Hotel Emilia

We're making a groupwork, me and two classmates of mine. We need to do an investment plan for an imaginary hotel. When we were writing it, I asked how we're going to call it. The other classmate says "Hotel Emilia." the other one "settled." Me:???

Compliment of the day

The other day I was having dinner with my roommate and I was telling that I really need to make more effort and send the CV's to get an internship. He said he is going to sabotage all my plans.  And this is a compliment because he wants me to stay in Porto and not move out, how sweet.

Se tunne...

...the feeling when you go to an "open book" exam, and it turns out to be a "closed book" one. Priceless.

emilia blond finland

I'm still laughing at some poor guy that wrote in Google "emilia blond finland" and ended up here. heheheh, must be disappointing. You guy, I hope you found her! Unless you are a crazy stalker. In that case: come up with more spesific search words and your chances will increase.

Concert

On Wednesday I will go to see a Portuguese band called Ornatos Violeta. I have unreasonably high expectations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhh_D9e5TaA

Internship

I have succesfully postponed starting to send applications and CV's to companies trying to find myself an internship. I started yesterday and now I need to carry on. The fact that I don't know the Portuguese companies makes this "a bit" challenging, as well as the fact that the internship needs to be in English. Anyway, if some company is crazy enough to ask me to go to an interview, there I will finally blow my chances with my awkwardness. I'm so bad in interviews I really wonder how I ever managed to get any jobs.

Visitors

My father and my sister came to Porto for a couple of days. My father was very impressed by the amount of food that I can eat these days.

Finnish accountant

The professor that always jokes about Finland was giving the workshop that I went to on Monday and Tuesday. Now we have a new joke dimension. We were running the simulations based on efficiency, and then he said "now we were thinking like accountants. Next we will think like real people, like engineers." And carried on joking about accountants. Then he stopped and said "none of you is an accountant, right?" I said, "well, actually I am." Awkward moment. But that resulted in even more jokes, about both Finland and accountants. I'm too easy target.

Week off

In theory, this week was supposed to be quite relaxing because there are no classes. But on Friday the teacher of one course (the one I have been telling about earlier) asked if I was going to attend his 2-day workshop, and since I would be the only foreigner he offered to translate all the material for me during the weekend. How do I possibly say no to that? So, tomorrow and Tuesday I'm running an imaginary company instead of having the days free.

Language courses, update

Last week I had no courses, suddenly I have three of them. If I don't learn this language now, I can only blame myself.

Urban trail night race

Last Saturday I participated in Porto Urban Trail Night Race. It started 9.30pm and lasted until around midnight. You could choose from walking 6km or running 13km, we did the walking route and it was very cool, we had small flashlights and the route went trough the historical centre, the monastery, Port wine caves on the other side of the river and the old wall and around the cathedral. A lot of uphills and stairs, the 6km were enough sports for someone recovering from a flu. Here's some photos:

Courses, once more

I kind of found out today that in this one course that I'm taking, I should have delivered 3 pages yesterday and have a 5min presentation tomorrow with my group. Well, my group is still under construction, and the work is obviously not done. My friend was worried about this, because the professor had said that it is really mandatory to present it tomorrow, or you cannot do the whole groupwork. I don't know what is happening, but I was comforting my Portuguese friend that he shouldn't worry, we'll talk to the professor, maybe we can do it next week. I'm not sure if the new worry-free me is very cool or if I should be worried.

Language course

I'm super frustrated with trying to sign up for a language course. Some are just too expensive, the cheaper ones are fully booked. I'm going around trying to offer my money and begging somebody to take me to their course, but no. No wonder this country is close to bankruptcy.

Lisbon 2

The main purpose of my trip was then the concert of Leonard Cohen. The venue for the concert was a big disappointment: the acoustics were quite terrible. Maybe if I spent more money on my ticket and got a proper seat would have helped :(

Anyway, after I got used to the weird echo, the concert was really, really good. I cannot believe that he is 78 years old - the concert started at 21:15 and ended 01:05.

This clip is from the concert (not mine): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HnEjXEGxLA

The metros stopped running at 01:00 so I was froced to join the incredible taxi queue outside the concert hall. I was lucky enough to get four middle aged drunken Swedes in the queue behind me. They were constantly complaining about everything: the taxis were not coming fast enough, only one person went to a taxi, the cafeteria didn't have a toilet, everything was ridiculous, with this pace they would be home at 8am....blaah blaah.

Then the strange thing happened: I don't know if it was because I was still so happy about the concert or if my patience is really being affected by Portugal, but I was telling the Swedes to calm down and stop complaining, everything would work out and this is how it sometimes is in Portugal. Apparently I was not too convincing, because after 30 minutes in the queue they gave up hope and took a bus that was going "somewhere else than there". Once they left the taxis started to come and I was amused. The small pleasures of life.

Lisbon

Last Friday was a national holiday in Portugal. I was going to Lisbon to see the concert of Leonard Cohen on Sunday, so I decided to go there for the whole weekend.

Unfortunatelly national holiday often means a strike. The trains were striking more or less the whole week, but on Friday the traffic was completely stopped. So, last minute as I am these days, on Thursday I tried to find out where the busses leave from (there are 2 companies). Found one company, my flatmate called them and they said that the morning busses were full, and there were some seats for the afternoon bus. However, the reservation system was down and I could not reserve a ticket.

So I found out where the other bus station was and managed to book a ticket online. But our printer was out of ink. So Friday morning, on the national holiday I was running around the centre trying to get my ticket printed. I managed and headed towards the bus station.

It was like all hell broke loose. There were so many people there, the queues were unreal and of course no busses had signfs of were they were going. Normally there is one bus at 12:00, but because of the strike there was now three of them: 50, 50A and 50B. So after somehow by chance finding my correct bus, we headed down to Lisbon. All went well until... the bus stopped. In the middle of a highway. The driver puts on his yellow vest, opens the engine and I get super worried. And it was a hot day and the air con was naturally down. I went outside to see what is happening and the driver was on the phone but of course I did not know what was going on. I was just thinking that please, I hope this whole thing won't take too long since I really need to pee.

The driver did his magic and the trip continued, maybe 3km to the next pit stop: Fatima. The driver disappearred and the engine was left running, and it didn't sound good. Another bus that left from Porto maybe one hour later arrived, and there was some confusion. The driver came to the bus and said that this bus is not going anywhere, and that there were some seats in the other bus that was going to continue to Lisbon (seems that I can understand Portuguese when really needed). So, I took my bag, luckily I didn't have any luggage down so I was able to approach the other bus very fast. Then I TOTALLY played my "stupid foreigner" -card and brutally cut the line and managed to get in the bus. Muahhahahahahahaahhaha, I have necer been more proud of myself.

And this is when the luck changed. I arrived to Lisbon, was queuing for a ticket to metro when a girl approaches me and asks "do you speak English?" I said sure, and she gave me her daily ticket to the metro because she was leaving town and didn't need it anymore. Perfect. So I went to the centre, found my hostel (the best one I ever stayed in, with these reindrop showers), met some nice people, had great dinner and ended up in a square with the 2-hour concert of beautiful fadista Mariza. That was incredible. Then I had some drinks in Bairro Alto and couldn't really believe how unlucky and lucky I was that day.

This is Mariza and the song I need to learn, because there was a sing-along-moment that I couldn't participate to :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iapqgekl3I

Panic

Tomorrow I'll get a haircut. I'm mentally preparing for a nightmare. I still have traumas from the first and only haircut I had in Portugal. That was in January. That man ruined my life.

Last week

Not so much going on in Porto. Normal fights with the classes (still unsolved...), eating well (as usual) and procrastinating (I'm becoming very good at that).

On Saturday I ate cheek of a pig. They really like to eat the whole pig here. It would be difficult not to eat red meat in this country. Today my octopus was served with bacon, and earlier my friend's bean dish had sausage hidden inside. Maybe it's not counted as meat.

My friend from Germany was visiting over the weekend, that was fun. And I have somehow managed to hurt my ankle, it's swollen and it hurts. I'm giving up the theory that it was a bad allregic reaction to a mosquito bite.

On Friday I'll head down to Lisbon for the weekend. Friday is a national holiday here (still this year, next year it won't be since they are reducing the amount of public holidays. cost savings...).

Karaoke

I went to a karaoke bar last night. It was a lot like in Finland except that people were less drunk. I witnessed a live proposal on stage during a very cheesy Portuguese song, a guy who sang "the bad touch" by Bloodhound gang and had background dancers with choreography and I also realized that looking at the lyrics would be a great way to learn the language. Maybe I just found myself a new hobby.

Friday

You would think that a sudent would go out and party on a Friday night. No. After 12 hours of lectures, of which the 3 last ones were statistics, you're kind of braindead and you just want to lay down and watch the roof.

Special case 2

"Now we are going to have the best 10 minutes if the class: a break. But not Portuguese 10 minutes, not Brazilian 10 minutes, but FINNISH 10 minutes (pointing at me). So please check your watches and come back in exactly 10 min."

Special case

Sometimes the professors get a bit excited when there is a foreigner in the class. This is how my life is these days:

"It's a bit hot in the classroom. It's like a Finnish sauna, hehehhehehehehhe. BTW, we have a Finnish student here." (the professor is pointing at me)

"Sometimes in Portugal it gets very hot, imagine working inside a factory on a hot day like this. Maybe it's better in Finland, where it's so cold, hehheheheheheheh."

"You're engineers, you need to know statistics! How many courses of statistics do you have in this master's? And in that one? And in Finland?"

"You need to answer in English so your colleague from Finland will also understand."

And there was another joke that I cannot remember now. All this today in a 1,5h lecture. Plus countless of sentences starting with "I don't know how it is in Finland, but in Portugal we...."

It will be kind of obvious if "Emiiiilia" ever decided to skip a class form this course.

Saturday

There were these big demonstrations all ove Portugal on Saturday. Apparently the biggest one since 1974 (yeah, I still need to do my homework about the dictatorship) Anyway, the demonstration was big in Porto as well, but very calm and peaceful.

The cuts that the government has been making that directly affects a normal person are becoming ridiculous. Earlier they took away 2 annual holiday days. Then one salary (they used to get 14 salaries a year, a bit like our holiday salary) was taken away. Now they increased the social security payment from 11% to 18%, at the same time increasing the income taxes. That is another loss of at least one month's salary. The price of electricity is so much more than in Finland, VAT increased and things are generally getting more expensive. The unemployment rate has reached a new record. And these are just things that I am aware of. No wonder the people are fed up.

I'm hoping for a revolution.

But actually, people take it calmly. They realize that for years the country has lived in a level that it cannot support, but now it's a really shitty situation when all the savings come at once and it's the regular people who are the target of all the savings. Many friends of mine are actually planning to leave the country as soon as they graduate, or even go do the internship abroad. I'm one of the few who would really like to stay here.

So I was a bit down after going to the demonstration. But then, just some hours after that there was this happening in the centre with 40 bands playing around the city, the streets PACKED with happy people dancing in the streets.

Gotta love this country.

Brazilians

Don't know what's going on but the city is full of Brazilians. And they are ruining my life!

Like in the past two semesters, there is this small "fight" of which classes are in English. The rule is that if there is even one non-Portuguese speaking person, the class should be in English. Anyway, sometimes they forget to tell that to the professors OR the professors think we are all Erasmus students and they just tell us to pick another class. Well, I have to have five courses, so far two of them is in English. And the problem is the following: they accepted a lot of students from Brazil, who came here so they can take classes in Portuguese. At the same time they accepted Erasmus students that need to have the classes in English. When you put 20 Brazilians (some of them do not speak English at all) and 2 Erasmus students, plus 20 Portuguese in a class, what do you think the solution is? Classes that were in English last year are held in Portuguese now.

My feedback letter is going to be EPIC.

Roomie

I have a new roommate from Brazil. She likes to listen to Brazilian music and sing along. I like to keep my door closed.

Back to school

Me and my cool Fjällräven backpack are back to school. Luckily nobody knows how mainstream that bag is in Finland so I can pretend to be cool. Today I was walking around carrying a big book trying to look like a serious student. Actually, the book was too big for my backpack. Coolness before practicality.

Language issues

I went to the grocery store. I always like to pay with card cause I hate coins. I packed my stuff and tried to pay with my card, but the clerk was pointing at this paper in the counter. I didn't bother reading it, I thought she was asking if I had a loyal customer card or something so I just said "não, não, não" (beautifully pronounced, of course). The woman just gave me a bored look and probably said something like "yes, yes, yes" and then I actually had to read the paper and it said that I couldn't pay with card if the value was less than 20€. Stupid new rules. And now I'm searching for language courses.

Urban market

Yesterday I went to a cute designer market in a small park and found earrings made out of old buttons and this:

A cupcake and a glass of lemonade for 1,5€. That felt good after the Finnish prices. After that I went for a beer. I was going to this place once before, but then there were just these two freaks sitting in the terrace and the other one was probably just released from the hospital, because he (or she, I'm not too sure about it) had a bandage all over his head. So I sat down, was enjoying my drink and after 3 minutes I noticed this weird guy sitting on a chair, bleeding in his head and then the emergency crew got there, put a bandage on his head and took him to the hospital. I'm scared to go there again, maybe it's me the next time.

Passport and a toothbrush

...and a 20kg backpack + 2 bags for hand luggage and I'm BACK! I envy people who know how to pack light, I always seem to carry a lot of stuff with me. 7 hours in the train, then metro, then bus, then plane and finally taxi. But here I am.

I bought this amazing passport cover from Marimekko factory store, and I just had to show it to the first person in the check-in counter and she said "that is a beautiful passport cover". I know.

Then in Porto I met the only english speaking taxi driver, who was actually a civil engineer so that really got my hopes high for finding an internship or a job here.

Done

Last piece of schoolwork delivered (2:30 am), now I just wait to see if I passed. Fingers crossed.

Hot in herre

I'm sitting on my bed, writing my last piece of schoolwork and sweating. Omg this heat! Too much for a pale Finnish girl.

São João

On Saturday there was a Party. The whole city was the venue. You can read a bit about it here.

First we went to the city to eat some sardines. The whole city stank like sardines, every reastaurant had his own grill and some private people as well. 

Then we started to discover the strange thing about the evening: everybody had a plastic hammer, and they hit each other in the head. So we were eating and got hit with the hammers, we walked towards the river and got constantly hit by hammers. That's supposed to be for good luck. Then there were other things like garlic and mint  but I never figured out what those were for.

We went to a party at a friend's place, and they had the most amazing view to the river. Then at midnight there was the biggest fireworks that I have ever seen. I almost forgive the city of Porto for spending a ridiculous amount of money for that fireworks, when the money could be spent a bit more wisely. Anyway, later at night we hit the streets and there was so many people, good music and dancing on the streets, and more hammers of course. Definitely the most amazing night in Porto so far.

A comeback

I'm back. Finland was great, the wedding was beautiful and it was very nice to see many of my beautiful friends. As I was walking in Kallio, I was imagining that I was still living there and that didn't feel right. Luckily I don't have to worry about that for another year. Life is good in sunny Porto.

Emilia goes Finland

Wow, ten days since I updated this. I can tell you what's up: not much. I've been doing groupworks and studying, and not sleeping enough. Well I went to Primavera Sound festival, it was great. I'll post photos when I have the time.

Bags are packed, taxi ordered, wake up time: 03h30. Helsinki here I come!

Goodnight.

Finance

Yesterday, just when the exam of finance and accounting was starting, I realized that my calculator was home. Stupid me. So when I realized (in the middle of the exam) that I really won't survive without one, I asked the professor if I could run to the store downstairs and go buy a calculator (in Finland I would never deared to ask that). He said yes and I got a 3€ calculator, I'm not feeling too great obout that exam. The next try is in July.

Silence

A bit quiet again here. The reason is studies. This week I had two groupwork presentations and one exam. Next week I'll have one of each. Then I'll festival.

Madeira

I'm not sure exactly what just happened, but I just bought flights to Madeira in July.

Madeira. July. I hate heat. I'm excited!

Eurovision song contest

With both Finland and Sweden out of the final, I had to support Sweden. We had a nice ESC dinner at our place, though not everyone understands the beaury of this song contest. My flatmate said: "26 countries? It's like listening to a double album. Of shit music." Next year he is not invited to the dinner party.

Networking

Yesterday we had a conference organized by our Master's programme. I was listening to presentations in Portuguese for 8 hours. The funny part of the day was in the lunch break. Just before that there was this guy from a consulting company presenting his ideas about co-creation. Me and my German friend were hanging out around the buffet-table eating soup. My friend said: "Look, the guy from the consulting company is there by himself. If we were in Germany, he sould be surrounded with students." Well, as we were too cool to network, we just continued eating our soups and talking in English. 5 seconds later this guy hears that we speak English and comes to chat with us. "Maybe I can give you my contact details, you should send me an email very soon", said the guy.

Sometimes I'm just too cool to be true.

Birthday

Check out my birthday dinner:

Physiotherapy

I had a sore back for some days so first I went to the pharmacy a couple of days ago. I think I looked like I was suffering, because the clerk asked "is 10 tablets enough? Or do you want 60 tablets".

Anyway, the pain would not leave so today I went to a physiotherapist that my friend recommended. That was exciting. I was lying on the massage table for 30 minutes with my feet up in 90 degrees angle until they got numb, the physiotherapist didn't speak so good English so he was showing me pictures from a book about nerves and explaining me stuff in a not-so-medical way. "You're like a central computer connected to other stations. Some of your stations are not working." Then he started stretching me. "You're very bendable" (no shit , I could not feel my legs). "We'll make some room for your nerves." (at this stage I was kind of worried). Followed by a very painful part of him smashing my buttocks. Luckily we didn't reach the point with "electronic shocks".

I'm curious how I'll feel in the morning.

Torture

I've got a new definition for torture: to watch Finland playing against USA in the ice hockey world championships with bad internet connection, lousy picture quality and a Swedish commentator. But we won!!! Sweeeeeeeeeeet! Torture continues on Saturday against Russia.

Taxi

On Saturday I came home by taxi from the Queima. We got into the taxi, and the taxi driver asked "do you mind if we go and get some petrol first?" Oh no, let's please run out of petrol in the highway in the middle of the night.

Dinner

Last Thursday I was 1h45min late for a dinner. I'm becoming more Portuguese than the Portuguese themselves.

The result

My complaints about all the work I need to do resulted to three nights out.

Under pressure

When this semester started I swore I'd do things on time and study during the semester to avoid any last minute panic. It's going just great: 1) I have 3 weeks to finish 4 groupworks. They are barely started. 2) Right after the groupwork deadlines starts the exam period. I have 4 exams in 2 weeks, and during the exam period I have a ticket to a 3-day festival and a week of holiday in Finland.

I'm thinking of one word: referral exam.

Yeah, that was two words.

Hockey

I always wanted to be an ice hockey world championship tourist. Wearing some ridiculous clothes and a sign with a stupid text. And I was also planning to be the first tourist ever, who would actually wave to the camera instead of the screen if I saw myself in the screen.

This year it was close. I had tickets to 4 games. Too bad I'm a little bit far from Helsinki so that I could have used them. Next time.

Queima das Fitas

It's party time in Porto. Yesterday the student party week Queima das Fitas (burning the ribbons) started. It starts with a serenata. That is the first time the freshmen are allowed to wear their "Harry Potter" outfits. There was thousands of them yesterday. I didn't go to the actual party place last night, but next week I will. Apparently there are some bands and loads of beer. Too bad I need to study next week. I'll post some photos once I go and see the happenings.

Nice try

Yesterday I went to a beautiful restaurant. It was super cute and the decoration was just perfect. The place had just one problem: the food. This was the first time in Portugal when I got a main dish that was not big enough. (or I'm becoming such a heavy eater that nothing is enough). Such a pity. They did everything right except the food.

Back to Portuguese class

I managed to forget a lot when I was having a break from learning Portuguese language. Today I went to a class, we were discussing these two light topics: European politics and domestic violence. The professor was wondering why I'm not talking so much. How the hell should I have the vocabulary for discussing these themes?? And it's getting better: next week we'll talk about anorexia (where are these topics coming from??).

I want back to the level where I can learn how to ask the way to the post office.

Hiljainen kansa

Today I was helping out a guy who is doing his thesis about foreign students in the University of Porto, so he wanted to interview me for the thesis. He said the interview would take "about an hour, or depends how much you like talking".  In the interview he asked how the Finnish people are. "Silent", I replied.

After 2,5 hours we finished the interview, but only because I had to go to a class.

Silence

The reason there is nothing happening in the blog is that there is nothing happening in Porto. I've had flu for almost a week now, today I'll try and go see people and daylight.

And apparently FC Porto won the Portuguese championships. Judging by the noise last night, at least.

Salt

I love salt. They put salt on salads here. Why do they save the salt in 2 things you need it the most: french fries and crisps?

Flood

It's "a bit" rainy today. This morning I woke up to the sound of a small waterfall. Since I live in the attic I can hear the rain very well, but this time the sound was a bit too clear. And too close. I got up and saw a waterfall coming under the balcony door heading to the bathroom. There was about 30cm water on the balcony. Downstairs was flooding too but not so much. After the small morning exercise things are back to "normal", it should rain a lot today again to I got my tools ready.

Fever

On Monday we filmed the last part of the TV-pilot. I had to sit by the river, enjoy the view and a glass of Port. Well, it was freezing and I couldn't wear my jacket, so here I am under covers drinking ginger tea and hoping to get well soon. The last good deed for sure.

Lent

I got visitors from Finland, they were here from Tursday to Monday. And that was a lot of fun! After their visit I wasn't really able to eat for 2 days, we ate so much (and so good food) that I haven't really been hungry. Of course now I'm back on track.

Portugal's next top model...not

You know the feeling, when you're watching America's Next Top Model and in the end they need to make a commercial and they have to speak a bit, and then you wonder how it is possible that they cannot say those simple lines and they keep forgetting what they're supposed to say?

I know that feeling now.

"Mmmm... This Francesinha is very...eeeh, can we start over?? "Now I'm going to have a walk and go to...to...sorry, can we do this again?"

The filming continues on Friday. I'm planning to have a bit of wine before that.

Do-it-yourself tasca

Tascas are local restaurants. I love them. On Saturday I went to one with my friends. We were 6 and there was no tables free. 3 minutes later some random women showed up with 2 extra tables. The waitress pointed us to go downstairs to get some chairs. Then he brought us the menu and a paper and a pen. Then we wrote down what we wanted.

The food was great. Food+drinks+coffee was 4,50€ for each.

Abril, aguas mil

The rain is threatning to spoil my filmstar moment that's supposed to be tommorrow! I'd like to get it done, it will bw so awkward anyhow so it would be awful to postpone it.

All the things I find myself doing...

I was contacted by a group of Portuguese students that are doing their internship in a Portuguese TV-channel. They asked me if I wanted to take part in their pilot episode of "Good News" Porto edition or something like that. My role in this pilot would be to play a foreign student (not so hard) that goes sightseeing in Porto (not that hard either). I'm reading the script, this is what I have to do:
1. Have a Francesinha and a beer for lunch. Look happy.
2. Buy a flower in the market, smell the flower and look happy.
3. Walk next to the river, have a glass of Port wine and look happy.
4. Meet the other participants (2 Portuguese guys) in a restaurant, have a drink and look happy.
Other instructions: Wear blue to highlight the blue eyes.
We'll start filming on Tuesday. I really hope this will never be shown on TV.

On time

I arrived 30 minutes early to our group meeting. I live in the wrong country.

Easter

Yesterday I had a nice traditional Easter Sunday ride with a friend (apparently everybody takes the same route, to the beach and then back to centre by the river). He's the only Portuguese person I know that truly appreciates salmiakki (or is too polite to tell otherwise. Which I doubt, it's kind of difficult to pretend to like salmiakki.) so I was happy to gave him my Turkish pepper. I'm counting on you H&T to bring me more next week when you arrive. Can't wait!! :):):).

Nilviäinen

It's Lampreia season in Portugal. I tried that yesterday, it's good, it just looks suspicious.

Random is nice

On Thursday I was studying and doing groupwork, when I suddenly saw my friend's post in Facebook about one cinema that was showing Aki Kaurismäki's Le Havre with the director present in the occation! I thought it was somewhere in Porto and I got really excited about going there and meeting him. Well, turns out that it was in Viana do Castelo, somthing like 80km from Porto. I was checking the trains, but there was no way for me to get back to Porto after the movie. I was a bit desperate, and also thinking how much effort should I put in this one, considering the chance he won't show up.

Well, then something very Portuguese happened. This friend of mine who posted the link in FB in the first place invited me to stay in his place over night and the problem was solved. I asked our mutual friend to join the random trip and she was in, too. I packed and ran in the train, and found myself in Viana do Castelo looking for the cinema. My local friend arrived just in time and I thought there was going to be maybe 5 people, but the cinema was full. Before the movie started, Aki Kaurismäki gave a (drunken) speach in Portuguese and then the movie began. And for those who haven't seen it: it's great.

After the movie Kaurismäki was hanging out in the lobby talking to people. I had no idea what I should say to him, and because he is not known to be the nicest man to talk to I thought I'd just skip it. But then I saw him giving autographs for other people so I got courage and went to ask for one. He was a bit surprised that a Finnish person was there. Which is understandable: I went to see a Finnish film, that is in French, with Portuguese subtitles in a small town in Northern Portugal. You would think there was an easier way to see that movie. But easy is boring. Anyway, I was very nervous about talking to him and I told him some very random stuff which he hopefully won't remember (I guess he was quite drunk). But that was fun! I also learned that he soesn't have a mobile phone, only landline. Suits him.

Then we went out and (after visiting a church, Easter tradition) and I fell asleep happily at my friend's place, where his mom had prepared bed and breakfast for us.

Port wine

I went back to the port wine caves the other day. I learned that the unfiltered wines require decanteing and filtering. Apparently pantyhoses are a very handy tool for filtering. I need to send this tip to Niksi-Pirkka.

Things you don't see in Finland 3

I was having coffee in a teracce of a cafeteria with my friend in the main shopping street of Porto. A big truck parked just in front of us, and suddendly I saw something a bit unexpected: a guy carried two slaughtered pigs on his shoulders from the truck to a meat store. Another guy followed with big piece of ribs. I almost couldn't finish eating my cake. Almost.

Language issues

I went to a cafeteria and asked in English: "What do you have for lunch?". The guy looked confused and asked "Do you speak English?". Seems that I'm getting worse in every language.

Meat

I've been eating so much meat these days that I had a nightmare last night about it. I got a phonecall from the hospital, they said that I cannot register as a resident in Portugal, because I did not pass the health check. Apparently because I had eaten too much meat. I have to go back to the one vegetarian restaurant I have seen in Porto.

Halpamatkat

We did some budget travelling with my friend over the weekend. We only invested in food. To get the true feeling about the country, we even got "lucky" and were in the middle of a train strike. We were going from Aveiro to Coimbra, tried to buy a ticket half an hour before the train was supposed to leave but the clerk said "oh, one train is supposed to leae in 30 minutes but we're not sure yet if it will go or not." The train was there, but apparently they were not certain if the driver would show up. Same happened today when coming back, the clerk said "come back 15 minutes before the scheduled time and then we'll know if there is a train or not".

In Coimbra we ate a lot, got lost, eneded up uninvited in a party, listened to Fado of Coimbra and stayed in a suspicious but cheap pensionate. Now I'm back in Porto, exhausted and happy to be home.

Morning fado

My friend arrived yesterday afternoon. We had a very efficient evening, in terms of eating. In just a couple of hours we managed to get coffee and cake, walked a bit and stopped for a glass of wine, walked another 100 meters and had a dinner. And during dinner we were already planning where to have breakfast. Welcome to Portugal!

Now we're having a morning Fado moment and then we'll go and eat some more.

Portuguese

My friend asked if I had noticed that I'm much louder in Portuguese than in English. I guess the loudness comes with the language.

Sun allergy

I have some rash in my face and it's strange because I never have any skin problems. I went to the pharmacy and spend 60 euros for three different kind of creams. The guy in the pharmacy said that it's probable that I have sun allergy. Here is the 10 day weather forecast for Porto. I'll be inside testing my hypo-allergenic creams questioning my choice of country.

Visitor 1

Yesterday I got a lovely surprise visitor, my friend is on holidays in Lisbon and came for a day-trip to Porto. We climbed up to Clerigos Tower, which was a bit scary because I guess they forgot all the safety regulations ever invented and there are so big holes in the rail that a kid could easily fall from up there. Even I could fit through those holes. Anyway, then we walked down to Ribeira and ended up in the Port wine cellars in the Gaia side of the river Douro.

Port wine is produced in the Douro valley, and it's sweet red wine that is often served as dessert wine. The wine is stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a cave, before being bottled. And those caves are here because the ocean is so close and the temperature is pleasant. They organize small tours in the caves and give some samples to taste the wine. I have tried red port wine before, yesterday I tried a white one as well. They're both realy good, VERY sweet but good. I guess there are around 30 different companies offering the tours and tasting, so I have a lot of work ahead.

Presentation

"A saudade não está na distância das coisas, 
mas numa súbita fractura de nós, 
num quebrar de alma em que todas as coisas se afundam."

With these words I started our group's presentation today. I got applause. The Portuguese are either very easy to impress or they thought it was the Joke of the Year.

 P.S. I still don't know what that sentence means.

Fátima

May 13th 1917 and the 13th of 5 following months the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared for three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal. Appearing to the children, she told them that she had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman and child living in our century. The events at Fátima gained particular fame due to their elements of prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Russia. The reported apparitions at Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church.

So apparently, it's common in Portugal when facing dramatic situations (disease, trouble in a birth of a child, even scholar examinations) to make a promise, most of them to "Nossa Senhora de Fátima". And this usually includes walking to Fatima on foot (from anywhere in Portugal) or at least walking across the square on the knees. The catholics like to burn a candle for your loved ones. Same in Fatima, but instead of burning a candle you throw it into a huge open fire. But the best part of all this is that not only normal candles are burnt, but also candles in the shape of body parts that they sell there. Hands, legs, breasts, eyes, ears... For instance you burn a candle in the shape of a leg, to pray for your mother who just had her leg broken.

This all sounds so amazing, I really have to go there.

Push-up jeans

I didn't know they exist. Now I own a pair. LOL.

2 things I don't like about Portuguese people

First of all, I really like Portuguese people, I do. But two things bother me.

1) They're a little bit unreliable with making plans. The Finnish person in me is used to the way that if something is planned, it's done. And my friends in Finland won't cancel even if they're not super thrilled to go somewhere or do something, but when it's settled it's settled. Especially when they know that I really want to go. If they have a good reason to cancel, they'll so it well on time. Here it's impossible to make plans with anybody in advance, goes with studies and free time. And even there is a plan, there is no guarantee that it will happen.

2) And this is what I have a real problem with (the first one is not that serious): It's common here in Portugal to drive under the influence of alchohol. I have zero tolerance for that, I cannot stand it but here it's very common. I also don't want to preach about it to them. And they're so obsessed about their cars that they want to drive everywhere, the parking in the centre is difficult or very expensive. The taxis here are quite cheap, something here just doesn't match.

Outlet and Coimbra

I have bought next to no clothes since I moved to Portugal. Until yesterday. I went to a Style outlet close to Porto, you take the metro for half an hour, get off in a stop in the middle of nowhere and there is a mini shuttle bus giving you a ride to the shopping centre.

It was a productive day. Eight hours, two pairs of jeans, one gardigan, two T-shirts, one bracelet and one pair of earrings later I arrived home.

And then I went to Coimbra. The city is best known for it's university, which is one of the oldest in Europe, its origins can be traced back to the 13th century. And the buildings were nice indeed. I'll go back there in two weeks and take some photos.

I have four friends coming for a visit during the next couple of months, how sweet!!

Our house

I came back home after the Tuna concert and wanted to take a long hot shower. Well, that wasn't possible since there was no water in my shower. In the sink that is one meter from the shower, the water is running perfectly. They're renovating the restaurant downstairs, so they must have done something wrong with the pipes. This house was built in a mysterious way: sometimes when the fuse blows out, there might still be light in one of the rooms. But the most amazing thing is that if one button in my water boiler is in a wrong position, they guy living in the flat downstairs of us gets electric shocks.

Marketing

I said to my Portuguese friend that I really think that both Portugal and Finland should be paying me for promoting the countries. Then I told her about mustamakkara, the danger of having a deathly collision with a moose and of course: suicides. I bet she is booking her flight already.

Thesis

Here you can either write a "normal" thesis or do an internship in a company and write the thesis about that. We foreign students had a lunch with the professors that are responsible of our master programme, and had a chat about that issue. I'd really want to do the internship, but since they're not many companies (at least in Porto) that might want someone doing it in English, I might have to move to Lisbon for the 4th semester (if I'm lucky to find a company there). Things could be worse than having to move to Lisbon.

Studies, dinners, Ribeira

Yesterday I was at the university from 8am to 8pm. Luckily I had a break between the classes so I was hanging out in the sun, it's getting hot in herre. After the classes our master's group had a dinner together, I'm still not used to how loud the Portuguese people are. Especially when they get food and a bit of wine. But the night was fun and I have very cool classmates.

Today I had a walk with my friends in the centre of the city, we were spotting abandoned houses and they were telling a lot of history of Porto, and we ended up by the river to sit and chill and enjoy the weather. Because I'm the worst photographer ever, you can see some photos of Ribeira here.

Tunas and Casa da Música

A Tuna is a musical group, made up of university students. Today I went to Casa da Música to see a competition of them. The music house it's really amazing, I love that building (and I'm so sad that the new music house in Helsinki doesn't look anything like that). Anyway, the concert started at 8:30pm and at 1am it was kind of finished. We didn't stay to find out who won. But it was really, really cool to see the tunas playing and to test the acoustic in the music house. To get an idea about how the tunas sound like, check this link.

Hookers

My favourite hooker is back and she and her pimp husband have bought a new car, so they must be doing ok.

The feeling...

...when you open the file that you're supposed to read for tomorrow's class at 23:00 and notice that it is 126 pages long.

Women's day

Got no flowers. I ment to buy some for myself, but I desperately needed to go home and pee so I couldn't stop to find any. I got a nice lunch though. And learned that in Kazakhstan they celebrate their women with three day public holiday. Nice!

Porto houses

There are so many abandoned houses in the centre of Porto, I just want to take a big loan, buy one of them and renovate it. They look so cool from the outside, they outside wall is normally covered with colorful tiles. I don't think the houses would be that expensive, but the renovation would cost a looooot of money. I'll take them as my 2nd photography project, right after the roundabouts. I'm talking about a bit more modest houses, but if I was VERY rich, I'd buy and renovate this one:

Maybe I could afford this one (in the middle):

Brunch and dinner

Yesterday I spent the whole day eating. First there was a brunch with the Finnish people (they turned out to be nice) and then a dinner with my favourite Portuguese family. Then I came home and was exhauseted after all the eating. Tough life.

The Finnish invasion

I randomly met a Finnish girl the other day. She said that there are around 10 Finnish Erasus students in Porto. I'll meet them all on Sunday. I already had a nightmare that they were adding me as their Facebook friends and they were all super weird.

Partitiivi

First I was 12 hours at the university, then I studied finnish partitive case.

<3 Fridays.

Finnish class

I finally went to visit the Finnish class that they are having in the Faculty of Arts. I wanted to ask them if they'd want to meet up and practise Finnish with me, and I'd practise Portuguese. The students were very shy, but it's so cute to hear someone foreigner speaking Finnish. We talked a bit and then they practised a bit of grammar, and I found out that Finnish is ridiculously difficult. They were learning consonantal gradation (astevaihtelu). E.g. katto -> katolla. Where does the other t disappear? rikas -> rikkaalla. The s just changed into t? They must be a bit insane to be learning Finnish. Or desperately in love with Ville Valo.

Braga

On Saturday I went to Braga, the 2nd biggest city in Portugal. I wasn't expecting so much, because many people told me it wasn't that nice, but it was a very nice city indeed.

We went to see Bom Jesus, enough stairs but the view was amazing and we had coffee in the sunset and planned about staying there for a year and writing poems and painting pictures.

But then we just left and went to eat.

Here are some photos:

And then the best souvenier ever, found it on a market: Charlie Brown dictionaries. They're really good, you have the word in Portuguese then in English and then some sentences in Portuguese where the word is used. Too bad I only have three books out of 15 or so, the vocabulary will be a bit limited. To letters p, q, r, f, g, l and m.

Satuhäät 2

It worked! I watched the latest episode today, it was definitely worth the trouble.

And speaking about feedback, two courses that were in Portuguese are now in English. Gotta fight for your right.

Satuhäät

I wanted to watch my all-time favourite TV-show online. But they have changed the settings so that it's only watchable in Finland.

I wrote feedback to YLE asking if that was a mistake & they better explain me why they would do something this afwul to me.

Roundabouts

There is something about Portugal and roundabouts. In every roundabout there is some kind of statue. I'm starting to take pictures of them. If I was studying arts this would be a perfect school project.

Kevät

It was +20 degrees today, I went for a walk without a jacket, so cool! Everybody was telling me that from January to April it would just rain all the time. So far it has rained once this year, during the night.

We have a special guest visiting our crib this week, a 3-month old baby boy. He is so adorable. It's amazing how I cannot speak English to babies, the baby-talk I can only do in Finnish.

And now I'm going to see Dracula in the horror movie festival that is now happening in Porto. Sweet dreams for me afterwards.

Carnival 2

Today I went to Ovar, where one of the most famous carnival events in Portugal is organized. Some of my Portuguse friends don't really care about this parade, because they think that the Portuguese are just trying to be Brazilian with the samba stuff. In the parade, the samba schools compete and they really had put a lot of effort to their dresses and accessories (I guess they prepare for it the whole year). The parade was almost for three hours (!), here are some photos:

Because we were standing just next to the parade and obviously I look foreign, a couple of times we were dragged into the parade (do I look like I can dance samba??) and some participants came to ask where we were from (luckily no one asked if I was Chinese). And they were more than willing to pose for photos. These photos are btw mainly about the funny parts of the parade, to check the samba dancing women in their small outfits, you can do it here.

But take a look at the last photo. In the back of the round thing there was two guys pushing it and holding on to an iron thing that made the people on top move a bit forwards and backwards. When the last one was passing us, right in front of us, they accidentally let go on the iron thing (that was their only job!!) and the people on top playing fell down to the ground on their faces. I almost threw up and couldn't look because I was sure that the skull of the guy in the front was in pieces. Apparently it wasn't that bad, the guy was still conscious when he was taken away by the ambulance.

Eventually I recovered too and went to have dinner.

Carneval

The carneval is here! Even the homeless guy had a lot of balloons in his crib.

Special case

The class yesterday was in Portuguese as well. The professor said I could do the course self-studying.

I'm so tired of being a special case. I learned to read when I was six years old. I don't need to practice that, I want to go to classes!

Feedback time.

Friday I'm in pain

Hello. I survived the first schoolday of the year.

The bad news is that one of the classes is in Portuguese. The good news is that I'll have private classes for that course. Good save from the professor, I was just about to write feedback again.

Tomorrow at 9am the fun continues.

And I saw a guy dressed up as a sheriff roller-skating around in the campus.

Holiday: over

Tomorrow is the day my lectures will start again. Actually they started on Monday, but I was too tired to go. And there was a class on Wednesday, but I was busy. But tomorrow I'll go. From 8am to 8pm + hours of language course. Soft landing.

Ryanair...the reality

I hate that Ryanair is so cheap. Because it's so annoying. Their rules are ridicilous (=couldn't go shopping in Madrid, grrrr!) and the staff is rather unfriendly and ignorant.

I wish I was rich and could use other airlines.

But no matter how much I complain, I'll still fly with them. And stay in hostels.

Emilia went to Spain

I don't know what to think of hostels anymore. This was the first time when I was travelling that I hoped I was rich enough to stay in a hotel. Or at least afford a bed in a room with less people. I slept very poorly for four nights and had to even go and buy earplugs. Is it just that I'm getting old?

Well the good side of staying in a hostel is definitely that you meet people to hang out with, this time I was lucky with that as well. And I developed a theory about hostels: always stay in a mixed dorm, not in a room for women only. The risk is that there will be a snoring man in the room, but guys are normally more talkative and they travel alone more frequently, girls often come in pairs and they don't often ask other people to join them.

Of course this beautiful theory was ruined when I hung out most of the weekend with two very nice girls from Sweden and Australia, both travelling alone. It's the exception that proves the rule or something similar that they say.


I probably don't have to mention that I ate very well in Madrid, the tapas culture should take over the world. It's very nice when you order a drink and you get a small tapas with that. Like small pieces of ham. My goodness, how I love that salty, salty ham. I took two pictures in Madrid, there is ham in both of them.

Apart from eating we managed to get together with a friend that I didn't see for 12 years! That was super nice indeed.

Madrid

Me and my awful hair are off to Madrid tomorrow, yippii! Too bad Ryanair is limiting my willingness to buy shoes.

Portuguese class

I didn't know this many tenses of verbs exist. I think we are somewhere close to 10 now, and more is to come. Aiai, my head (with the awful haircut. It really is bad this time).

Electricity

Good news first: Portugal is investing a lot of money to renewable energy. It already counts for more or less 50% of the country's electricity generation. I'm liking that very much.

But the bad news: The electricity in Portugal is the most expenisive in Europe. Our electricty bill for 2 months was 530€. Yep.

Schedules

Today I woke up at 11am, went for a swim, took a nap and went to the language course. And I'm exhausted. How did I ever manage to work 8 hours a day?

dEUS

Yesterday I was planning to have a quiet night home, but suddenly that plan changed and I ended up seeing this band live. Both the band and the surroundings were amazing.

Hair!

I have never went back to a hairdresser to complain - until yesterday. It's still bad, but now there is hope that in 3-4 months it will be allright.

Kazakhstan

is huge. And unfortuntely that is all I know about that country.

Ups and downs

I have officially passed all my exams! Wo-hoo! And my grades were good, too (thank you, Taikakäsi).

If only the pierced freak in the hair saloon did not ruin my life with the Most Awful Haircut of the Year.

Taikakäsi

I'll try to explain the concept of "Taikakäsi". "Magic hand". My hand got that nickname back to the days I was doing my first Master's in Vaasa.

This is how I study: I pay no attention in the classes, I really cannot focus three hours and listen to somebody speak. One hour maybe, but not three. I don't think I never took notes. I always think that I will remember the important stuff later, of course I cannot. Studying for an exam a week earlier is impossible, three days is the maximum I can do. But then I lock up in my room and start studying. The first day is normally a waste of time. On the second day I realize that I do not have time to read everything. The third day I panick, select the stuff I will read and I then study like a maniac. And I study during the night. Usually I only sleep a couple of hours in the night before the exam, and I'm always thinking "why can't I have one day more?" At this point I have no clue about how the information I have read connect to anything, I just have pieces of information that I know well. So I drag myself to the university tired and confused.

Then comes the exam. It really doesn't matter how much time I have to make it: I either know or I don't and either ways I'm fast. When I get there, I'm still very clueless and very sure that it will be a nightmare. If the test is mathematical I know if it was ok or not, and I'm much better with numbers than essays. So when I have an exam with essays, I really don't know how they were. After the exam I can't tell if I'm going to get 5 or 15. Because sometimes I have beautiful answers, but they are not exactly fitting the question that was in the exams. Some professors can be tricked with writing BS, others not.

So this is why my hand is called Taikakäsi. I seem to be clueless (and I am!!) but somehow Taikakäsi stays cool and goes to the exam and writes good answers. Sometimes I'm relly amazed how good I did when I really wasn't expecting much.

Kids: this is not the way to study. I hate it, too. Stupid uneccessary stress and I bet the information is out from my head as quickly as it went in. I'm trying to change, but I'm too lazy.

But this works for me. Got the best grade from my class for one exam.

Food, once more

I have stopped using a belt.

Heko heko

The Finnish woman that was registering the votes was kind of unfriendly, so I tried to break the ice with a limping joke. She didn't laugh. I admit that the joke was really, really bad. Like father, like daughter.

Porto freaks

I don't know how many freaks there are in Porto, but I'm quite sure I met the majority today. And my most used sentence here "I don't speak Portuguese" doesn't work with them, because they don't seem to mind at all. In the bus I had to listen a 20min monologue from a very strange granny who probably gave me Ebola virus. All I understood was that she was going to the pharmacy.

After the voting I had a walk on the beach, the weather has been amazing here btw. At some point I sat down and during that 15 minutes I had the pleasure to meet two very special people: one guy who was listening to his CD-player (yes, CD) and singing loudly along, sometimes asking me if I recognized the song (not a chance). After he left, a woman sat down next to me, don't know where she escaped from but she also wanted to sing and she also had a lot to say, unfortunatelly I have no idea what that was. I didn't even bother telling her that, I just smiled and thought to myself: "WHY ME?".

Btw, the homeless guy is doing good, he has a friend now. And yesterday I was happy to notice that my favourite hooker is back.

P.S. To be fair, I also met a Finnish guy who was definitely from somewhere outer space.

Pekka Haavisto

Tomorrow I'll go by bus to the other side of the city, so I can draw no 2 in a piece of paper. It's totally worth the trouble, I'm so very proud to tell here that Pekka is in the second round of the elections, no matter how he might not be the most traditional candidate in the history of electios.

Reclamação

I went to my Portuguese class again today, and guess what I learned? To write a reclamation letter in Portuguese. I really wonder at what point that is in the syllabus in Finnish for foreigners class. But apparently it is a useful skill in this country.

Lazy days

My holidays is going great - I'm barely doing anything. Tomorrow I might go and register to this country. Might be that I'm here a bit illegally.

Futuuri

Finnish people might know that there is no future tense in the Finnish language. Guess how many there is in the Portuguese language? Four. Maybe more, but I saw four. And which one to use depends on the time, but also how formal the context is and how probable it is that something happens. And once you have decided which one to use, THEN you still need to find the correct declination of the verb.

I find the imperative form more useful. Then I can be bossy in Portuguese as well.

Ryanair

I was a bit confused what to do during the holidays. But then I discovered that I live in a city with Ryanair!!! It's like a whole new world opened uo for me. Just need to decide now where to go.

Finnish party...revisited

Saturday I hosted a Finnish party with another Finnish girl at our place. It was a lot of fun, we had a quiz, some drinking songs and of course great Finnish music. But what I'm mostly proud of are these beautiful things:

And this is blond Finnish me:

VAT 2

-Can I pay with credit car?
-We prefer cash.

From now on I'll ALWAYS ask for a receipt.

it's not all that bad

Exams are over. If I passed all of them, I have 3 weeks off. Ou jee!

Plan C

I just got fired. And I'm not even working. Not everybody can do that.

Information Systems

I got my first grade! 15/20. Go Emilia!

Reaching new levels of tiredness

Today I had my third exam (one to go on Friday) and straight after that my new Portuguese language course started. Shock therapy indeed. Now I'm going to read Seiska and Hymy, maybe visit the blog of my Favourite Finnish Celebrity. And in the morning I go to my PhD class.

VAT

I went to pay something and the guy asked if I wanted a receipt. I said I didn't need one and he said "Oh great, better for us. Otherwise we'd have to pay taxes."

1. Too much honesty
2. The accoutant in me is a bit troubled
3. No wonder the economy in this country is a disaster.

PT

They called me from the gym because I haven't been there for a month. Kind of nice. But freaky.

Apparently I'm not busy enough...

...on Monday I'll start another Portuguese language course. Just when I was going to have some time off. I must hate myself a bit.

Fever

For the last three days I've been in my bed, freezing from fever and trying to study. The success wasn't that great. I still had fever in the exam and at one point I asked the professor about one question that I just didn't understand, he tried to explain but I still didn't get it. The other professor came and tried to explain but I still didn't get it. Looking forward to Monday's exam.

Finnish party

I should be studying, but instead I'm planning a Finnish party since I just love theme parties. Just need to use a lot of imagination to figure out 1) What to serve 2) some program to the party. Suggestions are highly appreciated.

Weirdest compliment ever

"You have pretty eyes. My eyes are pretty too, but yours are prettier."

1/4

First exam done, I think it was good. Three more to go. During the weekend I didn't even think of exams, now I need to restart. And this week I need to go to the immigration office to tell them that I'll be here. Kind of forgot to do that earlier.

Hugs and kisses

I wrote an email to the library and accidentally signed it:

kisses,
Emilia

Oh, Portugal. What you do to me.

Plastic bags

I'm very proud of my flatmates: they are folding their plastic bags nowadays and our drawer is super organized.

But why do we have so many plastic bags? I'll tell you: Today I went to a supermarket and bought bread (that was in a bag), a shampoo and three bananas. I went to Froiz (a Spanish supermarket) and there the plastic bags are for free. The cashier put the bag of bread in one plastic bag, and the shampoo and the bananas in another one. The most ridiculous thing I saw for ages!! I wish the plastic bags were banned, at least these stupid small ones that break so easily that you can just put a couple of products in one. gnaah.

Library

I went to the library at my faculty to study. Dream on. The place was so crowded that it was almost impossible to find a seat. And it's soooo loud. One poor security guy going round telling people to be quiet, but as soon as he is gone the noise goes up immediately.

And have I already complained about the teenage couples snogging in the studyrooms? My goodness they are annoying. Well they all live with they parents so I guess they need to do it at the university. A BIT disturbing though.

Home, but not alone

I was in the kitchen downstairs, and the electricity went off. My flatmate was in the bathroom and I was going to switch on the safety fuse. I was looking for the flashlight, when a small guy with long hair appearred from our guestroom and scared the living daylight out of me. That was my flatmates brother, but I had no idea that he was visiting. Nice guy. This house is funny.

Elections

I discovered today that I can vote for our elections in Porto. So next week I'll go and give my vote to the most handsome man, as usual.

Snicker

I'm always amazed how my last name confuses people. I was in the security check at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, greeted the person working there in Finnish and then showed my boarding pass. After that the question of "do you have liquids in your bag" was in English (and I was so tired still at 5am that I replied in English, too). Then I went to Tax Free and bought A LOT of salmiakki. I greeted in Finnish and showed my boarding pass, and again the language changed to English. "Do you like salmiakki?", asked the guy at the counter. Come on, like any foreigner would ever buy that amount of salmiakki. I feel very Chinese.

Flights

As some of you might know, I have very strange karma with flights and usually something strange happens. Cancelled flights, oversales, missed connection flights, lost luggage and the weirdest one: being the only passenger in a plane. But good things as well: upgrated seats, extra days abroad in nice hotels, vouchers and this time, what really saved me a lot of money - there was a bit of chaos at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport so they didn't weigh my clearly too heavy luggage. Apparently they think it's impossible to fit more than 20kg to a rucksack (obviously they never met a Pro Packer like me, it was closer to 30kg). I also had a handbag and another bag, sometimes they are very srtict about the one handbag rule, luckily I look very innocent and I had already prepared a speech of "you cannot possibly assume a woman to fit all her things to ONE handbag", but luckily that was not needed.

Finland

Finland was good. I spent some days in Helsinki, Kajaani and Kokkola, met my family and managed to see a lot of friends as well, got really cool christmas presents and ate, ate and ate a lot. Really needed the break from studies and managed to reach a level of a complete relaxation, so much that I'm worried how it's going to be tomorrow when I'm supposed to start studying for my exams that start next week.

The small materialist in me is happy about my "new" clothes that I brought with me here, I was so fed up with wearing the same clothes all the time. Now I have 5 new pairs of shoes (well one pair is actually new, waterproof shoes, highly appreciated here) and two winter coats so bring on the Porto winter, I am prepared!

Happy New Year!

I was celebrating last new year in my glitterpants dressed up as Lady GaGa. This new year's eve I spent in a monastery dancing to Portuguese music. I hope this year will be as random as its first day.