My feet are killing me! I’ve been to Carrefour and then the mall. Spent around 6 hours just wandering around with Jaz and Alex. We did buy stuff though. For instance two shirts and a perfume, which I want to switch now that I got home want to change into the other scent I was thinking of. Jaz keeps insisting that it’s a nice scent on me, that it suits me, but I still prefer the other one. So I’ll be going back on Monday to see if I can exchange it. I’m sure that I could if I had the receipt, but I can’t find it anywhere. I think it fell out in Delhaize when we needed a plastic bag to put our snacks in. Ah well. I can always give it as a present to someone. In any case, I’ll buy the other scent on Monday. Plus I’ll get two dresses then. I did buy one dress today, but when Jaz tried it on it looked better on her so I gave it to her. I’ll get one a size smaller and in a different colour. And I won’t feel guilty if it’s pink. I don’t have pink dresses. Just pink shirts and skirts, no dresses.

We saw Ari Salmivuori in the mall! I don’t think he saw us. He was in too wrapped up in himself pretending to be this really great host showing this couple where the cheese store was and where “the best foie gras ever” can be found. rolls eyes Plus, Jaz and I kinda hid behind a pillar until he left. Alex probably thought we were totally nuts, peeking around the corner checking if Ari was still there. Well, we did explain afterwards. The whole thing makes a lot more sense when you know the back story. Besides, I don’t think he thought that we’d still be in Brussels after what had happened.

I’m so tired… seriously, why I do make myself walk that much? It has to be over 5 km one way. But when I think about it… it’s not that bad. Sure I feel a bit sore the next day, but if I do it often enough, I’ll get used to it. Plus that way I get to save some money. Which I’ll obviously spend on clothes or something. Okay, so more walking on Monday. First the mall to see if I can exchange the perfume, then take the bus to the BBF office (I’ll pay the rent and ask someone to come change some lamps over here), buy food from Carrefour, go to the bank to clarify something about my card and then come back here. I don’t think I’ll have the strength to go get Jaz from school…

Jaz is so nice. She makes me salmon sandwiches without complaints. ^-^

I don’t think I’ll be able to stay awake for much longer. Just too tired. No idea how I’ll be able to stay awake when we go to London. Over here I’m used to wake up at 7:30 a.m., stay awake for about an hour or so, go to sleep for another 3 hours and then at night, I go to sleep around 10:30. That’s early compared to Oliver. He doesn’t get up before noon unless he has to and won’t go to sleep before two a.m.!

“He Said, She Said” is a funny movie. Kevin Bacon’s character is can be such a jerk. But it was so sweet when he woke up in the middle of the night crying because he realized he loved Elizabeth Perkins’ character.

Oi! She just threw a balled up chocolate wrapper at me! It hit my left eyebrow… sniffle And now she’s stuffing chocolate in my mouth. Well, not literally, but still. “Here, eat another sandwich. I’ll make it. Oh go on, just one more. Here’s chocolate. Eat that. It’s really good.” She’s not wrong though. The chocolate is wonderful. Melts in your mouth… ^_^

I wonder if I can get to my uncle’s wedding next February. It is on a Saturday… maybe I could get there for just that weekend. Depends on the amount of work I have to do for university. Plus on the price of the plane tickets.

Egh. I shouldn’t have had that chocolate. Now I feel icky. Bleargh.

Okies, called Telenet and asked about the Internet. It turns out that they only offer their services to the Flemish part of Belgium. So that’s out. But when I went to see my uncle, I walked past two Internet cafés (one which is on the way to school! No idea why I haven’t seen it before…) so I guess that’s what we’ll be doing until we leave. Not that bad I suppose. Could be worse. No access to the Internet at all. O.O;; So when I go get Jaz from school, I’ll ask if she wants to stop by in there. I might actually get to post this as well! ^-^

Aki gave me an envelope which contained the magazine about Cézanne for Jaz, my bank statement and the letter from UCAS saying that I received an unconditional offer from Aberystwyth (which I knew ^-^). There were also two surprises: 1) a CD for me called “The Heritage of Wales” and 2) money. Could be that it’s to pay the rent. Dunno. I’ll ask when they call us. Tonight I hope. Unless they want to wait another five days before they call again… Then some guy who also works at World Vision gave me this bracelet which says “Make Poverty History”. ^-^ He said that I should drop by their office in Something-upon-something in the autumn when I’m in the UK. My reply: “Okay! Uhm… where is that?” He laughed and said it’s an hour’s drive outside of London. I think the place was called Kingston or something like it. Bad memory.

Before I go get Jaz I should probably put more money onto my Proton card. In case we do stop by the Internet place.

This is an okay CD. Not really what I thought it would be, but it’s okay. I think I prefer the Irish type of music.. this isn’t that far from it though. Now I wanna sing. In a choir. Do universities have choirs? And I want to learn Welsh. I have three years there so it could be fun. Just the basics.. get it to the same level as my French. Which means that I understand it at least somewhat and can get buy in a store or asking directions, etc. ^-^ I can’t wait to tour Wales. See castles/fortresses and stuff. Just soak in the history of the place. I’m just fascinated by old places. Like when my class went on that trip to England, I loved walking around the castles. The only thing I didn’t like about it was being in a huge group. I would have preferred to wander around by myself, imagining what it would’ve been like living there. A bit hard to do that with so many girls around me speaking in French. And then there were all of the tourists… -_-

Dad just called. This time the connection was a whole lot better than when Mom called. They had gotten brochures from Aberystwyth (lol.. he could not pronounce that properly at all) and he’s thinking of getting me a room from a B&B instead of in a dorm on campus. Erm, okay. Sounds okay, if I’ve got an Internet connection and storage space. And my own bathroom! If I can’t get en suite then nuh uh. In that case I’d rather live on campus. Living on campus might be more fun. Even if I have to share a bathroom. It’s all a part of the experience of going away to university, right? Ridiculously small rooms, shared facilities, living with others… Unless of course the B&B option is cheaper. Then I’d really consider it. But from what I’ve seen of the B&Bs in the UK (okay, so both were in Blackpool, but I assume that they’re pretty much the same everywhere), the rooms aren’t big enough, the breakfasts are terrible (no offense) and it’s actually someone’s home. If I want to share a living room then I’d rather it be with other students, not a family and strangers who leave after two nights. Just not my idea of university life. Then again… I could be right next to the sea. I’d love being that close to a huge body of water. There’s something about water that just fascinates me. The waves, the vastness… Another point: at a B&B I couldn’t cook for myself. It’d always be the same greasy breakfast. Yech. So again, I’d prefer to share a kitchen with 5-7 other students. Actually the ideal would be what Oliver has: his own shower and toilet and a mini-fridge in his room. That way I could eat whatever I wanted, take a shower whenever, keep my drinks cold… But if not, it’s okay. So right now I think living on campus would be best. He said that there’s the chance to go to the U.S. for my second year. There’s like 10 partner universities in this exchange program. But they’re all really close to the Canadian border. I guess they don’t want anyone getting a tan. XP The southern most one was Notre Dame, PA. It’s a thought. But I dunno. Depends on how my first year goes. Besides, it’s really likely that I’ll be going to the States to get my Masters degree after my 3 yrs in Aberystwyth. I know this is a really silly question, but do they have school colours there like they do in the U.S.? What I want is one of those university sweaters. I like showing off where I go/went to school. I’m usually proud of where I’ve been educated (Pohjis and I.C.M.E.S. excluded). I love my VF sweater. I used to love my Heathrow Elementary T-shirt and Postipuu sweats, until they were too worn out to actually be worn in public. ^^;;

I really want to buy new clothes. But I don’t like the stuff they have in Carrefour. Gotta wait until Saturday. Then it’s time to hit the mall! grin I know I’ll most likely be seduced into buying a body scrub from H&M if nothing else. The same scent as my body butter. That way the scent lasts longer. ^-^ I know I need to get more color into my wardrobe, but for some reason I’m just drawn to pink and collar shirts. I’ve got enough red too… I know exactly what kind of top I want, but it’s not meant for summer. And I have no idea if I’ll ever find it from a store. Might have to make one myself if nothing else. Which reminds me. I want my sewing machine. And my patterns. I want to make clothes! sniffle

She keeps asking me questions! Driving me nuts. Like: Why do we have hair? Why do we have lips? Lips have no purpose. But the thing that really bothers me is where do feelings come from? My toes? What’s the purpose of toes? What about the curve in our feet? People are always interested about brains. Why hasn’t anyone studied toes? Are bald people more likely to die than people with hair? Why are some people double-jointed? People are freaks. Why do we have four fingers and not three? And skin color. No wait, that one has been explained. It’s because of the sun, right? And on and on it goes. Oh thank God. Oprah is on. She shut up now. It’s not like I mind answering questions about stuff I know, but this.. I have no clue about. I tried giving logical possible answers, but then she fired another question before I even had finished answering the previous one. Sort of like a seven year old trying to figure out how the world works. Her words, not mine. Pretty fitting though.

Oooooh. Like I said, Oprah is on right now and her guests this time are people who are addicted to plastic surgery. The first woman is only 28 years old and she’s already had 26 operations. She looks like a Barbie-doll. I feel so sorry for her. She looked really pretty before she had anything done to her. Everyone told her that she sort of looked like Julia Roberts. But then her ex-husband made some comments about her nose and the size of her chest… No matter how terrible I sometimes feel about my body, I would never ever go under the knife. I feel good when I know that I’ve worked to get my body the way it is (even though there still is a whole lot of room for improvement). I know that my calves are okay-looking because I walk practically everywhere. My abdomen is flatter (not flat, but flatter) because I do sit-ups. And I like knowing that it’s because I’ve worked to look like what I am. Plus, I love the feeling I get after a work-out or a power-walk/run. I think some chemical is released that makes me feel good… If I remember correctly it’s the same one that’s released after sex and is in chocolate. thinks

I love grapes. ^-^ One thing I’ve noticed is that now that I control what we eat, we eat a whole lot more fruit (apples, grapefruit and grapes). We don’t eat sugary cereal, we have muesli (no sugar added). Mainly because it’s cheaper than the sugary stuff and we get more. There are no cookies, chips, candy… sometimes ice cream when Jaz manages to persuade me to buy it. For snacking, there’s rice cakes and carrots. Wow… this sounds like rabbit food. We do eat meat and pasta almost daily… Not much dairy though. My stomach is so going to hate me when we go to London in two weeks. Lots of fat and starch and sugar and… yech. It’s only for a weekend, so I should be fine.

Two weeks!!! Can’t wait. Which is probably pretty obvious. ^^; I have finally decided what I’ll be wearing. Not an easy decision. Limited space and limited choices. So actually it wasn’t that tough. XD

I dreamt about escalators and a metro station again last night. It seems like I’m always looking for someone, going up and down those moving stairs. And the station is always this open space where one can see the trains coming and going. Sort of like the station in Roodebeek but larger, wider. And darker. It’s almost always night time when I’m at the station. It changes every time just a bit, but I still recognize it. This time I was looking for Auri, but I ran into Julia. The girls I was with knew her as well and they made us sit down and talk. Catch up on all the things that have happened to us over the years. We were getting along fine, even though we both were very reluctant to sit down at first. Then the station began closing… I figured that Auri had left with her friend. There were also bicycles and bridges and Krisi appeared in a park… I lost my book, but then found it from the trash can. I was so grateful because my Belgian ID card was being used as a bookmark in it and someone old was asking to see it… very strange. The thing that bugs me is this recurring stuff about metro stations and escalators, with me always looking for someone in the crowd. What am I looking for? I keep going up and down… always down first and then back up again. Sometimes it’s stairs, but usually escalators. And the predominant colour is this dark red… and the place I’m at is never well-lit. Hopefully tonight I’ll have nicer dreams. I don’t like the feeling of trying to find someone from a crowd and not being able to see them. Or chasing after someone. That happens a lot in my dreams as well. And then there’s the one with the lake and Jaz and Mardi Gras type celebration in the city and the rocks/hills from where I can see the sea… Haven’t forgotten about that one. Or about the recurring feeling that I’m trapped and can’t squeeze through a narrow gap to my escape. Seen many different versions of that one…

I just saw the title of an article on TV: “Fat men have short penises”. At least that’s what I think it said. It was in Dutch: “Dikke mannen hebben korte penis” or something like that. I know for a fact that “dik/dikke” means thick, or in this case, (most likely) fat. Hebben is to have, korte is short. Anyway, back to the subject. Is that true? Does weight actually affect the length of one’s penis? It’d be interesting if it did. Could give incentive for some guys to lose weight. Lose weight and get a longer penis. Are guys obsessed with the length and girth of their genitalia or is that just another myth? Everyone feel free to answer anonymously if that’s what you prefer… it’s not like I know how to track down people on the Net anyway. -_-

We have the tickets! And we’re leaving on Thursday evening. So only 15 nights to go! grin Everything went fine until it was time to pay for the tickets. For some reason the machine wouldn’t let me use my account to pay for them. It would only accept the Proton part. And since the tickets cost 190€ altogether and only 125€ can be loaded onto the Proton, that didn’t work. I tried going to a cash machine to withdraw the money I had put into my account and that wasn’t possible either. x_X Then I remembered I had my Finnish bank card with me. Used that as my payment method. The thing that really made us happy (me especially) was that the tickets cost 42,50 a piece going there and 52,50 coming back. I was prepared to pay like 70€ per ticket. ^-^

Then when we were about to leave, these people at the door gave us free samples of this new Kellogg’s All-Bran bar. There were two of them, and each gave me and Jaz our own sample. They practically forced us to take them. Not complaining though. I’ve seen them in the store and they’re not that cheap. So when someone gives us almost a whole packet for free, I’m happy. J

What am I going to wear? From what I’ve seen on the weather forecasts, it’ll be warm when we get there. Well, duh. It’ll be May. Like this Sunday it might get to 25 C here! And all of the clothes that I have are meant for colder weather. :-S We are going to the mall on Saturday though. So maybe I can find something summer-y from there… Shopping is fun. No matter what some males say about it. ^-^

The lady was really nice. ^-^ The bonus was deactivated and I got my 20€ back. So I’m happy again. And I didn’t have to get into a long explanation or anything. Just politely said that I’d like to deactivate the bonus and get my 20€ back because I wasn’t aware that I’d be out of 20€ worth of credit immediately. So she gave me a code and voilà! J

We really need warm water during the evenings. It’s okay if we don’t get it that much during the day because Jaz is at school. She’s the one that needs to wash her hair frequently. I can go for 4 days without washing before feeling very icky. With her it’s every other day.

We were talking, Jaz and I, and we were thinking about when would the cheapest tickets be. If Jaz skips P.E. we could make it to a train that leaves at 6 p.m. But if that train is too expensive, then she said she was prepared to skip the afternoon. But then what would we write on the excuse note? So Jaz came up with the idea that I’ll say that I’m going over to see my university and I don’t want to leave her alone for a weekend. Which gave us the idea that we could leave early Friday morning. Or better yet, on Thursday evening… Just sent Oliver a text message asking if he has an exam on Friday. If not, then Thursday evening would be okay. If he does, then we’re not going until Friday morning and we’ll just walk around London until he’s done with his exam. And if he has any work to do, he’ll do get to do that too before we invade his room. ^^;;

I’m watching this show called “Showbiz moms” right now. It’s sort of a documentary about them. I don’t think it’s right that 4 year olds are made to go up on stage when they’re crying and saying that they don’t want to do it anymore. The little girl I saw was made to wear make-up and false hair and… urgh.

Okay, why don’t they tell you that when you activate the 0,01/sms bonus thingy, they take 20€ of your credit immediately? That’s 40 msgs that I could send to Oliver. Or call Robbie to complain about various things. I need that credit! So tomorrow when we go get the train tickets, I’m going to find a Belgacom shop, ask them to deactivate the bonus and give me the 20€. Simply explain that I need that money because we’re poor students and can’t afford to go get more credit because we need to eat. Oh! I just found the Customer Service number. It’s free. At least this thing claims that it’s free of charge. I’ll try that first.

But now I’m gonna go wash Jaz’s hair.

I am so tired. Well, not really. After like 30 mins or so I’ll be ready to do stuff again. I’ve been to the store, the bank and the newsagents. I was about to buy some credit for my phone (I really like this prepay stuff… very handy) but they were out. The new batch won’t be in until noon (it was 10:30 when I went there). So in about maybe an hour or so I’ll pop in there to see if they’ve got some. While I’ve been waiting I’ve done everything I can do here: tidied up, washed the dishes, folded laundry, washed laundry… The only thing that I could do would be rearrange things. But that’s too much of a hassle. And Jaz would kill me if I couldn’t tell her where her things were after I moved them. ^^;

I’ll get to see Oliver in two weeks!! grin Well, two weeks and three nights. We’re gonna go buy the tickets tomorrow. Possibly do some shopping while we’re there. Not at the train station though. If I remember correctly, the gare du midi isn’t that far from the centre (as in shopping). Too bad we can’t buy the tickets from the mall. We could walk there easily. It’s only about 6 km away. I did yesterday when I went to pick up Jaz’s book. I saw some really gorgeous bathing suits in C&A and H&M. While I was in Carrefour today I did try on a bikini but the top made me look very flat and square. The bottom was a nice cut though. I don’t know why I didn’t think to go to H&M earlier. I found a really nicely scented bodybutter for a third of the price they charge in The Body Shop. The bathing suits looked pretty nice too. Although I think that I’ll buy mine from C&A… Weirdly enough, I need more tops. Whenever I go clothes shopping, I wind up going for dresses, skirts and pants. Before it wasn’t that much of a problem because the ratio of tops to bottoms was 3:1. Now it’s 2:1… soon going to 1:1. Ooooh! That reminds me, I really need to start expanding my wardrobe for next year. Of course, it’d really help if I could get my things from storage. Wouldn’t need to buy new things because I’d have my old ones! Hmm.. Should I get a laptop or a big proper PC next year? I think I’ll go for a laptop. It’s easier to take with me when I go away during the holidays. I wonder where I’ll be spending next Christmas. Or better yet, my birthday! I know where I’ll be the first two weeks of July, but what about the rest? And August… and early September. Late September I’ll be in Wales (yay! ^-^). At least something in my life is for certain.

Anyone ever see “Now and Then” with Melanie Griffith, Christina Ricci and Demi Moore? Well, if you haven’t, this line won’t really spoil the movie so I’ll just go ahead and use it: “I’m so happy I feel like I’ll bust!” or something like that. Well, that’s what I feel like right now. I just want to.. I don’t know… do something! I can’t wait 19 nights. Egh… there’s so much planning left to do. Like what to wear, no, that won’t be a problem. Erm… okay. Money, how much would be enough? What we’ll eat… lol, stupid question. KFC on Saturday and then Pizza Hut on Sunday. Hmm…

Okay, enough about that weekend. What will I do tomorrow? Go to GB to get the bon d’achats, the mall to pick up Jaz’s book… maybe I should buy the food from GB since I’ll be going there anyway. Possibly find an Internet café on the way back.. That’s what I really need to do, find one so I can post these things!

Aki’s coming over here on Wednesday. I’ll ask my mom to give him two of my shirts to take with him. I really need more colour in my wardrobe. Now it’s mainly black/blue, white and shades of red/pink. One bright-ish blue shirt. sigh On the bright side, I’ve got clothes in Sheffield already so when I go over there, I won’t have to worry about packing that much. I’m just a bit worried about Jaz’s suitcases. She’s got two. She can only take one on an airplane. So… what will happen to the other one? I can’t take it because I’ve got my own suitcase. And I’m going to England right after Jaz gets her report card. Oliver’s graduation is on the 4th of July and they’ve already bought me a ticket. The thing is… Dad has said that he’ll be in Dubai on the 5th. And he was planning on taking all of us with him. So what do I do? Fly to Finland straight after the graduation? I will be going back after the week in Dubai so it won’t be that bad (I’ll be tanned! grin).

I wanna go shopping. I need to buy a new bathing suit. The one I used last summer is okay for usage in Finland (don’t really care what people at the lake think), but not at a swimming pool. I’m not sure should I buy a whole suit or a bikini. Earlier I wasn’t sure enough about myself to actually make myself wear a bikini in public. But now, I’m pretty confident. Sure I’m not one of the thinnest people around, but I don’t think that I look that bad. And besides, the only thing I’d want to hide at the beach/pool is my thighs. Those will be shown anyway, no matter if I’m wearing a bikini or a bathing suit. So now it’s just a matter of finding a good bathing suit. I’ll go shopping next Saturday. Jaz and I aren’t really sticking to our 50€/week budget. But we did buy ice cream that cost 7,70€ yesterday to celebrate. Well, it’s mainly for her because it’s her favourite ice cream. If we hadn’t bought that, we would’ve been only about 2,50€ over budget. J

I like making lists. Pros and cons when I’m trying to decide something. Otherwise just planning stuff. I guess that’s the TJ part of being an INTJ. I just think it’s fun. Recording every purchase, just seeing where all of the money is going. Good skill to have next year. !!! Next year in Aberystwyth! grin According to Oliver, it’s right on the west coast. Maybe really near the sea. Oh I’d love that. I love being near water. Apparently, it’s the exact same distance from London as Sheffield. And the same distance from Sheffield. A nice little triangle. ^-^ I cannot wait until September. Finally going to uni!! ^___^ You can tell I’m excited, huh? ^^;;