Sammy in Finland -

Winter trip

2008-03-28T12:16:00.003+02:00

Finland article

2008-03-04T12:10:00.002+02:00

Wrote an article about Finland in my home university newspaper!!!
http://evoice.ewha.ac.kr/
Under the column "People & Events"

Going to lapland 3/5~3/9.
See ya! =)

(promise to update as soon as I get back..SORRY JB!!!!!!!)

A post for Youngjoo

2008-01-23T11:35:00.000+02:00

Can't believe our one month and a half trip has already come to an end!! Just wanted to say thanks for putting up with all my complaining and laziness throughout our trip..

I had lots of fun & this trip wouldn't have been the same without you kkk
너랑 같이 뭉개서 좋앗다! 웬수야ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
See you soon!!! =)

ps. I'll try to post our trip but... it's likely that it won't happen any time soon.. ANTEEKSI!!! =p

On the road

2007-12-17T12:06:00.000+02:00

12.17-12.20 Madrid
12.20-12.24 Lisbon
12.24-12.26 Sevilla
12.26-12.27 Malaga
12.27-12.29 Granada
12.29-1.4 Barcelona
1.4-1.7 Roma
1.7-1.9 Firenze
1.9-1.12 Venezia
1.12-1.13 Milano
1.13 Home

See ya! =)

11.15 Hippies

2007-11-15T23:15:00.000+02:00

11.15 Hippies Stammitch

Peace n' Love! Already another stammitch!
Pre-party at JB's house.. Met his lovely girlfriend and ate tosi tosi tosi good food! =)

JB's dinner! yum yum

302 boys!

JB's girlfriend Florence, all the way from spain!

The happy host, JB

JB making smoke doughnuts!

Getting ready!

Peace n' love!

Sad to be labeled as a green heart..(green-single/orange-i dont know/red-taken!)

Tosi tosi tosi tosi tosi happy!!! (aka tosi drunk..kkkk)

Was my favorite stammitch =)

11.9-11 Dublin day 3

2007-11-12T04:43:00.000+02:00

11.9-11 Dublin day 3

Took soooo many pictures it's just too hard to choose. So I just posted them all.. Enjoy! =)

Third day.

Since it was our last day and had so much left to do, we planned again to wake up early. hmmm guess what.......-_- Failed once more and ended up leaving around noon;;
But we were still happy cause the weather was truely perfect! Evan took us to the street he'd been boasting about ever since we'd arrived in Dublin. The whole street was filled with doors, all different colors and designs. Liked it a lot, it was so so pretty. =) Took bunches and bunches of photos! (Took us an hour to pass this street when in real, it would have took only 5 minutes............;;;)

Perfect weather, all sunny and warm

The moment we'd all feared! (luckily, the owners didn't mind.. i think)

Endless pictures of the colorful doors

With the pretty pretty kitty ♡

Due to the absence of a morning, we canceled most of our afternoon plans and decided to just relax instead. Shopped a bit and ate lunch(along with a siesta) in one of Dublin's most famous shopping streets, enjoyed the lovely weather in St. Stefan's green park along with another bunch of endless photos, and went to the national gallery of Ireland. (Though we arrived too late and was kicked out of the gallery in 10minutes..)

Grafton street

Clean, new shoes hanging above the street... talk about wierd!

Lunch at Captain America's!

St. Stephan's Green

The National Gallery of Ireland

Came home to a nice surprise. Evan's friends had cooked Korean food for us!! Ah was soooo good.. Wondered if the trip could get any better. Turned out it could! Since my plane was at 7am the next day, I'd planned to spend the night in the airport. But Evan wouldn't allow it and let me crash at his place for one more night. Thanks so much again!! =)

요리책보고 요리하신 오빠들 ㅋㅋㅋ

Korean dinner! 닭두부두루치기? 맛있었다..ㅜ_ㅜ

The bit crowded bedroom

A good trip.

Bye bye Dublin...

11.9-11 Dublin day 2

2007-11-11T17:22:00.000+02:00

11.9-11 Dublin day 2

Second day.

Planned to wake up at 9 and start the day fresh. Bad plan.. Ended up waking at 11 and leaving the house a bit past noon.(Felt bad for Evan since he woke up as planned and had to wait 3 hours for us...-_-;; sorry!)

Well rested and happy before leaving

Excited!

The lake right behind our dorm

After a looooooooooooooong walk around the pretty small lake, we arrived at the very important Guinness factory! Liked it despite the expensive entrance fee and long queue.. The tour was so detailed and descriptive that by the end we were extremely thirsty!
That's when the gravity bar comes in. At the end of the tour we were led to the top of the factory for a free pint of guinness and a beauuuuutiful view of the whole city! Did the usual. Enjoyed 1/3 of my guinness, turned scarlet and fell asleep on the bar for half an hour...... oh well.

Freaked out by the loong queue.. Had to wait 40 minutes to enter

Poetry in a pint of Guinness!

The beautiful sky from the gravity bar

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! (또는, 캬아아아아아아아아!)

Me, suddenly used as a human coat hanger..(Just so Evan could take good pictures of himself..I refuse to post any of them!kkk)

Guinness man! (The souvenir shop was so tempting..)

Dulin's sunset

Met up with Evan's friends in the evening. As good food was crucial in our travel, we selected our dining places with great care. Went to a bar/restaurant that won awards and stuff. Although the food was ok, personally enjoyed my junk food more..-_-;;

Bar of the year 2007

Stew & Fish n' chips

After another successful purchase of percy pigs

Salmiakki killer (she actually liked it!!!!!!! ate like half the box or something.. we called her a freak for the rest of the trip..)

Since we had been eating non-stop, decided we needed some excercise. Followed the river and walked around the city until we were cold and hungry again.... Loved the nights of Dublin. It was very very beautiful..

Sights of Dublin

4인4색

Guess who's taller! kkkkk

Us doing weird things (probably cause we were hungry again..)

At a very crowded pub

With more guinness

Still think my shoes are the prettiest...

Noodles at 2am! (with 김치..............ㅠ_ㅠ오빠들이 끓여준 라면 너무 맛잇엇다ㅠ)

11.9-11 Dublin day 1

2007-11-11T14:23:00.000+02:00

11.9-11 Dublin day 1

Yay! A trip to Ireland!!! Decided to meet up with my best friend who's living in England and go to Dublin. Had lots of fun. Used too much Korean. (Still haven't recovered from all the Korean I used this weekend.. Can't speak English anymore T^T)

We had trouble finding a place to stay due to our total laziness and procrastination of booking hostels. Seriously thought we were going to end up sleeping on the streets.. But we got really really lucky cause we found out three days before we were leaving that my friend's friend was studying in Dublin and was able to offer us his room. Yay again! Thanks to him we had a room to crash and a local guide 24/7. Met him one day and it was enough to feel like we'd been friends for 10 years. =)

First day.

Arrived around 4 in the center of Dublin. Met Evan and walked around the city a bit. Was very happy with the warm weather. (핀란드에서 왔다는 티 안내려고 젤 얇은 옷만 가져갔었음..-_-;;;ㅋㅋㅋ)

Landed! Dublin, here we come =D

ah! Found my friend! =)

Beautiful beautiful weather

First offical shot together in Dublin! (Shame we look like shit..kk)

With our guide, Evan

Dublin, at the tip of our fingers!

The famous Temple bar

Sights of Dublin

Got real tired real soon cause of all the flying and walking so we found a spot next to the city hall and just sat there talking and eating percy pigs.. (In case for some crazy reason you don't know percy pigs, they are gummie pigs from Marks&Spencer and the best pigs you'll ever eat!)

Extremely happy with our Percy pigs!!!

A percy pig moment

Our favorite spot!

I think my shoes are the prettiest.........=)

In our first irish pup

Got excited again when we found out that Evan had a real good dorm filled with lots and lots of food. Again ate tons, drank the famous Guinness beer and met some more Korean friends of Evan's. I had brought some salmiakki from Finland as a souvenir. We laughed sooooooooo hard watching everyone spit it out that security had to come to shush us up..-_-;;;

Could I look any happier? kkkkk

A mix of Ireland(Guinness), Finland(Salmiakki) and Korea(쥐포)

Far from home

2007-11-10T01:54:00.000+02:00

12.7

Feelin blue,

Just one of those days..

11.8 Pimps and Hoes

2007-11-08T12:29:00.000+02:00

11.8 Pimps and Hoes

Another stammitch! Crazy theme, crazier party! Never would have thought people would take dressing up for stammitch this seriously! kkkk Loved everybody's outfits!(although some were just scary..) Had to go to Dublin the next day so didn't stay forever, but had lots of fun =)

Ready or not, here we come!

With dear Damien

Jose, so pretty!

My favorite hoes, Unni & Peter(loved his thong!)

Cole and her(?) pimp, Istvan

With JS kkkk

Felt a bit scared at this point..

With the prettiest girls of the night

Stephanie & Gaidig

Vivi, Jenny & Eva

The perfect pimp! Susana & Maria

Arno, Jonathan and me

The Hoe's musical chairs

Bye bye! Untill the next Stammitch! =D

11.7 First Snow

2007-11-07T13:42:00.000+02:00

11.7 First Snow

Finally! First snow in Jyvaskyla!! >_< Although I'm not a huge fan of snow, it was nice to see everything so white and sparkely. =) Was totally freaked at the thought of riding my bike in the snow so.. used it as a good excuse to skip a few classes..^^;; The girls made snowmen and me and Virko polished up our snowball throwing skills in the middle of the night!

All psyched before our first bike ride in the snow

Frosty, gone bad....drinking and smoking (Even grew a mohawk later-_-)

The creators of Frosty =)

Hard training for snow fights

Virko, looking proud of our results

Now it really feels like winter.........

Feeling blue =(

2007-11-06T03:48:00.000+02:00

11.27
Choking.. exams go away! =(

If only life was about traveling, watching baseball,
and eating gummie bears and ice cream...

I would be so happy............................

11.1-4 St.Petersburg Weekend

2007-11-04T21:08:00.000+02:00

11.1-4 St.Petersburg Weekend

Long weekend ahead!! Since everyone had gone to St. Petersburg for the weekend, it was only me, Vivi, Virko, Gaidig and Aurelie left in all of Kortepohja! (But Vivi and Dan also left for Helsinki so it was actually only me, Virko, Gaidig and Aurelie) Did absolutely NOTHING productive, but managed to entertain ourselves with each other's company. =)

11.1 Virko's dinner

Weekend started on thursday evening with expensive chicken and bread cooked by Virko. (FYI, chicken is soooooo expensive in Finland! Mierda..) It was EXTREMELY good after a looooooong day of 2hours baseball, 6hours of class and jogging. (I know all my friends who know me well are laughing and doubting me at this point, but it's true! I really played Finnish baseball AND went jogging!)

A perfect start to a looong weekend =D

운동 후 더욱 꿀맛인 저녁 ㅠ_ㅠ

Chicken w/ spicy sauce, rice and really really really good bread

11.2 Evening at Aurelie's

The losers who couldn't make it to Russia gathered up in Aurelie's room for some fun of our own. Smoked the water pipe thingy, ate tons of junk food, listened to good music and talked the night away.. =)

Aure with the oh so popular water pipe thingy

DJ of the night, Gaidig carefully choosing the music

The Losers.. Aurelie, Virko, Damien, Vivi, Dan(missing from pictures), Gaidig and me(for some reason, looking very happy)

11.3 Coach potato day

Nothing more to say............. We stayed like this ALL day long... watching TV and just laying around! Good times =D kkkk

11.4 Korean dinner

Since Virko had cooked for me so many times(and since I had all the time in my life this weekend), I decided to make Korean sushi(Kimbab) and Miso soup for dinner. Didn't go as well as planned, but oh well...

Struggling with the food

Tada!! My first Kimbab! (Although they turned out to be quite ugly T^T)

Virko, Mikko and Aurelie

Thought it would be such a long, lonely weekend........ but turned out to be one of the best, thanks to my lovely friends =)

10.31 Vivi's Crêpes

2007-10-31T20:05:00.000+02:00

10.31 Vivi's Crêpes

Advantages of having a flatmate from Brittany??

Lots and lots of delicicious delicious delicious delicious crêpes!!!! >_<

As crêpes originated from Brittany and as my roommate is a faithful Brittany girl, Vivi decided to introduce us to the traditional, salty, straight from flour brought all the way from...France(actually not as far, but oh well) crêpes!

She made two Huge stacks, one stack of salty crêpes which were served with eggs, ham, sausage or cheese. Another stack of sweet crêpes which were served with honey, jam and nutella! ;) (Oh my god, just writing about it made my mouth water...-_-;;)

Bon appétit!

Compliments to the chef ;)

Well fed and happy

Virko & the French flour transporter, Dan (Vivi's boyfriend!!)

Vivi's helpful Korean assistants (They were skillfully inventing new types of crepes by the end of the night!)

I was already extremely happy after the wonderful crêpes, but almost died laughing when Stefania finished up the nutella jug with a special "throw crêpe in jug, smuge around, shove in mouth" technique!

Stefania, finishing up the nutella!

The feeding ceremony

Lucky for me, Stefania left me an exceptionally HUMONGOUS bite! Took me forever to stop laughing... Video of the final moment of the nutella. =)

10.30 Halloween

2007-10-30T03:44:00.000+02:00

10.30 Halloween

My all time favorite holiday!! Always loved halloween. Love trick or treating, jack-o-lanterns and of course the many many candys....................... Was really looking forward to going to the halloween party, which was being organized by international students at Kharma.. Changed my mind when it started to pour! T^T But finally Unni lent me a costume to wear so we braved ourselves into the rain... Kharma was empty at first but eventually filled up!

Pre-party in Vivi's room!

Unni! Costume supplier

Before, feeling awkward & cold

After, bring on the rain!

Ready for halloween =)

@ Kharma

On the way back home, wet but happy =)

10.25-27 Riga

2007-10-27T02:13:00.000+03:00

10.25-27 Riga

Went to Riga! =D Have to admit, didn't even know Latvia existed before coming to Finland... and yet, now am so excited to go!! (the advantages of studying abroad!) Went with Aurelie, Jenny and Eva. Was excited cause it was my first time to ride a Finnish train or leave Finland by plane. Ate a lot, laughed a lot and also slept tons! --;; Don't know what happened but was soooooooooo sleepy the whole trip. I slept everywhere........... Good trip! kkkkkk
-Again, too lazy to write lots(actually, can't remember details it's been so long;;) so am just going to post tons of photos... enjoy!

Train Tampereelle!

@ Tampere train station (excitement+over enthusiasm.. results in missing the bus)

@ The world's smallest, crappiest airport, Tampere airport (suffered from extreme boredom)

Our lovelier than expected hostel

In front of Riga tower(or tower that says Riga)

Caught up at the sight of alcohol

Market place in front of a church(can't remember which)

Don't judge!! (we were very lonely.....)

Confused at the sight of the "castle" (must have been the weirdest, tiniest, castle ever)

Riga............! =)

@ the beautiful lake

Riga. From summer to fall..

During one of my occasional siestas

Flower market

Our moody, candle-lit dinner

@ Red Fred's (well-known for their holding of 22 different sorts of beers)

Finally, the SUN in Riga (right before boarding the bus back home)

Reminder

2007-10-25T00:43:00.000+03:00

Mental note..

Really need to STOP EATING!!!!

going to riga. see u =)

A post for Aurelie

2007-10-24T22:15:00.000+03:00

A post for Aurelie!

I'm sorry i don't update my blog more often!
I am just soooooooooooooo lazy i can't get myself to do it..
kkkkkkkkkkk

But i still love you guys! =D

10.22 After-exam party

2007-10-22T01:42:00.000+03:00

10.22 After-exam party

An after-exam party for the sports faculty! Although I had no exams...;; (nothing new there..)
It was a party that everyone kept saying you CANNOT miss but.. i missed....(was too busy doing nothing) oh well! kkk
But I did stop by at the after party which was ,so conveniently, held in Rentukka! (yay! so close to home!)

The concept of the party was........................
-Girls dressed up as wrestlers and boys dressed up as cheerleaders!! You all will be divided as groups with first year students and there willbe several tasks around the city you need to perform.. One task will be"swimming" so bring your swimming suit with you (this is THE ritual thatwill make you a real sport student, thats why this party is held inOctober so that the lake would be cold enough).
-After party will be held at Rentukka, there will be color codes:1st year YELLOW (this would be you!)2nd year WHITE3rd year RED4th year GREEN5th and older BLACK. After after party will be held in Lillukka.

So.. the party should have been fun..:)
The after party was also hilarious. Everyone was dressed in ridiculous clothes and was soooooooooo so drunk. (There was a girl dressed as a banana... a BANANA! and the butt? tail? of the banana was so plump and tempting that me and Sini kept wanting to grab on to it.. was hard to resist...;;;) I arrived around 12, and the party was totally out of control by then! kkkk

The best costume! Sini, wearing a nun outfit!! (seriously! where did she get that?!!!=D)

Claudio & Stefania

Javi, Stefania, Nicole & Martin

Emilio & Susana

The irresistible banana (don't have a clear shot T^T)

10.19 Birthday dinner

2007-10-19T00:35:00.000+03:00

10.19 Birthday number 3

The final birthday event! I invited some friends over for a Korean dinner! With the help of my Korean friends, we successfully(?) cooked several typical Korean dishes. Was fun to watch everyone eat. Although some had difficulties in appreciating the spiciness, I was surprised to see how well everyone accepted and enjoyed Korean food!

Cooking away! (but was so inexperienced, I had to cook all day long with a bunch of help from friends in order to get everything done;;)

Susana, skillfully rounding rice balls (Now officially proven to be half Korean. Thanks again so much for the help! =))

All dressed up for my birthday =)

Bulgogi(sweet beef w/ vegetables) & Thukbokki-the most love/hated, spicy dish^^(noodles, rice cakes & eggs)

Salad, Gamjajun(potato pancakes), Joomukbab(rice balls w/ vegetables, meat & seaweed) & canape

More birthday gifts! >_<

Frauke, my lovely birthday mate!! (Have the same birthday^^!)

(clockwise) EJ, Vivi, Gaidig, Aurelie, Damien, Frauke, Lauri, Susana, Moonju, Stefania, Eva, Martin, Jenny, Rebecca, Rachel, Brent, Sini & Prudence (w/0 Fabrizio)

Everyone! squished in one room

The party continued in Fever. Met a bunch of other people from school who were also out for saturday night!

날 따라해봐요 요렇게~

Crazy night out

Was a good birthday..=D

10.18 Surprise Birthday

2007-10-18T23:05:00.000+03:00

10.18 Birthday number 2.

So..! after a good birthday morning, just had an ordinary day.. eating lunch, playing with friends, moping around not wanting to go to class..
And since I had decided to do my birthday party the next day, I wasn't expecting any more birthday related events...

then, SURPRISE!!!!!!

My lovely friends threw me a surprise birthday party! right in my own room!
i hadn't suspected a thing and it was so nice it brought me to happy tears...=)

My favorite! the "Sammy" birthday balloons =D

Martin, Eva & Jenny

Busy with preperation

The final touch!

My unforgettable 21th birthday presents

A video of my happiest birthday..=)

In tears of joy =)

Officially 21!

The incredibly good birthday cakes by Moonju, Vivi & Gaidig

I was not only lucky enough to get TWO birthday cakes, but also got the most adorable presents! Food-scented candles, a necklace&ornament, an "I hate MONDAYS" sign(which of course, everyone wrote i hate mondays in their own language on the back), a dog and......................... a boyfriend!!!!!!!!!!! >0
Me, cracking up while winding up my new dog.. plan to take it jogging every morning ;)

Getting acquainted with my new boyfriend, Mikko (My finnish boyfriend Mikko was noticed by my frineds while working in Antilla)

My huge doggy birthday card (Everyone chose a dog that resembled him/herself and wrote a lovely message!^^)

My room after the party

I thank all my friends once again for the wonderful birthday.
It's good to be 21 with you guys............... =D

10.18 Birthday Morning

2007-10-18T21:44:00.000+03:00

10.18 Birthday number 1.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Sammy, Happy Birthday to me ♬ Yay! Finally my birthday! =D

My birthday started with an early present from 아라! Was filled with funny things like gum.. made with Finnish Xylitol! kkkkk Loved it. (Thank you!)

My very first birthday present

My birthday started at a very very early 6:30 am. Recieved a birthday package from Korea, but needed to go all the way to a far far post office to pick it up. Wanted to get it immediately so decided to go early in the morning and in the meanwhile, watch the sunrise as well! Virko was sooooooooooo nice and offered to help. =) (I'm sure he regreted it later..kkk)

Climbing Laajavuori with the sun

A perfect birthday morning =)

Watching my first sunrise as 21...

Virko, wondering why he had offered to help..=)

Virko doing all the work, cramming the too big & heavy package onto his bike (He managed so well, balancing the package with one hand and steering his bike with the other.. was very impressed !)

Finally arriving home from a 3 hour journey

Our bikes, mission well accomplished!

Happily running home

Got a bunch of stuff from home which made me even happier! Wondered if my birthday morning could have been any better..

(Thank you soooo much again Virko! Could never have done it without you =D)

10.13-14 A Perfect Weekend =)

2007-10-14T22:58:00.000+03:00

10.13 Shopping & Sunsets

Was a beauuuuutiful saturday.(Unlike the previous day in Tallinn-_-;;) Decided we wanted to go shopping for winter clothes! (We had suffered from the cold soooooo much in Tallinn that we decided we were in desperate need of winter clothes..) Did some very very successful shopping. Bought a lot of things for half price and stuff. Was so proud of myself =)

On our way to the center in gorgeous weather

Coffee break from all the shopping

Then, figured the weather was just too beautiful to pass and decided to go up Laajavuori, a ski resort near our house, to watch the sunset =) (But had to ride our bikes like crazy in order to make it in time for the sunset....kkkk)
However, we were just so excited that we didn't realize the weather was a bit misleading.. Didn't notice it was zero degrees untill we were sitting on top of the hill freazing ourselves to death! But seeing the sunset, it was definitely worth it..

In front of Laajavuori (Sweating and panting like crazy from our exhausting bike ride)

The lovely view from the top

We made it! (Was difficult to go up cause of the partly frozen rocks and my lack of leg muscles)

Not feeling the cold at all! (yet..)

Watching the sunset..

Starting to feel the cold....

Before) All happy and innocent with my red shoes

After) Practically frozen, cursing my stupid, thin, useless red shoes

The Jyvaskyla sunset

10.14 Virko's Breakfast

Woke up to another sunday breakfast at Virko's. He made banana pancakes with chocolate ice cream and coffee.... Was too good to be true for a sunday morning.

My favorite person of the day! Virko, the pancake supplier

The yummy yummy pancakes

JB and his morning stretching

The reason for waking up

Enjoying every bite (From our looks and hair and stuff, seems we all woke up at like 7 in the morning to eat the pancakes... in fact it was more like half past noon...--;;;)

Sleeping even better after breakfast (the lump = me)

Shopping, sunsets, pancakes and ice cream..
Adds up to a perfect weekend, don't you think? =)

10.11-12 Tallinn

2007-10-12T21:45:00.000+03:00

10.11-12 Tallinn

Finally! A trip out of Jyvaskyla! =D
A huge group of 17 people decided to go to our neighboring country, Estonia!
Took a boat from Helsinki to Tallinn..
A bunch of good people, an excellent local Estonian guide, a night on a boat...
Thought it would be the perfect trip.
However.............. turned out our trip had a teeny, tiny, minor flaw.
Not only did it rain, but it STORMED all day long! I don't even remember what Tallinn looked like cause I was sooooooo freakin cold! T^T
But all in all, was a lovely trip that I will never ever forget. =)

On the way to Helsinki

Group shot! Before boarding the boat

On the boat, all excited and crazy

In the boat cabin

Members of cabin 1

Happy with our Estonian guide

On the deck

Livin la vida loca! Singing the night away

Crazy night on the boat

Group shot! celebrating our successful arrival in Tallinn

Breakfast in Tallinn

Tervetuloa to Estonia =)

Rain, Rain, go away

The rain can't stop us!

In the middle of the city

@ the unbelievably good pancake house (Miss the pancakes T^T)

Going up the ridiculously long flight of stairs of the viewing tower

On top! (There was soooooo much wind that I seriously thought we would fly off the incredibly loosely secured fence and all crack our heads open and die)

After surviving the life-threatening viewing tower

Waiting for the boat, delayed by the storm

Group shot, we're back in Helsinki!

If you think I'm joking about the weather, I'm sure this video will prove my point! (This is only a teeny peek of what we had suffered...kkkk)

Truely a trip to remember =)

10.10 Italian dinner

2007-10-10T01:54:00.000+03:00

(Feel so incredibly lazy to be posting a month old event but..can't help it...
i just blame it on the weather -_-;; kk)

10.10 Dinner with Italians! =)

So anyways!
Since Stefania and her 2 Italian boys, Claudio & Fabrizio, had invited us for dinner a few days ago, thought it would be nice to invite them over to our place this time!

Decided to go with an Italian theme and cook pizzas for them. (Yes! We dared to cook pizzas for Italians...kkk)
Cooked Korean style pizzas too!
Unni also made buulgogi and mandoo (still can't believe she made them) and it was sooooo incredibly good. Had missed Korean food a lot. Again, ate tons..............

Me, cooking! (probably for the first time;;)

Korean pizzs, bindaedduk

The food♡

Fabrizio and his girlfried from Italy!

Claudio, in the corner

Always eating.. Guilty but full!

Jenny, Vivi, Virko, Aurelie & Stefania

Korean girls, happy when full

Unni & Celine

Dinner filled with laughter =)

Vivi, what are you doing? kkk

Fighting to do the dishes.. What good guests!

Finished off the night with our good Damien singing for us!
Will always remember Damien whenever I hear "Stand by me" =)

Thank you Damien!! =D

10.6 Lunch with Pasi

2007-10-06T16:43:00.000+03:00

10.6 Pasi's lunch

Saturday. Pasi, a finnish friend I met in a course, invited me over to his house for lunch!
Always wondered what other buildings in Kortepohja looked like.
(Since I always hear that the international students live in
the crappiest buildings..)
Finally had a chance to see!
And find out that the rumor was true! -_-;;;

Pasi had a very very nice room.
TV and everything!
I was so incredibly jealous..T^T

Lunch was also good.
Played Zenga afterwards! Played twice and won twice.
Made Pasi very competitive... kkkk (Enjoyed every moment)

Living room/bed room

Pasi

Yum yum! Potatoes and chicken

A bowl FULL of Ice cream.. made me very happy

Zenga

Other events of the day.

Virko's pedal broke........... AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
Of course, unfortunate for him, right after he had paid
10 euros for it to be fixed the previous day.
Must have had a sain bike for about... 20 hours? -_-;;
He must be the unluckiest guy with bikes...
I laughed so hard.....................kkkkkkk

Could it get any worse? Poor Virko..

Also, Vivi got all fancy and dressed up for her finnish family dinner!

Ready to charm!

10.5 Vivi's dinner

2007-10-05T15:03:00.000+03:00

10.5 Vivi's dinner

Another dinner!!
Vivi made her famous potato gratin!
(Impossible to stop eating.... T^T)

The beautiful gratin

The host, serving

Dessert, fruit salad

More dessert! Ice cream♡

Planning for vacation

Proud to be Estonian!

Korea, well made

Doing the dishes (극과 극 옷차림;;)

10.2 Tortilla party

2007-10-02T13:29:00.000+03:00

10.2 Tortilla party

Sorry about the delay of posts!
I'm just too "Soy una vaga" ^^;;
Anyway..
Spanish/Korean party held by Aurelie, Moonju & Susana.
Lots of good food and lots of good peoeple! =)

(Again, too lazy to write smart comments so.. just a bunch of pictures)

The table

Tortilla makers! Flauke & Susana

Crazy when fed, Sammy & Vivi

Identical! Kirsty & Shannon

Stefania, Ruby, Flauke

Twix =)

The heart of the event, Damien's dessert!!!

Was heaven..............

The star of the night

THE cake

Enjoy

When I've laughed too much...

Virko, locked out!

Group photo!! (w/o Susana, Gaidig & me)

9.29-30 Relaxing weekends

2007-09-30T00:29:00.000+03:00

Lovely Lovely weekends!
Quiet, but relaxing =)

9.29 Hair day
Pigged out in my room all day long.. till Gaidig came up with an event!
Helped Gaidig dye her hair!
With lots of luck, it didn't turn out blue..

All dressed up

9.30 Virko's Breakfast & Finnish family
Sunday morning, Virko cooked breakfast for us!
Fruit, baked french toast and most importantly, COFFEE!!
Was worth waking up for..
At least, untill he gave me his special coffee....'-';;

Skillfully(?) flipping the toast!

In the afternoon, I met my finnish family for coffee.
(After three cups of coffee, one being special coffee, felt like throwing up all day long kkkkk)
Was invited to their house and ate pulla that the children had made.
Also went sightseeing around the city by car.

The house

Homemade pulla

The youngest, Vera (4)

9.28 Apple Crumble >_<

2007-09-28T14:51:00.000+03:00

9.28 Gaidig's Apple Crumble

Gaidig made apple crumble!

From scratch!!!!

The girl of the night! Gaidig

So we all made some food and got together in my room

to eat dinner and enjoy the apple crumble for dessert.

I was very impressed. It was so good!! T^T

The lovely lovely apple crumble

Our feast!

Aurelie

Susana

Feeling left out? Damien, excluded from the kitchen by the girls

Ate a lot.

Laughed too much!

Lovely night =)

9.26 Spanish Party

2007-09-26T23:41:00.000+03:00

9.26 Spanish Birthday Party

Got invited (no..actually sort of invited myself;;) to a spanish birthday party!
It was Maria's birthday so we all went to a barbeque all the way to Ronimaki.
Felt a bit awkward at first cause there were a bunch of people I didn't know.
But things got better when we went to Fever!

Afterwards, popped into Susana's & Flauka's room to chat a bit more.
Ended up doing more than just talking....

Ate pancakes at 5 in the morning..;; cause Frauke suddenly felt like making them.
Sung "Oh happy day" on the top of our lungs untill a neighbor yelled shut up.
Laughed our heads off cause Frauke kept calling me Mika! (Doesn't even sound similar to Sammy!)

Frauke, making her famous five in the morning pancakes

Oh happy day~ not really for the neighbors

Had so much fun =)

9.24 The bottle run

2007-09-25T22:52:00.000+03:00

9.24 Bottle run

An event by the sports faculty! The famous bottle run!

The idea of the competition, as confusing as it is and will be, is that1st person drinks a bottle and run (making a show at the same time)1st and 2nd persons drink bottles and run and make a show..1st, 2nd and 3rd persons drink and run and make a show..everybody drinks and runs and makes a show..

I only watched a bit of it but it was hilarious!!

Loved it..kkkkk

Wonder who won...

Perfect day for drinking and running!

Team "Shit in the diaper" & "The perfect family"

Ben, in crazy orange leggings

Pauline, getting ready

Ready, set, Drink?!!

Run, run as fast as you can!

9.22 Freetime!

2007-09-22T23:15:00.000+03:00

9.22 Saturday night out!

Went out to a heavy metal/rock kind of club
with Jenny, Eva, Gaidig and Peter.
Music wasn't exactly my taste, but still had a good time!

Havin a good time! Eva & Jenny

Wanting to avoid the camera.. Gaidig & Me

Feelin the music

4'o clock! After the party

Not tired at all! In the elevator

9.20 Stammitch Party

2007-09-22T13:29:00.000+03:00

9.20 Stammitch Party

A party at last!! An ESN organized party held at Rentukka. (Don't know why I keep laughing my head off at the very thought of a party at Rentukka!) The theme was Finnish sports so tutors were dressed in various finnish sport uniforms.

Finnish baseball uniforms

With Sini

Prue invited us to come over for pizza before going to rentukka.Found out that the other buildings were soooooo much better than the M building..T^T (I want a balcony too!) Started drinking before the party so arrived at rentukka in a dark shade of red.

Drunk before leaving?

Rianna, Prue, Beck, Susana & Nicole

Arrived at 10. Wasn't much fun then.. Only got interesting when people started to dance.I always enjoy parties for international students. Fun while relaxing at the same time.We all danced the night away! =) Had to leave only cause they stopped playing music..;;

Gaidig, Me & Susana

Gathering up strength to dance!

Lookin Sharp! Demien & Vivi

Ready to dance?

Some people(actually, French people) came over to our flat afterwards. Smoked a water cigarette thingy. Smelled nice.

Looking forward to the next Stammitch! :)

9.13-17 NEVER long enough weekends

2007-09-17T21:04:00.000+03:00

The second week went by in a blur. Classes started on monday but I only had a Finnish course so.. not too bad... Had a lot of time to kill. Also, I have no class on friday so my weekends start on thursday night. But even so.. weekends always feel WAY too short.

9.13 Rentukka

Went to Rentukka(a pub?bar? in Kortepohja) for a drink to celebrate our succesful first week! Always was like.. who actually goes to Rentukka?!! -_-
Went to find out that in fact NO ONE goes there.. Stayed only to use the free drink ticket we got for signing our lease. (Somehow, didn't feel that lucky)

After free drinks

9.14 Kharma

Tried the sauna located on the first floor of our building.
Was really relaxing and comfortable.

Feeling good, looking bad

After that...
Friday night out!!

Went to Khrama cause I REALLY wanted to go dancing. However, everyone had turned useless after the sauna.-_- Kept saying they were tired so I practically dragged everyone out of thier rooms..--;;; kkk

Khrama had 4?5? rooms with different music for each room. Atmosphere seemed pretty much the same as Korea. Was kinda uncomfortable cause most were finnish and we sort of stood out. But.. met some friends from school. =)

Tired Vivi, Eva, Aurelie & a totally excited me

Marco, Javi, Emilio, Me, Vivi & Aurelie

9.15 Movie night

Rained all day..T^T Stayed home cleaning. Went to the sauna again and stayed for 2 hours^^;; By the time we were home, we were practically on cloud 9. So relaxed and cleansed that we just wanted to stay home and lie around watching tv. (Or in our case, illegally copied tv series on a 15 inch laptop)

All stuffed in one room

The only boy! Lucky Damien

But the event got bigger than planned.. Was hilarious. Started out with 5 but by the end, 10 people were squashed in a room staring at a 15 inch laptop in pitch black for 3 hours.

My absolute FAVORITE photo.. Sorry Gaidig! =)

Hail to the lucky boy!

9.17 Alvar Aalto swimming pool

On sunday, we decided we had eaten too much and needed some exercise. We went to the swimming pool that was designed by the famous Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto. It had 8 swimming pools, 2 saunas and a gym. All for 5 euros! Loved it! Stayed for 4 hours...kkkkkkkkkkkkkk

My favorite, the slide

In the wave pool

After swimming, we were famished! Went straight to Kebab House and ate in complete silence.

Prepare to dig in!

We talked about Cold Stone while we were eating. What a mistake... Talking about something I knew I couldn't have!! Stopped by the video store to get Ben&Jerry's instead. Was good enough. =)

My lovely lovely ice cream!!!

Ah, if only life was filled with weekends.

My "Homey" Flat

2007-09-16T02:44:00.000+03:00

Our flat motto!

Have it up on our front door. (All who come in must obey!!)

So excited to be introducing my flat!!!

When I first came here and saw my room, I was shocked to find... um.. nothing !!! ㅜ_ㅜ;;

I'm so sad that I didn't take a picture of my totally bare room cause it would have been such a nice before and after piece. kkk I only have this one which is still an actually "much progressed", after one week shot of my room. (I'm not joking, really Progressed!!!)

(The single photo on the wall looks.. painful--;;)

But now!!!

Ta da !!

Bought a lot of stuff, borrowed a lot of stuff, and even brought up a second bed and made it into a nice(?), comfy(?) sofa! I feel so proud! (Although not a single soul, excluding my roommate, has sat on that sofa yet..--;;)

And I finally got my lazy butt to the photo shop and printed a bunch of my favorite photos to decorate my totally plain and boring wall. (Still in working progress.)

My favorite, my memory wall =)

My pretty new candles (My room is fit for Romance! kkkk)

The other parts of my flat are pretty basic. Two identically pathetic rooms, one small bathroom, and one even tinier kitchen.

In my personal oppinion, the scariest space in our house

Small, but love it anyways since it stores my food♡

Still, to me, it is now

Home, Sweet Home =)

Introducing, Jyvaskyla !

2007-09-16T02:25:00.000+03:00

Realized I have not mentioned exactly
what and where Jyvaskyla is..
Assuming not many people know about it,
I would like to briefly introduce the beautiful city
I will be living in for the next 11months or so !
(At least the people I know don't know much about it;;)

From wikipedia I quote, "Jyväskylä is a city located in central Finland, 147 km from Tampere and 270 km from Helsinki, near the lakes Päijänne and Keitele." and "At the end of 2004,
Jyväskylä had a population of 83,582."

Okay. I think that's it... (Just too lazy to get more info)

From what I've seen so far, it is a quite small town(city?) with a lot of young people with blonde hair and blue eyes.kkk

The place I love most in Jyvaskyla is the lake next to our campus. It is so beautiful and so fine especially on sunny days. I would love to go for a run along the lake or something but I just can't seem to find the time. (I know, excuses excuses excuses-_-;;)

I haven't been able to see the town thoroughly yet, but so far very small but very beautiful!

University of Jyvaskyla, the school I study in, has almost 16,000 students enrolled and has 400 international exchange students so.. I would say that is a lot. Loving the international student atmosphere =) MANY MANY students from within Europe so that's kind of interesting in a way.

Loving it so far. Hoping to love it more.

Love and Obsession, my bike

2007-09-16T01:38:00.000+03:00

Just wanted to introduce my bike. >ㅁ<

Had to wait ages for it.

I literally had to cry for my bike.

But still it's okay cause I seriously LOVE my bike!!

My bike's name is 징징이.(meaning the sound of whining in Korean) Because I had to whine sooooo much for it, I just thought it would be the only suitable name. =) I can't believe what a difference a bike can make in my day. Walking itself isn't that terrible but it just takes so much time. I feel so liberated on my bike I feel that I can do anything. kkk I have had no problems with it so far and hope I will successfully enjoy a fabulous year at Jyvaskyla with my bike! (I'll die if it breaks!!!)

9.11 Wall Climbing

2007-09-15T23:48:00.000+03:00

9.11 Wall climbing

The wall

For the first time in my life I went wall climbing ! It was so much fun !!!(Although I only got to like half and was screaming like hell.) The trip to the wall climbing place wasn't as pleasant. 7 of us had to fit in one car so I ended up sitting in the front seat.. on Prue's lap. It was so uncomfortable and I felt worse for Prudence (Sorry!) Felt like one of those clowns in a circus where they shove like 30 people into a miniature car.

Excited ! Javi belaying

The expert.. Cole belaying

Totally relaxed.. Prue & Emilio

Me, making an effort (actually, clinging to wall praying for heaven's sake)

Still I had a lot of fun and would definetely like to come back and try again. Hopefully, pratice will make perfect ! :)

9.3-9 My first week in Jyvaskyla

2007-09-15T23:35:00.000+03:00

9.3-9.9

A brief look back at my first week in Jyvaskyla.

Sightseeing !

The first few days were pretty basic.
Awkward smiles, uncomfortable silences, forgetting each and every name you hear.. The usual.
Went to a bunch of orientation programs the school organized for us.
Was a real dragg.. Can't remember a single thing I heard. ^^;;

9.6 Pub Crawl !!!

Had so much fun at the pub crawl! Met a lot of new ppl. Started out at one pub.. Ended up going to three, plus a club called 'Fever'. Enjoyed every bit of it.. especially dancing cause the music was hilarious. After three drinks, I realized I was dancing the Macarena !!! kkk

Me, EJ & Becky

Me(starting to turn scarlet), Eva & Vivi

Jenny, EJ & Eva

9.7 Bike day

The day I waited 12 miserable hours for my lovely bike. Went to the lake for a bit of sightseeing while I was waiting. Was happy then.. Didn't know what was coming... Although the waiting wasn't as pleasant, all was good in the end. I was practically flying while riding my bike home =)

Happy.. for now

My lovely flatmate, Vivi =)

9/8 The Ultimate Sauna Experience !

Another school organized event that I loved. The sauna we went to was located in a wooden cabin that was right next to a huge, gorgeous pond. After steaming in the sauna, we ran(actually, I was cold so I walked) to the lake and jumped in.
The lake was so cold nobody could stay in for even a minute but still it was amazing. Felt all completely cleansed and perfect!!!

Wonder if i'll be brave enough to jump in when it's frozen...

The giant pond

Enjoying the moment !

Saturday night out !

After the totally relaxing sauna, we went out for a drink to the city center. Had planned to go to another club, but gave up cause of the ridiculously long queue. T^T

Finally everyone on bikes, yay!

Aurelie, Susana, me & Vivi

Happy or drunk?

9.9 Potluck dinner

Invited some friends over for dinner. Was kind of chaos cause we weren't actually equipped to invite guests. Had to be-mattress(?) a bed and spread newspapers all over it to use it as a table. Despite the shortage of plates and silverware, we had lots and lots of food so the dinner turned out better than we had planned! =)

My yet crappy room, plus Vivi's furniture

Our first feast

Vivi, Angela, me, Eva, Jenny & Aurelie

Survived my first week..
I think i'm okay.

My year in Jyvaskyla, Finland !

2007-09-12T00:58:00.000+03:00

Jyvasjarvi, the lake next to campus

Tervetuloa ! (Welcome in Finnish)

Decided that I would like to record my year in Jyvaskyla
with some nice photos and comments on a blog !
(Well that was what everyone else was doing here and I became jealous of it..;;)

Arrived at Jyvaskyla on the 3rd of September.
It's been a little over a week.
Already feels like so much has happened..
There were some ups and definitely some downs but
all in all I feel that i'm liking it here.

Hope things turn out even better ! =)

2007.9 - 2008.6
Emännäntie 10 M 306/b
40740 Jyväskylä, Finland

Phone# 00358 468 922 003

Bring it on !!