catching up

Nothing very interesting has happened in a while, so that's why I haven't been writing. But I was on Skype with my mum earlier and she said that the things that seem uninteresting to me might be interesting to her, so here we go!

I'm enjoying all my classes this semester. And most importantly, I enjoy going to all of them. In the autumn I didn't usually look forward to attending the poetry classes because the atmosphere was occasionally quite pressuring.

Old English is cool but quite challenging. We're learning a new grammar thing every week and then practising it in the other classes. We're learning to say various things about priests, abbots, mountains, and moors. I guess there was never going to be that "Hello! How are you? Excuse me, where is the nearest nunnery?" class in Old English...

Se cyning Ætþelred ferde to Readingum, and þa mette he his þeowe.

Ethelred the king went to Reading, and there he met his servant. Those kind of sentences we're learning to do. At some point we'll do a bigger translation (which I look forward to) and an essay where we can focus either on the literary or linguistic side of this poem Juliana that we're discussing, based on our preferences.

In Shakespearean Drama, we've just finished discussing Richard III. I had never read the play before, but I liked it a lot. Richard is a great villain character! Next is A Midsummer Night's Dream that I'm more familiar with, and it happens to be the one that my group will do a presentation on in two weeks' time. The teacher is really lovely and smiley!

Storying Sheffield has great people in it and we're also keeping blogs for that class as part of the assessment. At the moment they can only be seen by the teachers, though.

Last week one of my flatmates and I went to see our other flatmate's cheerleading show. It was kind of scary, but they were very good!

Yesterday I did something I had looked forward to for a long time: a Beyoncé dance class! The same woman who taught us the Thriller around Halloween taught us the dance from Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" music video. This one! Unfortunately there isn't a video of our dance! We didn't have time to do the whole thing as we only had one hour. It was so much fun though!

February is almost over! What a strange thought! March will be quite busy, or at least I'll have something special coming up every week! But I'll write more about those things later...

first week

Classes started this week, and everything seems interesting so far. I'm taking three classes again: Introduction to Old English, Shakespearean Drama, and Storying Sheffield. The first one is a language class, where we learn the grammar of Old English, which looks like a mixture of Icelandic and German. We'll be studying an epic poem called Juliana and eventually translating bits of it into modern English, which I'm looking forward to a lot. I'm kind of missing the translation classes at home! 

Shakespearean Drama is exactly what it sounds like. It's aimed at exchange students, so all the students are non-English. We'll be studying Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, The Tempest, and Othello. It seems like it might be the most work out of the three, but the teacher is lovely and the group seems good. 

Storying Sheffield is a bit more difficult to explain - and actually I'm still not sure myself what we'll be doing! We'll be working with stories of people from Sheffield, perhaps interviewing them. The most exciting thing is that at the end of the course, we'll publish a book! It sounds like it'll be like an anthology that everyone contributes to in some part. Exciting! In the first class that was yesterday, we had to write a story about trees in five minutes. I'm not exactly sure what that was aiming at, but you can read some of them here:

http://www.storyingsheffield.com/stories/more-story-fragments/

The above website is dedicated to this very class, and some of the material on there has been produced by the previous students who took it. I think this will be an unforgettable class and a good opportunity for me, being here for only a limited time.

I've also started a five-week Spanish class, partly inspired by my future trip to Barcelona during the Easter break! 

I've been thinking about joining a society that I would actually go to. Well, I think I've found one: the Nail Art Society! I went to their Give it a Go session on Wednesday, which was a lot of fun. And I may have slightly also got myself the membership...

I'm excited to go there again! I couldn't think of a society that would be better suited for me, until my friend Becki said: "The Lime Green, Polka dot, Shopaholic and Wedding Magazine Appreciation Society"... (I should say that the Shopaholic bit refers to the books...!)

We had another birthday this week. Sharon, the youngest in our flat, turned 18! This time I bought the cake at Marks&Spencer's, but the piping work was all mine! I had never written anything with icing before, so I was very proud...

Also notice our Australian flag. None of us is Australian, but we got it from this girl who left Sheffield and also gave us tons of kitchen stuff for free!

It's been a busy week, so this weekend feels extra welcome. I haven't done anything useful today!

Nyt on eka kouluviikko takana. Tämän kevään kurssit ovat kaikki mielenkiintoisia, enkä usko että tulee ainakaan tylsää. Löysin myös minulle sopivan kerhon, nimittäin kynsitaidesocietyn! Ai niin, ja aloitin viisi viikkoa kestävän espanjan alkeiskurssin. Olisin varmaan ottanut sen muutenkin, mutta olen menossa pääsiäislomalla pariksi päiväksi Barcelonaan japanilaisen Ollien kanssa, joten ehkä siinä oli jotain motivaatiota. Tällä viikolla oli taas synttärit, tällä kertaa 18 vuotta täyttävän Sharonin. Kakku on tällä kertaa ostettu, mutta kirjoitin tuon kuorrutetekstin ihan omin kätösin! Olin aika ylpeä, koska en ole ennen tehnyt mitään sellaista.

another birthday and new glasses

On Sunday, just after I had taken Charlie to the train station, I went to my friend's flat to make a cake! It was my flatmate Rike's 19th birthday, and the rest of us had plotted to make the cake in someone else's kitchen so Rike wouldn't smell/see it. I volunteered to do it, because I had planned to make a cake anyway soon. It also gave me something to do now that I was on my own again!

I don't think my flatmates still know I used a ready-made cake mix that just needed water, eggs, and oil added. They're under the impression I made it all from scratch!

 

I was pretty proud of it anyway! And it tasted really good!

I also (finally) got new glasses last week. I like them much better than my old ones, and not only because I can see better with them!

 

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day! Hyvää ystävänpäivää!

weekend with Charlie!

Charlie came over last Friday and we had a lovely weekend. We went to the botanical gardens on Saturday -- it was another pretty day!

And of course there were lots of funny photos...

I loved this little gazebo! It reminded me of the Sound of Music...

... so of course I had to run and skip on the side benches like Liesel.

For dinner, we went to Pizza Express for an early Valentine's Day meal. We also had some vouchers, which made it even better!

And then it was time for perhaps the highlight of the weekend: a ceilidh! I was worried I wouldn't be able to dance after the hearty meal, but it was fine! It was so much fun. I took a video of a dance that we sat out (click on "Ceilidh" if you want to see it). I hope it works!

Ceilidh

There was also a capoeira show on the interval. It was pretty cool and the performers all seemed very talented.

It was nice to have a "special" weekend before classes started again this Monday!

kotiruokaa

Eilen kävin tosiaan bussilla hakemassa vähän tarvikkeita leipomuksia varten ikään kuin kaupungin toisessa keskustassa (tai siltä se ainakin vaikutti), jossa en ollut ennen käynyt. Hillsborough oli kyllä nimensä veroinen, koska bussi meni koko matkan vain jyrkkää ylä- tai alamäkeä. Onneksi en joudu kävelemään siellä... Aion kyllä varmaan silti käydä siellä suunnalla joku päivä ihan jalkaisin, koska mitä nyt bussin ikkunasta näin, maisemat ovat siellä kyllä upeat.

Minulla oli sen verran pitkä ostoslista, että päätin ottaa kärryn, mutta minulla ei ollut sopivia kolikoita, joten päätin käydä Poundlandissa (jossa kaikki maksaa vain yhden punnan) ostamassa jotain saadakseni rahaa rikottua. Siellä tulikin vastaan setti, jossa oli pullasuti, nuolija ja kauha (juuri oikeaa vihreän sävyä), ja tajusinkin vasta sitten, että pullasutia saattaisi tarvita korvapuustien leipomisessa. Otin siis sen ja sain kärryrahaa!

Olin jo varautunut siihen, että muutamia asioita voisi olla hankalaa löytää. Ilmeisesti Englannissa ei oikein ymmärretä raesokerin päälle, ja koska minusta pullan päällä pitää olla sitä, päätin etsiä jotain korvaavaa. Löysinkin kakunkoristeluhyllystä hopeahelmien ja suklaakiehkuroiden välistä tällaista:

 

Sininen väri ei aivan kuulunut suunnitelmaan, mutta mielestäni se oli kuitenkin yllättävän hyvä vastine. Onhan sitä kai vaaleanpunaistakin raesokeria.

Kardemumma oli toinen jännityksen aihe, vaikka ei se kai niin kummallinen mauste ole. Sen verran kummallinen kai kuitenkin, että sitä ei löytynyt jauhettuna ollenkaan, vaan paras tulos oli tämä:

Olen kyllä joskus ennenkin murskannut kardemumman siemeniä, mutta en ole koskaan kuorinut niitä niin kuin herneitä. Leivinjauhepurkki toimi kotikutoisena huhmareena aika huonosti, mutta kai ne siemenet edes vähän pienentyivät. Tuoksu niissä oli ainakin juuri oikea!

Eikä mielestäni lopputuloskaan vallan huono ollut, vaikka Rike-kämppis kysyikin vähän varautuneena "What's that blue stuff?"

Käytin muuten ensimmäistä kertaa fariinisokeria täytteessä tavallisen sijaan! Kyllä silläkin hyviä tuli, mutta mielestäni maku ei kuitenkaan ollut niin tajunnanräjäyttävän erilainen, että siirtyisin tästä lähtien käyttämään vain sitä. Kanssa-asukkaat tykkäsivät myös, ainakin sen vauhdin perusteella, jolla pullia alkoi kadota pöydältä. Laitoin tosin varmuuden vuoksi muutamia kappaleita pakastimeen piiloon leipäpussien alle...

Tänään oli sitten aika tehdä jotain muutakin tuttua. En ole tehnyt makaronilaatikkoa täällä vielä kertaakaan, koska minulla ei ole sopivaa vuokaa, enkä viitsi sellaista täällä hankkia. Eilen keksin kuitenkin sellaisen loistoidean, että olen vieläkin siitä ylpeä: ostin sellaisia foliovuokia, joissa einesmakaronilaatikkokin tulee! Niitä sain viisi kappaletta punnalla, ja ajattelin yrittää vähän puhdistaa niitä lopuksi, että voin käyttää niitä samaan tarkoitukseen uudestaan.

Miten tuo munamaito näyttää niin epätasaisesti jakautuneelta...

Voin sanoa, että oli ihan niin kuin kotona. Nam!

I've been so Finnish lately with my cinnamon rolls and macaroni box. Both turned out almost exactly like at home - delicious! My flatmates loved the cinnamon rolls, and although I just made the macaroni box for myself this time, I might make it again when we have a flat dinner one of these days.

botanical gardens

Hello and happy February! I thought I'd try to write a bit more often than I did toward the end of autumn, so hopefully I can keep it up!

Since I have another free week before classes start, I thought I would use the time to visit places in Sheffield I haven't been before. That would make me get out and not just do nothing and hopefully it would give me something to write about as well! I actually really like going somewhere new, not only new cities or countries but sometimes it's even more exciting to walk down a new street in your own neighbourhood. It gives me plenty of energy! And it was even better because it was a nice sunny day today. It's been raining a lot recently.

So, I decided to go to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens! It's really a disgrace I haven't been there before as it only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to walk there from where I live. It's just down one road without any turns, so it was about time I explored it.

There used to be live bears here, but now they just have a statue!

It was a nice little walk and I think I'll visit the gardens again at least when it's warmer and they have flowers! I had a sandwich there on a bench while watching squirrels. They came quite close and it was fascinating to see how they ate! One gnawed on a nut a couple of times and then stuck the whole thing in its mouth and started running! They were so cute.

Endcliffe (the other student village) on the way back!

Tomorrow my "new place" will be an area called Hillsborough and specifically a big Morrisons (supermarket)! I want to do some baking but I couldn't find cardamom in any of the small shops there, so hopefully I'll be more lucky tomorrow!

Yesterday it was the birthday of a girl from my Irish class, Rose from the Netherlands. She had made a delicious chocolate cake (that I must try to copy one of these days!). She collects Harry Potter books in different languages so I got her one in Finnish - bet she didn't have that one before!

Tänään päätin käydä Sheffieldin kasvitieteellisessä puutarhassa, joka on ihan kivenheiton päässä täältä. Yritän nyt tällä tulevalla viikolla käydä kaikissa uusissa paikoissa lähistöllä, koska muuten varmaan vain lorvailisin huoneessani, kun kavereillakin on vielä kokeita. Ja minusta on aina tosi jännittävää vaikka vain kävellä kotiin jotain uutta reittiä! Pidän siis uusien paikkojen näkemisestä, mutta usein on helpompaa jos on joku tietty päämäärä (kuten nyt vaikka tuo puutarha) koska muuten minun olisi tosi vaikeaa päättää tienristeyksessä, kumpaan suuntaan lähtisi. Huomenna ajattelin ensin käydä Hillsborough-nimisessä kaupunginosassa, jossa on iso supermarketti. Kävisin siellä varmaan muutenkin, mutta nyt siihen on oikein syykin, kun en löytänyt mistään lähikaupoista kardemummaa! Ajattelin siis leipoa huomenna, ja lopputuloksesta riippuen esittelen ehkä tuotokseni täälläkin.