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. :)