Mixed feelings and confusement

Hello dear friends and family!

Haven't written for a while now, so I'll try to dig the memories, that are well hidden behind all these maths terms that have occupied my little head (studying for an exam!) from the passed week.
So last week on Saturday I went to Hannover to an opera with two of my flatmates. It was Hochzeit des Figaros (The marriage of Figaro) and it was really funny! The women were really good, I even had goose bumps when they sang! The men were just average (haha who am I to judge with my poor musical skills :D), I mean, I did not get goose bumps and wasn't that amazed. Fortunately they were very handsome with their suites so I got something for the eyes and ears ;)

The Opera House in Hannover

From the balcony of the Opera House

See, isn't it huge?? :D

Oh, on Friday, a day before the opera we had some real Swiss food, including cheese and chocolate fondue among other things, yummy, soo tasty! :) My Swiss friend had brought all the ingredients (including the Fondue kettle/bowl/pot whatever it's called :D) from her home country with her :) Unfortunately I also had a friend's farewell party that evening :(
This week I would have had a couple of them too, but I only went once for a dinner since I had to study for the exams. I am one of the last ones to leave, because my last exam is in the end of February, when others have had them already. We had the dinner in a small Gasthouse, which is always full of customers because the food is really good and the portions are huge! :) To be honest I have no idea how people were able to eat all of the approximately 500g Schnitzels! :D (ok fine, maybe they are closer to 300g, but anyway!)

Mmm talking about food I have had the chance to try some
Japanese salad and Colombian food! Isn't it amazing to have international flatmates?? :D We Europeans are always watching the others make really delicious and exotic foods,
oh, we Europeans have horrible eating habits really! Sausages, convenience food, and take-away coffee (well, I as a Finns hate take away coffee since coffee is almost like saint for us :D).

Mmm my roommate made me some traditional food! :)

Plantain! I was so happy to see this, since I really like it but I have only tried it in the Caribbeans :)

Above : Yucca (or however it's supposed to be written :D) And under: Fresh Plantains! :)

  I'd like to prepare something Finnish here to my flatmates now that our oven even works, but I don't have an access to reindeer or moose meat here (and if I do it's probably really expensive :/). Maybe I'll prepare some Karelian pies, but I've heard they are not very simple to make. We'll see what I come up with :)

A moose before it ended up on the plate ;)

Karelian pie :)

 What else, oh yes, I went to see a doctor, once again because of the knee. It is very confusing, because the first one told me from the first beginning, that I should go to the operation to see what's wrong there. I went to the MRI instead, but she couldn't see there anything. So she told me once again to go to the operation, but since I was a little skeptic she told me to go to another doctor in case he'd see something in the MRI. So I did. He didn't see anything either, only the liquids. So he told me, that the operation is unnecessary, but if the knee still hurts in March I have to go to blood test to check if I have rheumatism. WHAAAT?? Well, I guess my knee heard it and got scared, because now it's been better. Well, it's probably because I have tried to avoid walking and have been studying instead. Anyway I can't do anything else right now, speculating the situation only makes me confused. I'll see how the knee is when I am back in Finland in March. Talking about Finland, I start thinking of continuing my actual life there soon. Of course I am happy to go back there, but then again it's soo sad!!! Here I don't have a work where to go to after lectures and I can travel around in this state for free, I don't have the responsibilities I have in Finland - it has been one looong holiday from the end of May when I went to the US for the summer until March when I go back home. Mixed feelings really: my mood changes from excitement to sadness tens of times daily!

Well, now I'll have to start studying again, exam tomorrow! Feels so unfair sitting inside when the sun has been shining the last couple of days and I haven't been able to enjoy it.

L

The view from my window: I can tell by the white lines on the sky that
I'm definitively in the (geographical) heart of Germany.
There's not a minute without an airplane or tracks of them on the sky!

Ps I got an e-mail the other day:

"Thank you!
At Children With Hair Loss, we provide real human aid to children with medically related hair loss. Because of your hair donation, these children are able to receive hair at no cost to their families.
- -"
I can't donate blood since I have too low hemoglobin, but when I cut my hair in the US (10-15 cm) in May I was asked if I could donate the hair. I said yes, it's not that I need it myself anyway so I could as well donate it. The hair had apparently found a new owner :)