Cripple Update

So, I'll continue from the Week 45 - Third week
The swimming did really good on my knee, I could move it a lot better even after that morning. I already started going stairs up and down as easily both ways. Otherways I had a bit lazy week, I did Functional Training only once (but I had changed my program and had many moves for my knee and I could do all of those well) and walked back home from work one day. But I abandoned my Forrest Gump orthosis for good and started using only this sports version of "orthosis". And did well with that.

Week 46 - Fourth week
On Monday I went to work by bike! And it didn't feel bad. My knee wasn't still bending fully but enough to ride a bike. On Tuesday I had the doctor. I was so nervous about that that I didn't sleep well. And I had a dream where I went to the hospital half an hour early but I was at the wrong clinic and they didn't tell me that and I realized that too late and got to the right place five minutes too late and they had given my time to someone else already and said that the next time would be in two months. I was crying that I just was in a wrong place and I was there so early!
In the morning I went first to put some bacteria to freezer and talked with Dorota. Finally I said that I really need to go, the meeting with the doctor won't go away even though I talk with her. I was at the right place half an hour earlier (I had presentation that day and I was reading my notes). I helped this old grandpa to find a toilet and the doctor had some problems with the computer and was ten minutes late. Luckily he was the same doctor who saw me when I went to the ER. Finally I was called in and I was soooooo nervous.
I laid down on the table and he was asking how my knee was and what I can do with it. He was really surprised that it moved so well and that it wasn't hurting. He did some tests and they showed that there is definitely something broken, but maybe only partially. He consulted older (I mean wiser) colleague and he agreed with him.

I DON'T NEED THE SURGERY!

They said that it looks so good and I can use it so well that there's no need for sugery now. It is broken, but if it doesn't bother me, then it's fine. If it starts to bother me or if I broke it I should book a time for a private doctor (the older doctor said that he's the one in there too) and if needed I'd get the surgery faster that way. The said that the succes rate of the operation is good but it doesn't matter if I get it later. And if everything goes well, I'll just need to book a time for check up on about March next year. And before I left I carefully asked if I could continue taekwondo, and they said YES!!! If I feel like I can do it, I can do it!

HAPPY HAPPY

So, only after four weeks, I got a permission to continue :)
Of course I'll take it easy, I'll go and try my leg on Saturday when there's no "real" training and then carefully start next week. I don't want to take any risks to hurt my self again but I also don't want to forget everyhting. And I need to start work on my trust on my knee so that I can really train later.

I guess there's no need to say how happy I am :)

Cripple

Here's an update on my progress:

16.10. 19:00 Crisis
I was training with this annoying young guy, who thinks he can do everything but then he cannot do anything, who complains I (me, me???) hit or kick too hard, who thinks you can pass a belt examination by just going there, there's no such thing as motivation or idealism. We were rehearsing on distanses at a match, the opponent is too far to reach with just a kick. So you need to go forward while kicking. I was doing quite well and I even improved his kicking as well... Suddenly, while kicking, on my way landing, I heard a crack and then came the enormous shooting pain. Before I knew what happened, I was lying on the ground, holding my knee and could barely breath. Everybody stopped and I tried to get on my back from the fetus position but I couldn't turn, the pain was horrible. I couldn't even get my eyes open. I soon got cold and wet paper for my knee, and by that time the pain was completely gone. It ended as suddenly as it came. I carefully stood up, tried if I could walk and realized I could stand normally. My knee felt a bit wobbly and I went to sit for the rest of the training, squeezing my knee with the paper and held it up. After the training was over, I walked back home, I didn't dare to bike. My knee was quite OK, just a bit wobbly. At home after shower I held some ice on it and went for sleep. I couldn't sleep well, I don't remember my knee hurting actually, it ust felt uncomfortable.

17.10. 7:00 Stuck
When I woke up, I couldn't move my knee much, it wasn't hurting but it was kind of stuck. A bit swollen, but not badly. I called a doctor for an appointment and left for work (and went by bus). I was limping as my leg felt wobbly and went for a doctor (and waited for him half an hour, he was late!). He tried to force my leg to move but it was too painful. He said it wasn't sterile enough there and he didn't have needed equipment and gave me a referral to ER/surgery department. I also got one week of sick leave. I went back to work and finished my blotting. Then my parents came (of course I broke myself the weekend they were coming...). I hadn't had the time to tell them about this accident so I was laughing inside when I saw their faces when I went to get them to our lab. I showed our labs and staff and then I took them for a lunch. After that Dad took me and my Mom to the hospital. Mom was nice and stayed as a company for me, Dad went to sleep, he hadn't slept well because he was so excited to come to Kuopio :D
We waited for around two hours and then I got x-rayed (the device was cool! I was so excited to see that and Mom was laughing at me). Then we waited for an hour and the nurse came to ask me the conditions and how I felt. And after one more hour I got to the doctor. There was this MD student also and they diagnosed that I had blood in my knee and it had to be sucked out. She tried to do it but couldn't do anything. So the doctor came back and took 30 ml blood from my knee (not so much after all). After that I could move my knee better, though now it was hurting a bit because of the suction (which was uncomfortably painful). I got instructed to walk and bike as much as I could from the pain and I got walking sticks. I was joking to the nurse that it's good that she brought me black sticks because they suit my jacket, if they had been purple, I wouldn't had accepted them! (Of course I wouldn't have.)
Then Dad came and picked us up and we went for a small shopping tour with Mom. I bought few books (about nutrition, Functional Training and muscle upkeep). I had been told that there would be no taekwondo at least for rest of the year so I needed to keep my head up and figure out something else. Functional Training would do that, as I need to keep my legs in good condition (actually the muscles can get very weak in these kind of accidents if you don't train them!).
After grocery shopping we wathced Geishas Memories and went sleeping. I started to eat pain killers, not for the absent pain but to keep the inflammation down. I slept well.

18.10. 14:00 Sad
We were supposed to show some taekwondo to my parents on Saturday but obviously I couldn't do much. Tarmo showed some moves but I was sad because I'd wanted to show some "real moves" (like I could to real moves yet...). But they were impressed anyway. I just wasn't that happy. I already missed taekwondo. After a short training session we went to Puijo tower to see some landscape. After that we had pizza and then we just relaxed by watching House the whole evening. My knee was still very much stuck and I was just learning to walk with the annoying sticks. They were always on the way!

19.10. 11:00 Feeling Better
In the morning we went for a walk with Mom and we walked 5 km! I had bought this knee support and was wearing only that. It took two hours to walk and in the end it started to hurt a bit but I was feeling a lot better. I could somehow walk already! Though I was still limping.
We went to buy some food, cooked and watched some more House. After all, I had had a nice weekend with my parents and it was relaxing (as Mom made the dishes ;). We went for bed quite early as I had this course starting 8 am and my parents were going to get me to the university.

20.10. 8:15 First Day of Sick Leave
My friends were worried on my knee and I guess a bit surprised to see me. I was on sick leave yes, but I had this course. I was exhaused after the 3 hour lectures and went back home (by bus). I called to schedule a hair dresser time so that I could feel a bit better (I was supposed to schedule a week before but she was on this course in Greece...). I also went to buy a bus card.

Week 43 - First Week
I was exhaused after the course every day and I was fighting to keep my eyes open until 9 pm. Then I just passed out. My knee was acing a bit during the lectures and I needed to keep it up and straight most of the times. On Wednesday I went to get an orthosis for my knee and I became Forrest Gump. I made a plan for Functional Training and did it twice this week. And it felt good. One day I also walked to work, and one day back home. At the end of the week I could almost get my feet straight and bend it almost to 90 degree angle. But I was still limping. And very, very tired. On Saturday Santtu had a party but I drank only little, but had quite fun time. During the weekend I slept 12 hours one night! On weekend we did some laundry and because it's upstairs, I needed to train myself to walk stairs. Going up was manageable but coming back down wasn't that easy... I also tried to get on my bike but I couldn't even get on it...

Week 44 - Second Week
My sick leave was over so I had to be at the lab after the course. There was this one training thing, so it took two days and on two afternoons we had demonstrations at the hospitals (it was part of this course). So I didn't have much time to be at the lab, not that I could have done much with my Forrest Gump leg... I was still very tired and didn't train much, just walked few times back home from work. During the weekend I walked upstairs (to 7th floor!). I now could get my leg almost straight without any discomfort and I could bend it a bit over 90 degrees. But only if I helped with my hands, with only my leg muscles it didn't bend that much. I also started to learn to walk with the Forrest Gump thingie and could already go faster. During the lectures I could already held my leg in a bended position without any pain. I also could already be on my knees (though not to sit on my knees). Also, I stopped limping. On Sunday I was doing Functional Training and I could already do some movements in a proper way (required some strength from my legs). I tried to ride a bike again, now I could get on and even cycle a bit but if I had to put any strenght on my leg it felt bad. So no biking yet. And I started to learn to walk the stairs downwards.

Week 45 - Third Week
Today I went for swimming with Santtu early in the morning and it was great! We went for this "water aerobics" with all the grannies and grandpa's. But it was really efficient and in water I could bend my knee more than ever, in a controlled way. I also could walk the stairs without any support! I left the orthosis at home and was wearing only this sports knee support and it was fine. I can already walk normally and keep my leg straight well.

So I guess I'm already in good shape with my knee. I'll have an MRI and doctors appointment next week, and then I'll know what needs to be done. I'm missing taekwondo but I try not to think about it. This Functional Training and now swimming is a good alternative and makes me feel good. During the first week I was really tired and lost some weight... But now I feel that I can already work the 8 hours a day and maybe have some activity besides that. Luckily I have another two week course so I don't need to be much in the lab, I cannot run between labs with vulnerable reagents yet. I see the progress but I try to take it easy. I'm still avoiding pain, so if something hurts too much, I don't do that.

So heads up with a positive mind! I'm doing well and I can already walk normally, and I've found new activities!

My Poor Knee

So, what happened last Thursday?
I was training taekwondo, we were doing some kicks from different distances. I was doing them OK but suddenly when I was doing bandal tsaki and moving forward at the same time I felt angry stinging pain in my knee. And all the sudden I was laying in the ground, holding my knee and moaning and trying to catch my breath. The pain was horrible. I tried to get on my back but all I could do was curl up in a fetus position and squeese my knee hard. Quite soon I guess I got my eyes open and the pain was quite gone. I could breathe again. At the same time I got some cold bandages (that is wet paper) for my knee. The pain was gone, I could walk and bend my knee. It had a slight wobbly feeling and I went to sit besides our tatami and held my knee up and squeesed it. I tried to listen if something went broken, but there was no pain, I could walk and bend it like normally.
I promised to go to a doctor (of course) and walked back home (I didn't dare to ride a bike). There it started to hurt a bit, but nothing bad. I was a bit terrified what would happen and didn't sleep well. The next day I first called to a doctor to get an appointment. I couldn't bend my knee anymore, or get it straight. It still wasn't hurting though. I went to a lab to finish up my things (I had a short day as my parents would come during noon) and left for a doctor (Santtu was happy to take me there, I guess that was some kind of revege? ;) and he was half an hour late. Then he tried to bend my knee in different positions but it hurt like hell, he didn't have needles to puncute my knee and said it wouldn't be hygienic enough anyway (there's some renovation going on) and he sent me to the hospital, gave me some pain medication and one week sick leave. Well, I went back to lab (as a real scientists do ;), finished my day and soon my parents came. I took them to eat something, showed our labs and then Dad took me to the hospital with my Mom. She stayed there and waited with me, so I didn't need to be alone.
I waited for two hours to get x-rayed (great big machine, I was excited :D) and one more hour to see the doctor. He told me that my x-rays were OK, and said that a medical student (she was there all the time too) would puncture my knee to see if there's blood or not. She was a bit hesitant but I said she could push my knee as much as needed, it didn't hurt. But she couldn't get anything out so the doctor came back and sucked 20 ml blood from my knee (it was REALLY unpleasant experience as I didn't have any anestetics as putting it would've hurt more). He said that was quite not that much and couldn't say what was broken in my knee. So I got walking sticks with me, order to walk and bike within pain limits and no taekwondo for few months.
I'll go back in two weeks to find out what needs to be done. Some of the ligaments are broken, I hope they're "just" a bit torn, I don't want a syntethic ligaments as the rehabilitation from that takes up to a year!
So during the weekend I rested and on Saturday I even walked 5 km! I was a bit sad as I wanted to show some taekwondo to my parents but obviously couldn't do that :( But luckily the weekend passed by without any big pain. And every day I've been able to bend my knee a bit more and now I get it even straight!
Today I was sitting at a lecture and couldn't get my leg straight. So my knee was starting to hurt and the pain killers didn't help. I had planned to walk back home so that I would get some exercise but I hardly could walk to eat. Dorota was kind and took me back home and finally I got my leg straight. The pain also started to ease. But I was in a bad mood because of the pain and because I couldn't walk without the sticks.
I started to plan an exercise plan for my self (Functional Training) and went through my plans and felt really good after that. I could bend my knee and do something with it without any pain! it's hurting a bit now, but nothing bad. I still feel good.

I know knee accidents are always tricky and I know I need a lots of patience with this. I cannot do any taekwondo this year anymore, but luckily I can do some other workouts, and on Sundays we have this exercises with kiryagi balls, so I'm going to participate in that and in that way be involved in taekwondo. I want to get my knee back in good shape and I know that requires a lot of work. It's a bit depressing that I cannot do any taekwondo, but these things happen. I'll try to keep my spirits up, this is not the end! I'll get my knee back in good shape and get back to taekwondo! It just makes me sad because I would have wanted to train with Tarmo and progress together with him and now I'm starting to lag behind. But luckily I had my belt examination just before this happened!

So, this is the reson for my mood swings. It makes me feel a stupid and weak person to let this get me down. But I'll get better and train taekwondo inside my head and go and see some training sessions, that way I can also learn! So head up and ahead!

Funny Little Girl

Oh gosh it's been ages (again) since I last time wrote here... Nothing new has happened though. Last weekend we were at taekwondo camp and it was great! It was a poomsae camp so it was a good first timer camp, it wasn't that rough. We still didn't dare to compete though. Maybe next time ;)

Last Tuesday we were on freshmen cruise and it was fun, I was a "freshman" too ;) But I am, I started here now and I'm a freshman in my PhD studies, right? The real freshmen were a bit confused about this logic :D We were back home around midnight, we didn't go to bar after the before party, so we were good students.

And this weekend we were at a friends cottage at Mikkeli and it was relaxing and fantastic, I had so much fun, I slept well, sang singstars, went to sauna, I even took a jump to the cold lake! I wanted to go running too but I forgot my sportstape at home (my shoes break my feet) and actually I didn't have time to run... I was supposed to run today, but we were back home too late (just arrived)... And why should I run? Because I can! I couldn't run before this year (after 10 meters I could already taste the blood in my lungs and my feet just stopped moving) and on Wednesday I ran 5 kilometers! I still run too fast (my heart rate is too high) but I'm learning.

This week was a bit lazy, we were training taekwondo only on Monday, we didn't have time on Tuesday and then we were working so late on Wednesday that it was too late for taekwondo, on Thursday we were so tired (after the rat days ie. the days I make primary cortical neuron cultures I'm exhausted, it's mentally so hard). And on Friday until this day we were at Mikkeli. Well, next week!

We had fun discussions with Tarmo while we were waiting for the train back home. Tarmo told me that he won't make children with me unless we give a name Dagon (ever read H.P Lovecraft?) to a boy or Sieni Pilvi (Mushroom Cloud, some Finnish female names) to a girl. I guess we'll never have a child ;D

I also had a fun and weird dream. A friend of mine started to see this kind of dreams only before months of it, I started years before! I'm funny little girl. But since I don't have anything real to write, I'll go and watch some Idols.

Drink Wine and Eat Berries!

I was in this Alzheimer symposium and I learned a very important thing. If you want to live longer and don't like to have Alzheimer's disease, drink wine and eat berries.
This substanse called resveratol is an agonist for SirT1, which helps cells to resist oxidative stress, apoptosis etc. It has been shown by studies that it also helps to prevent Alzheimer's disease (as does caloric restriction!). And you get this magic substance especially from grapes and blue berries. The study showed its effects by Drosophila eye phenotypes, where the "normal" eye was clearly deformed, "Alzheimer" phenotype was worse, but with resveratol some of the eye stuctures were even restored! AND you know the old wisdom that blueberries are good for your eye sight! (I'll find the article for you!)

FASCINATING!

EDIT. I couldn't find the exact aticle, you just need to trust on my word ;)

Proud

The wedding was beautiful and great! We went for a coffee first with Tarmo as we had an hour to wait in the morning (we came from Kuopio that morning) and then went to the church. A fancy car drove past us and i said to Tarmo that those might be Saara and Juha, and when we got to the church yard, the car drove there and the were Saara and Juha! Saara was so beautiful and the dress was amazing! By the time the quests started to arrive Saara and Juha went inside and we talked with friends who also started to arrive. The had black priest (who is Finnish btw) and the seremony was fun and beautiful. After that we went to Vanha Ortipedia and ate well. The tabels were labelled according to moomin characters and we sat in the Pikku Myy table! The program was fun, though we were a bit sorry for Saara for the relatives babytalk (btw, the police night(mare) story was... disturbing :D). Our train back to Kuopio left at 21:40 so we needed to leave quite early, but we were there long enough to see the bride being kidnapped and the groom to get her back.
After we got home (it was raining and even though we had umbrella, we were wet) we went straight to bed but we still talked for two hours. It was refreshing and we settled some things :) On Sunday we just played computer, we were supposed to play roleplaying game with Hannu but he couldn't make it. But it was nice lazy day.
Today I'm having my first course in here and that's why I'm still at home. It starts at 10 am and ends at 6 pm. And as I need to go to play with cells tomorrow morning at 7 am (!) I decided to be at home this morning. Though I still woke up at 6:30 am, listened Reija to do her breakfast, leave and finally got up at 7:30. I just needed to stay in the bed because I could!

ANd guess what, I'm so excited! Tarmo got also a PhD place from the univesristy!!! The ycalled yesterday from the biophysics group that they would like to take Tarmo. I'm so proud! Though his school will start tomorrow, and he has an interview for another group today... But at least he has a place to start! That solves so many of our money problems... Or actually, my money problems :D But now I need to go and find a notebook for the course and leave for it...

I'm so happy!

Nothing Important

Oh it's been ages since I last time wrote here... I've been so busy with my work. And my computer is a bit broken and I'm getting a new one and don't want to touch the old one :D I was supposed to buy it in December because not until then I'd have enough money but we had graduation party last weekend and we got enough money to buy it now for me :)

So, work, work, taekwondo and work. I still love being at the lab and I finally got the PCR right! Been optimizing it for three weeks now! But now we ran out of oligos... And from this week on I'll have taekwondo every day if I want! Or can... Depends how exhausted I'll be from the last training!

I'm feeling a bit better now about my money issues. As I can buy the laptop now, I don't need to save every penny (or cent) for that but I can pay more of my loan away (few friends didn't understand why I need to pay 500 €/month it, they said "I would pay only 50 €/month!"... well, even at this rate it'll take two years to pay it back and I don't want to have loan and I don't want to pay any more extra of it than I need to pay now! (meaning interest)). And now I can start saving to my drivers license! And buy something small if I want to :) I like pretty things around me!

I should go and play with my cells... Oh! I was in hairdresser yesterday and I love my new hair! But back to work...

I Love Weekends

Blah. No pics from Saara's bachelors party here, because I've been fighting to get them in facebook for two days already and I'm pretty tired to those ;P
But anyway, last weekend was full of fun, we actually did surprise Saara and she seemed to enjoy her day as much at least as we did. The whole day was a succes, thanks to good planning by bridesmades. I was so tired after I got back home (and a bit hungover too).
The week went by quickly, and luckily it's weekend again. I slept almost 12 hours last night!
Yesterday the sun came out finally and Tarmo took me to a short cruise ^^ It was 1,5 hours cruise at Kallavesi and it was beautiful. And today we (including Reija) climbed top of Puijo (though not in the water tower as it had entrance fee). We ate ice cream and came down. They've promised that the weather is going to be bad again starting on Monday, so we need to enjoy the weather as long as it lasts...

I went shopping the other day and found three bags! They're gorgeous! I don't have the money yet so it felt a bit bad to buy them but they were on sale and so beautiful... And I'll have my payday next week.

But Tarmo made some food, and I want to relax. We just cleaned the house and are doing our laundry now. Tomorrow I need to prepare my presentation for next week... Busy busy...

Working Girl Lost the Track of Time

So yet another week has passed by. It went as quickly as the first one and I was as busy as before. I already made one experiment on my own and I'm about to start another one next week. I still don't understand the theory as I haven't had time/energy to read the articles.

On Friday Tuula (my Thesis supervisor) came to visit us and we were supposed to go to a bar. But the weather looked really bad, so we ended up buying four bottles of wine and drank three of them. With cheese, grapes and bread. It was really nice.

Not much has happened as I'm still very tired after work. We've been watching Desperate Housewives (finished third season yesterday) after work and that's it. Though I went for shopping on Thursday and found nice shoes and a bag for Saara's wedding. I also bought a hairdryer as my old one is quite crappy. Waiting for my first payday...

I also made a "phone bag" for work, a small bag where I can fit my phone, student card and bank card. So that I don't need to carry anything in by pockets (as I usually don't have ones, I ofter wear skirts). It looks selfmade but I don't care. It's handy.

Next week the taekwondo training will start again, I've been sitting too long on my ass so it's good to get some workout. That should brighten my wits too. And on weekend there will be Saara's bachelor's party so I'll be in Jyväskylä the whole weekend.

I can't believe it's already third week I'm starting and we've lived in Kuopio for over a month now. It feels like we'd lived much longer time in here and the last days in Jyväskylä seem so far away already. And then again it feels like I just started yesterday.

Edit. Had to remove this entry as I didn't realize that Saara doesn't know it's her party coming, luckily Sira noticed and warned me! Stupid me...

First Week

So, the first week is over. I had really good time and was busy the whole time. I was taught where everything is and I even made one experiment from the beginning to the end (transferred cells, seeded them, made transfections, lyzed, measured and anaylzed the data). The methods they use are basically familiar to me, there are some differences ofcourse between different labs. The people are really friendly and we event went for a dinner on Thursday. After that we went to a bar and I didn't spend a cent! Though I was a good girl and wasn't drunk either ;)

But after I got home every day I was sooooo tired. There were so many new things going on, so many new people, new places... At work I was fine but after I got home, I was just incapable of doing anything rational. And on Tuesday we got our couch! So that's been my favourite place since. I love it! We also got our other livingroom furnitures, I'll post a pic when I get one.

I should go through some literature to fully understand what I'm doing but as I said, I've overheated my brains. But that's OK, I have time to read the articles.

My friend Reija is at our place for two months as she got a summerjob from here (she also studies at Jyväskylä) and it's been nice having her here. She watches Desperate Housewives with me :) Though now Tarmo and Hannu came here to play GTA4 :P But that's OK, I can continue knitting my future bag. I also finished my skirt and hat, and I'm actually quite proud of them ;) Though I didn't knit those, just sew them. But anyhow. The future bag is calling me.

Vacation continues

So I'm finally back home. Midsummer went fine and we slept a lot. There were so many mosqitoes so we couldn't be outside that much. Or I couldn't.



We got home on Sunday evening and Tarmos parents came to visit. On Monday my parents came and I left to Tampere with them. I spent few days there, went shopping (and found nothing) and just spent time with Mom and Dad. I also saw some friends, which was nice. I came home on Thursday evening and spent a day doing laundry (yesteday), visited library and got my Thesis! It's now in covers! I still need the credits from it though, it's been already two weeks since the professor gave it to me and one week since I returned it to our office in Jyväskylä. I wrote our secretary an e-mail but she didn't reply. I hope I get the points soon so that I can finish the paperwork and graduate finally!

Oh btw, I visited a dear friend of mine who has a half year old kid and she's just gorgeous! But nothing more on that topic. She's cutie! <3

Sonja

I took some magazines from Mom, I'm planning to do some clothes to myself as I now have a sewing machine. I bought some paper to draw the models (?) and I'm going to try the first one this weekend. I also got some cloth for it. But now I'm starting to do something. I woke up already at 7 am!

Vacation

The first week in here has gone by quickly. On weekend we went to a barcrawl with Santtu and Hannu and on Sunday we went to play Munchkin at Hannus and it was fun! Yesterday we finally got out scratching post and the cats loved it immediately! And so did I.

Neko fell asleep

Today we should go and find some frames. Otherwise we've been palying GTA4 and Sims2. I do have some articles to be read... I'll try to read them next week.

Tomorrow will bw busy day, we're going to Jyväskylä to do some paper work, return our keys and we also have a studio and we should be photographed. We're making this girl and boy calendar with a group of friends. On the same day we should return to Kuopio and go to Savonranta with our cats, as on Thursday we're starting to celebrate Midsummer at Tarmo's cottage. We're coming back on Sunday and on next week my parents are coming to a visit and I'll go to Tampere for a few days with them. And then my vacation is over. But at least I have vacation this year!

The First One

So. I moved to a new home last Tuesday noon. We got an amazing apartment right in the middle of the city (Kuopio). We have three rooms (livingroom, bedroom and my "office") with totally new kitchen and small bathroom. Though it is (too) expensive to live in this big house, I really, really love it! And so does my love Tarmo and our two cats Neko and Pollo. The first day we got them here (on Wednesday evening), they ran around the house after only a few hours and now they already own the house. But enough about the apartment, here's some pics:

Kitchen

Kitchen

"Office"

Other side of the balcony

View from our balcony (had to take it behind the glass because the cats were there too)

No pics from our livingroom as it still misses some furnitures.

But then, why I started yet a new blog? Well, I've almost finished my M.Sc. (just need to do some paperwork) and on 1st July I'll start at the University of Kuopio to work on my Ph.D. Though that's going to take few years :D But anyway, I'm no longer a regular student, I get some money too, so I figured, that maybe I should start a new blog just to celebrate this transition in my life.
I don't know yet exactly what my research will be about. I have some articles to read before starting my job and we'll fix the topic during the Summer. But evening starts to be late and I need to sleep a lot (haven't slept much, except last night 12 hours!). Tomorrow I'll visit the university, Santtu (aka. Kaisa) promised to show me some places there :)