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All of this is so tiring! But I have managed to get loads of stuff done. Yesterday was registration and I decided to take Basic French as an extra module this semester. I would’ve taken the Advanced French, but I only had 20 credits left and that one used up 30. So I had to down grade to Basic French. At least it’ll be an easy course. No stress really there. ^_^ Next year I might want to take Basic German or Basic Spanish. Dunno yet. I still have a year to decide. XD

I like my flatmates. There’re two quiet ones, besides me that is, two really in-your-face ones (as in loud) and the three remaining ones are from the middle. So far I’ve had the most contact with Phil, Neve (I’m not sure is that the way you spell it because she’s Irish and they’ve got some wonky spelling sometimes, just like the Welsh! XD) and Caroline. Lewis keeps inviting me to join the rest of them when they do stuff, but I think it’s mainly because he’s like this go-between. Anyway, last night there was a houseparty that our flat hosted. Really noisy. A few wardens came round to complain at everyone around midnight I think. I didn’t go cause believe it or not, it’s been a very tiring few days. Especially with all the running up and down hills to get to everywhere where I wanted to go to. In the rain. Like right now, I’m soaking wet. I’m in the Llandinam building in the computer room. Outside.. nasty. I was about to go into town with three of my flatmates (to buy a sweater) but the weather.. nuh uh. It’s pouring rain and really windy. :-S Soooo looking forward to getting back to my room. Hopefully it’ll let up soon. And that I get my laptop soon so I won’t have to brave this kind of weather whenever I want to use a computer.

In other news, the bank has been sorted out, I should have my account by Friday and they’re gonna send me the card. I’ve met loads of people while I’ve been running around trying to get everything done. Can’t remember most of their names, but I can recognize their faces. So we all just say hey and wave if we’re farther away from each other to actually say anything.

I’ve decided not to join any extracurricular activities just yet, first I need to see how much spare time I’ve got. I think I’ve got nothing on Wednesdays and Thursday but Tuesday is still open. Monday and Friday are packed. I just hope that my last class on Friday’s is the French one, which’d let me end my school day at 2 pm. I prefer morning classes anyway. More of a morning person. Just like the lecturer this morning said to me at 9 a.m.: “Anyone who’s smiling at this hour of the day is always in the right place.” I had only asked was this the right room for the IS: Network Info lesson.

I guess I should go get something to eat soon. Still not sure do I wanna make spaghetti in the kitchen or just grab something from the Rosser Bar. Haven’t had the time today to think about what I’ll eat later tonight. So tomorrow I have to go to the supermarket to get more food. Right now all I’ve got is spaghetti, quark, muesli (but no milk!), apples, chocolate, toast and marmalade. Egh. Good thing I’ve got my bus card. No way I’d be able to walk all the way up that hill again with the amount of food I’m gonna purchase.

On Tuesday, when I did go to Lidl to buy food and stuff, I decided to take a bus back up. Since I had no clue which bus goes up the hill, I asked the two guys that were nearest to me. The reply I got was: “Before I tell you which busses go there, you tell me which part of the States you’re from.” -_-;; They looked throughly confused when I said that wasn’t from there or Canada. But that wasn’t the only time people thought I’d come from the States! Two members of staff thought I was from there just today. And every time I tell them that I’m from Finland, they look surprised and apologize for calling me a Yank or American or whatever.. I guess my accent really is that strong. At least to British ears. Although some American students I’ve met also thought that I’d come from the States.. It’s a cross I’ll have to bear. Being mistaken for an American where ever I go.

university, registration, UWA, accents

Going to Aberystwyth tomorrow… sorta nervous about it. Well, less nervous now that we actually have the train tickets (boy did that take a long time to book them on the phone!) and taxi ordered for tomorrow morning. The train leaves at about 10:20 a.m. so I should be in Aberystwyth around 3:30 p.m. Oliver’s coming with me which is very nice since I’ll prolly be a nervous wreck on the trains. He’ll keep me sane and calm. Hopefully. ^_^;;; He’ll go back on Sunday though. Staying for just one night. But that’s better than nothing. I’ll be pretty busy anyway, registration and whatnot.. so it’s probably best if he does go back almost immediately. We won’t be apart for too long. I might be going to Ryan & Shaun’s house warming in Leicester in mid-October so I’ll see him there. :) Next I’ll just have to figure out what to get them. Plants? Dunno.. I’ll find something.

Anywayz, still no bank account so it’ll have to wait until I get to Aberystwyth and open it over there. Annoying. But I do have a UK mobile number now. o/ And I got an early Christmas present: a Gameboy Advance. Something to keep me sorta occupied on the train at least. ^-^

Aberystwyth, house warming

Wow.. just got my first ever spam comments. Advertising some online poker. So honoured. -_-;;

I’ve just been counting condoms again.. The site Condoms-Cheap is up again and I was enlisted to do inventory of the stock available.. Yippee! *rolls eyes* To tell the truth, I can’t tell the difference between a natural condom and a ribbed one. The ones with benzocaine in them I do notice because then the sex usually lasts longer (not that I’m complaining about the duration it takes now without the help of chemicals), but that’s what they’re made to do, right? We’ve only been using the natural ones because 1) since I can’t really tell the difference between most of the types it’s best to go with natural and save the others which sell more easily and 2) we didn’t find the others until like 30 mins ago.

condoms, sex

This is just my luck.. I got my International Student Identity Card (ISIC) today. It’s got all the info on it correct, except my picture! It’s got some mean looking blonde girl’s picture on it! *rolls eyes* God what else can go wrong before I get there? Anywayz, I tried calling the place but since it’s a Saturday, no one’s there. So I’ll have to try it on Monday. And I’m gonna try to get a refund instead of a new card because I am not giving them another picture of me to mess up.. Grr…

And also I had to call Aberystwyth again yesterday because the paper that they sent that has my term time address on it is not accepted in banks. Just because it says “To whom it may concern” instead of it being addressed to me or the bank..

I seriously feel like banging my head against a wall or something.

ISIC, Aberystwyth, school, problems, ID mix-up

Seems like I’m not going to Belgium before I go to Aberystwyth. I kinda got the feeling that I wouldn’t when I didn’t go two weeks ago. So now I don’t know do I book train tickets to Aberystwyth from here or go to London and my dad’ll drive me.. I should know tomorrow. Possibly. Could be that I have to wait until Monday. But at least I now know my vaccinations. No need to flub them, my mom found the card where they’re recorded or something like that.. ^_^ Next on my list of things to do (besides mail the medical document), is to find out if I can get any opiskelijatuki stuff from KELA or the equivalent of it in Belgium.. I should be able to get *something*. Even if it’s just 20€/week or 20€/month, I don’t care. Any money is good. Krisi’s gonna get about 100€/month when she turns 20.. now it’s only about 50€/month. I’ll possibly get a part-time job at Aberystwyth. Work at the Union or something. Any place that is flexible concerning work hours during exam periods.

Aberystwyth, money, part-time work, vaccinations

Okay, so I went to the bank on Monday and tried to open an account. They said they needed a paper from Aberystwyth saying that I’ll be staying over there. So I come back, call Aberystwyth, explain the situation to them and they say that they’ll send me the standard letter they give whenever someone needs to open a bank account immediately (spoke to 8 people before I got the right person). The lady at the other end obviously didn’t listen to me because when I got the letter this morning, it had my Finnish address. Well, I tried it anyway today with Oliver’s dad. No luck. So I had to call Aberystwyth again. They said that they don’t know my halls of residence address yet. I told them that even just the main address of the hall I’ll be staying in is enough to open the account. So the lady said that she’ll try to send it to me as soon as she could. But really. Whose idea was it to make it so complicated for foreign students to get a DirectDebit form of paying? They won’t let me enter the halls of residence until a) I’ve paid the whole amount in full or b) given them a Direct Debit form. I don’t have the whole sum, so it’s the Direct Debit that I’ve got to use. But I can’t hand them a completed form before I have a bank account. And I can’t get an account before I have proof of residence. *rolls eyes* Whoever thought of this system… urgh.. it’s just such a pain.

And I only have 10 days before I’m supposed to be there!! O_O;;;

bank, Aberystwyth, Direct Debit

So now we’ve got the German, Russian and Japanese discs of Pimsleur.. All are quite good. Russian seems to bee the easiest to pronounce. Go figure. For some reason I almost say gazpacho every time I’m supposed to say Mrs. (gezpajra?).. And if my mind starts to wander while doing a lesson, I might say the word they’re asking for in the wrong language. So I gotta stay focused. Japanese has too many words that sound the same. But it’s still fun to learn. I’ve only done one lesson of that so far and I can only remember watashi, eigoga, iie, hai and sumimasen. It’ll all come back to me when I’ll do the next lesson. I hope. ^-^

Pimsleur, languages, Russian, German, Japanese

A few days ago, Thursday night to be exact, someone (as usual) was speeding down the winding road where Oliver lives. Since it had been raining, the road was wet (logical..). That would make most drivers want to slow down a bit, right? Nooo, not this guy. So, he loses control of his car, skids hits a wall. Everyone rushes out, to see if he’s okay, etc. Except me.. I was upstairs when it happened and listening to music on the headphones. ^^;; It wasn’t until Oliver came upstairs to get me before I knew what had happened. I mean, I heard a noise, looked outside onto the field, figured nothing major had happened since I didn’t see anything and went back to playing Minesweeper. Anyway, the guy seemed fine, a bit shaken up but otherwise fine. Didn’t seem drunk. He was given tea and then when the police arrived he was questioned. On closer inspection, we noticed that he had plowed through three walls. He probably lost control of his back tires, flew over one wall, broke his axle and flipped his car.

Then Friday night, we went out with Ryan, Shaun and Russell. Darren hung out with us for awhile, but then he had to go somewhere so he didn’t come out to the clubs/bars with us. Anyway, we were at Dempsey’s for about 2 hours, just talking and playing pool. Now since Oliver & I were in the minority, all of the places we went to were gay bars/clubs. Which are pretty much the same as “straight” bars except there’re more guys kissing each other. Anyway, after Dempsey’s we went to Fuel. It was an okay place, except too warm and sticky for my taste. And my feet were starting to hurt a bit since I was wearing heels. Did have fun dancing with Oliver though. To me it seemed like an ordinary club except there were more guys dancing around without shirts. So when Shaun wanted to leave (he was being a bit crabby for some reason.. and he was drunk..) I agreed to go with him. Oliver came with us while Ryan and Russell stayed behind. We went to get some food and then Darren came to pick us up. Now earlier when he had said that he’ll give us a ride back, I imagined he’d have a somewhat larger car than the one he had. I mean, to legally fit six people into his car, they’d have to be pretty tiny. Not five over 180cm tall guys. In the end, Shaun wound up sitting in front with Ryan, Oliver & me in the back. Russell went into the boot. Now, there were three of us against the idea of anyone going into the trunk but in the end, it was the only way we’d all fit. So we all kept talking to him while he was in there just to make sure that he was fine. He said that it was sort of like being in a dark roller coaster.. Well, I assume he wouldn’t have agreed to do it if he’d have been sober. I wouldn’t have.. O_O;;

Btw, I don’t recommend typing with long nails.. which is why I’m gonna go cut mine soon. Oliver won’t be happy though…

So tomorrow I’ll go open a bank account and mail the filled out papers they’ve sent me from Aberystwyth. Plus I need to get more passport sized photos of me.. And according to my dad we’re going to the States next August on vacation and then I’ll be studying in Notre Dame for my second year….

partying, car crash, illegal driving, drinking, gay bars

That was… wow. Some of the best sex ever. I’m so flushed it looks like I’ve been sunburnt. Okay so we were having a bit of a slow “season” these past few months, but after yesterday and today.. *grin*

That’s all I’m gonna say.

WOW.

*grin*

sex

We’ve just completed the 3D puzzle of Big Ben. 1400 odd pieces.. the windows were a real pain. So now it’s standing proudly on the coffee table in the living room. 127 cm in height.. in the end I had to stand on a chair while we attached the roof of it to the walls. No, I’m not that short, this whole thing was standing on the dining room table. So of course I couldn’t reach that high. XP The windows were a real pain to complete but once that was done, the actual walls were easy to complete. Only took us about 2 days. ^-^ Next we’re gonna build the Capitol building. The cottage is already done. That one took us about 2 hrs.. the length of a movie.

We went to Rotherham yesterday. Got the Russian Pimsleur discs. Learning Russian is a bit more fun than German. Probably because I’ve studied German earlier and I wasn’t learning new stuff that often. Although I hadn’t heard about doch (or however it’s spelled) before listening to Pimsleur. I now know how to say “Excuse me” and “I understand a little Russian” in Russian. Which is true. I understand it when someone asks me if I can understand Russian. XD Of course my vocabulary is very limited right now but it’ll have the chance to grow if we keep listening to one lesson a day.

Puzzle 3-D, Big Ben, Pimsleur, Russian