Saturday 15.1.2011
It's sooo sunny here today!! It's also -4 degrees F (-18 C). (that's NEGATIVE, yes) I stayed home most of the day and worked online. I talked my friend Justin (TN friend who is studying in France) for almost 2 hours!! It was great for me to have a bit of serious conversation and a bit of nonsense conversation with a good friend. I have plans to go out with some friends around 9pm for karaoke! Interestingly enough, Finland is the #2 karaoke capitol of the world! haha (Japan is #1)
It ended up being -25 C Saturday night. (that's about -13 F for you guys back home) I had a really bad day for the most part. Some serious drama from back in the States came my way via email. IF you want to read about it, I wrote another entry. It's NOT a lighthearted read though. After things got as settled as they could. i decided I needed to get out of my room and be around people. I didn't WANT to, but I knew I NEEDED to. I stopped by and played cards with some friends, then stopped by another get together. I was later convinced to go downtown for karaoke. My friends Agu (Spain) and Brett (Canada) called my room and told me they had a bike for me and were waiting on me! hahaha So, yes... I jumped on a bicycle in -25 C weather and rode downtown! It was fun for the most part. Except when my asthma got the best of me and we had to stop (about 6 times lol) We had a great time though. The only unpleasant part of the night was when this VERY large, VERY smelly, VERY drunk old man decided he was in love with all the girls at our table and that he need to "touch" them all. It was awful and disgusting. I ended up jumping up out of my chair and yelling at the guy. I even had to grab him and push him away.... several times... I finally got in his face and he backed off. We went and got security not long after that. It was funny, looking back at it. He was so very gross... I seriously had to go wash my hands because his smell got on me.... yuck. The girls at the table called me their "Protector". Which is a role I am having to fill more than I'd like to here. Old creepy men are abundant in Finnish bars. I came home very very late, but couldn't sleep because I was still upset about the drama from earlier. I found my Dad on skype and asked him to pray about it, and we ended up talking for a while as well... it helped a lot. I finally went to bed around 6.30am
Sunday 16.1
Stayed home working online for most of the day. I also was working on my first big batch of postcards to send back home! i was asked to go to City Bar with a bunch of people but had to decline since I was still so exhausted. The heat in my bedroom? Yeah, it works JUST fine..... That's why i had to sleep in 2 layers of clothes, my scarf, and my gloves.... cold Kyla makes for grumpy Kyla. This night of sleep led to me buying a heater for my room the next day. One thing that made me laugh a lot was finding THIS video -- Hevisaurus Video -- This is best described as the Finnish version of Barney. These kids get Heavy Metal Dinosaurs!? Awesome :)
Monday 17.1
Things that make me happy: Dance lessons in a language I don't know / Good music I've never heard before / Finnish hugs / learning how to dress for the cold / having my very own heater in my room!! :) Today can be marked - SUCCESS! Earlier in the day, I was exploring downtown today and decided to take action against freezing all the time. I bought some awesome ski pants that go over my regular pants and I bought a heater for my room! I am a much happier person for this. I found an amazing Tango dance group here. They are so very nice and the music and dancing was unbelievable. It was fun taking the lesson in Finnish :) I have been told to keep my hugging to a minimum since Finnish people aren't so affectionate, I was overly happy when the instructor for Tango HUGGED ME as I was leaving :) i miss hugs!!
Tuesday 18.1
I was still on a very large dance high from Tango the night before and lots of the people here were asking me about all the dancing I had been going to. So I wrote a VERY large note about dance info here in Jyvaskyla. It helps keep me organized as well. Tuesday night I went to Salsa with Victoria (Australia) and Tara (Holland). We had a GREAT time. I am not sure I can dance Salsa every week though, it was a much harder on my back than I expected. I didn't get hurt, but I couldn't keep up with them for more than the hour we were there.
Wednesday 19.1
I was finally able to attend the weekly Couch Surfing meeting and it was GREAT! I met so many interesting people. Afterwards I went to a party at Memphis (name of a restaurant here) I had one of the BEST hamburgers of my LIFE, hahahaha. I met up with Catherine (North Carolina) and we decided we were too restless to stay in one place. We ventured out to see the other clubs/bars downtown. We went to an Irish pub and I tried an Irish Creme Ale.... it was amazing! Our next stop was a bar named Redneck, how can two girls from the South resist such a place!? We both had apple cider and took lots of photos of this "Country" Bar. We were the ONLY people there for a while. Eventually others starting walking in and this is where the night gets..... interesting? It's a LONG and crazy story... I wrote another post about it.
Thursday 20.1
i had a seriously bad migraine headache all day.... It was very awful. One of those where I had to block out all light, all sounds, and I was sick to my stomach and couldn't eat. I slept most all day and finally cooked myself some dinner around 7.30pm. It was quite interesting to make food when all directions are in Finnish. It turned out well though.
Friday 21.1
I still had a headache from all the drama earlier in the week. There were several of my friends going to the Panda chocolate factory and I really wanted to go. So I got dressed and headed for the bus. I got about half way there and the headache was still too much. My vision as still too blurry and it was making me dizzy and what not. I came home and made lunch and decided it as time to start taking my vitamins again!
I felt much better after eating and taking a short nap. I got online and worked on my classes back home and here in Finland as well. My friend Justin (who is on Exchange in France) called me on skype and we had another reallllllllllly long talk. I finally talked about the craziness that happened last Saturday and told him all about it. Once we got offline, it all HIT me. I had been running from it for almost a week.. and it finally just sort of sank in. I got very upset and VERY homesick. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be in my bed, cuddling with my cat, and talking to my friends. I posted on Facebook that i was upset, several people wrote back to me and were so encouraging. My friend Damon found me on chat and helped me out as well. He sent me some really good chilled out classical guitar music.
I got a bunch of messages from Catherine (North Carolina) that i should come hang out in her room with the crew that had gathered there. I forced myself to get up and go be social again, because I knew it would be good for me. They all wanted to go party downtown. I am not feeling like drinking anything recently, but I decided I would try it and see how it was at the club anyway. I ended up walking by myself and listening to my mp3 player. It was good medicine for me. I had a great time at the club, I danced and danced and didn't drink at all.
It's sooo sunny here today!! It's also -4 degrees F (-18 C). (that's NEGATIVE, yes) I stayed home most of the day and worked online. I talked my friend Justin (TN friend who is studying in France) for almost 2 hours!! It was great for me to have a bit of serious conversation and a bit of nonsense conversation with a good friend. I have plans to go out with some friends around 9pm for karaoke! Interestingly enough, Finland is the #2 karaoke capitol of the world! haha (Japan is #1)
It ended up being -25 C Saturday night. (that's about -13 F for you guys back home) I had a really bad day for the most part. Some serious drama from back in the States came my way via email. IF you want to read about it, I wrote another entry. It's NOT a lighthearted read though. After things got as settled as they could. i decided I needed to get out of my room and be around people. I didn't WANT to, but I knew I NEEDED to. I stopped by and played cards with some friends, then stopped by another get together. I was later convinced to go downtown for karaoke. My friends Agu (Spain) and Brett (Canada) called my room and told me they had a bike for me and were waiting on me! hahaha So, yes... I jumped on a bicycle in -25 C weather and rode downtown! It was fun for the most part. Except when my asthma got the best of me and we had to stop (about 6 times lol) We had a great time though. The only unpleasant part of the night was when this VERY large, VERY smelly, VERY drunk old man decided he was in love with all the girls at our table and that he need to "touch" them all. It was awful and disgusting. I ended up jumping up out of my chair and yelling at the guy. I even had to grab him and push him away.... several times... I finally got in his face and he backed off. We went and got security not long after that. It was funny, looking back at it. He was so very gross... I seriously had to go wash my hands because his smell got on me.... yuck. The girls at the table called me their "Protector". Which is a role I am having to fill more than I'd like to here. Old creepy men are abundant in Finnish bars. I came home very very late, but couldn't sleep because I was still upset about the drama from earlier. I found my Dad on skype and asked him to pray about it, and we ended up talking for a while as well... it helped a lot. I finally went to bed around 6.30am
Sunday 16.1
Stayed home working online for most of the day. I also was working on my first big batch of postcards to send back home! i was asked to go to City Bar with a bunch of people but had to decline since I was still so exhausted. The heat in my bedroom? Yeah, it works JUST fine..... That's why i had to sleep in 2 layers of clothes, my scarf, and my gloves.... cold Kyla makes for grumpy Kyla. This night of sleep led to me buying a heater for my room the next day. One thing that made me laugh a lot was finding THIS video -- Hevisaurus Video -- This is best described as the Finnish version of Barney. These kids get Heavy Metal Dinosaurs!? Awesome :)
Monday 17.1
Things that make me happy: Dance lessons in a language I don't know / Good music I've never heard before / Finnish hugs / learning how to dress for the cold / having my very own heater in my room!! :) Today can be marked - SUCCESS! Earlier in the day, I was exploring downtown today and decided to take action against freezing all the time. I bought some awesome ski pants that go over my regular pants and I bought a heater for my room! I am a much happier person for this. I found an amazing Tango dance group here. They are so very nice and the music and dancing was unbelievable. It was fun taking the lesson in Finnish :) I have been told to keep my hugging to a minimum since Finnish people aren't so affectionate, I was overly happy when the instructor for Tango HUGGED ME as I was leaving :) i miss hugs!!
Tuesday 18.1
I was still on a very large dance high from Tango the night before and lots of the people here were asking me about all the dancing I had been going to. So I wrote a VERY large note about dance info here in Jyvaskyla. It helps keep me organized as well. Tuesday night I went to Salsa with Victoria (Australia) and Tara (Holland). We had a GREAT time. I am not sure I can dance Salsa every week though, it was a much harder on my back than I expected. I didn't get hurt, but I couldn't keep up with them for more than the hour we were there.
Wednesday 19.1
I was finally able to attend the weekly Couch Surfing meeting and it was GREAT! I met so many interesting people. Afterwards I went to a party at Memphis (name of a restaurant here) I had one of the BEST hamburgers of my LIFE, hahahaha. I met up with Catherine (North Carolina) and we decided we were too restless to stay in one place. We ventured out to see the other clubs/bars downtown. We went to an Irish pub and I tried an Irish Creme Ale.... it was amazing! Our next stop was a bar named Redneck, how can two girls from the South resist such a place!? We both had apple cider and took lots of photos of this "Country" Bar. We were the ONLY people there for a while. Eventually others starting walking in and this is where the night gets..... interesting? It's a LONG and crazy story... I wrote another post about it.
Thursday 20.1
i had a seriously bad migraine headache all day.... It was very awful. One of those where I had to block out all light, all sounds, and I was sick to my stomach and couldn't eat. I slept most all day and finally cooked myself some dinner around 7.30pm. It was quite interesting to make food when all directions are in Finnish. It turned out well though.
Friday 21.1
I still had a headache from all the drama earlier in the week. There were several of my friends going to the Panda chocolate factory and I really wanted to go. So I got dressed and headed for the bus. I got about half way there and the headache was still too much. My vision as still too blurry and it was making me dizzy and what not. I came home and made lunch and decided it as time to start taking my vitamins again!
I felt much better after eating and taking a short nap. I got online and worked on my classes back home and here in Finland as well. My friend Justin (who is on Exchange in France) called me on skype and we had another reallllllllllly long talk. I finally talked about the craziness that happened last Saturday and told him all about it. Once we got offline, it all HIT me. I had been running from it for almost a week.. and it finally just sort of sank in. I got very upset and VERY homesick. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be in my bed, cuddling with my cat, and talking to my friends. I posted on Facebook that i was upset, several people wrote back to me and were so encouraging. My friend Damon found me on chat and helped me out as well. He sent me some really good chilled out classical guitar music.
I got a bunch of messages from Catherine (North Carolina) that i should come hang out in her room with the crew that had gathered there. I forced myself to get up and go be social again, because I knew it would be good for me. They all wanted to go party downtown. I am not feeling like drinking anything recently, but I decided I would try it and see how it was at the club anyway. I ended up walking by myself and listening to my mp3 player. It was good medicine for me. I had a great time at the club, I danced and danced and didn't drink at all.