Sunday

I'm one of those people who always leave all the school work and other unpleasant things for Sunday. While I'm in Canada my weekends are 4 days long and that has helped me to enjoy Sundays since I can just push all the things I need to do for Monday. I know schedule like this is too good to be true and that's why I'm trying to take all the advantage out of it while I still can. 

 It took me about a week to get over the jet lag when I first arrived here. But since that my sleeping habits are totally different than what they are back home. I wouldn't say I'm neither morning nor night person, I just really like to sleep, a lot. Here I could just stay up all night long and most of the nights that's what I have done. I could of course use that time wisely and read my textbooks but instead I'm watching Netflix or playing trivia crack…

Luckily everyone else at this house seems to like sleeping late too. When we finally got up we had a late pancake breakfast. Also experienced some drama yesterday because we went over our internet limit. Gladly already later the same day we got it back with now unlimited access.

Anyway now it's Monday and all the work is waiting… At least I can do it from my bed. Tomorrow I have one of those monster 11 hours days at the campus ahead of me. I guess that means I can still be just a little lazy today right?
Laters!

Auf Wiedersehen Brooke!

Friday night we hosted Brooke's going away party at our house. She is about to begin her own exchange adventure in Austria in just few days. I'm so happy that this time last year I found her post about the room that I'm now living in and that I also had time to get to know her before she leaves. 

Being part of someone's farewell party was very bittersweet. Our house was full of great people and laughter but at the same time it made me think of my own party back home about a month back.

I'm not going to deny it, I definitely miss home a lot. But everything here has been so great and there are so many things to come that I'm so exited for. It's a funny feeling when I'm here and missing home but at the same time I already know that when I get home I will also miss this. I guess that's just how life is.

One thing I know is that I have so many more memories like this to make before it's time for me to go home <3

Day at the U of G

Hi all! This is my third week of classes at the University of Guelph and I thought that I could share with you guys how my days usually go. My schedule for the semester is beautiful ( I have Mondays and Fridays off) but every Tuesday and Thursday I spend the whole day at the campus. This is how my day went yesterday (photos are just snapshots taken with my iPhone so the quality ain't superb):

7 am. Woke up and got ready.
7.45 am. Took bus to the campus with my roommate Becca.
8 am. Can't survive morning lectures without coffee. Got our doses of Tim Horton's from the University Centre.

8.30 am First lecture of the day. Introduction to Psychology. Chose this course just because I have always been interested about psychology and so far it has been pretty interesting. The lecture hall is huge and it took me some time just to get used to sitting there with 600 other people. I always take the very back row.

10 am. I have 3 hours break before my next lecture. The amount of reading you need to do here before every single lecture is crazy and I'm already behind. Met Becca at the library and we both tried to catch up with our readings. The truth is I ended up talking to my Finnish classmates for at least an hour before I even opened my book..

12 am. I'm hungry! Our campus has so many options for eating. We don't have the school cafeteria like in Finland but instead we've got several fast food and sit down restaurants and even few bars at the campus. I live off campus but if I would live at the campus residence I probably wouldn't have to leave the campus for days. Today I decided to have lunch at my favorite place. It's called The Bullring. A cool hang out/lunch/dinner place with great music and relaxed atmosphere. Last time I went there they even had live music in the middle of the afternoon.

1.45 pm. Heading for my second lecture of the day. It's located almost at the other side of the campus but I don't mind because it's a beautiful day and I enjoy walking through our beautiful campus.

2.30 pm. Done with my consumer behavior lecture and heading to library again. Got an ice tea from Starbucks. I mean… come on… I know that Annika might sound weird but Monica for real? Oh well… I was thinking I might just start choosing different names from now on when I go there. Anyway found a good spot for skyping from the library and called Niko <3

5.30 pm. Time for the last lecture of the day. Managing people in the organization. The proff is young and cool but my day has been so long that can't help napping a little while we were watching some videos. Getting exited because after class I was supposed to meet my roommates and we were gonna head to the campus bar for dinner and trivia night!

7 pm. Turns out you need to be ready to reserve tables several hours before the trivia night starts so we needed to change our plans and try again next time. We were starving so decided to have dinner at another campus restaurant/bar.

9 pm. Finally home. Watched couple of episodes of the Mindy project with my roommates and head to bed after that.

Winter Homecoming

All is good here at the other side of the ocean! My classes at the University of Guelph have started and since then they have kept me pretty busy. I will tell more about the U of G in a later post because now I wanted to share some photos from the winter homecoming we had last night!

 Homecoming is all about the school pride. It's a big home game after the holidays and just a celebration to be a Gryphon ( in our case). I've only been here for few weeks and I already have some U of G pieces in my wardrobe. Gotta say that the school spirit here compared to home in Finland is awesome!

 I love hockey and this is already a second game I've been to since I arrived. The passion for the game is the same as in Finland and the Canadians know many Finnish players. It's also cool that you can bring your beer to the seats and enjoy it while watching the game.

 These guys in this pic are totally random but just needed to get a picture of the mascot because he was so cute. Those who know me also know how I feel about mascots….. The bird is called a gryphon. It reminds me of Griffindor and we even share the same colors.

          Our gang. Exclude the the guys in the lower row who just wanted to be in the picture.

It would not be that great of a homecoming if the home team would loose. Gladly we didn't have to experience that because the Gryphons won 5-4!

Home away from home

When your going for a vacation the easiest option is to book a hotel. When your going for an exchange the easiest option is the campus residence. Staying at the campus is a safe and probably also a cool experience but I wanted to try something different. Well before my exchange was approaching I added myself to the international group of my university. From the group I saw a note that a canadian girl was renting her room in a house that she shared with 3 other girls. She was subletting her room because she is going for exchange herself to Europe. It was the first apartment I saw being available and here I am now!

 My room looks even cuter in reality that in the pictures I had seen before arriving. I love the decorations and I can also easily add my own little details to it.

 One of the things I love the most about my room is the giant map of the world on top of my bed. It makes me feel like I'm at home because we have almost identical map at our real home in Lahti. Also you probably can already tell from the picture that the bed is so comfy and I love the linen sheets.

I gotta say that I am lucky that I found a place like this that I can call home for the next 4 months. So next time you gotta choose a place to stay for your travels or a longer stay don't take the easy way out. You can save a lot of money and have a much more unique experience!

                                                                            48 Lowes ladies

Downtown Guelph

Friday was a chilly but a sunny day so I headed to downtown Guelph to explore my new hometown. Guelph is a city in Southwestern Ontario about an hour drive from Toronto. The population is little over 100,000. Many middle sized North-American cities actually don't have a proper downtown but Guelph gladly does and it happens to be a very cute one!

Before I came to Canada everyone warned me that all my leather shoes will be ruined because of the salt they lay on the streets in the winter time. Today I really noticed that there is salt everywhere and my boots already have some staines in them...

 After walking around for a while I needed to warm up and found a nice local coffee house. I randomly sat in a table with a British gentleman and had my first conversation (Skype doesn't count) since the new years day. Every single local person I have met so far has been nice and Guelph seems easy to love.

 My first days here being mostly with my, myself and I have surely taught me a lot. Last time I did exchange in high school I stayed with a family and everything was ready and done for me when I got there. This time I am on my own and it has it's pros and cons. At the day time I have enjoyed just getting to know my new hoods and wondering around but the nights alone in the house have felt very long.

Can't wait to start my classes at the university and actually meet some people in the daily basis.

New Year's Eve

Before I arrived in Canada I was so nervous about what I will do at new year's eve. Gladly I had made some contacts before arriving and got invited to spend it with some awesome people. We started the night with a classic basement house party and later headed to downtown Toronto for a club. Like usually I much more preferred the pre-party than the clubbing part of the night. But one thing I gotta mention is that I think it was great that all the public transportation was free of charge on the new year's eve! Hopefully it really prevented people from drinking and driving. 

                           How much more Canadian can a beer can possibly look like?

My new friends already got a taste of some finnish delicate beverages.

                                                Happy new Year 2015 for everyone!