Kuukausi: elokuu 2016

Moving day

I am exhausted. I’m dead. Please, don’t wake me up in the next 100 years or so. Let me just crawl into a coffin so I can enjoy the sweet eternal slumber of death.

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So, moving day was rough. I needed to get everything packed away permanently (and by that I mean for a year) so I needed to pack things extra-carefully. You can’t just dump everything into boxes like I usually do ’cause you’re not going to be unpacking them anytime soon. So yeah, most of my stuff went to storage at my grandma’s place and some (mostly clothes) are here at my mom’s place where I’ll be living until I leave. I need to decide what I’ll take with me and what I’ll pack away and what I’ll just throw away. And then half of our stuff plus my boyfriend’s stuff went to his new place. It was a hassle.

Just to make things extra fun for me, basically everyone who could have helped me was working or at school. My boyfriend did help some, dad helped to carry all the heavy boxes, and mom helped me to wash the windows, so thank you! But yeah. You have too many things to do? How about a nap instead?

Visa

Such imaginative titles I have for these blog entries. Like wow. Much thought. So creative.

I posted the visa application today. It has been a hassle but mostly because of things that have nothing to do with me and all to do with Embassy of Japan in Finland. I e-mailed them twice and called them twice: first time they told me they would sent me the info-package right now, and the second time they told me to contact them via e-mail and ask for the info-package, so I did. Nothing. Nada. Complete radio silence both times. It wasn’t until the third time I called (and I was mildly annoyed, I’m not gonna lie) they actually send me the info. Like jeez, let’s all give them a slow clap, shall we?

For the visa-application you need:

  • visa-application form: filled on computer, then printed and signed, and with a passport-picture glued on top
  • photocopy of Certificate of Eligibility (the certificate was automatically send to me from Hokudai)
  • photocopy of passport (remember to check it’s not going to expire during your stay!)

Now, that was all the info-package required but there was a note that in some cases they might ask for further information. Since Hokudai had actually send me a Certificate of Admission and Certificate for Jasso-scholarship as well, I photocopied those and added them into the bunch. I mean, hey, what’s the harm, right? Hokudai info claimed they might be needed, so there we go. If the embassy doesn’t need them, then so what? The copies just end up in the trash. No harm done, I thought.

All the applications in Finland are required to be posted to the embassy. The info package said it would take a few days for them to go through the documents and they would inform me immediately when I could go and get it. On some website they said that with the Certificate of Eligibility the time required for procession is 5 working days. On the embassy’s page it said 1-3 weeks. Info-package said few days.

…yeah, I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes.

Even though the documents are posted, you have to personally go and get the visa from the embassy. Easier said than done when you live on the other side of the country. And because I’m just about the unluckiest person on earth, the embassy is closed on the exact Monday I’m supposed to leave for Japan because of Respect for the Aged Day. And of course, it’s also closed on weekends. This means it’s cheaper for me to just go and get it from Helsinki a week before I leave. With Norwegian the flights were 58 euros there and back with just hand-luggage, and my wonderful friend from high-school very graciously promised to house me for one night (thank you, sweetheart! xoxo).

On the info-package that I got, they also said that when you go get your visa from the embassy you are going to need your passport, original Certificate of Eligibility, and (exactly) 22 euros in cash.

Lastly, I want to tell you guys this tip I learned from my co-worker. When you are booking you flight to Norwegian, there is this box called ”kampanjakoodi” or ”campaign code”. Put a code ”ALLE26” into it and you get the youth prices for those who are under 26 years old. Neat, right?

Vaccinations

I’ve never been scared of needles. Especially in hospitals, those people know what they’re doing. Why is everyone freaking out because of a teensy-tiny needle? I don’t get it.

Anyway, for my exchange year I needed to get four different vaccinations:

  • tetanus (jäykkökouristusrokote): must be renewed every 10 years. In Finland you get this free from your school’s health clinic.
  • twinrix (hepatiitti/hepatitis A&B): protect you from liver infections caused by viruses. You need to be given 3 vaccinations, the second a month after the first, and third after a year. The liquid from pharmacy costs about 50e per one shot but injecting it was free at my uni’s health clinic. Altogether, I’ll be paying about 150 euros.
  • ixiaro (japanin aivotulehdus/japanese brain-fever): Two shots, the second one 28 days after the first one. One shot is about 125 euros from my local pharmacy. Totally costs me about 250 euros.
  • nimerix (aivokalvon ja selkäytimen tulehdus, sekä veren infektio/meningnitis and spinal infection, and blood infection): One shot, about 60 euros from local pharmacy.

Staying healthy is proving costly, man. Sigh. But I’m staying in Japan for a year so this was a must. Totally all vaccinations cost me around 460 euros. I did save some money by going to my uni’s health clinic for the injections because they are free there. In the pharmacy they would have asked 15 euros per injection but in a rush that would have been one option.

If you’re staying in Japan less than 4 weeks, you usually need only hepatitis injections. Always talk to your doctor and hear their recommendations because they vary on the length of your stay, location and travel plans. Please stay healthy and safe, everyone! Don’t take unnecessary risks that might prove even more costly in the future because you didn’t take any precautions.

”Money won’t make you happy.”

I call bullshit. Like yeah, financial stability is just horrible, isn’t it? Why that title you might ask yourself. My friend, I have news for you regarding that exact subject.

I AM THE CHOSEN ONE.

Just kidding! Well, kinda. I have been chosen to be one of the lucky ones to receive the JASSO-scholarship and on the outside I’m cool as a cucumber but on the inside I’m freaking out. For those of you who don’t know:

”Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) offers scholarship for qualified international students who are accepted by a Japanese university, graduate school, junior college, college of technology (3rd grade or upper) or professional training college under a student exchange agreement or other student exchange arrangement on a short-term basis from 8 days to one year between Japanese school and their home higher educational institution outside Japan.”

Basically it’s the mother of all scholarships and I got the full thing. This year (2016-2017) the scholarship’s monthly stipend is 80,000 JPY which converted into euros is around 700 euros. It will cover my rent, bills and most of my food-spendings. Along with the normal student-support from KELA, I’m all good to go. I had been mentally prepared to be declined and having to take a student loan but apparently it shall no longer be necessary.

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”Money won’t make you happy”? Clearly you’ve never received a scholarship before.

I did a thing. Or two.

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My biggest problem ever. Will probably always be but what can you do when you love food? If you didn’t get it, that was a pointer to my last posting about the nutrilett-experiment which went – surprisingly enough – quite well. It was totally manageable when you drank water all the time. One thing which helped me to go through this crazy-ass thing was a regular eating schedule because of the breaks at work. You eat in regular intervals and since you are working, you don’t really get chances to ruin your diet because there just isn’t any food in sight. In total I lost about 3-4kg during 10 days from which 1,5-2kg was probably just liquids which I of course gained back when I sifted back to proper food.

Of course the results weren’t mind-blowing (but I did lose some!) but I have learned a thing or two from this. For one, my plate-sizes are enormous. Two, I eat a ton of carbs that I get from bread, potatoes, rice, burger buns, etc,. And three? I can actually go through something like this once I put my mind into it.

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So now – a few kilos lighter and a few ideas wiser – I’m on the right road. I haven’t weighted this little since high school and it feels good, man.

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As you can probably guess from the picture, I’ve been busy. First of all, my computer broke down. Crashed and burned. Not quite literally of course but it did get jammed real bad and for a moment I thought I would lose all my files and photos. Thank god my usual computer-fixer is a fucking miracle worker. He worked some computer magic and now I have my baby back and I can finally update my blog.

So, my computer broke and before I could get it fixed my holiday in Spain started (Did you see the photo? Palm trees! Palm trees!!). It. Was. Awesome. Never been so tan before. The weather was awesome, people were smiling, and I drank too many glasses of sangria to count. But the sand and sunscreen, ugh! Everywhere. Every nook and corner – whether it be bed-clothes, your clothes or your skin – it was covered in those. It was nice to get back home and take a proper shower.

But apart from doing absolutely nothing which has been lovely as well, I have actually accomplished something with my exchange! I did a thing! Olé!

So I finally bought the airline tickets which has been a major pain in my ass since April. First I didn’t buy them because I was afraid of getting them on the wrong day which, with me being such an airhead, was a good idea since I got the month wrong from the beginning. Then my computer broke down and I went to Spain. Then Finnair informed that tickets to Japan bought after 1.7.2016 would allow you to bring two suitcases instead of one, so I had to wait for that. But now I have them and-.. and-.. holy fuck, I’m actually going, aren’t I?

I will live alone in Japan. Alone. For a whole year. Shit. Who made this decision?

Oh yeah. I did.

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