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 :)

My Dear Finland

Blah. 16 freaking days!
My mind has been in Finland the last two days. I've been planning my spring and next Fall... If I'm hard working, I should graduate during/after summer! Cool! I'm also planning to go to elsewhere to do my Ph.D. though I'm going to stay in Finland... but nothing more on that, that's going to be the spring issue I have to deal with...

I'm waiting so much for the next two and a half week to go by! Then I'm going to see my babe!!! Missing him so much! Now I've gotten myself in a point where I'm just waiting to go back home... Or to be more specific, waiting to see my love. Waiting, waiting and waiting.
Finals are coming soon, I've lost my motivation to read properly but my goal is to pass all the courses, I'm going to take only passed for them, not any grades as they'd lower my average. But even though my motivation is low, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't read. I still need to study to keep my mind happy ^^ I can't just do nothing, I'd feel bad about myself.

I'll go and "celebrate" one of my friends leaving on Saturday. So I get some social life again! Last weekend I just enjoyed my peace and tried to sleep and relax :) Then it's only one more week of studies, then it's over. Well, then it's finals and then it's really over!
I already packed stuff away that I don't need and tried to estimate how much space do I have and that if I need to panic how I get all my stuff back in Finland :D It seems to be ok. Though I still need to think what to do with my blanket, I paid a lot for it, too much just to give it away so I need to see if I could take it with me if no-one is going to buy it... Luckily I've been reasonable and haven't bought A LOT stuff. And I'm going to send some christmas presents to my parents so that the could at least think that I'm with them.

Ashleigh came from NYC and told it's really beautiful. I'm looking forward going there with Tarmo! Oh I just said to Kaisa today that I love him so much, I love that he just brainstorms with me (about the future) and stuff... The nearer I get to The Day, the more enthusiast I get! Oh please let this three weeks go by fast!!!

By the way, it snowed. Or actually it rained ice during the weekend and the ground is still white (and slippery). And I'm starting to be too goofy, I forgot my keys to the store downstairs last night :F

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...

Back to ER

I visited ER again last night, Kaisa was feeling really nauseated (since Monday) so I left there with her. She got some medicine but we were back home a bit after 3 am so I've been a bit tired today, though not as tired as I would've assumed that I'd be.
Luckily I made some work from todays readings yesterday so I'm still in "schedule"... And I made the doctor laugh, I helped Kaisa when she was going to get X-rayed:
"Well, this is the first time I'm opening someone else's bra..."
"Interesting..." (Also the nurse couldn't help it but bursted into a laugh.)

Some random thing:
"What's your name?"
"Taina."
"How do you say that?"
"Taina."
"Like vagina?"
"Not quite, though I have one..."

I've been trying to get a ticket to Saturdays game, and I might have one finally... And tomorrow I'll go and carve some pumpkins, eat pizza and pumpkin pie, watch bonfire and go to a haunted house! And on Saturday I might go to the game and on Sunday I'll go and see some soccer (Meikes team is having the last game in here). So enough to do for the weekend, I still need to find some time to read... I'll have two exams next week!

And I finally found some time to do my laundry! Now I just need to wait for my towel so that I can go and take a shower...

Weather is beautiful. Sun is shining and the air is fresh and crispy. Reminds me of Finnish Spring. And I'm still smiling because of the letter :) What else? I'm quite tired so this is just brain streaming, I should eat something (been just drinking coffee) and I try to kill time so that I get my laundry ready...

Under two months! That's eight weeks!

Oh yeah, almost forgot! I'm so smart that I even surprise myself! :D Last night Kaisa got some medicine for the nausea and it made her twitch. I told her that it's because the drug effects the dopaminergic neurons, like in Parkinson's disease. I meant what I said but I never thought that it'd be THE reason. And today Kaisa gave me this:

Metoclopramide (INN) (IPA: [m?t??klopr?ma?d, -?kl?-]) is a
potent dopamine receptor antagonist used for its antiemetic
and prokinetic properties. Thus it is primarily used to
treat nausea and vomiting, and to facilitate gastric
emptying in patients with gastric stasis.

So I actually knew it!! I'm so smart!!! To bad that it comes and shows itself only occasionally :D But I really need to get something to eat...

Tornado (real one and me)

OK, I hate this! I want to go back Finland where there is a proper internet connection that is working right! AGAIN! They fucking disconnected me AGAIN!!! Now they accuse me for copyright violation! AGAIN I USE ONLY IRC, SKYPE, MESSENGER AND FIREFOX AND I DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANYTHING!
So now I need to call to some person to talk about my "violation" and they do not take appointments on the same day so I don't get my internet working this week because I'm leaving for Chicago on Friday. For fuck sake! This really pisses me off. Luckily I talked with my mom yesterday. But now I won't hear Tarmos voice until next week...
This is not my day, I'm so tired and pissed off!

I didn't sleep well thanks to someone so I was really tired and I needed to get up early so that I could finish my readings. And Tuesdays are always long days and there was this tornado warning so I couldn't get home. But I'll start from yesterday.

I decided to go to CoralRidge to get some post cards and because of that I needed to read late. I'll have my exam on tomorrow night from 8 to 9 pm. Then I need to start reading for my endocrinology and then I have two weeks time to catch up everything and then it starts all over again. And I asked my professor in Finland about my courses for the next Spring. There's this one course I can't do but we'll figure out what I do with it when I get back in Finland. And I'm still trying to think what to do about the "job course". Maybe I'll figure that out too when I get back. I just need to finish my Masters Thesis and after that I'll think what I want to do. The course would be useful but at the same time I want to graduate asap. I'll see.

And as I already mentioned, I talked with my mom yesterday. And I asked if she was ok because of the dream I had last week. She bursted in tears and sobbed that she's ok, just stressed out because of the water damage and because she misses me. I also asked about my birth (since I've been inspired lately because of this Developmental course) and she told that I was born on week 30. 30! I always knew I was born early, but THAT early... (Her placenta was falling apart.) I wonder if that affects on anything...

And I had a good laugh yesterday because of my self. I was writing a card for my niece and I was thinking in English while writing in Finnish, the I thought that oh no, now I wrote it in Finnish, then I thought no, wait a minute, that's what I was supposed to do :D I'm so funny.

I was reading some Finnish web pages today before my late discussion for two hours and when I finally left to my class, I was really confused and it felt unreal, because I felt that I was in Finland but then again I was walking in Iowa. And it was raining really heavily today and my shoes didn't even get wet! Or they did but my socks didn't! Good shoes!

And I've been feeling a bit down. (Now even more thanks to the internet thing. Well, actually, I'm just pissed off because of that.) But this is weird. When I was single (few years ago when my last relationship ended) I felt down but now this feels better because I'm not alone. I know there is someone else who is missing me also, I'm in someones heart. So my heart is not broken, it just misses someone badly. I'm not alone with my feelings and it makes me feel better.
As I have already mentioned, we're going to Chicago next weekend. But somehow I'm not as excited as I would like to be :( I do want to go and I know it'll be fun. I just need to get the tomorrows exam off me and maybe then I can think something else too...

Weather has been gray and we had a big thunderstorm, Fall is coming. And today when our discussion started at 7 pm, there was sirens and people looked a bit worried. It was a tornado warning. We decided to continue and go to the basement if there is another alarm. On the same time the TA checked where the tornado is going (he said it was in Kalona). At 7.30 pm we got another alarm and we hurried up our questions and finished the class. There was people waiting downstairs and the wind was quite harsh. I could see the lightning but there was no sound. And the lightnings were small and continuous and at the same place for long time. It didn't rain anymore and finally the bus driver opened the bus at 8 pm but we had to wait some other bus so I was heading back home at 8.30 pm. It was quite exciting but what makes me wonder, is that people in here didn't know what to do. it was weird.

So then I got home, found out the not so nice surprise and here I am, at out ITC lab. I just needed to come and write these things down because I don't have the time to do that tomorrow, I need to pack and do some reading on Thursday and on Friday we'll leave as soon as our classes are over.

So I survived from the tornado :D and I'm pissed off again. In a week I've been here for two months, half a way already. And I'm missing my love. But still not homesick, I just miss our Finnish systems... As I said to Kaisa, I do not miss places, I miss people. And I miss them a lot now.

I Know What Sunlotion Is

Something to report again :)

I had my first exam and it went ok. The professor asked some questions I didn't really expect but I knew the answers for most of the questions. At least I think so... We had 5 pages of questions on both sides of the papers, multiple questions, true/false or short answers. I was done in half an hour though I didn't believe it, so I checked my answers, didn't change anything and watched someone else to return their paper first. It was funny that people kept asking questions about the exam during the whole exam time (like some details about the questions or asked some clarifications), in Finland what you see is what you get. If there is not some mistakes about the question and you ask something about it, the professor just says that you see the question, answer to it...

I also had my first "proper" lab in animal behavior. Last time we just watches the March of the Penguins and wrote short proposal for that, today we played with zebra fishes. We had a male zebra fish alone in a tank and we were supposed to tease it with a fake female/male fishes and write down its behavior. In the end we wanted to repeat the trials but our fish got tired and was only interested in me :D (it stayed only in the corner that was on my side) I laughed that even the fish is interested in European girl :D

And I felt really special at the beginning of the week when people came to say to me that "Oh we missed you!" I was away only one weekend :D Tymon was best when he said that "Oh, the Asians are no use, you need to come to the bar with us!" I also talked with my mother in law today! She was visiting Tarmo today and we talked via Skype and webcam :) So I saw our kitties, Tarmo and my mother in law <3 It made me happy but it also made me miss home. Talking by just writing is easier though I love to hear Tarmos voice, but it makes me miss him and home more. Though time still goes by so fast, it's already Thursday night!

People are still teasing me about my red face. "You know what sunlotion is? You know, S-U-N-L-O-T-I-O-N." "Yeah, I thought you were red! You want me to get you some lotion?" Thanks, but I can handle this and believe or not, we do have sunlotion in Finland too :P I just supposed that we were going to bar to see the game but we didn't, so we stayed outside and it was cold and and... Which reminds me that I'm kind of waiting for the colder weather. It's windier now so it's not that warm even though the temperature is close to 30C. And the trees are dropping their leaves... I want to wear my winter skirts and boots :P And many people have asked me if the girls in here are like in every American movies: all made up and fresh and beautiful 24/7. No they aren't. I leave out the sorority girls ;) They're just like we normal people ;D But I hate the water in here, it's so hard that it makes my hair so dry...

Oh I should do some vacuuming to our floor but we don't have a vacuum cleaner... And I never hear anyone to do any cleaning (vacuuming), now I've just picked up the trash every time I see one... Though I don't really spend that much time at home, I mainly sleep in here and I am keeping my laundry clean ;) And I keep my side ordered (most of the time...).

And some random things: people in here don't really know how to drive. They just get their drivers license. Well they know how to drive but they can't back up the car... In Finland we really need to learn how to do the backing up in small places before we get our license :P And Aston Kutcher and Elijah Wood have studied in the University of Iowa ;) And I had a troijan horse in my computer. The virus detector was funny, it gave this alarm (and scared me) but it said "there is no reason to panic..." Well that's a program for women! Because if it hadn't said that, I would've panicked :D And oh yeah, I bought Windows Vista and Office 2007, for total of $20 :P

We're going to Chicago in two weeks! We need still find a place to stay... And after that it's not long for out Thanksgiving trip and after that it's not long for finals and after that it's not long for me to see my love!

Still Kicking...

So, not all sunshine. My laptop just won't work! I got it on yeasterday and this morning, but not anymore. Tarmo said that I should get some geek to watch it. I'll just need to ask tomorrow from the Welcome Center if they know what I should do... And it brike just when I was supposed to talk with Tarmo, then when I used Paolas laptop, it crashed too and I almost got desperate. This day was the day of technical revolution, Meike couldn't make a call to someone to pick her up and our hotels phone didn't work either... But she figured it out and finally got a ride back.

We went to see where the Mayflower Hall is (Kaisa and I will stay there) and then we walked to the Slater Hall (where Paola and Meike will stay) and before that Paola and I walked around the city (and almost got lost when our map ended...) so it was a lot of walking today and my feet are really sore now. We went to eat at the same place we went yesterday evening (got bed at 11 pm) and the food was good though the portions were too big to eat. Luckily we could get them with us. The weather in here is still hot and sunny though forecast said it could be thunderstorms next week. I've seen a lot of bunnies, hear an owl and maybe a coyote!

Tomorrow we'll go to the mall again and try to find some swimmingpool here. I found some nice bikinis on Saturday, so I'm ready for pool! I'll post some pics later when I get my laptop working again. I really hope that I get it soon all right because I'm too dependent on it and I want to have my own computer here, I want to speak with Tarmo and my parents and I want to have all my files and photos in my own computer!!! I got really upset when I got to know that it won't work... But I'm quite tired now and need a shower, just wanted to let you know that I won't post any pics until I get my laptop working again and I'm not sure how often I have time to blog from now on because the orientation starts on Tuesday and it will be quite intensive for two weeks...

By the way, I don't know if I can drink the water in here... And I don't have any botteled water with me now.. Luckily we have coffee maker in here so I just boiled the water, now I just need to wait it to cool down so that I can drink it... And I love lemonade! It's so good!