposed to be today but the lecturer decided to put half of it to next exam and half on final. Which is good because I had Neurobiology exam today... But the weekend first. On Friday I was home early and went to Kaisas place to see some movie (Mean Girls) and drank bottle of wine (was one glass only because the bottles are small... :P) with sparkling water. On Saturday I had really lazy day. I watched the game (again at Kaisas, and we won!), after that we watched Devil wears Prada (rented it on Friday but didn't watch it and it had to be returned by 5pm). After that it was too late to do anything (not that I really had any motivation to do anything...) so we just watched tv (Pirates of the Caribbean I). And talked with Tarmo <3 On Sunday I got some work done and ate pancakes which Kaisa made for us ^^ They were soooooo good! And of course on Sunday it's Desperate Housewinves day too :) I also heard that dad lost his job (though we knew to expect that, they had a new boss and they had to let people go, and he actually wanted to quit but it's not good to quit your job on your own or you don't get any money). So now he has no job but he still gets money. But he's too old to get any job anymore and he's been sick a lot so I hope that he retires... Or that he can retire. We'll see...

On Monday it was my birthday!!! So I'm 22 :> In the morning my parents called and I even got a card from Ashleigh! (A cat card and it was red! Am I really THAT obvious??? :D) I got a funny power point from friends from Finland and many congrats via Facebook. On my first lecture Meike gave me a smoothie and a Birthday Girl badge I had to wear the whole day :D It was fun and quite embarrassing, especially when I was alone :D At Burge a girl who swipes our ID said Happy Birthday and a group of exchange students started to sing but I quickly left :D After my lectures I came home, talked with Tarmo and Saana (haven't talked for so long time!!!). Meike and Paola invited me to their place in the evening and I had such a big surprise waiting for me! The second I stepped inside there was Seminaarimäen Mieslaulajat - Taina playing, there was a birthday cake on the table, red lights and Happy Birthday band hanging on the couch!!!! OH MY GOD! I was so touched that I had to cry! It still gets my eyes wet :) I can't say how touched I was... I did know to expect something but not anything like this... Oh... It was so nice! And I got beautiful earrings and a Hello Kitty towel :D And when I finally came back home I had a packet of Finnish chocolate and Salmiakki waiting for me from my parents :)

And on that night I had a dream where I was sleeping next to Tarmo and it felt so warm and nice, and Pollo walked there too <3

And something about the weather has to be mentioned too... it's been really windy and in the mornings (and nights) there is already minus degrees! Trees have lost most of their leaves but the grass is still green. Still feels like Finnish Spring.

Today I had my Neurobiology exam (no more night exams!!!) and the professor said that the exam is harder than the last exam was... I don't know how that's possible... There were couple of questions I didn't know but I answered to everything... I did all I could, it didn't go well but then again that doesn't tell anything. As I have said so many times, even though you get bad points, you can get a good grade... Last time I got like 66/100 and I got B... So stupid...

But now to serious things. I heard this morning some awful news from Finland. About the massacre in Jokela high school. Oh my god... I feel so bad... And the most shocking part of this is that it was in news even in here! I really don't know what to think! And I've been thinking about it the whole day! I don't know why it touches me this much. I didn't know any of them, it was far away from where I live but still I feel awful. Maybe it's because it was even in here in news and it was said in news too, that schools have always been considered as a safe place in Finland and I myself have always felt that when I'm in school, I'm safe. Lucky me that I'm not in school anymore, I don't know what I'd do... I'm afraid of mentally unstable people, have always been, but somehow I'm even more afraid now... I can't understand how no-one saw this coming??? Please do believe that when a young people say that they feel bad, they do feel bad and it's not just a puberty!!! (That's what it was considered when I was in high school...) We really need to take some serious actions... Oh I still can't believe this happened! I don't know what to think... I'm mad that he died and he don't need to face his action, he got away from this too easily! He killed young people who had their whole life ahead and a woman who possibly had children! This is so unfair! Then again it's good that he died so that the government doesn't need to take care of him (which costs a lot money). And even though I don't believe in God, I want to believe that he won't get away from this this easily. There's got to be something waiting for him. Hell or something as bad. This is stupid, stupid, STUPID! I feel so sorry for all the parents and friends. As my worst fear is to lose my loved ones, I can only imagine what they feel like if I feel this bad :(

I don't know what to say about this anymore... I don't know what to think. I'm so glad no-one asked my opinion about this today. I might have bursted into tears...

Halloween

Ok, finally some time to write here again... First about my amazing weekend:
On Friday we went to carve some pumpkins and of course me and Meike decided to take the most difficult one, we need some challenge for the first pumpkin carved ever :D We had only 1,5 hours time and we run a bit out of time so we just had to do some short cuts... But it was beautiful! And quite well done for the first pumpkin ;) After that we went to Loris place to eat some pizza and pumpkin pie (it was warm and one piece was enough... I can't decide if it was good or bad...). And after that we headed to Frightmare Forest in Cedar Rapids! It was so fun, FUN! There was this forest where they had set up some "haunted house" though it was in a forest. And as it was night we went there, it was dark and there was this dimly light path we had to follow. Me and Kaisa squeezed each others hands so tight! (I love the fact that I can put my brains aside and be frightened about stupid things.) The first third part we went first (there could be up to 6 people in one group) and it was the scariest part! It was mostly outside and there were these actors that followed us and kept scary noises (they had masks on and looked like really scary monsters!) and the "haunted house" part there was these corners behind which the actors jumped and screamed. As did we too :D Then we didn't want to be the first ones anymore though it was scary anyway. Quite in the end there was this bump in the ground and behind it there was a person who crawled towards us when we passed the place and started to follow us! And oh my god how we ran! :D Too bad you couldn't take pictures in there... It was so fun!!! And the path was like over half an hour, usually they are something like 15 minutes... There were some really lame things too of course, but you have to have something for everyone. After that we went to a bar and had only one drink :)


The next day I had ticket to the football game and I picked really good day to go there, we won and the game was the most exciting game ever! (Though nothing compared to the NHL game ;) After I got finally home, I just relaxed and in the evening I decided to go out with friends though our bunny ears hadn't arrived (everyone wore costumes because of the Halloween) but I did emergency solution and painted some blood in my lips and neck (and I still have some of the color in my neck, it looks like someone really bit me :P). I drank only one again but it was fun. First we went to a house party but it was boring and they had only beer so we decided to go downtown and there we met some other friends too. I got home in decent time and went to sleep after I had laughed at half naked guy running around the corridors. I woke up when Ashleigh came home and oh my god how drunk she was... Luckily Dezerae went elsewhere to sleep so I could go and sleep in her bed (I was afraid that Ashleigh would vomit all over though she didn't). After about 5 hours of sleep I woke up to read (though without alarm as usual). I was supposed to go and see Meikes soccer game but no-one else went there so I called her and she said it was ok if I didn't go either :) So I read a bit more...

This week I have two exams, so I'm quite busy... Oh and some random things:
We had fire alarm again few weeks ago, someone kept some stuff under the oven... Really smart. And on Monday our endocrinology professor moaned to us that we should be prepared to the exam in time (we had a review session on Friday, the exam is tomorrow) and ask questions on the review session, not after that or worse, a day before exam or even worse, after exam! I was like WTF??? How am I supposed to have time to read all the things that early?? The weekend was only coming and that's when I really have time to read... And I can't always realize everything that early and if you go and ask questions after exam, doesn't that just say that you're really interested?? So weird..
And today Kaisa said: "Taina knows everything, the thing she doesn't know, you don't need to know" :D And that was because I knew what to do with banana flies :D

Tomorrow is Halloween officially. I don't know yet what we're going to do, though I have exam until like 6 pm and I have exam on Thursday too... But we need to wear our bunny ears!

And Oh I haven't written anything about our prank!
I heard I think in the middle of last week at night some laughter and running on the corridor but was too tired to get up. On the morning someone knocked on our door but I had only just woke up so I didn't open the door. As people were walking past our door I heard giggling. I was like oh my god what's wrong there?? (I suspected something in the night too...) I thought that I need to finish my morning coffee before I dare to open the door. So when I finally opened it, there was this huge pile of Daily Iowans that just flooded in :D I was laughing so hard that Ashleigh woke up. We've had before like 3-5 Daily Iowans (we have this white board that says No Daily Iowans, please, and someone wipes the No off and puts random number in it and correct number of Daily Iowans). And on our board, it said 169 Daily Iowans, please :D It was so funny :D

So, something has finally happened :D Though my days still include mostly studying. I've started to miss Tarmo really much. And I mean really much! And I'm ready to go back Finland too, though not that badly as I know that it's so dark in there in this time of year and in here it's like Spring :D I miss our daily routines and I'm starting to be ready to write my Thesis. And for some reason I've planned what kind of courses I could keep and what kind of teacher I'd be :D Not really but only a bit ;) But enough about missing, I don't want to think about it, it makes me only sad.
I should take a shower but I think I'll do that in the morning, I'm too lazy now...

Wannabe European Guys

Oh I've been so busy, as usual. On Thursday I started to write my animal behavior cricket lab report, on Friday I read some neurobiology and today I did some statistical analysis for the report. Though otherwise this day was quite waisted but maybe it's good once in a while...

We went last night to Piano Lounge to listen this guy play piano and he was so good. And I had one glass of white wine, so elegant! Though before going downtown we drank one glass of Kaisas white wine :) And we missed the first bus because we couldn't fit in. So we waited for the second one and because the bus ran on "wrong direction" (i.e. it when to other side of the river first) it was empty. And the bus driver had some candy for us and he played music really loud. He also drove really fast and because the benches are quite slippery, Kaisa almost fell on the floor because she didn't hold on :D I had such a good laugh! And the funny thing was that I imagined myself falling on the floor because if I hadn't had a hold of the edge of the bench, I'd have been on the floor because my feet aren't long enough to stop myself on the opposite benches :D It was funny.
And back on our way home there were these three guys and we kept teasing them with Kaisa while waiting for the bus (45 minutes, after that we decided to walk back home) :D They tried to pretend to be from somewhere else (from Europe) but somehow we knew they were from US :D

But today I was sleeping too late, I missed the first 30 minutes of the game! And that means that I slept until 11 am! I can't even remember when I did that last time! So I made some coffee and went to see the game (and we won, finally!) and after that I went to HyVee to do some grocery shopping (Kaisas roommate gave us a ride there). I tried to buy all the food I need (and I can buy beforehand) for the last two moths so that I wouldn't have to do any food shopping anymore.

But now that I'm done with my statistical analysis (I'm too lazy to continue on writing them on the report) and my laundry is done too, I'll go and do something not so useful so that I can be all energized tomorrow.

And I'm almost half through my studies in here! And we rebooked our flights, we'll be back in Finland in 5th January. We didn't get any place to stay in Nashville so we decided that we'll leave earlier. We can't afford to pay for any hotel for three weeks!

Laugh

I can't help it but every time I see this pic I just laugh:



And the sneezing panda... :D

Not in the Mood

Ok. I don't know why but I'm not in the mood for studying. Luckily I already read enough for today and I did my neurobiology review questions (though I didn't know answers for all of them) so now I just need to do something until my last class for today starts (in an hour). I'll have my exam tomorrow but I'll have several hours to go through my notes for that because we don't have the class for that tomorrow. I'm so happy I bought the mp3 player, it makes me feel a lot better to listen the music ^^

Oh it's so scary to go through those book detectors in the library when you are listening music because you can hear them scanning you! (Because I just went through them...)

I'm so tired. I didn't sleep well last night and I still woke up at 7:30 am. I need a good sleep and them I'm motivated again. And my face is peeling still so I don't want to be in public places, I'd just like to hide somewhere to recover... Though it was my own fault so let the girl suffer!

I got such a funny messages from Josh today, I couldn't do anything but laugh!

Hope u r having a wonderful time staring at animal brains!
Remember. If u hear the brain screaming back at u it is time to switch ur major.

So funny! Like I would torture the brains o.O but if I now see nightmares of brains screaming at me I know who to blame!

I booked a hotel for me and Tarmo for the couple of nights we're going to be in Nashville before going to New York. This hotel is near a Mall so if we get bored, there's something to do. Because there weren't any cheap hotels in downtown. We still need to get a place where to stay after Christmas... I put note today on this market place and I'll keep it there until we get a place to stay. We just calculated that if we stayed at a hotel that costs $50 for a night, it'd be over $1000 per person and that's too much! It'd be cheaper to rent a room/house but there doesn't seem to be any rooms with furnitures... But we'll figure out something.

And by the way. I'm going to gain some weight in here... There are so many cheeses available when I go to my lunch every day and because I love cheese, I eat it and then I get fat! In Finland cheese is so expensive that we can't afford to buy it all the time, not to mention different kind of cheeses! (Today I had a salad where there was feta, cheddar and cottage cheese!) And I really need to start to go to the gym but I don't seem to have the energy for that! It opens too late during the weeks so that I can't go there before my classes, I study so late that I'm too tired to go there in the evening and on Saturdays I'm elsewhere or having a hangover and on Sundays I'm too busy with my studies because I didn't do anything during the weekend! Okay, okay, only excuses I know, but a good ones! Though I really need to start exercising again...

I don't get it. Why am I this tired? I study hard in Finland too, all my books have been in English for the last three years and it's not THAT different to study in here (except that the classes start late). Maybe it's because I didn't sleep well during the weekend and because here I HAVE to read all the time because of the exams. I'll have two exams next week so I have to start to go through my notes for them on the weekend...

And we should book our hostel for our Thanksgiving trip in Boston. I'll do that tonight.

But I just realized that I should do something and now that I'm not going to study anymore, I'll make this time useful and go to buy some software...

Family Planning :>

I had really fun weekend. We left to Des Moines and Aimes. We stayed at Melissas friends house which was really nice! On Saturday we went tailgating and it was great! Melissa and Matt left to get a spot for us early in the morning and we (Paola, Kaisa, Ashley and I) followed later. Unfortunately Ashley had to go to work but we grilled and drank some booze. And it was fun, everybody were interested about us European girls. We even got some free alcohol :> But the minus side was that there was cold but sunny, so we burned our faces. And today we went to Des Moines and went to the mall too, I found only one shoes.

Studies take so much time. I read one article but then I lost my energy and couldn't do more... I tried to find some articles for the behavior proposal but I don't have the mood to read them. I'll do that tomorrow... I also have my first exam next Wednesday! And I need to do some "homework" for neurobiology for Tuesday... Argh! So I basically need to live at the library next week.

But now I can write some deep thoughts. Oh but first one thing that has been bothering me the whole weekend. On Thursday-Friday night I woke up when Ashleigh asked I was ok, I just mumbled and fell asleep right away. She left to NYC so I couldn't ask what she meant. But Dezerae also asked me on Friday what was I screaming at night. But I can't remember that I even made any noise! And usually if I have really strong dreams, I remember them. I need to ask Ashleigh was I really screaming. But that's really scary... But I remember having That Kind of Dreams again :> Though I think (and believe) that the scream was not because of those dreams :D

But anyway, back to my deep thoughts. So we were at Ashley's and Matt's place during the weekend. They got married last summer and had really beautiful pictures from their wedding and engagement (I'm jealous, I want that kind of pics of me and Tarmo too!). I want to get married too! They are also planning for a baby but obviously getting a child in here is much more complicated compared to Finland. You really need to have insurance (as in Finland too) but insurances in here are really expensive. And that's because health care in here is expensive. But the funny thing for me is that it is such a big deal in here. It's not that it wouldn't be a big deal in Finland too to have a kid but somehow I got the impression that it is much easier. I can't explain what I mean. And I lost my thought... But the thing I wanted to write about is family and home. Their home was so beautiful, they had the perfect kitchen table and chairs (made of dark red tree) and their sofas (and recliner!) were just awesome (but wrong colored for my taste)! I want such a furnitures too! I want a big house and beautiful things around me. And a car. Though I need to have my drivers license first... Oh I want so many things! I want to graduate and get a job (ie money)! Luckily I'm supposed to graduate next Spring and these thoughts drive me towards that goal, which is good. If I could get the PhD place from our university and get paid (it's more anyway than I get now) and if Tarmo could graduate and get a job too, and if we live still at the student apartment (we have no reason to move out because I like our home ;), we could save some money to get our home look like a real home (now we have so many ugly furniture because we can't afford to buy any other and we got them for free) and then I could get my drivers license and we could get a car and and and... I love dreaming about these things :)
But the family (serious) part of my thoughts. Being away from Tarmo makes me love him more and more. I feel such a strong bonding with him and being separated and not able to talk every day makes me want to spend the rest of my life with him more than ever. I know I'm young and to be engaged in this age is unsure for many people. But I've always felt being older (though then again I'm not over 18...) and I've never felt like this. I've always planned for my future home and family (damn these mom genes!) but now it feels different. My dreams feel like they could come true someday. And listening other people to get married and planning to get babies gets my baby boom blooming again! But no worries, I'm rationale and won't get a baby only because I want to do so :D I need a guaranteed source of money and a place where to go after maternity "vacation". I need a life situation where I can get a baby. And I am not in that kind of situation yet. I need also my man to want a baby (hint hint Tarmo, muaha! ;) Now I'm being mean. But I actually said this weekend that I need to call little people as brats to keep my baby boom away :D
But now that I've been in the Land of Promises, I know that I do not want to raise my family in here. Or to be more precise, I do not want to spend my whole life in here. I still do want to come back here to do some research. I'd like to emerge my family to this culture too. The optimal situation would be to come here with my family (though I will not come back if my family ie Tarmo is not coming, I will not go through separation again) and spend some years in here but get back to get my kids educated in Finland. I can't come back for two years (to live) in here after I go back home. So that means that if and when I graduate next Spring and I really get the PhD place (ie source of money), I have still year and a half time to plan my come back. It's not that I had to be here exactly in two years but being perfectionist means that I always need to plan everything. (And as I said, I love dreaming.) And that also means living in a "cheap" apartment which means that we are able to save some money. Which means that we can get the car etc. Though we need to get the car anyway because after we graduate, we don't get any student discounts anymore which means that we can't travel to see our parents.

(Sometimes I wonder if I should make another blog for my brainstorming because this has nothing to do with my exchange :D)

But now I'm tired writing all these things. There is so many aspects in my dreams and I really can't write them all in here. And I don't even want to write. I need to have some secrets too you know! No, what I really would like to do is to discuss these things with my love. And somehow that feels strange. But that's only a cultural thing. In Finland women (though this thing is not true anymore in my generation which is good!) can't speak about these things with their man. That's because men in Finland are grumpy and they do not want to discuss about anything (they just want to drink alcohol :P). Luckily I have a man who is not like that. I don't know if he wants to talk about family planning with me :D But I'd like to chat about there things with him. But not only speak, I need to see him while talking about this serious things. And now it is not time to discuss these things, at least seriously. I need to remind you (and myself) that I'm only brainstorming. And this makes me miss him again badly. But that has something to do with the fact that I haven't talked with him for three days now :P

I'm so lucky I have a family back home. I don't feel alone going back. Because when I was single and went back home from my parents home, I always felt alone. I do have friends but it's not the same thing. I'm definitely a family person. Though I'm also career centered... But let's not go there now.

Now I'll stop this. :) Enough future planning! PS. I'm going to post some furniture pics to somewhere else to keep myself motivated to graduate ;)

Batman

There are no ghosts in here, at least ones who use my computer...

I had a nice weekend, on Sunday I went outside to read but it got too hot soon so I returned inside, read a bit more and then Meike called me if I'd like to go to the park. So I went and while Paola and Melissa were at the church we just hang around and when it got dark and the mosquitos almost ate us alive, we played batman. (Don't ask any questions about that.) After that we got an invitation by Melissa to have some dinner and Paola and I went to her place. There was also two other friends of Melissa and we had nice time. I advertised Finland ^^ And I was back home (again) at 2 am. But it was so much fun!

And by the way, three people have asked directions from me, local people! :D

We had a free day today so I read and read and just watched TV at Kaisas. And now I'm SO tired, I had to come home because I almost fell asleep at Kaisas. I still try to hang in here for another hour and then I go to bed.

I had so many things I was supposed to write but because I'm so tired, I can't remember what they were... I just try to keep awake...

Ghosts

My network was working the very next day though it was very slow... :P I assume that they noticed that it was their mistake. And Paola and Meike cheered me up when I came that day back home.

Ashleigh: "Paola called again, she sounded like you really should call her back."
Me: "Omg what have happened??"
*calls Paola and Meike
Paola: "Taina! I need a Hello Kitty band aid!" *sobs*
Taina: "What has happened???"
Paola: *sobs* "I lost a button from my skirt..."
...

It was so hilarious! Because it was the same button we already sew few weeks ago. Ashleigh came to see if I was crying or laughing because I laughed so much :D And the next day I was supposed to try to connect this wreck to the wireless but then I noticed that it was working again.

And I had to drop the Graduate Immunology course, it was way beyond me... After the first 15 minutes of the second session I thought that ok, this is it. I can't do this. I couldn't understand a bit what they were talking about and yet still I was forced to talk with them. So now I have Animal Behavior instead. :) And I really didn't expect this to be this hard. I mean I'm only positively surprised, the education in here is really good and the professors are great! (I love my endocrinology professor, he's hilarious, in the end of one session he said "Oh, I'm so sick" :D and that describes it all!) And I really need to read all the time for the courses. But it's good, it keeps me busy. Someone said that the University of Iowa is one of the top universities in US. And it really feels like that.

Last Friday I was in a such a good mood, I talked with my parents (and aunt because she's in Finland because of funeral of their mothers brother, I said all our relatives are dying! :( ) and with Tarmo! And I cried a bit when I heard Tarmos voice because it had been a while when I had heard it last time. But I just was so happy :) And I also saw him via webcam! On Friday we went to Q bar and there was this amazing band; Minus Six! I didn't drink that much that night (3 margaritas, $3 a piece) because I was in front of the stage most of the night :) And after the night we got ride home. Yesterday we went to the Coral Ridge Mall and I bought some things from Victoria's Secret again ;) And I was supposed to buy some nice skirt but I couldn't find one... all there was was mini skirts and mini shorts... So I bought a jacket for Fall and it was only $60 and similar one at other shop was $200! After shopping we went to see Nanny Diaries in to the cinema and it was nice. we bought this huge bucket of popcorns and couldn't even finish it (there were four of us eating it!). When we came back there was this big family of black people (and even though I tell this story, I'm not a racist :) and it was so funny because all the older kids were messing around while the little ones were sitting nicely. In Finland it's the other way around :D And there was this cute little girl who sat next to Paola and chatted with her. She reminded me so much of my nieces sister Laura (she's also black) :) Oh yeah, and when I was heading to the Mall there was this elder black man who came to me when I was going to the bus and said Oh you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, I would like to get to know you, I live in Coralville, maybe you could come and visit me ans we could chat... And he smelled a bit of alcohol and it was kind of awkward. Luckily I could get away from him when the bus came. And weird enough, Ashleigh told this same story when she came to the Mall! :D

After the movies we came back home and Kaisa helped me with my computer and we formated it. And it's so much faster now :) Though we had to wait a bit and while waiting we watched Tyttö sinä olet tähti and The Butterfly effect. I liked both of them but I was really impressed about the latter one. It was so good, distressing but still very good. So I came home at 2 am and went straight to bed. I just left my laptop on the table (sideways) and didn't do anything more with it. And here are ghosts! Because when I woke up an hour ago, my laptop was on it's right place (and I did put it SIDEWAYS) and it's lid was open (I left it closed) and the network cable was connected... And our doors were locked... Ashleigh was awake for a while in the morning, I have to ask her if she did something... But this is a bit scary :F

Today we're going to go outside read because it should be a good weather :)

And it seems that I still can't upload any pics... And I tried to find some video of Minus Six but couldn't find a decent one...