Panic and learn!

Hello!

I've been considering posting a video of myself talking English, but before I do that I thought I'd tell you how I learned English. I've briefly mentioned about my language learning techniques before, but never in much detail. So I thought I'd tell you know how I learned English.

I hope this post will be inspiring for those who feel they aren't very good at languages. You don't have to be good at languages to be able to speak them. You just have to forget that you can't do it and go and talk to some people who speak the language you're trying to learn. Or that's what I did anyway.

Scottish gear.

School

My Finnish school tried to teach me English since I was 7. I was very good at school – in everything except English. English was the one subject that I was always failing at. I was very worried that I would have to repeat a year, because I couldn't pass in English. I always managed to pass it somehow though. Occasionally, maybe out of pity.

On seventh grade, when I was 12, I started learning Swedish. A year after that I started learning French. And a year after that something meaningful happened. One of the girls in my school asked me to do her English homework because she hadn't done it and didn't have time to do everything before her class. I told her that I couldn't do it because I don't know any English (I was still just barely passing my English classes). But I tried anyway, and after her class she thanked me because I had filled in her exercises correctly. That's when I realised that I had actually started learning English. 

I believe that learning Swedish and French had helped me a lot. I had always wanted to learn languages and because I hadn't learned English I had chosen other languages that I thought might be easier and really put some effort into learning them. But turns out that learning one language really helps you learn another. Once you learn how languages work, it will be easier to understand a language.

I took part in a Nordic exchange program and hosted a Danish boy while I was at school.

Languages are not just sets of words tied together with different grammar rules. Language is something that people use to communicate with each other. Language is a tool for expressing yourself. Language is a frame for our thoughts. There are things you can't translate from one language to another. You need to understand things about the culture in order to learn a language properly. You can't know every word in any language. And you don't have to speak grammatically correctly in order to get understood.

Language exchanges

Although I wasn't good at languages, I always really wanted to travel and see the world. There are so many organisations that offer language exchanges for teenagers. My family never travelled abroad on holidays so the language exchange organisations offered me opportunities to travel and see the world on my own. And I probably got a better deal, because it gives you a better chance to learn about foreign cultures and to use the language if you live in a host family, than if you just stay in a tourist hotel with your own family.

Sweden

When I was 14 I travelled to Sweden, because although I had been studying Swedish for a lot shorter time than English, I felt that my Swedish was stronger than my English. I was incredibly scared to travel to a foreign country alone and to live with a family I had never met before. I was there for 2 weeks. My job was to work at a farm and to experience what Sweden is like. There were 8 Nordic kids there, 2 from each country. I met wonderful people there and apparently somehow managed to communicate with the others. I can remember things we've spoken about but can't even remember what language I used or how on earth I was able to talk about those things.

Photo from Jokar.se.

England

When I was 16, I wanted to become an exchange student and go to New Zealand. It, however, was too expensive for my family. Instead I got a chance to go on a language course in Oxford, England! Originally I was meant to go with a friend, but then she wasn't able to go. But because it is so easy to make new friends on language courses I went alone. And to be honest, I think it's better that I went alone. Maybe if I had had a friend with me I wouldn't have been so open and willing to get to know people. Language-wise the trip maybe wasn't the most useful because almost all the people I made friends with were Finns. But for my self-confidence this trip made a huge difference. For the first time I had a chance to meet new people who didn't know anything about me. No rumours, no gossip, no worries that someone might judge them if they talked to me. I made friends. It was incredible. I loved the people I met and I loved Oxford. And I wanted to return to UK one day.

So much love.

Denmark and Germany

When I was 17 I did a couple of youth exchanges in a row. I spent a week in Denmark and then one month in Germany. I spoke English with Danish and German people and we managed to communicate with each other. That's the whole purpose of a language. I also learned to understand German!

Time for making future plans

When I was 18, I graduated from upper secondary school (high school / reading school / whateveryouwannacallit school). It was time to figure out what I wanted to do next.

Big secret: I had no idea what I wanted to do next.


I had great dreams of becoming an air hostess or a lorry driver or anything to do with travel. But Finnair stated that you must be 22 before you can start training. I considered joining the army and getting all sorts of driving licenses there (because it would be just cool to drive a tank, right?). I phoned the Finnish Defence Forces and asked for a leaflet. I considered that I might need a realistic back-up plan though, and considered applying to Kuopio where I could study to become a sign language interpreter.

Army lorries from Yle.fi.

There was this Fayre about all sorts of universities and future careers in Helsinki that my school "forced" me to attend where I stumbled upon a stall labelled "Scottish Universities". That sounded fun! I had never really thought about Scotland possibly being a real country. To me it had been some sort of fairytale land. You know, Loch Ness Monster, bagpipes and kilts? When I realised that it was a real place, I thought it might be a fun idea to apply there.

Without actually believing in my chances of getting into a Scottish University, I also applied to a college near my hometown where I could study acting in English. I had decided that I would go back to UK and study there, but knew that I would have to improve my English. I got accepted to that college and I was happy.

Then, I got an acceptance letter from a Scottish University, and was ... shocked? I figured that I would of course go and do my best at studying there, and see how long they let me stay before they kick me out. I said bye bye to my army plans and asked my dad to book my plane tickets. (He didn't quite realise what was happening because still two weeks before the university started, he was under the assumption that I was going to go and study at the college near my hometown.)

Scotland and its piper girls and Nessie spotting.

Panicky learning

After I knew I only had a couple of months to properly learn English, I did the most sensible thing I could do. I practised English by reading Harry Potters. I watched a lot of TV series. I started with Friends. First, I had subtitles in Finnish and really tried to listen to what they said. The language they use was fairly easy to understand, so when I thought I was almost ready to let the Finnish subtitles go, I changed them to English. It was easier to follow the dialogue when I could read what they were saying and I didn't have to rely on catching every word. And when I was able to follow what was happening, I turned the subtitles off completely. And was happy to notice that I still could understand what was happening.

After I ran out of Friends, I chose a more difficult TV series: Gilmore Girls. It's brilliant, but they speak really fast. And a lot. I used the same 3 step subtitle technique. I really recommend it if you need to learn a language! When you have a long enough TV series to follow, you will get to know all the characters and start to understand them. It's like going on an exchange program and making new friends, except you don't have to go anywhere. But you will learn the language.

1. Choose an enjoyable TV series and watch it with subtitles in your own language while listening to what the characters say in their language.
2. When you're used to listening to their speech, change the subtitles into their language.
3. When you can pick out all the words, turn off the subtitles.

Obviously this technique only works, if you have some background knowledge on the language. But when you're desperate and really out of practise it does help.

I learned such useful phrases.

Scotland

So what happened to me after I trained myself to understand English by watching American TV series?

Well, I had learned to understand spoken English. I didn't need long to adapt for most accents I heard when I arrived. I lived in halls and there was a cleaner whose Doric accent was hard to understand. And so was my future flatmate's Geordie accent. But my accent was the hardest thing for people to understand. I had a strong monotonic Finnish accent. And Gilmore Girls had taught me to speak really fast. I have a feeling that hardly anyone understood me for the first 6 months. Apart from some foreign people. 

I spent my first year mostly socialising with French, Polish and German people. It was easier to speak with people who weren't native speakers. And we learnt to understand each other although our language skills weren't perfect.

But I survived. And after this experience I would recommend everyone who is trying to learn a language to visit a country where they speak that language.

So, um. Would you like to hear what I sound like these days?

Health Update

Hi,

I thought I'd give a little health update here, in case someone is interested. 

I saw the endocrinologist on Thursday, but she only did more blood tests and now I'm really hoping that they will be really out of range so that I get treatment. I've been taking Agnus Castus since November and it has balanced my hormones and reduced my migraines a lot. I also take strong C and D vitamin supplements, which are supposed to make me feel better. The doctor didn't believe that natural remedies would in anyway affect my condition, but from experience I can say that I feel a lot better now than I did in the autumn. But I still need some treatment.

Waiting for the bus.

I got a new swimming costume in the mail, so I could try and go swimming soon. Swimming is good because it gives me an excuse to leave the house, it's exercise and my muscles get stronger. It also helps my back pains and gives me an opportunity to get clean.

Right now instead of writing this, I would just really like to go back to bed. I've been up for 5 hours already, but before that I slept for 20 hours. For most of the time I've been up, I've been reading about hypothyroidism. I've been ticking the boxes on the ThyroidUK's symptom list, and have quite a lot of them. 

Goodbye, 2013.

Hello!

I've read several blog posts were people have been looking back to last year. I'm a couple of weeks late with this, but I finally decided that I could do it as well. At first, I really didn't want to. But maybe it might be good for me? It could be therapeutic, and maybe I'd see that last year wasn't completely pointless. You can't get forward if you live in the past, but you also can't get forward if you ignore what's happened.

Would you like to hear what my last year was like?

January

I welcomed the year 2013 in London. Satu and I had gone to see the fireworks at Thames. I felt hopeful. We spent a few days eating cheap chicken burgers and buying expensive underwear. Then we went to Glasgow where obviously everything was closed because it takes so long for all the Scots to sober up after their Hogmanay celebrations. When the shops opened again we spent a day shopping cosmetics. Later that month I went on a little runaway holiday in Germany. By myself. I visited a friend in Cologne and went to see my host family in Rheinland-Pfalz area and spent a couple of days exploring Bremen by myself. I met interesting people, and visited Finland as well, because the flights were only 12 euros from Germany.

February

University term started again. I was trying to keep everything together with a part-time job that was taking way too much out of me, managing seminars and all the uniwork that I was already a bit behind with, a crumbling relationship, loneliness, and recurrent migraines. I realised that Skype is actually a very useful tool when you want to socialise with your friends when you can't be in the same place. I also ate lots of Lucky Charm cereals, although it was really expensive to buy them in UK. But they seemed to be the only happy thing in my life at the time. What else would you expect from the gayest cereal there is?

March

I had serious social anxiety problems, migraines and was running out of energy and managing everything was becoming more difficult. I watched a lot of Youtube videos, practised wearing make-up, and spent a lot of money on cosmetics. I was mentally very close to reaching a breaking point, but still managed to make it to a few social events, like the Gaylidh - my university's LGBT society's annual ball. I also signed the petition for equal marriage in Finland.

April

The month started with a break up. Then there was a field tip I had been dreading for a half a year. I really wasn't looking forward to it, but it didn't end up being as scary and awful as I had feared. The month went on and I started enjoying my life as a single. My friend Tom came to visit and we did a lot of touristy things that I hadn't had the energy to do alone. We visited Glasgow, went to a football game, ceilidhed, ate pub food and drank beer.

May

I flew to Finland to throw some rice in a family wedding, celebrate Vappu with my friend Tiia and met Laura again after several years. I flew back to Scotland, wrote some essays, gave a speech in a conference and went camping. I started to find reasons to be happy again, and began to build up my confidence. Laura came to visit me in Scotland and I drove 15 people to a dance with a minibus.

June

I quit my job and phoned my mum to tell her that I had a girlfriend. Laura and I went to Pride Scotia in Edinburgh. I listened to a lot of Mindy Gledhill. I participated a Gothic themed pub crawl. I was also working on my dissertation, rolling in soil and practising augering.

July

I went to North Rona, which is definitely one of the most incredible places I've ever visited. I also realised how burned out I was and started a sick leave which finally gave me the chance to start stitching my mental health together and finding out what's up with those migraines. It's a long journey, but that's when it began. I showed Laura more of Scotland, enjoyed summer and when Tiia came to Aberdeen, we celebrated our friendship by drinking champagne and buying pretty dresses.

August

I spent to whole month - more or less actively, looking for a new place to live. I also went for a holiday in Finland, where I got to spend some quality time with my best friends. I also visited Tallinn and Copenhagen for the first time. Satu and her brother visited Scotland and we did some sightseeing with them. 

September

I returned to university to carry on my research.  Laura and I moved in together. The move allowed me to start feeling mentally better and to change GPs. I tried to get an appointment so that I could finally get referred to a specialist, but there were long queues. Kata returned to Scotland and became our flatmate. The three of us had a civil war against the bugs living in our house. Laura started university.

October

I got new glasses, started learning Japanese, and bought myself a swimming pool membership. Lots of swimming, sushi and Japanese television. Even my laptop turned Japanese. That's all I did this month besides sleeping. I had the worst medication ever which meant that during two weeks I was only awake for maybe 28 hours. Then I stopped taking it.

November

Our flatmate Kata went to Africa and Laura and I sat at home in the dark. I burned lots of candles. I finally got blood tests done, and the results were abnormal enough to get a referral to a specialist. It was great, but I was feeling so ill and was worried that my brain might leak out. I turned to some natural remedies while I was in the 3-month long queue to see the specialist. It snowed and we decorated our house Christmassy.

December

I had a birthday, danced a little bit and burned candles. It was cold, so Laura and I bought pink onesies and hanged around the house looking cool. Then it was time to fly to Finland to spend Christmas there. The person in charge of the weather hadn't got my memo about snow, so there was no snow the whole time I was in Finland, but there were friends, family, warmth, food and a cat.

It's been quite a year. I'm not sure if I've now told a bit too much, but perhaps it's something I have to do in order to say bye bye to 2013. Were you surprised to hear something? Have you said bye bye to your 2013 yet? 

Now lets carry on with 2014. This year we have 340 days left to change our lives.

The space theme is back!

Well, hello there!

Remember when my blog background had a TARDIS floating in space? 

From wattpad.

I thought it was awesome, but then I wanted to use a more personal photo. So I chose this New York City background that I took myself. There was a disastrous accident though, and I had lost the original photo. Fortunately, I had uploaded my New York holiday photos on Facebook. I decided not to care about the worsened quality and changed my background photo. Laura was lovely and spent ages changing it into a form that would be suitable for a background. She told me that I wouldn't be allowed to change my background for a half a year after all that work.

But I missed the space theme! And the TARDIS. 

So TA-DAH! I made myself a fantastic space themed banner where I'm checking out the strange planet of Stockholm and wearing my new TARDIS earrings. Isn't this genius? And completely appropriate for a 24-year old.

How do you find this new appearance? Do you like it?

Non-disastrous family holidays?

Happy new year, bunnies!

I hope all of you had enjoyable holidays! My holidays this year were different. For me. For most people it's probably normal to spend Christmas at their childhood home and see lots of family members, but I hadn't done that for 3 years. And this time I brought someone with me! There was some great potential for holiday conflicts.

Is it too late to tell you about my Christmas? I mean it's so last year... But nevermind! Last Christmas was such a positive surprise for me that I'm going to tell you about it anyway. I didn't get the snow I was hoping to see but everything else went very well.

I've never spent a Christmas with a partner before. As much as I've enjoyed spending my Christmas Eves wrapping presents in a Harry Potter -like cupboard at the bottom of the stairs in my friend's house in Edinburgh, it felt more meaningful to light up candles to family graves and warm up afterwards in the sauna with Laura. She met all of my family members and I met hers. And to my great surprise, everyone was nice to each other. I still can't believe how well my family behaved and how nice and welcoming Laura's family was! Did I mention that her sister made me TARDIS earrings?

Laura and I stayed at my mum's place over the Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had dinner at my grandparents, and then visited graveyards. In the evening, we went and had dessert at my grandparents' friends' house. My brother wasn't pleased about all these activities, because he was very keen on opening the presents. But we did get home before midnight to open them! On Christmas morning, my best Loimaa-friend, Anna, and I went to church. I tried to take Laura with me but, she told me that if I wanted her not to be grumpy for the rest of the day, I'd better let her sleep. But later that day, Laura and I went to Anna's and and a little Christmas celebration with her. 

On Boxing Day it was time to dine with my Dad's family at my grandad's. After that Laura and I drove to Hyvinkää to her sister's place, so that we all would be ready to go and visit her grandparents on 27th. With all of these scary family meetings, and introducing Laura to my grandparents, I had completely forgotten to be nervous about meeting her grandparents. But I was welcomed in with lots of hugs! And I found my godfather's meat boutique's products in their fridge. It wasn't really what I expected to find there, considering that we were 200 kilometres from the boutique. But again, we ate more good Finnish Christmas food, and got an opportunity to use their wood-heated sauna.

But Christmas is not the only thing to celebrate in December. My mum turned 50 on New Year's Eve and we had the biggest Birthday-Hogmanay party that we've ever had. And my friend Tiia graduated as a occupational therapist which of course was a great reason for a party. First she came and celebrated with just Laura and me in Loimaa's vibrant nightlife, and between Christmas and Hogmanay she had a party at her place in Turku.

I am so happy that I got a chance to spend so time with my best Finnish friends. And there were many opportunities to enjoy saunas! And to drink coffee. Sauna, Finnish coffee and my cat are the three things I miss the most when I'm in Scotland.

It was such a relaxing holiday. I thought that meeting so many family members would be stressful, but somehow hardly any of it was. The things were about to get a bit steamy when my mum got stressed out about our packing. I can understand that it maybe looked disastrous with two hardly closing suitcases, and a couple of over-filled backpacks and handbags. Especially when my only shoes broke and I had to buy new ones on our departure day. But instead of a huge fight, we managed to escape and went to drink some coffee with my friend Jonna and my goddaughter. We came up with great plans to go and see Moomins next summer!

This holiday was exactly what I needed. Especially when we had some mini-holidays on the way back. When it's cheaper to travel via Stockholm and Oxford, it's always a great idea to stop and enjoy those places as well. Stockholm was cute and Oxford was the best as always. I hadn't been to Oxford for 5½ years, but it was still just as wonderful as I remembered it! But I'll tell you more about our return journey and the adventures we faced in another post.

Is there something you would like me to write more about?