there is so much to learn

25.07.2026

Very productive day today. Work continues tomorrow and I will have to finish all the tasks throughout the week. But at least now I have done all the reading and notes I need and just need to write the text, translate the mind-map and present all the answers in a nice way.

Because I was reading the curriculum anyways for the assignment, I organised all my courses for my first year at university at the same time. This way I won't have to read the curriculum again in a few weeks!

Things I crossed off my list today:

read the curriculum and took notes

organised my courses for my first semester in Notion

24.07.2026

Sick day number 3. I also found out my shift times for next week and I'm not happy :( I won't have much time to study next week before my deadline, so I have to complete most of it this weekend...

But generally I felt better today. My body is healing, I had more energy today and managed to get a good amount of stuff done.

Things I crossed off my list today:

read through all the information of no. 4

answer questions of no. 4

answer questions of no. 1

23.07.2026

Second sick day. I managed to do a little bit of studying and also went outside a bit. Our berry bushes are sooo full now.

Things I worked on today:

22.07.2026

I had to call in sick for work today and spent a lot of time doing nothing productive in order to finally rest a bit.

However I did manage to study a little and also got some speakers for my laptop which sound very nice.

Things I crossed off my list today:

read information of no. 3

20.07.2026

New laptop, new possibilities

I finally got a new laptop that I will keep! I am currently writing this post on it in bed which is so crazy to me because I couldn't use my old laptop away from a power outlet for years. And it is also crazy how insanely fast this new laptop is. Like, I knew my old one was very very slow but the speed and power of the new one is insane.

Most importantly the graphics and webcam have a better quality than the laptop I ordered before - which is the most important thing I need for my studies. So yeah, I am very happy with this new one.

The only critique point is that the speakers do not sound as good as my old one. But my old one also had very good speakers and it is hard to find something similar. And it's not like you can't do anything about it. Which is why I have ordered some external speakers for this laptop.

What is also very nice about this laptop is that it can handle running some games I couldn't play before on my old laptop. 16 GB RAM and a AMD Ryzen 7 are nice. I am curious to see if it will be possible to play a more demanding game like Deathstranding on this.

Work

I have less than a month of work left - which is crazy. And I have developed so much since the beginning of summer on all kinds of levels - my Finnish, but especially my skills in the kitchen and with customers and so on. I am so proud of myself and my co-workers also notice and acknowledge my development!

Last week was my first 35 hour week and it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought. It is probably due to the weather being at a nicer temperature, but yeah. Three weeks to go!

Studies

Speaking of time - I now have 10 days left to complete my summer course and I am a teeny tiny bit panicking... But I have made myself a plan and let's just hope my energy levels can keep up with it. I think I will do a daily update on my progress to keep myself accountable and kind of try out a daily post (I have wanted to try daily posting sometime).

Things left to do:

read information of no. 3

translate mind-map into Finnish

write no. 3 text & upload

read through the information of no. 4

answer questions of no. 1

answer questions of no. 2

answer questions of no. 3

answer questions of no. 4

present the question's answers of A as a text or visual

read the curriculum and answer the questions of B

write the text based on B

upload assignments A and B together; deadline: 30.07.

this week's

reading / watching / listening

The summer book - Tove Jansson

Sumupuiden kirja - Anja Portin

- (not much watching stuff)

red bikini - Hayley Kiyoko & Snow Wife

UNETHICAL - Faouzia

CRANK - Slayyyter

13.07.2026

Time flies

How is it already the middle of July?! Time flies so incredible fast this summer... I only have about a month of work left and then my studies start?!

I honestly don't know how people work 40 hours or more a week - who the hell invented this?! I am already exhausted after 30 hours... And working in a restaurant in these temperatures is honestly close to hell (it fits well that the finnish word for heat is 'helle'...).

I haven't been studying a lot because finding the energy to study on my one day off between shifts is very hard. But I feel like I am slowly adapting to this schedule which means more drive to do stuff on my day off and not just waste it in bed.

Preparations

Which also cuts into my very limited free time is all the things I need to organize for my studies.

I am still waiting on a very important email regarding the financing of my studies because it is very hard to get ahold of anybody in Finland during the summer months (most people are on vacation...).

Then I ordered a new laptop from Germany which was so bad that I had to send it back - the camera and microphone quality was WORSE than my over 8 year-old laptop... Now I have ordered a new one - this time from a Finnish shop and it will hopefully arrive in the next few days. I just hope it is better than the other one because I NEED a new laptop before my studies start.

Other preparations include studying Finnish in general, as well as consuming more material and media about my field of study - I need to brush up not only on basic vocabulary but also on subject-specific words (I am sooo nervous to study in Finnish).

Somehow enjoying summer besides everything else

With the very limited free time I have I also try to reserve time for nothing else but stuff I really want to do - watching a movie, playing games, drawing, painting, reading, etc.

It is so important that I also have time where I don't have anything planned or to do because otherwise I think I would go insane...

Last week I was in the city, got some books from the library, went shopping in the second-hand shops and also visited the book store. I got myself new paints and a little sketch book and it has been so fun to draw more regularly!

this month's

reading/ watching / listening

Nenä - Nikolai Gogol (selkokirja, I read this in 20 minutes after procrastinating it for a month)

The Summer Book - Tove Jansson (it is finally the season to read this for the first time)

Sumupuiden kirja - Anja Portin (a 383 page long finnish book (help), but the Finnish is on the perfect level that I don't understand everything but most of it)

Shadow and Bone - Season 2 (finally finished it, still mad they didn't continue the series)

Mary and the Witch's flower (started it yesterday evening, so far very good and has Ghibli vibes)

red bikini - Hayley Kiyoko & Snow Wife (constantly on repeat in my head - also Hayley and Snow together in ONE song?!)

Gimme Dat Love - i-dle (such a good summer song)

15.06.2026

So much is happening

The last one and a half weeks were so crazy. I started working again the same day my aunt and uncle came to visit - which was the first time I have seen other family members in four years. They were there the whole weekend (and I also needed to work the whole weekend...). Then monday I went to one big city for a doctors appointment - the city I will also be studying in (I AM GOING TO UNIVERITY). And then two days later to the other city to get my second pair of sunglasses and some clothes I needed (even my dad found something useful in the second hand shop).

Then I had work again and a new co-worker started - she seems to be my age and is nice! And then I finally received the news that I got a place at university! It was 8am and I screamed my whole family awake...

Now I spent the weekend and today booking my accomodation and train (I only have to be on campus a few times a year for the moment) and already started my packing list even though the start of my studies is still two months away... My mind wouldn't shut up otherwise and this way I could book everything a bit cheaper and also know for sure that I will have an inexpensive place to sleep!

I am so excited but also extremly anxious because I am going to study in Finnish (my fourth language and my third in fluency level...). It is going to be soooo difficult in the beginning. I just hope I can get used to it quickly and can keep up...

this week's

reading / watching / listening

Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo (4/5 - Stormhound!!!)

Run and Rising - Leigh Bardugo (4/5 - compared to only finishing Siege and Storm after a month, I read Run and Rising in a week...)

Der Spurenfinder - Marc-Uwe, Johanna & Luise Kling (it's weird to read in German again)

LeLaLes: Fluid Love (a chinese lesbian dating show by an independent production?! (screaming inside) - happy pride month!)

Limbo (a Finnish show on YLE which now has english subtitles - and lesbian plot!)

Shadow and Bone (Netflix) (I can finally watch it again now after finishing the book series; its honestly best to view the series as a fanfiction type of series that combines Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows)

Underworld - Born Slippy (a TEN minute song?! amazing vibe)

Crow - i-dle (hell yeah, SUCH a cool and epic song)

Focus on the Good~

02.06.2026

Healing vacation week

After my wisdom teeth removal I have now finally recovered so far that almost everything is back to normal and I can enjoy the last few days of my vacation.

This is the first and probably only proper vacation I will have this year where I will not have to study or prepare for anything. It's so nice to not have any pressure from university. I literally spend one week in bed healing from my surgery and just watching shows and now I spend time enjoying my hobbies and the weather.

I also started to learn romanian which is something that has been on my list for sooo long and I finally have the time, energy and mental clarity to do so! And it has been so much fun!

Although romanian is still very new for me and I need to learn the pronunciation rules, there is also something familiar in the language. It definitely helped that I learned spanish for 6 years in school and that some romanian words are influenced by german (my mother tongue).

Let's see if I can remember how to introduce myself.

Bună! Eu sunt Noelle și eu am 24 de ani. Eu sunt din Germania ja sunt student în Finlanda. (don't ask me how to say 24...)

I definitely love having books about the romanian language from the library. I love just reading random pages in the little travel book and then look at basic grammar in the other book.

So life has finally been good again and I will enjoy the last few days of vacation to their fullest!

this week's

reading / watching / listening

Siege of Storm - Leigh Bardugo (finally continued reading)

Heartbreak High S3 (that was a trip...)

The Witcher S4 (still watching and sorry Liam Hemsworth but you look too much like a kicked golden retriever to do the witcher justice... I am there for the other characters anyways)

CHOOM - Babymonster (starting to learn the dance)

BODY HORROR - DeathbyRomy

27.05.2026

Mayday, mayday

This month has been physically and mentally very exhausting so far. In the first half of the month I was physically exhausted but mentally finally at peace (all this time I was just missing two hours of exhausting excercise so that I don't have energy to be anxious?!). Now in the second half of the month I am mentally exhausted because of my last wisdom tooth removal and physically I am still healing and again very weak... But at least all my wisdom teeth are now gone! But oh boy, the last one on its own was as bad as two together...

First half of the month

All pictures are from the first half of the month. I started my summer job and already biked 99km in just these first two weeks. I was very surprised because my stamina is sooo much better than last year (or its just that I learned how to use the gears properly...). In any case my current record time is now 45:23 for 11km.

It is also nice to work with the team again (I also worked there last summer and winter). I am definitely now more comfortable and also understand way more Finnish from both the team and customers - which is very rewarding!

Besides working I also went to another library in another big city and got myself a second library card! Now I have the two library cards for two regions in Finland and can go to any library in these regions (I love the Finnish library system sooo much). In the library I even found some books on the Romanian language! So now I can learn Romanian from a Finnish book (which is crazy as I have only been learning Finnish for 4 1/2 years).

And I also made a journal! It was very fun to create the cover and then sew all the pages together. I find paper crafts extremly relaxing. And as an end result I have a new journal!

Second half of the month

The second half of the month started with the removal of my last wisdom tooth (this one was very stubborn and it almost took as long as the removal of my two wisdom teeth together...).

Because of my wisdom tooth removal and because I bike to work, I am now on my two and a half week vacation and trying not to go insane because the recovery is mentally very exhausting this time (its doesn't help that I also have my period...). I can't wait until I can eat normally again...

At least I am now slowly getting better this week - physically and mentally - and am excited to study more again. I haven't really studied anything in May so far and I definitely need to start now because I only have two and a half months left to complete two summer courses.

The second half of May also started with a few very hot days and I am very happy that everything in nature is now finally lush, green and blooming. It is so nice! I am very excited to finally bike in warmer weather in June and see the green woods instead of cold and windy bike rides through a grey forest...

this month's

reading / watching / listening

Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo (still not finished)

Avaruus selkokielellä - Markus Hotakainen (so fun to learn about space in Finnish!)

Ghosts (Netflix)

Paralives gameplay on YouTube (such a cool build mode!)

Celebration - LE SSERAFIM

OKay - Xikers

MachineGirl - ADÉLA

A city trip

Pics from a few weeks ago when I was in the city. I finally got my glasses, studied a few hours in the library (WHY are the chairs so uncomfortable?!) and also went second-hand shopping. I also drew for the first time in forever.

01.05.2026

April Days of Productivity Wrap Up (Days 18-30)

These last two weeks of April were so emotionally and physically exhausting which is why I haven't been updating. But now April is over, my exams and big assignments are done and I have a lot more free time.

The productivity challenge was kinda fun and I managed to do almost all of my tasks. But I am definitely glad to now have a study break and not that much to do for May.

Status of all the tasks I didn't cross off yet:

write the article (first edition: 15.04.; final edition done 22.04.)

finish the Finnish book (done 28.04. my favourite one so far)

make study notes to prepare for the final maths exam (check and passed the exam with full points)

apply to university (and wait for my last certificate...) (applied 30.04. but I am still waiting for my certificate so that I can add it...)

finish all the remaining tasks in my courses (done 23.04.)

download all my files from the school's OneDrive (done 23.04.)

clean window (done 30.04. it is annoying how long I didn't do it and then it took only 10 minutes...)

declutter and sort my clothes (done 26.04. although did not declutter a lot, but I put away my winter clothes)

prepare first garden patch (someone else did it...)

get fit again after 3 weeks of wisdom tooth recovery (daily movement) (kinda failed here, I feel more sick instead...)

ride my bike at least 8 times (if the weather lets me), increasing the distance up to 15 km (1st 13.04.) (well, I did bike like 5/6 times but the longest were 5km; it was sooo cold all of April (and also health problems lol))

finish birthday present (done 24.04.)

go to the optician and get new glasses (done 29.04. finally; still getting used to them)

plan for my summer studies (enrolled 24.04. in a Finnish course but still need to make a concrete plan)

Hobbies' status

Reading

Siege and Storm (p. 142/386) -> now on page 243/386 (I read in the beginning of the month and didn't continue because life got in the way; excited to pick it up again)

Nelosten tanssit (p. 27/96) -> now finished (96/96)! Definitely my favourite Finnish book I have read so far.

17.04.2026

Intense study week

This was/is an intense study week. I spend like 3 days working on my article - of which I spent almost all of tuesday writing. I thought it was mostly over after that but after getting my feedback on it, I definitely have to edit it a lot more than I thought. So my weekend will also be so full with studying...

I am now also officially in my last week of studies and the tests are comiiiing. I am not sure how I feel about my studies ending... Good but also not? (I need a study break)

I just hope my laptop doesn't die on me these last days. It already gave me a good scare when it suddenly bluescreened while I was just writing my article... I am definitely excited for when I buy a new one. The speed will make me unstoppable. (And I can finally play some games again...)

While reading my sources for the article I was again in awe at how much Finnish I now understand. Like what do you mean I read two bachelor's thesises in Finnish?!

Last weekend I had a very hard time understanding and doing my maths assignments. Why has my brain so much difficulties understanding unit conversions?? But the struggles made the 15/16 points I got in my last attempt of the assignment so much sweeter. (I was so excited and am proud that I got it in the end!)

The weather has been so warm and sunny which is kinda nice but also not normal for April here in Finland... At least I finally went on my first bike ride! Oh how much I have missed being in the saddle.

April Days of Productivity (Day 12-17)

I got my employment contract today and had a nice chat with my boss and his wife!

read all my sources

technically wrote my article, but it is not finalized yet

(my windows need an urgent clean, they are getting worse by the day, but I haven't found the energy and time :( yet)

This week's

reading / watching / listening

Nelosten tanssit (I love this book but haven't had that nice chats about it with my one group mate...)

Hermitcraft Charity weekend (yay)

KGB - Adéle (such an amazing music video)

NUEVAYoL - Bad Bunny (still going strong)

11.04.2026

Only 2 weeks of university left

It feels very surreal that my studies end in like two weeks... With now being the last weeks there is definitely a lot on my homework list and I am getting stressed... (I am currently procrastinating a little by writing this post, but well...)

Day in the city

This week I was in the city and spend the morning with my online lectures in the library because I had multiple appointments in the afternoon.

It was really nice to be out of the house and study somewhere else (although the chairs are not really comfortable for longer study sessions...).

I also got a little lunch snack in the library café and then went to the optician and got my eyes tested. And then I only had to choose my new frames, which took a while... But now I am getting beautiful new glasses and sunglasses (yay!).

After that I bridged to gap to my next appointment with checking out a few shops and running some errands and enjoying the sun (while also trying not to fly away because it was sooooo windy).

Then I just had my check up at the dentist (everything fine, finally) and some left-over errands I did with my dad before finally driving back home.

The day was very nice and I did everything in Finnish. I am so proud of myself. Not only for talking in Finnish everywhere but also for going out of my comfort zone and talking to people I wouldn't have needed to talk to. The me from a few years or even a year ago would have had too much anxiety to do all of that.

Artemis II

For everyone that didn't hear the news (which would be no surprise with how little media coverage it got...): a few days ago 4 astronauts broke the record of being the farthest away from earth as they flew around the moon.

By coincident I stumbled upon videos of the launch at the beginning of April and have been following the mission since then. Luckily they all landed safely yesterday!

This whole mission made me so emotional every time I saw a video because it is just insane what humans can accomplish together. And the videos and photos of space are sooooo incredible beautiful and fascinating. My inner child that loved to read about space so much in the past got so excited. I've immediately got myself a book about space in Finnish from the library!

I also find it insanely funny and amazing that 'Pink Pony Club' by Chappel Roan was one of their wake-up call songs. It must be cool that your song have been played in space.

If you haven't seen the pictures yet, go check them out on NASAs website!

Wrap up

I'm going to finish this post now quickly and will then return to maths and Finnish (*sigh*...). Even though I would rather play Genshin Impact (Dornman port is finally out and it is soooo beautiful but I don't have time) or go outside...

April Days of Productivity (Days 4 - 11)

cleaned all the brushes!

changed my display protectors (I've got a paper-like screensaver now on my iPad and I am not sure yet whether I like it or not...)

change my phone case (so new and shiny)

went to the optician, got my eyes checked and chose new glasses and sunglasses (they are ready soon)

currently reading through my sources (it takes a lot of time and concentration because of the Finnish...)

steadily working on my study notes for maths (why do we now have physics and chemistry as well???)

this week's

reading / watching / listening

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (I love her books so much)

Nelosten tanssit

BTS documentary (this felt so nostalgic)

BTS Netflix concert (feels so surreal... I've started listening to Kpop 10 years ago because of BTS; I was a teenager...)

MEXE - Pabllo Vittar & NMIXX (get me to dance automatically)

Night at the Opera - Emei (such a cool song)