Disappointment

Yesterday we had the Immunology test. And it was not what I had expected at all, it was way too easy, staying up all night was not worth it at all!!! Because I only got 3 hours of sleep, I was just really really tired. But sometimes it is nice being tired because you relax.

Honestly I could have gone to sleep earlier. After I finished reading Immunology, I started preparing for a seminar about homeostasis (in Physiology we have seminars were we actively have to participate and answer questions all of the time. So it is kind of 3 hours of pure student-teacher interaction). Then I still was not tired, so crazy me started to do my case analysis for Ethics and finished that too... In the morning there was a misunderstanding with the teacher so the morning lecture was not held. I could have slept 2 more hours!

Even though I have only one test next week (I sort of failed my Estonian test a week ago and when I found out I freaked out...) we have a lot of papers and other stuff that needs to be fixed. Today we will have a Skype-conference about our survey on "The well-being of Finnish students in Tartu".
Next week when I am home I will get to speak in my former high school about Tartu and medical studies. I am looking forward to it since I really think that Tartu is a great option if you do not get in to Finland or Sweden! And as I have learned, it is so hard to get into med-school in these countries.

The next two weekends I have fun things to look forward to! Next week I will head back home, and the weekend after that there is SoulNite in Stockholm. At this time we are having som accomodation problems, but I think we will find some kind of solution :)

Immunology

I will take every good word I have said about Immunology back. This is the worst subject ever, with a HUGE amount of pointless abbreviations. I will be up all night with all this fun stuff...

Busy as a bee

Yes I am quite busy ever since last week. But after yesterday's extreme study session I have to take it a bit slower today, to gather energy for an extreme study day tomorrow again. Today I had my first Microbiology test, which I did not know what to expect from. But I think it went okay, especially since we had bad lecture materials and my (expensive) book the teachers recommend was quite poor in the basic department.

On Thursday there will be another test, Immunology. This is a rather broad chapter about the basics of the immune system, but I find it much more interesting now that I read it for myself and do not have to listen to some guy talking whatever for 3hours in a row (I had one of those monster seminars today, good thing was that I had my laptop with me for another lesson, so I was mostly checking out Friis and Companys bags in hope to find something to put on Santas list).

But after Thursday we do not have any test for a while, which suits me fine since we have a few essay etc. I will have to write this weekend to get rid of them. And then there is always next week's trip home to look forward to! It will be my brother N's last weekend home for 2 long years, since he will be leaving on his mission 14.11. I miss him already!

Also I believe I have forgot to mention that I am moving in January to a nice apartment right in the city centre with F. We fell in love with it immediatly, and everything else (practical stuff) just fell into place too. So now folks you can come and visit, since we will have about 80 sqm of space all to ourselves!
And just to make you a bit jealous, here in Estonia students CAN affort a nice apartment downtown which includes a bathtube, washmachine, dishmachine, fireplace and a balcony with a view to the park.

The moving part is nice from other aspects too. I have had a night guest in our common starecase area right some steps down from my door a few nights. I do not know how the guy got inside, but some nights he had a blanket under and on himself. Happily he lay there smoking. The first nights I was quite affraid, you never know what people are doing...
My Russian neighbours have been taking their fighting to new levels, the other day I woke up to them fighting, the husband standing in the echoing stare case and screaming, while the wife was screaming inside wall to wall from where I slept. And this was at 7 am!
On top of all they were doing some kind of repairs (?) yesterday night at 10pm. (Un)fortunately I was staying up late for some studying. Also these people were talking and it seemed like they were standing with me in the same room.

Gotta run, once again. Homework for Estonia tomorrow and some Immunology are still waiting for me. Oujee!

Svenska dagen

Svenska dagen kommer tidigt i år, med kärt besök. Det är nästan lite som julafton. Jag blev försedd med matvaror jag saknar hemifrån (Helmigröt och ärtsoppa, godis från båten) och saker jag hade "beställt" från hemmet/mitt rum. Där finns fat, Marimekko lakan, kökshanddukar, min Lotta på Bråkmakargatan gris i gosedjursformat och böcker. Det pirrade lite i fingrarna då jag tog upp dem ur påsen, för jag kom inte ihåg exakt vilka jag hade lagt undan i somras i ta med högen till Tartu.

Tyvärr blev en del saker glömt, men jag skall i början av november hem, så då får det åka med en del. Hemma lämnade främst glas och mina kära muminmuggar. Sen lite mappar och gamla skolpapper från Arcada. Så no worries, inget allvarligare :)

Genast man får besök slappnar man också av. Proven finns så klart där i bakhuvudet, men man omprioriterar och ser att det nu inte hänger på det här ena pikiprovet. Det kommer flera. Men jag och Pepsi Max skall plugga lite ännu (borde som vanligt plugga istället för att skriva!), imorgon har vi estniskaprov. Som består av tonvis med papper vi inte ens har gått igenom eller fått någon ordlista till. Man kan bli frustrerad av mindre.

Så ikväll fick jag mumsa på daimtårta med mitt kära besök, sen blir det återseende imorgon efter estniskan. Mat på stan, och kanske lite shopping? Borde iallafall gå en stor båge kring bokaffären...

Jag undrar i mitt stilla sinne när mina grannar kommer och knacka på till min dörr och bönar och ber mig om att sluta lyssna på samma låt flera dagar i streck på repeat. Kolla in Swedish House Mafia-One på youtube så vet ni vad jag lyssnar på. Jag växlar mellan originalet (utan sjungas) och den som feat. pharrell. Så lite omväxling är det ju!?

Nåja, estniskapappren kvävs i min skolväska, skall gå och rädda dem.

Ha det gött.

To stress or not to stress...

...that is the question. But I will stop stressing right now I decided. Because it just makes me cranky and tired.
And believe it or not, tests are not the center of the world and people(or at least I) tend to overread. So no point in that.

Tomorrow night my Mom, aunt and sis are coming to Tartu. Always nice to have company, I have been looking forward to this.

Take care.

You know your life is...

Tonight I feel a bit sarcastic. And as I was chatting with my former roomie from the good old Helsinki time, I got inspired to do this wonderful list.

You know your life is quite sad when:

-One of you hobbies is to watch your neighbours from your apartment window(Probably you have made up names and come up with some background data for them too).

-Gone crazy and wild means pulling and all nighter before a test. Just because you can.

-You spend more time watching your favorite series than talking face to face with people.

-You make up fake realtionships with the characters from the above mentioned series.

-You can listen to the same song for hours and hours and you still do not get tired of it. It ends up with the song being the last and first thing on your mind before bedtime. If you are really lucky, the song will reappear during the night in your dreams.

---

3 tests this upcoming week, and family visiting Estonia also. But can we do it? -Yes we can.
Gotta go, the coenzymes want to party with me big time. See ya.

Books

Here are pictures of the new additions to my bookshelf from Germany:

Up->down
Audrey Niffenegger: Her Fearful Symmetry
. I have been wanting to buy and read this book for so long. It is from the same author who has written The time traveller's wife. Loved the book and the movie!
Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, pray, love. This is now also a movie in the theathers, starring Julia Roberts. My book is in German.
Martina Paura: Angebissen. Tells apparently the real story of Adam and Eve, how their lovestory was.
Mary E. Pearson: Zwei und dieselbe. This is a book about a girl who wakes up after laying in coma for a year, and how she tries to put together the bits of her life. I am currently reading this book.
And last but not least, I just had to buy Simon's cat as a book. It always puts a smile on my face. In the store the saleslady told me the second book is already for sale!



And some schoolbooks. The Microbiology book I ordered in Finland, so my brother brought it to me in Germany. Thank you S!


I feel that pics are about half of the reading, at least if you want to learn something. And the two upper books have great pictures. Here are some examples:

From Microbiology


Open heart surgery from the cardiology book


I have a confession to make. I pick books based on their covers. I just love to have something nice to look at. That's another reason why you should buy books in English (the other reason is that the original language a book is written in always is the best. Some books I hate, I just hate because I read them in another language, Swedish often being in the top of bad text since it is a colourless language), because they have the most beautiful covers. Mom did a year ago buy me a book simple because it had a dull cover (swedish one). Unfortunately I had already read it and owned it also :P Here is the cover of one of the books. I just love looking at it:

Maybe when I am at home I will put up some photos on nice bookcovers. Maybe someone gets inspired too.

And the last pic is Simon's cat:

I will hopefully be doing the same this weekend as he is!

List

What I have been up to since I got home from Germany:

-I have attended all in all 7 hours (!) of lectures in Estonian last week. And for that I am mighty proud of myself. I didn't die, neither was I totally clueless. All for the greater good, aka taking a week off from school.

-German dinner on Friday. I invited F over to my place and we ate Spätzle with mushrooms in cream sauce and some Schnitzel. Dessert was German sweets I had brought with me.

-Saturday I on the other hand went to F's place and we watched Fucking Åmål. I hadn't seen it before, but it was still nostalgic since I got a reminder of how it was in the 8th grade.

-I have to do a presentation about 25 pages of some medical text in Estonian by next week. It freaks me out, since the teacher is, well not too nice, and I do not have any vocabulary to do anything like that. Wish me luck (since now I type every other word into Google translator, which is one of the best inventions ever)

-I really miss home at the moment, especially since my cousin (that also is kind of a big sis to me) had an engagement party last Saturday that I couldn't attend. It sucks when you miss out on big family events. And autumn always weighs so heavy on my shoulders, since I am moodwise very dependent on the weather. But I think it is quite normal with the ups and downs, moodswings etc. I have a long way home (and it gets expensive too) and still I am a family and friend type of person who loves to have those people around. I also miss our cats. Maybe I will have to get one for my apartment here in Tartu ;)

-The time of student events and free food (including lectures and presentations) has started! Today I attended our student organizations get to know party. Tomorrow there will be a presentation hosted by Ratiopharm and dinner at a fancy restaurant afterwards. Nice to have some special program planned also on normal weekdays.

-Even though I am really really lazy I would like to have some interesting test to prepare for. Not anything unneccessary, but something like microbiology or physiology. Still I know that when we have these tests I will most likely sit at the computer and watch my series :P People are never truely satisfied with their life it seems!

The Wedding

As I promised, here are some pictures from the wedding! I had only mine to choose from unfortunatly, but there were a bounch of good ones amongst them.


One happy bride, pre-wedding in front of Standesamt

And there are of course some guests:

These handsome men are Opa, Papa, Simon and Nikolai



Me and my aunt Conny



The exchanging of rings



Jörg, his daughter Laura (confusing to have somebody that has just the same name as you, with the deletion of one letter only!) and Patricia (or Tanti :P)



Father and daughter



Here you can see Laura's dress, it was a fluffy thing where some rose leafs where in between the fluff. Also Tanti's dress is so pretty!



Me and the bride



It was raining cats and dogs, and you can see that somebody wasn't too keen on it.



But they were still up for a kiss. And let's face it, the umbrella just completed the picture!

Some details:

The bride's flowers


The car


The bride's ring. The groom's is just the same with the opposite combination of colours


And yes, one happy couple also ;)



The first place after Standesamt. Champangebuffet at a lovely restaurant. The guest didn't mind the rain, since the place was nice. And good food, nams.



The bride with her siblings and dad. I love this pic!



And these two got married last year!



The second location was just around the corner from the apartment/hotel building I mentioned yesterday. There we had cake, and later on a 3 course buffet. (Weddings are all about the food or how was it?)



My handsome brothers got to entertain me



This was such a cool idea; costumized M&M's .You can order them or just look at it on this homepage



The cutting of the cake.

There were about 35 people attending the wedding, even though I haven't got any pictures of them.
At one moment we took a group photo. Since I am short (even though I try not to think about it) I had to stand up front. So Laura stood beside me, and at one point (note she is 11, just like my little sis) she poked me and asked:
"How old are you anyway?"
"22"
"Oh Gott!"
was the only reply I got. And that was about the first and last time she adressed me directly. Funny those moments :P

Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the gift table. They got a lot of "art" containing money as decorations. For example a Playmobile beach setting. Well Tanti told me she had to look quite a while for the money. She was digging around the sand, moved the couple in it... Then she found it in a tiny bucket where the money was stuffed in as little confetti. Or a cake of toilet paper where the money were the flowers. Nice ideas anyhow!

On Monday the newly weds left for their honeymoon. One week in Dubai in a fancy hotel. I hope they will show me some pics as soon as they have settled at home again :)

About my trip

So i will finally post something about my trip to Germany. More or less important stuff, just as always ;)

On my trip to Frankfurt, I had a lot of spare time in Tallinn at the airport. And I think it is just about the lamest airport I have been to. At least for a capital city. The airport at Tartu last year was even below mentioning. The luggage claim there was a truck that would drive to the entry with our bags! Even at the airports in Uzbekistan in the middle of nowhere we had better service. But yes, back to this year's trip.

At the check-in they specifically asked me where I wanted to sit. Of course I wanted a window seat. There is nothing like looking out at a miniature of the world you usually think is so big and important. Apparently a French couple thought just about the same. On my seat I found a lady in her sevennties, and her husband on the middle seat. I kindly pointed out that the window seat was mine, and I think the lady killed me about 5 times in her head.
The food came, we ate, and I thought her husband was really nice. BUT, since I have a weakness for Coke, and I had been drinking one at the airport (overpriced of course, about the triple price!) and two small cans on the airplane, I really really needed to go to the toilet. The husband was trying to get some sleep, and well at one point I just had to bother him, but I had waited nicely until he had opened his eyes. So the couple had to stand up to make way for me (oh gosh how horrible..) and I can not believe how small they make these rows nowadays. As I walked by the wife, I think she just thought about the 10 worst ways to die and imagined me in those scenarios...
Happy and relieved I came back to my row. Which I at first didn't recognice. The couple was "gone" and somebody sat at my place. Since there were quite a bunch of Frenchmen on the plane traveling together, the men behind me kindly adressed the lady, since he noticed how puzzled I looked. The lady bitterly replied: "She can sit there now, I do not have to stand up anymore." She did this with quite some I-am-older-better-and-therefore-privileged attitude. So even though I did for a minute think about talking to a stewardess, I didn't. But what really put wind on my fire was that, since she sat on my seat, all my stuff was there. My book, my bag... AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN MOVE HER FEET FOR ME TO GET THOSE. Gaaah, French people. I just abdicated them that minute in my head of being nice people, and I will not treat them nicely anymore.
So the couple was happy about (finally) getting to look out of the window. And I just was pissed. Since that is about half of the fun on a flight. To put some more anger into my already blackened mind, the captain announced that we are seeing a wonderful sunset outside, the best he has seen in a while. Especially on the right hand side (where I should have been sitting). Karma is a bitch!

I have been telling everyone about this event since I am still quite grumpy about it. Sometimes I can hold a grudge for a real long time...

In Frankfurt a great late summer weather greeted me. I was able to walk around in shorts and t-shirts for about 4 days! And read outside in Opa's(German for granfather) garden.

Already the next day I met up with my aunt C to do some shopping in Frankfurt. But first Opa had to teach me how to get there. Which wasn't that hard, be he liked to test me anyhow. After living a year in Helsinki that bit was a piece of cake.
The first stop was of course the bookstore Hugendubel. I could live in that place. There are some nice reading corners were they have sofas all around. Shown here. They have just about everything you need. Here is a pic from the English corner of the store:


I found this cool comic downstairs in the science department:


This is a comic about genes, Mendel and so on. Even though I know this stuff I just think that it was so cool. But I didn't buy it :P


Also C introduced me to some "new" things. The restaurant Mosch Mosch, where they serve really good Asian food and the clothes store Hollister, where half of the shopping is the special setting of the store. In New York apparently they had some goodlooking guys in only their Hawaiian shorts standing outside of the store. Sadly this wasn't the case in Frankfurt. At least the times I was there.

On Wednesday I did some food shopping. Except for sweets, that you either can't get anywhere else or their being overpriced, I bought Maggi. It is sort a really really good seasoning soya, that is salt and just perfect. Skip the ketchup the next time you have you student meal consisting of mac and ketchup, and do some mac and Maggi. Heaven.
Then I bought some Spätzle. That is some kind of special pasta I always connect to Germany, but apparently they use it in Switzerland and France also. Traditionally I would eat them with cheese and onion. Nams.

Later that afternoon me and Opa met up with C and we went to the Jewish museum. I have always wanted to visit it, but it was acutally a disappointment. It was smaller than I imagined and not well equipped. The others agreed. It could have been better.
Afterwards we talked Opa into taking a 50min cruise on the Main. It was the last one for the day, and here are some pics I took:

At this little tower my aunt C had her wedding reception at a stylish bar last year


A bad pic of the skyline of Frankfurt (also sometimes called Bankfurt since well as you can guess there are a lot of banks there...)


I would like to live in a penthouse apartment like this. But not on this side of the Skyline, but upstreams near the University's hospital. A bit pricey, but what the heck :D

Thursday I went to Frankfurt once again, and I got my first manicure ever. It was just about as in the movies, since besides us there was a (very) studpid customer and the Vietnamese women there just couldn't figure out how she wanted her nails. Neither did me and C, so the problem was a stupid lady not the language barrier.
And since they spoke Vietnamese all the time you could almost guess that they were talking about us. As I said, just as in the movies.
After that I decided to make a stop on the way home at Neu Isenburg and visit the mall there. It is really nice and renovated, but a store that has always been there is a petshop. And they have always been showing small bunnies in their shop's window. Ever since I was a little girl I've visited them. And I always have to start at that end where the bunnies are. Otherwise my whole route is messed up. So even though I got in at the other far end, I walked thourgh and admired the bunnies for a while, and I fell in love. With the black and white one:


That night my Dad and brothers got to Opa's really late, because on Friday we had to go to Ludwigsburg where Tanti's (Tante means aunt in German, and Tanti is a shortform. I have always called her Tanti and probably always will. It's like Mom, Dad, Opa, Mommo. You can't call them anything else!) wedding was going to take olace. It's near Stuttgart, so Friday we had quite a long day driving, and there was Stauerparty on the Autobahn. But I got my own room at the hotel where we were staying, which was sort of integrated in the apartmentbuilding where Tanti and J live. So it was perfect. And their apartment is really nice, I will have to explore Stuttgart sometime (when there isn't a wedding to attend :D )

About the wedding I will post some pics in a seperate post, since there are a lot of good pics.

Anyhow, when we came home on Sunday, I started to "solve" some crossword puzzles. The funny thing is that even though Swedish definitly is my stronger language I can not manadge to solve those in Swedish. Some kind of logic just is missing. So I only do those in German.
At the end I involved Dad and Tanti also, so we did that for quite a while.

Tuesday we all traveled back to Finland and me to Estonia. This time I had a really nice and quite good-looking Australian guy in my row. Even though it was the row in front of the toilets, and I had to sit in the seat next to it basically. So this did heal the wound a little after the French incident.
The most interesting thing about a trip is always the people you meet. Even though they can be annoying. But planes and trains are just good places to meet all kind of people. That's what makes traveling so interesting. Even if it just is a train ride between Helsinki and home :)