I Hate Locals

Yesterday was fine.

I'll not trust again to locals, at least in Vantaa. The train was fine though I didn't get a seat because the ticket machine wouldn't sell me a seat to pendolino. So I had to move few times after Tampere. At Tikkurila I found the bus right away. I asked if the driver knew the place and he was confused. When I showed him the map I got, he said he knew where I should leave the bus. But after me there came this guy who asked if the bus goes to the airport (it does) and the driver answered "yeah". Then he asked when it will be there and the driver replied "yeah". And I gulped.

On our way I saw the hotel which was marked on the map but there didn't seem to be a stop and soon the driver said I should go. A guy left on the same stop and I asked him if he would know where I should go. He was looking at the map and finally said I should go towards these buildings. And I thanked and started to walk there fast. I still had half an hour time before the course would start. After a while I started to doubt the guy. There was nothing! So I called to one of the people at Olympus. She didn't answer first but on the second time she did. I had already walked back to the starting point. And there was 15 minutes left. She said that I was too far away to walk there in time, she'd pick me up. And she did and I was right in time. Huh! So thanks to the bus driver and this guy, I had to bother this women! But she was nice. And if I had trusted to my brains, I'd probably ended in the right place. BUT, I still blame Olympus the most.

• They assume that everyone has their own car and by giving only an address everyone will find to place
• The map they gave didn't have enough streets, only two streets on every side of the building

And thanks to these, I didn't see the street I was on and got lost. And there was this road construction so one road was missing on the map. But I didn't miss anything and that's the main thing.

I got a cup of coffee and nice bread. The course had lectures which lasted for couple of hours and after that we went to lunch. And that was it! We didn't have the hands on teaching because all of us (six persons) had different softwares. I did learn some new things though so the course was not in vain. But still over 100 euros for thins course would be too much! Luckily it didn't cost anything for us. And our department will pay back my trips too.
AND, I got this Jamie Olivers Shaker! It's so cool! And very handy! And of course I got a certificate from it. So, not a bad trip.

And thanks to early ending I got time to surprise Mom. I stayed in Tampere for a few hours and spent some time with Mom. She was so happy. And I had nice time too! We went to coffee and she bought me nice shoes! And a new toy for kitties. They've already broken the last toy (same toy actually), it's their favorite! And I was back home at 8 pm. And I was really tired.

And I've had some time to play with the camera and phone, and they're nice! Really nice! I love the camera, it's so good! It takes good pics and I get much information from them with this program (which I don't like, I should've bought Olympuses picture card in order to use the program fully!!). I still need to learn how to use it, but I know some basic features of the camera now. And it was so fun, one of the first things was to play with it under water! Muaha!
And the phone is nice too. I really like it. And it came to my mind, that because it has radio in it, I can now listen to it instead of silence in the labs when I'm working with my cells! Nice!

I'm really happy with my shoppings. I got what I wanted.

But I need to go to sleep. I've noticed that I'm quite tired. I need to take few days of vacation after the course is over. I really need some rest. I get tired so easily and after 8 hours in the lab I'm exhausted. And I still would need to do reports and read articles. And normally I could do that. But not now. Luckily weekend is coming. Though I need to write the report on Saturday or Sunday with Reija. But the course will end next Wednesday! And next Friday I'm maybe going to Helsinki again. There is the meeting of cell biologists and since I'm one of the council, I don't need to buy my trips there. And people there are nice.

But now to bed.

ps. I'm menstruating again. Phew.

New Camera and Phone

I finally got my new phone and camera! BUT!!! The phone was black. I thought it had some brown figures on it but no. I misunderstood the description. But it doesn't mind so much. I could have bored to the figures. Now my phone is just simple and cool.
But the camera. The Camera! It's so nice! The first thing was to get it under water and play with it there. I haven't dared to drop it (though they promise it will handle it). I won't risk it yet. It will face a lot shocks during it's life of service.
I don't have pics of my new stuff and I need to go to sleep asap, I'll need to wake up at 4 am!!! My train to Vantaa to microscopy course will leave Jyväskylä 5.30 am. Horrible. And I'll be at Vantaa after 8 am and the course will start 9 am. I just need to hope that the train won't be late. I still need to take some mysterious buss to the place. But I'll handle this all.

I just needed to come and say that I HAVE NEW PHONE AND CAMERA!!!

And Pollo was so stupid just. He run right to a mirror. And really fast. Poofball. Muaha.

Flights in Order

So, I got my flights!
So excited!

Though it still worries me if two hours is enough. But it has to be.
I downloaded some maps for the airports in Dublin and Chicago. They should calm me down a bit.

I've also browsed some things for my new cell phone and camera. Yes camera. I've decided to buy a new camera also. I found a RED camera which is also waterproof and shockproof. All I need! It's not that cheap though but I still want that camera. It's not that expensive and cheapest of the shockproof cameras. And if you look my old camera, you'll understand why I need a camera with that feature. And I'm going to buy the cell phone too soon because I need to know that it will be good (as not breaking on the first instant) and I need to learn to use it well. I haven't used Nokia for a few years (6 years to be specific). And my phone hasn't delivered some messages for me.

And Americans are so slow! I wrote an email to the local ISEP coordinator and she still hasn't answered to it (two days ago). I also asked for the Iowa House about room reservation but they either haven't answered my mail. I hope they would answer me soon so that I could send my Housing Application there.

Still much to do though I've done a lot work. Got flights, insurance, ISEP registration etc. Long way to go still.

Happy Holidays It Was

SO, Iowa it is!!!

I got an e-mail from there where there was ID:s for me to log in. NICE!
And today there was a message: Admitted. VERY NICE!

I've browsed the pages and configured my e-mail (and my other e-mail too). I updated my address books. And that was something what I've planned to do so long. But done.

Eastern. Was nice.

Parties went well and I did just nothing yesterday and today. Played Sims2. Muaha!

People from Tampere were here only too little time. All were gone by 10 PM. And so I had made way too much food. We had to throw away some of them today because they started to smell bad. And we already ate almost three days from the left overs. Now I know that I won't do food anymore. Die in hungry in my parties! I don't care! (I do.)

And the gifts! The gifts were sooooo nice. Our parents updated our dishes and we got luggages, art, flowers (have to keep out of sight for kitties), Moomin cups etc. All very nice gifts.

And I'm SO bored to my cell phone and camera. I moaned about them to Dad so that he would feel like I need new ones. Muaha! Though I will buy them my self but I hope Dad will help me financially a bit. Though I really have a good reasons for new ones.

My phone:

• is about 6 years old
• it's battery is bad
• it won't always accept my button pushes
• I've missed at least one message (still haven't got it)
• it won't work if it is too cold
• it complains that the card is missing
• it won't be useful in US
• it's OLD

My camera:

• won't take pics right away
• one have to push the button several times before it takes pics
• it's ugly
• it's old (3 years)
• it's weared
• it's big

Reasons enough? I'm planning to buy new ones as soon as I dare. Though I have first to buy the tickets to US and the visa and other exchange stuff. So no new cell phone or camera at least in a month. I hope I could buy them soon still!

But back to party. Here's some pictures (well, one). I didn't take many my self because people had better cameras and I'm quite tired for it's behavior (not taking pics when I try to take them).

How did this go again?

More pics in here: http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~antahall/kuvat/kinkerit/
The pictures will tell a lot about the party. It misses though the first few hours at our place.

AND THEN, the exchange! So, Iowa it is. I'm happy. I can't wait to have the info package from there where they tell all! And I'm glad our lab course is now easier (not all day) so that I have time to go to deal all the things (insurance, tickets etc.).

But now I need to write some e-mails and then I'll go to sleep. I'll have a long day tomorrow. And on Friday I'll be going to BiTa (meeting for biologists in Finland) for all weekend. Drunk again!