Justin Vernon - Easy

Biffy Clyro - Many Of Horror

I know I don’t use tumblr as much as I was hoping too but sometimes a song hits you so hard you have to share it.

Regina - Olen häviöllä, Pauli

Boxcutter - Foxy

heavy.

(this is the tree outside my window)

Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)

it’s been a long time since i last did one of these blogs so i better make this one good value. i’m writing this sat at my desk at work having just started a preparative gel giving me a little bit of time to kill. work is going ok - i’ve mostly been using techniques i learnt last year in molecular biology such as PCR, DNA liquid/gel extraction, electrophoresis, cell culture and plating. it’s good that i haven’t been thrown in at the deep end and have a good understanding of what i’m doing. the day goes so quickly and i often find myself in work until 6 finishing off an experiment or writing up a lab report. if you’re really that interested in what i’m doing out here you can take a look at the ABE project website.

i haven’t made many trips outside of turku in the last few weeks mainly because the weekends i have free i’m often tired from a long week at work. hopefully this weekend i’m going to cycle out to the archipelago and maybe rent a boat with a couple of others to explore some of the tiny islands. in the coming months however i’ve already made plans to visit talinn (the coastal capital of estonia), stockholm (hopefully to see kings of convenience!) and my trip to lapland (defo the most exciting) is already booked for the 2nd december! i’m not sure when i’ll have the opportunity to visit st petersburg but it’ll probably not be until the new year.

the kitchen parties are great here. town and the clubs are so expensive we tend to recreate the locations in our kitchens with crates of the cheapest beer from lidl. it was so hot and crowded in our kitchen on saturday night i could been in any one of the terrible clubs i frequent back home - the main difference was the banging electro i was playing (and people were dancing!). i think we’re planning on having a couple more this week in an attempt to win the unofficial title of ‘best party kitchen’ from our neighbours.

in finland the seasons change so quickly and you can tell autumn is almost upon us. the leaves are starting the turn and it’s getting darker earlier each night. the mornings are crisp and apparently it’s only a matter of weeks before the first frosts. autumn is my favourite season so i’m definitely excited for it. before i know it i guess i’ll be back in england for christmas and i’m bloody excited about it. i’ve booked my flight home for the 17th december planning a few nights in surrey before coming back to macclesfield until the new year. defo excited about this.

i’ve run out of things to say for now and my gel has almost finished.

here are some photos of where i live:

kate nash - purple rain

this is a brilliant cover of the infamous prince song. by no means an improvement but it’s a very good effort (and i don’t even like kate nash that much!)

so after short journey on the train this afternoon i’ve arrived here in turku and am settling into my room. it’s pretty lush with my own bathroom and fridge in here. we’re having a small party in our kitchen tonight so i’m hoping to meet some people then. not much real news but looking forward to getting set up with a bank account and student card tomorrow as well as exploring the city a little before the start of my orientation on wednesday.

the cribs - be safe (ft. lee ranaldo of sonic youth)

i hate packing and have so much of it still to do. it really doesn’t want to all fit into my bags. much prefer uploading awesome music onto tumblr.

with just a week left here things are good here in helsinki - this time next week i’ll hopefully be moved in and settled down in turku.  another busy week is lined up with a sauna night on wednesday and my finnish exam followed a night out at the ‘helsinki drum & bass & dubstep conference’ on friday. the language is still bloody impossible but it feels like i’m making a bit of progress.  was missing home for the first time this evening - would’ve loved to have seen some friends and gone to the flowerpot pub quiz!

not really got much to say nor any new photos to share. hopefully i’ll get a few more shots before i leave this beautiful city.

another photo taken from suomenlinna looking out towards the mainland

last night we had a pasta party at ida albergin hosted by the four italians. they really did their nation proud cooking 6kg of pasta to 30 or so hungry erasmus students. tasted so good. combined with cheap beer and expensive vodka we had a really great night in.

one of my better photos from yesterday’s trip to suomenlinna shot just before a massive thunderstorm.

The XX - Crystalised.

Been enjoying this track from the forthcoming album XX by The XX a lot recently. If you like make sure you check out them out. What they lack in good album artwork they make up with a great sound.