Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.

When we stepped out of the plane in Helsinki K said : "It smells nature". It was a scent of home.

To be honest, I feel almost a bit ridiculous  for my behaviour. My first breakfast on Finnish territory was Karelian pies, rye bread and "viili" (google would translate it as processer sourmilk, but that sounds disgusting). It has only been three days and I have already excitedly eaten new potatoes with herring for dinner,  walked barefooted on the non-wholecarpet floor, played my Home-playlist on Spotify several times, walked through the silent city in the morning when the sun was rising, burned my arms (because I'm not used to the sun and this heat), visited the fleamarkets, attended the World Village festival and -the best thing - saw my lovely friends again.
Can't wait to come "home home" to my family and go to the sauna.

I have never been apart from Finland for this long. I should do it more often maybe, because it feels really good.

Travel is the university of life

..said the woman who picked us up when we hitchhiked from a small village in Connemara national park.

I will miss Dublin, Ireland and everybody and everything that made my life here. But I'm also ready to come home.

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

Quote by G. Bernard Shaw

Yesterday while waiting for the tram a stranger with ripped jeans and dirty fingers asked me if I have a lighter. I didn't, but I got the feeling that the question was just a way to start a conversation. 

He admired me for going to Trinity College, since he never had the chance to go to university. He also wasn't paying the ticket for the tram, since he had no money. He asked me where I was going and he said that he had no idea what he should do today. Maybe go and feed the pigeons.

Despite the socio-economic gap between us he wished me all the best for my remaining days in Dublin, and I really think he meant what he said.

This is what the camera captured this week.

Neon letters that really stick into your eyes.

This girl has been practising almost every weekend infront of my house. She has a competition in France coming up.

Abortion is finally about to become legal in Ireland.

Bucket list

Things to do before going back to Finland:

Eat at a Korean restaurant with flatmates

Have brunch at a nice café

Experience a Catholic worship
Take pictures of the beautiful doors of Dublin
Watch a Gaelic game
Hike in Connemara
Visit Aran Islands

Eat at Boojum

Visit the Prison

See the Botanic Garden
City Gallery on the North Side

Find some souvenirs

And one exam to write, but let's not think too much about that.

Lazy Monday

Of some reasons bank holidays are always on Mondays in this country. They actually have quite random days off in March, May, June, August and October. Usually people don't enjoy Mondays that much. I guess the Irish are not an exception.
Anyway, today I was jogging, washing clothes, cleaning up in the bedroom and being overall productive. After I had lunch I headed off for college to read and revise for the exams. To my surprise most buildings on campus were closed. Those that weren't closed were filled up with students. No free space, neither a free computer in sight. What do you do in these occasions? Get a bit annoyed, and some times pissed of and angry. But on the other hand you have a reason to sit in the sun and wonder if you should go back home. On the way home you have an ice cream and find a small, adorable museum about Dublin. People are enjoying each other and the sun in the park and nobody is in a hurry. You always have time to relax spontaneously and do the important things later on.

I was delighted to find surveys quoted in the Irish Independent on how laid-back Irish people actually are: "The Irish have been found to be more laid-back than many other nations.An international survey revealed the Irish languish at the top of the laid back league table for having the most people with three to five hours free time every day."

Believe the Irish: in the end everything will be sorted out in some way.

1,2,3.

The exam period has started and it's of course sunnier and warmer than ever before.
I felt quite prepared for my first exam, but there I was with about 1600 other students in a big hall not having a clue on how to express myself in English about Irish family policy.
After the second exam on welfare states I felt much more satisfied and relieved. Happily I walked to the beautiful blossoming St Sthephen's Green park and met up with some friends. With some balloons, serpentines, potato sallad melting in the sun and by forcing people to sing drinking songs I got a wonderful first of May. May bank holiday is on Monday in Ireland, but we chose to celebrate it the Vappu way.

One Guinness tonight.Two more exams to go. Three more weeks in Ireland.

Home

During my first days in Dublin I slept in a hostel and I shared the room with five other persons. One of them was a girl who couldn't tell where she comes from. 

It is interesting how one always asks a new acquaintance for the name and where s/he comes from. And what they do. 

Anyway, the girl couldn't tell where her home is because she has been moving around the world her whole life.

I every now and then do miss home. When I try to figure out what it is exactly that I am longing for I really can't put a finger on it. It may be family, friends, culture, food, routines: an environment where you can relax and be yourself.  A feeling of being home.

I have realised that I acctually don't know where my home is. If it would be a physical space it would most likely be in Pörtom where I grew up. If it would be where my friends are it would be scattered around Finland and Europe. And as I love sleeping I would maybe consider my home to be where the bed I long for and where I sleep best is. But none of those don't really feel like a category that would please me.

Therefore I think the best way not to feel homeless is to feel at home with yourself. As your home is in your body and mind you can carry it anywhere you go.

And one day..It was like somebody just turned off the rain.

The spring is officially here when you can wear your jeans jacket, have a barbecue and enjoy open-air cinema. Stand-up comedy night with free ice cream is also quite nice.

Reissumies

Whelan's, brunch on the balcony, Tina Turner, museum, the sea, sushi, bus, filmfestival, empty Belfast, foot sweat and curry fries. Some words and some pictures to desribe the last few days that I spent with great friends. Splendid, indeed.

Seen from the bus window on our way back from Belfast: Thatcher the real criminal

Impressions

Trinity Ball was beautiful and enjoyable. One could say that the campus turned into "Trinityland". Students were dressed up and jumped around the different stages enjoying good music. Grand is the only adjective I can come up with at the moment to describe the night.
The next day a plane arrived in Dublin with a person I have been waiting to visit me. Music, food, walking and talking made 4 days go by quite fast.

...

I was on a small gig yesterday and realised (again) how much I love live music. I'm was a bit annoyed at the people with smartphones that they have to check all the time, though.You cannot and must not do anything but enjoy the moment when you're on a consert. And shudder.

 



 

Of some reason my stay here has made me realise (more than before) how important it is to live in the moment. On the other hand one have to plan the future in some way. I have to think about when I should do my laundry and what I will study next year. But worrying too much will destroy the moment you're living in right now. 

Enough of deep stuff again. Now I have to read for the exams, seriously. Or maybe I'll just check Facebook first...

There is no map to human behaviour

It was one of those nights when you stay up talking about everything and nothing. We argued about what is important in life and what we endeavor. There was a question thrown out about what you trust. I couldn't answer. Somebody said humanity, in that sense that humans can together come far, much further than they believe. There just have to be trust and a driving force, the ignition spark. Society changes when many people really wants it to change and act for it. I agreed, mostly because I realised that the sun was rising.

I lost my phone on Saturday. Yesterday I got a call to my Finnish phone. A guy said that he had found this phone (I then realised it was my Irish number calling) on the street and could return it to me. After waiting for him in the city for nearly an hour and wondering what kind of weirdo it could be, we gave up and started walking home. Somebody called. A couple of minutes later a guy turned up with a friendly smile and handed over my runaway.

If the phone would have been found by a group of people, it would most probably have been sold by now, or at least not been returned. This made me think. I might trust the individual instead of human collaboration. You can of course not do everything alone, but maybe the individual is good if nobody forces it to be the opposite. People in groups might do more stupid things than desirable things.

Sociology is trying to find general patterns in societies, trying to find a box for everything and everybody. If you don't fit into the box you will probably not enjoy living, because the society don't like deviants too much. It disturbes the tranquility. I think I should change my major, but is there any subject not focusing on patterns?

Conclusion of this all: there is still hope for this planet not to be destroyed by the greediest mammal.

Wasn't that philosophical and deep. I thought that I would just write a post about this week without adding pictures.
Anyway, today I bought a friendly mouse trap. The unwelcome tenant must go, not die though.
And the biggest event of the spring is taking place tomorrow: Trinity Ball. I went to the hairdresser's, but came out looking 5 years younger (which is less nice when you're 22). I hope the other 10 000 celebrating students don't pay too much attention to my forehead.

Holy Week

What did this Easter week offer so far? Well, Irish movie night (they're making as depressive movies as Finns) and chocolate fondue in school to cheer up my Wednesday. The colourful Indian Holi festival celebrating spring although is was snowing and a debate evening about the extreme right party in Ireland.  I also saw a touching play about two brothers and received some self-made birthday cards. The Easter part is yet to come: Egg hunt and Catholic mass.

 

Next week is the last teaching week. After that we have a reading period before the comprehensive and terrifying exams are taking place. I'm mostly going to read my Finnish friends' faces during that period, though. Looking forward to that!

Landscapes- they puzzle me

And it's Sunday again. I wonder if we should invent another day in the week to avoid the time to go by so fast?
Today I participated in the second last walk of Trinity Hiking Society. Saw a couple of waterfalls, some deers and lots of snow. I was also made fun of because I was freezing even though I'm from Finland. But I tell you, the Irish coldness is humid and windy, not like home at all. Anyway, I survived the 786m top and it was totally worth frozen fingers and red eyes. And much better than walking down Grafton Street.

Shamrocks and other green stuff

Saint Patrick's day (or the whole last week) in Dublin was for sure an experience. I cannot say that I know that much about the saint we celebrated  yesterday, but I guess that's not the point. It's just a reason to have fun and enjoy oneself. I chose to do it by wearing a green dress, hat and nails, lots of fake tattoos, watch the parade, eat shamrock crisps and drink Guinness. Today is the national "hangover-day" (it's a red day, yes) and tomorrow life starts again.

How to make peace.

When I was about eight years old I wanted to become the president of Finland. So far I have just been the president of the society for Sociology students, but that's not too bad either, right?

Martti Ahtisaari was a guest at Trinity College today. He didn't remember what pakettiauto (van) is in English and felt sorry for the Finnish students that have been forced to see his picture in classrooms everyday during their time in elementary school. Martti is apparently a human being. He has come this far because he doesn't think that he's the best, but that the people he is working with are best. He also emphasized the importance of including all relevant stakeholders in a process. And that's how he brings more peace to the world. I shook his hand and said thank you.

Of Mice and Men

Today's update:

- I didn't find a dress for the Trinity Ball even though we found many vintage shops, but we had cake, or tarts, so that's good. Lovely Saturday afternoon in other words.

-  The mystery with my pictures (they were disappeared but now found and viewable) from the roadtrip is solved thanks to the Boston girl.

- And there is a mouse in our kitchen. I should also mention something about men as the title of this blog post refers to John Steinbeck's novel and to our new flatmate, but I have no comments about men at the moment.

Almost Too Many Beautiful Landscapes

Today was the first day in two weeks that I had some rain on me. March means spring!

That was the obligatory weather update.

Last week was the reading week or, as some lecturers call it, "get out of town"-week. We had a 5-day-road trip with the lovely ladies. Mighty craic with this great team. 

Glendalough-Cork-Kinsale-Blarney-Killarney-Ring of Kerry with several stops-Dingle-Anascul-Cliffs of Moher-Galway-Dublin. 

The wrong side of the road didn't feel that wrong any moore after a while behind the steering wheel.

Photo by Tildy. 

The nature in Ireland is stunning. I'm just a bit annoyed that the human being thinks that something that the nature has created can be theirs to charge other human beings for. 

I hope that the mankind never finds out how to fully reign the nature.

After the roadtrip I finally got a visitor from Finland. My sister brought me rye bread, Carelian pie and salmiakki. She got to taste Guinness in three different ways in different pubs, see a bit of the city and a cliff walk in Howth. Salmiakki was appreciated by the German friends of mine, but the English lady wasn't too impressed.

March means also that the countdown for St Patrick's festival has begun.

Rat and Santa Claus

Time goes by and Dublin keeps surprising me:
- Enjoyed more great live music, not only The Wild Rover even though it's a nice song.
- Saw a wonderful play, Oscar Wilde's Woman of No Importanve, including pink umbrellas and enchanting make up.
- "Celebrated" Valentine's day with speed dating and love auction. An interesting experience, if you could put it that way.
- We organized a surprise party with awsome food (eg. Finnish laskiaispulla) for a birthday girl who thought we were leaving her alone on her birthday.
- One day I spent in bed trying to figure out what's important in life.
- Sunday in honour I had a cinnamon bun at Ikea.

And I still haven't seen the Trinity cat or the fox (apparently there are lots of animals on campus) but the other day when I was enjoying the warm spring sun I saw the most disgusting and biggest rat ever. The cat is not impressing me at all.

Today I spent three hours of my life queuing. First to the GP's and afterwards for the Trinity Ball ticket. During the first 15 minutes after the online registration opened at 9am 4000 tickets for the Trinity Ball were sold. I was lucky to get at ticket at noon today. I also figured out that there are lots of things you can do when standing in a line. My favourites are to see for how long you can stan on one foot and trying to think of nothing at all. This day ended with getting henna tattoos and spotting Santa Claus in a pub.
Tomorrow is all about studying and preparing for the road trip around Ireland. Mostly studying, I hope.

Sorry, we don't accept Euro coins

On Saturday I went with about 80 other international students to Northern Ireland to experience friendly rain, how it feels to jump on clouds (aka lots of grass), and hear the waves beat against the cliffs in the fog. Breathtaking, if I may use such a cliché.

One sheep. Many sheep.

Slippery?

Hej, säger Amalia.

Otherwise, I am trying to create a daily life here in Dublin. On Monday mornings I go swimming. The best part is the sauna, even if it's not as good as the Finnish ones.