thinking positive..

Yes, I still want to go abroad, but I started to think after my last posting that why not try to enjoy the time here. After all, there are nice things in Lappeenranta and the university if compared to the other universities I've studied in other countries. 

We have student healthcare (including dental services) which is a lot cheaper but good quality (for example teeth cleaning costs 4,5 euros), the lunch at the restaurant (there's at least 3 of them to choose from in the campus area) costs from 1,05-4,50. I usually pay for a soup and salad 2,50 and it includes bread and drinks. The food is usually good too. There's a free gym, well it's quite small and students can use it only on a certain times, but still, it will do it for me. And there is a big sports hall, where you can play badminton, basketball, etc. It's free too. And the beautiful nature around the city is perfect for jogging, cross-country skiing, skating etc.

The student accommodation, organized by LOAS is cheap and really good if I compare my other experiences..   I pay 354 euros for my studio which is about 30 square meters with a big balcony. That amount includes electricity, internet, water, heating... 

Lappeenranta is close by St.Petersburg, 2,5 hours away from the capital city Helsinki and the trains go there several times a day (it's around 20 euros one way with the student card. So with that you get -50% off the price). But thanks to the Russian tourists who come to Lappeenranta for shopping, there are quite many nice shops here that wouldn't otherwise exist in a small city like this... 

So yeah, enough with complaining and now more positive attitude. :)

It took 26 days..

..and already I'm dreaming about leaving.. I just found myself looking through pictures from my recent travels and missing each place I've visited. 


It's really nice to be back in Finland, everything works and you understand people around you. But still, to be honest, it's pretty boring here... 

freezing...

24 hours in a day won't do it

To do by the end of this month (=Monday):

• Complete the 1A form (application for master's thesis topic).
• Fill the credit transfer application for completed studies abroad x 5 (for each course separately).
• Fill the stupid form for Kela stating them that yes, I'm back in Finland and begging for the social security benefits again.
• Fill the utterly annoying form for Kela stating them that I did start my studies in 2009 and therefore their information is outdated about my incomes that year + find & copy the certificates of incomes that year and the certification of starting the studies that autumn (otherwise I have to pay them back 575 euros)
• Apply for that one interesting position
• WRITE THEORY PART OF THE THESIS READY!!!!

piece of cake*... 

*I'm just hungry, not saying that this would be easy

Sports and working

Green with envy I listened today one of my colleague MITIM-students description of how he organizes his days... Every morning he either skis or runs to the university, goes to the gym and starts working around 7.00 - 8.00, works the whole day and does some more sports in the evening. 

Oh, I remember the feeling... It's good for studying too... 

I used to go running three-four times a week and twice a week to the gym + randomly yoga, swimming and badminton + all the functional training gained from bicycling to where ever I was going etc. But now, in Belgium and after coming back I haven't been able to start again. I do have a solid medical reason why not to do sports (stitches in my leg until Friday due to removal of a birthmark) but still, it's not good enough! 

So, I thought, I will "go public" (even though I know that my mom is probably the only person reading this blog) with my promise to go back to old days, loose some weight (not too much, curves are nice too) and feel better! So, if you see me in the end of the semester still complaining about not exercising, feel free to throw me with a doughnut... 

These will be used yet several times this winter!!

Happened in the skating rink dressing booth..

I went today skating with a Russian friend of mine. I had to test my new skates I got from a discount sale with 15 euros (!!). And yeah FYI; skating in Finland is usually free and there are plenty of outdoor skating rinks during a cold winter like this.

In the dressing booth (or what do you call the booth by the rink where you change your skates) there were three teenagers and us two changing the skates. The kids were looking at us and the girl was trying to sign something to the other two kids. Only after I said something in English to my Russian friend, one of the teenagers said "yeah, they don't speak Finnish like I assumed, now you can say what you were supposed to say about them" in a way that wasn't polite.

That kind of prejudice attitude is something that makes me see red so before the girl opened her mouth I said quite strictly "well yeah, I speak perfectly well Finnish, so I'm not sure if you want to say what you were about to say. You really should consider when and where to open your mouth".  Those kids were red and quiet after that.

Touché!

I didn't fall!!

Scandinavia

If anyone still wonders about the Scandinavia, I think this is pretty good illustration. BTW, I really enjoy the comics of Humon (http://satwcomic.com/). Highly recommended.. :)

Writing, Writing, Writing..

I spend every day several hours at the library in LUT, but still I feel like my thesis is not progressing fast enough.. We'll have the next seminar in GSOM in St.Petersburg 10th -11th of March and I'm guessing we should have quite a lot of new things to present to the supervisors and other MITIMs... 


I have been dealing a lot with the post-exchange paperwork and stuff, which is quite surprisingly time-consuming. I try to get everything sorted out during this week. 


Time really flies, next I should start to look for a job... 


Depending on the company & field of business, I'd like to do project management related job in R&D or business development (in processes and/or operations). Of course, CSR related positions are always interesting, although I think CSR can be an approach on the work that I'd do (meaning that I'd consider the impacts of decisions and actions in the stakeholders from the point view CSR even though I'd do something that's not directly related to it). And I'd love to work abroad or at least in an multinational environment...


Let's see what happens :)

Grades and stuff

Finally, after some technical problems in HUB, I got my grades. They were pretty ok, worse than previous semesters, but what I expected. Anyway, I was working the whole autumn 20 hours a week in addition to the lectures and got stuck in Dublin so the amount of time spent on studying was a lot less than before. 


Best grades I got from ICT strategy and architecture and Russian culture & language. :) 


Back in Lappeenranta life is nice but boring. I've been arranging a lot of things (Russian visa, student grand, exchange papers, general moving a flat-things, other paperwork stuff, etc) and experienced plenty of bad luck (falling down with bicycle & feeling weird the next 24 hours, loosing internet connection for a day, getting into an argument over the deposit money in the previous flat, etc.). In top of this I should write my thesis.. we'll have a seminar on Friday. I'm really excited to see everyone after all this time though!! Can't wait!


This is what I succeeded to do well this week.. Some yummy ruisleipä :)

Back in Finland

I left Belgium on Monday. "Surprisingly" my flight was delayed again.. There was only two delayed flights going from Brussels that evening, and the other  one was to Cairo (more obvious reasons). 


I got to Lappeenranta on Tuesday with a huge amount of my stuff.. I got quite nice flat from LOAS, it's just recently renovated. I actually think that nobody has used the oven before me.. It's the kind of luxury I enjoy after the recent shabby flats where I've stayed. And this place is only 5-10 minutes from the university by bicycle. 


There's also downside of being back, we have deadline for the thesis (theoretical framework mainly) on Friday and I haven't worked enough with it! I just haven't had the time.. Well, past few days I've tried to do my best so I think I'll have something worth of presenting at next weeks seminar. 


Oh, and other thing to do is to apply for the Russian visa for the master's thesis seminar in March and April. I'll focus on that on Saturday.  


I think I kind of like to be back, even though it's a bit shock. It's so quiet here and I keep wondering where all the people are hiding... I can walk through a grocery store without seeing anyone else except the lady at the cashier and one granny running after the discounts... 


Well, the fresh, delicious tap water, ruisleipä and great (100Mbps) internet connection compensates...


Home sweet home...

The sight you don't want to see - delayed flight...