Important Sports Update

First, I apologise to all the fans of (American) football for what I said in my previous post. No, I still don't think it's great, but I've seen something worse - baseball, the most boring sport I've ever seen. Ever.

This is how an excited exchange student looks like, completely oblivious of the awaiting 3-hour-18-minute snoozefest.

I've learned about critique, so I'll start with something positive. The stadium was massive and impressing. And, umm, the weather was, uh. Well, at least tailgating, the event were people grill hot dogs and drink loads of beer at the tailgate of their SUVs, was fun. Wait, we didn't get to do that. And the game? I'll try to think of something positive to say.

People performing the tailgating ritual in front of the Miller Park Stadium.Or maybe the performed a rain dance.

No. It sucked pretty bad. It was start-and-stop by it's nature and it took even longer than the football game - a record in itself. This time I didn't have problems following what was going on; mostly because there was nothing going on. It seems that people didn't even show up there to follow the game. They came there to tailgate and enjoy a Sunday of eating nachos and drinking beer with their families and friends. Then again, I can't blame them for that.

Sunday well spent.

Football - the King of Sports

Football, did I say football? I meant soccer of course. "The real football", you know. The people around don't seem know.

Audience at a home soccer game. No Whitewater purple t-shirts, no shouting "U dub dub". To contrast:

Part of the audience at the first home football game.

People weren't too stoked to see the first home soccer game, but oh boy did they enjoy the first home football game. They seemed to like it more than they like mac & cheese. Everyone was wearing purple, shouting, clapping, standing up, eating popcorn and genarally feeling the vibes. I didn't feel it. But then again, I was the lame European jerk who doesn't appreciate the art of streching a game of four 15-minute quarters and a half-time into a three-hour (THREE HOUR) start-and-stop fest. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Touchdown. Field goal. Stop. Stop. Stop. Ugh.

Wow, I sound pretty bitter. As if someone threw the ball in my face or something. So, just for the record, I understand that there is a lot of tactics and unique quirks related to football, but I still didn't find the game enjoyable. So, as I probably shouldn't make definitive conclusions after only seeing one game, I'll just say futball suckz.

Par... Study All the Time

Students sailing between classes.


My classes started this week - big deal. I'll tell you about my classes when we actually start doing some work, since the first couple of weeks are dedicated to getting accustomed and drunk. Right? Wrong.

Reality slapped me in the face right at the very beginning of the semester. This is America, which means that  every course involves a lot of reading and writing. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that the pieces we read and write are very demanding. It's quantity over quality. I have to admit that this isn't really where I shine, but I hope that after the semester I'm an essay production machine spilling words on paper faster than a laserjet (or inkjet, if you're old-fashioned).

Whatever the future might be, at present the mountains of reaction papers, position papers, research papers, midterm and final papers listed on the course syllabuses force me to adjust myself to the American way of studying. Not that I ever did it, but it simply isn't enough to drag yourself to lectures and write a paper in the final week of the semester, red-eyed in the middle of the night. These courses require constant output.

Don't worry. I'm not planning to let this study thing get too much in the way of enjoying myself and going to places. That's why came here, not to sit in my dorm being all nerdy reading books, although I have to admit that the history of American Frontier is pretty intriguing stuff - now where did I put that book.

Perception of Time

How long have I been here? It's not such a simple question. On the one hand, it feels like everything is still new and exciting, with the exception of the nearly everyday pizza at the dining hall - ugh. On the other hand, I feel like I have already experienced an impossible amount of stuff for one week. The classes haven't even started yet but it has been hectic nevertheless. I've been touring the campus (with and without a map), the dorms, the town, the bars, the malls. I've even been to Chicago, a city so big that everyone in Finland could move in there. In contrast to all these new things, there are also things I'm already getting used to. To list a few: I'm slowly getting used to living in a dorm with shared rooms, showers and bathrooms. I'm getting tired of the monotonous food that is served at the dining halls (again, pizza is the keyword here). So, all in all, the combination of the new and the already-sort-of-familiar easily messes up your perception of time. (Perception of time - did I actually say that?)

In the middle of all this losing-your-perception-of-time business I've barely had the time to rest and think about what's going on. From tomorrow onwards, I'll have classes to attend and assignments to do on top of all this madness. While it may sound overwhelming, I've enjoyed my first week a lot. I've made plenty of new friends (just look at my Facebook!), seen places and, you know, the basic stuff. The stuff you'd expect exchange students to experience.I feel extremely positive to be here. Lets see how I feel after the first classes though.

And by the way, now I also know what the campus looks like:

 University Center

A couple of residence halls

Don't even ask

The Arrival

I'd love to describe what Whitewater or the campus looks like. I really would. Too bad it was already dark when we sat in the yellow school bus (yes, exactly like in the movies) on our way from Janesville to Whitewater. I was munching on a sub I got from Walmart along with bedlinen and other pretty damn interesting stuff. I was pretty hungry. The last time I had properly ate was around nine in the morning on Portland airport. With the power of a burger and some snacks I made my way from Corvallis, OR (don't even ask) to Whitewater via Portland, Chicago and Janesville. I still had it easier than most of the other exchange students who had been flying for hours and hours to get to the States.

At the Janesville bus station we, the exchange students, were joking about us being forgotten there. But of course we weren't, and I have to say that the welcome was warm. Along with warm handshakes and hearty smiles we also received an envelope with the keys to our dorms and some snacks. Still haven't read what the papers say though. Maybe I should.

Done. There were some papers about my roommate who is bound to arrive tomorrow. Info about the first day on campus. A campus map. Some info on the dorms. Pretty basic stuff.

Better get some sleep. I can probably describe the campus better if I'm not sleepwalking around it tomorrow.

Seattle Sun

I heard Seattle is the rainiest city in the States. Still haven't seen any rain though. Quite the opposite, for the last couple of days it has been extremely warm and there is no sight of fall approaching. The weather hasn't been the only pleasant thing about Seattle. Even without planning our days too much we have managed to see a lot of interesting places. Really stress-free and gratifying.

One of these interesting places is definitely, and perhaps non-surprisingly, the Seattle Center, marked by the Space Needle. The Needle is surrounded by interesting places to see such as the EMP, Experience Music Project, which was a place made for me. There was a Nirvana exhibition, room full of old guitars, plenty of brand new instruments to play and some fun sci-fi stuff. I could probably live there, really.

Another place that I enjoyed was the historic Pike Place Market, which is filled with hundreds of vendors selling anything from fish and flowers to wooden 3D puzzles. However, the market place also brought up a curious thing about the US. A couple of fresh (and tasty!) peaches cost more than a meal at McDonalds or dozens of cans of soda. Not only are the fresh fruit expensive but they're also scarce. It's really difficult to find proper grocery stores around here. Starbucks - not. Why on earth does there have to be a Starbucks at every corner? I don't even like coffee!

Even if I don't like coffee, there are still plenty of things I like about Seattle and the US.

PS. I have a million tourist-y photos on my camera. I'll try to transfer them sometime later. This blog is slowly becoming one dull wall of text and needs an intervention.

EDIT: Here's a couple photos!

 Space Needle looming over the suburbs.

Seattle skyline

Me on top of the Space Needle

Fountain in Seattle Center

Monorail over a German motor repair shop

Fountain of instruments in Experience Music Project

Pike Place Market

University of Washington

Sleepless in Seattle

After 27 hours of being awake, most of which I either sat on planes or ran around airports Amazing Race style, I finally made it to Seattle. After such sleep deprivation it's almost impossible for me to recall how many different security and passport control check points me and Camilla (who is travelling with me) had to pass through. Or queue through extremely slowly. Luckily, we made it on our flights despite surprisingly tight schedules and the flights themselves went well and the travel weather was beautiful.

We took the light train from the airport to downtown for the fraction of the price of a taxi. After asking advice for a couple of times, we made it to our hostel which has a very central location - we can even see the Space Needle from here. (I might get back on this topic later on).

After having a huge meal from the McDonald's right next door, I guess I should head to bed. There's a lot to do tomorrow!