Aino blabbering

I still have 20 minutes to go! I decided to use the time to analyze what I have learned, what I still have to learn and how would I do things differently if I had the chance. I wanted to focus on listening, because that has always been my weakness. It usually doesn't come up when I'm having a conversation with a Finn in English, but I notice it when I'm watching a movie or listening to music. I think my listening skills improved. A couple nights ago I was at a bar and for the first time I figured out the lyrics to a song I have heard years ago for the first time! (I'm not telling which song, it's dirty.) I still could be better, though. But this summer I have a great chance to study more English, since I'll be abroad for a month. I think I should have focused on writing a bit, too. I just sort of forgot about it, since I think it's clearly my strength. Or at least in matriculation exams and when practicing for it my best scores came always from essays. Wel...

I read Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. It was interesting to notice that when I collected the words, it was a bit harder to understand what I was reading, but when I just kept reading, the unfamiliar words sort of sunk in to the text and I didn't even pay attention. Amount of hours: 30min

Hobbies. Almost every kid has or has had them, and they are considered a good way to spend free time. I think they can be, but they can be quite harmful, too. I used to practice gymnastics as a kid. A lot. When I was at my top levels, during the last years of comprehensive school, we had 5 to 6 practices a week and competitions. A practice lasted 3 hours, or if it was the second training of the day, 2 hours. I wasn't that good, though. I didn't love what I did. I did it because I knew no other ways to live. I didn't know what people did when they didn't have a practice. I used every second of my day to manage to do everything I have to. I still hung out with friends, too. I remember that if got out of school at 2 pm and had a practice at 5 I could tell a friend that I can see them after school. Still have no idea how I did it. I still did my homework every time. Just don't know when. My trainer were all a little weird. I think they had no idea how a kid's min...

So far I have done ALMS for 96h 25min.

I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I have read the book before, but I noticed that it was way easier this time. Amount of hours: 5h

I like to use colorful and descriptive language when I write something. It's naturally way easier in Finnish, because I know a lot more descriptive words. So let's change that! Or, well, not change, but let's make the difference smaller! Narrower? Tigher? First I am going to think about words I usually use to describe something in English. Then I am going to look for synonymes or other similar words to use instead of them, that I either didn't know beforehand or I seldom use. NICE  cordial, ducky, swell STUPID dull, foolish, futile, ill-advised, ludicrous BORING humdrum (omg what a word!), stodgy, tedious ANNOYING aggravating, bothersome ANXIOUS distressed, jittery Next, I am going to read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in order to find descriptive words that seem fun (pleasant, enjoyable, lively...) but I yet don't use and write them down. insolent - röyhkeä apoplectic - raivostunut reckless - uhkarohkea, huimapäinen frantic - epätoi...

I asked my boyfriend what should I do to practice English and he asked for stories about himself. Narcissist... So here we go. We met about a year ago at a schooling in Linnanmäki. I was studying in Maisemajuna and he came in and introduced himself. We chatted for a bit and I thought he seemed nice. Next time we met on May Day weekend at Kirnu. I think neither one of us really wanted to be there but partying, but we actually had so much fun. Maybe too much, I think the customers were afraid to come in since we were laughing about 8 hours a day hysterically... We then went on a date, though I wasn't really sure what I wanted with him. Nothing really happened yet, but we started to hang out more and we became really close and talked about everything. The summer with him was really fun, we went on his parents' cottage, cooked food (a little), went out to eat (a lot) and wandered around Kerava and Viikki. At the beginning of August we decided that we are "officially"...

I practiced country names with a map in English again. This time a got 100 percent right! Wippii! Amount of hours: 30min

Day in the summer It's 11 o'clock in the morning. We arrived to Split a couple of hours ago with the overnight train. We went to a small coffee house to get breakfast with two girls we met on the train, Alice and Chelsea. I got hot chocolate, orange juice and a croissant filled with cheese and jam. They cost 3,45 euros in total, God, I love the prices here. If I hadn't paid 350 euros on the train ticket's and they didn't charge me extra for every goddamn train I took, I'd say this has been a cheap trip. We are going to be here for a couple of days, so after breakfast we went to our hostel. It was a small place near the sea. We booked a four person room with Al and Chel. They don't like those nicknames but, oh, well. Al and Chel they are. They are from Ireland and they are really fun! Al is 20 years old and Chel is 19. Chel is quite competitive and lively, Al is softer and more of an organizer. That is quite good, since none of the other 3 of us really is. M...

Today I have been studying English in various ways. I watched Interrail videos online and read some Interrail blogs. Then I watched a tutorial in English on how to solve the Rubik's cube's third layer and practiced it while watching Modern Family with English subtitles. Fun! Amount of hours: 3h

I'm watched YouTube and tried to concentrate on the ways they say things, but it was really hard. Maybe I will do it again sometime. Amount of hours: 30min

So far I have done ALMS for 83h 40min.

Today I watched Friends without subtitles and tried to collect sayings and things that are said in a way that directly is translated into something else. Here is what I collected: I can't help it Wasn't working for me Give me an E (huutakaa E) Don't get me started They hit it off Pull off Amount of hours: 2h 20min

Today we had our conversation group meeting. W e talked about religion, worldviews and politics. We also discussed different kinds of sport fan cultures, spectator sports and tattoos. It was fun and interesting.  Amount of hours: 2h

So I decided that I want to listen to music again, but this time not to collect the words but to collect the meaning. So I am going to listen to a song, then try to explain it with a few words and then look at the lyrics and decide whether my explanation was good enough. First song: Radioactive  by Imagine Dragons Yeah, I don't really understand what they sing about. Something about apocalypse and and new age, but I don't even know what the radioactive-part has to do with. I checked the lyrics and I don't know what the song tells about. I technically understand the lyrics, but I can't interpret them. I am going to talk about them with my sister, because I got a bit interested. I will continue this later. All this English hurts my head. Amount of hours: 20min

I watched YouTube videos and tried to concentrate on the vocabulary. I didn't actively collect unfamiliar words but when I came across a word I knew I don't know, I took it down. I found two, "laugh tracks" (naurutus, you know, pre laughed films etc.) and something I thought was slautching, but the word doesn't exist, so I don't really know. Amount of hours: 1h 15min

So far I have done ALMS for 77h 50min. Still missing 20h 20min.

I watched Modern Family and nigahiga's YouTube videos without subtitles and tried to collect all the unfamiliar words. I got one. Tuba-strap rash . (And I cheated a bit with that too, when I came across it I put the subtitles on to see how it is written.) It is easy to find unfamiliar words when you can see the words all the time, but like this it becomes much more challenging. I think my brain filled the spots with unfamiliar words so that I didn't even realize that there was an unfamiliar word. And some words were just so weird that I couldn't even try to write it down. Even though my exercise was not that successful, it helped me to concentrate on the language. Amount of hours: 1h 30min

I'm supposed to be doing my... Wow, I don't know the word. You know, the paper for my bachelors degree? Anyways, I tried to download Matlab to plot functions for it, but something weird just happened so now I'm waiting for my dad to come and fix everything, so I have time to do English. Fun! Also, I can be waiting for my dad because I came to my hometown to spend time with my family and actually to see Ilves-Tappara quarterfinal game. And in the game I found a song, which I love, and which feels perfect for this situation. So I'm going to do the lyrics thing again. First listening: there's a child you would wait and watch for SOMETHING away but you always knew you'd be to born to work (?) while they all play and you've you lay awake and not at skeem of all the things that you would change but it was just a dream here we are don't turn away now we are the warriors that built this town here we are don't turn away now we are...

I watched nigahiga's YouTube videos today for two hours. They are really funny and quite easy to follow, or then I have just been improving. Amount of hours: 2h

I got an idea from my friend in ALMS to collect mathematical words in English. Here we go. summa - sum tulo - product osamäärä - quotient erotus - remainder alkuluku - prime number parillinen - even pariton - odd alkio - element joukko - set leikkaus - intersection yhdiste - union luku - number käänteisluku - reciprocal deismaaliluku - decimal number murtoluku - fraction rationaaliluku - rational number irrationaaliluku - irrational number kompleksiluku - complex number reaaliluku - real number algebra - algebra todennäköisyyslaskenta - probability anlyysi - analysis funktio - function käänteisfunktio - inverse function oletus - assumption/postulate todistus - proof I will continue this later. Amount of hours: First time: 30min

I watched a movie called  Rumor Has It with English subtitles. It was kind of easy, so I guess I have been improving. The movie was also funny. Amount of hours: 1h 30min

Last weekend I watched some videos made by Jenna Marbles on YouTube. They were really funny and I understood everything. The weird thing about her videos is that she has a weird way of speaking and I have to concentrate a little to keep with her vocabulary. Amount of hours: 30 min

Last weekend I watched an hour long video of Anthony Jeselnik's stand up comedy. It was really dark humor, almost horrifying, but I kind of liked it. The language was easy for the most part, but some words were new to me. I was still able to follow almost all the time, except for some specific funeral vocabulary... Amount of hours: 1h

We have had one conversation group meeting last week and one meeting this week. Last week we discussed religion and mathematics and this week we talked about fears and somehow ended up to cities. It was fun and interesting, and I realized that fears sound like fierce. Amount of hours: First meeting: 1h 30min Second meeting: 2h Total amount: 2h 30min

Yesterday I watched As Good as It Gets without subtitles. It was kind of difficult but luckily the movie was good so it was easier to try to keep on track. I still had to ask my boyfriend every now and then what somebody said, because I didn't understand everything. Getting better, though! Amount of hours: 2h 20min

So far I have done ALMS for 65h, so I am still missing 33h. Not too much to go!

I still find it easier to watch movies with English subtitles so that's what I have been doing. I tried to watch Anger Management but for some reason I found it really distressing, so after half an hour I switched to Yes Man. My goal is that at some point I will find it comfortable to watch movies without any subtitles but I don't think I am there yet even though my listening skills have been improving. Amount of hours: 2h 15min

I couldn't think of anything to do so I played hangman. Man, that is hard in English! They seem to use so much more different letters than we do. Other than that I didn't really learn anything and it was boring. Not again. Amount of hours: 15min

I am going on an interrail this summer! It's going to be so much fun and I'm super exited so I'm going to tell a little bit about my existing plans and try to make new ones. We are going with my little sister and we will leave shortly after the graduation weekend - 5.6. with morning ship to be exact. We have been trying to decide where we are going to go, my sister definitely wants to go to Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but we would have a house we could stay in in Portugal. We have been leaning towards the east and southeast, so probably we will go first to Czech and from there to Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then we will go to Greece and stay in there for a couple of days and then take a ship to Italy. After that we don't have any more plans and I don't think we will come up with any, probably we will go where the train takes us. When the time is up we will probably fly to Finland. Bucket list 🌡 Swim in the Mediterranean 🌡 Go to a party at...

We had a support group meeting today and we talked about life. Amount of hours: 2h

We played this guessing game with my boyfriend in English. He thought about a word and I had to guess which word by using questions that could be answered with yes or no. It was actually a lot more challenging in English that I would have thought. We also listened to some new songs and thought about the meaning of their lyrics. Amount of hours: 30min

I watched Back to the Future 2 with English subtitles. I think I have developed in listening and was able to concentrate on the language and pay attention to unfamiliar phrases. Amount of hours: 2h

Today I watched Modern Family  with English subtitles and repeated out loud the unfamiliar words. I learned a couple new pronunciations and some words. I also tried to find unfamiliar phrases. Amount of hours: 4h

I have been watching Modern Family  and collecting unfamiliar words. Here: caress - helliä run errands - asioida pinpoint - paikantaa phantom - aave fussy - pikkutarkka, nirso whirl - pyörre spook - kummitus, agentti tumbling - rumpuhionta overbear - murskata, masentaa chime - soittokello arrhythmia - rytmihäiriö hereditary - perinnöllinen revive - elvyttää hazy - utuinen sheer - ohut, äkkijyrkkä, pelkkä, puhdas, silkka decal - tarra rein - ohjastaa coax - houkutella micromanagement -  link gunslinger - pyssymies infuse - täyttää reel it in - don't bother, calm down cranium - pääkoppa shifty - vaihteleva dispute - kiista sediment - sedimentti blunder - moka Amounr of hours: 2h 30min

I read a book called Before I Fall . It was about a girl who relived the day of her death until she made the right choices. It was actually really touching, even though I didn't like the first half of it. Mostly I learned teenage texting slang, which was good, I guess. Amount of hours: 8h

So far I have done ALMS for 42,25h

I read a book My Firs Murder from Leena Lehtolainen translated in English. The vocabulary was a bit challenging (which took me by surprise since it was originally Finnish, though I don't actually know why that affected my expectations). I also find detective stories a bit hard to follow since there are so many characters and I tend to forget who is who, so it was actually a good challenge for me to read a detective story, maybe I'll do another at some point. Amount of hours: 8h

First listening: take a break rest your head close your eyes you are right just lay down turn my side feel my heat over your skin take off your clothes no one can find them don't be so shy you're right you're right take off my clothes oh bless me father don't ask me why you're right you're right oh my SOMETHING i've been coSOMETHING can you feel my hips in your head i'm laying down by your side but just a sweap for your skin take off... my heart just raised so much faster i've done myself in holy water my eyes just got so much brighter AND SOMETHING yeah so much closer end the dark i see your smile SOMETHING heat on my skin take off... Second listening: take a break rest your head close your eyes you are all right just lay down turn my side feel my heat over your skin take off your clothes no one can find them don't be so shy you're all right you're all right take off my ...

I have been sick for five days now, and I haven't been able to do my studies. Today I decided I feel well enough to do a little something for ALMS. I tried reading a book, but I fell asleep for two hours after one chapter, so I decided to do something lighter. So I watched gymnastics videos on YouTube with English commentaries. I like doing it because as a child I practiced gymnastics and it has stayed close to my heart even though through the last years I kind of hated it. I have learned some new vocabulary, and it is actually kind of easy way to learn, as I see all the time what is happening, and can make a connection with the word and the movement. Amount of hours: 4h

In our conversation group we discussed Finnish television acting and travelling. Conversation was interesting though I didn't know that much about Finnish acting that I would have had anything really interesting to say about that. Amount of hours: 2h

During this week I read a book called Wedding Night . The book was good and during reading I remembered why I love reading and also why I do it so rarely. When I read, I do nothing but read. It took me 12 hours to read the book from cover to cover. I started on monday evening and I had read the book on wednesday before lunch. I did learn some new vocabulary and expressions. Weirdest thing was that the first unfamiliar word was said by a man from Germany and the main character wondered how a foreigner would even know such a word. Well, obiviously all of us don't. Amount of hours: 12h

I did three science crosswords in https://www.englishclub.com/. The tasks were surprisingly hard, even though almost all the words were quite familiar. The task was fun but challenging! Amount of hours: 30min

I looked up for some vocabulary exercises today and to my horror realized that I am quite bad at nationalities, so I concentrated on them. In Finnish we just say "suomalainen" wheter we speak about Finns or Finnish something, so I realized I don't make that big difference between them in English either, even though I should. I googled some nationality exercises but it was actually quite hard to find good ones, because the websites seemed too unreliable, so I didn't really trust all their correct answers. Still, I did learn some new words and correct writing forms. And I definetely learned to pay attention to wheter I talk about Finns of Finnish. Amount of hours: 40min

I texted with my boyfriend for 50 minutes in English the other day. The goal was to normalize English in use also in written form, since many of my support groups concentrate only on speaking. It definetely felt kind of weird, since I usually talk with him in Finnish. One observation I made was that in school we are taught to speak and write formal and proper English, so I don't really know how youngsters really chat in English. I mean, we don't write "Haluatko nähdä tänään?" but "nähääks tnä", so I assume they don't either, but I don't really know how they do it. I actually would like to know some more English slang, because if I ever live abroad I don't want to come across too formal, because that might seem a bit intimidating and distant. On the other hand, maybe I'll learn it by using English with natives, so I don't have to worry about that beforehand. Amount of hours: Chatting: 50min Writing this text: 5min Total amount: 55min

I am in two support groups, conversation and field trip. Field trip started last week and conversation this week. They both seemed quite interesting and I'm looking forward to them and I'm curious to see what will they be like. Amount of hours: Field trip group: 2h Conversation group: 2h Planning movie night for conversation group: 1,5h Total amount: 5,5h

Today I watched a movie called Sausage party. It was really fun and totally horrible movie. This time I didn't use subtitles. I didn't always quite follow what they spoke about, but the plot was easy to follow so I managed ok. Amount of hours: 1h 30min

Yesterday I went to an pilates class in order to find out if it would be better than yoga in learning English, and it definetely was. Maybe it was because this time the intructor wasn't Finnish but native English speaker and she hade wider vocabulary related to the subject. Actually sometimes it really took effort to try and concentrate on the language and what I was doing at the same time, so it was way more interesting than yoga. Amount of hours: 1h

Today I also went to yoga class in English in Unisport. The vocabulary wasn't that wide but I did learn one new useful word - palms. Would have thought that I would have know that but nope. Anyways, I think this wasn't that educational, mostlty due to the user vocabulary that was pretty much like "inhale, up, exhale, down...". Maybe I will try another kind of class at some point though, but apparently there are not much yoga words. Amount of hours: 1h

Because I found the music listening task so fun, I decided to postpone my math exercices and do one more song today. This time I chose more difficult song by an old love - Red Hot Chili Peppers. I know a lot of their songs by heart, but I have mostly learned them by looking at the lyrics since I can't really understand what they say in their songs. Some songs are less familiar to me, so I chose one of them. First I tried to listen to Dark Necessities but that was clearly too hard, so I went with Desercation Smile . First listening: all alone and by myself another girl path pull my SOMETHING (nope...) i've seen it all through someone else and i know that girl that pull my hell (what) celebrated but undisturbed incerenated by the terror world it's SOMETHING and it's never her cerenated by the SOMETHING never SOMETHING desecration is the smile on my face the love i made is a shape of my space my face my face i wanna leave but i just cant stSOMETHING a br...

 I have always wanted to be better in listening to music and especially in understanding the lyrics. I decided to practise that skill by listening to the lyrics of Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses several times and try to write down the lyrics as accurately as possible. I chose the song because I have heard it many, many times and I like it, but I don't understand what it is about, and I have only understood few of its lines. During the first listening I paused pretty often to write down what I had heard, but the other times I just filled in while the music was still on. First listening: she got smile that seem to me reminds me of childhood memories where ever SOMETHING bright blue sky now and then when i see her face she takes me away to that special place and if i stand too long SOMETHING and cry woo sweet child o mine woo o o o sweet child o mine she got eyes of the bluish skies (?) SOMETHING brain (ok now im confused) SOMETHING look into those eyes an...

25.1. I also watched a movie called Back to the Future in English. I thought about not using subtitles but I changed my mind and had subtitles in English. I thought that also seeing the written form would improve my learning of new words, and I think I was right. I'm sometimes really bad at concentrating, and at the beginning I had to keep asking my boyfriend what is happening, who is he, what time is it now in the film.. As I kept watching the movie, however, I found it easier and easier to follow. I think it was quite educational to realise that I can watch a movie without Finnish subtitles and understand about everyhting, once I really concentrate on the language and on what happens. I sometimes start to watch a movie in English but fail to keep doing it, because I'm lazy and I just want to know instatly what happens. Maybe next times I will collect the unfamiliar words or try to watch the movie with no subtitles at all. Amount of hours: 2h

I have been quite interested in the political situation in the Unites States after Donald Trump - to my horror - was elected the president. Today I took advantage of a long bus ride and watched his vicotry speech and the first speech he gave as a president. I am not at my comfort zone listening to someone talk in English, so I was pleasantly surprised that he articulated so well and spoke in an understandable manner. Before when I have heard him speak, I have concentrated on what he is speaking of rather than how is he saying it, so I hadn't really noticed that before. Well, if you think about it, it is quite logical - after all, he has done international business and is now the president, so it is quite important for him that also those less fluent in English understand him. The idea behind both of his speeches was the same: "Let's work united for this country, I will make sure we build towers and buildings (and walls, naturally) and people will get jobs, I will promi...

Hi everybody! I am Aino. I study mathematics in Helsinki University. This blog is my way of keeping record of my study hours for ALMS. I will also add here some of my writings and possibly other exercises. Welcome to read my blog!