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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About tags and nutrilett experiment

Initially I put this blog up in order to help everyone keep a track on how I’m doing on my escapade in Japan. But, as said, this is my blog so I can write about whatever the hell I want. And as you can’t really stop me, you might as well enjoy the ride.

Hence I’ve decided that while the main-purpose of this blog remains the same as in the beginning, this blog is also going to be my personal blog about my everyday life. I know most bloggers have a certain genre with which their blog’s contents aligns with, but mine is going to be a mixture of everything I have even the slightest interest in. Because why the heck not.

I’m going to tag all of my personal posts with personal-tag. For those who are interested in the technical side of my exchange process, you can search with the tag ”applying process”. While I’m ranting about the tags, I might as well point out that I’ll use before exchange-tag for now, and you can use that if you feel like you need someone to relate in regards to pre-exchange panicking. Furthermore, if later someone is more interested in what happened when I’m actually on my exchange, you can use the tag ”exchange” or ”In Japan” or something I’ll come up with in the future. I’ll let you know when I’ll actually get there.

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I’m so fancy, I know. And see, I wasn’t lying about my Marimekko obsession! Yesterday was the graduation day here in Finland for those who graduated from high-school and my little sister was one of the lucky ones to receive the white cap (congrats, sis’!). It was a wonderful day filled with coffee and cake and pies and copious amounts of alcoholic beverages. Where – truth to be told – lies my problem (possibly also in burgers and sweet potato fries, yes, I’m wholly blaming those).

Embarrassedly enough, I’ve been gaining some weight lately. Not much but enough for my pants and shirts to feel kinda too tight. For the graduation day-outfit picture above, I had to take a gazillion of them just to find one where my arms didn’t look like tree trunks (which they did in all other photos, oh joy). Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m pretty confident and I don’t  really care what people think of me, but this whole thing has escalated into a situation where I don’t feel comfortable in my own body anymore. I feel weird. The situation isn’t absolutely terrible, of course, but it could be a little better.

Just to make things worse I’m going to Malaga, Spain on 24th of this month and I’m expected to wear a bikini. Or rather, not expected, but I’d like to wear a bikini without feeling awkward and shy and uncomfortable. It is so bothersome trying to look nonchalant while you’re actually desperately trying not to let anyone see your stomach rolls. So yeah, now that I think about it, maybe I do care a little what other people think of me but that’s how things usually are, right? We humans are social beings and being judged by others is an unfortunate side-effect of it. The main point remains though: I’d like to feel comfortable again, thank you very much.

So to put this all together… I’m doing an experiment.

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Yep, I’m going to try Nutrilett. Of course this is no replacement for healthy diet and exercise (yes, yes, I know, please don’t judge me) but I’m actually kinda curious as to if this actually works. So for the next 10 days this is what I’m going to be slurping. If I get rid of even a few kilos, I would be more than happy. However, as I’m not overweight, I need to be extra-careful not to take this too far but I think 10 days is going to be fine (the suggestion for the most effective result is a 3 week diet). I believe this is going to be interesting. Hopefully – by the end of this experiment – the only problem I’m going to be facing is this:

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Now that just cannot be helped.

Going 100mph (100 mistakes per hour)

I am such a dumbass. Such. A. Dumbass. But thankfully I’m a lucky dumbass.

I have been putting off buying the flight-tickets to Sapporo. But anyway, I had been planning to buy the tickets on 16th, 17th or 18th of September (elokuu). However, today when I was talking to my friend at work and told him I’m leaving ”elokuussa” he was – strangely enough – really weirded out. He told me that when he had been in Japan for exchange, they had arrived in syyskuu.

So I did some research.

Apparently, even though I have a certificate of bilingualism for English, I still can’t tell months apart. Months. I literally cannot do something an elementary school-kid can do. Shame! Utter humiliation! Sometimes I can do English very well, and sometimes it’s just nope.

Just FYI, September doesn’t mean elokuu, it’s syyskuu. And elokuu, in English, is August not September. So, had I bought the tickets a few weeks ago as I had planned, I would have had bought them a month too early.

Well, my troubles don’t really end here either. First of all, I don’t know (or remember) all vaccinations I have been so graciously given and there aren’t really any markings about those either because apparently digital data-banks weren’t a thing in hospitals until a few years ago. And I need to know those because I need vaccination against Japanese brain-fever (I don’t know about you guys but I think it sounds delightful! …should definitely get the vaccination, asap).

Secondly, I didn’t pass my swedish exam (fucking-fuckity-fuck) even though it was my third time trying (I-am-a-useless-human-being-i’m-so-sorry).

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Now, this means I have to take the test after I came back from Japan and I think we can all guess how that’s going to work out. So as an applaud for myself I award myself with this golden star:

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My exciting May Day

See how excited me and Nemo were about vappu? Can you see the excitement basically oozing from us? Apparently we’re getting old together. We enjoyed our nap very much, thanks.

There hasn’t been much to be done about the exchange for now. I renewed my passport because it would have otherwise expired in the middle of my exchange, and before the new passport arrives my hands are pretty much tied. Not much to be done before Hokudai contacts me with further inquires or information.

For now I still need to:

  • apply for soleGrant
  • make a study grant change to Kela
  • apply for visa
  • get the proper vaccination
  • buy flight tickets
  • rent a storage for my stuff

However, my bachelor’s thesis is finally done, yay! Just a few more essays, swedish written exam and one learning diary to complete and then I am officially done studying for this spring. After that my time is going to be spend preparing for the exchange, working, then two weeks at Malaga, properly preparing to leave, and then in August it is time to go. I swear to god it was January just a second ago… where does all the time go?

This is it. I’m in.

The title tells it all. Holy hell, I’ve been accepted to study for a year in Hokkaido! Holy crap on crackers, I can’t tell you in words what kind of a rollercoaster this whole thing has been but I also cannot quite express how amazing I feel right now. Words don’t do it any justice.

I was starting to feel worried when the first days of April went by and nobody contacted me. Of course I know Japanese are often very precise in everything they do and when the website said ”you will be notified on the first week of April” and yet nothing happened…. Well, a lot of nervous sweating happened on my part but lets not focus on that. Obviously I was beginning to think ”oh, the accepted probably get the notification first and then later those who weren’t accepted… bummer”.

In the end I was right. Japanese people are very precise. The acceptance letter came to my university e-mail on the 1st of April but I didn’t realize it arrived there because I had used my other e-mail during the applying process. But yeah, long story short, I have been accepted! Hooray!

For now they expect me to fill out a confirmation letter, another information sheet about me and add another picture in the bunch because apparently the size I used was wrong. Strange. Anyway, the deadline for those is 2nd of May.

I’m going to keep the blog posted about the process I’m going to struggle through before the exchange and then… and then. Afterwards. About the exchange. Aaaah! I’m so excited!

My internal struggle of being a materialist

So the papers have all been sent, I’ve been to my orientation lectures and now I have nothing to do until the beginning of April when the final results will arrive. Meaning, I have nothing better to do with my time than to worry.

Now that the result-day is creeping closer, the reality is starting to seep in. Where am I going to put all this stuff if I’m really going? 

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t store crap. I’m hardly a hoarder. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t now and then indulge in pretty tableware and exquisite clothing. Right now the clothing isn’t really the problem because I’m going to take all my nice clothes with me to Japan if I ever get accepted. So my purchases are perfectly justified. (I’m very translucently not mentioning how they are eating away my savings because I like living in a bubble where I don’t look at my bank account. Much adult. Wow.) The problem is me struggling like an alcoholic in Alko, only I go to into shops that sell small pieces of interior design and have my heart ripped apart every time I see something nice and quirky and awesome that I just can’t buy because (hopefully) I won’t be there to enjoy it much longer. Of course I could buy it and store it but I have so much stuff to begin with that I just can’t buy more. SOB.

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I have gone a little crazy lately: Marimekko shirts, I’m dreaming of a Marimekko dress and I want to buy about all the things from Iittala. But it’s fine, I have managed to contain myself and direct all my attention to Marimekko. Japanese people like Marimekko, I think? I hope they appreciate my new shirts that I’m going to bring with me.

People sometimes ask me why I work so hard. I have two reasons for it: 1) in order to survive in this capitalist economy and 2) because I’m a materialist.

I can’t help it. I love stuff.

Utter confusion

Okay, it seems everything is finally coming together. All the application forms are filled and ready to be scanned and then slammed to form one big pdf-file. I feel dehydrated from all this nervous sweating.

The only thing still bothering me is the chest x-ray to which we have yet to receive answer to, and JASSO-scholarship. In the HUSTEP application there is one place where they ask if I would like to apply for it. Of course I do but is marking it as a ”yes” in one place all that is required? On other websites they require official report of income and another motivation letter. We’ll see how it goes.

Now, I’m off to scan these bad boys and hopefully after that I can finally focus on my bachelor’s thesis. Sigh.

EDIT// All documents send on February 25th. Now all I can do is wait.

Panic! at the international relations office

Right, switching to English for the sake of… every non-Finnish speaker ever. Which basically means the whole rest of the world and some remote parts of this god-forsaken country we do not wish to talk about. I’m looking at you Åland, you big Swedish-speaking traitor.

So back to the actual topic, let me tell you, the title reveals it all. When I confirmed my exchange from SoleMOVE in January I was given instructions not to do anything before I’ve been contacted by our international relations coordinator and given further instructions. Of course I was like Yeah, no problem! I trust you guys!

Big mistake. Never trust anyone to do anything for you if you want it done properly.

So there I was, calmly looking through Hokkaido University web-page out of general interest of a place where I’m going to spend my next year, and then I saw that the application deadline for the HUSTEP-program is February 19th. When I realized this, it was February 15th. At this point I was sweating, cursing and just generally hyperventilating because FUCK YOU international office for not doing your goddamn job. So after I went there and explained my situation to them in more or less frustrated manner, the coordinator send an email to Japan so that the deadline was pushed until 29th of February.

After this it has been a battle of wills between me and a staggering pile of papers. For the HUSTEP application you need:

  • HUSTEP application form (4 pages)
  • Recommendation letter from an academic supervisor
  • Certificate of Health
  • Certificate of Enrollment
  • Official transcript of academic records
  • Study plan
  • Statement of English skills
  • Photocopy of your passport
  • 3 passport-photographs (40mmX30mm)

It seems that Japan wants to know everything about me. In the application form there were questions about my studies (obviously) but also work and family. Why do they want to know the age of my mother? What’s that got to do with anything?

For the recommendation letter I asked my bachelor’s thesis supervisor to write it because I have worked with her the longest. I just hope she doesn’t secretly hate me.

I had to get a private doctor’s appointment for the Health Certificate because of course our school doctor was booked full until middle of March. Thanks international office for pointing out that I needed to make an appointment literally days before the deadline. Just couldn’t do it any later, now could you? I hope that messing with exchange students like makes you feel good about yourself. Moving on! So I had to pay 56 euros for a private doctor to sign me a paper that says I’m perfectly healthy. However, there was a part that asked the doctor to ”comment on the result of chest x-ray” which I obviously haven’t taken. I just had him write ”In Finland we don’t take chest x-rays unless we’re suspecting an illness”, so I hope that’s going to cover for it. Of course I have asked if I need the x-ray from my coordinator but she was none the wiser (what a fucking surprisé!) but promised to get back in touch in case I needed to have it. I’m certainly not the first person to apply to Japan from Lapland Uni, am I? What is up with this not-knowing-a-fucking-thing about anything?

Statement of English skills has proven problematic as well. Because I’m reluctant to pay 100 euros to take the official test (not that I have enough time to get it done anyway… did I say I hate our international office already because I have this need to state it out loud again), so I’m going to need a statement from my English teacher confirming that my English skills are on C1-level, and I’m going to add my certificate of bilingualism in the bunch as well. Just for the heck of it. Maybe it makes a difference. I was told that the statement was going to be enough but I am still a bit edgy about trusting the coordinators…

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And of course, here are my new passport pictures. Yay! Japanese use this weird size that thankfully wasn’t difficult to order. I did ask the photographer if I needed to have my hair down for the picture or if it was okay to have it tied up, and he just gave me this look of you cannot possibly fathom the immensity of the fuck I do not give so I just decided to shut up and get the whole thing over with. It turned out pretty well but I am very confused as to why my other eyebrow is longer than the other and I have never noticed. Also, my hair has a mind of it’s own and apparently today was a clown-hair day. Charming.

So as all the documents are slowly but surely getting filled, the next few days are going to be all about running back and forth between my dad’s scanner and home. Awesome. I’ll try to keep the blog updated with the process, so I’m going to make a post again when the application has been send.

Ensiaskeleita kohti vaihtoa

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No niin… Ilmeisesti se on aika viimeinkin pistää blogi pystyyn vaihtoonlähdon kunniaksi. Olen tosiaan rovaniemeläinen 21-vuotias yliopisto-opiskelija, ja toivottavasti lähdössä syyskuussa 2016 Hokkaidoon, Japaniin vaihto-opiskelemaan. Tällä hetkellä hyväksytty vastaus on tullut omalta yliopistolta ja seuraavaksi odotellaankin sitten vastausta Japanin päästä, joten lähdön tulisi varmistua lopullisesti huhtikuun paikkeilla.

Tuntuu jotenkin pakolliselta antaa heti alussa tietopläjäys itsestäni, joten koettakaa kestää. Jos ei kiinnosta, niin olkaa hyvä ja skipatkaa.

Itselläni Japaniin lähtö on ollut haaveena jo yläasteelta lähtien, vaikka en koskaan ollut täysin varma miksi sinne lähtisin ja mitä tekemään, mutta suunnitelmat ovat onneksi selkiytyneet tässä vuosien varrella.

Rovaniemellä olen opiskellut nyt kolme vuotta politiikkatieteitä ja tarkoituksena olisi saada myös kanditaatintutkielma valmiiksi ennen vaihtoa. Neljännelle vuodelle eli vaihto-opiskelu vuodelle olen tarkoituksella jättänyt siis sivuainekokonaisuuden verran opiskeluja (n. 60 op). Koska Japanissa vaihto-opiskelijan tulee opiskella vähintään 25 op lukukautta kohden, tulee minulla toivottavasti olemaan vuoden jälkeen kasassa vähintään se 50 op, jotka tulevat muodostamaan sivuainekokonaisuuden ’Studies Abroad’. Vaihtovuosi tulee olemaan toivottavasti myös vähän rennompi opiskeluvuosi, sillä kaipaisin kyllä hengähdystaukoa. Suoritin IB-lukion kolmessa vuodessa, pääsin heti seuraavana syksynä yliopistoon, ja olen ollut nyt yliopistossa ja töissä yhtäaikaa kolmen vuoden ajan. Pikku breikki olisi paikallaan, jottei tämä elämä mene ihan pelkäksi suorittamiseksi.

Olen hakemassa Hokkaidoon HUSTEP-ohjelmaan, jossa opiskelu tapahtuu englanniksi ja josta olen valikoinut kursseja opintosuunnitelmaani Aasian politiikan ja sosiologian aihealueilta. Kerron kurssien sisällöstä ehkä tarkemmin myöhemmin. HUSTEP-kurssien lisäksi aion tietysti opiskella Japanin kieltä, jota osaan pelottavan vähän verrattuna siihen, että kohta tällä kielellä pitäisi selvitä jokapäiväisessä kanssakäymisessä. Apua. Mainitsemisen arvoisena voisi ehkä pitää sitä, että olen käynyt yliopiston tarjoamat japanin kurssit ennen kuin edes hain Hokkaidoon. Kielitaitoni on silti varmasti huonompi kuin japanilaisen tarhaikäisen muksun.

Lapin yliopiston vaihtohaku hujahti kerralla päin näköä. Koska olin suurimman osan joulukuusta töissä, lähetin hakemuksen vasta ihan viimeisenä hakupäivänä 31.12.2015. Pieni vinkki? Älkää koskaan jättäkö hakua viimeiselle päivälle. Jos skannerini olisi päättänyt irtisanoa sopimuksensa, minulta olisi haku jäänyt kokonaan välistä. Onneksi kaikki sujui kuten pitikin ja paperit lähtivät ajoissa matkaan. Ensimmäisen vaiheen hakuun tarvittiin motivaatiokirje, opintosuunnitelma ja opintosuoritusote.

Olen tällä hetkellä hieman hukassa seuraavan hakuvaiheen kanssa, koska minulla on paljon kysymyksiä joiden kanssa tiedekuntani kv-vastaava ei osannut auttaa, joten odottelen tässä että pääsen henkilökohtaiselle tapaamiselle jonkun kanssa joka vastaa Japaniin lähtijöistä. Suurimpana huolena on tällä hetkellä kielitodistus. Todistukseksi kelpasi ensimmäisessä hakuvaiheessa opintosuoritusote, josta näkyy että olen suorittanut englanninkielen kurssit yliopistolla onnistuneesti ja B2 tasoa vastaavasti. Yleensä tässä vaiheessa varataan aika Helsingistä viralliseen kielitasotestiin, jonka tulokset lähetetään tietysti kohdeyliopistoon. Mutta koska olen vaikea tapaus haluaisin tehdä asiat erilailla: sain IB:ltä valmistuessani kaksikielisyys-todistuksen, mikä periaatteessa todistaa että olen täysin kykeneväinen kommunikoimaan ja opiskelemaan englanniksi, sekä kääntämään tekstejä. IB:n sivuilla myös lukee, että valmistuminen tarkoittaa sitä, että opiskelija puhuu, kirjoittaa ja ymmärtää englantia vähintään B2-tasoisesti. Mutta koska IB:ltä valmistuminen ei myöskään vapauttanut minua yliopiston englanninkursseista, pelkään pahoin ettei se auta minua tässäkään tilanteessa. Toisinsanoen: my degree is worthless.

Muita huolenaiheita minulla on esimerkiksi viisumin kanssa, koska en ole sellaista koskaan ennen hankkinut, sekä tietysti apurahojen hakemisen kanssa. Mistä haen? Mitä haen? Koska haen? Koska HUSTEP:in esittelysivuilla suositeltiin hakemaan JASSO-apurahaa, ajattelin hakea ainakin sitä. Muut apurahan hakupaikat ovat vielä auki, eikä niitä voida edes hakea ennen kuin Japanista tulee ilmoitus että minut on varmasti hyväksytty opiskelemaan. Lisäksi päässä pyörii paljon käytännönjärjestelyihin liittyviä kysymyksiä: Mihin poikaystäväni muuttaa sillä aikaa kun itse olen ulkomailla? Mihin kaikki tavarani laitetaan ja miksi helvetissä omistan näin paljon tavaraa? Mitä pakkaan mukaan? Koska voin ostaa lentoliput? Mihin menen asumaan Hokkaidossa ja paljonko vuokrani maksaa? Mitä jos kuolen siellä nälkään koska en osaa kokata japanilaisilla raaka-aineilla (ei sillä että osaisin muutenkaan laittaa ruokaa)?

Niin paljon kysymyksiä. Niin vähän vastauksia.

Nyt 5.2.2016 sain omalta yliopistoltani viestin, että hakemukseni on hyväksytty, mikä kuulemma tietää hyvää. Yleensä jos oma yliopisto hyväksyy hakemuksen, se tullaan mitä luultavimmin hyväksymään myös kohdeyliopistossa? Tällaista huhua olin kuulevinani. Sitä odotellessa päätin siis pistää tämän blogin pystyyn, jotta 1) en unohda sitä tehdä myöhemmin, ja koska 2) ajattelin että joku saattaisi olla kiinnostunut hakuprosessista kokonaisuutena.

Koetan päivitellä blogia kun hakuprosessissa tapahtuu jotain mainitsemisen arvoista, ja myöhemmin tietysti Japanissa siitä miltä maailma näyttää auringonnousun maassa.