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. :)

Finns all around

It's quite odd. You come to the US thinking you'll not be seeing Finnish people for a while and what happens? I meet a lot of Finns. Well actually most of them aren't citizens of Finland, but their parents or grandparents have been. I went to observe a couple of classes on Tuesday. I have to do it for my Language Teaching course here. And as my teacher in Finland said I could get one credit for writing a small essay in which I am comparing Finnish and American high schools (this is a part of my language teaching courses in Finland), I decided to go observe high school classes in the near-by school. Well I observed a Spanish class, which was fun. It was nice to see that I understood everything they said there. (If some of you don't know, I am studying Spanish at the moment.) And then I observed a German class. I have studied German, and I did understand quite a lot, but as I was observing the class I remembered why I quit studying German. Oh boy do I hate the language. No offense to you sister dear, as German (or at least Germany) seems to be a big part of your life at the moment. Well anyway, I entered the German class and introduced myself to the teacher. She asked where I am from and I, of course, answered Finland. Then she was like "From Finland! Minä osaan vähän suomea. Mukava tutustua." At that moment I was like "WHAT? YOU SPEAK FINNISH?" Apparently her father is Finnish. Her last name is Saranpa, which of course comes from Saranpää. That was really the last place I thought I'd find a person speaking Finnish. And apparently in addition to being fluent in German, she is also fluent in Swedish. She even taught it for some time at the university. How odd is that.

Had a Spanish exam on Tuesday morning by the way. I think it went ok. We'll see on Monday when our teacher returns the exams to us.

I haven't liked this week much for one reason. I have had to write an essay about a language for my linguistics class. For some reason I chose to write about Xhosa (it's spoken in Southern Africa, a language with consonantal clicks). One of my professors in Finland had once mentioned it in my phonology class and so I was interested in finding out more about it. Bad idea. Apparently a lot is written about Xhosa, but when you want to know simple things about it (like its characteristics, grammar etc.) I couldn't find almost anything. Only small bits here and there. And since I left it till last minute again (as I always do) it was too late to start looking up information about another language. And so I have been stressing about that. Today I finally caught a break and found the information I had been looking for (of course from like five different sources). But now most of my sources are from the web, and apparently our teacher isn't too fond of that. My web sources are from reputable pages, however, so he might overlook it this time. I hope it doesn't matter. But anyway, I finished my essay today. I am so happy. It's due on Monday, but since I'm going to Portland, I won't be able to do it during the weekend.

My roommate appears to be crying in her room (we share a wall, so I can hear her). Am I supposed to do something about that? If I were crying I would hate if someone I didn't know very well came in to see if I was ok. But if I was crying I would do it silently, but that's just me. Maybe I'll just let it be. I heard her on the phone with her boyfriend a little while ago. She was yelling so it wasn't hard to hear. They were fighting about him not calling her when he was supposed to. He lives in the east coast, so it's a long distance relationship. It's hard though, a long distance relationship. I know that better than anyone at the moment. Oh, now she's yelling at him again. Shall I put on some music?

Back to my life. I had a laundry disaster on Wednesday. It didn't make my already a little annoying week any better. The machines here are the kind that you open them from the top and you can open them at any moment. If you open them when they are on, they stop. I put my towels in one machine and all my clothes, underwear and socks and stuff in another. I put them on and they took in water and then the one with all my clothes went crazy. I opened it and it kept on going. I paniced. MY CLOTHES, ALL MY CLOTHES! It stopped for just a little while and in that time I got all of the clothes out. But the water was already quite high and it was cold so my hand was freezing. I put them in the third machine. I put that on and luckily it was ok. The broken one kept on going. There was no way to stop it. Anyway, I had just enough quarters to use two washers and one dryer. And so, since I had to pay for a third washer, I ran out of quarters. That same day I had come home so tired, and I was so happy that I didn't have to go anywhere. But now I had to go to the nearest store to get more quarters, since I don't have room in my room to dry the towels and all the clothes. The nearest store is a ten minute walk away, it's at the campus. Boy did that walk seem so long, with water pouring down and temperature quite low. When I finally got home I was so annoyed. I put on the dryer and watched tv shows the rest of the evening. I couldn't have cared less about all the schoolwork I had to do.

And on to better things. I went to a basketball game on Thursday. Ducks vs. Washington State University. And the Ducks won. It was again such an exciting game. The Ducks only won by a couple of points. I had so much fun. Went there with Daniela, Jen and a Swedish girl (friend of Jen's). I choose my games wisely. I've gone to two games and both the Ducks have won. How nice.

Must stop now. I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow at nine. Have to wake up early, and it's already 11 pm. And I haven't packed yet. I'll tell you about the trip later then. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Nothing much going on

Nothing very interesting has really happened. I was supposed to go to Portland, but we couldn't get a hotel room in downtown Portland, so we decided to move our trip to next weekend. Now we have a hotel room so everything is set; we are going to Portland this weekend. Yey.

Last week was really quite busy, but still nothing really interesting happened. It was midterm week, so I had a lot of tests and quizes and things to turn in. That kept me busy. Tuesday I went to a birthday lunch. One of my Asian friends had a birthday. She turned 19, which is quite young really. I am old here. I am used to being the young one, now I am the old one.

On Wednesday was Valentine's Day. I went to eat dinner with my roommates and a friend, because we all were either single or in long distance relationships and did not want to be alone on Valentine Day's night. It was an Italian restaurant. The food was quite good. Had a very nice time chatting with my friends.

I don't really remember what I did on Thursday. Odd really, I haven't a clue. :) How can you just forget a day? I think I went shopping with Daniela. Yes, actually that is what I did. I finished my language teaching book evaluation and went shopping with Daniela. I bought two new sweaters that weren't that expensive, actually they were quite cheap.

The weekend went nicely, even though I didn't go to Portland. I had a massage on Friday, which was quite nice. Then I met with Nina and Salla and we planned our spring break. We bought tickets for a plane from Portland to Vancouver. We decided to go to Canada. We will stay there for a few days and then go by bus to Seattle, which is only about an hour away. There we will also stay a few days and come back here by bus. The bus ride will take about 6 and a half hours. I hope I can take it, I'm not very good with busses. Apparently there is a stop about halfway to Eugene so that's good. We haven't yet decided exactly what to do at those places. There are some things we want to do, but we are still planning. Went to the international coffee hour but did not go to dinner with my friends. I was so tired I just went home. I spent some time with my roommates and then watched Ocean's 12 on dvd. Jenn lent it to me. I had forgotten just how good it was. Had a nice and relaxing evening.

Saturday I went swimming at the rec center with Nina. It was such a nice day Saturday, very warm, almost like summer. Unfortunately it got cold at about four o'clock, so that wasn't nice anymore. Funny thing really that the flowers have already started to come out of the ground. I am not used to that in February. Went to the movies with Daniela in the evening, to the movie theater that shows older movies and only costs 2 dollars. We watched The Holiday, with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black. It was a very good movie. I liked it a lot. I have to buy it on dvd when I go back to Finland.

On Sunday Nina, Salla and I first went to the Asian celebration. It was New Year according to their moon calendar (or whatever calendar it it) and since there are a lot of Asians in Eugene it was a big thing. I tasted sushi for the first time there. After that we went to the Pompels and had dinner with them and also had a sauna. It was fun. A lovely dinner by Linda as always. She's leaving for India at the end of this week. Going to stay there almost a month. It sounds so great, I hope she has fun. Their son-in-law is from Tibet and she is going to India to see his relatives. Linda and Dave were there two years ago as well. We saw lots of pictures. Dave is staying here this time so we promised to look after him. ;) We already made plans to make him dinner some day.

But that's it for now. Have fun you guys!

Busy busy all the time

I have had a busy week. Or at least a busy end of week. Nothing special really happened on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had my Spanish oral exam. And by the way, I got a 97 from it. So I'd say that went quite nicely. I didn't think so, but apparently my teacher did. I think she likes me and that's why I'm getting such good numbers. I have nothing against that though. :)

Thursday I went shoe shopping with Salla. We went to a store called Shoe-a-holic. A nice place really. I found two pairs of high heeled shoes, you know, nice ones that go with a dress. I had to buy both of them because I couldn't choose which one to buy. They didn't cost much though. So now I have bought 7 pairs of shoes while being here. But on my behalf I must say that two of those pairs are sandals that were just so cheap I had to buy them and one pair was for my body sculpt class (inside sports shoes you know). After that we went to eat some ice cream in an ice cream parlor, very 1950s it was. And after that we went to the Scandinavian meeting. And you know what? I actually might see Eurovision live. We talked of meeting somewhere and watching it together if someone can figure out how. Hoping for the best.

Friday did not begin nicely. I woke up with a headache and a wet eye, almost couldn't open it. I went to the mirror and noticed that my right eye was all red. I had not noticed anything wrong with that eye the night before and now it was all red and wet. But being the good student that I am I decided not to skip Spanish, Language Teaching and Linguistics, and just try and cope with my eye. I went through my schoolday with that eye. And I also went shopping with Salla and Daniela because I just had to buy some last minute things for Saturday's ball (which I will write more about later). So it was almost five o'clock when I finally went to the Health Care Center at the university. The doctor there said that the eye got infected probably because of the cold I had had earlier. That it was some kind of after sickness or something. He gave me a prescription for some eye drops and so I went to get them. And by the way, there is a farmacy in the Health Care Center. It would be nice to have one at YTHS (health care center) in Tampere. After putting on some eyedrops I went to the international coffee hour. I had promised to go, so I went. And we went to eat dinner again, with the same people. Daniela joined us too, and also an American guy called Evan (I think). And we had fun again. After that we went to play billiards. And after that Henrik (Danish guy), Evan, Daniela and I decided to go to a party Henrik had heard about. We went inside and right then and there I knew that it was the wrong place for me. In one room people were smoking pot, and another was full of people that wanted to make pot smoking legal for all and all other kinds of hippies. And in one room some guy was making some kind of raggae music. We were there an hour and decided to leave. Henrik stayed because apparently he had some friends there. After that I went home. I was so tired by this time (it was about eleven o'clock maybe), it had been a long day, and my eye was killing me. I just went to bed when I came home.

On Saturday morning I was quite happy to see that my eye was not red anymore. The eye drops were quite effective. I was happy mostly because I was going to a ball that night and didn't want to go there with a red eye. Didn't do anything interesting on Saturday morning and afternoon, just homework and stuff. I got ready for the ball, did my hair, put on some make-up and put on my dress and new shoes. I looked quite nice really. And so I left for the ball. It was really fun. Salla and Nina were there. Part of the time I was with them. And also Daniela and Phil were there, so I was with them too, and two guys that were friends of Phil's. One from France and the other from Russia. I cannot remember their names now. Lots of fun, lots to eat and drink (non-alcoholic drinks since many there were under 21). But I got a headache at the end of the ball, most likely because of my eye again. I didn't go for drinks with the guys after the ball even though I was invited. Just went home. I watched a movie and went to bed. A nice Saturday in the end.

On Sunday I went painting again with my roommates and friends. I painted a heart plate. Read for my linguistics exam and did other stuff. Nothing interesting really.

I am annoyed about one thing here. I found lactose free milk, but nothing else here is lactose free, or low in lactose. No cream, no yoghurt, no nothing. I have had a stomach ache so many times while being here. And I have tried to stay away from food with milk. Apparently milk is everywhere. So I have to go buy some pills to make it all better, those lactose pill thingies. What are they called? I get a stomach ache from foods that I have never gotten one from in Finland. I wonder if the milk is somehow different here. So I must say to those coming to the US that have lactose intolerance (especially you brother dear); take your pills with you, take a lot of them. Never eat anything without taking one. Ok?

That's about it for now. About future events: I am most likely going to Portland this weekend with Salla and Nina. We are going to stay the night too. Lots of shopping in store for me this weekend. I have also been talking with my roommates about maybe going skiing next week or the week after. We might take with us a couple of their friends too. I hope we can find a day that suits us all. It would be really nice to go. Especially with these people that I get along so great with.

Sick sick sick

What do you know, I caught a cold. On Tuesday I noticed it. Wednesday I was worse. Almost went home in the middle of the day, but decided to just stay and try to cope. I still met with Jen and Daniela that evening, but did not stay long. On Thursday skipped my body sculpting class, because I just could not breath even when walking. I asked Brittany (roommate) to take me to the grocery store with her car. I didn't have any food and I was in no condition to walk to the nearest store. So we went to Walmart. Sarah (roommate) came with us. And by the way, Brittany and Sarah both have cars. Did not go to the Scandinavian meeting that evening. Too tired and sick. Friday I still went to my classes. I did not skip one during last week even though I probably just should have stayed home. Then I went to a "Welcome back social". There were students that had just arrived from their exchanges and also people that had just come on exchange to U of O. It was fun really. I got cake and lots of food. And as some people might know, every time I am sick, for some reason I have the biggest appetite. I was in heaven. :) I was there about an hour and went home. I was supposed to go to the international coffee hour, but decided on not going since I was just so tired after the social. On the weekend I just stayed home and did nothing really. I was too tired to do anything. Watched a lot of tv shows and did a small essay on Estonian for my linguistics course. It actually turned out quite nice. On Sunday we went to paint pottery again with Jenn, Sarah and Hailey (another car owner).

So that's my boring last week. I am now a little better. I'll be fine in a couple of days. So what else has happened...? Well, Brittany moved out on Saturday. Moved back to her home town. Now there are only three of us. I wonder what kind of person will move here next. A lot of stuff went with Brittany. She was the roommate that actually cooked. So now there are no sharp knives here or frying pans or a toaster. I'm a little annoyed about that. Sarah says she can get a toaster. Jenn promised to buy herself a frying pan. And so that leaves me to buy a knife. I'm really the only one that uses knives here now. Jenn and Sarah don't cook things from scratch. I do. They mostly eat ready made meals.

Jenn got us a new shower curtain. Very nice really. The old one was kind of full of mold. Now I can touch our shower curtain. Nice. I think I'll go and buy a mat for the bathroom. Then I won't have to be afraid of catching something by walking barefoot in our bathroom.

I have nothing else to write about really. This week will be fun. Well tomorrow won't. I have an oral exam in Spanish. I don't like speaking Spanish, writing yes, speaking no. Hope it goes well. Going shopping with Salla and maybe Nina too on Thursday, and maybe on Friday too. Got to get some high-heeled shoes, since I'm going to the International Ball on Saturday. Salla and Nina are going there too. It's supposed to be like a prom or something. I'm glad I bought those dresses now. So that's what my week's going to be like. Just got my classes in addition to that. But no one wants to hear about those.