If vikings were Care Bears that drank tea, I would be that viking.
I'm a twenty something forever student from a land where we ride beavers to work, drink maple syrup, and playing hockey is like a mating call. I went on exchange to the University of Helsinki in 2011/2012 and apparently felt the need to keep going to school/living in Finland after I graduated. Follow me as I have fun in Finland and sometimes write about music.
Another sorta lame week even though it actually wasn't. I'm still
feeling a bit out of sorts, but I shall push through!
1. I went ice skating on Monday. That's not much different than
most weeks since I try to go once a week. However, it's been so warm
lately here in Tampere all the outdoor rinks have gone out of
commission. So how did I manage to go skating? I went underground!
Finland is nifty and puts lots of stuff underground, like
infrastructure, to help with sprawl. I didn't think they put ice
rinks underground (this one is actually two rinks), but it was really
neat and convenient for those of us that are not done ice skating
this year!
2. I went to Helsinki on Wednesday. It was a school trip to the
studio of the biggest commercial television station in Finland. It
was really interesting and then later my classmates and I went for
drinks and food. It was a fun, albeit long, day.
These were our visitor badges from the tv studio. We got to keep them
Looking out onto the Gulf of Finland. More on my Instagram
3. I finally got to go
into what I think is the prettiest building in Helsinki. I always
thought that Kappeli
was a fancy restaurant, but as my friends and I were walking around
before our train, my Finnish friend said they also have a little
coffee bar so we went in! It was expensive, I didn't get anything,
but it is just so pretty in there. I'd really like to go back in the
spring or summer.
Pictures don't do it justice. This is just one part of the building.
So pretty inside as well!
4. I did a lot
of school work today and yesterday. It always seems to be a constant
drip of work that I have to do so I can get a bit discouraged, but I
think I've worked it out to make a list for what I want to do during
those days and it helps me organise a bit better and feel like I
actually did something
5. Canada won Gold in Men's and
Women's Olympic Hockey! It's a big deal.
That's it for this week. Next
week is going to be quite busy with quite a bit more school work. As
always, I'll be exercising as much as possible (on Saturday I want to
walk the path I found for roller skating to see what it's like) and
sticking in some fun stuff, I'm sure. Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr and Instagram!!
I've felt sorta blah this week.
Nothing has been happening and I feel like I'm stuck in a bit of rut.
I've started to make plans for stuff in the summer and it can't come
quick enough, but until then I'll keep looking at the nice things
that happen, not matter how small. On to good things this week!
1. Tuesday was a friend's superhero
themed birthday party at one of my favourite bars. I went as my all
time favourite, fellow canucklehead with goofy hair, Wolverine.
It still needs about a million more spikes, but my vest is still way cooler than your vest.
Went with blue and yellow since it's probably his most well known costume colours. Also, I've got demon eyes for some reason...
2. I feel like I'm making strides
in my exercising. I didn't do much on Thursday and Friday, but I feel
like I'm getting stronger.
3. Friday was another themed party,
this time it was Moomins! I went as a flowery looking horse that I
remember from the comics I've got back in Canada, which I've been
told is called Primadonna's Horse. It was a bit of a messy party for
some, and I woke up with a bitch of a hangover, but it was fun
nonetheless!
Really obscure character, but I think I pulled it off well! * I ended up making and wearing antlers/antennae as well *
4. Probably triggered by Tuesday's
superhero party, I've been on a huge Wolverine and X-Men kick lately
and I've finally started
reading the comics. I've been a fan since I was about ten. As silly
as the films and television shows are, I just love them and Wolverine
is possibly to blame for my love of sassy men (he was my first
fictional crush). I've always wanted to read the comics, but 1) I've never
known where to start and 2) always been intimidated by the sheer
amount of comics and story arcs. After reading about where a good
place to start is and getting some stuff from a friend, I've already
gotten through half of Wolverine: Origins,
started on Dark Wolverine and
have a pile of others to waiting for me (Gambit is also another
favourite of mine, so I've got most of his stuff queued up as well).
I'm really enjoying them and I'm not as lost as I thought I was gonna
be * praises self for spending countless hours on X-men wiki's
instead of doing other things *
5.
Canada beat Finland in men's Olympic hockey tonight. As much as I
love Finland, I have to cheer for my home country, especially when
I'm in a different country.
We all wanted to watch ALL the sports so we had 3 screens going at the same time. * Taken from my friend's Facebook since the photo I took didn't turn out well *
That's it for another week! Next week I'm going to Helsinki for a field trip, going skating on Monday, have a shit ton of school work to do, and loads of roller derby stuff on Friday night. And I'll also get some exercise, comic reading, and Olympics watching done in-between all that!
Fun
stuff this week! Nothing overly special, and I don't have any pictures, but it is
the little things that count
1.
I took my flatmate skating for the first time. She's never been on
ice before, she's from England if that explains it, but she bought
skates earlier in the week with the aim of learning how to skate over
the winter. I've skated for twenty years and have taught one or two
other people to skate, so I offered to teach her. She was amazing. I
only had to support her for about thirty minutes, out of the one hour
we were out, before she figured out her balance, how to propel
herself forward, and speed control. She kept telling me how much she
loved it and that made me really happy. We are hopefully going to go
weekly!
2.
I hit all my exercise goals for the week!
3.
My friends and I had a fun Olympic Opening Ceremony party on Friday.
It was less watching them as much as it was critiquing the outfits of
the various teams (Canada still has the best alternative to waving
flags via our maple leaf mittens) and drinking and eating pizza.
4.
Saturday was my first official day NSOing for Tampere Roller Derby!
TRD played against the Hamburg Harbour Girls and won both of their
games. I was only needed for the first bout, but I still had tons of
fun. I really enjoy the position I was in and the NSO (Non Skating
Official) crew is just lovely. Some of my friends came and I'm really
glad they all enjoy it and derby is being spread around. I'm going to
do a derby post at the end of the month, hopefully, so keep watching
this space!
5.
I've come to terms with going back to Toronto for the summer. It's
going to be too expensive for me to stay in Tampere during the summer
and I've basically already got my old job back in Toronto. I asked my
dad and he is more than okay with me staying at his place over the
summer again. I also feel that I will be able to get a work
placement, which is required for my program, in Toronto much easier
than in Tampere. And I do miss Toronto, and my friends and family,
since I haven't been there since August. It should be a pretty fun
summer even though I won't be in Finland, but I will be back here in
September.
Next week shall consist of more exercise and skating, watching some more Olympics, and two birthday parties. Here's to being positive!
1.
I did a really good job eating well and exercising this week. Even
though I ended up not being good from Thursday to today since I went
to visit a friend, I still did a damn good job for the first part of
the week. I'll do even better this week.
2.
I managed to go skating all by myself. It sounds silly, but this was a big deal
for me because of what goes on in my brain when I do sports things by
myself. I really enjoyed myself and other than the first two minutes
of “shit, I'm here by myself. Everyone is looking at me”, I was
okay. I even did non stop laps for 15 minutes! (then I wanted to die
cause I was so tired)
3.
I went to visit one of my best friends. I probably shouldn't have
because I don't have the money and I should have done school work,
but I haven't seen Lily since the beginning of November. She was
having a party for her language school friends on Friday, so I packed
my bags and headed to Pori Thursday night and stayed till Sunday. We didn't
do much, but it was nice to see her and her boyfriend.
4.
I got a hair cut! Don't panic, I still have my signature side cut,
but I got the short side shaved again. I've need it done since before
Christmas but I never had the time to ask someone to do it. I have my
own clippers and was going to do it myself at the beginning of
January, but the damn clippers crapped out on me when I went to
charge them. Thankfully, one of Lily's friend's had some clippers and
Lily was able to give me a shave on Friday.
Nothing like a fresh haircut to make a girl feel like a million bucks!
5.
I got caught up on Supernatural. It's probably the only show I watch
religiously, but since it started back up from its Christmas break, I
forgot about it; I don't watch tv on a television so I don't have
commercials to remind me. Tumblr spoils stuff for me so I sorta knew
what happened, which is why I haven't really been stressed about not
watching it, but since I had time to kill this weekend, I watched the
3 episodes I was missing.
There
you have it, five sorta unexciting positive things from this week!
Next week I want to get back on my exercise and diet schedule and not
break it (I know I'll break it on Friday night because we are having
an Olympics party), skate at least one time, get some important
school work and emails sent out, and do well at NSOing my first big
derby bout on Saturday! I've also just been invited/told that there is a thing with my friends on Tuesday night. That means I've got something to do every night this week except Monday and Wednesday. Lord help me.
Not a lot of pictures from this week so have one that I took while waiting for my bus home from the city center tonight
Last
week I had three goals for this week and I am proud to say I
accomplished all three!
1. I
started back at the gym. I hit a tough spot after my horse died last
March and got heavy enough that it was starting to affect the way I
was walking and it was taking a real toll on me mentally and
physically. I lost about twenty-five pounds over the summer, but have
put about ten back on because of the realities of student
life. I'm finally in a place where I'm feeling motivated enough to
get healthy. I'm using an app, which I have to use via Internet
because it's still in Beta phase for Windows Phone, called HeiaHeia.
It tracks your exercise, has tons
of different exercises and sports to chose from, and you can set
goals for yourself, not necessarily weight goals but also how many
times or hours you want to exercise. I set up a three month program
that will start on Monday. I will undoubtedly not be able to follow
it as closely some weeks because school will get in the way, but
like I said, I'm the most motivated I've ever been to do this and I
plan on sticking to it.
2. I
finally got some ice
skates! All Canadians are birthed from the icy shores of Lake Ontario
with hockey skates strapped to their feet and a stick in hand,
right? Maybe I'm exaggerating, but my family is
a hockey playing family. My dad played for the Ontario Hockey League, and
subsequently lost his upper front teeth, and my brother played on an
all star team. I have skated since I was three and played hockey
collectively for about five years, as well as figuring skating for
about four years. I was never that great at either, hockey is the
only time I've ever broken
a bone, but I am a good skater and I really enjoy it. Finland
is wonderful for the fact that ice skating is part of school for
kids. In Tampere, there are rinks set up virtually everywhere and I can only think of one that costs money to use. I told my dad this and how I was probably going to
rent skates to go once or twice, and he ended up sending me money
at Christmas to buy some skates for myself. I fully intended to
buy some while I was in Helsinki over Christmas so I could go
skating with my mum, but the thought of lugging them plus
everything else back to Tampere made me decide against it. This
week I finally got to the Intersport at Koskikeskus and got a pair of Easton's for less than sixty euros
(yay for sales!). I even got the chance to go skating on Friday at
the massive rink by
my university (think the size of two football (soccer) fields) and I was on cloud
nine for the rest of the day. I'm going to be going skating there
as my treat for the week since Fridays are supposed to be about an
hour and a half of cardio. I hate cardio; running is no fun,
stationary bikes hurt my knees, treadmills are like running
purgatory and there are only so many times I can put up with an
elliptical. Not only am I going to enjoy doing laps on ice skates,
it's going to help immensely with my roller skating and will build
up my endurance so that I can skate to and from school with ease
come spring time and clean sidewalks. I've also convinced a few of
my friends to pick up some skates so we can all have something fun
today together!
My new friends. Designed in Canada....made in China
3. I
went to a concert Friday night. Everyone knows I love music a lot
and it was a large part of why I fell in love with Finland and
decided to come live and study here. Hell, music is why I'm in a
Master's program! I've missed out on a few concerts since August
because of lack of funds, but sometimes it pays to spend a bit of
money when you get to hear some good music. JP Leppäluoto
was randomly performing at Jack the Rooster, a very nice if not
expensive bar, and while I appreciate his voice, I'm not super
into the stuff he's done nor have I ever really kept up with what
he's done. I have seen him perform at Raskasta Joulua (a yearly
series of concerts with Finnish metal musicians performing
Christmas songs. It's possibly the best thing ever), and was
impressed with that enough to give him a try on Friday night since my
flatmate and another friend were going anyways. He managed to start almost a whole hour behind
schedule, but the place was packed considering it was not promoted very much. He performed some good covers
of mostly 90s songs, but I wanted
to get home early and was basically out the door as he started
singing Rebel Yell.
Other than having to get very sassy with three guys getting all up
on my friends and I, and there being an obscene amount of people
wearing plaid that night, myself included, it was a fun night
spent with good friends.
If you have no clue who I'm talking about, JP used to sing in this band, Poisonblack. While he is a very good singer and I'm sure I would have been into them when I was younger, it's not really my thing anymore.
4. I
got a lot of school work done yesterday. I'm almost done my first
research proposal even thought the due date got moved from today
to March 9th.
With the new due date and being almost done, I
can do a properly literature review now.
5. I had my second walk on a frozen
Näsijärvi today. I went out on Näsijärvi, one of the two big
lakes that sorta straddles Tampere, when it was frozen back in
March 2012 but didn't get too far out. Today some friends and I
walked from Särkänniemi, the amusement park, out to the tiny
island that has a light house on it and to the shore near
Finlayson. I guessing it was about 3km in all, but I'm not sure.
There were a ridiculous amount of people doing all sorts of things
like walking, skating (there is a specific path you can use to
skate across the whole lake), biking (which was weird and a lot of
people were doing it), cross country skiing, ice sailing,
kiteboarding, and even dogsledding. Clearly Finns know how to deal
with winter. After walking we went to the Pyynikki kahvila that is
in Keskustori for munkki and coffee. A Sunday well spent!
All in all, this week was a good week! I accomplished some goals, got some
entertainment, and got outside. Next week I want to do well with my
new training program, get ice skating at least twice, and get my
research proposal done.
Nothing very exciting or particularly
good happened this week. I got a rejection for an internship because
I don't speak fluent German and that kind of bummed me out for the
whole week, but I'm still going to keep applying for summer
internships in Europe and I will prevail! Even though it wasn't the
best week, I can still think of five good things from this week.
1. I got my first graduate term paper
back and even though there was a lot of constructive criticism, my
professor said he can see through this paper, which is the only
independent work he has seen from me, that I'm really passionate
about the topic, metal music, and that I'm a very bright woman. That
made me feel really great and solidifies a bit more that I'm in the
right place and doing the right thing.
2. It's been sunny all week.
I really love winter, which is undoubtedly due to spending roughly
the first fourteen years of my life on a ski hill every
weekend between December and March; it's also nice that both my
favourite countries have winter in common. Winter didn't arrive in
Tampere until two weeks ago, it was gross and rainy here since mid
October. Now it's been hovering at -15 everyday this week and crispy
cold and sunny everyday, I love it! There's something really magical
about winter for me, I can't really explain it but I'm very
happy we have proper winter now.
Sunny chilly days. This is about a 10 minutes walk from my apartment. More photos on my Instagram!
3. I
got some “high culture” into my system. On Friday my friends I
went to see the Tampere Philharmonic perform at Tampere Talo. They
performed the first suite from Sibelius' The Tempest
as well as Bruckner's 8th
Symphony. It was the first
classical concert I've been to since high school and it was so nice
to sit and listen to some lovely music. I was a big
orchestra geek in high school and developed a real love for
classical music, which has sadly fallen by the wayside because of
the amount of popular music I listen to, so going to the
Philharmonic was a real treat for me. I think we are going to try
and go back in April because they are performing the music from
Pirates of the Caribbean. It was great to hear some classical music, but it made me really miss playing and performing.
All fancy for the philharmonic. Wolverine thinks so too.
The Tampere Philharmonic! More photos on my Instagram!
Above is the Overture and First Act from Sibelius' The Tempest Suite. Below is the finale, my favourite part, from Bruckner's 8th Symphony
4. I
had a really nice beer on Friday. We went to a restaurant called
Plevna that is a microbrewery and serves “authentic German food”,
which my German friends determined was a lie. The beer was on the
expensive side, about 5,70 for a medium sized beer (I'm sure the
size has a proper name but I've got no clue; I'm not a beer expert, I only drink the stuff), but oh my god it was the best beer I have ever
had. I would wash my face with that beer. I felt I needed to buy
that beer a nice dinner and say it looked cute, it was that good. Had I had extensive amounts
of cash to burn through, I would have bought more, but I felt the
relationship was best left short and sweet. I shall return one day and taste its sweet nectar, but for now I'll stick to the cheap stuff.
5. I
just finished a big chunk of my thesis research proposal! It's for a
class called Scientific Writing, so it's not even for my actual
program, but it's going to help with the final proposal. I'm about
three pages into the required six. That's not bad considering the
first part of the school year was jammed packed with work for other
courses so I'm lucky I even have three pages worth of material to go
on!
There
you have it, five good things this week. It wasn't the best week, but
it also wasn't the worst week. Goals for next week are getting back
to the gym, finally
buying some skates, and going out on Friday night. Here's to another
positive seven days!
Don't forget to follow me on Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, and Deviantart! All the links are on the sidebar. Thanks for reading!
So my friend started the New Year off by saying it might be fun to post five good things that happen to her each week. I thought it was a wonderful idea and decided I'd do that same and post here. It's a positive way to sum up and reflect on my week, and I'd be able to post more on here! So here are my five good things from Jan 5-12, 2014. It was a hard week. First week back at school and intensive courses for 3 of those days. Im definitely wiped out from last week, but there were some good things. 1) We got a decent amount of snow! I love winter, having basically been on a ski hill since I was 3. We've had rainy and grey weather for the longest time and it was really getting on my nerves. We finally got some snow yesterday and today and I'm so happy!
Look at all that lovely snow! More photos on instagram.com/lilacviking
2) Two nights of roller derby I'm an NSO (Non Skating Official) for Tampere Roller Derby. This week I got to help officiate a bout between the Tampere Rollin' Bros and Helsinki Roller Derby A Team. Helsinki won and it was lots of fun being Pentalty Box Timer for the second time! Friday night was just a normal scrimmage between the TRD Fresh Meat (the new girls) and I was PBT again. I actually had to teach someone to be PBT and she did a good job! 3) I've started to make a conscious effort not to eat so much crap. Today was a cheat day, but I've been good other than that! 4) My snow pants that I barely fit in last Christmas are now much too big for me! 5) I just got back from a lovely brunch with friends and then we went tobogganing. I hit a rock really hard and hurt my bum quite a bit, but it was still a wonderful Sunday. My friends and I have a few more things planned in the upcoming weeks, so I should have lots to talk about!
