Week 4

Spent most of this week writing and rewriting. Doesn't make for good blog stories or pictures. Here are some photos I took this week just while walking around.

Yeah, I think actually seeing mushrooms when I'm walking is kinda cool. Never seen wild mushrooms before. Then here are two pictures of some taller plant life....

 

And that's really all I've got this week. Another week of class coming up and then I'll have two weeks off....to spend writing of course.

Finland, Week 3

I finally got my converter! I'm not going to go through all the time I was gone, just update y'all with the highlights.

So, last time I was getting ready for the film festival, and the amazing shuffle to the hotel, then back to the hostel, then finally the apartment....It all worked out fine. Here is a picture of my hotel room :

 

Then there was the film festival. This is one of the buildings they were having screenings at. They had a sauna bus sitting outside, but I didn't take a picture of it.

Then the screen we watched on:
Saw "Punk Syndrom" a documentary, then we watched Buster Keaton's "The General" with live music (since it is a silent film). The music was just okay, but the movie was still good.

So, I've been studying hard and all that good stuff. Here is a photo of the campus from a distance :

Its near the city center, which is quite pretty. I spent last saturday sitting at the fountain there while I wrote my script long hand.

The plan was originally to use the school computers, but my access code didn't work so I thought. I'll stay outside so I won't be distracted by the tv in my apartment....instead I was distracted by all the birds. I'd write a few sentences and then I'd be watching the sparrows. I felt like Doug the dog from "Up"

But see? There are three different kinds of birds in this picture and how cute are those sparrows?
Bonus picture of a crow! Just for you Todd.

Anyways, you can see my McDonalds from the fountain :

 

Just the lower floor is McD's. I've been there enough that I have tried about half of their menu (it's much smaller than the ones in the US). This is the veggie patty burger I ordered on accident. I actually really liked it.

They do NOT give you free refills though. Subway, however, does. New favorite place to eat! And they give me the bigger drink now :

Ta-da!!!!!!!!

Moving on, here are some other fountains I've found in Tampere. The one near the library :

and one that is on the walk between Maria's apartment and mine. I've only seen it the one time though.

Here are some of the things I do see when I'm walking. I normally take the number 3 bus, but it doesn't run late at night so then I take the 16,18,28, or ... and have a longer walk. But I get to see the beautiful street art :

The interesting architecture and plant life in my neighborhood :

So now you have read all the way down here. Guess I'll let you see the apartment pictures now ;)

My main room

My shelf. Took me about 5 minutes to fill.

My kitchen, I was doing laundry.

 

And the tiny bathroom of doom!

The tiny is real, I photoshopped in the doom.

Hope you enjoyed! School wise I have written a 10 page script and pitched my idea for a feature film (just pitched to the class). This week I am writing a proposal for a 30 page script and writing the second draft for the 10 page script. I'll update again in about a week!

 





Week 2.2

 Thursday  9/6/2012

Another day of class. We watched some short films, and clips of feature films. The longer piece we watched was a documentary about screenwriters. That was kind of a depressing way to start the year.  If you want to try and find it, it is called “Dreams on Spec”. I believe my instructor said the full thing is available on YouTube. Short version, it follows three screenwriters in Hollywood for a few months to watch as they attempt to sell their scripts, finish writing a script, and how they interact with the film people after the script is sold (not in this order, and all these steps for all three). I enjoyed watching it, even though for us aspiring screenwriters it seems to have a message of “better not to try”. I’m not sure if the people who created the documentary think this, but it felt like the overall mood to me. Let me know your thoughts on the documentary if you watch it.

After class, Maria and I decide to try walking a different path home.  We saw this church as we were walking and we also found the Forenom office, where I’ll be picking up the key for my apartment.

 

We find a Subway and HAVE to stop. I’m excited to see how a Subway in Finland differs from one in the US. I hadn’t eaten much lunch. The food at the cafeteria today just did not taste that good. I got the veggie lasagna and baked vegetables, but they did not taste how I was expecting and it threw me off enough that I did not like it. I ate enough to keep me going then set it aside. Now Subway looked like pure heaven. Inside we look at the menu. Yes! My traditional meatball sub is on the menu. I decide to try something new though because the Spicy Italian looks really good. I get the 15 cm (6 in. equivalent) and put on my usual stuff. I’m not sure what cheese I got because she gave me their Finnish names, but it was pale so possibly provolone. They gave me plenty of lettuce and were just as stingy on the black olives as they are in ABQ. Guacamole was not an option to add however, sadness. I ordered it as a meal, pick my cookie and she hands me my drink.

 

Oh. No offer to supersize that in Finland. Maria had errands to run so off we go. Next time I stop at Subway I’ll stay inside so I can refill my drink a few times. I was still happy to have my coke fix though. More expensive than the meals I buy at the Finlayson place, but it’s a nice treat. 7 Euros, that’s about 9 bucks, so more expensive than ABQ, and a much smaller drink. Now I know.

I spend the rest of the afternoon Skyping and trying to get my phone I bought Wednesday to work. I go to the help page and it is unhelpful but when I Google it an hour and a half later, I finally find the answer. I should have started with Google.  But now I have my phone.

 

It’s tiny, but sorta adorable? It works and that’s all I need for this short a time. Also here is a photo of the hostel in case you wanted a glimpes of the common room....

 

 

Friday 9/7/2012

 

Today I didn’t have class, but I still had to go down to Finlayson for an hour long paperwork session to apply for a grant. After that frustrating hour Maria and I set off to find my apartment over by Main campus. We find these adorable little houses.

 

They are so tiny, but so cute. And the people in that neighborhood have some beautiful gardens. I look at my map and my apartment is not in that neighborhood though so we keep walking.

And walking.

 

I’m going to live out in the wilderness of Finland! Maria tells me the name of the various trees and the wildlife. We see some crows. I had never seen grey crows before but Maria said that crows in Russia look like these guys. I posted this picture just for you Todd!

We continue our walk and see the house of one of my future neighbors.

I’ll be living near hobbits! How cool is that? Unfortunately, it isn’t my apartment so we continue on. We do eventually find my street…..

 

Then my house….Then my door!

Somebody is still living there so we don’t go in. Have to wait until Monday to see what’s inside. We have lunch at main campus and I get pizza!

It’s my sister’s favorite, pineapple and Canadian bacon (just guessing on the meat, but it looks like what we order at Papa John’s). To get pizza is 4 Euros instead of 2.70, but they also have the option of a cheaper meal if I wanted. The pizza was a pretty good size so I stayed full for the rest of the day even after all the walking we had done so I think it was worth 4 Euros.

We went back to the hostel for a while and I taught Maria and a Finnish boy how to play take-two. They did a  lot better than I would have playing a word game with a second language. Around 2 we went to the Mineral Museum and the Moomin Museum (they are in the same building). They wouldn’t let me take pictures in the Moomin Museum so the following pictures are mostly from the Mineral Museum….

Maria and I with Moomin

Got a picture of this one Moomin figure before I was told to put the camera away

 

Made out of shells, how cool is that?

They had little owl hiding everywhere. So cute! The troll figure was cute too

Leaves made of stone. What will they think of next? :D

 

It is now 4 and Maria can pick up the keys to her apartment. I help her move in and I’m ready to call it a day. Lots of walking today, but it was worth every step. Hope ya’ll enjoy the pictures!

Oh, and I found these two stores that will require more attention later…

An art store,

 And a Mexican restaurant!

 

 

Week 2.1

Monday 9/3/2012

Orientation day! Started off the day alone in the main room with my computer and the internet was actually working. I was worried about the bus schedules but I looked it up on the Tampere Journey Planner and it gave me three possible buses to take to arrive at TAMK main campus 10 minutes early - 18, 28, or 16. Journey Planner includes walking directions to the bus stop (thank goodness) so I typed those into my I-pad. At 9:20 I crossed my fingers and headed out into the wilds of Tampere.

No wrong turns, no wrong buses. I made it to campus without any problems. Paying for the bus was a little nerve-racking. He had a credit card scanner but he took one look and mine and said it wouldn’t work (this I knew might happen), so I got out my change and this is when I discovered that the 1 and 2 Euro are coins, and I tried to give the driver a 5 cent coin instead of 50 cent. He was patient, thankfully, while I figured out what I was doing and it worked out.

Found the right building and the right room and found two other students already there in the hallway. We were early and the room was locked. Eventually we were let in and each got a folder with some basic information and paperwork to fill out. We got our student discount cards so we could get cheap campus meals then we all went as group to sign up for our student membership cards so we could get discounts at other places (for instance, the bus passes).

TAMK main campus

 

We signed up for our Student IDs but wouldn’t get them for two weeks so off we went to the Finlayson campus. Finlayson is where all our classes will be. I learned of this three days after I paid for my future apartment which is right by main campus. Oh well. So we go by bus, this time we have our orientation guide to tell us which bus to take which is a huge relief. Finlayson campus turns out to be right by the city center where there is a huge bus connection and essentially all buses lead to Finlayson. That makes it easy then. We walk to our campus building. It is an old factory building of red brick. Inside it’s a little dark, a little gloomy and yet not so much to make it depressing but just enough to give it some atmosphere. Do you know what I’m talking about? Anybody have a comparable building with atmosphere they know of? I haven't taken any interior pictures yet, but remind me and I will later.

So we get a tour of the Finlayson area. There is a nice little restaurant called Dot, or Zimberia, where students can get lunch for 2.70 Euros. Non students pay 7 Euros. We have lunch and the food is okay, but not 7 Euros good. I had meatloaf and veggie & bean croquettes. The meatloaf was so-so, my mom’s is much better. The croquettes were pretty good though, they looked like tater tots.  U can also get the soup of the day and a salad plate. After lunch we went up to one of the classrooms and continued some general get to know you, get to know the program stuff. Around 2:30 we were released, orientation had started at 10 am.

There were eight of us at orientation; the class would have fifteen students. The Finnish students didn’t have to go to our orientation so we would meet them on the first day of class. Of us non-Finnish student, three were from Germany, one from Greece, one from Taiwan, one from Russia, one from the UK, and then of course me the American.  It turns out that Maria, from Russia, was staying at the same Hostel as me and was also waiting for her apartment to be available. We headed back to the hostel together only to realize we didn’t know which bus would get us back. I had my three buses from earlier on my I-pad so I knew those would get us there if we could figure out where they stopped at the city center. We tried one bus that a fellow student told us would work, but when we asked the bus driver to be sure he didn’t speak any English and couldn’t tell us for sure. We eventually found the bus stop for bus 16 and took that because I knew that one went by the apartment. After we got off the bus we little shop nearby to buy dinner. There weren’t any prices except for the deserts, which looked really good. I just bought a small deli style sandwich however and what looked like egg salad on bread. It turned out to be egg salad on a potato which I actually really liked. The sandwich was also good but the shop was more expensive than the grocery store so I don’t plan on making it an everyday thing. Maria didn’t know where the grocery store was so I showed her the one in the mall I had found in my ATM search. We did some shopping and called it a day.

This was my shopping trip from Sunday...

 

My deli meal

 

 

That night, after my daily family Skype, I go to unplug my laptop and I cannot get the outlet converter out of the extension cord I’m plugged into. No matter how hard I pulled I can’t get it out. It comes halfway out and stops. I can push it back in easily then pull it back out to the same point and it stops.  I ask the girl at the desk if she can do anything, hoping maybe this happens all the time but she is just as baffled as I am. I end up pulling the cover off the converter but still can’t get the thing out of the extension cord. She replaced the extension cord so other people could use it and gave me a different converter to use and she’d have someone look at mine in the morning. Well that was incredibly talented of me. I head off to my room to plug in my laptop so my I-pad can charge, it only charges through my computer because I don’t have the right wall plug for it so it won’t get fried. It is painfully slow though. Well, I get to my room only to find that I can’t plug this converter into the wall. It is the right kind of plug but all the outlets are inset and this one is too big to fit into the wall to be plugged in. I give up and go to bed at 9:30.

 

Tuesday 9/4/2012

Finlayson building and me

 

First day of classes! I figured out the journey planner for our new bus that morning. We needed to be at Finlayson by 9:15 so we left at 8:50. We get ready and then Maria tells me we should just walk rather than take the bus. I hadn’t even thought about but it was a really short bus ride on the way home yesterday so why not? Walking places wasn’t something I had even thought of as a possibility. We walked to Finlayson and it was pretty nice out, I was a little cold at first but once we started walking I was fine. We reached our classroom right on time though most of the class was already there.

Starting off my first class we did another round of introductions. The exchange students and Finnish students were paired up with each other to introduce themselves then share what they learned to the class. After that we talked some shop and then broke for lunch. Today lunch was fish fillet and veggie & bean croquettes again. I had pay extra today because I wasn’t suppose to get fish AND veggies on the same plate. I figured that’s what they would tell me, but I really wanted both so I paid the extra 1.5. I also got a salad. When we went back to class we found out we were presenting our first homework assignment to class. I had turned in my homework Thursday before I left the States. Our assignment was to pick 5 films we liked and 3 we disliked and to include a clip for one of the ones we liked. From reading the e-mail I thought that Peeko (our teacher for this first week) was going to present this and show the clip, but no. We had to get up and talk to the class. I was shaking when it was my turn but at least my voice was steady (well, fairly steady). Maybe that public speaking class paid off a bit? Anyways, for those of you who are wondering here are my top 5 and bottom 3:

Five movies that I like are :

 

Pitch Black, genre action/horror

Riddick-Caroline : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJhdUfXScwk

 

Back to the Future, genre comedy/sci fi

Skateboard scene : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KCIOrEa9gU

 

Conspiracy Theories, genre suspense/action

Opening scene : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snqFHjpDpes

 

Lord of the Rings, genre fantasy

Gandalf vs Sarumon : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Vyhve9gtg

 

Forrest Gump,  genre drama

Shrimp : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfK98f5S00

 

 

Three movies I dislike are :

 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, genre comedy

 

Twilight, genre epic romance

 

Series of Unfortunate Events, genre comedy

 

I’d like to hear what your answer to this question would be! We didn’t get through all the students by the end of the day so we have a few left to do tomorrow, then I believe we will get to watch some movies in class. Being a film student is terribly difficult work. Oh, and also one of the German students, Henning, is also a fan of Joss Whedon. I was SO excited to learn that.

Maria and I stop by the bus pass place on our way home since its right outside Finlayson but the line is long and we didn’t feel like waiting around. We go to main campus instead to get our free phone cards, but when we get there the office is closed and is only open during the hours we are in class. We’ll just have to try again Friday – class is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday with a few exceptions.  We stop by the grocery store again on our way home. This time we try out S Market instead of K Market. S Market is a larger grocery store outside of the mall, just across the street from each other. I bought myself some cheese ravioli-pasta for dinner. We walk back and it’s nearly 6 so we are ready to eat. The ravioli was delish. I even had to cook to make it! I first had to boil water, which required a pan, water, and asking for help turning on the electric stove. Next I put the prepackaged raviolis into afore mentioned water that was now boiling. I stirred occasionally for 4-5 minutes, STRAINED the pasta, and then poured it into a bowl to eat. Whew. You see the strained part there? It was some hard work I’m telling you.  It was very tasty though so worth the effort.

My pasta. Actual cooking!

 

Some salsa available at the S Market.....

 

I traded the borrowed outlet converter back to the hostel people and got my stuck one back, along with the whole extension cord to use until I could replace mine. Sort of silly to carry an entire extension cord with me around the hostel, but my electronics are worth it. Tomorrow my tutor is going to take me to buy the various electronic gadgets I’m missing so hopefully it will soon not be an issue.

 

Wednesday 9/5/2012

Second day of classes went pretty much the same. I left early this morning and got my 30 day bus pass. Tampere isn’t that big so theoretically I could walk everywhere, but my apartment is farther from the school than the hostel is so I think I’ll prefer taking the bus to get to school.

In class we split up into groups and were assigned to create a rare/unusual character. My group came up Disorder Jane. She goes through pretending to have mental disorders to get free stuff, or just to con people for fun. She sees herself as being perfectly healthy, but she has been faking these disorders for so long she has become addicted to it and it has developed into a real disorder. The only time we see her without a pretend disorder is when she is with her mother. Her mother has been going through life without ever working which is where Disorder Jane draws her conning inspiration. We present our character to the class tomorrow and see what everyone thinks.

I went shopping for my electronics. Got my phone, I-pad charger, and memory card reader but could not find a wall adapter replacement. My current plan is to wait until I move into the apartment then I’ll order it online and just work from my I-pad for a few days.

Not really too much new happened today. I have been told that in order to try the “traditional” Finnish reindeer I’ll probably have to go to a restaurant, but restaurants are expensive. Maybe someday. Today I just had the “spicy” sausage at the cafeteria. The spicy I think was meant to be the sauce which reminded of the Egyptian buttered chicken sauce my mom had made before. It’s not spicy in the Tex-mex sense, but it was tasty.

 

Some other photos to share...

The veggie and bean croquettes, with fish fillets. The drink is some kind of sweet tea.

This was me on the bus from Helsinki. My Superman tattoo didn't last very long.