Bombs and trips and awards and stuff

So it's under a month until my school here ends. How nice, in a way. But then again, I'm gonna miss this place. It's so nice and I've met great people. But I'm starting to feel like it's time to go home. Also, I want to get on with my studies and graduate some time, and that means going home.

So our university here got a bomb threat, actually two of them. On one Monday my lecture was canceled because the building it is in was closed. Apparently they had found a bomb threat in a men's bathroom somewhere on campus and so they had to close the building down. I mean, they were quite sure that it was nothing, but only think what would happen if it really had blown up after all and they had done nothing about it. That would just have been chaos. Then on the Tuesday that week another bomb threat came out, but no buildings were shut down that time. It just made me think; any moment here anything can happen. Kind of makes me not want to go to my classes. I have never had a feeling like this at home, I always feel safe in Finland. But here, no.

I've not been doing much that actually needs its own entry. Been out with friends watching movies and shopping, been to some university events. I've had fun. Been kind of lazy still. Yesterday I got a lot done and am quite proud of myself. And today too. But now, don't feel like doing anything. I just don't care anymore. Wishing for the term to end and vacation to begin.

This Sunday I'm either going to the Three Sisters (mountains) or Crater Lake with Linda, Dave (host family), Nina and Salla. It depends on the weather. If the weather is good we are going to Crater Lake. In about two weeks time we are then going to the place we did not go to before. So I'll see them both no matter what. I'm looking forward to the trip this Sunday. It'll be fun. Linda and Dave are so great.

Speaking of Linda and Dave, they are getting an award on Friday. I got an email telling me that I could nominate a host family to receive an award for being so outstanding a host family. Nina and Salla nominated them too so that's most likely why they are getting it.

So I'm doing good. Waiting for Jussi to come here. When he comes we'll have such a great time. I am so much looking forward to our road trip this summer. It'll be so much fun. But first I have to do my school stuff. That's it for now. Can't think of anything else to write about.

What is wrong with my computer?!

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote. The reason for that is that my computer has not been working. Acer told my boyfriend that we should reinstall our Windows to fix the computer. So as we thought they knew what they were talking about, I did it with the help of my boyfriend (on the phone) and a friend here. And what do you know, my computer did not work after that. I couldn't get my Windows activated, my wireless didn't work and everything was just so awful. Now, after a week, my computer is a little like it was before. Windows is activated, wireless works (I don't know what I did but somehow I got it to work) and things are looking up. I still don't have Word, which annoys me in many levels, as I need it. Jussi has sent it to me by mail, so I'll be getting it soon. The annoying thing is that my computer is not fixed. The problem it had (and the reason why we did all this) came back yesterday. The problem is that at times the screen goes blue and it says something that I now don't remember, and then I have to turn the computer off and restart it. I took a picture of it and sent it to Jussi and he told Acer what it said. Well anyway, sometimes it happened so often that I couldn't do anything with the computer. And it worked much slower than before. It still does. So all this was for nothing. Thank you Acer. I just hope this will work the way it does now for at least the next month and a half. Then Jussi will be here and I don't need the computer anymore. When we get home we can take this stupid piece of crap to the store we bought it from and tell them to fix it. The warranty is still good, luckily.

So on to other things. I am kind of annoyed. I have started to almost hate one of my roommates, Jenn. She just says the stupidest things. Yesterday I opened a bottle of milk. I had just bought it. When I tasted the milk I spit it out directly. It tasted like... well I don't know what. Like someone had put some kind of foul tasting poison in it or something. I went to the kitchen to complain about my newly opened milk and she just said "Well, Anniina, milk does go bad after a while." And I'm like, what the hell. Well I didn't say that to her, just stood there quiet for a while before I could think of any way to answer that stupid comment. And she said it in that same annoying voice that she says all her stupid comments. The I'm smart and you're stupid kind of voice. Like when she told me that it is my fault that she does not wash her dishes, since I never empty the drying rack. But I wonder who is the one that empties her washings from the rack after her. Me, maybe? And the odd thing is that she didn't used to be like this. And now her boyfriend is here and she is even more annoying. Even Erin (our new roommate) said so to me. Luckily I have Erin here to complain to, since she too thinks Jenn can be very annoying. And all her annoying remarks seem to be directed at me. I don't know what her problem is.

So what has happened to me these past weeks? I don't even remember. Been doing a lot of stuff with Erin. We've watched movies. We went to take a walk to Hendrick's park the other day. Boy, that place is pretty. It's up on a hill and at one point you can see down to Eugene. And there are also a lot of pretty flowers and stuff. I also spent a Saturday night with her. We went to her friend's house and from there to a house party. It was a nice night, and cheap. I did not pay for any of the beer I had. And yes, it is quite odd that I would be drinking beer, but actually that particular beer was ok. Maybe because it tasted less like beer than other beers. The house party was interesting, I liked it.

Today I went to a football game. I was afraid I wouldn't see one, but today there was this spring game. It was actually the Ducks playing the Ducks (the U of O team was split into two teams, the whites and the greens). To get in, you had to bring three non-perishable food items. It was a game set up by the local food bank. Actually quite a good idea. Think how much food they got with over 11 000 people there all together bringing three food items. The game was nice even though I didn't understand all of it. But today has been a very nice and warm day, so it was great sitting there in the sun and watching the game with friends. I went with Daniela, Jen (the Australian, not my roommate) and two Swedish girls. The past few days have been very warm, by the way. It's been like summer to me, over 20 degrees out. Quite nice.

Now I am trying to read for my linguistics midterm. Not in the mood to do so. But I suppose I have to. Tomorrow I'm going to International Night, which is actually at noon. There will be a lot of food and performances. Next week will not be fun with a midterm, a quiz and a written assignment. But on Friday I have nothing and so I have a long weekend. Must think of something to do then. Jussi's birthday is on Friday. I'm sad to miss it. But what can you do. But must go now. Bye.

Missing home

I haven't written in a while because I really haven't had anything to write about. My life this past two weeks has been kind of boring. I don't know what is wrong, but I just feel so tired all the time. Most my time has been spent at home. I did go out to the coffee hour again last Friday. That's about the only social thing I did last week. And the odd thing was that almost the whole time I was wishing that I could just leave and go home. Wasn't really in a social mood. I have been hanging out with my flatmates a lot, though. A new girl moved in to the room Brittany moved out of. Erin's nice. I can talk to her easier than with my other flatmates. So she's a nice addition.

The thing that has been bothering me this past week is that Sarah got a cat. She had called Jenn to ask if she can (since Jenn is also allergic to cats, but not as much as me) and Jenn said it was ok if the cat stayed in Sarah's room. But one thing that Sarah did not do was ask me about it. She knows I'm also allergic. Quite thoughtless of her really. The first days with the cat were ok. I didn't even know about the cat until about two days after it had come. I had noticed that my face was a little dryer than usual, but I didn't think much of it. Now I think it was probably because of the cat. Well anyway, at one point Sarah apparently started letting the cat into our kitchen (which Jenn apparently gave her permission to do since Sarah wouldn't have done it otherwise), which by the way I found out when I started sneazing every time I stepped into the kitchen. At one point I finally caught her in the act. I asked her to stop letting the cat into the kitchen. I have now stopped sneazing. I actually feel ok now. I think I can take it, if the cat stays in Sarah's room. Of course, this isn't the ideal situation, but I can't just move. I will just vacuum my room and the kitchen more often, and hope that will be enough. Into Sarah's room I will no longer go.

The cat is really quite cute and nice too. I've never really liked cats. I've always thought they are quite cold, as opposed to dogs that always very social. Part of me not liking cats might also be because I don't let myself like them, since I am allergic. The same thing is with horses, I don't like them, never have. But I'm also very allergic to them. Apparently the cat has had a sad life, and if Sarah had not taken her, she would have been taken to the pound and/or put to sleep. But anyway, I seem to be ok with the cat being here.

What else...? Well my new courses have started. They are nice. I have a linguistic anthropology course. It has been like repetition to me these past two weeks, but I expect to learn something new later on in the course. It is a very interesting course though.

I spent Easter Sunday with the Pompels and Salla. We went to church in the morning and then went to eat an early dinner at their house. It was a nice day. I did miss all the Finnish Easter treats. Oh did I long for pasha. I like it so much. But I didn't really have to means to do it here. Maybe, when I return to Finland, I'll make all the Finnish food/treats I missed while being here.

On Saturday it will be two months until Jussi is here. Very nice. I must say that the reason for me being so tired and anti-social these last two weeks might be because I miss home, I miss Jussi and Fiona, and everyone else. After spring break it just hit me, a longing to go home. But I have decided to make the best of the time I have here. I will stop being anti-social. Today I will be going to a new friend's house with some of her friends. I bet we will have a lovely evening. And maybe tomorrow I might ask someone to go to the movies with me, if there are any good movies to see. But have a nice weekend everyone.

Back in Eugene

So I'm back here now, in Eugene. Spring term starts the day after tomorrow. I would rather vacation a little longer, but what can you do. I just bought the books for spring term. They cost 200 dollars! I don't understand why they have to cost so much here. I have now spent almost 400 dollars on books for the two terms here. I don't think I've used that much money for books the whole time in university in Finland. Oh yeah, I got the final grades for the three courses I had in the winter term. I got an A+ in Spanish, A in Languages of the World and A+ in 2nd Language Teaching. Must say, I did quite well. :) Too bad those grades don't count for anything when I go back to Finland. But nonetheless, I am now a straight A student here. Yeay for me.

So about my trip. We arrived in Vancouver, Canada, on Friday last week. The plane ride went ok. As you might expect the security checks were quite annoying. I got through easily, but Nina and Salla were checked quite thoroughly. They were taken away from the line and all their bags were checked by the people there. I had to wait for them quite a while. When we arrived in Vancoucer it was raining a lot. We went by bus to downtown Vancouver. The bus conductor let us go without paying, because we only had twenty dollar bills (Canadian dollars) and no coins. All the busses in Vancouver only took coins, since they have these machines in the busses. The conductor has nothing to do with them. But luckily he was so nice as to let the poor tourists go free. We walked to the hotel from where we stopped and got very wet on the way. The next day it rained a lot as well. But after that it was actually quite nice out. The sun was shining, but it was still quite cold. We saw lots of nice places. Vancouver is really a very beautiful place. Not like those American cities. There is a lot of very nice parks and nature there, even though it is a big city. Nina is in this club called the Hospitality Club. And through that this guy showed us around Vancouver in his car. He was very nice. One thing that was quite funny is that his mother is from Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. It's the place I've always wanted to go to. He said I really should since it's a beautiful place. And some day I will. The only bad thing that happened there was that I got an allergic reaction to my new liquid makeup (=meikkivoide). That has never happened to me before. First I noticed my face getting a little dry, but I thought it was because of the hotel room (it was quite dusty) and the weather. On Monday evening I looked at my face after coming back to the hotel and washing my face and it was all red and blotchy. On Tuesday I woke up and my face hurt a lot and it looked awful. I went to a pharmacy in Vancouver to get something for it. I must say, they did not help me much. Luckily, I had with me some old cream I had gotten for a rash, I mixed it with another cream and then hoped for the best. It actually worked. Now my face seems to be ok. But boy did it hurt for a couple of days. I was in such a bad mood for a while. And Nina and Salla didn't understand my bad mood, because they had no idea how much it really hurt. But I didn't let it ruin my vacation. By Thursday it was ok, just quite dry. And now it almost back to normal. I must say that I had no idea I could be allergic to makeup. So far I've only been allergic to some foods and animals. But apparently I can. Must be more careful from now on... again.

On Tuesday we went from Vancouver to Seattle by bus, it took about four hours. We went straight to the hotel, which was almost right next to the Space Needle. Seattle wasn't as nice as Vancouver. There was almost no green in the downtown area, unlike in Vancouver. But it was nice to see Seattle. And it only rained on the first day we were there. The other days it was sunny and quite warm. We went up to the Space Needle one day and also got to know the downtown area. We also went up to the highest building in Seattle. It was very high. And then a friend of Nina's showed us other areas of Seattle, since he had a car. And what is really nice about Seattle is the mountains. You could see them on a nice day and boy were they beautiful. I must say that we were lucky with the weather. We went to the two most rainy cities and got mostly sunshine. The people in Seattle were so amazed. Apparently it is very odd to have three consecutive days with no rain and only sunshine. We left Seattle yesterday (Friday) and came back here to Eugene by bus. It took us about seven hours. It was a long trip but much cheaper than going by plane again.

So that was my trip. I would tell you more, but I'm just too tired to. But all in all it was a very nice trip. I saw a lot of new things and the cities were really nice. I'm glad we went. But I must say that it's nice to be back here now. Vacationing is quite tiresome if you do it too long a time. Oh yeah, I have now been here three months. Time does fly here.

Vacation at last!

So my spring break started. Spring break is actually next week. This week is finals week. But I don't have any final exams this week, or anything else for that matter. So I'm free as a bird. Do you know how great it feels to see everyone else studying and I'm just taking it easy. :) I turned in an essay last Friday, had the final Spanish exam on Friday as well, and turned in my last essay this Monday. So now I have nothing else left. And boy am I in the need for a vacation. On Monday evening I was so tired that I could not do anything that required a brain. I had written a 3500 word essay on the weekend. That just tired me out. I mean 3500 words is a lot to write in three days, and most of it was done on Saturday and Sunday. And before that I had written another essay. I found out what I got on my Spanish exam today. Well I don't know the exact number grade, but I got an A+. Am I good or what? I e-mailed my teacher to find out the grade and she wrote back that I had done a fantastic job. I am so smart. :) Now just have to wait for the grades of the two essays I wrote.

I haven't really done anything interesting this past week. I was so busy with essay writing and reading for exams and what else not, that I really didn't have time to do much else. I decided yesterday that for the next couple of days I will use my brain as little as possible. And so I have done today. I woke up at 11am, talked with my boyfriend and just surfed the net and watched tv shows and read, and went shopping. Now that I have time I can read books. I read Pride and Prejudice just now and now I am reading Emma. Apparently I have some kind of Jane Austen frenzy going on. It all started with Sanditon. That's a novel that Jane Austen started, but then she died before finishing it and so another person finished it. I bought that book in Portland and then read it. After that I just felt like reading all the other books by Jane Austen. I thought I'd read Sense and Sensibility next, after Emma. But I just might stop there then with Jane Austen and then I might go on to the Brontë sisters. But they might be too dark for me at the moment, if you know what I mean by dark. I need books that are relatively happy, or else I fade into this odd sad state. I think that's because I miss home at the moment so much. Reading something like Wuthering Heights might make me a bit sad. I'll just see how it goes.

So for the next two days I don't really have anything to do. It feels great not to have to do anything! I do have to go to Gateway mall to buy a suitcase and maybe some sneakers. I need the suitcase for my trip. I don't want to take my massive suitcase with me, so I thought I'd buy a new one that is a little smaller than the old one. I have to do that at some point anyway, so why not now. At Gateway there's this store that sells stuff for a smaller price. It sells stuff that is 'last season'. All kinds of stores sell their stuff to that store, and that store then sells it for less. And the stuff really is of good quality. So that's where I'm going.

I went to the other mall today, Valley River Center. I had to go buy some minutes for my phone. And I also had to return the shirt that gave me the massive allergy attack. And as you might guess, I bought something new this time as well. I mean, what else can you do than buy stuff if you're at a mall with dozens of stores. I bought two new shirts (this time I checked that the material was ok) and a pair of black pants. I got so sad at the mall when I passed a pet store. The last few times I have been at that mall I deliberately have not gone past that pet store, but now I was looking for a particular store so I had to check that corridor as well. I shouldn't have. That pet store keeps puppies in glass boxes. It's so sad. Most of the puppies are in those boxes alone. I just feel like taking them all home with me, so that they wouldn't be sad anymore. That is just cruelty towards dogs. It really is. But then again, I think they were all mixed breed, so it might be that if the store hadn't taken them, they'd be on the streets or something. You never know here. But it's still sad. :( Oh yeah, on the bus to the mall this guy kept on staring at me. He was actually an ok looking guy (looked like a student in his 20s), not those oddities you see most of the time on the busses. I could see him staring from the side of my eye, while I was looking outside. Then a couple of times I deliberately turned and looked at him, because it was just so disturbing. And every time he turned his eyes to another direction. But he just kept on staring. And then at the mall we happened to pass each other at one point and he stopped in his tracks for a second, and I think he blushed, when he looked at me. I really didn't dream up all this. It was so odd. Am I so good looking or did I have something on my face? ;)

Nothing else to write really. I'm leaving for Vancouver on Friday. I hope the trip goes well. I'll write after my trip and tell you all about it. Don't expect to hear from me before then. I'm coming back on Friday next week. Have a nice week you guys. Bye.

Long time no write

I really haven't written in a long time. The biggest reason for that is that I didn't have a good internet connection for a week or so. And after that I was just plain busy. So that is why it is two weeks since I wrote anything.

The first week nothing much really happened. There was a Ducks game on Saturday (March 3rd). It was ok. It was a big game, because it was against Oregon State. It was the Civil War game. But it was actually kind of boring. The Ducks were always winning by many points, so it was not at all exciting. And the fact that it was so hot did not help much. It was like 20 degrees celcius outside. Really odd that it is the beginning of March and it feels like summer. But it seems that it is not normal even for Oregon. At least that's what I've been told.

I had my last Spanish oral exam on Friday the 2nd. And guess what I got? I got a 98. Am I good or what. It actually went ok this time. Last time I thought it had gone very badly so the very good grade I got was really a surprise. But this time I knew it had gone well.

This Monday I put on a new shirt I had bought the previous week. And guess what...? I got a horrible allergy/asthma attack. Not very nice. And I had a linguistics exam that day, so that of course didn't go as well as it could have. Except I can't only blaim that for it going badly. I really had studied for it, but I just didn't know everything as well as I should have. This again was an exam in which I had to name the family and branch certain languages belonged to and where they are spoken and if they are alive. Last time I had the similar exam I had actually heard of the languages and the families, but not this time. They were mostly American aboriginal languages, and there are a million of them. Really annoying. Haven't gotten that exam back yet so don't know what I got. But back to the shirt. I had not noticed to check what it was made of. And of course, it had rabbit hair in it. And as I am allergic to rabbits, I got an allergy/asthma attack. So nice. I will be more careful from now on.

Because of the allergic reaction I got on Monday, I caugt a cold and already on Tuesday I could feel it coming. It always happens when I get a bigger allergic reaction to something. And so I was in a cold the rest of the week, and still am a little. I did not go to my lectures on Wednesday and Thursday, because I was just so sick. And the best thing was yet to come. As you might remember, last time I had a cold here I got an eye infection afterwards. And what do you know, I woke up today at five (or six really, will explain later) in the morning and could not open my right eye because it was so wet and full of stuff. So now, again, I have an eye infection. I can't remember, was it the right eye last time as well? I really don't like American colds. It appears that you always get an eye infection afterwards, or at least I do. Luckily, I still have some eye drops left over from last time. So I didn't have to go to the Healthcare Center.

So let's go on to the explanation of why it was both five and six when I woke up this morning. The clocks here have now been moved an hour forward. You might be wondering why, since in Finland they are not moved until two weeks from now. Well the US wants to be different, I guess. I really don't know. Anyway, for the next two weeks Finland is only 9 hours ahead, and not 10 as it usually is. Interesting, ain't it? I woke up an hour before I had planned, because apparently my phone changes the time automatically. What a drag, especially since I didn't get a good night's sleep anyway because of my eye. After my phone woke me up, I couldn't sleep anymore. But in a way that was a good thing, since I have had so much to do today. That's why I set the clock in the first place. But boy was I all mixed up this morning, being quite tired and all. First my phone wakes me up and so I know that it was ten o'clock. But then I look at my wrist watch and it's nine o'clock. I just stood there for a moment and didn't know what to think. Finally I remembered the time change. But still, really an odd morning today.

In about an hour I am leaving for my host family's house with Salla and Nina. We are going to spend the evening with Dave, since Linda is in India at the moment. It'll be a fun night. I met Salla, Nina and Dave on Thursday as well. We had "Lättykestit". It was very fun, except I still had the cold, so I left early to go to bed.

Nothing much else going on. Finals week is soon. And then I am going to Vancouver and Seattle. Oh how nice. I am really in the need of a vacation. Oh by the way, it's about 20 degrees celcius here again today. And it has been quite warm for many days now. Some days it has rained, but they nevertheless were warm. I just can't get used to that. But it's actually quite nice. And oh yes, I got a pair of very cute socks this week by mail. Thanks for those A-V and Anu. They are so cute. They're full of pictures of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. One color is missing, by the way (black and tan). But it doesn't matter since the most important color is there, the color of my dear Fiona. It made my day. So thanks. :)

Portland, oh you rainy city

So I went to Portland. And had a good time by the way. It just rained all the time. We went there by bus, the Greyhound. It was ok. Except apparently you can buy a ticket and not get to go on the bus you want. It seems that they sell more tickets than they can fit people into a bus. This was what we were afraid of; not fitting in the bus. We came to the bus station an hour before the bus left. Fortunately we did fit. We were like almost the last ones to do so. It was Saturday morning at 10.30am and that particular bus is quite popular. The driver was annoying. He talked to all of us like we were 6 years old or something. He even yelled at one person for not giving his ticket fast enough. I mean really, WE'RE CUSTOMERS! Your supposed to be nice to customers. On the bus he made this 15 minute lecture on how we are to behave when stopping at Salem an hour before getting to Portland. I was so annoyed. It just common sense to know all the stuff he was talking about. And the repeating. He repeated everything like three times. I just turned on my mp3 player and tried not to hear. Unfortunately it did not work, I heard everyting.

We finally got to Portland. We took a cab and went to our hotel to drop off our stuff in our room. We were there only for a while and then headed to the stores. Our hotel was in downtown Portland, so it was close to the shops. We went to a lot of stores and I bought a jacket (a black jacket in Nordstrom Rack for 35 dollars, very nice really), another bag (I have bought two here in the US already) and some other stuff. We also went to the Columbia store (to look for a jacket for me that is water proof, since over here I really need one). I found two brown jackets that I could not choose between. So we decided to come back Sunday so I can have time to decide. Because I could not decide I called by decider person (Jussi dear), who by the way did not help me at all. Thanks for trying though. Oh yeah, we ate at a Greek restaurant. The food was ok. A little too American though. Then we went back to the hotel to rest for a while. In the evening we went to eat at a Thai place. I was not really hungry so I just ate something small. After that we decided to go to an Irish Pub. It was full of people. And this band was playing. By the way, what a flash back to my trip to Ireland. The band sung so many Irish songs that were familiar to me, like the Old Rover and that No Ney Never song (what's its name?). So nice. And the bartenders were sooo great. Even though there were a lot of people, they always made sure that we had enough to drink. Came to our table and all. And the fact that they were quite cute all of them was a plus too. (Yes I know I'm taken, but it doesn't mean I can't say someone's cute.) After the band there was a group that played bagpipes (ok yes, a little bit more Scottish than Irish, but apparently the group was Scottish-Irish). They were so good. They were all wearing kilts. Heh. There were actually a few men in the bar (customers might I add) that were wearing kilts too. At about 12.30am I got quite tired. I decided to leave even though Salla and Nina said they wanted to stay. I asked a bartender to call me a cab. He did. And boy was he nice. He kept me posted on when the taxi will arrive, came to get me when it did arrive and escorted me to the taxi to make sure I got in. So nice. So I went to the hotel and went to bed. I don't know why I was so tired, but I was. All in all, the day was a success.

Sunday we woke up at about ten and decided to go for some brunch in this restaurant not too far away. Our hotel did not serve breakfast. But that was ok, since the place we went to eat was great. I got an all American breakfast/brunch with bacon and eggs and french toast and maple syrup. It was so good. After that we went to walk around Portland, first we walked along the river. It was nice to just walk and look at places. After that we went to shop some more. We went to this really big bookstore. I mean millions of books. I bought two books. Then we went to the Columbia store again and I decided which one to buy. I am happy with my decision. It is a very nice jacket. We went to some other stores and then to the hotel to pick up our stuff. After that we left for the bus station. We had to be there over an hour before the bus left so that we could line up early to fit into the bus. And we did fit, luckily. The way home was ok. The driver was much nicer this time. Actually he didn't say much, which was great. :) We got home safe and sound.

So that was my weekend. Yesterday nothing really happened and today either. I have been busy doing school stuff. On Saturday I am going to another Ducks game; Ducks vs. Beavers (the Oregon State team). It will be a big game, since it's the other university team in Oregon. Oh yeah, I got an A+ (98) on my Spanish exam. Boy am I good. :)