Ooops!

I forgot to introduce my dog.
It is ok to have pets in our apartments, and I have so so often missed having a pet, which then must be a dog, as that's the only animal I'd like to have. On the other hand, getting a dog would be the worst and most selfish idea ever, as I am at uni most days, want to travel, and under the current assumption only live here for 2 years. So it was a perfect coincidence that I found that little homeless dog and decided to rescue him about 3 weeks ago.
So, everybody, pleased to introduce you, this is my dog Tommy:

Tommy is a nice dog and I keep him as a promise that I won't be taking any pets until a long time from now.

Good night! :)

About exams, lab and scientific research methods ;D

Howdy-ho!

Period 2 is going on full speed already, so I'd like to quickly conclude period one and the exams, write a bit about what we are doing now in period 2, and what I've been up to besides studying :).

Exams went fine :). I passed epidemiology, but don't know the grade yet, and got 7,5 out of 10 for statistics. Maybe the results aren't quite what I expected in the start and what I am used to get, however, I feel like I understand these subjects now better than I have before, when I've passed with higher grades. This is nice to know - it shows that the level here, at Wageningen University, is much higher, and when normally it is not to say easy, but at least doable for me, to get high scores, then here, with the same amount of studying, I am only somewhere in the middle with the "medium" grade, showing how much more they actually expect us to know. That is very motivating, and I am willing to put hard work into it, to learn as much as possible here.

Now period 2 has started, and I like it much better than the first one. The workload is bigger, and study material is a bit harder to grasp, but my two courses are Nutritional Physiology and Methodology in Nutritional Research, which are somehow much more "real" to me. We learn what goes on in the body and how to research that, and it is easy to see the relevance of that and its connection with my future career. This is not to say that epidemilogy or statistics is not relevant, but they are just a means of understanding the real thing, which is what actually happens in the body when we eat, starve or exercise.
And we are really finding out much about that! There are lectures, group work, and lab practicals. I have never been to a lab before in my life (actually my entire experience is limited to looking at a piece of hair and a slice of onion through a microscope once in my life, in about 9th grade), but now I suddenly have my own personal lab coat, glasses, and I know how to do things at a lab! It's very exciting. It is also easy to study it all with my course, because most of us seem very at home and know exactly what they are doing.
In my first practical we looked at how protein is digested in human body - in the stomach and in the small intestine. Basically, nothing which we expected from reading the book, happened (:D), but it is still such a nice way to learn! It makes things much more clear and easier to remember, when we go like "ok, now we pretend we are in the stomach so we add a little bit this acid; and now we are going to small intestine, so this one comes in and makes the environment more alkaline again". And all the steps our protein has to go trough according to the protocol, are exactly the ones which were described in the book, so in the next lecture I totally remember the things, what happens and why. Also, it turns out that I am not too clumsy for lab at all, I was fine :).
Here I am, little happy lab nerd ;)

Currently, we are designing and carrying out our own little intervention studies, and participating in our course-mates' studies. That is so odd. Basically we are learning about biomarkers. Knowing how full of errors the information from lets say a food records can be, when wanting to measure the actual energy intake (people cant remember or cant´describe exactly how they were cooking, or want to pretend that they eat more than they do or less and we dont know the exact nutrient composition of the type of food they're eating etc etc), we would like to know if there are components in the diet (and therefore in the body after you've eaten your diet), which we could measure. So each of us has to record what we eat, what we do, and then gather 2 times 24 hour urine samples.
A 24 hour urine sample means that you gather your entire urine for these 24 hours in a container. There are pills we have to take, so we could later check in the lab if the urine sample is complete (the pills are not used for anything and therefore excreted in the urine in the same amounts as they were in the pills), so we cant cheat. And so we all just walk around with a 3-liter container in our purse or packbag and pee in it every time we have to, for 48 hours in total. It is so strange. I went to lecture today, and normally after the lecture we all sit and chill and study at campus; today, as soon as we were off, people were rushing home to pee :D. Also, if you do have it in your bag, the liquid in the plastic container makes the sound, so everyone can hear how much pee you're carrying around and...ooh...it is all so so so strange. Also, it needs to be stored in a fridge. I really dont know. At least it totally increases my respect to people when I read studies like "..Thirty 24-hour urine samples were collected for each participant.."
It's Helen's birthday today and we are going to a restaurant for dinner later. That should be good fun with the containers ;D.
Well anyway. After we have gathered the samples, we will analyse them, and try to see if the intake reported on the food record is in any kind of relation with the biomarker (eg. urinary sucrose for sugar and sucrose intake, or nitrogen for eating protein). And then, if we discover that it always corresponds the same way to intake, then in the future we could just make everybody collect their pee for us rather than having a food diary or a recall, so we would know exactly what they're eating and could give them good advise, or at least could know if and how much they are lying about the food records. Obviously the teachers already know the answer, so we are not actually discovering anything, but all the nastiness aside, I think it is actually a rather cool way of studying ;). Eventually we will write a report on everything we did, which is basically like an article which could be published in a scientific journal or like a mini masters thesis.
This is the big lab work for one subject, and there will be plenty more in the other. So I get to use my lab coat many times, so cool! :)

I have really lived into this student life, and gotten used to the constant overflow of all kinds of study materials and texts (as opposed to the start of period 1, when it frustrated me so much that I felt I never have any time for anything besides reading at all). Suddenly I feel how I am in a constant rhythm of studying and doing other things, little at a time, but enough of everything. I am keeping up with the same hobbies - I run, yoga (also with youtube, still ;)), debate and learn Dutch. With winter coming, I have also started to do a little bit chrocheting (? heegeldamine ;D), which is fun, and I can do it while I read for uni, so even better.
One day, the Saturday after the last exams, I went to a bit bigger city than Wageningen, to Utrecht with my neighbor Ben and his Belgium friend, and spent a nice day there. It's funny, I am originally a small town girl and should be used to peace and quiet like in Wageningen. But when we went to Utrecht and I saw the first H&M, my heart jumped with joy of recognition like "whoow, we've gotten back to real world with H&M and traffic and not one cow in sight" :D. Yeah, it was very nice to be there, but even better to then come back to our own little peace and quiet Wageningen, which I've really started to appreciate and consider much homeish.
On top of that I've had some nice dinners with my Indian, German and Indonesian neighbours, with my AID "dad"-s and couple of other friends. I've been to one party too, but no..I think parties here are too much like a high-school disco, and possibly I myself am becoming too old or academic to enjoy them the same way I did. But anyway, life is totally happening, and I like it :).

The next weeks are also going to be interesting :). On 11. November, I will go to Denmark for a long weekend, to bring some of my stuff, attend an early Christmas party, see friends and have a lot of fun! (I guess whether or not I still like partying will be demonstrated there :D). After that I will be back at Wageningen for a week and then go to a 10-day debating training camp in Slovenia. I am so looking forward! And in December, I am going to participate in my first debating competition! After that there are already exams again and Christmas with home and family in Estonia!! Time goes so fast. But I am sure that plenty of funny happenings will fit between right now and Christmas, and I'll make sure to write about them ;).

The blog has recently again become so much about me and what I do, think, and am, but I am thinking, and will try, to write about something health-related and more interesting/relevant to everybody, soon. Just not about urinary sucrose :/. I wait til I get a better topic ;).

Long post as ever, maybe next one will be short and precise ;D.

I wish you all all the best, be happy, be active and enjoy the last autumn weathers before very soon welcoming the winter and Christmas! ( I joined gym!! :) in case it gets too cold or muddy for running).

Ciao!

little bit of Utrecht

autumn from window at uni

and happy me and Helen after the first exam at Wageningen UR. This will become a historical picture for when we are old and scientists ;)

Exam week!

It's here, it's here!

My first ever exam week at Wageningen University started today! Even though it's not so crazy busy - I had statistics today and will have Epidemilogy on Friday, it is still very exciting and fun for a nerd like me! :)
I don't know how statistics went - some things I knew and some things I didn't quite, but also, I would be amazed if I'd suddenly know everything at a statistics exam.
For epidemiology I have to do a lot of studying. With all its terms and equations, it is rather confusing, and because for me all this public health thing is not so very interesting, then my brain doesn't always want to think about all these things, even though I have the book open in front of me.
However, I will also be amazed if I know everything at the epidemiology exam, so I'll do my best to do so ;).

I'll write more when I study less,
have fun and be happy :)

Best,
Me

Dutch class went well

I can now say

Kirsi en Kristjan zijn broer en zus.

It's Wednesday I'm in love!

Life's great :).

When you don't know where to start, it is nice to start from the beginning. If you don't know where the beginning is, you can start from where ever seems suitable.
I start from survival run. It seems so long time ago now, that it's even strange to write about it, but Im so proud of me and Helen that we actually did it, that I can't not mention it :D. Well..in all honesty, before the run, everyone's main concern seemed to be that what if it is too boring. We were all totally wrong! :D
Apparently, there's a team in Wageningen who does this kind of training regularly, and they had set up our track by the river Rhine, in mud, cow shit (sorry, but really! loads of it!) bushes, ditches etc etc. It was crazy! We had to climb on ropes, both horizontally (I did it! for the first first first time ever in my life!) and vertically (kind of being "on" the rope, though I was most of the time under :/). We had to jump INTO water that was up to my neck, several times! Then we had to crawl and throw and carry things, climb, balance and so on. Eventually it also got dark, so we were just in the dark forest doing something :D.
It was so nice! During the run I even thought that I would like to do it regularly. But then, after I got home, spent an hour at the shower, wearing clothes that were STILL muddy, and smelled like it, I changed my mind. But cool anyway.
I have often thought that in nowadays world, unless you're a professional athlete, being fit doesn't really give you anything (yeah, surely you feel better and can do more things and will probably live longer with less trouble), but being strong and being able to f ex run for a long time doesn't really count outside the gym or that running competition, and you don't really need very much strength for everyday life (carrying shopping bags, babies, and taking the stairs..). So it was so nice to actually need it for once. And I am glad to announce, that if my life depended on it, I would survive! ;) I'll post some funny photos too ;).

On a more peaceful topic - I have discovered the thing I never thought I'll ever gonna even consider - I am a youtube athlete! :D:D:D   It started out rather ok - because I have the yoga mat but yoga's only once a week, I once tried youtube-yoga. And then twice, and then some more times and then I liked it so much that I started doing it rather often. Which is not too funny, in my opinion. But then, one day, I decided Im too fed up with my yoga-Tim and all these American over-excited yoga teachers whose  voice rather causes stress than relieves it, so I decided to move on. :D. Im sorry it's all so funny for me. I, by no means, want to laugh at other people who do youtube sports, but just that I have always died of laughter thinking of turning a laptop on and then starting to jump in front or with it or whatever with it, and now I'm doing it myself :D. That's why it makes me laugh so much. Well anyway, by now I have already tried aerobics, zumba, latin dances, body bump ( and booty bump :D) and even martial arts.
Well, as much as I laugh, my point is, that actually, it wasn't that bad. (just remember to put your curtains down ;D). But really, it is cheap, fast and efficient way to train. And even though all the activeness was a bit too much for me, yoga I really like. So believe it or not, this here is almost like a recommendation to try youtube sports. You can do it just at home, for as long as you want, with who you like (I think you could have 3 trainers a day and still not run out of them after a year), choose the level you like, and get professional advice and good-quality examples. I say it's totally cool! ..but just remember to put curtains down, so other people wouldn't die of laughing if they're like me.

Besides that, I think I am getting smart. I think the thing which I observed in the start, that everyone is smart and academic, is now reaching me too! Whereas in the start I rather got frustrated when there was too much to study and always felt like its impossible to keep up with everything and didn't know half the time what the teachers are going on about, because all their words made as little sense as the words they used for explaining these words; then now suddenly I am answering their questions and explaining to my classmates, and when my classmates explain to me, I also understand and..it's nice :). It's always cool to do the things at which you're good at, and the better I feel I get at studying or being smart, the more I want to do it. So I'm highly motivated in becoming the smartest person on earth! Which (I am at least smart enough to know) is not gonna happen, but I keep on trying.

And it's also hard not to feel like a scientist - today for example, I studied at university (notice how I'm not even calling it "school" anymore) how you should, of course, always be willing to discuss your research with other researchers and professors and scientists, but also be careful not to reveal too much, in case they go ahead and steal your theory to publish it under their name. I mean - who even learns things like that?! Only people who are likely to come up with something which other scientists might want to publish under their name, right? So I just stared, being shocked for having to discuss these kind of issues, and then went along with it ;).

Tonight is my first ever Dutch lesson (it is actually lesson nr 4, just first time I'll make it, so we'll see how it goes); this week is the last week of lectures, next week is study week and then it's exam week. Exciting!

Btw, another thing about Netherlands - it is so beautiful and so well-organized, that if you go biking around, it looks like you've opened a story book for kids, where there's horses and cows and sheep and nice houses and gardens and plants and fields. And the animals are ALWAYS clean and happy.
I went biking with my neighbor boys on Sunday and we didn't find even one place which didn't look like a fairy tale, or not even one dirty cow, pig or sheep. Also, all the animals play with each other, all the time, that's just how happy they are. Welcome to Netherlands!

Maybe a good thing to learn from the animals and birds and butterflies - all of them know how to play, enjoy and be happy for being alive. We shall also remember :).

Best of luck with everything!
Me

of how nice are market days

Flat and pretty Netherlands

Indian food, Chinese tea, international us, and Sunday 

Beautiful animals playing and  just being happy and clean :D

Survivors!

monki

Helen going for it! :D

About hobbies

Hallo-hallo!

No matter how academic the atmosphere and how little I understand of my fellow-students' "everyday" discussions, one can't just only study, right? At least I can't. So I've picked up some nice activities, many of which I've never done before.
They say you are what you eat. And you most definitely are what you do. So we'll see what turns out of me with all these hobbies or whether or not they'll last, but here they are:

1. From comedy to Debating
First of all things, I tried Comedy Club (just because it was on a Monday, not because it was my first priority). The point was, that some people who already have experience with stand-up comedy, theater, and other kinds of performing arts or public performing. would teach the "new people" how to perform, how to make comedy, how to be, talk, walk and behave on stage. It sounded such a good idea, and certainly about skills that one is going to need in life. Also, I was thinking, that if I am going to become a lifestyle counselor, I would only benefit out of knowing how to do public performances, how to look, and how to be amusing. And then once or twice a month, there are actual comedy evenings, where they then joke to whoever comes to listen.
I must say, I was a bit intimidated. I dont really think I can start joking just because I know I have to. And also, the way all these comedy people communicate to eachother, and to me, and how I feel like im not fast enough to react :D. So I took my friend Ben with, as a moral support or such. Ben already knew, he's never gonna join, but as a good friend (he's also my neighbor, so he probably just didnt wanna upset me :/:D), came with. Turned out, it was quite funny. I laughed several times and enjoyed myself. But..I dont know..somehow it all still seemed a bit odd and a bit like..not for me. I dont know why, but sometimes one can just feel it I guess. It wasn't made any better by Ben's announcement that if I am really gonna join this place, he promises, he will never laugh at any of my jokes ever again, because for sure I've just learned them there, so they're not really jokes but more like a practiced...art. or. what. Which really made me paranoid - suddenly I was sure that's how everybody would think, even, that that was what I was thinking myself. So that's where  it ended for me and the comedy club.
Instead, I picked up yoga on Mondays, and made a mental note, to invite Ben to the first Comedy Evening to see what we'll think.
Yoga is cool, yoga I like, and there I am definitely going to stay. (and meditation I might pick up too ;) :P:P)

But to debating, then. That's on Thursdays, so I had a bit time to recover and reflect upon my strange feelings from the Comedy Club.  As a starters, we all had to say why're we there. Everybody went like "..cause I used to do debating there and there and have done it all my life and.." so I got quite intimidated once again, because my only reason was that "I think it's a good skill to have in life". But all my concerns were totally wrong, debating is so much fun! Just as I felt a little off at the comedy thing, I felt perfectly "on" at the debating! Basically same - same, isn't it, you have to talk in front of many people, do a public performance, think of what you are saying and how; how you look, how you speak and what impression you make.
I actually didn't know much about debating before. But turns out it is not at all just a bunch of people arguing, and it is actually even nicer than when you see it on TV with the politicians. Everybody has equal amount of time to prepare, to speak, we have an order for speaking, and (my favourite of all:) you debate under the assumption that the other part will never change their mind. So it is not them you try to convince, but the judge. The judge gives points for arguments, and for role fulfillment (everyone is given a position either in the government or opposition, with different rules). Last time we were debating pro and against polygamy, which eventually got quite heated :D. but some topics are also more fun and sweet like "This house says there should also be green and yellow smurfs not just blue". :D. Anyway, debating I like, and I hope one day I go to the world's championships ;).

Running. Is of course no news, but seems to me I'm becoming an event-runner! :D. I've normally also done 1 or 2 running competitions a year, but here it's already like 2 in 7 days already! Last Saturday, me and my team of 11 people participated in a run around Wageningen, 88 km in total! Each of us ran a distance between 5 and 12 km, and all in all it took us from 8 in the morning until 19:30 in the evening. In total we ended the day 27th out of 57 teams. It was so much fun! Mostly, of course, we waited. I ran 8,8 km with just under 45 minutes, the rest of the day I was just waiting :D. Like we all. Luckily we had a really fun team and the sun was shining! When the run was finally done (another Estonian girl Helen ran the last bit and finished for our team ;)), we all went home, had shower, and met again for dinner. Pizzas and wine of course! Afterwards a few of us wanted to go out, so we all went first to one place which was too crowded, then to another one, for a beer, but then, when the party-mood-people wanted to go to yet another place, it was too much for most of us - everybody just wanted to go home and sleeeeep. So some did, some didnt. I gave dancing a try, but no..bed won real fast ;). I post some photos of the run in the end :).
Now on Thursday, me and Helen and some others from our saturday-team are going to participate in a survival run! and in November, we (I?) have this night-race planned, where the start for 11km run is given first at 23:15! sounds cool!
I also spent some unbelievable 40 euros on compression socks because my CEP running sleeves had to retire and I couldnt find any leg sleeves here, only socks, which is SO annoying for me, as I cant be bothered with the socks thing because you have to wash them allll the time and then theyre always wet when you need them. but anyway. Other than that I hope they'll be their money worth and hold my shins fine and happy :).

Then, on Sundays, I go to church. There's a student church here, in English, and it is so very good for the soul.

And then, on top all, I seem to have also started considering myself as an arty person :D. Or maybe I have just forgotten that I am not. Anyway, I have already painted 2 paintings to my room, + one finger-painting, which Ben and I made the other day, just cause we had nothing better to do.
On top of that I have the coolest self-decorated mirror (I must add a photo of that too ;)). I always wanted a mirrror, because as we all have heard, dutch people are really tall. And they really are. So my bathroom mirror only shows from my hair til just under my nose. (also I cant use the upper shelves of my kitchen cupboard cause they're too high up :/).  So one day I finally found a mirror for free from the "physical dropbox", we have just down my street, but it was still hanging on someone's cupboard door. I didn't need the entire cupboard, but the mirror of course didnt come open from the door, so I ended up taking the whole door :D. But because the door then looked so ugly in the middle of my room, I had to decorate it. Now it has 21 flying persons and some flowers and butterflies on it. On the same time, the door hinges (???) which used to connect the door to the cupboard can perfectly be used as jewelry and hair-thing - holders ;). Such genius I am!

And then I learned that 70% of all farm land on Earth is under cattle; that there is equally many morbidly obese and starving to death people; that middle-class with their crazy meat consumption, is going to lead us all to starvation within the next couple hundred years (because we raise the cattle for their meat rather than taking care of the land and growing plants); then i watched some bad ugly movies about chicks and chicken and cows who are raised for becoming our food, and their sad little lives, and am more convinced than ever that it is the only right thing for me to do, not to cook meat when I am on my own. ( I love grill parties and when mum makes good food, which has food in, but I hate preparing meat on my own, so I never do). So I've been laughing for a while and calling myself a "home-vegetarian". But that I have been avoiding animal products as milk,cheese, eggs and all kinds of meat-products for a while too now, it seems that i am even becoming a "home-vegan". I dont know if one can call that a hobby though, but it is what it is, and I like it :).
Now, picture time!

My lovely mirror ;)

Take that, first world! Another hobby - sending letters, like a lonely old lady ;)

Playing yatziii (however its witten) while waiting for our running-turns :)

Meal of real sportsman - insect brownie. And our dietary future instead of animal meat?

Just only finishing my run, but already trying to get undressed :D

..only for the smoothest vest-change ever ;)

waiting vol 100000000, but mood stays good :)

Running last meters together :)

Team Awesome!!

19:30 - no social skills left

..but who cares? (aka we are weird, what's your problem?)

and we are three!:D

Dinner <3 

Finish! Our star-runner, directly from Estonia - Helen!

Loveyoubye!
Me

Two years later :/:D

Wageningen

aka Alati tahtsin maaülikooli minna, nüüd viimaks sain

As I moved to the Netherlands, to a small town Wageningen with 40 000 people, to do my MSc in Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University and Research Center, I figured it's about time I reactivate the blog :).

I've only been here for 3 weeks and uni only started 1 week ago, so I'll just put my first impressions down. 

I have cows as neighbors! Really really - what I would call the back yard of our houses, there's cows. On the other side, there are fields, and within a ca 500m radius from my house, one can see cows, ponys, horses, sheep, and many many fields. My friends study Plant Science, Landscape Architecture, Animal Sciences and Food Production, for example and are all from different countries. We all bike. No matter if it's 10m or 10km distance, we bike. On every Wednesday and Saturday, there's market at the town center by the church, where everybody buys their fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, cheese and bread. The town is lovely! On the one hand, it is small enough to have this small-town feeling, on the other, there is always something going on. There are so many students here as well! It's a little bit funny, but also very nice, that we all live in the same places, we all bike, all go to Uni - are all so different but on the same time the same, too.

And everybody seems so smart! The atmosphere is really academic (even after one week of studies I can also see why, the workload at Uni is crazy!) and discussions are always so smart and far out :D. It is very nice and very inspiring.

I am so happy and grateful that life continues to be an adventure, keeps surprising, entertaining and educating me. 

I'll write again before another 2 years pass! :)

Kirsi