Vuorovesirannalla, otto kolme

THE ESTUARY, TAKE THREE

Eli muistoja vuosien takaa Skotlannista, osa yksi täällä ja osa kaksi täällä.
Memories from years ago from Scotland, part one here and part two here, with English translations here.


”Wauuuuu.” //
”Mistä tietää, että se on juuri merikotka?” //
”No… merikotkilla on valkoinen pyrstö.” //
”Paitsi nuorilla, ne ovat kokonaan ruskeita. Maakotkilla taas on kullanruskea niska…” //
”Lennossa merikotkilla on paljon lyhyempi pyrstö kuin maakotkilla.” //
”Sinä todella tunnet kotkasi!” //
”Mulla… on myös konstini huijata.” ”Ei se ole huijaamista, sitä kutsutaan ’lähteistämiseksi’.”

Punning Bee


No, en oikeasti mennyt koputtamaan Mudkipi oveen, mutta olen Mudkipille paljon velkaa englanninkielen taidoistani. Hänen jatkuvat sanaleikkinsä pitivät minut varpaillani, ja koska en tykkää jos josku käyttää sanoja fiksummin kuin minä, oli minun pakko opetella vastaamaan!
Well, I didn’t actually go and knock on Mudkip’s door but I do owe a lot to Mudkip for my English skills. His constant punning kept me on my toes, and since I don’t like people outsmarting me when it comes to using words I had to learn how to pun back!

Ja viimeinen

AND THE LAST ONE
Gaiverruksia85a_n
”Now when I look back to my year abroad, these kind of things come to mind…” //
Of course all the horrible paper work I had to get through just to get there… //
…how the bank lost my money for a month… ”Get out!” ”But I did pay!” //
Besides, I have no money after all this… ”Hi, you’re broke!” //
All those cold, wet, awful days when I had the flue… //
…when I was more or less lost, didn’t understand or felt like I was failing in school work… ”Yes?” //
…and the rainy nights when I missed home and wondered if this had been a goodidea at all… ”Mum and brother and friends…”

Gaiverruksia85b_n
But much more than rainy nights there were sunny days (maybe not literally)… //
I attended interesting classes… //
…drew a lot of comics and wrote letters… //
…trained aikido with nice people… //
…saw new places and the nature and birds of Scotland… //
…and made a lot of new friends with whom I did all sorts of great things! (Not to forget Ghost Tour, walking on the beach, pub quizzes, gigantic portions of ice cream…)

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”In the end I could sum it up into three words…” //
TOTALLY WORTH IT //
”The Finnish girl with the hat thanks… and signs out.” //
The end of Scotland Edition.

Älkää huoliko, Gaiverruksia palaa vielä! Vähemmällä Skotlanti-painotuksella, enemmällä leirimeiningillä!
Don’t worry, the blog isn’t going anywhere! In the future it’ll be less Scotland and more camping, still with subtitles!

St Andrews vs Helsinki

Kauhee tekstimuuri…
Horrible wall of text…
Gaiverruksia84a_n
”Since I came back from abroad, many have asked about the differences between the universities of Helsinki and St Andrews.” //
”And also which one I like better. So I’m going to answer these questions once and for all!” //
First off, housing. ”In St Andrews lots of students (exchange students, too!) live in halls owned by the University.” //
There are lots of good sides in living in a hall: it is easy and safe and you get help if you need it. Many halls offer meals, too. //
My friend Wiivu said when she visited me: ”You get to know others so easily when you live in a hall! It’s hard to make friends if you live in a rented flat!” And I agree! //
In my hall one got meals on weekdays if one payed for it. It was pretty good, too. //
There are no student restaurants. Without the meals in the hall long and busy school days would have caused unpleasant things… ”Hungry!” //
Student meals supported by the state are a great thing!

Gaiverruksia84b_n
One great thing in the University of Helsinki are the tutors who take care of little freshers and exchange students. //
All right, in St Andrews the professor checks your module choices and has a little talk with you… ”You can takke the modules you wanted.” ”Nice.” //
…but other than that, a newcomer may be a little lost. (This way… or that way?) //
Okay, in St Andrews the newbies get ”academic parents” if they want but their point is mainly to get freshers drunk. //
Lectures and modules are pretty similar. //
Though there are differences between the numbers and lengths of the modules. (Helsinki: 10 modules/term, 3 credits/module*, St Andrews: 4 modules/term, 8 credits/module* (*standardized credits)) //
So in St Andrews one has to study much more for one module than in Helsinki… if one wants top grades, that is. Getting credits was pretty easy, getting good grades, not so much.

Gaiverruksia84c_n
People also stress about their grades much more than in Helsinki. During the exam weeks it was a little like this… //
EXAM STRESS ”C’mon, relax, your first year grades don’t even affect your final grades!” //
Or, like one fourth-year biologist said: ”When it comes to grades, St Andrews is a hissing little pressure cooker!” //
Also, failing an exam was a big and bad deal in St Andrews, and it is not very easy to re-sit them – sometimes it’s not possible at all! //
”In Helsinki it’s not a big deal to fail in an exam – I have re-taken a couple myself. That’s why there isn’t nearly as much exam and grade stress!” //
However, you got a lot of feedback and comments on things you did, and it was sometimes useful, too… ”My eaays wasn’t this long!” (Professor A’s comments – Professor B’s notes) //
School stress may lead to sad phenomena… ”Did you hear that some student killed themselves?” ”They say it happens almost every year*.” (*I don’t know if this is true but that’s what they said.) //
Sense of community was something else in a small university town, though. //
”So was this the thing the principal send everyone e-mail about and why they served hot chocolate in the hall yesterday?” ”Exactly.”

Gaiverruksia84d_n
Sense of community doesn’t apply to everything. Whereas in Finland the people who study with you and your own student organisation are really important… //
… I didn’t really meet the biologists of St Andrews anywhere but on the lectures. //
But organisation-vise there was everything else! University’s societies are really active! //
I joined aikido club and Doctor Who Society, among others! !!
”Hmm… So there are differences between the universities of St Andrews and Helsinki. And I can’t say which one I like better – they both have their pros and cons.” ”I think it’s about differences in culture and traditional ways of doing tings, and what you like is up to you.” //
”Maybe that’s a job for us exchange students.” ”To take abroad what we do well… and bring back great ideas from other places!”

Kotiinpaluu

Kotiin palattuani olen lukenut niin paljon sarjiksia, ettei ole ollut aikaa piirtää…
Since I came back home I’ve been reading so many comics that I haven’t had time to draw any…
Gaiverruksia83_n
”Where did my year abroad go? It’s already time to go back home.” //
”Sigh…” //
”Hey… I can see Fife from here!” //
”There’s Isle of May… And that’s Anstruther…An Crail… And…” //
”And over there… IS ST ANDREWS! //
”I got to see it one more time…” //
”I’LL BE BACK!!!”

Star Trekkin’

Jimothy ja minä, suuria Star Trek -faneja kun ollaan, jaettiin pikku kaveriporukallemme roolit Star Trek -maailmasta:
Minä olen kapteeni (tämä oli ”miehistöni” ilmoittama asia)
Mudkip on försti ja tiedeupseeri
Jimothy on yli-insinööri (ja kissavastaava)
Ezra on lääkintäupseeri
Rikku on kommunikaatioupseeri.
Aluksen nimi on tietysti USS Andrews, tosin pohdinnassa olivat myös USS Espanjan Inkvisitio ja USS Licked to Death by Cows.

Jimothy and me, great Star Trak fans as we are, gave our friends roles in the world of Star Trek:
I’m the captain (my ”crew” decided this)
Mudkip is the first officer and science officer
Jimothy is the chief engineer (and the cat officer)
Ezra is the chief medical officer
Rikku is the communications officer
Our ship is obviously called USS Andrews though we also considered USS Spanish Inquisition and USS Licked to Death by Cows.

Gaiverruksia star trek_n
Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry

Jäähyväisiä

FAREWELLS

Ezra piirsi minulle jäähyväiskortin.
Ezra drew me a farewell card.
card_n
Featuring our group of friends: me, Ezra, Rikku, Mudkip and Jimothy 🙂
There was also a Doctor Who quote:
”Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person.”

Thank you, Ezra!

Bingo!

Gaiverruksia82_n
”Blah blah blah…” ”Blah blah…” ”Have you ever noticed that when talking with Mudkip, certain topics come up again and again?” ”Yes… Like puns.” //
”And even worse puns.” ”Politics.” ”True. And Pokémon.” ”And other video games.” ”Scifi.” //
”Kevin Spacey. And House of Cards on general.” ”And talking ’bout houses – architecture.” ”Especially bad architecture.” //
”We should make this into a game. Get three in a row and you’ll win something!” ”Hmm…”//
Pun – Architecture – Kevin Spacey – Pokémon – Politics – Terrible pun – Video games – Worse pun – Scifi

Paras Tohtori-jakso

THE BEST DOCTOR EPISODE

Huomautan alkuun, että pidän Peter Capaldista Tohtorina. Steven Moffatista käsikirjoittajana en niinkään…
I’d like to point out that I do like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. Steven Moffat as the screenwriter, not so much…
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”You can run, Doctor, but you can’t hide!” //
”Our destroyer robot…” //
”…will hunt you through space and time to the end of the world… And it will never get tired or give up – EVER!”
(This is SO exiting!)
”I need a… distraction!”

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(This has GOT to be the best Capaldi episode ever! Better than anything Moffat has written!)
”I had to sacrifice the TARDIS… to escape myself…”

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(Now the Doctor will surely make those destroyer robots fight each other… and then he’ll fix the TARDIS and save the world! OH YES!) //
”Huh? Oh damn it.” //
”…so apparently my brain just couldn’t come up with a way for the Doctor to survive the trouble he was in!” ”OR maybe it was a two-parter! Like, ’to be continued next night’!” //
”I hope so!”

En vieläkään tiedä, miten Tohtorille tällä kertaa kävi, vaikka unesta on jo kuukausi…
I still don’t know what happened to the Doctor even though it’s been more than a month since a had this dream…

Doctor Who (R) BBC

Housupulmia

TROUBLES WITH TROUSERS
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”Hmm… Should I just throw away these old jeans and not take them back to Finland with me?” //
”After all, I’ve patched them a couple of times already.” //
”Oh, well…” //
”I can still use them when I rumble in the woods.” //
”Well, I guess this settles it…”