24.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 24

The story is told of a man who visited an art gallery and purchased an expensive painting. He took it home and searched for the perfect place to hang it. As hard as he tried, however, he could not find a spot that seemed just right. In frustration he returned the painting to the gallery, explaining that, although he loved it, he simply had no room for it in his home. Surprised, the curator looked him in the eye and gave him this advice: "If you really love this painting, this is what you must do: Go home. Take everything out of your house. Hang up the painting. Then put back into your house only the things that fit."


I hope that I will have the time to write an update after Christmas, I have been a bit busy the last weeks. Tonight I will work the nightshift after I have been celebrating Christmas properly with my family.


I wish you all a very very Merry Christmas!


(I hope your joulupukki will not get lost like this one!)

23.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 23

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
(mother teresa)

20.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 20

It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON

19.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 19

Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there also is love of humanity.

* Hippocrates

17.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 17

“I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Fannie Lou Hammer

15.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 15

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.
Henry David Thoreau

14.12.10

Last days of school

What have I been up to lately?

First of all I had my first exam on Friday. Biostatistics & Epidemiology, which was hard since they had formulated the questions in a difficult way. So let's see how it went when I get my results at the end of this week.

On Saturday was The Movingday! Even though we had problems with our transport etc. we figured out a solution to our problem, and the whole thing went much smoother than I expected. Also I had less stuff than I first thought. Look for yourself:



Fortunately I did not have any furniture. And I did not have more books than I had. Because after this weekend I discovered the backside of loving books, they weigh a TON! And then I had only one big box full of them here.... Also it is good that I do not move very often. Even though everything went great this weekend, it takes a lot of time. And it was not all too nice dragging the stuff 5 stores up to the new apartment.
But I also fell in love with that place yet again. It is just beautiful, best location ever, and now the outside of the house has been renovated and the result was super :) When things are more or less in their right places when we move in in January I will put some pics for you too admire. My old apartment is empty, and I fear the packing for my trip home. Once again I was a bit too optimistic about what I want to take with me. Happens all the time. But I have to get everything packed until Wednesday when I will give back the keys and I will have a two day slumber party with F. And on Friday we will go home to Finland, wohoo :D

But until that, there are some tests to be done. Tomorrow we have Microbiology, which includes learning antibiotics and some other pretty detailed stuff. I love reading my Medical Microbiology book, but I simply do not have enough time. It takes forever to read, and afterwards you do not remember anything. So I hope this one goes well, we need to get 60% right in order to pass and continue in the Spring.
On Thursday we have our last test, Physiology-hormones. And yes, only half a day to read for that one.

This weekend I decided to stay a couple of days in Helsinki at a friend's place, and we will go to a party that her study association is giving on Saturday. I am so looking forward to this, because they sure now how to make a party a good one :D
On Sunday we will travel home together after probably a morning with only a couple of hours of sleep. Well, we are still young ;) In the evening I will have a late birthday party with my family. So there are only nice things coming up, one can hardly be depressed about not knowing any kind of antibiotics yet :D There are still 24hours until the semester final, wish me luck!

24 quotes until Christmas, December 14

Fear kills everything. Your mind, your heart, your imagination.
Cornelia Funke

13.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 13

Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.
Mary Kay Ash

12.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 12

You will never "find" time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.
Charles Bruxton

11.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 11

A...room...without...books...is...like...a...body...without...a...soul.
(Cicero)

10.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 10

Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be.
~~Karen Ravn~~


9.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 9

You'll never leave where you are until you decide where you'd rather be.

8.12.10

Post

Today I got a late birthday envelope from mamma. Probably one of the nicest I have ever gotten.


Inside of it there was this:

Änglaspel

...and some leather gloves and a card of course! A nice little surprise :) Now I am just waiting to get to go home and get more presents :D

As we are having fewer and fewer classes my motivation is suffering also. Big time

On Saturday me and F will be moving most of our stuff to the new apartment. And speaking about that, our landlord has apparently written a book (he is head of the Cardiology department in Tallinn), from which one of my classmates did her eesti lektüür. Nice to know prominent Estonians.

On Monday I skyped my way through the Finnish Independence Ball with P. We talked for about 6hours. Because that just belongs to the tradition of 6th December, you watch the Ball and comment on every single dress. The rest of the Ball is just boring, well except for watching what kind of food is served. And thanks to anywheretv I can watch Finnish TV anytime, anywhere ;) Of course I shared this knowledge with P who lives in Sweden, and she is kind of addicted.

Well I guess I have to study tonight also. Bye.

24 quotes until Christmas, December 8

****Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent****

Eleanor Roosevelt

7.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 7

"I'm though, ambitious,
and I know exactly what I want.
If that makes me a bitch, okay."

(Madonna)

6.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 6

MY BEST FRIEND IS THE ONE WHO BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN ME

~~Henry Ford~~

5.12.10

Tests and other fun stuff

Tomorrow I have the hormone test in biochemistry. I am still making notes, and it is almost half past nine. At least I am not tired. So what have I learned? Only the most important things. For example that there is adrenaline in vanillin and bananas.

Yesterday I was invited to eat dinner at F:s place; we talked and watched the snow fall. We did attempt to bake jultårtor, but they were just plain ugly and did not rise in the oven at all. We decided that next year we have to find a way to make real ones here in Estonia. Also we have to bake gingerbread (from scratch). Let's see if we have time with all the studying in the third year :P

The schedule for the remaining 12 days of school:
6.12 Biochemistry-hormones
7.12 Seminar on a lame immunological article
8.12 Presenting a case and evidence based study in Epidemiology
10.12 Exam in Statistics&Epidemiology
15.12 Semester final in Microbiology (yeaks!)
16.12 Physiology-hormones
17.12 ---------->HOME

At some point we will try to move our stuff to our new apartment too. Which includes having to pack everything and getting them to town. That will take some time...

24 quotes until Christmas, December 5

Anything is possible,
the impossible just takes a little bit longer.

4.12.10

24 quotes until Christmas, December 4

What makes us small
and insignificant
also makes us rare
and precious.

3.12.10

Friday

Today I have had lack of motivation problems. I got myself to read some for the test (biochemistry about hormones...), but it just took so long I got restless.

I had decided to go to town in the evening to shop some more X-mas presents. Now I almost have everything! Of course I had to sneak into my bookshop. And I found this and fell in love. So I brought it home! Here is my very own:





I love the details of the cover:




Inside of the notebook:



I have kept a diary over the books I have read for about 6 years (if I remember correctly). And because I read a lot it has really been a blessing. I can just open my bookjournals and look up all the great books I had forgotten that I have read. It is something I really recommend.
And it is not only Moleskine that has these types of journals, since they are quite pricy you maybe want to look at some cheaper (and just as handy and nice) than the Moleskine. In Swedish I have bought some that only costed me 4 euros. So there are alternatives.
But since I got some birthday money I had to have another Moleskine. They are the best.

A funny(?) thing happened as I stood in line to pay at the bookstore. A man, who clearly had had a lot of vodka, stood behind me in line. He was mumbeling somehing, and I wasn't quite sure if he talked to me. Well he at some point said that he was just looking at my book covers. Then he showed me his (a Terry Pratchett, yök) and asked me if I have read it. I answered something in Estonian and then it was my turn to pay. The saleswoman explained to me that I would get -12% on Tuesday and today only -5% with my student card (which I knew). I replied something, and then the man from before jumped in beside me and said: "You have a very bad accent!" Then he laughed, excused himself, and stood behind me again. Well thank you too. Here I am at least trying to say some of the 10 words I know in Estonian, and there comes a annoying man having to point it out to me.
The fact is, I hate people who point out my accent, in which language whatsoever. Even though I know that I have a accent speaking anything else but Swedish (there you could also say that I do have an accent because it does not sound like the Swedish they speak in Sweden). I want to be able to speak without people knowing which language is my mother tongue. And I have a looooooooong way until I even can have a proper discussion in Estonian, not to mention the accent. It is just one of my things. And it hurts my ego ;)

I also bought a new pair of jeans since I had to throw away two pairs last week, they were so worn out. And I made a stop at the food store, because as I mentioned I hate going there if I do not combine it with something else I have to do (lazy girl...). So tonight I made this yummy salad:

Ingredients:
Iceberg salad
Cucumber
Tomato
Feta-cheese
Sundried tomatoes+the oil there are in
Sunflower seeds
Ciabatta with jalapenos

And I have already seen a movie, Shrek 4, which was a nice movie! The rest of the evening I think I will put on some Christmas music and write some Christmas cards!


P.S. Moleskine has a new series of notebookes, called Passions. To this series my book journal belongs, but there are also journals on music, wellness, movies, wines and recipes. A great gift idea for Christmas :)

24 quotes until Christmas, December 3

Treat a man as he is
and he will remain as he is.
Treat a man as he can and should be
and he will become as he can and should be.

GOETHE

2.12.10

22nd birthday

Yesterday when I woke up (because of Estonian words flying through my subconscious dreams at six in the morning), I was suddenly one year older. When it comes to birthdays and Christmases I am child-minded (I think childish is the wrong word here), and I think that there is some kind of magic surrounding certain events in life. That once gone through or once prepared with the right traditions you will be transformed and feel special, at least for a while. Anyhow, my point is birthdays are important, both my own and other people's!

When I woke up I carefully thought through in which order I should open my envelopes and my package.

I started with the thinnest and worked my way up. So my brother's letter was the first one to be opened, and it was so beautiful that I cried a little. Next was P's envelope from Sweden, which contained a bookmarker magnet with the text Good friends are like angels...you don't have to see them to know that they are there.. It also contained a beautiful letter, and I cried some more :P The "real" present will be given on the holidays since it could not be sent by mail. The package from Germany contained three books. One was the comic I had seen in Germany about the genes, then the Simon's cat book 2 and a book called Finnen von Sinnen. It tells about a German man who got married to a Finnish woman and in his book he tells about what it is like to live in Finland taken from a foreigner's point of view.

Of course you need to have some cake on your birthday too.

This one I got from Selver, it was on sale for only 4,50€! And it was so big that I had 4/5 of the cake left today, so I invited the people from my class over to help me eat it. And for being an Estonian cake this was very very good! Sometimes when I buy a cake/sweets here I get all excited and when I taste it and it is not good I get so disappointed. Well, not this time!

My classmates sang for me two times, the second time was during our oral final in Estonian, the teacher got a bit carried away and started singing all by herself at first :D
I was worn out and stressed before this final, because our teacher has had some funny ideas throughout this semester. But it went really well, and I am proud of myself. No more Estonian until February!

So after classes I walked around in the malls, bought some Christmas presents and stuff I needed for myself. I met up with five of my classmates to go and play in Megazone, which is a laser-shooting game. But it was closed at first, so we decided to eat something first. We went to the cafeteria in my favorite bookstore, one I have always wanted to go to. They had real good proper food also, so I will probably be going back there! Since 50% of us were Swedish-speaking we decided to speak some Swedish, which was nice for a change, especially since they all know Swedish so well.
Megazone was so much fun. We split up in three teams of two, so that it would be more fair distributed. Here were the winners; team red:


We decided that we have to do this again sometime. It was cheap, fun and almost like a small workout.

After megazone we spontaniously went to the brother P's apartment to have some glögi and use their sauna. I have been missing using a sauna, even though we do not even have one in use at home. But still, it is so relaxing!

I got home about one that night after a great birthday. Probably the best one in some years. This can only mean that the 22nd year of my life will be awesome :D

Soon school is over, only 15 days!

24 quotes until Christmas, December 2

The most successful people
are those
who are good at plan B.

(James Yorke)

24 quotes until Christmas, December 1

There are some people in life that
make you laugh a little louder,
smile a little brighter and just
live a little better.