San Diego State University

First day of school is behind now, and I must say my feelings are a bit mixed. The first class I had was Sales Management, which seems like a very interesting course and structure wise it's much like some of the classes I took in Mikkeli. The professor seemed like a decent enough fellow with a lot of experience in the field.

The second class, however, was not even remotely interesting. Well, what do you expect when the course title is Networking and Communication, meaning it's ICT. I'm definitely doing everything in my power to switch that one. I'm working on crashing a Human Resource Management class as I write, hopefully that turns out well. The good thing about the ICT course would be that it seems almost too easy. Only three multiple choice exams, that's it, no stress. That would be a breeze definitely but I don't know, I just don't feel like doing it. Ante up you know?

The campus itself is BIG and beautiful. It's kinda like a small town with its own grocery stores, libraries, eateries and whatnot. They even have their own police! And the air conditioning is probably top of the line, as the classes are very, very comfortable even in this heat. I only had two classes on monday, I'll prolly be having two more on wednesday. I'm hoping to add that HRM to monday, replacing the ICT course. On wednesdays I have Sales Management and in the evening, Social and Ethical Decision Making in Business.

That being said, I only have three courses at the moment, which is enough for HSE but I'm not sure if it's enough for SDSU. If it's not, I'll have to add one more course...won't be a business course though, that's for sure! One reason is that the book prices here are absolutely ridiculous. The cheapest Sales Management book I found at amazon.com was $120! The other reason is of course that I'm not looking for any more workload than is absolutely mandatory.

Yesterday I finally got my debit card from Washington Mutual. To my surprise, it also has Mastercard! Now I've got three different credit cards: Visa, Mastercard and Diners Club. I'm starting to feel like a big man here, traveling around the world with what-seems-like-unlimited-credit. Oh well, I gotta go activate the card at the bank now, and prolly heading for the beach after that. Until next time!

-Jugi

PS. Sorry for the lack of photos, will be posting some in the near future, including some of the campus area.

Finally got to meet my old buddy Al Cohol!

Time really flies here in San Diego. I can't believe I haven't written anything here in four days or so! It has been somewhat hectic though, except for today. On Wednesday we decided to go shopping, bigtime. We went to San Ysidro which is right next to the Mexican border and features some cool factory outlets, quality brands only. I ended up spending $200 on that day alone, but I bought mostly useful stuff with that money. Some nice deals as well: Calvin Klein jeans for $25, an Adidas jacket for $16 and Puma sneakers for $40. And I bought lots of stuff in addition those, some Polo t-shirts, more t-shirts, a CK shirt, and so on and so on. Nice, now I have almost everything I need here at the moment. Oh, on Thursday I bought a pair of running shoes, they were a bit on the expensive side but damn, running has never felt this good! And I was prepared to buy shoes in that price range anyway. My Visa was on fire after those days.

Friday was the first day at school. Orientation. Yes, I know, all you Mikkeli folks probably think YES! John Bogi made his American debut. Well, far from it. That must have been the most boring orientation ever, hands down. Rules rules rules. No parties whatsoever. I got to meet some cool people though, so every cloud has a silver lining I guess.

To my surprise, there was partying included in this weekend after all. After a day of running and whatnot I noticed I had received an e-mail from some dude from San Diego State...the e-mail turned out to be a party announcement! Luckily we had some 30 Miller Lights and Cervezas in our fridge, so we started downing them in proper fashion. Kännijännitys (the feeling of anxiousness before getting drunk) started to build immediately but we drank the cure quickly enough for it to go away. Yes, I got drunk. No, John Bogi has not made an appearance yet. We came back home at like 5am.

Our fridge before the party


Today was dedicated to hangover. I didn't have a physical hangover, but the mental one was easily enough. Well, I did cheer myself up by buying a van Hooijdonk shirt from ebay. And I also bought J Dilla's new record, the Shining. And it's some goooooood, soulful hip hop. Other than that, I'm still not used to the distances here. God dammit I'm getting tired of all the walking. I am americanizing though, I've got an American bank account, we're getting a car soon, we have an American cell phone etc. etc. Now all that's left is getting some weight. 40kgs of fat will do, I reckon. Nah, I'll keep running instead. San Diego is America's fittest city after all.
That steak killed my hangover in an instant.

Mexican food and vietnamese department stores

I'm loving San Diego, the last few days have been great! Monday was a good, relaxing day spent at Pacific Beach, or PB. I went swimming in the Pacific Ocean for the first time; what a refreshing experience in the heat of San Diego. The beach is really cool, filled with surfers and swimmers, mostly young people. Jogging on the beach barefooted was immediately added to my things-to-do list, as the cool sand by the sea is sooo comfortable to walk on...can't wait to run on it! Perttu's day didn't go as smoothly, as he decided to visit a few stores but the distances were a bit longer than expected. Well, all went well in the end. We need a car by the way; carrying 10kg of groceries, especially in this temperature, is no joy. Oh, Tropicana-juice costs around $3/2 liters, which not too bad. That's all I drink here.

Pacific Beach!

Tuesday was even better than Monday. The day could have started off better though; we decided to head to Balboa Park for some sights, but it turned out that it's not really designed for pedestrians. It's bigger than Central Park in New York City. Well, the air was too hot for the devil and there wasn't even a breeze in the park so we decided to come back when we have a car. It's not like you can't move around without a car in the park, it's just that getting to the interesting areas takes forever.



After the failed venture into the park we headed for some lunch, ended up eating some Greek gyros and stuff. After that Trever, a friend of ours picked me and Perttu up and showed us around a bit. We toured around San Diego for hours, catching some amazing sights and astonishing views. Oh, and the upper class neighborhoods here...think of Kauniainen, just bigger and with a better view. Hmm, ok, the Gallträsk area in Kauniainen is very impressive, the view there and all. Nothing beats that. Well, the view is not even the best part, not by a longshot.

After driving around and stopping for some sights we headed for some GREAT burritos. Honestly, I'll never ever go to a "Mexican" style restaurant in Finland again since they completely suck compared to the Mexican food they serve around here. I'm sure my compadres in Mexico will agree with me thoroughly, on not eating that stuff in Finland anymore. After I experienced one of the strangest experiences during the whole trip. We went to this vietnamese, yes, VIETNAMESE, grocery/departement store. Man that place was off the hook! First of all the smell, it was like there was a herd of cattle inside the store. Second, there was some sort of a gutter in the middle of the store! Third, there were live fish in a fishtank! Fourth, there were all sorts of animal limbs on the meat counter! Fifth, Trever said that they had put the weirdest stuff away cause it was getting late; and that they had fresh, but very dead, ducks hanging from the roof at one space and whatnot. Well, it was interesting. Now it's time to go to bed.


"Wanna buy the cassette? Stop by Sam Goody!"

A Notice

Everyone can now post comments, including non-bloggers :)

"Thank you for my two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger"

Tonight, history was made. I went to the movies for the first time on this trip, and the flick I went to see was none other than "Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby" starring Will Ferrell. I wish Will Ferrell and Steven Seagal made a movie together, with a cameo from Chuck Norris. Anyhow, the movie was brilliant, I was constantly laughing my ass off! Not quite as good as Anchorman, but almost. Highly recommended, yes yes.

Other than seeing the movie, today was the first day when I didn't actually do anything. Sure, I had plans but decided to head for the pool instead and enjoy a quiet sunday. I'm starting to get used to this...a nice apartment, a pool, a weather that's always perfect, a big ass mall one trolley stop away. This is my American Dream I guess. They're even shooting fireworks every night :O
A shopping mall in the downtown area, Horton's Plaza (this is just a fraction of the mall)

Oh by the way, I'm also a changed man these days. I've come a long way since John Bogi and I don't want him coming back. Seriously, there's no sign of Captain Morgan, or his bigger brother Admiral Morgan. I haven't been even close to getting drunk a single time! I do eat a lot of fast food at the moment though. So far I've tried Wendy's, Quizno's (subs), Taco Del Mar, Jack in the Box and Manchu Wok. Yeah, well, I really haven't been eating THAT much altoghether, no weight gained yet. Honestly.

Also, there was another historic moment earlier today. I finished reading Bram Stoker's "Dracula". A fantastic book, the spirit of the book is just magnificent...evil is evil, good is good, men are men and women are women. The main characters' bravado is just brilliant!

Well, that's it for the moment. I'm still spending money like it's christmas, those mostly on things that I really need :D Well, I really did need two pairs of surfing/swimming shorts (Billabong and Volcom), 5 pairs of Tommy Hilfiger/Marc Ecko boxers, a wristwatch etc etc. The good thing is they're really not too expensive here. Can't wait to get to Tijuana though! Maybe I'll get a few beers there as well. We actually bought some Miller Light last night, just in case. And we already had some Cerveza, came with the crib. Anyway, until next time!

-Jugi

What the hell is up with these people? Kusi news?!

View from around the corner.

Our apartment in San Diego

You can find a video of our apartment here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/29948294/100_0186.mov

Finally found a suitable adapter!

Well, this is really happening. I actually got this blog under way! After a whole lot of struggle in an effort to find a suitable adapter for my computer, I have an internet connection. San Diego is simply amazing, but getting here wasn't exactly a walk in a park.

The flight from Helsinki to JFK, New York was painless and I had no complaints at all. It was absolutely amazing to see Greenland from the plane, not to mention the silhouette of Manhattan. I can't even begin to tell how much I'm waiting to go to New York after the exchange period in SD. The flight from JFK to San Diego was another story though.

The bastards seated me next to a latino family, a grandma and her two grandchildren. Never before in my life have I felt an almost irresistible urge to strangle a kid. Well, been there and done that now. Didn't actually strangle either of the children though...maybe I should have. They were the most annoying children ever. Honestly, if my future children become like that, I'll sell them to Mongolia or some other distant location. The other one cried literally the whole trip, constantly craving attention from her grandma, and the other one (both were girls) wriggled the whole flight, and seemed to try to take my seat as well. Ah well, it's over now.

As I said, San Diego is magnificent. It is an extremely beautiful city and the weather is PERFECT. 28C all day everyday, with nice cars, seemingly nice people etc. etc. We spent the first 2 nights in a hostel in downtown San Diego. Though most of our time was spent exploring the city, which is just amazing, we also managed to find an apartment. Fully furnished, 3 bedrooms, two full bathrooms (meaning two bathtubs :) and a swimming pool outside. We still need a car though, can't live without one here in the west. I'll up a video of the crib soon.
Here's Perttu and Tuija at the harbor


San Diego

It's hard to describe what it's like here. I've thoroughly enjoyed every moment. On the first day we just walked around the downtown area, now we've been to several places already. Last night we were at my friend Anssi's (who lives in San Diego) friend's place barbequeing. They had a nice house over there, with a pool and a jacuzzi in the backyard, and a pool table and a TWO like 60" screens inside. I've bought quite a bit of clothes etc. here, the possibilities for shopping are unlimited. I really wasn't much of a shopper until now. Can't wait to visit Tijuana. Oh, there's also a naval base here, and at least 3 aircraft carriers in the harbor, including the US Navy flagship USS Nimitz and the now museum, former flagship USS Midway. There's just too much to tell right now, I'll get back to all this later.


PS. There's only one thing that's not good here. There's this certain girl that had to stay back home...would have loved to take her with me. 6 months ago I wouldn't have believed that I would now say that it just doesn't feel the same without someone. Well, it really doesn't. While I'm enjoying my time here, I'm also dying to get back to Finland...well, luckily that someone just might come to New York City for new year B)