Scandinavian Christmas Market

 Hello dears!

  It's really busy with course work and lectures since we are approaching the end of term 1. I have had a really productive term. I've surprised myself many times writing an essay when I was only going to go to Facebook. How did this happen? I guess when you love the subject you are studying. Course books are so interesting (especially the psychological disorders one) that I find myself stuck with them for hours! Not complaining at all though! :) 

  So Christmas is approaching and London gets all worked up about it. Many of us will be flying home for Christmas to see our families. But while we are still here we decided to go to the Scandinavian Christmas market with the Nordic Society. The market was put together by the Finnish and Norwegian churches of London. I've never seen the church so this was an opportunity to see how the Finnish people are integrated in London. 

  You can't imagine how much I have missed the Finnish chocolate, rye bread, salmiakki (Finnish candy that only Finnish people enjoy but if you come across it and you are brave enough give it go), dairy products (they seriously are missing many here), Karelian pies and just the Finnish atmosphere! There is nothing better than Finnish candy! So you can imagine that I was in heaven! The others were also excited about cinnamon buns (not really my thing). We also saw Father Christmas and if you don't know yet he is from Finland from a place called Korvatunturi! Most of all it was amazing and weird at the same time to hear Finnish! And you can really tell who is Finnish and who is not! What I really liked was that our Greek flatmate came along with us and she was as excited about everything as I was! :)

Finnish chocolates :P

Sail Olympic bronze
medallist Silja Lehtinen
and husband Ville Frost
at the Independence Ball 

  In other news: I've tackled my insomnia which seems to be a problem for many in University. I didn't use to be able to get any sleep at night, but I skipped a night and started going to bed at 10-11pm. Now I wake up at 5-6am and study or get things done while others sleep! It's great! 

  Plus the Finnish independence day passed on 6. of December. On this day Finnish people honor the veterans that fought in the world war II, listen to Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, watch a movie called the unknown solder and watch a broadcast of the Finnish Independence ball from the President's castle. I was actually able to watch the ball via Internet (I couldn't watch last year when we were living on campus). 

Three Former Presidents and the
current one with spouses

  And above all this I got a job offer! I was jumping up and down when I got an email from a lady who got my email via the Finnish Church of London. She needs someone to babysit her kids occasionally next year which would be perfect for me! I love kids and I have worked with kids a lot. 

 I think good things happen when believe they will! :)
Happy Christmas time to everyone! 

Halloween

Hello people!
  I've been busy, busy, busy... Loads of course work to do, books to read etc. But I am loving it! I am definitely doing the right course!

So Halloween past some time ago. We had a awesome costume party at our house and I want to show you some pictures of it. 

We had loads of fun! But I always find that the best part is making the costume! I decided to be Lara this year. I ordered a top and shorts. I was supposed to get a belt with guns but it didn't arrive on time so I had to get creative. In the end I made the holster belt out of 4 normal belts. :D I was quite happy with it and only paid £4 pounds for it. We also had Forrest Gump, Mad Doctor, Chavy girl, the Joker, Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Hunter, 

Wednesday Addams, 

Sexy secretary, priest, Alice in Wonderland, loads of scary zombies and witches.

  But the best costume by far was my flatmates slutty nurse costume. People's reactions when the first saw him were priceless! Someone actually mistook him as a girl! :D 

  We had loads of fun! I 

danced all night and stayed up till 6am

                                                         I need to go back studying! At the moment we are doing our own psychological experiment which is quite exciting! Next time I'll be writing about that, our trip to the Scandinavian market and about my psychology course here in Brunel. Gosh time flies! It's almost December! 

Fresher's week

International Contacts Team

 Hello darlings!
It' been a long time! A lot has happened during the past few weeks but let's start from the begging.

  As you might know I was volunteering on fresher's week as an international contact. It was amazing! I got to meet so many people attend and organize fun activities and help new students to settle in.

   From the training till the last day of fresher's week I was running on full energy mode. I stayed on campus almost every day from 11 am till 3 am. :D I just couldn't get enough of it!

 So you probably want to know what happened on campus on fresher's week. I can honestly say it is one of the best weeks of the year, especially in Brunel.

Day 1: On Sunday we helped new students to move in to their halls. Even though it was raining it was really rewarding to help people settle in and feel welcome. I know what it felt like when I first came here so it was really nice to do it to someone else.
 In the academy we had a welcome party which I didn't go to cause I was saving my energy!

Day 2: Monday the real activities started. Everyone was so full of energy and ready to give their all. We had a fairtrade breakfast, loads of stalls, BBQ, campus tour, scavenger hunt and Secret garden party. I went to get my face painted for the secret garden party. Also got my palm read. Scary! :)
  The Academy event of the night was Freshbook party. In this party everyone was given a white t-shirt where you can write a ''Facebook'' status and then write your name on other people's shirts so they can add you as a friend in Facebook. Good fun!

Day 3: Tuesday, the Fresher's fair day! Everything was concentrated in the indoor athletics center where all the clubs and societies promote their selves for new students. You got a lot of free stuff and some clubs had taster session.
  We also arraigned a language café where people representing different countries would offer food and drinks from their country. It was a success!

  We found some new friends with Gaya and Olga that were more of our maturity group (ages 3 and 4). While others were having civilized conversations
  with students we'd be playing with an inflatable banana with these adorable kids! :D Ha ha!


In Academy we had headphones disco which is one of my favorite things on Fresher's week. You go in and there is no music but when you put your headphones on you get the hang of it. Met some real cool people in a dancing circle this night! :)


Day 4: Wednesday, only half of the week done and I was already exhausted but not ready to give up! It was raining again and some activities had to be cancelled which was a shame but no can do.
  In Isambard we had a wine tasting event which happened to win the best event on Fresher's week prize. Way to go us! :D
  For me this day was the day I had been waiting for because there was a PENDULUM dj set in Academy. I've seen them once live and been once in a dj set. They are always awesome!!!
   This was my night off so I got to jump in the pit as much as I wanted! And as always I was the only girl in the pit! It great fun if people know how to behave themselves and help others if they fall down. I was in the pit for the whole evening and I was barely able to walk home since my legs were barely working! :D


Like any week this week didn't go without drama. Some of us, including me, left our valuable stuff in a place where they shouldn't be left. The next day they were gone and we all panicked because among them there was a laptop, speakers, mp3, money and a camera. For this I want to applaud our security because they took the stuff for safe keeping! Otherwise it probably would have been stolen, but gosh we got scared!

Day 5: On Thursday some of the International contacts made a trip to central London with those who wanted to come along. I didn't sign up for this because I knew what Wednesday evening was going to be like!
  On campus we had a roller disco (so cool), bike recycling, loads of taster sessions, movies screenings and rock and roll bingo. I was running out of energy at this point but I still stayed on campus till 3am dancing all night long!

Day 6: Friday, the last day. It started to feel bittersweet to leave all this, the atmosphere and the great people I had been working with so we had to take everything out of the last day. We took part in off campus court. Every complex had their own court where student could bring forward their friends who had done embarrassing stuff and their ''punishment'' would be decided. The court was a lot of fun. I got accused for going crazy in the Pendulum dj set, which was true but I am actually proud of the fact that I am always the only girl in pits. After that we went to crash Mill and Fleming court. Met a lot of new people and just had a great time!

 

I really loved fresher's week and I hope that next year I'll volunteer again! I am happy that I met so many great people and made a lot of good memories! Thanks to everyone who made it so special! :)

Moving and contact training

 I'm back! I'm done working and ready for a new academic year!!!

My room

I've been back for a week but it's been hectic. Trying to decorate my room and get things done (bureaucracy <3)! I'm getting there. My room is starting to look nice just waiting for my desk to be delivered! 

 This is my room! I love it! I'm gonna set a canopy over the bed. My desk is really small and I need more space for working so me and my flatmate bought desks from Argos for £37. Student budgets <3.

Our backyard 

We had our house warming party yesterday and it was great fun! Was nice to see everyone after the long summer! Unfortunately many of our friends who are postgraduate students will be leaving soon so this was the only time to get the group together! Thanks to everyone! 

Kitchen

Most of us are in the house already. I'm so happy to be back! I've missed my flatmates so much! We're all hyper and happy to be back! The other night we went to get a kitchen table from this nice lady at 10pm. We got it for £20 which is great cause we don't need anything fancy cause we're gonna live in this house for a year. Then it's back to campus. (If you are looking for cheap furniture type to Facebook for sale and the area you are living in. You'll find people who want to get rid of furniture fast and are selling it really cheap!)

So I've been in training to become a contact for fresher's week the past few days. It's been so much fun! I've met amazing people and I am really looking forward to meet the great fresher's tomorrow and next week. I'm an international contact (orange person). We'll be located in Isambard tent arranging lost of fun events and we'll have shisha there for the whole week but best of all great fun and a chance to meet new people. Everyone is welcome! :)  

 I'm so excited for fresher's week! Can't wait to meet you all! :))

 - Joanna

Ps. check out my new tattoo! I got it two weeks ago and I love it! It says memento mori which is latin and means remember your mortality. Means a lot to me to try to remember that I won't be here forever and try to make to mos of the time that I got! :)

1 month to Freshers Fest!!!

I am so exited! More than exited! It was just revealed that there will be a ROLLER DISCO on Fresher's fest! How AWESOME is that?! It's like SUPER-MEGA-FOXY-AWESOME-HOT!!!

   Also, there will be so many other totally awesome stuff going on Fresher's fest! One of them I found out by accident at because it's supposed to be a surprise I can only tell you it's gonna BLOW YOUR MIND!!!

   Last year we had speed meeting, tours, bouncy castleS, competitions, burger grilling, loads of fun events, great night life events and of course partying 24/7... I can't even remember all the awesomeness!

But while we're waiting join this group: Fresher's 2012-2013
and like this page: Brunel students Fresher's

   Most of you international students (and others as well) who haven't been on the open days and don't know what the campus looks like and what you can find there. I'll tell you!
  Firstly, we have the lecture centre. It is located in the middle of the campus next to the main street and the quad where many many fun activities are held during the year!
  There are a lot of other lecture building but it would take ages for me to list them all, so I'll just say that it depends on your course where you'll spend your lectures, group meetings, seminars and other study related activities.

  Then we have the student's union building (or Hamilton centre) located on the main street. Here you can find the Brunel volunteers, Campus shops, The Academy (our night club), Loco's (bar), The Hub (Pub upstairs (I've heard rumours that the Hub will be renamed and refurnished)), More food hall and of course the student's union. Also, last year we had a fast food place called Pronto's but I've also heard rumours that it might be changed into a Subway.
  Word of advice: when you have friends visiting and you want go to Loco's or Academy keep in mind that you can only bring one friend per person and you need to sign them in. It costs 1 pound for them.
  More food hall sells lunch coupons. If you don't like cooking you can eat there all year. Also The Hub and Loco's serve food till noon. In Loco's they have pub quizzes (with prizes), karaoke, ''stock market'' (drink prizes go down crashing) and billiard table (don't know if they'll have the same things this year). One great thing is also this app that you can download to your phone and request a song.
  Academy has themed nights. Last year we had costume parties, indie nights, silent disco, super bowl night, culture themed nights but the mega globals are always the biggest party.
  There is also a fruit market held in the academy every Tuesday. You can get vegetables, fruits, cheese, eggs, bread, candy and sometimes books at a cheap price

  Then we have the Bannerman centre, right across the street to Student's union building. Here you can find the library, student's centre, placement and careers centre, cash office (when you need to pay rent or anything) and Rococo's cafe.
  If you want to study in the library I suggest you go straight to the top floor, because I've noticed the upper you go the more quiet it gets! If you don't want to buy all of your course books I suggest you head to the library as soon as possible! Also it would be wise to ask someone who is doing your course on second year what to expect
   In the student's centre they'll help you with anything! Don't be afraid to ask! When I first came to Brunel I found myself a little lost but I got so much help and people were really nice. I made me feel like home!

  Then we have the sports centre (in the front of the picture) and the indoor athletics centre (on the right of the pic). In the sports centre there are many sports halls, a gym and a restaurant called Bar Zest. They have a lovely terrace. Go check it out on a sunny day! (By the way this picture was taken through the window of my first year room.)
  And as you can guess in the indoor athletics centre there are tracks for the athletes to train. The fresher's fair will be held there! On the fair clubs and societies will tell you about themselves and welcome you to join or come try something new on a taster session. There are dozens of Clubs and Societies and I suggest you take a look.
  I am not sure if this is happening this year but last year Brunel students could buy a Brunel active card which allowed you to use the gym twice a week at certain hours, go to the Hillingdon pool twice a week on certain hours, attend aerobics, jogging, playing, dancing and many other sessions. The card only cost £5 and most of the sessions were free (some of them £2-3).

If you still want to see more I suggest that you take a look at these: An Introduction to Brunel University & Social life, Clubs and Societies at Brunel.

Summer holidays....

  Not long now... actually about 33 days, 20 hours, 22 minutes and some seconds till I'll be in Heathrow with a big smile on my face, a big bag on my other hand pacing through the halls to the central bus station. I can already feel the excitement for getting to see our new house and my flatmates after 4 months!!!

   I am also waiting for the studying to start cause it feels that holidays are much more demanding. Working 30 hours a week, trying to get my driving license, renovating my mom's house, helping people move (twice), taking care of a hell of a load paper work (seriously I feel like I need an assistant) and trying to do what people usually do on holiday. Studying is so much easier!

  I am so exited for Fresher's week!!! Unfortunately I won't be working in the international orientation but I'll be a contact on fresher's week! It's gonna be awesome!

  Also I've been completing a lot of challenges on the summer challenge. Here's a few:

 Brush someones teeth


Surprise someone: We had a surprise birthday in a summer camp to our camp leaders and to the hero of the day Pasko (in front of the picture).


Do a prank to someone. I changed the contacts from my friends phone. It was fun to watch him call to every number who was at the other end. :D                                                                            

This picture is taken in the middle of nowhere. I needed to go back to Helsinki from a summer camp where I am wroking and my friend Vate (on the right) walked me to the bus station through a dark forest. When we finally got to the high way where there were lights we noticed that there was this suspiciously looking guy following us. I got really scared!! He seemed to gain us with every step and I started to think of what could happen. We seriously were in the middle of nowhere and no one would here our screams.
  So we got to the bus stop and I waited with my heart pounding out of my chest. The guy turned around the corner towards us and I saw that he had a knife a size of an arm. At this point my heart was trying to jump out of my mouth and run away. Then the creepy guy raised his knife and started running towards us. Just when I was about to get the hell out of here I noticed that he was wearing a familiar jacket and I realized what was going on and why Vate had been so chill with this. It was our friend Teo (on the left) from the camp. You can imagine how relieved I was!
  The guys did a little prank on me! And with this I do think they won the prank vengeance! :D

 And now I have 33 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and some seconds...  Here's something for you to check out while you wait for the fresher's week to start: https://www.facebook.com/BrunelMemes

Tips and Challenges

Hello readers!

  I've been really busy (working) for the whole summer.

  So as I told you before we've started a summer challenge with my flat mates. It's a list of 200 challenges. So far I've done 9. Here they are:
 1. Spend a week without Facebook. (I am a real Facebook addict. After doing this I've used it less.)
 2. Stay up late and see the sunrise. (This was a easy one because the sun rises at 4am in Finland.)
 3. Surprise someone. (We held a surprise party for our camps leaders in the least evening of the camp.)
 4. Be in a mosh pit. (I was at a Prodigy gig. It was amazing!)
 5. See a play. (My dad is a director/writer/actor. I went to see play that he directed.)
 6. Have a movie marathon. (I watched 5 episodes of Game of Thrones in a row. I can recommend it to everyone!)
 7. What is the most boring activity you can think of? Do that for an hour. (For me it was watching a football match.)
 8. Crash a party (In Finland it is custom to crash graduation parties.)
 9. Swim with your clothes on. (Did it on the 4th of June. It was like +5.)

  I thought that if anyone reading this is going to Brunel for the first time in September I might give you some tips.

  1. If you are a international student go to the international orientation! You will meet so many people and make friends that will last a life time.
2. On Fresher's week don't be shy. Get out there! Meet people! Go see what is happening on campus because there is A LOT happening!
3. If possible live on campus. It is unfortunate but true that people who live off campus will miss a lot. On campus you'll have nine other people living in the flat with you.
4. When you arrive to your flat leave your door open. People will know that someone has arrived and come say hello.
5. Go to the fresher's fair. There will be a lot of info about clubs and societies + free cool stuff
6. Join those clubs and societies! You will meet a lot of new people doing whatever you like! There is a lot of taster sessions held on the first few weeks so you can go and try what you would like to do during the year.
7. Buy the active Brunel card! It is a really great deal! The card costs £5 and you get to go the the gym and Hillingdon pool twice a week for free at certain hours. Plus there is a lot of aerobics, dance, running and other sports classes for the people who have the Brunel active card. (I hope they still have it next year, because it was a new thing last year.)
8. What you can do before coming is join your courses, complex and Brunel's Facebook groups.

Also: I am going to be working as a international student helper in the international orientation. Come and say hello! :)
  I might also be fresher's contact during fresher's week if I'll be able to do both!
  I am already looking forward to it!


Have a great summer everyone! :)

End of First year

The first year is now done. Wow! Gosh it went by so quickly! So much happened! 

The last weeks were really emotional! (I can tell you I cried about 4 times for having to leave!) But we had so much fun! I felt like I was hyper just so I wouldn't have to stop and start to think about leaving! Here are some pictures from our last week: 

              

These are from Social Science's End of the Year Boat Party. It was awesome! We went to a cruise on Thames. There was a buffet, drinks and music. As you can probably see it was a black tie event! The after party was in a club called the Penthouse. 

It was a really awesome night! We did have some difficulty to get everyone on time to the boat but luckily the boat left half an hour later! 

This is the last meal in our amazing flat! Some people had already left. We had a good time emptying the freezer! There were some pretty weird stuff, like half of a pepper and drumsticks just on their own! :D 

What made it all more difficult to leave was the activities we invented on the last week! Like this here is us getting ready for a water fight! That was epic! We were all soaking wet! I got a cut on my toe and Giada punched Ollie in the face by accident! :D 

And this: Plastic Bag Attack. We were all packing and decided to have a little break! :D Ollie also got some bags under his sheets! 

I Left a surprise to the next tenant in my room! I wrote a letter telling about the people who lived in this flat and how amazing it all was! Also gave some useful advice! So the lucky ones who gets to live in the flat 27 should tell your flat mates to check if there is something under their shelves! (I hope that the cleaning ladies haven't thrown the letter away!) 

I have been back home in Finland for a week and it is amazing but I miss my flatmates so much! When you get used to having so many lovely people closed to you 24/7 it takes time to get used to being without them! In a way I hope I never get used to it! 

Next year is going to be so great! We have an amazing flat and there will be seven of us living together next year! But at the moment it's time to enjoy the summer (and have long Skype calls)! 

Have a great summer everybody! 

Revision

Hey Sweeties!

  Exam week number two going on and it is amazing how much other things you can find to do when you are supposed to be revising! Find those great 90's songs you used to watch from MTV as a kid, start making a board game, run around the hall and then in the rain without shoes, invent summer challenges (more of that later) or goof around with your flatmates. I've done all of this and still had time to study! I had my first exam today (stats) and I think I did okay. We'll see! 

This is from last week. Just chilling in the corridor between revision! 

Today in the kitchen, when I was chatting with my lovelies, it hit me that we only have 2 weeks left in this flat! Of course we will be back in September but not in this flat, not on Campus, not as the same people as we came here! We've all changed so much over the year, at least I have! I really wonder how it was possible to get to know, share everything and learn to love all of these wonderful people in just one year!? It feels like we have shared already a life time together!

But enough of the bittersweet mumbo-jumbo for now (there will be a lot of that on the last week). Exams are on we still need to do our best for a week. After that we'll have the social science students end of year boat party, packing, writing (and hiding) letters for the next lucky attendants of flat 27, freezer emptying brunch (seriously we have no idea what's in there and whose it is) and finally the last party of flat 27. I just said that I'll probably hug the wall and say thank you before I leave! :D 

On another note, my mom, nan and brother visited me for 4 days. It was so nice to show them the campus and London. It was my brother's first trip abroad ever and he was really impressed. He even took part in our late night conversations! Combining to worlds is always bizarre, but nice at the same time! I even went to London eye for the first time in my life even though I've lived here for a year and visited several times before! 

My brother and nan at Piccadilly circus

Also, I want to tell you about the summer challenge! I've made a list of challenges and everyone who wants to participate bet a few pounds that they can complete the most challenges. Obviously the winner gets the pot. The challenges are dares like: tap a random person on shoulder, say: ''tag, you're it'' and run away, swim with your clothes on, crash a party and so on. At the moment we have 144 challenges. I'll try to get it to 200 and on June 1st the challenge starts! I'll probably post the list (when it is released) and some evidence of my success on the challenges later! 

Tomorrow I have research methods exam and it's only 30 minutes, so I am not too nervous! Next week I'll have individual and social process & brain and cognition exams. Then the first year is done! Time really flies by!!!

Abstract

Dear reader, I salute you and welcome you to my blog! :) 

 I am a 22 years young Finnish girl studying psychology at Brunel University. My first year is getting close to its end (one month to go) and I can without a doubt say that deciding to study abroad was one of the best decisions I've ever made! I have not only gained many lifelong friendships but also learned things about myself while studying a subject that I love! 

  I've been as lucky as to get to live in the best flat on campus (and no, I am not exaggerating)!!! We have people from seven different countries (Finland x2, Greece x2, Britain x2, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria and Dominica) and we are all really different but learning so much from each other. Whenever I feel low I have a shoulder to cry on (actually several shoulders) and I have always someone to laugh with! My other friends in uni get confused when I call this place home, but home is where the heart is. The bad thing about living abroad is that your heart is actually ripped into two pieces between your home country and your new home. But it does actually make your life richer! I have two families now: my biological family in Finland and my London family! 

This is picture from our flats Christmas dinner from last year!

(It's unfortunately the only pic with all of us.)

  But to the main thing: my studies! I have known since I was 16 that I wanted to study psychology. I was inspired by my high school teacher. The University system in Finland is really different compared to Britain. We have entering exams for every single subject and that basically means that only a fraction of the appliers get in. Competition is tough and psychology is in third on the list of hardest subjects to get into. Only 3% of the appliers get in every year. For example last year there were over 2000 appliers and 49 got in. It is not impossible but really really hard! 

   In 2011 after spending 2 springs in the library studying to the exams I decided that this would be the last time and next year I would be in uni, if not in Finland then somewhere else. I applied to Finland, Britain and Ireland. In July I had been accepted to Brunel (and some other Universities but I already knew that Brunel was on top of my list) but I was still waiting for my results from Finland. They arrived and the envelope was not thick which means that... It was a crying marathon for the whole day. I saw my friends and they all cheered me up saying this will be for the best. At that time I didn't know how right they were! Just when I was starting to come to term with this massive change in my life I realized I had not told my brother yet. I came home and we just cried together for hours.  My brother and my mom are the base of my life! Not seeing them every day is hard! 

   The rest of the summer I lived like it was the last day of my life and it just made it all the more harder to leave! I had a great but emotional farewell party! My family and friends took me to the airport and I can't remember a more bittersweet image in my life than seeing my friends and family cry at the other side of the security check and waving at me as I took my first steps towards this new adventure! 

In Helsinki-Vantaa airport on the day of my departure! 

After this pic there were loads of tears! 

  From then on everything has been new and exciting! Of course there are bad days and sometimes I feel like buying a ticket to Finland right away but in those moments I just try to remind myself that this is a once in a life time experience and I have to make the most of it! Finland will always be there! Mostly those moments are very few and fleeting. At the moment I am not even sure if I'll go back after my undergraduate degree, but it's great to live with options open!