I just have to comment the biggest international issue (at least in Europe): horse meat. How surprising it can be that produced foods may include something that the ingredients lists don't tell. (otherwise there would be lists as thick as the holy book is on every single package you happen to pick up at shop... )

http://www.roystoncartoons.com/

Yeah it is absolutely true that horse meat may be "spiced up" with a hint of doping. But are we people aware what they feed to our favorite everyday meat pork? How about beef? Add to the list chickens etc. Gene manipulated corn, steroids, parts of their fellow animals because throwing "the quality protein" would be too expensive (animals don't understand cannibalism right?) and so on...

Talking about the most necessary thing we'll ever need: Water! All those contraceptive pills women have been eating now around half a century... where do you seriously think the left over hormones will pour them self into? But...but..but they do clean the water and use really strong chemicals to do that. Right... chemicals. Much better option for us?! Now your thinking! (That's why I'm equipped with bobble due to the fact that I simply can't afford to buy bottled water every day.)

I may sound a bit sarcastic towards the whole situation and I do admit that this situation amuses me ever so slightly. The fact is that I had to learn the hard way to really look and understand what my food is made of. The symptoms I get from wrong kind of food aren't really that attractive.  I really hope that this scandal really wakes up the people to realize the value of really knowing what your food is made from and what you're eating. 

Don't get me wrong: I do enjoy my occasional burgers, pizzas, chocolate, candy, ice cream and absolutely love a good chunky stake! It's just using common sense to understand that the stuff you stick in to your mouth may actually effect your well being...

Ohooooyy Finland let me show you this!:

A tree branch picked up by my flat mate

THE SPRING IS HERE!

Spring is my favorite season right after summer. You can see how people change and how everything awakes again.

Because it's spring time it's also the time to check your tax allowance and finances. (Maybe they start to bloom too?..) etc. So I made a phone call to the public tax advising number because I immigrated here only 9 months ago. Male answered the phone and with a strong irish accent explained me the situations with a stone cold professional manner making me feel like a stupid bimbo again. Like I have previously mentioned the UK bureaucracy is a some sort of art but the phone advising service does really take the edge even from that. They really know their job but how can anybody sound so fed up with their life and at the same time by speaking you like to a child make you miserable as well?! He made me make the first financial professional decision of my life: I'm going to get somebody else to deal with my tax things!

It's hard to explain people here that even thought I may speak pretty good english I don't always know what to do or react in different situations. This is somehow slightly different dimension for me.

In spite of all I have done at least something right. One of my essays came back with an excellent mark. The other one didn't satisfy physiology lecturer with it's way too much psychosomatic-hold-spiced-up -blog-like writing and my own ideas. Marking straight from the other end... whoops. But hey lesson learned if you wan't scientific text I'll give you exactly what you want.  

In hard times like this I can always trust my gym. Gym's my personal councilor! Just like last wednesday when I felt pretty much frustrated, angry and pissed off by a person who's way too much words than actions..

Because Zumba was cancelled: first running my self to the state of exhaustion with some H.I.I.T work out, functional training with weights to get the left over anger out and relaxing stretch session and gossiping with one of the girls from Zumba. = Perfect!

Now I can actually prepare myself for the work filled weekend with a genuine smile and not that sweet wide lunatic smile with a scary doll like eyes. 

England is definitely getting points for it's early spring.

No melting dirty icy snow nor those nice smelly dog sh*** surprises in the middle of the road! In the end of march when you guys in Finland are shivering at home under 10 blankets I'll be sunbathing in battersea park in my bikinis. PAY BACK TIME!

Because spring is always the time for a new fresh start I realized that I should probably do something to my man situation. Wake up girl, stop falling for the wrong guy and replace the s-a-h-a-r-a (and a man who's obviously not that into you...) and get a man who really appreciates the amazing woman you are!

First job: Get out of the flat! It could really help the situation if I would squeeze a night out every week to my schedule and not just keep my head in the books, run to the gym or work my butt of 24/7.

But I just have to comment the previous sentence. I have noticed that the behavior in the clubs and pubs can occasionally something out of this world:

Just like last week. (Again.) I was on the bar desk minding my own business and enjoying my wine while my friend and her boyfriend were dancing this young man starts a conversation with me:
"Hi..You're sexy. Are you russian?"
"Hi.. actually I'm finnish"
"Oh.. I was thinking that we could have some nice time together and enjoy each others company.."
"Err... ok... you mean a date?..."
"No. Not a date...I'm not living here"
.........

Ehem... excuse me! Does that really work?! Where do these guys learn their manners?! If a woman looks russian it means that she's one of those girls?!  (the russian women I know are maybe the most decent and well mannered women too.) I didn't even show that much bare skin an actually I was dressed really stylishly with black dress and heels. Show some respect!

And why on earth the vertical foreplay is considered to be dancing?! Immediately when you agree to dance with someone he'll think that it's the permission to perform a manual body scan....

Luckily the women from my family never accept that kind of behavior and end up being doormats in front of every guy.

And I do have to admit that I also have my independent woman moments: If a man tells me (in my best condition of course) that I shouldn't behave in a certain way I look at him under my eyebrows, stubbornly lift my chin up like a diva, dance with 10 guys, kiss half of them and show my ring finger shouting: "Do you see a ring?! Do I have a boyfriend?! Are you my dad or brother?! I DO WHAT EVER I WANT TO DO!"

So maybe just going out is not the solution for my situation?...

I had a cat whisperer moment the other night. I was walking back home after a nice relaxing pilates session when a saw a cat. The cat stared at me with it's huge eyes. There we were. Me and a cat. Staring each other like nothing else existed in the world. Seconds passed and I reached out and the cat responded by walking next to me. A hand against silky fur. Small silent purr and the shared moment was over. I continued my way back home with one question in my head: Does this mean that I'll be the true old maid with tons of cats?!

That's why I have actually learned to enjoy my single girl moments and showed the love towards myself (well can't really get it from anywhere else..) by cooking amazing meals and baking fantastic brownies, cornbread etc.  After a long night out and tingly palm (due to teaching the boys who's the queen) a perfect Bridget Jones moment watching romantic movies, sobbing in pyjamas and eating a box of chocolates is legal and accepted!

Just to share one of my moments with you...

BTW I think that I just made the biggest mistake ever in my life by telling my relatives that I'll be visiting them in a couple of months. I just got informed that it should be good for me to have more than a week in Finland and that they may have something planned for me.

Today my colleague (after hearing the previous info) commented:
"Maybe they're getting you married?"

I just realized that actually could be quite a possible thing from my family. At least it would be a relief for my dad! So if in April when I go to Finland and there would be a huge rough looking guy with a bouquet in his hands who greeds me with a slightly rough accent finnish/english "Hello...I'm your husband" I wouldn't be too surprised!

This means an emergency meeting with the girls tomorrow evening: Good music, a lot of laughter and dancing!

Well look what we got  here today? The day of Love! The day of pressure to show your feelings in a form of a love balloon, chocolate, pink cards, pink fluffy handcuffs, a whip... what ever you choose! I thought whining again about making money out of big emotions and commercializing everything. But as a romantic person I actually do love the whole idea of making effort towards your loved ones at least once a year. (In finnish culture people tend to forget to show their emotions especially towards their loved ones).

http://wallpaperswide.com/red_roses-wallpapers.html

And just to make the valentines day a bit more exiting try something new:

•  I was on a date last week. (actually a good date in a long..very long time) Dinner and a movie.  Classic you may think BUT the movie was Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. Blood, sweat and tears! Overdose of the blood and violence! Not a classical date movie but I LOVE TARANTINO MOVIES! There's nothing like he's way of using the violence and quirky characters and genius plots. Revenge is maybe his favorite subject and the man just knows how mix&match and question the clishes. (Don't you worry my Tarantino collection back in Finland: Mama's going to come and get you!).

• My ex fiance really knew how to spoil a girl. Once he took me to see a boxing match. Amin Asikainen (one of the most known finnish boxers) against a russian guy if I remember right. (not his best match I must say But I really had a fantastic time.) The other time he tried to cook a meal for me and the result was eatable.  He got out of his comfort zone to please me! That if something is love. 

So instead of cliché  solutions try something new that you already kind of know that your special someone would enjoy. Write a poem? Bake something? Take a bootcamp class together? Try some tantric massage?

Valentines day in Finland is more like a day of friendship. Therefore I dedicate this blog text to all of my friends:

My friends this is why I love you: 
1. You make sure that I don't settle just for the "ok" one. For example making me always take the double shot of vodka in my drinks or order the supersize sunday.

2. I never get bored!
-After a boozy cruise in the spring  I may yet again receive a christmas card including evidence of that wild night...
-Suddenly I may have a text from one of you who's traveling around the world saying that you're drunk in a church and soon having a bad hangover. What should you do? As always you did receive my amazing advice "Confess your sins my child!".
- Kossu-kahvin paikka! (Time for some coffee and vodka)

3. The most amazing memories:
- My 20th birthday I got a card from 2 of my friends who know me and my mother hen nature damn too well: "Congrats! You didn't become a teenage mom!".
-Philosophical moments on a hill with a bottle of wine.
-surprise "snow washes" and snow angels at winter times.
-Best after party ever: Toboggan at 4am!
-Our football teams come back as the fallen stars and leaving with a metal around our neck.
-Shopping cart in a cruise cabin: Who's idea was that?!
- The 3 jägerbomb technique will always result the best nights ever.
- Most memorable new year ever with sangria, singing and modern dancing. 
-Those long summer days at my friends families summer garden cottage in the centre of Helsinki.

If I was in trouble you were there to help me and if I needed trouble you were there to assist me. 

There's so much to mention about you my friend but unfortunately there's not enough space for a proper novel so I'll promise you that we'll keep on making those memories for the years to come!

But lets not forget my folks back home: I may always whine about the amount of drama in my family and how big troubling characters they are but the truth is I wouldn't be what I am today without them. (It's getting a bit too peaceful in here here so I'll be there to visit you and to get my dose of that drama for the next half a year in a couple of months.)

-Without my mom and grandmas I wouldn't have learned to be the lady and diva I am today (and clean the toilet, hang the curtains, decorate, cook, bake, dance, sing etc. the right way.)

-Without you dad I wouldn't be the stubborn independent strong little princess I am today. All those fights in the past and yet to come and conversations of being the same blood and respecting your own clan.

-Thanks to you my brother, uncle and dad nowadays a small form military operation is needed if a man wants to get serious with me.

-Sisters and auntie: You have given me the reality woman as an idol I can look up to anytime when I need some confidence!

We'll always have those moments of doubts and fights but I can always be sure that you would always be there for me when the time is right.  Love and hate are really similar emotions and walk hand in hand. Rarely only hate or love is involved. (There must be some strange awkward love towards the people I hate?...Er...) The opposite of love is not hate it is coldness. The emotion when you don't care at all.

I've already been in the gym and prepared mentally for some evening brownie baking and eating half of the whole set ('cos it's a valentines day I'll probably have to share my double  chocolate brownies with my flat mates) while watching a movie. This is how surprising my love life is. 

I'll eat those brownies with all of you sweeties in my heart!

The credit rating has been puzzling me quite a lot while living here. Basically you don't even exist without a bank account that you can't get without job, a proof of address, national insurance number and ID, that you can't get without a bank account that sends you a letter that can be a proof of address and so on... And yeah. Almost forgot to mention that the credit rating of a bank is completely different than the national one!

Don't even ask. I'm just happy that I got everything solved out without a problem!  If you want to improve your status in England make sure you register in council too and get a monthly direct debit SIM. a.k.a mobile phone number. This all is a base for making the best out of your status and the only way up. Oh yeah...a  few more things to mention: It would be highly appreciated if you would own some property or just be financially very well balanced and have a really healthy income (if you know what I mean..), be married or at least have a title!

So if you move to London make sure you got: 
A a lot of cash stashed somewhere
B somebody you know living here already
C somebody to move here with
D Decide to work OR study (and you gain fantastic future a bit quicker.)

Those things would definitely make things much more easier!

If you decide do what I did and move to London to work and study with pretty much emergency savings prepare to work and WORK HARD! And have a really open mind and will that doesn't allow you to brake and give up immediately. Use your common sense and don't be lured to every "nice opportunity" you are offered. Everything's not always what it seems and unfortunately there's always people who are happy to use new immigrants in their great plans to make more money.

I've finally got 3 whole days just for myself without uni lectures or work so after lazy tuesday which I spend in bed (occasionally making my way to the fridge...)  I visited the Museum of London today. Thank god for the free entries to museums!

At last a change to understand more of the the city I live in and what I call home!

From the prehistoric times all the way to Roman times, Medieval England with the plague, the great fire of London... ( A huge section mentioning that everything was made from wood and streets were messy and not that organized.. As a finn I could express my point of view to that: If you wan't to see organized city visit Helsinki! Or am I just having too many of those "blond moments" and that's the main reason for me to get lost so often?..  And what is it in the english culture that everybody blamed each other for the fire?! Because most of London was Protestant they blamed the catholics which is absurd to me. Why to draw those silly lines between different point of views when we all are christians right?! ) the wars, celebrities, fashion. Anything you can imagine!

The effect and mixture of cultures in decoration in london!

My favorite part of the  history. Books and how the information got available for everyone and not just the privileged ones! 

The year 1858 when river thames was transformed of a river of "stink".  Hopefully people got a bit more environmentally aware after that.

 I have always been fascinated about the history of those that won't always leave a mark in the history:  Museum of London will definitely get credit of mentioning the common people and showing how they lived and what things effected their life. The fight of women rights, against eugenics and poverty have left their marks in the history!

 The day when  woman's pound/sterling is the same as mens (from the same work!), when women are not treated as objects (nurturing children and men (against their will or with the cost of their own health), or being there just for the pleasure, sold to be wife's to men they don't  know, sex slaves..etc. Remember that gang rape case in India? Should that be allowed?!), everybody has the right for free good quality education/healthcare and possibilities for a  good profession like those from a better background.. I can rest!

That means a very long time of waiting and.. but hey if you don't aim for better what your going to do with your life?

Pictures and artifacts of poverty, how it effected and the fight against it.

The view why I love London: New and old! Mixture of cultures! Cosmopolitan city!

London has always been a city that attracts fortune hunters and those looking for a better future. From my point of view we immigrants have had a huge impact in the development of London and what it has become nowadays. 

As an immigrant that has a really wild imagination I of course started to think what kind of mark I'll leave to London: Plenty of red hand marks on misbehaving young mens cheeks, a heel mark on one of the Camden bars tables, plenty of people with damn good looking glasses and the urban legend of the northern girl who had the most blunt words and attitude ever! BOOM!

One fact has always stayed the same: In most cases there isn't a fast track to happiness. Just like anywhere you have to work hard and seek for the opportunities. And that's exactly what this city has to offer: Plenty of opportunities! 

When it comes to letters and cards the post services does work really well between Finland and England. But parcels are a completely different story...

It is the 5th of February and I just received my christmas present from my parents in Finland. The parcel has been on it's way for over a month! Finally I got a letter saying that the postmen have been trying to deliver the parcel for me so many times with tons of reminders that the parcel has been stored to another place and ready to be returned to Finland unless I call them and ask for home delivery.

Yeah right. Me or my flatmates haven't seen any sign of those delivery attempts....

I actually have yet another conspiracy theory behind this: As I am (highly suspiciously) a student ( This should be noted. Students are known to be highly untrustworthy and lower social scum.. ((at least if you ask from the bank!))) from such a notorious country like Finland every parcel has to be checked. You never know what you may find: A pair of woolen socks! Chocolate! Maybe even some coffee?... 

Or dad did you again think that this is a really funny joke? An evening purse with the brass knuckles?!

What a father wouldn't do to protect his daughter? Well my dad has sometimes a different meaning for the word protection but I do appreciate the fact that my folks did remember me at christmas after all! 

As a northern person it is absolutely absurd to me how it can be such a surprise for Londoners that the winter is coming. Especially the way they react to snow. They are looking forward of seeing some snow but when we finally get some snow it's a maniac. Total disaster...

Armageddon has arrived! Transportation stops, schools close (even my uni!) and at work we close earlier so that everybody gets home. (luckily because my normal 1-1.5hh travel doubled that evening. )

And the big question is: Does London learn anything from this? NO! Apparently this happens every year! Talking about the old dog learning new things...

Sorry for being so quiet for so long. Updating my blog has been second to my uni and work stuff.  But let me give you a brief look to my christmas and new year! It's not wrong to start the christmas eve with 2h gym workout right? Bodypump with Britney Spierse - Crazy and spinning "high" tuned by Nirvana - Teen spirit.  So my first xmas present was reaching the exercise euphoria. Also know as "seeing red" by street fighters or finding the zone among other sports people. More understood by dancers when it's all about the music and when you are "one" with the tunes. In medical circles we would probably call it an adrenaline spike!

 I got lucky and my uni friend invited me and Ira to join to his and his girlfriends "Orphan Christmas". Those unlucky ones who were about to spend the xmas alone were all invited. Such a nice atmosphere! Fantastic food spiced up with some salsa music! Amazing people!  Nico and Mira really made my xmas! Pictures tell more than thousands words right?

I got a bit over exited about the baking. 1 Person=tons of food? Er..

Kitchen finally clean! A rare sight to see nowadays.

Most amazing christmas meal!

Special guest. I swear he was eyeing on me. I'll come back to you Bruce!

Weather at xmas day

Nico and a new shirt

Time to open the presents!

These xmas hats from the crackers are something to adapt to finnish culture

I've always wondered the true meaning of these hats..

Our very own Gizmo the xmas dog!

Some me, myself and I - time holiday period. Definitely needed!

Unfortunately I don't have any pics of my own cooking and xmas dinner. But I can tell you that it was amazing: Chicken, beef, roasted veggies... and this is the icing of the cake. My very own strawberry cake and a glass of wine!

New years eve was a blast and we all had fun with pretty much the same bunch of people. The evening included amazing cooking buy Angelo, crazy shouting and drinking in italian/spanish on the balcony and breaking the coat hanging thingy on the wall and the bench... yeas by me and only me! (Hopefully this means that I'll have a fantastic year 2013?...) Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the evening.

BTW: My dear friends in Finland! You'll have some work to do because this girl isn't drinking that much as before. No way! I must have hit my head or something but I simply can't handle large amounts of alcohol anymore! (That doesn't lower my love towards good quality vodka at all..) Usually a few glasses of wine or pints of cider will do and at some point of the night I switch to lemonade and lime or soda and lime. That could be due to the fact that I always study or work so for me it is crucial to function well 24/7 and hangover isn't stylish. That is why I barely ever suffer from hangover!

After the holidays the reality truly bitch slapped me again and there I was. 2 essays to be done and biochemistry exam behind the corner like a blood thirsty beast staring at me with it's small pig eyes! I actually managed to return the essays in time and hopefully they will satisfy the jury as they satisfied me. A bit last minute there... but hey? What can a girl do to her bohemian nature? Biochemistry exam was a completely different story and I'll be truly surprised if I pass. Purely an attitude problem! I admit it! I hated biochemistry and didn't even open the books on time! And when I did and brainwashed my self with Pavlov technique offering myself a homemade brownie every time I finished a chapter I noticed that this is not that hard after all... But what can you do when the time is running out? Well try again in the re sit! JiiiHAA!

So this was the shorten story of my holidays and the reality slap. At the moment I lay in my sick bed (the proper flu with 39C fever, muscle- and headache etc.)  wondering how on earth did I forget my blog completely because this is a great fun! Public humiliation!

Till next time sweethearts!