One World Week

Hello sweethearts!

  It's been a long time and as always I've been very busy. February was full of events and fun. We had one world week, Valentine's day, my birthday, dance rehearsals for the up coming dance show and my friends from Finland came to visit.

On one world week we had loads happening on campus. Every day was themed with a different part of the world. We had taster sessions of every kind, one world fair (where the Nordic stall did extremely well), food fair and loads of other stuff. I was asked to bake cinnamon buns to the Nordic stall. I did that the night before. They turned out better than I expected so yeiy! :)

   Then we had my birthday. I turned 23 now which isn't really a special age but it was nice to spent it out with my flatmates. I had surprise on my window when I came home from lectures!


   My friends from Finland came to visit me for 8 days. I spent as much time as I could with them. We went to see Les Miserables to the cinema since it still hasn't come out in Finland. We went to Camden town market where I still hadn't been and I must say I really recommend going there. Especially the Camden Lock is a really nice huge market labyrinth with loads of things you need but you want. There is a huge variety of food stalls and the smell is delicious!

   I also participated in a fMRI study. It was really interesting to see. On the first day I had to do some memory tasks and on the second day I was taken to Royal Holloway where Brunel has a shared fMRI scan with 4 other universities. I was told that I might get a bit claustrophobic in the scanner but I thought that it is nothing I can't handle. But once inside I really had to take deep breaths not to panic. When I started focusing on my task I really forgot I was there. Afterwards I got to see the of my brain which was fascinating. Now I have proof they are there. I'll put out some pictures once I get them myself.

   So that and studying loads was my February. Next thing is going to be the dancing show which we are already rehearsing for a lot. Yesterday I spent 6 hours dancing and I can tell you that it shows. If you are interested in coming to see the show here is the event page: Brunel Dance Show 2013 It's going to be amazing!

Till next time my lovelies!

Psychology and miscellaneous

 Greetings my dear reader!

  It has been busy as ever! So many great things ahead! Starting from next week it's going to be busy till the end of March. On Sunday it's Superball Sunday and in Brunel we gather watch the game in our night club! Next week I am going to go see the Neon trees (a band I love) and the week after that it's going to be One World week, Valentine's day and my birthday. But what I am waiting for the most is dance show week in March. I'll definitely post about it!

  Last Friday we had a get together with international student. We've all been busy and haven't seen each other properly after Fresher's week. We just went out for drinks and a bit of dancing! We also had some visitors from Ireland. An Erasmus student from last year came to visit us. Some of us had no idea that he was coming so it was a great surprise! Maybe next time it's our turn to go to Ireland.

 I haven't really talked about what it is like to study psychology in the UK so I figured I'd enlighten you. Compared to Finnish university system it quite similar. The content of the courses is the same. Only exception is that here you are concentrated on one subject totally. A lot of essay writing. We already got to do an experiment and our dissertation will be an experiment while in Finland during bachelor's degree student will only write a literature review (but they do have more modules than us). Next year will be my last year and I'll be able to pick my own modules.

   The lectures have all been good and interesting. But this term we definitely have the best lecturers! My favorite by far is Biological Psychology! Not only because of the content, but also because of our professor Taeko Wydell. She is amazing! Every time we go to lectures we wait for the part that we call Taeko's tourism tips. On the first lecture she talked about Finland. I was over the moon! Finland doesn't get mentioned that often and she was telling funny stories about her trips to Finland. For example how she was in Finland during winter and they went ran between the sauna and an icy lake. What she found funny was that the Finnish people were doing this naked. We'll that's us! :D
   At some point she asked if there are any Finnish people in the class. My hand flew to the sealing before I even though about it. She was asking me loads of things about Finnish culture and language. I kind of felt that other people were waiting for the lecture to go on and but I enjoyed it!

   Besides biopsychology we have individual differences, social psychology, developmental psychology and cognitive psychology. And on all of these we will have an exam, so the end of the term is going to be hectic!

At the moment I am also searching for a job since I am tired of being a poor student. We'll see if I find something!

Christmas break

 Hello people!

   I am back! After two weeks back home in Finland and finishing my assignment I finally have time to write! So a lot has happened! A lot of birthdays to take part in: Charlotte, Jesus and Janni.

   Before Christmas break my flatmate had her birthday. We bought her a gift, rapped it in thousands of covers and filled her room with a 100 balloons. If you want to see it's here: Charlie opening her present :D

   Then I had a two week Christmas break, which went by too quickly! The flight back to Finland was a nightmare! I had two connection flights, from Berlin and Frankfurt. My first flight was late so I missed to first connection. But thank goodness the people at Berlin airport were extremely nice and found me another flight! The guy who helped me even wished me Hyvää Joulua (= Merry Christmas in Finnish)!

 I I spent Christmas with my family in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. There was so much snow and it was so beautiful! It was great to see my relatives who I hadn't seen in so long! But the best part was spending time with my brother! I got home on 23. of December so we had to take the bus to get to the cottage. It was one of the best three hour trips that I have had! :) So on the right you can see what Finnish people do on winter! I leave it up to you to decide if we are crazy or not! :D

   My friend in Finland had her birthday too! She was born just after Christmas so she really didn't have birthday parties as a kid! So now we have this tradition that we go to her house, blindfold her and take her to places! This time we went sledding first. After climbing up the hill couple of times we came to the conclusion that we have become old. After this she was blindfolded again. This time we took her to a grocery store. The idea was to make her sit in the cart and tell us when to stop and just pick on random something to buy while she was blindfolded. We ended up buying cereal, grapes, yogurt, bread, cottage cheese (Finnish treat), fruit juice and Ben & Jerry's. My friend had to make a 'gourmet' meal out of this which turned out to be a disaster!
   After the amazing meal we told our friend to pack some really weird stuff like: duct tape, one sock, bikini, top, party clothes etc. She was again blindfolded and we took her in a car. We got her into a cruise ship's cabin without her realising anything. When the ship left Helsinki she still had no idea where we were. Her face was priceless when we removed the blindfold!
  We gave her this huge birthday card that she had to collect birthday wishes on! She got quite a few and some phone numbers too! :)

  So now I am back at uni with my London family. So far I have handed in three assignment and one to go! But enough about me! How have you been?

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! 

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.

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!!!