Block 1 --> Block 2

I'm done with exams for 2015! Had my last exam for the first block today. This exam block was on the courses we have been doing for the past 7 weeks - so I had an exam on  Law and Legal Skills, oral exam in English and a vocabulary test for English as well. I was lucky and had the LLS exam last week, so I didn't need to stress about that for long. Monday I had my oral exam and then today the vocab exam. The vocab exam today was multiple choice and one of the easiest exams I've ever had. The exam was digital so we got to know the result straight away and I passed with a good grade. We also got to know the oral exam grade an hour after the exam and passed that also with a good grade. The only thing keeping me from a week vacation in January is the pending grade of the LLS exam. They have 10 days time to correct it and 7 have already passed, so soon I'll know.

There is extra motivation here to pass (and with good grades) as we do not have vacations. However the exams are scheduled so that resits are always the last week of the next exam block (at least in my program). So this technically means that if you pass with good grades and don't need to resit then you are free for a week.

New courses are starting Monday and I'm super existed about them. I have Criminal law and Private law next block. In addition to this I'll have Dutch courses twice a week. Hopefully, I'll get to understand spoken Dutch, I get some written Dutch as there are some similarities with Norwegian and Swedish. I'm hoping that this block more knowledge from past weeks will be useful, as this block we were only introduced to the different fields of law and not much from previous weeks was applicable.

In addition to the schoolwork I do here I also have free time, which I spend with friends here. I have started to get to know more and more people and formed a friend group within law students. Also I'm hoping to get to know more people through the Student Association, NEXUS, I am an active member of. At least this far everyone I've met has been really nice and I've had interesting conversations. My committee is really nice and I get a long really well with all of them, which is a great bonus. Of course I also have friends from the house (or my kitchen to be more specific). Thanks to all of these connections I have formed here, I rarely miss home.

Today was the first time in a really long time that I missed home or more specifically our cabin in Ruka. I was watching Katsomo, Finnish TV-channels online site, and during one show they had an advertisement for Ruka and their catchphrase Lumen jäljet johtaa Rukalle (The path of snow leads to Ruka). This made me want to go so badly skiing and to see proper winter. The last days here have been really foggy and it was a nice change yesterday and today morning that we had a clear sky.

At the moment I find my situation somehow extremely strange that I want to go to Finland to enjoy the snow, while I am listening to proper country music while sitting at my desk in the Netherlands looking outside into the dark and rainy evening. I guess this is what my life is going to be, always desiring to be somewhere else, but still extremely content with life. 

Week 2 of unilife

Last week was a lot of fun! 

This includes all of the school stuff. Our topic of the week as constitutional law, which I find extremely interesting as it gives a good insight to the society. Also the concepts of Trias Politica and fundamental rights are something I really enjoyed. This week seems to be a complete opposite! We're doing administrative law, which is so boring. It's basically all about decisions and orders related to issues such as building permits, student support applications, licence to sell food etc. And then the things related to objecting those. On top of all of this I also have a presentation for English on Friday. At least I got to choose my own topic for that. My presentation will be on the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities and focusing on Finland's lack of ratification. The presentation is mostly done, just need to practice it anymore. We also have our first IT assignment this week. I already did it to the extent that I could. The UN website for looking up a couple of questions was down. (Not surprised to be honest)

Last weekend was spent in the field of law. Saturday was spent at the library trying to understand Administrative Law and answering our assignment questions for Wednesday. Still have to put some effort into it tomorrow morning. The reason why I was at the library is that our internet was down for the second weekend in a row. Now it's luckily back up again, but we can only use cable at the moment. I'm just happy at the moment that I get internet on some device in my room.

Sunday was spent at the Hague. They had doors open to many different international judicial institutions. I visited the International Criminal Court and got a good understanding of how they operate etc. I was also supposed to visit the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal of Yugoslavia), but we were coming too late, so just visited the lobby and saw the building. Definitely I will visit the Open Days next year as well, to see the ICTY and perhaps the ICJ (which was already booked full when I chose my visiting places). 

Now a bit more of rewriting notes from today's lecture and then off to bed!  

photos of my life in the netherlands

Houseboats from next to my house 

This and 2 other cats are always on the street during daytime 

There is public transport in Groningen, but I have never tried it as everything is so close by bike

Vismarkt - the fish market! I really need to go and buy somethings from here 

It is a very flat country. From the bike trip that we took to the coast 

The seal nursery we visited in Pieterburn

Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum 

Anne Frank Museum

More photos can be seen from my Instagram anniinakananen

Groningen Life

Where to start writing about the past 3 months of my life? 

Maybe I should just explain the past 3 weeks. That's also a lot of stuff. 

On Tuesday 25/8, I woke up early and took the morning flight to Amsterdam (via Helsinki) and around 1 pm I was already in my new home. No this new home is not in Amsterdam, but a 2 hour train ride away in Groningen. 

The reason for my moving is that in July when the IB results came I knew that I was accepted in to the University of Groningen to study International and European Law. I have been going to lectures and working groups now for a week and have met really interesting people. The lecturers seem to be really good and also explain issues in an understandable way. My week consists of a lecture on Monday afternoon (2 hours) on Law and Legal Skills: the Dutch Example, followed by an 1 hour workshop on starting my academic career. Tuesdays are off, but I spend them doing the assignments for the rest of the week. Tuesdays consist of two tutorials/working groups for English and Law. Thursdays are pretty chill, I only have a two hour working group on IT for lawyers. Fridays are again English and Legal Skills tutorials. 

Even though school has started I have had the pleasure of exploring the city and country to some extent. During the first week (even before uni started for me) I took part in an Introduction Week meant for international students. There I got to know some really awesome people and am so happy that I took part. The week consisted of everything from a sports day to parties and tours in the city. I really recommend taking part in these introduction weeks as you get to know people from other faculties. My group was really nice and I have met them a couple of times after the Introduction Week ended. Yesterday we took the train to Amsterdam and spent the whole day there. 

Something I was shocked about in Amsterdam is that they do not have student discounts for students. It is the first time that I have encountered this. I would have wanted to visit more museums in the city, but felt that around 20 euros for entrance into the van Gogh Museum is too much. In the end we ended up going to visit the Anne Frank House. The visit to the museum was really touching and an emotional experience. Especially as I have read (parts) of the book. I knew to what to expect, but still the house, the rooms, the interviews and all were more depressing and harder to encounter than I expected. I had a constant feeling in the house that I am not worth walking these stairs and being in these rooms as I have been so fortunate to have had freedom for all of my life. 

On a more cheerful note the Saturday last week (5/9) I took a bike ride to the coast with some people from my house. The trip took us the whole day, but was totally worth it. We biked around 70 km all together during the day. The weather on the way to Pieterburn was horrible; it was raining, really windy and cold. However during our lunch break the sun came out and after that we didn't need our rainjackets for the rest of the day. At Pieterburn we visited a seal nursery and from there we continued to the coast and saw Waddenzee. The coast was very naturalistic, in the sense that to reach the ocean we would have had to walk through a swamp. Some actually did, but I decided to stay back at the areas with grass. Another first time experience was biking in the middle of sheep during that trip. The sheep did not react in anyway when 9 people biked near by them. As expected we got one flat tire during the trip, but luckily that person got back to Groningen by train. 

The house has had some problems in the past days. Internet has been down, as the main problem. I actually was forced to go and study in the library on Saturday, as I had not downloaded the necessary reading materials and court cases for this weeks assignments. It was not that bad at the library, I will probably be spending quite a lot of time there. In general my room is okay, not the best one available in the Student Houses, but am not complaining too much. At least I have my own room where I can escape from people, unlike at RCN. 

Another place that I have been spending quite a lot of time recently is the Sports facilities. We have a student sports organization called ACLO and you can get a membership there and also a gym card for like (120 euros per year for both of the items). I've mostly been going to the gym, but tried a spinning class for the first time (here) on Friday. The only downside is that it's located at Zernike-campus (6 km from my home) and all of my classes are at the center campus (2-3 km). Luckily I have to wait only a week and they'll open a new location that is closer to me. 

Anyways life here is going fine and have not regretted my choice of university yet!

P.S. I'll do another post in a couple of days containing photos from the trips and the city!

Work, Work, Work...Travel...Study

The title sums pretty much up my past and future life this summer. After giving myself 2 days of freedom after finishing the last final exam, I started to work as a cashier at a local supermarket. The store chain is the same as last year, but a different store. So the work is exactly the same as last year. This year the difference is just that the store is much larger... I've really enjoyed the job, but I could never do it for the rest of my life. Its a good motivator to remember to study hard in the future.

About that then, I have conditional offers for university from 4 different universities at the moment. I've confirmed to go to Rijksuniversiteit Groningen to study LLB International and European Law for 3 years if I get my conditional offer on Monday. The offer is 30 IB points so I'll devastated if I don't make it. The degree felt the most interesting for me. As said Monday is the day that can change my life for the next 3 years to come. I finally get my IB results --- guess who is freaking out hear. Doesn't help at all that I've seen two dreams associated with the results. One in which I didn't pass English and Chemistry. The other dream was that I didn't receive a grade for Finnish Lit, but instead for Music...Those of you who know me well, can guess that the grade wasn't good. If I see the words DIPLOMA AWARDED on Monday, but not the 30 points then I'll have University of Maastricht as a back up choice.

Another thing to wait is the fact that I have 4 shifts left of my summer job. This is because in a week I'll be stressing about what to pack with me. We'll be travelling to the US for 3 weeks and some days. This trip is a mega gift for all in our family; dad turned 50 last year, mom turns this year and I turn 20 + my graduation present (fingers crossed)... Destinations include New York (11.7-16.7), Vancouver (Canada 16.7-20.7.), Seattle (20.7) and then down to San Diego (29.7.-3.8) including all in between.  If you have any tips on does and do not's comments are open.

What am I waiting most from the trip? How much do I remember about San Diego and how will my image of the town change. Also granted shopping and food are v-e-r-y tempting. I'm sure there'll at least be a massive blog post about the trip once I'm back in Finland. Also meeting a few people after a long time is a nice addition to the trip.

Words of an atypical IB graduate

This moment should have happened one year ago. This moment should have not happened in the comfort of my own room in Finland. This moment should have been spent with some of the most wonderful people on this planet earth. Well this moment happened a week ago, this moment happened in Oulu not in Flekke and this moment was spent with some other magnificent people.

The moment I am talking about is the celebration of my last IB exam. The last word for the IB was written on Friday the 15^th May 2015 at approximately 14:30. It was for a History SL exam. I wasn’t even supposed to write that exam if everything went like planned. The last exam was supposed to be Global Politics HL paper 2. 

Well life doesn’t always go as planned. 

Things happen and one must react to these things. 

I reacted on 3.10.2013 by leaving UWCRCN. The reasons are numerous, but the main reason was to get my health back. I felt like this could be done best at home. 

On that day I decided I would return to the Finnish School system and forget any dream of an international education and career. I have to be grateful for the principle of my current school for questioning my leave from the IB. I decided to give one more try. And I made it. 

After studying bits and pieces of over 10 IB courses and taking one extra year to complete the IB, I am done with the exams. Although I do not know the results, I feel confident in my exams and of passing them. Regardless of the diploma points, I am proud of overcoming obstacles I didn’t ever anticipate to face when accepting my scholarship. 

This is to thank all of you who have supported me in anyway and anywhere. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the help and without you I wouldn’t be writing this today. You know who you are.

Update on my life

There is so much to talk about. I didn't even realize it has been almost 5 months from my last post. Time goes by so fast and school has kept me busy. The major news from the past 5 months is that I finally got my driver's license on the 4th attempt. To those of you not from Finland, it's not easy to get one here. It took me 4 months, but is has totally been worth it. I have been able to drive quite a lot during the past 3 months. It's much easier to arrange this and move around now that I can drive myself.

Second big thing is that I sent my universities applications a few weeks ago. I'm applying to study International Relations in different combinations. I decided on St.Andrew's, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee in Scotland and then SOAS in London. I'll be extremely delighted if any of them offer me a place with realistic conditions. Since I haven't graduated from the IB yet, I'll only possibly get conditional offers. I somehow can't believe that after all this time and setbacks I'm now applying to unis. I have a few possibilities in Finland where to apply, but I feel that I don't have enough time to study for the entrance exams to get in. The degrees in Finland are either in World Politics or Societal Politics (Yhteiskuntapolitiikka) in Helsinki and Jyväskylä. So I'll definitely be leaving Oulu once again to study where and what I want.

My life has been filled with plenty of volunteer work for Women's Bank. The volunteer work has strengthened by determination to work in the future for nonprofits or then in organizations where I can have an impact on social issues. The major effort this fall for WB was to organize a book collection. I was astonished by the amount that we received in just 4 days. Our garage was filled with books and that was just a small fraction of all of them. Then we sold the books and made gathered very many occupations (we count donations/sales as occupations). My bookshelf grew a lot larger thanks to the collection and being at the POP-UP shop for 2 full days. I think that the best part of working with WB is that I am considered equal to others even though I am half of their age. This is certainly something when I leave Oulu.

We spent Christmas in a traditional way with having my grandparent's come over to our home for the eve. We ate typical Finnish Christmas Food and enjoyed the evening. The next day the only thing I did was read books. I first finished Divergent (I was on page 150) and then started reading Insurgent (which I got as a present). During the weekend I finished that and started the last of the trilogy Allegiant. I am surprised how much I enjoy these books. I bought the first one because I liked the movie and thought that I should read at least this series (I haven't read Hunger Games or Maze Runner). Even though I don't typically enjoy young adult fiction, these have so many different levels to read them from. I'm personally not that interested in the story itself but more the society that it portrays and the human characters in them. Okay, have to admit the story is also quite nice.

School has kept me busy to the extent that I haven't had enough time to keep in touch with friends from RCN. I have become closer with friends from school and now that last years IB2s have left I feel more like I belong in this group. There aren't reminders of how I should have graduated last year anymore all the time around me. When looking back to last year it's hard to imagine that I'll probably miss over half of the people in my classes after this year.

I finally visited Italy for the first time in my life this October. Before Italy I had visited most other larger European Countries (and some several times), but now Italy can be crossed off my list of countries where to visit. During Autumn Break me and my dad spent 5 days in Italy. We went first to Florence, which I just loved. All the old buildings, history, atmosphere and food were amazing. After Florence we took the train back to Rome, which was also a great city to visit. Still I enjoyed Florence more than Rome. Although the food in Rome was also extremely delicious. One of the best parts of the trip was that we got to see Dante's death mask and Duomo. We originally got the idea to visit also Florence from reading Dan Brown's Inferno and in the book the Death Mask is a crucial element. In Rome the most impressive buildings were St.Peter's Basilica and Pantheon.

In general this has been a very interesting past 5 months and I am waiting for the New Year to begin and what it brings to my life.

- Anniina 

Summer Update!

My summer 'vacation' started 2.6. It's been already over a month, but it doesn't really feel like it. Time flies by so fast and at the same time it feels like 6 hours takes for ever. I was fairly pleased with my grades this spring (35/42 points after first year exams). Still room for improvement in especially in some specific subjects, but not stressed out about that now. 

First day of vacation meant first day of work for me. I'm working at a local supermarket (they sell clothes, food, household items etc. basically everything.) at the cash register. The people I work with are amazing, I get along with them fine. Most are just a few years older, so I don't feel that out of place. I rarely need to ask for help anymore. My contract is for 20 hours per week, but I have been working around 30 hours. I'll keep working until end of September, though just weekends and evenings then. 

The other big thing in my life has been driving school. To the non-Finns out there it's not that easy to get your license in Finland. It requires 19x45 min of theory classes, 20 h of self study theory and 17x50 min of driving classes. I'm about half way through and should get my license around end of August. Luckily for me the driving school is in the center of the city, so I get to practice difficult situations often. I also have been driving about 80 km/h, what the journey to our cabin is mostly (some parts are 100 km/h). It's easier than I thought it would be. 

The weather has been every extreme here. Some days it has been barely 10 degrees while today Oulu was the warmest place in Finland with 31,1 degrees. Working in that condition is horrible when we have just small fans, no central air conditioning. Today I was happy after work for 5 min that the day is over, until I walked outside and noticed that my bike had been stolen. Luckily I have another one, but it's more meant for off track/ road biking than for the city. At least I learned how to fill in a crime report for the police. 

I'm home alone now mostly for the next 3 weeks as my parents are on their vacation. 3 and ½ weeks and it's back to school. This summer has gone by so fast and I haven't achieved almost anything yet. 

Kirjoittaminen - uusi harrastukseni

Osa teistä saattaa tietää uudesta harrastuksestani, kirjoittamisesta. Oon äskettäin perustanut uuden kirjallisuusblogin, jossa julkaisen aina silloin tällöin tekstejä, joita kirjoitan kirjallisuuskursilleni ja muuten vain ajan kuluksi.

Mieleen tulleita tarinoita

Long Time No See

Long time no see (or write in this case)! 

I have been kind of busy with school, my writing course etc. 

Things to due and things that I have done already seem like two never ending lists. When I get one thing done 2-3 new things appear. At least I got some good grades from the last exams and my first Economics commentary is done. Now I finally understand what some second years meant when they said that Econ IA is the easiest and hardest at the same time. Writing 750 words is really hard for someone who has lived the IB already for 1 ½ years and the same left to go. It's not hard because you don't have anything to say for 750 words, it's hard because yo could easily write another 750 without any repetition. 

I figured out a really nice way of keeping track of all the deadlines and assignments that need to be done. I got this cork board and made these little signs with different assignments. I covered the signs with plastic (kontaktimuovi) and 'cause they have the plastic I am able to write and wipe the text away when writing with a non-permanent marker. And to make the whole thing look nicer I added some decorations to the signs marking what thing is it related to. 

- Pink fabric tape means languages --> nice to notice how I have the most of those

- Blue fabric tape- sciences and math 

- Colorful tape - social sciences, my favorite ones 

- Teddy Bear - CAS- reflections 

- Ice-Cream - out-of-school things like my writing course 

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These are just some of the ones I have...

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry

I have been really busy this weekend. The weekend started with the end of school on Friday evening. Didn't really like the program that was organised for us. Some of the acts were related to school and teachers and I didn't know over half of the teachers they were talking about. Then we had one hour to spend and I was talking to some of the other IB1s. Then we had church, were I talked to some of my friends from compulsory school. That ended this school term. The next one starts 7.1. 

Then yesterday was super busy and I was exhausted at the end of the day. First we went to spinning, a great way to start the day. After that back home, shower, eat and leave. We went to clean our flee market table and to the grocery store to do the Christmas shopping. There were quite a lot of people and I can imagine how it will be tomorrow. Then back home and cleaning. Vacuuming, mopping etc. After that was time to go a deliver Christmas cards to people who live relatively close to us. Then back home and to prepare dinner. After dinner we watched a movie and I was sleeping by 22.30 already. So I was too tired to do a post yesterday.

Today I have spent time finalizing Christmas presents and preparing dessert. Dessert will be this year a mango sorbet. I have never before done a sorbet and it seemed quite easy. We'll see how it tastes in 2 days. 

Tomorrow is going to be all about Christmas preparations. BTW if it's unclear to someone in Finland we spend celebrate Christmas on the eve (24th). Now to watch a movie from TV and enjoy the fact that I can sleep in tomorrow. 

- Anniina 

I talk quite much here about going to the gym and different classes I go to there. So now I'll explain a bit on those classes and what are they like.

Dance classes!

There are 4 different classes where I go, one of which regularly each week. My favorite is definitely Sh'Bam45 it's a Les Mills concept class. It lasts only 45 minutes and has a lot of the music that is playing on the radio and ranking high on lists. The dance moves are not too latino for me. I really like latino dances, but not so much that I would spend 45 minutes just dancing them. The choreography is super simple in this class and it's really easy to learn after a few times.

Then to the other Les Mills concept class BodyJam. Definitely more difficult choreography and physically exhausting than Sh'Bam. Based a lot on street dances, which is a big plus for this dance. The music is really good, even though it's not the top chart music. This reminds me more of the dance classes I used to go before, since there are only a few choreographies that are practiced during the class. The only problem is that the classes are in a not ideal time for me.

Then another choreographed class that is not Les Mills, Just Dance, the most technical class in my opinion. The instructor does their own choreography. Also timing isn't that good, so I have only gone a few times, but really liked it then.

Then to my least favorite class Zumba. I really don't like the music that is usually played during the classes and the choreographies aren't that good.

Spinning classes!

Or indoor cycling, it's not spinning around like a friend once understood it. There are  two different type of classes the Les Mills concept class RPM and then the normal spinning/cycling. There are 3 different levels and I have gone to the 2 easier ones. RPM is more faster and the music is sometimes better. The advantage is that even with different instructors you know what is coming up. The normal cycling classes depend a lot on the instructor and their taste in music etc. Some of the normal classes are better since the music fits the speed whilst it's not always the case in RPM. A really nice work out for the body (except for arms).

Other classes!

As can be understood from the other classes mentioned above I don't get almost any work out for my arms. To fix this I have started to go to BodyPump, which is basically one hour of wait lifting. It's good that I go here, 'cause in the gym I woudn't know what to do and I wouldn't work on one body part for 5-6 minutes. I'm always exhausted after this class as well as spinning. Now that I have gone 3 times I already remember how the movements are done so it's easier after each time and the technique also improves.

Yoga, gone twice and not that much to say about it. It feels like stretching for me. I also sometimes go to stretching classes.

These are the ones I go usually to and then sometimes to something else. I'll write on my experiences after trying out new things.  

Winter Break Finally!

ALMOST! No classes for a couple of weeks, still a Christmas show and church in the evening today and then officially it's BREAK! We have a midnight church so that it goes a couple of minutes past midnight so that we can claim tomorrow as a school day. I really like this 'cause I still get to have a normal Saturday. We are together in the church with Madetojan musiikkilukio (music high school) at least. 

Christmas is being prepared all the time. Yesterday we organized the whole house, today mom bought the ham, tomorrow we'll clean and then on Monday food preparation begins. At the moment I am listening to Spotify Top tracks in Norway and I like how many Christmas songs there are on the list. 

It has been snowing non-stop for over a day now. It's so nice and looks more like Christmas is here in 4 days time. 

Then to my break plans. Resting, working with school and being outdoors. I have a few things to do for school and then I need to catch up with History, not a ton but still some. Finish Dan Brown's Inferno. I started it when I was still in Norway, but then school took all my time and I haven't read it for a few months now. Continue reading Why Nations Fail. A really interesting book with a lot of different case studies. Skiing and down-hill skiing, snowboarding, going to the gym, eating good food and enjoying the time. 

- Anniina 

p.s. I'll post today also somethings that I didn't have time for before

Flickr doesn't want to upload photos today, so you'll get some tomorrow. We baked ginger breads today and it's always so energy consuming, but totally worth it when you get to eat them. We make the doe from the begging, so it was started already yesterday. Today I also went to the hair dresser and have a bit shorter hair now. 

I'll post more tomorrow, now it's time for bed. 

- Super tired Anniina 

Monsters University - amazing movie

Yesterday me and my dad went to the movie rental and rented 2 movies for the weekend. We watched the first one yesterday and it was Monsters University. I loved the first part when I was a child and still love it. It's probably my favorite children's movie. That's the reason why we rented this one. The movie is amazing. The quality has increased so much from the release of the first one. Even though it's a children's movie it has a nice story anyone can relate to. A story of becoming best friends and friendship in general. Something that could be seen from the movie is the idea of believing in yourself and that winning against the odds is possible.  I really rarely watch animations but it was definitely worth renting. Today's movie is completely different it's World War Z.

Kirppis / Flee market

I have been waiting for a table from the local flee market for over 2 months now. I knew it would take sometime since they told me that the waiting time is 1-2 months. Usually it's been half of what they have said. This time it was 2 months. So yesterday I got a text message that there is a table available. Of course we accepted it and when coming from the gym I went and signed the contract and bought price tags. This time we are selling books in English, winter clothes, old skiing/skating/downhill equipment and a chair. Well at least I have something to do during Christmas break now. 

I would never by something from a flee market. The idea of wearing someones used clothes etc. doesn't appeal to me. I still think that it is a good way of getting rid of old stuff. Usually what we don't sell we donate to charity. If something doesn't fit me anymore or if I won't read a book for the second or third time doesn't mean that it's garbage. It can be perfectly fine for someone else. 

---

Oon odottanu kirppispöytää paikalliselta paljekirppikseltä 2 kuukautta. Tiesin, että jonkin aikaa menee, sillä odotusajaksi minulle sanottiin 1-2 kuukautta, mutta yleensä pöydän on saanut noin puolessa ajassa siitä mitä on sanottu. Eilen sain sitten vihdoin viestin, jossa kerrottiin pöydän vapautumisesta ja totta kai otimme sen. Salilta tullessa eilen kävin tekemässä sopimuksen ja ostamassa hintalappuja. Nyt siellä on myynnissä englanninkielisiä kirjoja, talvivaatteita, vanhoja monoja, pyöräilykenkiä ja luistimet tuolikin sieltä pöydästä löytyy. Ainakin on nytten tekemistä loman ajaksi. 

Itse en ikinä ostaisi mitään kirppikseltä. Ajatus siitä, että pitäisin tuntemattomien käytettyjä vaatteita ei houkuttele minua. Mielestäni kirppiksellä myynti on silti hyvä tapa päästä vanhoista tavaroista eroon. Yleensä vaatteet, joita emme myy menevät Pelastusarmeijalle tai punaiselle ristille  yms. Jos jokin vaate ei enää mahdu minulle tai en tule lukemaan kirjaa toista tai kolmatta kertaa ei tarkoita sitä että se olisi roska. Se voi olla täydellinen jollekin muulle.

- Anniina 

Talven aistit

Kuulen ritinän, ratinan jään.

Näen lumihiutaleen valkean. 

Tuoksu glögin ja pipareiden.

Maku kotoinen.

Tunnen lämpöisen peiton. 

Talvessa ja etenkin joulussa on jokaiselle aistille, jotain nauttittavaa ja erilaista. Ylhäällä olen kirjoittanut minulle talveen ja jouluun liittyviä aistihavaintoja. Monia muitakin on, mutta nämä tulivat ensimmäisenä mieleeni tänään. 

Tällä hetkellä on ihana kuulla ulkona taas jään ratinaa ja ritinää, kun kävelee, sillä viimeisten päivien + asteiden jälkeen on ihanaa ku on taas pakkasta ja ulkona on kirkasta. Aamulla mennessä kouluun, näkyi vielä tähtiä taivaalla. 

Lumihiutaleet ja lumi tekee jouluisen ja kodikkaan tunnelman. Joulu ei ole samanlainen ilman lunta. 

Pipareiden ja glögin tuoksu tuo minulle mieleen joulun. Meillä ei ole ollut oikeaa joulukuusta kohta 11 vuoteen, joten se ei tuo minulle joulua. 

Maku kotoinen. Tällä tarkoitan kaikkea sitä mitä meillä on aina jouluna. Joulupöydässä on aina graaviakalaa, perunoita, sienisalaattia, rosollia, kinkkua, lasimestarinsilliä, porkkana-, lanttu ja maksalaatikkoa. Kaikki itse tehtyä. Siksi maku kotoinen.

Tunnen lämpöisen peiton, viittaa siihen kuinka kaikkien joulukiireiden jälkeen on joulupäivänä ihana vaan olla ja öllöttää joko sängyssä lukien ihanaa kirjaa tai sitten sohvalla katsoen elokuvaa. Jouluna saa vain olla ja öllöttää ei tarvitse työskennellä tai opiskella.

Some old photos have been in the blog before, but I thought that they would fit the content of the post.

- Anniina 

p.s. Next post will be again in English, this one just made more sense in Finnish. 

Presents, presents and presents for Christmas!

I have shopped and packed all the Christmas presents and they are now under the tree waiting for Christmas eve.

As in a comment I was asked to talk about what makes Christmas Christmas for me. It's the atmosphere and all the preparations for Christmas. There needs to be snow so that there is a Christmas feeling. I have experienced Christmas twice without snow and it wasn't the same. I love to make these ice lanterns and for that there also needs to be a nice frost outside. Candles, Christmas music, relatives around me, the smell of glogg, Christmas foods awaiting... Christmas is also the time to dress up and wear nice and comfortable clothes. I couldn't imagine a Christmas wearing sweat pants. That is Christmas for me.  Christmas day is the same, but just for relaxing and spending time inside reading a good book or watching movies and eating all the left over food from yesterday.

- Anniina

Politics - where to get it from

For the past 3-4 years I have been interested on social and political issues and followed all the political debates, interviews, current affairs programs etc. Now I feel that it's not enough. I want to discuss these issues. At RCN I had the opportunity to study Global Politics in class and discuss topics with friends and follow World Today debates. Here the political life is quite non-existing for me. We don't have a politics program at the university so there aren't any open lectures etc.

I realized that I should probably join some party or discussion group, where I could express my ideas freely and find new ways of approaching issues. But my problem is which party. I know for sure that I couldn't ever be a member of some parties like our populist party PerusSuomalaiset (TrueFinns) or Kristillisdemokraatit (Christian Democrats). My opinions differ too much with these parties. I guess I am somewhere between Kokoomus (National Coalition, like Høyre in Norway) and Vihreät (The Green League). Both of these parties have happenings in my town. 

Due to the party problem a discussion group with be the best option for me at the moment. If anyone from Oulu knows any political discussion groups or groups that work with Human Rights issues etc. please comment on this.

- Anniina

9: Individuals and Societies

Back to the IB-related posts!

Now we are getting to the core of why I love the IB! The social sciences and how much is taught in them. Everyone who knows we knows, that I am the social sciences person who hates the natural sciences. The IB offers a wide variety of social sciences such as politics, global politics, history, economics, psychology, business and management, geography, world religions, philosophy etc. those are some of the most common ones.

I have experience (or will have) from 3 different subjects and those are economics, global politics and history.

ECONOMICS: Is a great subject. You learn a lot and it's definitely something I couldn't have studied outside the IB before university level. We have 4 different parts and they are studied in the following order; Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, International economics and Development economics. Micro deals with single markets and Macro with whole economies. I haven't studied the others yet at all. What I did of Macro, I liked it much more that Micro. I just think that Micro is extremely boring except for the government interventions, market types and market failures. When studying HL (like me) in the finals there is a Paper 3 that is pure mathematics within economics. It's calculations and making exact diagrams.

GLOBAL POLITICS: As a subject I enjoyed it, but as a class didn't. I have strong political opinions on issues that are largely in the news in Finland, so mostly domestic and European. We didn't talk anything about Europe! Everything was Middle-East vs. US. Finland is not apart of NATO, so we are not effected that much by the Syrian civil war, the intervention in Libya, the war in Afghanistan or Pakistan... Many of the people in my classes were from countries where these were talked about much more and therefore knew much more about them and could talk much more. Due to this class I started reading CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera almost everyday and still continue to do it even though I don't need to study it for school. Choosing Global Politics definitely made me understand that I do care about our society and how the world is run at the moment. Therefore hopefully in 2 years time I will be in some university and studying something related to politics.

HISTORY: I haven't had a single class of this subject yet, but I have been catching up with what has already been done. I really like it. It's like politics, but you know the outcome already. More will come later in February when I have actually studied it for sometime.

- Anniina

p.s. This is my 100th post in this blog. Never thought that I would write so much here,

7 & 8 : Double post on Christmas time

I didn't post yesterday, because I was so tired of making 20 Christmas cards and knitting a sock for most of the day. At least I got a lot of CAS-hours and our relatives and friends will get nice Christmas Cards. I'll post pictures later. 

On Friday I spent the day snowboarding and downhill skiing. After a year's break I went snowboarding and became exhausted. Also it got dark and I couldn't see the bumps in the hill with my awesome helmet on, so I changed to my skies and continued for some 2 hours. Super fun! Then we got home, made food, ate and the rest of the evening we where watching the presidential independence day celebration. The concept of the celebration was  a little different this year with a concert and literary extracts from Finnish literature. The idea of the concert was much nicer then the usual ball. 

Then yesterday was just making Christmas cards and knitting a sock at the same time as we watched Plan-fundraising gala. All of these charities have wonderful causes and ways of fundraising. But I feel that there have been too many different galas televised in the past month. Yesterday I stayed inside for the whole day since there was about -20 degrees outside. 

Today morning when I woke up the first thing I heard was that there is -27 degrees outside. YAY! Another day spent inside then. We ate breakfast and then packed our things up and left home. After coming home I have been studying chemistry and economics and my parents have built our Christmas tree, feels more like December and Christmas time now. 

Tomorrow I'll have a long day ahead, school from 8-16 and then after that several hours of my service activity and coming back home after 8 p.m. 

Now I'll write a few posts ahead so that not posting wouldn't happen again. 

- Anniina