student ID and jazz hands

Yesterday was one of the busiest days I've had here so far. I even made a chronological to-do list for the day so I wouldn't forget anything!

The strap of my satchel had broken the other day so I took the bag into a cobbler's shop where they fixed it for only £3.50. I felt so lucky because of the cheap prize and also the location of the shop: it's in Broomhill, which is "only" a 10-minute walk away. Still, it's the nearest place where there is anything. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the university and 30 minutes to the city centre. I'm going to be so fit by the end of the year!

However, I got my student ID at registration yesterday, and with that the bus fare will only be like 80p, which I'll be happy to pay whenever I'm too lazy to walk.

The photo is very blurry for some reason, but I guess it's good enough to recognise me. Also, I was clever and edited my ID numbers out! ;) "Null department" is because I'm just an exchange student, or at least that's what the other exchange students have too.

After registration, there was an Activities Fair at the union. That was where all the societies and clubs were recruiting new members. I think it's fair to say there were around 200 different stands around the building, and many many more people looking around! It was very crowded. I have leaflets for Scandinavian Society, Baking Society, Pokemon society (they were giving out Pokemon cards and amazing origami Pikachus!), two theatre societies, a choir, Dancesport (ballroom/latin dance), English society, etc. etc. etc....

I also managed to catch the performance of simply the "Dance Society".

After the fair, there was just time for a quick lunch before my second Give It a Go! This time it was "Performing Arts Workshop" hosted by the musical theatre society SUPAS. We learnt a song called The Rhythm of Life from the musical Sweet Charity, which at least I hadn't heart of before. We were also taught a choreography to go with the song, and in the end put it all together!

It was such a lot of fun. I'm not so confident about singing, but in a group it's fun!

After the workshop, I had about an hour to kill before my next Give It a Go (two in one day!) so I spent that chatting to a girl from the flat opposite ours, Katie, who was also at the workshop. Then it was time for some gospel choir!

This is a warm-up game, by the way, not the actual singing. You can see the lyrics to a simple song that we started with though!

This one was also really fun! There were several misprints of the gospel choir's time, and I thought it would clash with the workshop, but in the end it turned out I was able to do both! I'm really glad I could. Essentially, the gospel choir was just like a normal choir, except with more "Praise the Loooo-oooord"s. It was so cool though! We also did an African chant, and the real choir members performed some songs for us and sounded amazing.

Today is a lovely sunny day with a clear blue sky, but I'm not able to enjoy it much because I can feel freshers' flu kicking in. I don't really feel ill otherwise, my throat is just a bit sore. Singing and chanting for four hours yesterday probably didn't help... So my plan today is just to stay in and do nothing, even though I'm already a bit bored.

I found out my timetable, by the way! It looks like this:

Monday
14-15 Phonology lecture
16-17.30 Creating Poetry seminar

Wednesday 
12-13 Phonology seminar

Thursday
14-15 Introduction to Modern Irish seminar

Friday
12-14 Introduction to Modern Irish seminar

It doesn't look very exhausting like that... but who knows how much work there'll be!

module enrolment

So today was my first "real"/academic/call it what you want university event: module enrolment. Basically, I got myself registered for the classes starting next week. There are three different courses within the School of English that I was allowed to choose modules from - English, English Language and Linguistics, and English Literature.

For my application stage earlier in the year, I had to look through the modules and choose the ones I was interested in doing. I thought this was just to show the University of Sheffield the sort of classes I'd like to take, but today I learnt that I had actually already been registered for two of them. If I had known, I might have made the choices a bit more carefully! It was okay though, because I would've liked to choose those two anyway.

There weren't many places left for the classes anymore, so I couldn't actually get all the modules I wanted. Considering the situation, I'm still rather happy with what I got! (Also, the lady who helped me was super friendly.)

So this is what my studies will look like:

Autumn semester
Phonology
Modern Irish
Creating Poetry (creative writing!)

Spring semester
Shakespearean Drama
Introduction to Old English
Storying Sheffield (this is supposed to be a really cool interactive class where you work with people from less advantaged backgrounds and find out their stories)

Honestly? I can't wait to start studying. :D

In other news, there was a quiz night at the Students' Union today! I think it was even better than the previous one, because the questions were more diverse and our team was a better size.

We did pretty well, I think! There was one section where you had to do spell the words the presenter read: millennium, pneumonia, definitely, receive, and eczema. I'm a pretty smug speller, so I just grabbed the pen and wrote without even consulting my team members. I felt a bit bad, but the answers were all correct, so that was fine, I think. ;) (I feel really conceited now. Moving on...)

Tomorrow I'll do my actual registration to university and possibly join a society or two! I will also give something else a go...

Tänään oli kurssirekisteröityminen, ja minulle tarttui mukaan fonologiaa, iirin kieltä ja runojen kirjoitusta (syyslukukausi) sekä Shakespeareä, wanhaa englantia ja sheffieldiläisten vähäosaisten tarinoiden kuuntelua (kai) keväälle. Olen tosi tyytyväinen valikoimaan, vaikka en mahtunutkaan joillekin kursseille, joihin olisin mielelläni osallistunut. Täällä melkein kaikki kurssit ovat 20 opintopisteen arvoisia, joten siksi yhteen lukukauteen mahtuu vain 3-4 kurssia. Yhteensä noista tulee 120 credittiä, joka vastaa Suomessa 60 opintopistettä. 

Osallistuin myös quiz nightiin, ja etenkin oikeinkirjoitustehtävä oli innostava... 

give it a go!

The University of Sheffield has this "Give It A Go" programme that basically means you can try a wide variety of hobbies for a little money without actually committing to a whole society's schedule. I've got a ticket for nearly ten of these events, and today was the first one: archery!

Unfortunately I don't have any photos from the actual archery, but here's a sign (yay!) for the sports centre where it was held. As you can see, they have facilities for quite a few different sports -- apparently Sheffield has the world's largest bouldering wall! Not sure if it's the one in this centre, but somewhere anyway.

The archery was fun! There was quite a bit of standing around, as there were so many people and only two targets to shoot at, but it was okay. First, the instructors showed us how to deal with a bow and arrow, and then it was time to give it a go! (I wonder how many times I can fit that in...) I think I did pretty well, even though I've never done proper archery and the only time I've tried something even close to it was this summer at a village fair in Devon. My left-handedness forced me to wait a bit more as well, as they only had one left-handed bow, and for some reason that was the one being used to demonstrate archery to another group!

After everyone had given it a go (!) once, the instructors pinned balloons to the targets for us to try and pop them. They had hidden chocolates inside the balloons as well, so that whoever hit them could go and get the prize. I got very close with my three arrows, but no chocolate for me this time! (Luckily I had some Kitkats hidden in my desk drawer anyway.)

I'm not sure if I'll join the archery club or anything, but it was really cool to take part in this session. I'm glad I gave it go!

Ranmoor Village is where I live, and the Ridge is basically like the reception building. They also have a bar/restaurant, so they have parties every now and then, and it's also a place to come and unwind. However, I've never seen that many people there, because Ranmoor is pretty small. Granted, I haven't gone out there very late.

The Ridge also has a cute little launderette (they keep spelling it "laundrette" but I've always known it as "launderette"! Which one is it?). I think it's worth mentioning, because I actually did my laundry there for the first time today! I wanted to get there before all the British freshers run out of clean underwear a week or two from now and make it crowded. Hopefully it won't happen, but I figured I might as well.

They have about ten of these sets of washing machines and driers, and you need a laundry card that you have to top up to be able to use the machines. One cycle of washing is about £2.50, and one cycle of drying £1.20 or something very similar.

My block of the Kinder building. You can actually see my room there too -- it's the window in the top left corner.

Tomorrow I should be enrolling for my modules! That'll be interesting.

formal dinner

Second entry of the day! The orientation week is now officially over, and it was concluded by a formal dinner for all the participants on Friday night. I was really looking forward to it, as I love dressing up! I just wore a normal dress, but a lot of people wore a traditional dress from their country, which was really cool.

Everyone with their traditional costume was photographed together. The picture is really bad, because it was difficult to get everyone in the same shot!

The food was really nice.

The lemon tart was much too lemony for my taste, so I actually couldn't finish it all... But the cream was good ;)

This is our table. We had a cool seating plan and everything! The venue was really amazing. It was the same room where the quiz night was held, but it was completely transformed with all the lighting and decorations. I couldn't believe it was the same one!

By the way, I've finally started to admit to myself that I, in fact, am quite drawn to pink. I always say how I don't like pink very much or that I'd rather choose another colour, but after buying pink pillowcases, towels, dishwashing brush, handsoap, and a sponge... I don't think I can fool anyone anymore. It's okay, though. There are worse crimes in the world.

(Green is still my favourite colour, though. And turquoise.)

Now that orientation is over, I can't/don't have to wear my name badge anymore. It's probably a good thing, but I would have liked to keep it as a souvenir.

Sigh. However, giving it up to the assistants at the dinner made one exciting-ish thing possible. All the badges were entered in a prize draw, and I was one of the five people out of 300-400 that won! It was a bit scary to hear your name called out and having to walk up there to get the prize with all the people watching. I was so bemused that I actually almost sat down at a wrong table. I hope no one saw... I mean, apart from the 300-400 other people.

The prize is free coffee and cake at a cafe called Marmadukes, by the way! I don't know where it is yet, but I'm sure I'll find out. :)

Now my flatmate and I are going to go over to the British girls' flat opposite us!

new home

It's my first morning in my new -- and actual -- home. It's a bit further away from the university and most of my friends from orientation week, but I love my room! I much prefer it to my temporary one, which is the way it should be, I think!

One of the walls, the pinboard, and the curtains are blue! The room is also very light because I'm fortunate enough to be at the end of the building so I have two windows whereas most of the rooms only have one. There was no bedding provided, so one of the first things I did was go to Primark for some really cheap ones. They were even on sale!

I got a duvet, two pillows, a duvet cover, three pillowcases, clothes hangers, towels, and a laundry basket for about 30 pounds. Not bad! I still don't have any dishes (or much else), so I'll see if I can get some today.

The flat has six rooms and a shared kitchen. I've met my flatmates already, and they all seem very nice! Three or four of us also partook in the orientation week, so I've seen them around. The flat next to us is all-British, and we're all non-British.

The kitchen is nice, clean, and spacey. As is my room, I think! The buildings in Ranmoor Village (where I live) generally seem quite modern and new, and there doesn't seem to be much wear and tear.

The kitchen window has a lovely view!

Also, I just have to share something...

I've got pink toilet paper.

karaoke and Chatsworth House

I didn't realise how much I would come to enjoy yesterday's club night. It started with two hours of karaoke, and okay, I did think it would be fairly entertaining to follow, but I had no idea how much fun it would be. People were such good performers, and for the first time, I properly felt like we international students were all a big happy family.

I didn't sing, but it was such a lot of fun to see and hear people do familiar songs that got everyone in a good mood. Afterwards, we moved to another room for clubbing (all of these places were inside the Students' Union!) and stayed for another couple of hours. Three buses had been specially ordered for the students back from the Union so no one would have to walk alone in the dark. The University of Sheffield is very particular about students' safety, which is good. There's even a "Women's Minibus" scheme, which basically means that female students can take a special bus back from the city centre several times per night to avoid being harassed or something in the streets at night.

Today, we visited the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, only 20 minutes away from Sheffield! It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was pretty much as giddy about wandering in the house grounds pretending I was Georgiana Cavendish (well, not really) as people were about the first club night.

Isn't it pretty!? Most people went inside the house (can we say castle?) first, but my friends and I did the garden/grounds first, which was good because it was much quieter that way.

The house was used as Pemberley in the Pride & Prejudice film. I shouldn't be too excited about that, because everyone knows the 1995 miniseries is much better, but still.

I really enjoyed the visit. The house was really beautiful and interesting inside as well, but I liked the outside even more. I think I might visit the place again at some point, especially because there's a huge maze in the grounds that you can go into, but it was closed when we got there today!

Tomorrow is the last day of Orientation Week, which is a bit sad because then I will move away from all the people I've got to know. However, there'll be a fancy formal dinner that I'm looking forward to, and anyway, I'll be able to see these people even afterwards!

Tänään käytiin Chatsworth Housessa, jossa on kuvattu mm. Ylpeyttä ja ennakkoluuloa sekä Herttuatar-elokuvaa. Keira Knightley on siis visiteerannut useampaankin otteeseen. Harmi sinänsä, mutta paikka itse oli upea. ;) Eilen oli karaokea ja ensimmäinen yhteinen club night, jota monet odottivat innolla, ja josta minäkin nautin paljon enemmän kuin olisin osannut kuvitella! Oli tosi hauskaa, varsinkin karaokea seuratessa. Huomenna orientaatioviikko loppuu illalliseen, jonne pitää pukeutua siististi. 

so much newness!

I've met so many people these past few days, it's been quite overwhelming. Monday was relatively laid back in terms of activities, but yesterday and today have been pretty crazy. I haven't been feeling so great all the time, but today has been good, which I'm happy about.

This is the Students' Union building, which is where we have spent most of this week so far at different talks and lectures in the auditorium about student life, culture shocks, etc. It takes about 15 minutes to walk there from where I live at the moment, and perhaps 20 minutes from where I'll be moving on Saturday.

A few of us at one of the talks: Katjusa from Slovenia, Shweta from Singapore, me, and Marie from Denmark. We all have to wear badges with our names and nationalities printed on them. I should take a proper picture of mine!

Here's just a couple of photos from near the Students' Union. It's been a really sunny day today!

We started doing this scavenger hunt kind of thing in the city centre, but it wasn't too well organised, so some of us had to leave early for another talk and let the rest of the team continue.

There are about 365 international students doing the catered orientation (like me) and probably a couple of hundred more taking part in a freer Discovery Week. Next week is Freshers' Week, which is when all the British students come in. As some of the lecturers have been saying, "You'll know when the Brits are here". I guess I ain't seen nothing yet!

Yesterday night there was a Quiz Night at the Students' Union. We formed teams of ten people, preferably all from different countries, and there were four sections: Sheffield, Britain, International, and General Knowledge. It was a lot of fun, even though our team didn't place!

Team Hippopotamus.

This evening after dinner there's the "Global Intro Party", which many people have been looking forward to a lot! I'm quite tired from being so busy lately, but I think it would be good to go at least for some time. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's visit to Chatsworth House, which is a stately home in Derbyshire. Some films like Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess (booo Keira Knightley) have been filmed there. I mustn't forget my camera!

zigazig ha

I'm back in Sheffield after the wedding in the Lake District! It was absolutely the best way to start this temporary life in a new country. So, so much fun! I can't wait to have some proper photos of it -- I didn't really take that many myself because there were several people with much better cameras, and besides, I was too busy dancing!

This is the Westmorland Hotel, where the wedding took place. We were very lucky weather-wise: the day of the ceremony was clear and sunny (although cold!), and the next day when we left it was chucking down rain most of the time.

The same room functioned as breakfast hall, dinner hall, ceremony hall, and reception hall. For reception, a proper parquet floor was brought to one end of the room, so we didn't have to dance on carpet. It was brilliant!

The view was absolutely gorgeous. There was a sort of moat surrounding the hotel with lots of cute little waterfalls. So pretty!

The newlyweds visit the hotel often since they live quite close to it, so when they found out the hotel did weddings, it seemed like the natural venue for theirs!

The food was lovely. The carvery included roast beef (or salmon), vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, and roast potatoes (or boiled, like mine -- I was actually told off for choosing them over roasted ones ;) ).

It was very nice to meet more of Charlie's family, even though I was a bit nervous! But everyone was really friendly, and I knew quite a few of them already, so that was good! They have some of the most innovative dance moves I've seen. It was such a lot of fun! We danced through most of the songs (there was a DJ and all!) and were the last ones on the dancefloor when it ended at midnight. Most of the time the floor was quite packed, which was really nice! However, at one point I requested that the DJ play Wannabe by the Spice Girls, and when he did, most people suddenly cleared off... I have no idea why! Honestly! But at least there was more room for me to slam my body down and wind it all around.

Even if you don't know me, you'll learn to see that wherever there's a sign, I'll take a photo of it. Especially at train stations. And especially in England.

Getting back from the wedding wasn't as easy as I thought. Charlie, his sister Georgia, and I were all going to get on the same train back to our homes. Charlie and I would both have two changes, so we'd all end up in different trains, but the first one was supposed to be the same for all three of us. However, due to a severe delay, Georgia was the only one who ended up getting on the original train (and even that one was nearly an hour late). I got on a train straight to Manchester about 40 minutes later (which meant only one change for me) and Charlie to Birmingham a bit before me. So, we got to know the Oxenholme train station pretty well.

Today, I've been to breakfast with Ollie from Japan (whom I met yesterday -- she lives across the corridor from me) and Nellissa from Canada, whom I met in the corridor this morning. I'm free until 1 pm when we have a registration session (not sure what that means yet), and Nellissa and I signed up for a walk around Broomhill (wherever that is) at 4 pm. After dinner, there is going to be some dancing, like waltz and that sort of thing, which I think sounds pretty fun! I'll try to use whatever free time I have to do some research on buses and the nearest supermarkets, so I'll actually have somewhere to buy food at a reasonable price.

One thing I've learnt about Sheffield so far: the weather is completely bipolar. When I was getting back to my room, it was sunny. When I got in my room, it was raining cats and dogs. And now it looks like Sheffield has never seen a drop of rain.

Olen taas täällä Sheffieldissä (ä näyttää oudolta tuossa lopussa), kun olin viikonlopun siellä häissä. Oli muuten aivan superkivaa! Spice Girls oli aika tehokas tanssijoiden karkottaja, mutta ainakin minulla oli hauskaa. :D Onneksi oli jokin tuollainen tapahtuma tässä alussa, koska suurin osa ihmisistä on tullut tänne vasta eilen tai tänään, joten täällä ei varmaan olisi oikein ollut ketään tai mitään.  En ottanut hirveästi kuvia häissä (vaikka yleensä niitä kertyy satoja, juna-asemien kylteistä lautasella olevaan ruokaan), mutta toivottavasti saan niitä pian mm. Charlien isältä, joka oli häiden epävirallinen valokuvaaja. Tänään ei ole ehtinyt tapahtua muuta kuin aamiainen, jossa tapasin taas pari uutta ihmistä. Yhdeltä on jotain muodollisuuksia liittyen kai yliopistoon rekisteröitymiseen, ja neljältä olen menossa jollekin kävelykierrokselle lähistölle. Päivällisen jälkeen tänään on jotain tanssaamista, joka kuulostaa aika hauskalta! Saa nähdä, mitä muuta täällä tapahtuu. Säästä ei muuten näköjään ikinä tiedä. Onneksi minulla on sadetakki, mutta sateenvarjon jätin kotiin. Ajattelin, että sen saa kuitenkin hankittua täältä, eikä se ehkä olisi mahtunutkaan matkalaukkuun. Täytyy hommata siis sellainen jossain vaiheessa, ja ehkä myös kumpparit...

first impressions!

Finally here! I'm actually in Sheffield in my room at my desk and wow. I'm here!

That's, like, evidence or something. I guess I could've found the photo on the internet. But I took it myself at the train station last night!

It was such a long day yesterday. First, I flew to Stockholm and then caught a connecting flight to Manchester. I had bought train tickets online (well, Charlie bought them, but I'll pay him back!) from the airport to Sheffield, so I tried to collect them at a self-service machine. However, the machine couldn't read my card (without of which you can't get the tickets), so I panicked a bit. But then I queued at the desk and asked about it and the woman just took my reference number and my card and gave me the tickets. I was so relieved!

I had about two hours to wait for the train, which was fine, because I had a book and I was exhausted after dragging 21 kg of luggage after me and probably another 5 in my back. So I sat down and read and took pictures, of course.

At that time of the day, the station wasn't very busy, as you can probably see.

Well, the train took me to Manchester Piccadilly after there was an announcement that the train was cancelled from there onwards and everyone would have to get off. There was supposed to be another train to Sheffield at the same platform, so all of us from the first train waited for that one. There was a few loud chavs who seemed to think that the cancellation was every official-looking person's fault, and they were loud and annoying. They were even more loud and annoying when the second train was announced to be cancelled as well!  Oh British rail service... I then followed some old ladies who were also going to Sheffield to another platform, where we got on a third train. There weren't that many seats left, so I and my bag stayed in between coaches where there were a few small seats. I was very tired and hungry by this point, as I hadn't eaten anything since Stockholm!

The train ride was pretty uneventful apart from some water that leaked on me through the roof. I was so happy to eventually reach Sheffield, even though it was dark and rainy. I followed signs to a taxi station and got on a taxi almost immediately. It was only a bit over £7 to get to the university reception.

I got my keys and -- a bit surprisingly -- a map to my assigned accommodation. I couldn't believe they were sending me off to find my way in the dark (and rain) with my heavy bags! It was maybe a five-minute walk to the accommodation building, so not too bad though. At first I couldn't find how to get in, and my key card didn't seem to work. After a few minutes of trying, I got in -- another relief!

Trying to find my room, I went down a random corridor, where I found a guy who asked me whether I was sure I was in the right place. I told him my room number, and he told me it was on the fourth floor and kindly showed me to a lift. It was so good to get in my room finally, even though I felt really awful -- a combination of hunger, cold, tiredness, and the thought that I would be here for the next few months. The internet also didn't work, which was a shame because I was hoping to catch someone online to get some reassurance.

However, I decided to go downstairs again to see if I could find the same guy to ask him about the internet. I did find him and his friend, and they explained that I needed the university password and username to use the network. I knew immediately which ones he was talking about, but I couldn't check them without internet because they were in my email folder -- so he said I could use his computer to find them! Both of them were also assistant leaders for the Orientation Week, so they knew their way around and told me that I could go to breakfast with them in the morning. I thanked them a lot, went back to my room and yay! The internet worked! I sent quick messages to my parents and friends to say I had arrived and went to sleep soon after that.

This is what my room looks like. It's only my room for the weekend and next week, and then I'll move in my "real" room.

The accommodation complex I'm staying at is called Stephenson Hall, and my building is Carrysbrook. It looks like this.

The view out my window:

My desk (Facebook open, of course...):

And the corridor. 

My room is "ensuite", so I have my own bathroom, which is really nice. There seems to be quite a lot of closet space, and I think the room will be just fine for my needs.

I went to breakfast with two girls I ran into downstairs after asking whether I could follow them. I had no idea where to go, after all! They were happy to walk with me and it was nice to talk to some people. They were Li from Vietnam and Sara from Sri Lanka, and they're both orientation assistants doing their whole degrees in Sheffield. The breakfast hall was full of these assistants, so I haven't really met anyone "like me" yet -- most participants will arrive on Sunday or Monday as orientation won't start until Monday. That's fine though, because it means I can do whatever I want until then!

And that I will! Later today I'll catch a train to Oxenholme in the Lake District where I'll see Charlie and his family for the wedding tomorrow! I'm really excited. Sara said she'd recommend a taxi to the train station as it might be half an hour walk away, but I really won't mind the walk. I haven't seen any of the city yet (as it was dark yesterday) and this will be a great way to! I also have maps and I can always ask someone if I get lost, so I'm pretty excited to try and find my way around. :) 

So far, so good! (Hope this wasn't too long!)

No niin, täällä ollaan. Matka tänne oli pitkä, kivinen ja sateinen, mutta pääsin kuitenkin lopulta perille. Kaikki ihmiset, joita olen tähän asti tavannut, ovat olleet tosi mukavia ja avuliaita. Täällä ei siis vielä ole juurikaan meitä orientaatioon osallistuvia, vaan suurin osa on järjestäjiä ja avustajia. Varsinainen orientaatioviikko alkaakin vasta maanantaina, joten useimmat saapuvat silloin tai sunnuntaina. Olen siis ekoja täällä! Vähän myöhemmin lähden seikkailemaan kaupunkiin etsimään juna-asemaa, sillä olen menossa junalla järviseudulle, jossa pidetään Charlien tädin häät. Olen siellä tämän viikonlopun ja tulen sunnuntaina iltapäivällä takaisin. Toivottavasti niissä junissa ei ole mitään ongelmia! Odotan innolla kaupungin näkemistä paremmin, tosin nyt alkaa taas näyttää vähän harmaalta... toivottavasti selviän keskustaan sateetta!