Jugi's American Adventure

718, BROOKLYYNN!

2006-12-29T18:53:00.000-08:00

Finally, finally finally finally! This is really the peak of my whole American Adventure, that much I can tell you already! New York City is the coolest city on earth and Brooklyn has got to be the best borough ever. My first couple of days have been long indeed, which is not a bad thing in any sense. I wish the days here would be even longer.

My flight arrived in La Guardia airport in the evening of Tuesday, December 26. A little late but hey, it was through Denver; what do you expect after all the blizzards and all that. Some people probably had to spend their Christmas at Denver airport so I can't really complain...much. I saw New York from the plane and wow wee indeed; it is impressive to say the least! Never have I seen anything like that, built by man that is. We got the cab to our place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and quickly settled in. It's a nice place in a very nice neighborhood. Fort Greene is quite close to Brooklyn Bridge, between Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant (also known as Bed-Stuy). Bed-Stuy is one of the less comfortable neighborhoods here in Brooklyn, at least by reputation. Home of Biggie, Jay-Z and even Big Daddy Kane himself…so I guess I gotta pay a visit if I have time.

These photos are from just around the corner...actually the upper one is from our window.

I can't even begin to describe how much I like Brooklyn so far. It's just...you know, it's seen a lot of life, or that's the feeling I get when walking around. Taking clothes to laundry, visiting the nearby deli or just walking down the streets is very, very pleasant to me and I honestly could picture myself living here. For the first time during my stay here I actually feel that I could stay here if it wasn’t for some ongoing, important things in Finland. The situation being what it is, I really could not stay at the moment, but I love this place nonetheless.

Central Park, some more Brooklyn

The first real day here we went to Manhattan and just strolled around, got to see Wall Street, Ground Zero and all that. The Empire State building we saw too, even if from afar. Managed to catch the Staten Island ferry and got a great view of Manhattan, Hoboken, Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty. It was a breezy day but the weather was great otherwise, no complaints really. Most of the time I was just looking around, totally awestruck by the size of the buildings. It was kinda like in one of my dreams in which I was walking in New York and feeling dizzy from the height of the buildings surrounding me. We also did Times Square, which was off the hook! It was incredibly crowded there and the lights kinda reminded me of Vegas…but the amount of people, the size of the buildings, made it a totally different experience. Of course we went to Toys R Us which was the most ridiculous toy store ever, the mother of all toy stores so to speak.

On the second day we slept kinda late due to sleep deprivation but managed to get to Central Park after all, had some hot dogs and all that, and after that we went to 5th Avenue to check some high end showrooms and shops, like Nokia, Dior etc. We also went to Comic Strip to see some stand up comedy, cost like 7 bucks each. Comedy Strip is the place where Seinfeld tells jokes at the beginning of every episode by the way. It was a brilliant show mostly, but one of the performers was just horrible. Apparently they had all been on TV at least 5 times but only a couple seemed even vaguely familiar. After that, at like midnight, we went to Lower East Side, near Chinatown, for some underground-esque clubs and it was actually quite a bit of fun. Then we took a cab back home.

Today we were supposed to go to Empire State Building to admire the view over New York City but couldn’t get up early enough and didn’t feel like standing in line for 2,5 hours. So we just went to Chelsea and walked around for some hours and had some pizza and stuff. Also went shopping a little, or tried at least. I did buy one hoody from a mall at Columbus Circle. The price was right so I thought what the hell…but in reality, the only shopping I’m gonna do here is a pair of sneakers. Don’t what sneakers though, that’s what I was trying to find out today…most likely either Adidas or Le Coq Sportif…the Le Coqs were really nice for the price and are the ones I’ll probably get. At the moment, the others are preparing for a night out while I’m preparing to go to bed early to get up early for a run perhaps, and an expedition deeper into Brooklyn. Still gotta walk Brooklyn Bridge, see Coney Island, check some record stores and yadda yadda. Brooklyn!

Jugi

In the uppermost picture all three of us get to shine...Arno, me and Alex. Though I really don't shine in that particular pic :S

Aloha, Mahalo and Farewell...

2006-12-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

My last few days in the sunny San Diego. Without an apartment of my own, with my car at Chau's place it really feels like I'm leaving...but, it's for New York that I'm departing, which cannot be a turn for the worse. And no matter how sunny San Diego can be, it's just no match for Maui, Hawaii.

Yup, I just came from Hawaii yesterday morning. And boy, what a trip it was. It was Thursday December 14 when I took my flight to the island of Maui, home two volcanoes and from what I had heard, an island of immense beauty. We got there in the evening; Me, Mike, Steffi and Sunshine. But since it was so dark we couldn't really discern whether it was beautiful or not. Our hostel for the first night, the Banana Bungalow was located in a less than inviting neighborhood but our room was decent enough. The owner thought we should have been carrying knives or something while out in that neighborhood. Well, we survived and started off towards Lahaina the next morning. Our car for the week was Dodge Caliber, arranged by Mike, and the car was actually pretty good, very European. And that must be good.

The town of Lahaina is a beautiful old village, though a bit spoilt by tourism, as is most of West Maui. We just chilled at the Kaanapali beach for the most part on that day, and then headed to our condo in Kuleana Club, north of Lahaina and Kaanapali. The apartment was very nice, especially the view from our balcony. We didn't spend much time wondering, but decided to go touring around North Maui despite the warnings by some Expedia tour guides. Told us that you can't drive up there, that you gotta take one of their helicopter tours. Yeah right...my ass. While the road wasn't exactly a seven lane highway, it was decent enough for driving and not that dangerous at all. Instead, it was incredibly beautiful there, with all the villages, bays and mountains. We also saw this hill called the Iao Needle, which, quite frankly, looked like a huge penis to us. Well, turned out that the "peak is known as the phallic stone of Kanaloa, Hawaiian god of the ocean". So it wasn't just a product of our perverted imagination, fortunately.

The next day, Sunday, we just chilled for the most part, at the beach. It was a fun day, but the next one was even better when we went to Big Beach, hands down the best beach I've ever seen in my life. Straight from a paradise post card, like the Garden of Eden. There was also a nude beach right next to it and of course we just had to check it out. Surprise surprise, it was mainly vacated by obese Germans; not much to see there really...in fact my eyes are still burning. After the beach me and Mike hiked up a hill that was strictly forbidden to climb because of some recent earthquakes or something, and landslides. We hiked it up nevertheless and it really wasn't all that dangerous, just some American paranoia. The view was easily worth the 40 minute climb, and it would have been fun to climb it even without the view.

Tuesday was perhaps the best day of the whole trip; we drove down the Hana highway and checked what the southern part of the island had to offer. Simply put it was one of the most beautiful places I've even been to. We saw dozens of waterfalls, small hidden pools and some bamboo forests as well, in addition to the jungle that was all over the place. We had some local banana bread and fresh pineapples for snack, and man it was goood. After driving all the way down to Haleakala national park, we took a hike there to some big waterfalls and bamboo forests, along with some breathtaking sights indeed. Maui wow wee!

The last couple of days were just mainly chilling at the beach and stuff. On the last day I actually played a few rounds of tennis with Mike and man it was fun! I gotta start playing again, it's a lot of fun and a good exercise, especially in the heat of Maui! After playing tennis we went snorkeling and I finally got to see one of those big sea turtles! Damn it was nice swimming amidst all the coral and fish, and even feeding them with some bread...and then seeing a big turtle right before sunset. It was like a meter long almost, so not exactly a baby. After the snorkeling I packed up and flew to San Francisco for my connecting flight. Had a pancake breakfast there, and after a while I was in San Diego again.

These last couple of days in San Diego...well, I got the deposit from my crib, my car is already at Chau's place and available if someone wants to buy it, I'm at Trever's house and pretty much ready to go. Good times, I love San Diego but I know it's time to move on, towards New York City and towards my homeland.

An ode to Animal Style

2006-12-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

I just had to write this down as quickly as possible cause I wanted to capture the essence of this feeling! Went to In-n-Out tonight, possibly, and unfortunately for the last time (in a while at least). See, In-n-Out only exists on the West Coast, as far as I know. Now, I must say I'm gonna miss that Double-Double combo animal style. Damn, first of all, the burger is hands down the best double burger in any fast food chain ever. Make it animal style, which adds a whole lot of flavor to an already tasty burger, and it simply makes even the toughest healthy food activist drool.

Now how bout those fries? You'd think you really can't make fries THAT special, right? Well take another guess. Those fries are some very, very good fries to begin with. BUT, at In-n-Out, if you order them animal style, they add some melted cheddar, thousand island dressing and grilled onions, which is one off the hook combination! Honestly, I've gotta take that recipe to Finland, never had better fries ever! Needless to say I was quite content once again, after eating all that gourmet food.

Now, finally, I got a pic of those Christian activists. Thanks to my Dutch buddy Joris for taking these pics! Maybe I should get a cell with a camera as well, for these situations. Well, maybe later when I can afford one.

Look at that idiot. He even looks like a retard even though I'm not one to judge people that harshly, usually. I look kinda fed up as well.

Time! It's about time baby...

2006-12-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

Another week has gone by quickly, and only 9 whole days left in San Diego. Time really flies sometimes. The last week hasn't been the most active for my part, meaning that not much has been going on really. Just chilling with friends and having a good time. Yeah, good times, these really are good times. Can't remember the last time I had this much fun for 4 months straight. I mean sure, there have been happy periods in my life, plenty of them, but this whole study abroad period has been pure bliss. Of course it helps a lot that I know my life won't be getting any worse when I get back to Finland, though the change in my life and especially in the rhythm of my life will be drastic. But you know as fun as it has been, that kind of change is very welcome actually.

I've made many very good friends while here, but I haven't forgotten my good friends back home. Yes, home...now I'm pretty sure I know where my home is. And of course friends is not the only thing I miss, nor is my family...nor my nuclear family! I miss the crisp winter air, I miss the snow, the cold, rainy days. I miss the small cars that are so common in Finland...you know, those Renault Clios and Volkswagen Polos. Heck, even that ugly Toyota Yaris will be a sight for sore eyes after all these mega pick up trucks. What about the food? I love the food here, there's so many different options...especially the fast food here is light years ahead of that of Finland. Then again, I'm getting a bit tired of all this fast food. Where's the rye bread, real cheese and normal food? I like "cooking" and even real cooking if I have someone to cook with. Meaning someone who actually knows what's going on in the kitchen and can tell me how to do things. I'm learning though.

Naturally there are things I don't miss that much. As hard is might be to believe it, I find it actually more pleasant that people are so extroverted here, and everyone is always smiling. Everyone is extremely helpful if you're in need of assistance. I really don't miss that general grumpyness and sour faces that are so prevalent in Finland, especially during fall...which is exactly what I've managed to avoid by being here. Still, I do miss Finnish people. I've really learned to appreciate the honesty and sincerity that is so common in the wonderful people of Finland.

Now, while all this important and all that, the reason why I want to go back really really bad is my girl, Minttu. Without her I wouldn't be in such a rush. And I don't consider that a limitation or anything, more as something that makes my life a whole lot richer and more exciting. Life is good.

Even though the last week has been somewhat bland, it's only been bland until the last couple of days. First the bad things...we still haven't been able to get our car sold. It's a good car and I wouldn't wanna part with it but I gotta get rid of it before I leave! Other than that, it's been all good. Yesterday was weird. I went to school like normal, and gave a presentation in German...it was for my German class; I don't just go out and give presentations in German for the sheer fun of it. It was on sauna and the sauna culture in Finland, and people actually thought it was very very interesting despite my broken German.

After my German class I witnessed something that can happen only in America. There was a bunch of Christian fundamentalists/extremists at the Aztec Center preaching about Christianity. By the beard of Zeus, great raven of Odin, six arms of Shiva and Ukko Ylijumala himself, if that is Christianity then I'm resigning from church. They gave such a disgusting picture of themselves and their religion it's simply unfathomable. One of the guys actually had a big banner denouncing homos and lesbians, moslems, mormons, roman catholics, unloving husbands, unsubmissive wives(!) and so on. When asked for clarifications and reasons for all that hate they responded by simply reciting their precious Bible. Now I'm pretty convinced that only idiots take the Bible as some form of absolute truth. It was written by men and represents only fraction of the writings about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and all those gospels were written a generation after the death of Jesus anyway! I told them that at one point but they refused to comment on that...shows just how ignorant they are. It was great entertainment, however, to watch them rant. It even attracted a few gay couples, both male and female couples, to go make out in front of them...followed by cheers from the audience. Also one must not that the smartest comments came from non-christians. And I'm not talking about atheists here either. Just a word of advice for people...stay away from organized religions and find your own path whatever it may be.

In the evening I went to the local Comedy Club at La Jolla with Trever, his friend Rob, Anssi and his girlfriend Suzanne. There were some really good stand up comedians up there on the stage and we some really good laughs, but at one point the level of the performance started to dive bigtime and by the third consecutive crappy comedian me, Trev and Rob decided to bail. One of those guys was seriously tripping, he couldn't be that retarded from just alcohol or weed. Nevertheless, the night was a success and I'd say we all had a good time. Fat Tire is one good beer.

Today I went jogging first thing in the morning. Felt good after doing it, but man that was the most horrible run I've ever done. It just doesn't feel good to go running dehydrated, tired, stiff and with an empty stomach. Well it got better as we were in a rush to get to Chau's house vie Mike's place. We were going golfing. Yes, I went golfing for the first time in my life. Luckily Mike was a first timer as well but I was the worst nevertheless. I had a really good start: as I took my first swing, aiming straight ahead, the next moment I noticed the ball rocketing to the right, towards a car that was (stupidly) parked next to the starting place. Well luckily the ball bounced just before the car and hit it in the bottom so no harm done. We had a good laugh nevertheless. Aside from that, golfing was actually a lot of fun, especially with the heavenly weather of San Diego! Not to mention a few beers and some serious golf car racing!
Concentrate!
That's Chau (one of my best friends here) and me chilling in the golf car.

Look at the guy with glasses in the back...turhan fileissä!?!?!?

After golfing we finally went to have something to eat (it was about time, we hadn't eaten anything before that!)...to the one and only Hooters. Well there are plenty of Hooters restaurants here in San Diego but everyone knows the deal with Hooters...how waitresses in little clothes. Not a bad combination if you ask our party of four. The food wasn't all that special but it did its job and I went through yet another all-American experience! We had a good laugh at Hooters, the whole idea is just off the hook. Anyway, I'm getting a bit tired here and gotta go to bed now...I'll be writing again when I come up with something to write about.

Team Scandinavia here: Perttu, me and Mike.

Return of the Bogi

2006-12-01T00:25:00.000-08:00

Ahh finally got some time to write a little bit. Yes, as the headline suggests, a lot has happened over the past few weeks. First, let me recount the past week or so. Tuesday was a great day for us San Diegans: our Briton-turned-Finn arrived in San Diego safe and sound. Of course the first thing we did was take him to In-n-Out for a late night dinner. Animal style, needless to say. Oh, before you read further, be advised that there's some vivid descriptions foul language and inappropriate behavior.
Like that.

The next day is what I refer to as "Black Wednesday". Yes, the day when John Bogi returned with a vengeance! Me, Sebu and Perttu got absolutely smashed after shopping a little bit (!) and whatnot. We had a our fridge full of different beers, 2,5l of red wine, around 1l of whisky and around 1l of vodka. Well, we really got ourselves started with that amount. No, we didn't exactly drink all of it at once but ended completely hammered nevertheless. We decided to go skinnydipping with Sebu for some odd reason, after waking Perttu up of course. See, Perttu had sneaked into his room to pass out at some point. It is rather self-explanatory that we got him back up to shoot a video of us jumping into the pool in the middle of the night. Other activities of the night included some nostalgia filled moments at retrojunk.com, watching some old M.A.S.K, He-Man and whatever intros we could come up with. Classic shit! Why don't they make cartoons like they did way back when?
Hung over and ready for Vegas!

Thursday was another day and I swore I wouldn't drink a drop since we were going sin city Las Vegas on Friday morning. Well, after seeing some local sights like the beaches and downtown we got back to our place and for some reason I ate my words and started another beer. No, wait. Now I remember: it was Sebu who came up to me as I was watching a M.A.S.K episode on my laptop and asked if I wanted a beer. I replied "No perkele!" but being half British he misinterpreted it and brought me a Sam Adams. That's how it started and we decided to invite our buddy Mike and his brother to our crib in order to have a traditional Scandinavian dryckfest. FYI, Mike and his brother Joije are Swedish. Well, me and Joije decided to get totally wasted, much worse than last night. All of us partied at the pool at midnight making a lot of noise but fortunately no one called the cops, and everyone of us found themselves in the pool since Joije started pushing people there. I wrestled with Joije a little bit and tore my elbow and knee a bit as we fell. It was nothing really, and the whole evening was a lot of fun as far I remember. Which is not far at all. The last thing Sebu remember is me trying to Skype but not knowing how, I heard I couldn't even use the mouse properly. I had to ask him to help me use Skype. Almost sober, huh? One sure sign of Johnny was seen: I was mixing those half and half drinks again, meaning half vodka, half juice. Don't remember that part but they say I thoroughly enjoyed my drinks.

The next morning: Las Vegas! Thanks to me being still drunk when we woke up, we got to Las Vegas at like 8 pm. Our trusty car felt a bit moldy that day for some reason. But my oh my, Las Vegas is the most bizarre city I've ever seen in my whole life. A big city in the middle of nowhere; it's literally in the middle of desert! And the lights, it was an exhilarating feeling to see the lights from far away, especially the ray of light that shot towards the sky from Luxor's black pyramid.
Wynn lobby!

I was a bit grumpy when we got there since I was a bit hung over and VERY tired (and I had forgotten most of my stuff to SD thanks to my mental state), but thanks to Sebu I managed to gather myself and we actually had a really good time. Well, it should come as no surprise; it is Vegas after all! Our friend Ching-yi was already waiting for us at the hotel and we tried to get on the move asap. We had dinner after midnight and after that we went touring around a little bit, visiting some casinos/hotels and their lounges. Now, our hotel Sahara wasn't anything special really but it did have its own rollercoaster. That night we visited Circus, which had its own indoor amusement park; Wynn, one of the most expensive hotels ever built and finally Venetian, a real behemoth of a hotel that was actually a really nice replica of Venice. That's what the whole city is about: replicas. The whole city screams FAKE FAKE FAKE! They got Manhattan, Luxor, Paris, Venice and Caesar's Palace to mention a few. And everything is so superficial, and in a way very dualistic: everything is very fine and all, but seems a bit corrupt and trashy at the same time. Take Wynn for example: an extremely posh, luxurious hotel/casino with a really nice lounge and everything was done in good taste. Except the waitresses: beautiful girls in extremely short, revealing dresses that showed their panties and so on. Also, the people at the casino really did not look like upper class customers. And there were prostitutes everywhere after like 4 pm. That was actually the only sign that time was actually passing. We ended up walking around until 6 am, and there was a lot of people everywhere all the time.
Venice...or is it?

The next day I slept late and so did Ching-yi, so we headed for the Strip with him as the others had already left in the morning. We checked some of the local malls and some of the casinos as well, finally settling in one of the smaller casinos since it happened to have 20-hour happy hour which included $1 beers which we naturally took advantage of as we played some of the machines there. Later that night we got ourselves a limousine and went touring around the Sin City. Our driver was a bit better than Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber and he showed us some really cool spots, like the old Vegas which features the only laser show of its kind: a whole street covered with a dazzling show of dancing lights! And we also saw the biggest single gold piece ever found, which weighed around 30kg. I wish I would have found that! Throughout our tour we sipped some sparkling wine, which was perfect for the mood. Someone might say champagne would have been better but it was Vegas and all about faking stuff so why go with the real stuff? That's another way of saying we couldn't afford champagne if someone didn't quite get it.
Wynn in the background

The limo dropped us at MGM Grand which hosts the famous nightclub Studio 54. Wait, wasn't Studio 54 supposed to have been in New York and not even exist anymore? Nah, this is Vegas and in Vegas anything is possible. So inside we went and enjoyed a couple of drinks, the others dancing and me just enjoying the atmosphere. They actually played some really good music at one point which meant that I had to step on the floor which has happened in ages. What kind of music? Warren G & Nate Dogg - Regulate and Biggie - Hypnotize just to mention a few. Oh that was heaven and it lasted for like half an hour! It is such a rare occasion to actually hear good music in a big club. After that the other guys went to this club called Pure in the Caesar's Palace but me and Tuija decided to go for some pizza instead, and I had a couple of those $1 beers as happy hour was still on at O'Shea's! I'm glad we went for that pizza since it cost like $30 to get inside Pure and drinks were around $18...talk about highway robbery.
Posing at Caesar's Palace

On the day we left Vegas behind, Sunday, we visited this tower that offers an awesome view over all of Las Vegas, and even has a small amusement park on top of it! Me and Sebu dared our hangovers and tried this ride called X-Scream which was basically a cart that slid off the edge of the tower and when we were sitting on it, it felt like dropping down all the way to the ground. Easily the most thrilling and frightening ride I've ever tried! Well, at least most frightening, in a good way. After that we had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and everyone had a 10 ounce burger which was filling, and after that we took the road back to San Diego, at around 4 pm. We arrived in San Diego at 2 pm. Why? Because of the bitchiest traffic I've ever experienced, hands down. During that trip I really hated America and the American attitude. All the lanes were packed, the whole 2 of them, and some cars were trying to overtake traffic off the road, from the right side. And of course try to squeeze into some spot ahead which would jam the traffic even more. But they couldn't see it, couldn't comprehend it...that kind of showcased just how well the average American can understand the big picture, and the very short-sided thinking that is prevalent here. Well, one guy made our day by blocking everyone who tried overtake him from the right side, off the road. We had a lot of fun watching that guy blocking those idiots and we even congratulated him when we overtook him (the velocity wasn't too high for some pretty obvious reason). Also had to use the middle finger quite a bit during the drive. Oh, one additional observation concerning the traffic around here: the worst and most senseless drivers are usually the pick-up drivers. Wonder why.God forbid pick-up trucks!
Chillin' with Ching-yi

The next day, Monday, Sebu had to leave and we resumed our regular school duties. I actually had my biggest project yet, a sales presentation plan. I spent 2 whole hours and one half with it, and we didn't really even prepare for the presentation but it turned out to be awesome. I had a good team, naturally. Other than that, my school motivation is at an all time low. Gotta do something fun on the weekend, not including alcohol.
See the roof? That's where the laser show would be.

Oh yeah, on the week before Sebu came we went to Tijuana again, for dinner. This time I decided to go for some even more exotic foods than last time, by having worms (or maggots I'm not sure) for starters. They were actually pretty decent, and me and Mike had em with some tacos and salsa. They would have had crocodile as well but we decided not to have that as crocodile is an endangered species and we did not want to support poaching. As for other stuff, we lost the quarter final in our tournament, and our competitive team lost on the second round, unfortunately. So no more soccer. It was fun while it lasted, big ups to everyone who played!

The last few days...well nothing much has happened. Except that I finally got my New York accomodation set. I'm staying in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It's close to Brooklyn Bridge and next to Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Jay-Z is from Bed-Stuy, and more importantly, Big Daddy Kane is from there. Bed-Stuy isn't such a friendly neighborhood ("Bed-Stuy do or die") but I should be fine at Fort Greene. I'm going there with Arno, and our lodging is $35 per person per night. Not bad for the place we've got. Oh, I was also surfing today, for the first time! It's not easy but it's FUN! But it was pretty cold...me and Chau were the only ones without a wet suit! We managed fine enough without them though.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. Oh, there is a couple more things concerning my future here. I'm going to Hawaii on 14 December for a week, and to New York City on 26 December, so I'll be spending Christmas in San Diego. And the big news for me at least is that I decided to return to Finland on 4 January. Well, the flight departs on the 4th so I'll be arriving in Finland on the 5th. I decided my comeback is way overdue as it is, and more than traveling alone for a while, I feel like spending time with people close to me and traveling some more later next year. Until next time!

Road to World Cup

2006-11-13T01:24:00.000-08:00

YES SIR! We made it into the quarter finals, and I am in a very buyoant mood! Our team Los Illegales won the first game since our opponent didn't show up in time, which was almost a week ago, but tonight our opponents were not going to let us get away so easily. No, the Langers (don't know what the name is supposed to mean) proved to be a worthy opponent indeed.
Fancy my headband? It is quite necessary as it effectively prevents sweat from getting into my eyes.

In fact, the way the evening started did not bode well for us. Tuija, Steffi and Orbitz were sick, Tuija so sick she couldn't play at all. Tavo was busy studying, which was a sorry excuse at best. This girl Caroline had forgotten the whole game...in addition to these major problems, we had some minor ones as well, such as people forgetting their IDs home, thus being unable to register for the match. Well, that was something that could be helped.

Just as it looked that we might have to forfeit due to lack of players, everything fell into place. Most people showed up, we got Thamir with us as well; a MAJOR boost to our team. Cassandra had her ID with her after all...suddenly, we were more than ready for the Langers.

The game started very even, with neither side being able to take control of the game. Their offense was clearly the strongest part but our defense met the challenge with dignity. Our keeper, Chau, was constantly on point as well. Big Bag (Victor), Goofy (Arno) and Sangie (Cassandra) managed to create some dangerous situations at that end, but to no avail yet. Then suddenly at like 10 minutes, our team was on the attack and Sunshine (Lena) ran up the left side and tried to go for the ball...however, their defense man got to the ball first and unleashed a vicious shot right into their own net, and from outside the box! Yup, that dude is going to the chairman of our future fanclub it seems. 1-0 for Los Illegales!

We held up very well the rest of the half, and the second half started with Los Illegales in the lead. By this time we had Thamir on the field as well, and we were slightly in control in the beginning. Thamir and Goofy engineered some particularly dangerous attacks at their end but Goofy did not managed to score despite some good attempts. However, soon both sides were showing some signs of exhaustion and the tempo was considerably slowed down. The Langers started to press harder and managed to bag a goal, though it was merely a stroke of luck. Their winger tried to cross but the ball curled into the far corner of the goal, hopelessly out of Chau's reach. No goalkeeper could have kept that one out. After that goal both team had a few chances to take the lead, with us again getting the more dangerous situations. However, even after extra time the score was still tied at 1-1. Time for penalties.

Seriously, I would have never believed I could be so nervous and excited about our little soccer tournament here. Their first shooter unleashed a thunderous shot into the upper right corner, and I was getting a bit worried; what if all of their shooters were this good? However, Big Bag showed what the French national pride is all about and evened the score with an exemplary shot, perhaps the best penalty of the evening. Their second shooter was almost equally impressive as the first one, but Sangie was up to the challenge as well, scoring a flamboyant top-corner goal. The Langers' third shot found its way into the goal as well, but Thamir came through and scored with infinite confidence. The next Langer went for the lower left corner but Chau Mein leapt like a panther and just barely managed to block the shot. Our moods were naturally up at that point, as Goofy got ready for his shot. However, Brazilians are not known for their level-headedness and he shot the ball towards the sky. I can tell you the tension was really up at this point but it only got better. See, their next shooter launched a vicious shot towards the top of the goal but Chau blocked the ball with the speed of a cobra! After that, Florent confidently finished his shot leaving their goalie empty-handed and we celebrated our deserved victory!

Our winning team! Sorry for the blurry pic, wasn't taken by me :P That's Orbitz, Goofy, Sangie, Thamir, Sunshine, Florent, Joanna, Victor and myself. Steffi and Chau kneeling in the front.

Now, even though the Langers played relatively well, they were what we thought of as stereotype dumb Americans. They were constantly bickering about some trivial matters and pointing out that we're playing soccer here and everyone should know the rules. Apparently they didn't, deciding from the amount of handballing and whatnot small fouls that went unnoticed due to the incomptence of the refs. Well, we showed them that soccer is not an American sport. Their fans were shouting some racist bullshit as well as "USA!" to which I replied "U Suck Ass." which they probably did not find very entertaining. We fought the good fight and won, and the better team won no doubt. Viva Los Illegales! Oh, special mentions go to Chau, Thamir and Sangie. Sangie really showed girls can play too, her being the best player on the field in my opinion. The whole team did well nevertheless, including myself if I may say so.
I'm getting pretty good at looking like a retard, don't you think?

Otherwise, it's been a nice, if a bit quiet week. On wednesday we went to Tijuana with a relatively big crowd, to this very nice restaurant called the Seguinano or something along those lines. Me and Mike decided to show some courage and ordered cow tongue for starters. Well, it turned out to be very delicious. I tasted oysters as well, for the first time in my life...that was not such a pleasant experience, but a new experience nonetheless. I ordered some beef medallions and cactus, which was excellent. The meat was extremely tender, and cactus is actually really good. Had some local beers as well; they beat Finnish beers hands down. The taste is mellow, and not bitter as with Lapin Kulta or Karjala. The whole dinner cost me like $20 which is nothing for those delicacies. After dinner we went for a couple of liters of cuba libres and whatnot and I ended up a bit tipsy but not really drunk.

When we got back to the US, we were met with some pretty ragged, beaten up looking guy who claimed he had been just released from a Mexican jail and his brother was still there and he desperately needed some money to get to Oxnard. Well, we actually bought his story since he did not look like a bum or a junkie; he was in really good shape, an absolutely enormous guy. Well, he had probably ended up in that Jail for a reason, especially since Americans tend to behave somewhat badly in TJ I hear. Unfortunately(?) we weren't carrying almost any cash, just a mere 50 cent so we couldn't really help him out. It was a weird scene nevertheless.

Other than that, not much has happened here. I've been exercising again, six days this week. Met some new neighbors as well, it's nice when everyone is so interested in Finland. But we do have pretty decent folk living in our apartment complex. Got a shot of scotch with a couple of guys last night and headed to Chau's place with Perttu, to drink some more scotch. Not much though, just a few shots; I couldn't afford to get drunk with the soccer game ahead. Anyway, that's about it for the last week...I'll be posting some more as days go by. Until then.

Jugi

Grand Adventures

2006-11-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

Viewer discretion advised: the following entry is a long one; you might want to read it in parts.

The last few weeks have been the most amazingly satisfying two weeks in a while, if not ever. The simple pleasures in life are usually the most satisfying ones. Minttu is by no means a simple girl in any sense but just being with her is nothing short of euphoria. I could go on and on about that but I get the feeling it wouldn't make such an interesting read for anyone else but myself so I'll cut the syrupy stuff.

Minttu's visit here started a bit more than 2 weeks ago, but it did not start without problems. Quite unexpectedly I had to give my roommates a ride to the Mexican border on the same day as I was supposed pick Minttu up from Los Angeles International. Things didn't go quite as planned and I actually got ticketed by a very very American motorcycle cop. Even though I pretended not to understand he ticketed me...we'll see if I'll have to show up at traffic court :D The cop was the epitome of a genuine American pig. Now I understand why people here hate the police so much...they're just that bad. Perttu had his share of cop love...he accidentally made a mistake in traffic at like midnight with no one around but a patrolling police happened to see it. The cops first comment was: "What the fuck was that stupid move about?" and the last comment was: "I'll let you go with a warning this time, now get the fuck outta here!". Shows just how moronic those guys are, and definitely suffer from inferiority complex. By our experiences so far, being mentally retarded AND disturbed must be a requirement for police academy.

Oh, I also missed school on that day because of the f*cking Finnair strike. I'm telling, I'll never fly with Finnair again unless I absolutely have to. The flight attendants had the guts to go in illegal strike with the salary and all the benefits they're enjoying at the moment! Sorry, but jobs can't stay overpaid forever.

Anyway, I managed to find Minttu though 2 hours late, and we got back to San Diego...after some HEAVY traffic. I hate LA already. The traffic is from hell, plain and simple. On the next day, me, my brother and Minttu went to San Diego Wild Animal Park which was kinda like a safari with most of the animals roaming in big, fenced areas. It was a cool place; for once they've built a "zoo" that actually seems really comfortable for the animals. We saw a baby elephant, some lion cubs and all sorts of exotic creatures. The next day, which was Saturday, my brother went back to Finland while me and Minttu spent the next few days all by ourselves as Tuija and Perttu were in Mexico. So I just showed her around a bit, took her to Coronado island, San Ysidro naturally, downtown, some beaches and so on. The bridge connecting Coronado to San Diego is humongous, it is absolutely huge! And what an awesome view over San Diego it offers!

A special mention goes to Saturday evening though, which we spent at Anssi's parents' house with Anssi, her girlfriend Susanne and Anssi's parents plus some of their friends. Anssi has the craziest dad ever, hands down! In a good way naturally. The whole evening was off the hook, with good food and good laughs. At the end of the evening we went to see the Departed which was actually a fine movie, no complaints but nothing exceedingly spectacular either. Anyway, I'm sure it was a great start for Minttu's vacation even though she had to stand my miserable attempts at humor for better than two weeks.

We had a lot of fun on all of the days...and once again I found myself wondering the size of food portions here in America. The best example is probably when I went to downtown San Diego with Minttu, and took her to this pretty authentic Irish restaurant called the Field. If you ever go to San Diego and want to get you stomach full of good Irish food, I highly recommend it. It's in the Gaslamp Quarter, FYI. Anyway, since we were kinda hungry after a long day, walking around downtown etc. we thought an appetizer might be a good idea, especially since I didn't have an ID with so I couldn't get a Guinness! So, we went for the combo platter and split it two ways. Well, it would have been enough for one of us as it was. There was some Irish stuff plus chicken, and it was gooood. For the main course I had some Irish specialty, the name of which escapes me here. Minttu had some stuffed chicken breast, and the portion proved to be enormous! I couldn't have destroyed the whole portion even in my prime! Well, neither did Minttu but we had a good laugh nevertheless!

Perttu and Tuija came back on Wednesday but we still wanted some solitude so we started off for Grand Canyon on Thursday morning. Before heading for Arizona we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. IHOP stands for Internationl House of Pancakes, so we had a traditional American pancake breakfast. Needless to say it was off the hook, I had pancakes with BACON. San Diego is so classy. The trip was a long one but we got to see a lot of different landscapes on our way to Grand Canyon. The distance proved to be a bit longer than we expected, and we received information that the gates to the park close at sunset, so we had to stay the night in a small town called Williams, just an hour south of Grand Canyon. What and idyllic little town it was, very different from California. We stayed at the local Howard Johnson and got a nice spacy room with a king size bed for a mere $25 per person, which was nice. We had some breakfast at a local cafeteria, and boy was it delicious. Oh, on a sidenote there was a very visible freemason lodge at Williams!

After breakfast we headed for Grand Canyon and got our tent set up immediately after we got there. After that we went to see the actual canyon itself...and good googly moogly, it was a sight to behold indeed! Yosemite offered the most impressive vistas I had seen by that time, but Grand Canyon was something else! Some people say it's just a hole in the ground (which it essentially is) but those people can't have seen it. It is an awe-inspiring sight by any account. We hiked down the slope for some miles but had to turn back before we reached our destination which was this natural "garden" on a riverbank, because it started to get dark. Nevertheless, it was an experience I'll never forget! Again, on a sidenote, ever since G. W. Bush claimed the throne the folks at Grand Canyon have also distributed an alternative version of its creation...how it was created by the Great Flood in the Old Testament. You know, the one with Noah, a couple of rhinos and bears here and there. Nah nah G. W. Bush would never lie. Poor idiots who actually believe that joke.

We spent the night in tent brought by Minttu, and man it got freezing in Arizona! It got all the way down to -7C in the night but we were pretty well off with our sleeping bags put together. It was an unforgettable night with a clear star lit sky, practically in the middle of nowhere. And what a fresh wake up it was, waking up in the crisp mountain air...the air there is kinda like in Finland, which means it's totally unlike San Diego! Since we wouldn't have had time to reach Colorado river at the bottom of the Canyon, we decided to head back to San Diego later that day, stopping at Williams for some strawberry pie we had spotted on the way. It was definitely the best piece of a strawberry cheesecake pie I've had in my life. What a successful trip!

Being exhausted after the trip to Grand Canyon, we just chilled for a couple of days, visited San Ysidro again and had shot with all sorts of different food joints, restaurants as well as fast food. We tried almost every kind of food available out here, and I must say that I am very proud of two things: I actually ordered fish at a seafood restaurant at PB, and Minttu ate TWO regular hamburgers (with a minced-meat patty, and one of them at In-n-Out) during her vacation here!

On Tuesday it was Disneyland again, and I was equally impressed as the first time around. That place is just awesome, plain and simple! We went to a lot of rides that I missed last time, including some sorta Tom Sawyer island, and everything was great. Went to Space Mountain twice, it's just that great, Minttu loved it as well!
The text IS back there!

Wednesday and Thursday were all about chilling again, beaches, Japanese food and all that. Needless to say, I skipped quite a bit of classes during the weeks. On Friday we decided to Hollywood for the day, but got there at like 3.30pm because the traffic in LA, as I've said before, is from hell. Now I really understand why everyone seems to hate that city, including a lot of people who live there. We had some trouble finding the right place and I was more than a little agitated by the time we actually found a decent spot on Hollywood Boulevard. We got to see the Hollywood sign, the walk of fame and the most famous attractions there, so the trip was a success. As a bonus we went to this suspicious presentation that turned out to be a presentation about Scientology! It was really interesting actually but it wasn't by the church of scientology anyway. They left out all of the controversial stuff anyway though, including some of the more retarded comments by the founder of the religion. L. Ron Hubbard. He had some really good ideas though, I'll admit that much but according to Wikipedia some pretty retarded ones as well. A lot of the things they said were somewhat self-explanatory to me, and a lot of the stuff applied to America but not to Europe so much. If you wanna find out more about Scientology go wiki it, I'm not going to give you a history here.

Saturday was the last full day of Minttu's vacation...and it was a fine day to end any vacation. We went to Trever's 30-year old birthday party to his parents' house at La Costa, near Carlsbad...which is around 30 miles north from my apartment. And some party it was! Their house is a palace, easily the most luxurious I've ever seen or partied in. A lot of cool people there, at least I had a lot of fun there. I would guess Minttu enjoyed as well. Big shout outs to Trev for the invitation.

The last day, Sunday...spent a little time at the pool, then packed her stuff and I drove her to LAX again. I'm glad that for once good times felt that they lasted longer than they actually did. Felt like it had been a long time I had visited LAX. Felt kinda blue when she finally had to go...felt really depressed actually. Just drove home and wandered around my room in my new bath robe, and fell into a deep slumber, I was sorta developing a fever that never came at the same time.

The week has had an excellent start, except for my latest computer exam, which was horrible. I doubt I passed it. But, monday evening featured the first game of our team Los Illegales, against a sorority. Well, the sorority showed up too late so we got an automatic victory...well, we played one half against them just for fun and they were actually really good. I still think we would have won with normal line ups but now it was really even and ended 0-0. I'm a centre back (I'd like to be a full back though), and my number is 17, like Pierre van Hooijdonk. We got really cool jerseys, I'll post pics once I'll get some. My brand new cleats worked like a dream, and I'm sure we'll win our next game which is next sunday...I feel like a superstar already!

Last, I just can't get enough of the weather here in San Diego. Even though I had skipped almost all classes during the last few weeks, I had to skip them again today since it's like 30C at the moment. I just had to go to the beach...reading Man in the Iron Mask (by Dumas) at the moment, it's great book and perfect company for a couple of hours at the beach. I highly recommend life like this for 4 months, to anyone.

Jugi

Animals, some more animals & double-double animal style!

2006-10-18T01:03:00.001-07:00

A week has gone by again, without me even noticing it. A lot has happened though, not surprisingly. First of all, we had our first rainy days here in San Diego. It's not nice, though it's not even nearly as awful as in Finland. A few drops of water here and there, nothing serious...though it has been considerably colder than usual...well, today was a lot better.

It may be that my brother brought the rain with him from Finland. Yes, he's been here since last Thursday and will be departing on Saturday. When he first arrived, of course I had to take him to San Ysidro. I suppose his arrival was just an excuse for me to get there again since I ended up buying sneakers, soccer shoes and a bath robe plus some other stuff. I was happy after the day, however, so it probably was a successful day. I also took the girls and Joanna with me, and they liked San Ysidro as well! My brother only got a mere pair of sneakers and a towel. Shows how typically cheap he is, for a Finn...more on that later. However, I felt kinda girlish, having bought more stuff than the girls and Joanna combined. Oh well, shows how good I'm getting at spotting good deals.
That's Chau sitting on the ground, and Peter on the right.

On Saturday we went to Miramar Air Show, starring the world-famous Blue Angels, the US Navy flight demonstration squadron. I have to admit, the show was really impressive. Those guys can fly, no question. The show also boasted all sorts of military airplanes, and even the Harrier, the famous vertical take-off and landing fighter. Got to see it take off and perform some tricks as well, very nice! Probably the weirdest sight at the show, however, was not a plane, even though we got to witness some stealth fighters in flight as well. The weirdest vehicle there was a huge truck with 3200 horse powers. In other words, it had a jet engine attached to it. I wish I had a video of that thing speeding down the airstrip at like 400km/h! Other than that, we went to In-n-Out with my brother, Joanna, Orbitz and Mike. Me, my bro and Mike had a double-double combo animal style, and oh my God that place is heaven on earth! Mike and my bro Matti definitely agree, those burgers and fries are just off the hook! Seriously, anyone going to west coast must try In-n-Out. Remember to order your burger animal style, and the fries as well. Don't forget the fries! You can't go wrong with some dressing, pickels and melted cheddar on the fries. You just can't go wrong with that combination. And that's coming from me; I usually don't even eat fries at fast food joints.
Animal style.

It's been a good week since Sunday was extremely fun as well! I went to San Diego Zoo with Matti, and it was absolutely amazing, for a zoo! They had all sorts of exotic animals over there, and the whole zoo was basically one big jungle! Though I saw the pandas and the koalas, my favorites were nevertheless the orangutans. Damn, those apes actually have incredibly wise-looking eyes. Many scientists suspect that the orangutans are the smartest apes on the planet; whereas chimps learn things by trial and error, orangutans have been witnessed to have learned how to use a wooden river ferry just by looking at people use it. Funny looking creatures, those hairy orange apes. Incredibly powerful too, wouldn't wanna wrestle one. Had some churros with my brother. Churro is a Mexican (I think) pastry, and it tastes absolutely delicious!

Monday, I took Matti to downtown San Diego, after my German exam which went ok I guess. Matti was pretty much awestruck by the downtown area, which is very nice, I must admit. Got some hand made chocolate for my mom and dad, but that's about everything we bought, for once. Oh, I did buy a poem from a street poet. He had a good sales speech and I was actually impressed by the poem he read to me. It was about smiling no matter what since life is essentially beautiful and a showing a little smile doesn't hurt anyone; in fact it heals.

Today was the best day during the last week or so. My brother, I and Tuija went to Disneyland! I've been craving to get to Disneyland since I was like 3, and finally I got to go there! Of course I wasn't as excited as I would have been back then, but I was pretty hyped nonetheless. And by the hammer of Thor, what an amazing theme park it is! Everything is so beautifully built, and so very impressive. Very American, but in the best possible way. Everything was easily accessible, everyone was friendly, and everything just went smoothly altogether. Got to see Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and all those. The best part was the milieu itself, the park is simply breathtaking. The different themes there, from the future to wild west to cartoons, felt just amazingly authentic, in a Disney-esque way. They had some nice rides there as well; Space Mountain was probably the most fun ride I've ever been in. It was basically a roller coaster in almost total darkness, sort of like in deep space. The sensation of velocity was incredible but at the same time I had no idea of my direction. I just couldn't stop laughing and that's something that does not happen often in an amusement park ride. The Indiana Jones -ride was awesome as well, though not quite as wild as Space Mountain. I have one complaint though: where the f*ck was Donald Duck? I mean there was tons of Mickey Mouse merchandise but almost no Donald Duck stuff anywhere! And I do not wanna have a Mickey Mouse coffee cup.

Overall, it has been a great week. However, it keeps getting better. My dear beautiful goldilocks is coming here on Thursday! I'll pick her up from Los Angeles International at around 4pm on Thursday. That is hands down the date I've been looking forward to the most. 2 and a half weeks of euphoria ahead...does not sound bad at all. Life is so good.

I actually made an observation a while ago. Finnish people are cheap, and that is annoying. Now, I'm not saying all are, but in general Finnish people are cheap. Americans are not. Well, what would you expect of a society that runs on consumerism? It is still fun to be out with these guys when people are not counting any penny and might be buying stuff just out of impulse. I find myself doing that more and more. I'm not talking about spending 150 bucks in a bar, but just overall purchasing behaviour. Plus, people here actually give some alms for the poor...however, the reason for that is most likely the non-existent social support, not altruism. The question, however, is always: whom to give the alms? I can't afford giving everyone...just gotta trust my intuition and give bucks for those who appear most sincere.

Oh, I actually made a couple more observations. These guys here are awful drivers. Not only do most of them behave completely irrationally behind the wheel, they have no clue how to handle the car when it rains. It's not that hard you know? But oh, it seems to be nigh impossible to San Diegans. I saw a few drops of water and already people were spinning like it was destruction derby. Bleh, what can I say...just gotta keep my middle-finger ready in the traffic since there's no shortage of assholes. Yes, they have big cars and big egos but apparently those exist just to cover some other deficiencies. Well, I'll try to keep you posted.

Jugi
It's big. It's American.

City of Angels

2006-10-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

A week has gone by again. Fortunately this week brought some new experiences as well. I finally visited the fabled city of angels, Los Angeles. When approaching LA, you can't help but to wonder the size of that city. You always see the sky-striving financial district, but you never seem to get any closer to it, and the endless suburbia just goes on and on. In fact, when you travel from San Diego to LA, you don't even know when you're actually in LA, since the suburban areas never end. However, on this trip we did not focus on the financial district. We didn't go to Beverly Hills or Hollywood either. Neither did we go to Compton or Crenshaw (though I gotta visit Compton even if just for a moment!). Since the weather is slowly getting a bit cooler, and more so in LA than SD, we decided to check the beaches this time.

The trip to San Francisco was relatively trouble-free. Since we went to LA just for a day as it's only a two-hour drive from SD, I didn't think there was going to be any problems this time around either. Little did I know. Let me clear something first. I did not go with Perttu and Tuija this time around since they wanted to spend a night in LA, so instead I went with Steffi, Lena, Orbitz and Joanna. And since I had agreed with Perttu and Tuija that they can take Battlecat, we went with Steffi and Lena's BMW. Well, apparently the BMW did not want to live anymore so it attempted a suicide near Santa Monica beach! Indeed, the girls' car broke down, but luckily in an area with plenty of car services, including one of BMW. Turned out that one cylinder was broken and yadda yadda, so the car is pretty much useless. We did manage to drive back to SD in the evening though since there was no traffic, which meant that the engine wasn't in serious danger of overheating.
Stuck at Santa Monica, for a moment.

Getting around with the car was something of an adventure but we managed to catch both Santa Monica beach and Venice Beach! Even though a lot of people loathe LA, I gotta admit those guys got some serious beaches. I wish we had something like that in Helsinki, instead of that lame Hietsu (I never really understood why people bother going there, maybe because it's so close). Santa Monica was quite calm, though there was more than enough sand for all the people in LA and the surrounding areas. Venice Beach however, was something else! Even though we got there a bit late due to the problems with that blasted BMW, there was still plenty to see there. Street artists, body-builders, vendors, beggars, everything. It was almost hypnotizing. And the apartments there...damn, I really could live in one of those. Oh, I got to experience some serious nostalgia as well. If anyone has been a computer geek as long as I have, you might remember a game called California Games, from like 1989 or something. One of the sports in that game was rollerskating, in which you controlled a rollerblading girl on a pavement at a Los Angeles beach. I walked that very same pavement on Saturday! It was a surreal feeling, I can tell you. I was like 6 years old when I first played that game.
Soap bubbles at Santa Monica...how cool is that?

Sunday, and I was back in San Diego again. We have this soccer tournament at SDSU each semester, and I am actually in playing in a team. We're gonna get jerseys and all that, but it's not that serious; I don't play in the competitive team, just for fun. I'll leave the competitive tournament for those who can actually play soccer, I just wanna have fun. Anyway, we had a sort of a practice session on Sunday, and it was a lot of fun! We played 2 on 2 matches and practiced some drills for better than 2 hours, and I honestly was quite exhausted, but happy, after that. FYI, I'm gonna play centre back or full back or the combination of the two, since I actually got commended for my defensive abilities! My number is 17, which is Pierre van Hooijdonk's national team number, and my nickname is Yogi, for obvious reasons. No, I don't resemble that wimpy bear one bit if that's what you're thinking. However, my name does.

After the practice we went to have dinner at Popeye's, which is a fast food place dedicated to chicken, much like KFC. And it was goooood...very sinful, yes, but oh so delicious. I could probably gain like 40 kilos during my exchange if I dined there every day. I will eat there again, nevertheless. Pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, biscuits, some honey and hot sauce. I'm really beginning to like America. Truth to be told, this is kind of starting to feel like home to me. I have acquired some really good friends. Chau, Mike, Tavo, Steffi, Joanna, Orbitz and Sunshine are the ones I hang out with most frequently. Usually just chilling at the table, talking about everything. It is very educating, and very entertaining at the same time. Rarely have I had such a good time with people just by conversing. Chau is the only local, but one would do great unjustice to him by calling him an average American. Well, he is Asian descent, but the opposite of your stereotype dumb American. I have an immense respect for him already.
Me, Joanna and Steffi at Venice Beach

Well, I guess it's time for me to go to bed. Just a few more things. Last week was really a black week for cars. First, Orbitz' car stopped working. Then, Mike's dear little Geo Metro, Hellboy, decided to end its life: its engine literally blew up on the freeway. And then the girls' BMW. Battlecat's radio died as well, but I count myself fortunate. Bis bald folks!

Jugi

PS. My days of superstardom are long gone; I received 58 from my Networking exam. That's what you get when you skip half of the classes and study 20 minutes for the exam. Ah well, I need to get a 62 from the next exam to be at 60, which is a pass.

God bless Scandinavian education system!

2006-10-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

I suppose we're now experiencing the autumn of San Diego. 25-30C during daytime and occasionally cloudy. I know, it is not nice when it's totally overcast, but usually it's not too bad over here. But we've had some of those days now.

This weekend has been a bit more laid back than the last one, thankfully. In fact, I finally got my gym membership: I joined the Mission Valley YMCA gym! It's not too bad, not too expensive, includes all sorts of facilities and stuff, and it's right around the corner from our apartment. I naturally tried it right away, and got my insanely fit, enormous muscles somewhat sore actually. I prolly should work out more. Anyway, it's fun to stay at the YMCA.

Oh yeah, exams here seem to be somewhat easy. The other option is that I've suddenly become insanely gifted, as I received 94 from my first German exam practically without studying at all, and 90 from my Sales Management exam, with the average being approximately 75. I studied a bit more than an hour for that. The modest man that I am, I am content believing that my success here is because of our superior education system in Finland. Quite honestly, it is surprising how inefficient most of these guys are at their studies. See, I am not the only Finn who is doing extremely well without studying. Tuija has had some impressive results as well. Ah well, I don't mind getting good grades without working, I am on a vacation after all. However, I believe my Networking exam went straight to hell. If it didn't, then lady luck must have had her spoon in the soup.
That's what I think of the local tap water. You don't actually get ill or anything, the taste is just disgusting.

A funny thing happened today: we got fined. Yes, a letter from San Francisco arrived, claiming that we had sped through a bridge toll without paying. The bastards even had our license plate photographed! Well, if you creeps at the cursed town of San Francisco are reading this: we're not paying, not without a fight! Indeed, we did naught wrong! We did cross the bridge without paying, westbound, while the toll was only for those travelling EASTBOUND. Therefore, we are innocent. Well, I'm sure they'll wanna argue with us over 25 bucks, especially since we're just three exchange students with absolutely horrible english. We are issuing an official complaint first though, we'll see how it goes.

Otherwise, well, not much has happened lately. I'll be going to LA next weekend, I'm thinking it'll be an interesting experience. This weekend I visited Coronado Island, a very wealthy neighborhood here in San Diego, and home to Hotel Del Coronado, one of the most famous sights of San Diego. It has been featured in various films, although not lately. Stars such as Marilyn Monroe have stayed in the hotel, and it was quite luxurious indeed. I'll have to pay another visit with my own Marilyn as well. I must say though, the apartment prices on Coronado Island weren't the cheapest: a one bedroom house costs around $1,250,000. The area actually resembled our beloved Grankulla more than a little.
Hotel Del Coronado.

That's all for now, I'll be posting more in the near future, hopefully. Unless the long arm of law catches up with me.
Here's something I tried for the first time: a hookah. It's an oriental pipe of sorts...you smoke tobacco usually, which we did as well. The taste is actually quite pleasant, unlike with cigarettes. Arnold is the one holding it now.
Some overly romantic flyboy decided to show off a little bit. I bet "Ashley" was ready for anything in the evening!

The Shopper Supreme, even Richie Rich reincarnated

2006-09-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

That's me. As you can see, everyone in the crowd is absolutely awestruck by my inspiring presence. Or not. The dude in that green shirt is my buddy Trever by the way.

It's been a moment since the last time I posted, though I cannot say it has been because there hasn't been anything worth mentioning. My hair is still the same as well, your quintessential Beatle-looking Beach Boy is going to continue his Cali-conquest despite some protests.

I'll start with last Friday, since the days before that I was concentrating on reviving my tan again, with success naturally. Yes, with Friday came also great expenditures. Perttu's girlfriend had arrived on Thursday so we decided to go to San Ysidro, to do some shopping, what else.

So off we went, with Battlecat's engine roaring like a dragon, as is expected. I was thinking that I needed a pair of flip flops as well new shorts. Sounds good on paper right, not much spending for me huh? Well guess again. I endend up spending around 300 bucks on that day, and I did not even find any decent shorts. I did Reef find flip flops that had a bottle-opener at the bottom (thanks to my buddy Trever for the clue)! I also found a beach towel (at last), a polo shirt (polo is pikee in English), some sports equipment, some t-shirts and a sweater, and finally a Calvin Klein leather jacket. Most of the other stuff are brand items as well, they're just that cheap. CK leather jacket for a mere $200! How am I supposed to resist that? It's not like I need it here in San Diego where it's sunny and warm all the time, but imagine the chedda I'll be saving in the long term, not having to buy a jacket in ever so expensive Finland! Plus, I saved myself from the hideous task of actually finding a decent jacket.

My expensive weekend did not end there. Trever told me about this SDSU Aztecs game on Saturday, after which was this supposedly off the hook fireworks show arranged by this radio station KGB. Before the event itself was this tailgate event, which featured free food and BEER. Of course I said wanted to go, sounded like a lot of fun! And it was, for the most part. The tailgate thing was awesome, and I got to taste American Heineken for the first time. I say American, because it actually tastes like poop. It is nothing like the Heineken they sell in Europe. It does have a fancy can and all that, but it tastes like Karjala which is the worst beer I've tasted to date. Absolutely horrible, stay away from that excuse of a beer, I beseech you!

The game itself was the only sucky part of the evening. The Aztecs sucked ass and dick, bigtime, again! Oh my God it was BOOORING! They deserved every bit of the asswhooping they got from Utah. But the fireworks after the game, HOT DAMN! I thought I saw spectacular fireworks last summer on Naxos, but this was something else indeed! The show was so amazing I found myself constantly collecting my eyes from the floor! I gotta show a few pics, words just don't do any justice. Well, they might if I was some pulitzer and nobel-prized author/journalist but hey, you can't have everything, right?

After the fireworks we headed downtown, me, Trever and his girlfriend and some others, to this club Visions again. For cheap drinks of course. I drank this huge shot (1dl) of Jagermeister, and downed some vodka-redbulls as well as some other stuff, in less than 3o minutes. Then we went to Stingarees which like the place to be in San Diego at the moment. That showed in the prices. Admission alone was 20 bucks, and I ended up spending like 160 bucks. And I got absolutely HAMMERED! No Stingarees for me in a while. It was a lot of fun though, a rooftop bar with a lot of people, and I even met yet another Finn who's living in San Diego! My memories are a bit blurry towards the end of the evening, but I did hog a meatball sub before going to Trever's place, maybe supposedly for an after-party but I think we went to sleep almost immediately after we arrived there. Ahh, I must tip my hat for Trev for having a futon, that's what I call hospitality. I slept well, probably better than on my sorry ass "bed" in the rat's nest that still is my room. Not for long though!

Sunday was my eat-healthy-stay-fresh day of the week. I had this gigantic hamburger for breakfast/brunch, aptly named "Heart Stopper", and an enormous carnitas burrito at our local mexican joint for dinner. That burger was all I needed to kill off my hangover before it had even begun but the burrito nearly took my life. Seriously, that was way too much at that point. I'm telling you, a pork meat -filled burrito that weighs around 800g is bad for your health when you're hung over.

Last, my seventh week here started off like a dream, as it was confirmed that I will be accommodating an extremely welcome visitor at the end of October. A very special shoutout to that very special lady, for having the resolution to break that newly started university routine for a while and join me in California! 2,5 weeks of heaven in San Diego await, and only 3 weeks away! My life is so good.

Ringo Starr

PS. Here's some more pics from our SF trip! In the following order: Golden Gate, Pier 39 & Alcatraz, Golden Gate, Downtown, Downtown from Little Italy, Chinatown, Yosemite

It doesn't take much to impress me, now does it?

2006-09-21T00:47:00.000-07:00

My trip to San Francisco is over now and it's that normal life again. You know, a few hours of classes here and there, chillin at the pool, maybe a bit of running. I like these types of routines.

But by the beard of Zeus, San Francisco is one magnificent city! I can't even begin to describe what it was like to stroll along the streets of 'Frisco...it was like living a movie. You know, all your life you've seen those structures on TV and all that, and suddenly you're in the middle of it. I walked on Golden Gate, I strolled the streets of Chinatown, wandered around the Financial District, explored the bustling harbor area known as Fisherman's Wharf and paced the shadowy corridors of the Rock, better known as Alcatraz. Needless to say I had a lot of fun in San Francisco. No, for all you who are curious, I did not drink my face off there. Nothing like that, but I did experience a city that is totally different from anything I've seen before. So American, yet so European. It really did combine both; the skyscrapers this country is so well known for, and the beautiful Victorian/British style apartments. Oh, I just can't forget all the street artists at Fisherman's Wharf...what a wonderful city, really.
Oh so touristy.

Yet even the most wonderful sights of San Francisco could not topple Yosemite national park. In Yosemite, I got to witness without doubt the most breathtaking landscape I have ever seen. The rock formations there, were simply amazing. I was literally breathless for a moment, while I concentrated on my surroundings and on the incredible vista at Glacier Point. I will never forget. Oh, we saw some giant redwoods as well...you know, those trees that compete with skyscrapers in height? Yes, they were awesome.

San Francisco was not all positive though. First, I must say that I have to tip my hat to this nation. They have reasons to be proud of themselves and the country they have built. All the ambitious, seemingly impossible projects such as settling the wild west or building all the enormous bridges and sky-reaching buildings, all of this have these people aspired to achieve, and have succeeded extraordinarily. However, at some point some things must have gone wrong somehow. How come the world's richest country has somewhere around 3 million people who are homeless? It was truly saddening to see how many homeless persons wandered the streets of San Francisco. It hasn't always been like this; only after president Reagan and his extreme right wing politics. And despite this growing problem, the Bush administration keeps cutting all social benefits...I can only hope things will get better at some point. Things tend to reach balance at one point or another, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Ahh, there is not much else going on at the moment. I had a full day of classes today, and one short class tomorrow as well. On the weekend I'm prolly gonna go see another Aztecs games, likely with Trever and hopefully Anssi will join the fray. Maybe head for downtown afterwards? Don't really know yet. My ethics class is highly interesting at least, just what I had hoped for. Sales Management is proving to be an educating class as well, and might prove to be my salvation as it does have a significant international aspect, which might spare me from spending another 3 weeks in Mikkeli when I return to Finland. Those three weeks I would like to avoid, I have no desire to go back to Mikkeli then; I have more urgent matters to tend to.

Oh, one more thing. I bought my first non-hip hop records in at least 8 years. Bruce Springsteen's "the Rising" and what a great record it is. I may have to get another record by the Boss..."the Rising" fits perfectly into my present mindset, reminds me of someone. However, it is not the only great record I've bought here so far. 4 others, all them great. Special mention goes to "Wild Style" soundtrack which is off the hook! Anyway, until next time!

Jugi

San Francisco!

2006-09-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today has been an exhausting, but rewarding day. Leaving our beloved San Diego behind for a few days, we drove all the way to San Francisco. The trip was long, tiring and full of wonders. I saw many different, memorable things on the way to SF...like LA in the morning, like a million cows on on a single farm, hundreds of wind energy generators, Golden Gate bridge and so on. It has been an incredible day.

Our hotel is very, very good here in San Francisco. And we've got WLAN in our room! Me without the Internet is like a Corona with no Lime. Thanks to our trustworthy son, Mercedes Benz, we did not need to book a hotel from downtown SF which would have been expensive or a rat's nest, depending on your preferences. I must admit that I absolutely love driving that MB, it has a lot more power than I would have expected...when you put the petal to the metal, you can hear and feel the power, and the car actually moves! Quite different from my mom's tiny Citroen C3!

Our plans for the trip are to see Golden Gate in full daylight, to explore downtown, to go see Alcatraz and to visit Yosemite national park. We'll be going back on tuesday (wednesday in Finland) so we'll have time to do all of that. The climate here isn't as friendly as in SD; it's probably much like Finland at the moment. But it's ok, it's not raining or anything, and I hear it's getting warmer towards the weekend.

Well, I gotta get up early tomorrow, so I'll leave something for tomorrow or some other day as well! I must apologise for the lack of photos, they will be coming in the near future, more precisely after I get back.

Oh yeah, I'm not cutting my hair for a while, I'm gonna keep on growing it at least until mid november. I made a promise, and I am a man of my word. It's not pretty, but it is honorable. Plus it is something new. Like everything else here. Until next time.

And there was Mercedes...

2006-09-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, yes! Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make: CANNONBALL! We finally got our Mercedes-Benz! It's an 86 E300 with 178,000 miles driven so far, automatic transmission naturally, leather interior, a very good air conditioning, skyroof, electric windows...oh yes. And oh, so 80's; the color is CREAM :D The 3-liter V6 under the hood isn't a bad engine at all, so far the car is like a dream.

Yes, you guessed right: I'm trying not to look handsome. It's hard, but it can be done with some serious effort. Groceries in the background.

We are actually now planning to take the MB for a serious test drive: we might be going to San Francisco on the weekend, it's a long drive...hopefully our friend can take it! 178,000 miles isn't that much for an MB from that era though, especially in this Cali climate. You know, no rain, sun all year long. I don't think I have to elaborate on how much I like the climate here? Whenever it's raining wherever you are, just think about me sitting in the sun. I don't know if it'll make you feel better, but you'll know I'm most likely feeling better ;)

Not much has happened lately though, we did invite some friends over on friday and opened our half-gallon smirnoff bottle. Not much drinking but fun anyway. Oh, now that we've got the car, we went and bought some groceries. Like 30 cans of beer. Cost: 15 bucks, not bad at all! Oh, and some smart salesperson at Rubio's asked for my name; I promptly handed her my Finnish driver's licence and she mistook my name for Ajokortti. The receipt actually said "Thank you, Guest Ajokortti!". And I felt offended! Should have dragged their asses to court. Se on JUGI eikä mikään vitun JUKI!

In fact, the only thing that spared the poor girl from 10 years in prison was that I actually had my first fish tacos that day and actually liked them. I've been getting into this fish-thing lately, for some reason. I don't know, something must be having a good influence on me.

School stuff...well, the German for beginners didn't quite work out, but I got the third course of German instead (I have an exam on Thursday, I'm laughing already!). It's very easy as well, though the book is painfully expensive: 150 bucks! Other than that, school is going well, all the projects and that stuff, the little I have. Most of the time I spend on campus are at a table at East Commons, the place to hang out at campus. The conversation there spans from piss-poo to high level transcendental philosophy so I feel at home there. My philosophical side is showing some signs of life again. Anyway, there's lots of people passing by and stopping at our table, I could easily hang out all day at that spot. I'll be there tomorrow as well, between classes. Off to bed now.

PS. That blue-white shorts-and-t-shirt outfit is my running gear, I don't walk around in that attire!

Svinhufvud

2006-09-08T01:59:00.000-07:00

Well, today was an absurd day. First, I sorta found out that I still HAVE to get one more course, or they'll kick me outta the country cause I wouldn't be eligible for my visa. Or I'd have to show some proof that I'm mentally retarded...how hard could that be? I'm not going to find out. However, I will have to take one extra course. Now, I'm still working on crashing the HRM course but I really doubt that's gonna work out. So I came up with a devious plan indeed. I'm going to take German for beginners. And I'm gonna breeze through, and party all the way like it was year 2000! I am so clever.

So what actually happened today? I had to go to the local post office to get the Sales Management book. I did go there, and noticed it was right next to Vien Dong, the infamous "Super Food Supermarket", a vietnamese one! I went inside and to my displeasure noticed the gutter was fixed. The fish were still there, but I didn't dare take a picture as some animal rights organization would probably get mad and the store's owners wouldn't have liked that. And, that wasn't the only reason; I found something much more interesting. A whole pig's head. A svinhufvud for all my adorable Swedish-speaking brothers. Yes, I took some pictures of it as well; it is a sight to behold.
Looks tempting doesn't it? I bet there's a dozen ways to cook it!

Other than that, I went to campus to buy some books and a calendar to keep up with my stuff. I am busy man after all, with three different credit cards and all that. And a Visa Electron. After having lunch at Rubio's Mexican Grill, I ran into some friends, Tavo from Mexico and some others. This chap Mike (a Swede) was having his birthday so I joined them and we went to Chau's house eventually, to hang out and chat. Another nice night which is unfortunately turning towards end. But fear not, dear fellows, for I will be writing another entry in the near future. Until then!

Jugi

For the love of guns

2006-09-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since the last update. That's not to say nothing has happened though. Last friday was pretty normal, except that at like 10.30 pm this dude Chao (who knows everyone) called me and invited us to this get together at Victor's house. Victor is this French exchange student who lives with a couple of other fellas at University Heights, which is actually not close to our school. Anyhow, me and Perttu decided to go but Tuija decided to pass...you know how girls are when it comes to taking off quickly. And FYI, I can get on the move quickly when I so desire. So we went there, spent some time there, getting a bit intoxicated and chatting, it was a fun night, got to know a lot of people from many countries.

Saturday was an exciting day, even though it started off slow. We went to Pacific Beach once again, but my local friend, and an old army buddy of mine, Anssi, called me at some point and said he was in the neighborhood and he could pick us up. So, we got into his BMW and took off, heading for a real American gun store! Via our apartment of course, to change some clother and to drop Tuija off. And yes, the gun store was a sight in its own right. A pity they wouldn't let me shoot as I did not have an American ID, but man they had some weird stuff there.

The regular stuff like Glocks, Berettas, Pythons and Desert Eagles were on display naturally, as well as some rifles and stuff. Now, of course they had to have some automatic rifles as well, such as M-16 and an AK-47. Nice. Also, the salesperson loaded a Colt 500 handgun with live ammo and pointed it at a wall...most likely illegal, but the police officer standing next to us didn't mind.
They also had some practice targets which featured a muslim, as well as a rapist. How very politically correct. Oh, they also had a DVD that I almost decided to buy, seeing as it was such a useful DVD. "Headshot Targets" was the name. Did I mention that along came 50 printable practice headshot targets? Viva America!

Anyhow, after that we went to Trever's place, and from there we went to the Gaslamp Quarter which is in downtown San Diego. We were supposed to go this bar called Shout! which features two piano players on opposite sides of the bar, battling each other and the crowd wishes songs, throws stuff at them (including panties, hopefully by women mostly). We were gonna get Anssi to play there, as he's quite nice with the piano, but the place was PACKED since it was Labour Day (think Vappu) weekend. So, we went to this club Visions instead, which was nice enough. Drinks here are a bit more potent than back in Finland; half of the drink is always liquor. I'm down with that! Eventually we went back to Trever's place for an afterparty, but Trever passed out. Well, it was a lot of fun anyway! Oh, bars here close at 2am, and they literally drive people out at 1.30am, with policemen in the doorway ushering people outside. And I thought Finland was bad.

When I woke up on Sunday,hung over, on Trever's huge couch, I wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon, except to the pool perhaps. Well, once again it turned out that life has surprises in store for those moments. Anssi informed me and Trever that he was going to his family friend Jake for sauna, and me and Trever were invited. So we went downtown to get Anssi's car, which I drove back to Trever's. I wasn't exactly in the mood for driving but Trever was still wasted so I had no choice.

So, eventually we started for Jake's house and stopped at In & Out for breakfast on the way. Odin's Great Raven, that fast food joint must be the best hangover killer ever! They have three different hamburgers: hamburger, cheeseburger and double-double. I picked double-double, animal style and all that stuff, which means that they put cheese, tomatoes, pickles, mayonaise and whatnot in it, as well as in the fries. Got a week's worth of calories there, but it definitely paid off. In & Out has the best burgers. You can also customize the burgers as much as you want; you can e.g. get a four-layer double-double if you want, animal style etc.

Finally we got to Jake's house. Jake is this 87-year old American guy who has lived in Finland many summers since his wife had been Finnish. He had also at least visited most countries in the world, and everything in his house was from some exotic country...he had egyptian tapestries, OLD european naval maps etc. on walls, the wooden floor in his living room was from Ethiopia and so on. And he had a sauna, which made the day even better. After sauna we got on Jake's top of the line BMW 765, and it was definitely the most comfortable car I've ever traveled in. And it doesn't stop, we went to have lunch in a French-style restaurant with Jake, and the food was naturally really good.

After lunch we took Jake home and went to pick up Perttu and continued to Pacific Beach once again, where Anssi's friend Justin has an apartment. We got some 90 beers and went to the beach to enjoy them (you can drink at the beach until 8pm). Justin's parents had prepared dinner for us; they barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs as much as we could eat, along with some salad and then some. They also had Jack Daniels -mustard! We got somewhat tipsy at some point, but ended up going home sometime after midnight; it had been long 3 days after all.
After weekend it has been relatively slow. My newly found enthusiasm for running and exercising hasn't faded yet, and I have been running every day now. On another note, it seems that we're finally getting a car this weekend! Anssi's friend got this nice -88 Mercedes E???, which we're probably buying. It has been fully restored a few days ago, so it will be an easy sell in December when we'll have to get rid of it.

Oh, my life is good at the moment. Living in California with a nice apartment, a pool in the yard, a Mercedes...what is there to complain? Well, now that I think, it would be even better if I had my muse here to share all this joy. Life is good, life is good.

Oh boy, do we feel safe or what...this is right around the corner from our apartment.

Touchdown!

2006-09-01T00:27:00.000-07:00

Yes indeed, I was at a football game today, for the first time in my life! Even though it was just university level football, it was like from the movies. It wasn't just a football game, it was like some sort of special event with all kinds of activities before the game, during breaks etc. The cheerleaders were simply amazing! Now I'm not talking about the looks as I couldn't discern their features, even with my eagle eyes (well I could discern enough to tell that you can find more beautiful girls at Kauniainen city library). But they were like professional athletes. I had to collect my eyeballs from the floor after witnessing some of the more complex routines they performed! And there was even a real orchestra playing for the home team, our beloved SDSU Aztecs. Who lost, by the way, and sucked ass for the first two and a half quarters.

What about the venue then? Well, Qualcomm Stadium has some 70,000 seats, of which around 35,000 were occupied tonight. Not bad for a university match! And the parking lot! It's easily the biggest I've ever seen! Finding seats was an adventure in its own right; with some typically stubborn French girls as our company, me and Tuija had to change seats twice. And the French left after the second quarter. Typical :D Well, it was all good and fun. All in all, football definitely left a positive impression on me; even though there wasn't really anything going on for the most part, it was still entertaining in some bizarre fashion. Probably because of all the glamour and hype that was going on. I'm definitely going again, and I've GOTTA see the San Diego Chargers play some time.
A hot dog something you gotta have at a football game. And I'm not talking about myself. Hahaha I'm so funny! Hahahahahahaah!

Other than that, well, I'm most likely staying in San Diego for the weekend. Gotta start planning my trips though, there's really not too many weekends left, honestly. I'm already set for Vegas in mid-September if everything goes according to plans, but I'm also determined to see San Francisco before fall hits there. LA, yes yes...and what would a west coast tour be without a visit to Hawaii? Maui sounds like the most interesting island for me.

School was pretty interesting on wednesday. Sales management was good, and the new class, Ethical Issues in Business was interesting as well, especially with a republican court judge as the professor. Honestly. The Networking and data communications course...I may have to go through it after all. Well, easy credits if nothing else. I'm considering taking some sailing/kayaking etc courses on tuesdays but I'm not sure if I wanna do that. Tomorrow, I'm gonna visit campus cause I gotta get a trolley pass and there's also some sorta international coffee hour at 1.30 pm, which features a whole lot of Persian stuff this week. There's supposed to be like a free lunch and all sorts of nice stuff. I heard it's worth checking so why not. Now, however, this one's going to bed.

SDSU Campus

PS. Check out the Roots' "Game Theory" if you haven't already!

San Diego State University

2006-08-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-08-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-23T00:39:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

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

2006-08-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

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

Finally found a suitable adapter!

2006-08-18T21:01:00.000-07:00

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)