joulu

joulu täällä oli oikein... kalaisa. aattona ja ensimmäisenä joulupäivänä juhlimme haraldin äidin luona. aatto alkoi kahvilla ja todella makealla täytekakulla (melkeinpä vannoisin, että siihen oli piilotettu säilykekirsikoita jossain muodossa) ja jatkui alkuruoalla (kala-vihannes-hyytelö, eipä maistunut juuri millekään), pääruoalla (perunasalaatti sekä kalaa paneroituna - kuinkas muuten :-)) huipentuen jälkkäriin (tiramisua - nam!). kuusi oli koristeltu tyylikkäästi, suomalaiseen (tai vain mun?) silmään vain turhan teollisesti. harald tosin väitti kivenkovaan, ettei se ole koskaan askarrellut yhtään joulukoristetta. aidot kynttilät teki kyllä vaikutuksen. täällä perheen äiti koristelee kuusen, jonka lapset saavat nähdä vasta illalla jeesus-lapsen (christkindl) tuotua lahjat kuusen juurelle. harald jatkoi jeesus-lapsen työtä ja jakoi lahjat. oon ollut ilmeisen kiltti, sillä muakin lahjottiin anteliaasti. haraldilta ja sen äidiltä sain kirjoja, mummolta kaulaliinan ja meikkipussin (jossa oli vielä cliniquen huulipuna sisällä, jota tuskin tulen käyttämään) ja vielä haraldin äidiltä ja sen miesystävältä hajuveden. lisäksi sain haraldin kanssa jaettavaksi ison suklaarasian, jota en tosin sen illan jälkeen ole nähnyt: harald otti sen töihin mukaan.

ensimmäisenä joulupäivänä tarjolla oli taas kahvia ja kakkua, alkuruoaksi lohta ja pääruoaksi ankkaa. toisena joulupäivänä pysyttelin kotona ja leivoin pizzaa, jota mietkin tuli syömään. vietimme oikein leppoisan tyttöjen leffaillan, kun haraldin piti mennä yövuoroon töihin.

pyhien jälkeiset päivät pyhitettiin laiskottelulle dekadenssimme huipentuessa eilen, jolloin ensimmäinen viinipullo avattiin jo neljältä ja ruokalista koostui epäterveistä alkuruoista ja suklaasta. ajatus tipattomasta tammikuusta alkoi tuntua oikein hyvältä idealta.

happy holidays (if you have any)!

it's christmas time again.

on friday markus took the train back to germany after his 10-day-visit. it was great to see him again, but now it's also nice to have some peace and quiet. I felt like a single mother of two once in a while, when "the boys" talked about films, comics, music and "men's stuff". and trust me, almost everything has something to do with a film, comic or song.

it doesn't feel like christmas at all. I'm used to having all the exam stress just before christmas and the holidays just for me, my family and friends, but this year is different. today I read some history and one pile of 9 piles of copies that I need for the exam at the academy of fine arts. I'm also planning to study some on the 25th and the 26th, but as you know, plans of this kind tend to change rather fast...

there is one thing that I'm very excited about. my present for harald. I've thought about it for weeks and I can only hope he'll like it. he's been trying to guess what it is ever since I told him that it's too late to wish anything on thursday. I'm glad I can finally give it to him tomorrow.

tomorrow will be quite an extraordinary day in many ways. I'll take my camera with me to harald's mum and then try to take lots of pictures as many things will be different from what I'm used to in finland. in addition, harald promised (or threatened?) to sing 10 christmas carols...

I wish you all happy holidays!

thursdays...

...just aren't good for us. last week on thursday harald fell down the stairs, yesterday I did the same at the university. now my whole knee is covered with bruises and my other ancle is somehow twisted.

luckily, next week thursday I don't have to leave the house... but hey, how many per cent of all accidents happen at home?

6.12.: finnish independence day

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6.12.: nikolo & krampus

jotain paskaa säästä

the december began and the weather got warmer. both yesterday and today it has been over +10 degrees, I've started using my "summer/autumn jacket" again and it seems very strange to see all the christmas items in the shops. however, some people refuse to accept the warmth and still wear fur coats and thick winter boots.

considering all this (and the fact that time really flies here), it's hard for me to understand that christmas is indeed coming and I should probably make some pre-christmas preparations. the lady next door has already decorated our hallway and our door. today I bought some christmas cards to send to finland. usually I write a list of people that I should send a christmas card to, this year I didn't do it. usually there are about 20 names on my list, this year I bought 7 cards. I must have forgotten a lot of people. I'm sorry for those who expect a christmas card from me but won't get one.

today an amnesty international worker stopped me on the street and I told him right away that I'm just a foreigner and not going to stay here long enough to be interesting for amnesty. of course, he asked me where I come from, but to my big surprise he didn't ask me about the weather in finland. I was so shocked about not being able to use my regular answers that I almost started talking about the weather myself. horrible.

in the afternoon I went to the cinema with harald to see beowulf in 3d. it was quite fascinating, altghough the story wasn't especially interesting. the film makers played a lot with 3d and so I got bored only once during the two hours we sat there.

through heaven and hell aka the ultimate erasmus weekend

finally it was time for some erasmus action. I haven't taken part in many esn events and when I finally did, it all took place during one weekend. so this is the story of my ultimate erasmus weekend.

friday. UNO-city.

on friday I skipped my early morning (emphasis on early) lecture and spent the afternoon in the uno-city, the united nations office in vienna. the guided tour was ok, I was a bit disappointed though, because we didn't go to the higher floors where the view over the city must be spectacular.

saturday. riegersburg & co.

at half past seven in the morning we (we being about 50 exchange students) started our trip to riegersburg. we first visited the castle and the town. the castle was closed and the town was small, so I had nothing else to do but to take pictures. I also had time to get to know camille, a french exchange student who also studies german. in fact, we even take a course together as we found out.

the absolute highlight of the trip was the visit to the zotter chocolate factory (the heaven). we got to taste chocolate in all its forms, starting from the beans. I've never eaten that much chocolate in that short time. we had chocolate..

... in fountains (starting from 10% up to 100% cacao)... ... in bits (white, normal, dark)...
... as a drink (dark, chili, white...)... ... in balls (about 15 different flavours)...

... and on a conveyor belt (50 different flavours).
after that nobody was hungry.

the next stop was at a pumpkin seed oil mill. again we could taste not only the oil but also pumkin seeds in different flavours. this time we all had had so much chocolate that seeds with chocolate stayed almost untouched. instead, our favourite flavours were chili and wasabi.

then it was time for dinner. after dinner we returned back to vienna. on the way back most of us just wanted to sleep which was impossible for three reasons: first, the bus driver put the radio so loud that it was almost like in a disco. second, the spanish didn't want to sleep. they wanted to sing. because the radio was so loud, their singing was mostly shouting. third, the polish tried to get the spanish to shut up by trying to sing even louder. so for the first 30 minutes (the hell) there were three competing noises. then the polish gave up. after another 30 minutes also the spanish gave up. the radio was on the whole way to vienna.

sunday. city hall.

the mayor invited the international students to a cocktail party at the city hall. we got something to eat and something to drink. there was live music and lots and lots of exchange students. I had a lot of fun. I met almost everyone I know and got to know some new people. after the party we continued to an irish pub.

idman

on saturday I took harald out for dinner in order to celebrate the grant I got from the idman foundation. we started with emptying a bottle of martini asti (that will always remind me of jess and vienna) before going to the restaurant. it was a small portuguese restaurant, senhor vinho, just around the corner.

we ate well and drank enough. the atmosphere was really cosy and it only got better when the owner decided to sing some fado. there was no feeling of rush, and when we left after three hours, most of the people that were there upon our arrival still stayed there.

good-humoured, satisfied and slightly tipsy we came back home and opened the vanilla vodka.
thank you for the great evening, idman foundation!

shoes

I've never considered myself as a particularly demanding consumer. however, it seemed to be almost impossible to find winter shoes that would fill my criteria. I wanted dark brown shoes with soles (high enough not to get my feet wet, low enough to look normal). they should be a bit higher than sneakers (to keep my ankles warm) but not as high as my winter boots for finland. and they shouldn't make me look like a 60-year-old.

I was looking for the perfect pair first alone, then with my mother and then on my own again. it didn't seem to exist. I was already about to give up, but then gave it one last chance. and I found it. actually, they are for children (sometimes it's useful to have small feet), but then again they cost only 15 euros. my new winter shoes.

it snows in vienna!

otherwise not much has happened. I had my second (and last for this term) presentation and a very lazy weekend with harald. now I don't have any bigger university projects going on, so I can enjoy my life here even more.

getting the city feeling

little by little I realize that I'm living in a city. in an active city. in a modern city. in a city with history.

on tuesday I ate fast a take-away lunch between lectures. every tuesday I eat something different, even though I haven't gone further than 100m from the university. this week it was sushi.

yesterday I had an evening lecture starting half past six. it takes about 35 to 45 minutes to get to the campus that time of day, depending on the bus connections. I had just bought a book and so I decided to leave extra early to have some time for reading before the lecture. I'm glad I did leave so early.

slightly after the halfway to the campus, the bus driver asked everybody to get out of the bus. two weeks ago it was the same thing: we were supposed to wait for the next bus, but that one, too, didn't drive further. so there were more than enough people for two buses waiting for the next bus at the stop. when the third bus finally arrived, only one tenth could get in. then the fourth bus arrived and also didn't drive further. that's when I gave up and went back home.

anyway, this week it was different. I could see the problem right away. there was a demonstration blocking the streets and (as it seemed to me) hundreds of cars stucked. so I continued on foot. soon the demonstration blocked also my way and so I tried to pass by it. somehow I ended up behind the parliament house. I decided to give the tram a chance but my way to the tram stop was cut by the police who were setting up fences in order to protect a building.

finally, I got to the tram, to the campus and to the lecture. I had no time for reading, though.

F wie Finnen

there is an article on student parties in a free vice student guide. in "studenten partys a-z" is f for finns:

"vergiss geschleckte italiener, weicheirige spanier oder biedere piefkes. austauschstudenten aus finnland sind die kronjuwelen deiner party. sie kommen schüchtern und altmodisch gekleidet, dafür aber gut frisiert. anfangs stehen sie verloren in der ecke herum und tun einem nur leid. dann trinken sie immer mehr vodka und tanzen plötzlich nackt tango in deiner küche. du kannst es gar nicht glauben und starrst sie dumm an. nachher erzählen sie dir, wie leid du ihnen tust, weil du so angezogen und verklemmt bist."

in short: forget about all the other exchange students - invite finns to your party. they're shy, they wear old-fashioned clothes but a good hair cut. at first they stand lost in a corner and others pity them. then they drink more and more vodka and end up dancing tango naked in your kitchen. you can't believe it at all and just stare at them. later they tell you how much they pity you for dressing the way you do and being so uptight.

first times on a bad day

tuesdays are bad days. I used to hate sundays because of monday, but now I hate tuesdays. the sad thing about it is that it's all my own fault. at least partly my own fault. it seems that there are some days that are more popular for lessons than others and tuesday is... very popular, indeed. I have four tuition units every tuesday, which would be ok, if they were one block. but no. of course not.

my first lesson starts at half nine. after the lesson I have 90 minutes free time before the next one. from 2pm til 3pm I have my next break and then again 90 minutes before the last lecture that ends at 8pm. I'm home 30-40 minutes later, hungry and tired.

now I've finished my dinner and I can tell you about my newest first times.

harald watched me using cheap body lotion for my face. he said you should use a proper moisturizer as you only have one face. so I bought a proper moisturizer at the pharmacy.

now I feel very grown up.

I also had to visit a doctor. for the first time I used my european health insurance card. everything went fine, I didn't have to pay anything - yet. let's see what happens next.

mum's visit 19.-22.10.

univ. prof. mag. dr.

yeah, the austrians really love their titles. if you've ever achieved anything in your academic career, you can feel free to show off here with your title(s).

harald told me that here it is possible to get your titles on your credit card and of course, I wanted to know whether it's possible in finland, too. it isn't. at least not according to nordea's website. it's a pity, actually. I would have wanted "fil. yo" (= student of a philosophical subject) on my visa electron. just for fun.

everyone who teaches at the university here is called a professor. students are addressed as kollegen and kolleginnen (colleagues) instead of "hey, you over there" like in finland. I still don't know how to take it. it feels kind of respectful but on the other hand it reminds me of the socialist genosse. don't ask me why. probably I'm just not used to be talked about in third person.

national holiday

as the national holiday isn't that big of a deal here (compared to finland), I'm not able to tell you about any kind of celebration. instead, I can offer you an austrian snack. this you won't get in finland. maroni and pferdeleberkäsesemmel, here you are.

wtf?

childish or not - every time I pass this shop, I just can't help smiling.

akademie der bildenden künste

given the opportunity to study at a big university, I was determined to make the best out of it. I still need about 30 ects plus some german courses for my bachelor's and so I decided to study a minor in vienna. I chose cultural studies. cultural studies is not only organised by different faculties but also by different universities and so it became that I have one course at the academy of fine arts vienna. as a student of the main university I can take courses also at other viennese universities without any problems. or at least I should be.

in order to be able to take courses at the academy, I had to visit the studien- und prüfungsabteilung with my student card. of course, I didn't realise that studien- und prüfungsabteilung being an office in vienna, is only open until noon. so I went there a couple of days later.

there they told me that I have to fill out a form online, before they can accept my application. they also need my studienblatt (a paper from the university stating that I'm enrolled at the scandinavian studies department). so I went there a couple of days later with all the needed forms.

the lady working there was very kind. she made copies of my studienblatt and student card and said it was all allright. later that day I had my first lecture at the academy and the professor reminded us that it is obligatory to registrate for the course. at home I tried to registrate, but found out that for the registration you need a pin code that you can get - surprise, surprise - at the studien- und prüfungsabteilung. so I went there a couple of days later.

the lady working there was shocked. how is it possible that nobody gave me the pin code when I brought the forms? she gave me the pin code and another studienblatt (stating that I study scandinavian studies at the main univeristy but I'm also enrolled at the academy). at home I was finally able to registrate for the course. the information about the ects amount of the course isn't really sufficient online and as I needed it for my learning agreement, I asked the professor after the second lecture. she told me that I should ask that -nowhere else but- at the studien- und prüfungsabteilung.

erasmus welcome party

the event of the month. I can't even remember the last time I was out dancing. in poland I danced, but that doesn't really count. was it at my farewell party at oliver's in april?

anyway, I was really looking forward to the party. harald invited his friends over for dinner and so he had to cancel his coming. I knew elif would be great company and as she's not an erasmus student, I invited her myself. as I also wanted to talk to her (hadn't seen her since the beginning of september), I told her to meet me at kunsthalle. that's also what I told miet. somehow they didn't get it. to me it was obvious to meet in a bar prior to the party in order to have a drink or two and talk a bit, but as it turned out, I was alone with this idea.

me, nele, miet and susanne

as we were told to be on time at the palais eschenbach, where the party took place, I suggested to meet at half past seven. we did meet, but the others (miet, nele, elif) thought I wanted to go right away to the party: 90 minutes before it started! miet and nele seemed to be shocked as I tried in vain to get us a table in the kunsthalle. so we headed for the party location. arriving there still an hour too early, I suggested to go to a bar, any bar, close by. after some discussion we ended up in a karaoke bar next door, where I found out the reason for the earlier misunderstanding: nele doesn't drink any alcohol at all and miet little. elif was right on track and ordered a vodka orange.

elif, anna and me

at nine my very first friend here, polish karolina turned out to the karaoke bar and we decided to go to the party. although we were only 15 minutes late, there was already a queue, but luckily it took us only about 10 minutes to get in. at the entrance we meet susanne.

arriving to the party rooms, elif and me headed right away for the bar. the belgians seemed worried. miet told me shaking her head that I should be careful, otherwise I might get drunk. I've had mostly converse experiences with belgians, thanks to maarten, michael and andy. after one more drink it was time for elif and me to hit the dancefloor.

the dj was surprisingly good. he played all kinds of songs and because the rhythm kept changing all the time, it was a real joy to dance. later on a good friend of elif, judith from germany, joined us and we spent the rest of the evening together.


I suppose that all the exchange students were there. at least I met everyone I know, apart from my buddy samara, who stayed at home sick. at two I took the nightbus back home. the guests were already gone and harald asleep.

students' status

it seems that the students here are more appreciated than in finland. as soon as the new term started the main entrance of the university was occupied by diverse advertisers: you could join greenpeace, test a newspaper, try a new yoghurt, get a credit card... as much as the promoters annoy me, they make me feel important. they really see students as an important target group and important consumers. on campus there are also all kinds of companies such as a driving school, book shops (of course), restaurants, a brewery (!), insurance company, supermarket... in finland it sometimes seems that even putting their advertisement into the student calendar is for the companies more like a gesture of charity than real marketing. in vaasa there is even a campus area, but in comparison to vienna it's very empty and -well- dead. my self esteem as a student has got a lot higher since my arrival.

on the other hand, stundents have different problems here. there aren't enough courses for them (remember my proseminar with about 150 applicants for 38 places?) and the auditoriums are more than full students sitting on the stairs and leaning on walls. and that's despite the tuition fees.

do you love dogs?

I was told that viennese people love dogs, dogs are omnipresent. nevertheless, I was amazed to see a dog in the auditorium. don't just train your dog, educate it!

die helden unserer jugend

samara and I.

on saturday I was invited to a party by my "buddy", samara. it was the birthday party of one of her roommates and the theme was the 90's. the theme scared the hell out of me, but then again, that's the effect most theme parties have on me. I was determined to go, although I had no costume or anything from the 90's. harald promised to come with me (I was wicked enough not to tell him about the theme before he had promised to come). christian was also supposed to come, but I guess he decided to go to the lange nacht der museen. the party wasn't all that bad. the girls had baked a lot (hmm, the chocolate cake!) and not all were dressed up. guests had been asked to bring some music with them and according to that the most popular cd of the 90's was backstreet's back by backstreet boys. I'm glad I wasn't there when they played it.

it's a sticker!

were you one of those children who collected stickers? or maybe you were one of the others, who never got the point of stickers? either way, you probably thought the sticker times were finally over already a decade ago. at least I did. I had no idea that collecting stickers might in fact be preparation for "the real life". well, it is if you happen to live in vienna.

there is a sticker (pickerl) for almost everything here and mostly you need to visit an office or two to get one (office hours 8-12, except on thursdays and on fridays and... but that's another story). for your student's identity card you need one, but that's nothing new: that's how it works in finland, too. you also need one in order to get the student's discount at university cafeterias. one for driving on the highway. one for parking. one for the university library.

on the university tour organized for the erasmus students our guide told us: "for this you need a pickerl. it's a sticker!"

leben heisst geniessen!

my last holiday week was over fast.

on wednesday was the registration for german courses. it all happened online, but in a way that made me laugh. if I was a regular student here, it would make me cry. I shouldn't even complain, I had been warned, but still... oh my god. the registration for all the courses was on the same day, but they had been divided into groups and each group (i.e. literature seminars) had its own registration time. my first and most important registration (linguistics proseminar) was at noon. at 11.59 I updated the registration site constantly in order to sign up as quickly as possible, but I had absolutely no chance. they took 38 students to my proseminar and I was the number 81. after some time some students signed off and I finally landed on place 77. great. I did as I was told to do and wrote the professor an e-mail, begging him to give me an extra place as I was an erasmus student unable to attend a proseminar later. he gave me the place.

on weekend I went hiking with harald. on saturday it was just him and me. on sunday it was him, me, peter and jessica. and hundreds of tourists.

I've also taken part in many erasmus events. on monday was the orientation for the german institute, on tuesday stammtisch, on wednesday karaoke and on sunday a meeting in a bar that I never found, but afterwards I met some of the exchange students for a dinner.

last but not least. today was the day. the first day of my university studies here. I had only one lesson and it all went fine. I met a friendly girl who suggested right away that we should do our presentations together. the professor was nice and funny, the atmosphere relaxed and students indeed took part in the conversation even if they had nothing to say. after the lesson I felt much more self confident about this whole exchange. tomorrow I'll have my first lecture and I'm already looking forward to that.

12 days, 6 towns

so I'm back from holidays! I didn't plan much in advance, which was good as my plans changed many times during the journey. here's what happened:

12.9. sofia, bulgaria















my biggest challenge was to find a supermarket. in every corner there was a small shop selling chips, chocolate and alcohol, but I needed somethig more for my trip to macedonia. I saw many people carrying a billa bag coming from the same direction, so I thought it couldn't be far, but I was wrong. after walking for half an hour I succeeded in finding a sign telling that there is a billa supermarket 15km away. I decided to stick to chips and chocolate.

13.9. ohrid, macedonia

definitely one of the best days on my trip. I took the morning bus from sofia to skopje and slept most of the time on the way to the border. after a couple of hours the motor of the bus broke down and the driver had to stop in the middle of nowhere, but he seemed to be quite handy: it took him only 10 to 15 minutes to fix the motor and we could get back on the bus. we had almost reached the border when the driver suddenly turned the bus around. he also made an announcement but in bulgarian, so I had no idea what was going on. we drove back another way for half and hour and turned once again just to return to the border. at the border we had to take all our stuff out and open the bags for the customs. there a macedonian man explained to me what had happened: the driver had left his passport there where he fixed the motor. after we had crossed the border, the bus driver took a bottle of whiskey out of a bag and served us all a drink as a compensation for the lost time. I smiled all the way to skopje. in skopje I just changed money and took the next bus to ohrid.

14.9. ohrid, macedonia


I stayed at jimmy's. jimmy is a taxi driver who has to flats for rent. as I am travelling alone, but had the whole room just for me, he insisted on me paying for two people. I was too tired to care, especially because the whole room cost me 10€. jimmy turned out to be an excellent host. he drove me around and took me out to eat on both nights. after dinner I wanted to go back to my room, but jimmy said I should go out and took me to a jazz club for a good glass of wine and then to an irish pub which was full of irish soldiers. jimmy explained to me that all the soldiers from kosovo spend their free weekends in ohrid, apart from the germans who go to bulgaria and the americans who go to greece. or the other way around. anyway, I had a great time and still got home early enough to prepare myself for tomorrow.

15.9. overnight bus to belgrade, serbia

it is amazing how much time and energy macedonians spend on organizing seats on the bus. I had to take two buses: first to skopje and there change to another one. both of them were full. on both of them it took almost 30 minutes to find everyone a seat they were satisfied with. with each bus ticket you get a designated seat, but in practise everyone sits where they want to. I have absolutely nothing against that. then, when the bus should leave, somebody decides that she/he wants to sit on her/his own seat. that, of course, causes a domino effect. passangers try to change places on the narrow corridor, most of them have huge luggage. luckily, I took my own seat right away and could concentrate on observing other passangers and learning to count in macedonian as they shouted out their seat numbers: "trieset!", "pet!", "sedum!".

16.9. belgrade, serbia


on the bus from skopje I got to know to a korean guy, bo, who studies in london. his friend had been to belgrade earlier this year and had recommeded him a hostel. since I had no idea where to spend the night I joined him. the hostel is very central and cosy. so cosy that there is an american here who has stayed here already for five and a half months.

17.9. overnight train to bar, montenegro

I sat for three hours in the park at the fortress in belgrade. two elder men sat down next to me and started chatting to me as soon as they discovered I was a tourist. one of them had been to helsinki 30 years ago and told me they had troubles buying beer as they arrived so late. he was amazed to hear that nowadays you can buy beer in a supermarket until it closes. the other one was interested in linguistics and therefore had learned turkish and hungarian and so we had a linguistic conversation. then they started to give me advice. I should by no means miss dubrovnik as I was already in the area. in mostar there's nothing to see as the new bridge doesn't have the same atmosphere as the old one. one of the gentlemen told me I could save some money by hitchhiking along the montenegrian coast instead of travelling by bus, but the other one disagreed because I am a woman travelling alone. one of them said I should stay in herceg novi to have good connections to dubrovnik, the other one disagreed. it was great to follow the discussion.

18.9. kotor, montenegro

once again I met interesting people. in the evening I climbed to the castle with conny, a german who stays with the same lady I do. on our way down it was already dark and the steps were in a really bad condition. there we met two australian women, a mother and a daughter. the mother had difficulties getting down, so we accompanied them. conny used his mobile phone as a torch and we all got safe and sound back to the old town where we went to eat together. it came up in the conversation that the mother had escaped from jugoslavia in a rowboat 50 years ago. she stayed in a refugee camp in italy for some years before moving to australia. after dinner she gave us some home-made rakija.

19.9. kotor, montenegro

once again I'm happy about not having strict plans for my journey. it seems impossible to find out the bus timetables. they're not very well organised, as harald said. conny and I wanted to leave for mostar, but when and how was the question. from kotor there's a daily bus to mostar at three pm, but I wanted to leave earlier in order to have some time in mostar and find a good place to stay. in the travel agency at the bus station conny was told there is a bus going from tivat (15 minutes from kotor) to mostar at 7.30 in the morning. on the internet harald found a nightbus. in lonely planet it said there was an 8 o'clock bus from herceg novi. we had already decided to take the 7.30 bus, but then we heard that it only goes in the summer. as the 3pm bus was the only one we could count on, we decided to take it. to be on the safe side, we booked a hostel online.

20.9. mostar, bosnia and hercegovina

travelling day. the bus went via dubrovnik, so I was able to see it, although I wasn't able to visit it. I just don't have time for everything and apart from that, dubrovnik is expensive. mostar is great. we had dinner at ten in the oldtown and it was almost empty. after kotor it was relaxing not to be constantly surrounded by tourists. the small lanes impressed me.

21.9. sarajevo, bosnia and hercegovina

the tourist got back to mostar at noon. at the hostel one australian guy recommended us to stop by at the souvenir shop: "there are some really cool things, not those tacky souvenirs you can find everywhere." he told us he had bought a "bullet turned into a pen". not tacky, huh? :-) our host in mostar had fixed us a place to stay in sarajevo and we got picked up from the railway station. I also like sarajevo. there's something about bosnia that fascinates me.

22.9. sarajevo, bosnia and hercegovina

in the morning there was a nasty surprise in the bathroom. a huge bug. an american guy had tried to kill it with shampoo (!) and in fact it lied on its back in shampoo and seemed to be dead. until I got into the shower. then it turned around and came towards me. I crabbed the next bottle that wasn't mine (it was mr muscle and I had to laugh when I noticed it) and hit the bug with it. its head got ripped off, but the body kept on moving. I had to hit several times. afterwards I felt like a murderer. I killed gregor samsa.


23.9. vienna, austria

I know it's not a good idea to travel on a sunday. that's why I had booked a flight from sofia to vienna for monday. unfortunately I was in sarajevo and not in sofia. I ended up taking a bus to vienna as it would cost me more time and money to get to sofia where I would have had to stay in a hostel and take a taxi to the airport. the bus left at 8 in the morning and was supposed to arrive at half past nine in the evening. it took us over two hours to cross the border to croatia. in croatia there were constanly traffic jams. our bus driver had to stay with the police in croatia, but don't ask me why, I didn't understand a word. luckily, we had another driver on the bus and we were able to continue our way towards vienna. at half past eight we were still at the border between croatia and slovenia. it took us one and a half hours to cross the border. finally, after 18 hours of travelling, we arrived at vienna bus station at 2 am. it was a good holiday, but it's also good to be home again.

two weeks in vienna

today I've been here for two weeks. it doesn't feel like that at all: on one side it's like I'd just come and on the other side like I'd never been anywhere else.

last week the weather went mad. it rained for days like hell, in some parts of austria it even snowed. I tried to stay indoors as much as possible, outdoors I was wearing three layers of clothes and missing my gloves - early september! before coming here I wasn't sure whether I should take my jacket with me, but now I'm very happy I did it. after all, it not my plan to freeze to death in here. today the weather is much more convenient. thank god.

speaking of the devil, the pope was here, too. the news was all about the pope during the weekend. from our living room windows we were able to watch the helicopters circling in the sky.

on thurday I did some sightseeing. I had bought a week ticket for the public transport and I wanted to use it. so I travelled around the city. first I took the bus to the opera, then I changed to tram and after that I changed whenever I felt like it. I ended up to the other side of the danube where I took the tram back to the city. it was really nice, especially as the weather was horrible. I'll certainly do that again.

the whole weekend was a big celebration - harald turned 28 on saturday. so we ate and drank, drank and ate until we ate some more. marvellous!

now I need to start packing again. on wednesday I'm flying to sofia. I'll have 12 days time to travel around the balkans before flying back to vienna, I can only hope the weather will be favourable. this is the first time in years (or maybe ever?) that I'm not overly excited about a trip, it's just that I haven't been in vienna for long yet and everything is just starting to work out. on the other hand, it's good to have something to do. I've earned this holiday.

first erasmus meetings

I'm a bad exchange student, I know. I haven't taken any pictures yet, apart from those couple of my room. you'll just have to live with it, sorry.

on sunday we had our first eramus meeting in a beer bar on campus. by the time I got there, there were already many people and most of the tables were full. at the only table where there was any space sat austrian buddies and a danish erasmus student. so I spent most of the time talking with austrians and the one dane. I got my austrian sim card and the esn card. later on the dane and I decided to change tables in order to meet other exchange students and so I ended up sitting with some more austrians but also with two girls from poland and one from korea. it soon got quite chilly and we decided to go home.

yesterday there was an organized university tour - we saw the main building, the NIG (neues institutsgebäude) and the campus. I was in a german speaking group (by accident) and so my new polish friends couldn't join me. instead I got to know to a really nice girl, who's going to stay for the whole year as well studying psychology and guess what? she's also from poland. I don't know what it is about polish people, but everywhere I go I seem to get to know them. is it the vodka culture we have in common? is it something else? anyway, after the tour we went to kaiko club. we got in for free and for the first our the drinks were for free as well. mondays at kaiko are always well visited, so this monday was an exception as the club got empty soon after eight o'clock. most of the exchange students had just arrived or got their keys and the language course started this morning, so hardly anybody was up for a long night out. I gave up at nine. I'm sure the club will get better when more exchange students arrive. there will be around 300-400 exchange students at the main university alone and 1 200 in vienna.

today I'm just going to take it easy. and well, pay my rent.

we are the winners of eurovision (dance contest 2007)

as the video doesn't seem to work, the link is here.

my first job interview in german and how I rejected the offer

two nights ago I got a call from the company that organizes an international football cup here. they said that they needed a native finnish speaker and invited me to an interview. so yesterday I went there. the office didn't look like an office at all, the interviewer was a young tiny woman with blond hair, well done nails and pink slippers. "if you just could take your shoes off, please" she said.

I felt slightly superior to the interviewer and that's not just because of my size, but because I knew I didn't really need the job if it wouldn't suit me. she told me about herself and the company and finally about the job. it all seemed very nice first, but then she started talking about how "we" will get to the place and how "we" will stay at a hotel. and how "we" are going to wear suits and denim miniskirts ("you surely have one, right? - you don't? well, do you have any kind of miniskirt?").

I told her that I don't want a job that makes me stay in a hotel somewhere in southern austria ("where it is? hmm, good question, I don't know. in the south somewhere."), but she just kept talking. I also don't want a job where I have to wear a suit (negotiable, depends on the job), let alone a miniskirt (out of question). finally, she got it. I said I was sorry and wished her all the best. now she has five days time to find a native finnish speaker who's ready to wear a miniskirt for football players in southern austria. finnish women should know better.

I told harald I didn't take the job and he took me to the cinema.

my new room

on mal's request: here are some photos of my new room. actually, I wanted to take "before" and "after" pics, but then we changed the order already yesterday and the room isn't ready for an "after" picture yet. the (lovely) blue carpet is brand new as well as the blue cover for the sofa - I bought both of them today. now I still need something for the walls and probably a new lamp for the bedside table (since everything else in in blue, the red lamp started to disturb me).