SORRY LOL!
September 25, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: blazer, end, exchange, graduation, HSC, photo, Rotary, school, uai
Gah Sorry folks that I havent really been around for a while. It has been a particularly busy time for me at the moment.
So today I finished school and everything, had my graduation ceremony, and it was pretty sweet. It’s kind of a strange feeling knowing that I’m never going to have to have classes in the same rooms ever again. Of course, there will be next year, and then university, but I really am not counting those at the moment.
Its also pretty weird not being able to see my friends everyday now, even though the last time that I did see them was earlier this morning.
And now there is a 3 week period in between the end of school and exams, so *theoretically* everyone should be studying like crazy now. I’m going to start my hectic studying tomorrow, with a trip to the library and everything. I’m shocked at how willing I am now to do homework and do my studying now that school is actually over, and I really want to work hard because it would be fantastic to get a uai of 90-100, although I’m not really holding my breath.
But yeah, in terms of exchange, I got fitted for my rotary blazer a few weeks ago, and also got my photo done for my cards. Mainly it was just really nice that I got to see everyone again, and to have some contact with rotary, because I wasn’t really hearing that much from them at the time and just wanted to know that everything was still on.
I will probably have some more time in the coming days to visit the blog and do a few posts now that I dont have anything to clog up my day:D
So I hope i’ll catch you guys realllllllly soon.
Matty
Slowly Improving Finnish
September 5, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: exchange, Finnish language, haloo helsinki!, language, music, school, study, time
So in the past few weeks, I must say that my Finnish language studying is going quite well. So far, I’ve been using Daniel Abondolo’s “Colloquial Finnish” and Terttu Leney’s “Teach Yourself Finnish”, and I’ve really found that a combination of the two is really what did it for me. I had been trying so long to get everything out of one book, that I hadn’t really thought about using both of them simultaneously. This is the trick, I think, and would explain the rather instantaneous “click” where everything neatly goes into place.
I’m slowly getting used to the case system (Finnish has well over 10 cases that are used frequently, some more often than others but they are all used nevertheless) and general sentence structure, which had really been my problem. Before, I really couldn’t get together more than three or four words in a sentence, and now they are gradually getting longer, which is exciting.
I’ve really come to the conclusion that I am really going to want to have learnt as much of the language as I can before I go. I was really tossing and turning up whether or not I wanted to learn the language, or some of it at least, before I went or simply just pick it up when I got there. So I decided that I really wanted to give myself the best chance on my exchange.
And the improvement can also be attributed to a couple of new Finnish bands that I’ve discovered, but one especially being Haloo Helsinki! In a week I think that I have learnt more than I have learnt in a long while, and there have been wonderful moments of recognition of massive chunks of text, and that has really motivated me to go on with serious study.
What’s even better is that in about 8-10 weeks I will have finished all my exams and school altogether, so I can really focus on what I want to do and just get ready for my massive year over there. Cos when I think about it, I really have nothing ready whatsoever, but hey, I’ve still got another 4 months or so left until my exchange. I still can’t get over how short AND long that time seems to get. Each day seems closer, but I still count them up and its well over 100. But i’m sure it’ll get shorter as time goes on. It’s not that I want it to go so quickly, it’s just that there is so much stuff to do in such a short time really, but it’ll get away from me if I’m not careful.
Well I think thats about it from me at the moment,
Catch you guys later
Matty
Visa Fun XD
August 27, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: bands, cold war kids, exchange, Finland, Finnish language, homework, Ipod, music, Rotary, RYE, school, study, visa
I pretty much love my youth exchange program.
After talking to a few other people, it seems to me that my visa application forms have been a somewhat easier process than most of the others. This is what I really like about RYE. They seem to get everything done behind the scenes, without your knowledge and stuff like that. Well, maybe it’s just MY club, but yeah, there really hasn’t been a considerable amount of hassle getting the visa forms filled in. (The ACTUAL program forms were a completely different story entirely:D)
But yeah, I’ve been realising that it really is such a short time to go until I’ll be in Finland, and I really am trying hard not to romanticise what I think Finland will be like, just so i don’t get completely let down if little things are different. I don’t really think that it will worry me so much in general, im such a hippy that I dont really care whether or not something is different to what I expected it would be. I’m just so lucky to be going in the first place, that I think I’m just going to be living it up next year, doing everything I can possibly get involved in.
And what is even better is that there is only another 4 weeks left of school until I’m finished altogether! Yes, I do know that there is still the HSC to go, but that’s not really school. I’ll have my own special countdown to the end of that sometime in october/november:D So in general, life is getting pretty stressful. But I’m not too fussed, I’m just going to try my best. The only thing that is a bit of a bummer is that I haven’t really had a good chance to practice my Finnish so much at the moment, so after the HSC is over I really think that I’m going to get stuck in to that, and just enjoy the time that I’m going to have left with my friends. Although, I may also be working then still, so who knows?
And what’s even better, is that I’ve found another band that I really quite enjoyed, Cold War Kids. It’s great to find a new band, I think, and from now on, I’m just trying to get as much of my music collection on my Ipod as possible, just so it can keep me entertained for a whole year.
I should really go and study for english now, though!’
So I’ll catch you guys later:D
Matty
No more trials!
August 20, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Countdowns, CSS, cultures-shocked.org, exchange, Finland, Finnish language, forum, Germany, Lamb of God, music, Rotary, RYE, school, Swedish, Swedish Language, The Cardigans, Travel, websites
Sorry I have neglected to come here and treat you guys to a blog post. I must say, I have been so busy at the moment with exams and everything, but now that they are finished for the moment, i really hope that I will be able to contribute a bit more of my time to blogging.
I recently came across a GREAT student exchange forum, www.cultures-shocked.org, thanks to one of the other outbound students going to Germany with the Rotary club. I really quite enjoy this website, mainly because there is so much there already that precisely answered and addressed some of my issues that I wanted to discuss.
And although I haven’t really been counting down the days until I do leave, it is nice to realise that now that I have done 2 weeks of my trials, I am another 2 weeks closer to actual flying out. But I am SO not prepared to go at the moment. I mean. There is still over 100 days to go, so by 50 days or so I think that I’m going to start freaking out or something.
One thread that I really quite enjoyed on the cultures-shocked website was the “Countdowns” page, where everyone was just simply counting down the days until they were flying out. Some of them still had pretty much a full year to go, and others were posting time in the minutes, which was really exciting. I thought that I had gotten all the initial excitement out of my system, but just reading these little bits of text where people were counting down their days until they left got me so excited.
On the language front, I have rather been neglecting my Finnish and Swedish studies, simply because I really don’t have a lot of time to get involved with studies outside of school subjects. 
But it will only be a matter of time before I’m actually finished school here in Australia, which is great, and there will be about a 2 month gap or so before I leave for Finland.
On a completely different note however, I got myself a music voucher to use, just a little reward for getting over (everyone else) stressing about the trials. I just can’t believe how honestly random some of the music is. It’s even weird for me. Ive got stuff like :
- Black Label, Lamb of God (great song really, not really good for waking up to though:D)
- Meeting Paris Hilton, by CSS (this is like, THE BEST song, despite its lack of gripping content lol)
- Clap Your Hands!, by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (pretty nifty song indeed)
- Lovefool, by The Cardigans (greaaaat stuff, reminds me of the radio in the nineties:D)
And these are just a few. But I enjoy my eclectic music style. 
Hope you guys are having a great week, and I will be back sooner, hopefully.
Till next time^^
Matty
Trials trials trials
August 11, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: exams, exchange, Finland, Finnish language, HSC, HSC trials, Pivot, provinssirock, Sigur Rós, study, Swedish, trials
GAH. Sorry I have been around for a while, after Sigur Ros a couple of Saturdays ago, i’ve been studying ever since then. It’s been quite annoying, but at least my trial exams will all be over in a week or so.
To be honest, I’m quite happy that I have trials at the moment. Having them at the moment means that in 9 days, I wont have to worry about tests until the actual HSC.:D
Whats even better, is that I’ve got my visa applications for residency in Finland. After this, I should be able to travel to Finland without any problems. I’m really quite excited, it’s about a month until I actually finish school, and then another month until the HSC. Before long, I’ll be getting ready to go to Finland, buying some warm clothes, and all that stuff.
I really haven’t learnt much more Finnish at the moment, I think that I’ll try and get in as much language work as I can from mid-november until I fly out. But if that fails, the first two weeks are going to be an intensive language course anyway, so I should be able to speak Finnish pretty well by February or March next year, or at the least, quite competently.
One thing that I am really looking forward to, and I really hope to attend when I go over to Finland, is to go to Provinssirock, or one of the other rock festivals in Finland. That would be one of the things that I really would like to do when I go over there, so yeah:D
Sorry I haven’t really been around for a while, though. The trials have been a little too all-consuming, but hopefully I’ll be able to get in some decent blogging between now and the HSC. I can’t believe there’s only about 3 months left of school entirely:D
So, until my next post, have a great week^^
Matty
Sigur Rós, August 2
August 2, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: amazing, August 2, bands, Hordern Pavillion, icelandic, live, music, Sigur Rós
So today, or rather, yesterday, I went to my first ever concert that had over 70-100 people in it. I went to the Sigur Rós concert, which was at the Hordern Pavilion, and I must say, it was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.
In terms of what I was expecting, with the special guests PIVOT as much as Sigur Rós, I think that they delivered above and beyond whatever it was that I was expecting. I’m really finding it difficult to sum it up into words, but yeah, it was so great.
I really hope to get some photos and stuff like that up here, I just really hope they come out well enough.
My only peeve would be that I really didn’t get to see a lot. I really think that, with so many people obviously over 6 foot, that they should be organised so the people who are like, 5′0″ or perhaps a little bit taller than that, can actually see whats happening. But apart from that, it was absolutely amazing and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
I’d really enjoy it if people who went to the concert, if they come to my site, left me a comment just to say hi, and how they liked it. I think the general concensus I got from the crowd outside was that it was nothing short of spectacular. But yeah, I think that that’s it from me at the moment, I really want to get some photos up next post, but for now, I really need to get to bed.
Until next time,
Matty
GAH!
Hey Guys,
I’m sorry that I haven’t been around much lately, what with all the school and stuff now. It’s my last term of school now and I kinda feeling obligated to do a bit more studying than normal.
Plus, last week it was my birthday, so I went out with some friends and family to a restaurant, and had a great time.
But meanwhile, my Finnish has been improving tenfold, thanks to my new Scrubs DVD’s that I got for my birthday, which I can get subtitles for in FInnish. So, on that front, the Finnish language is getting a little bit easier. But to be honest, I really don’t have a lot of time to be studying Finnish, when I should be studying French instead.
Some good news on the exchange front, is that we’ve FINALLY finished all the forms for the massive application and visa form. So in a few weeks or a month or so hopefully, I’ll find out exactly where I’m going in Finland, so that makes it pretty exciting, and I’m sure that the anticipation will kill me again. But that’s okay:D
AND it is now officially less than six months till I fly out overseas.
Im pretty damn excited right about now.
So how’s everybody else going?
Matty
PILGRIMS!
July 14, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: Birthday, Books, Finnish language, giving, Public Transport, sydney, Trains, Word of the Day, Work, WYD
So I finally saw my first Pilgrims today, headed off to world youth day. It was kind of interesting seeing the different types of brave people heading into the city. Now, I’m all for world youth day, but I think that getting public transport into the city would be pretty bad. I mean, even going on my normal train to work going in the opposite direction seemed to be overly crowded today, but that may have more to do with the fact that it is also school holidays time.
One thing that I did notice is that Sydney seems to be miraculously beautified in the lead up to the WYD08 major events. It just seems that there is less rubbish around, the streets look a bit cleaner, and it all looks more cheerful and tourist/pilgrim-friendly. It may also be due to the fact that it is not raining at the moment, a MASSIVE climactic change really. But all in all, it seems like the event is going to be a great success.
I can’t help but wonder how all this is affecting the non-christian population of Sydney and Australia. I know it’s a nice and worthwhile event, but it is taking up 10 minutes of a 30 minute news program, and nothing so far has happened yet involving the pope apart from his touchdown. But I think that this is going to be a great event for everyone who has come, and I hope everyone who comes over here to Sydney from overseas enjoys their trip:D
Meanwhile, I’m back at work now, after a wonderful week off, which was totally unproductive, just the way it should be. I got another book on Finnish grammar, and this one is pretty technical, so I’m pleased with the purchase. OO, and it’s 5 days until I finally turn 17, I can’t wait.
Oh, and also, I purchased the book “1000 Places To See Before You Die”, and I’ve promised that I’m going to see, or at least try to see, all of the places listed in the book. I’ve actually seen a few of them already, so I can cross them off the list, but I think it just gives me something to work for in life, it’s a great read, really.
And the Finnish word of the day is antaa and it means to give. I think it’s an appropriate choice given the weeks events.
So have a good world youth day-week everyone!
Until next time,
Matty
things that brighten your day^^
July 7, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: Finland, Finnish language, garnstudio, Holidays, knitting, Lonely Planet, mittens, patterns, shopping, Suomi, winter, Word of the Day
As weeks go in general, this week is pretty dandy:D I’ve been able to get a lot of things done already, as I’m on holidays. As promised, I will show you my current status on the mittens I’m making. The pattern that I am making these from is a GarnStudio design, which you can find here. I personally think that my choice of colours, the maroon and white, works just as effectively as the dark grey and white.
Here’s the top side of said mitten^^
And over there is the under side of the mitten. Its pretty cool, no?
I personally prefer this colourway over the grey and white. I think that the red and white colours really give you a stark contrast, and go well with each other. Plus they will be easier to see in the Finnish snow if they do get lost:D
And they only took me about 2 days of knitting here and there to get them finished, so that is even more of a bonus.
I also got to do a little shopping yesterday, and got something I have been looking for for a while. I couldn’t stop myself from buying it ^^
I finally found the Lonely Planet Guide to Finland, and I was really excited when I saw it. I thought I would have just had to got the book on Scandinavia as a whole or something like that, because I’d been to thousands of bookstores to no avail.
This is sort of giving me an idea of the types of things I could do and see when I’m over in Finland next year, but haven’t really thought of yet. It’s exciting just reading about it.
The book is also really good in the way it has an extensive language phrasebook at the back, so this will be a definite must-take when im packing for next year XD
So that’s about it for now, i thought you guys might like to see the mittens I was making, but I don’t envisage that I will have much to blog about this week, I’m planning to spend the entire week at home and just rest for as long as I can.
Oh, and the Finnish word of the day is neule, a fitting word for todays post, which means knitting.
So, until next time,
Matty
OULU and the things I’d like to do in Finland
July 4, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: blogs, exchange, Finland, Finnish language, hopes, knitting, Lappland, oulu, provinssirock, rovaniemi, santa's workshop, sauna, Skiing, Swedish Language
So I found this really spiffy cool blog. It’s called Oulu Daily Photo, and you can check it out here. It really got me thinking about the general stuff that I’m going to see in Finland.
I know that I dont have a clue where I’m going yet, but I know that it is going to be in Finland, so i thought I would try and check out some of the things that I would like to do while I’m over there, from the completely insane and random to the most basic stuff.
- I would reallylike to learn the Finnish AND the Swedish language to a good competency level while im over there, I think that would be pretty awesome.
- Skiing is a MUST on my to-do list. I went skiing in artificial snow in Australia, but I was about 10 at the time and I don’t really remember it, so thats something I really would like to do while I have the perfect opportunity.
- I want to go to Rovaniemi and visit Santa’s workshop, because secretly I’m a little kid at heart. I think that Lappland looks like so much fun, apart from the sheer cold.
- While im up in Lappland, or if I get placed high enough up in Finland, I want to see the Northern Lights. I think that this is really a phenomenon you have to experience in person, and the photos, while they do them justice, seem to be missing out on something, and I want to find out what.
- I want to go to Seinäjoki for Provinssirock. It just sounds like an awesome concert.
- (I know that I’ll get to do this one) I’d like to have my very first Sauna in Finland, because there really is no better place to try it out:D
- I want to get involved with venturers or rovers while I’m over there, just to see how they do things over there, and to meet new people. And finally…
- I want to meet as many new people and make as many friends as I can while im over there.
I couldn’t really think of anything more at the moment. BUT there is plenty more things that I want to do, I can assure you.
I started making a knew pair of mittens today! I’ll get pictures up tomorrow or on the next post hopefully!
And the Finnish word of the day is kirja which is the finnish word for book.
Till Next Time!
Matty
