Viimeisen illan ristiriita - Last night's conflict

SUOMEKSI/IN FINNISH
Lauantai oli hieno paiva Lontoossa, ei edes satanu melkein yhtaan^^ Aloitettiin suuntaamalla King's Crossin asemalle ja otettiin paljon kuvia, mutta valitettavasti ma en paassyt juoksemaan pylvaita pain. Miksi? Koska kaikkien laiturien edessa oli portit, joista ei passyt sisaan ilman lippua. Turhaa varovaisuutta, sanon mina.
Meidan seuraava kohde oli Oxford Street tai oikeestaan sen poikkikatu, jossa oli valtava lelukauppa nimelta Hamley's. Siina oli varmaan viis tai kuus kerrosta, joista neljannessa sijaitsi tama etsimamme "Potter-kauppa", siis osastohan se oikeesti oli, mutta siella oli vaikka mita ihanaa!! Potter-tavaroiden lisaksi siella oli Sormusten Herraan ja erilaisiin scifi-leffoihin liittyvia juttuja. Ma ostin itselleni, pitkan pohdinnan jalkeen ("Aarrggh, minka ma ostan, ma haluan naa kaikki!") Ronin taikasauvan.
Hamley'sin jalkeen suunnattiin takaisin Trafalgar Squarelle, jonka lahelta meidan bussi hakisi meidat, kaytiin matkamuistokaupassa ja ostin tuliaisia. London Pride - festivaali oli just sina paivana ja just samaan aikaan siella Trafalgarilla kun me, ja mua nauratti: mita valia, etta Helsinki Pride jai valiin, ma olinki London Pridessa! Paljon siistimpaa...
Sunnuntai-aamuna oli vapaata aikaa Oxfordissa joten lahdin sitten shoppaamaan tuliaisia ja aika paljon tulikin ostettua, hupsista keikkaa. Tuliaisten lisaksi ma ostin Oxford University - t-paidan, Oxford-kalenterin ensi vuodelle ja I<3Oxford - pinssin itseani varten. Oho.
Liisa ihmemaassa on kirjotettu Oxfordissa, ja lauantai oli virallinen Alice's Day, mutta se teema jatkui edelleen sunnuntaina ja meidan iltapaivan ohjelma oli etta me mentiin Christ Church Collegen puistoon ja siella oli sellanen Caucus Race - tapahtuma, joka liittyi jotenkin tahan Aliceen ja siella olis paassu tekemaan kaiken laista jos olis jaksanu, mutta me vaan perustettiin piknikki nurmikolle kavereiden kanssa ja istuttiin siina se pakolliset puolitoista tuntia. Oli sekin ihan mukavaa, ja varmaan itse tapahtumakin olis ollu kiva jos me oltaisiin oltu kahdeksan vuotta nuorempia.
Illalla meille sitten oli maaratty tama Crazy Games. Satoi rankasti ja host-isoveli tuli kysymaan, etta ollaanko me ihan tosi menossa, vai katottaisiinko me mieluummin leffaa. Me jaatiin miettimaan asiaa ja lopulta sitten ruotsalainen kamppis soitti liiderilleen, etta tarviiko sen menna. No ei tarvi jos ei haluu. Huonon saan vuoksi mun kannykassa ei ollu kenttaa, joten ma en voinu tehda samaa juttua eli mun piti menna (vaikka host-vanhemmat kylla ystavallisesti tarjosivat omia puhelimiaan lainaksi).
Bussipysakilla tapasin kaks muuta ruotsalaista tyttoa. jotka oli saaneet tekstarin liideriltaan: saa jaada pois jos haluaa. Ja bussissa Katri ja Ninni sanoi etta ne oli myos saaneet sen tekstarin ja kun  ma vihdoin sain kenttaa, se tuli mullekin. Mutta sillon me oltiin jo melkein Abingdonissa.
Me ootettiin meidan liideria vaikka kuinka pitkaan ja kaikki oli aika vihaisia ja turhautuneita - me oltiin tultu sinne asti vaan ilmottamaan etta me ei haluta olla siella ja lahtemaan pois. Lopulta me soitettiin toisen liiderin kannykasta ja saatiin lahtea. Kotiin tullessa oli aika arsyyntynyt olo, mutta se lahti tiehensa, kun olohuoneessa oli Tangled taydessa vauhdissa ja ruotsalainen ja host-pikkuveli filminkatseluseurana.
Maanantai alko tunneilla ja iltapaivalla oli luento otsikolla "Being English". Se oli osaks tosi kiinnostava ja viihdyttavakin, osaks taas aika kuiva. Mutta viimeinen! Maanantai-iltana oli myos jotain muuta viimesta, nimittain viimenen disko! Bileet! No joo, se oli ihan mukavaa oikeesti, me hengattiin alakerrassa ja leikittiin kavereiden kanssa, not so bad at all. Mut on se silti ihan mukavaa ettei sinne tarvi enaa menna.
Tiistai oli olympiasoihtupaiva. Paakadut oli suljettu aamulla ja meilla oli virallisesti lupa olla myohassa koulusta vaikka oli koepaiva:) En menny katsomaan soihtua, vaan nukuin kahtakyta vailla kahdeksaan (luksusta). Kun kaikki lopulta selvisi kouluun, pidettiin siis loppukoe ja sen jalkeen me viimeisteltiin ja esitettiin tyot, jotka me oltiin aloitettu edellisena paivana. Tehtavana oli suunnitella oma maa, pareittain tai kolmen ryhmissa. Meita oli mina, toinen suomalainen ja yksi ruotsalainen tytto, ja meidan maasta tuli jokseenkin kiinnostava - planeetta ulkoavaruudessa, jota asuttavat ilmastonmuutosta paenneet suomalaiset ja ruotsalaiset. Ihan hauskaa.
Tiistai-iltana oli Farewell Evening, joka muistutti ensin epailyttavasti ekan lauantain Club Eveningia - silla erotuksella, ett nyt meidan ei tarvinnu maksaa meidan McDonald's-ruokia itse, vaan meian liideri makso ne meille kunhan oli alle kolmen punnan. Yhdella meista oli synttarit ja me laulettiin sille siella Makissa ja se sai kortin ja oli vaan etta: "Taa tuli ihan puskista!"  Viela hauskemmaksi ilta muuttui sitten kun kaikki sai paperin, johon kirjotettiin oma nimi ja sen jalkeen kirjotettiin muiden papereihin kaikkea kivaa:) Me jatkettiin sita viela pitkaan sen jalkeen kun meidta oli haadetty McDonald'sista - tietenkin suoraan siina sisaankaynnin ulkopuolella.
Tanaan aamulla me saatiin tehtavaksi kirjoittaa kolmesta viiteen minuuttia pitka puhe meidan omista kokemuksista, vaikutelmista ja ajatuksista Oxfordista ja tasta matkasta. Sen kirjoittaminen ei ollu mikaan ongelma, eika esittaminenkaan kovin paha, mutta kylla ma vahan tarisin siella. Ehka kukaan ei huomannu muuta ku sen etta ma taisin toistaa itseani aika paljon.
Viimeisella tunnilla oli Graduation seremony, jossa me saatiin todistukset ja tuoreet Oxpressin eli meidan itse tekeman lehden painokset. Arvosanat oli C1:sta A2:en, mutta kukaan ei saanu parempaa kun B2. Ma sain B1, oon ihan tyytyvainen siihen. Eika talla nyt silleen oo valia, ei taa oikeestaan vaikuta mun elamaan tai tulevaisuuteen.
Talle iltapaivalle oli tarkoitus olla puntingia, veneilya, vahan gondolien tapaisia veneita, mutta se peruttiin voimakkaan virtauksen takia ja tilalle annettiin polkuveneilya. Ma jatin sen valiin ja menin sen sijaan ostoksille - vikat tuliaiset, yksi kirja ja uusi matkalaukku etta saan kaiken kulkemaan painorajojen sisalla. Kavin myos yhden kaverin kanssa Botanic Gardenissa, joka on eras oxfordilainen nahtavyys, ja siella oli kaunista. Enemman siita varmaan olisi saanut irti, jos olisi ymmartanyt niiden kasvien paalle muutakin kuin etta onhan nuo natteja, eli ei se musta siis ihan kolmen punnan arvoinen ollut mutta ehka yhden.
Tulin kotiin, kavin suhkussa, soin paivallista ja aloitin pakkaamisen. Host-isa tuli kysymaan, etta haluttaisko me vanukasta ja ma olin vahan etta en ma ny tiia mutta menin sitten kun kamppiksetkin lahti. Istuttiin alas, saatiin lautaset, ja sitten akkia ne alkoikin laulaa "Happy birthday to you" eika niilla ollukaan mitaan vanukasta vaan suklaakakkua ja se oli ihanaa! Olin ihan etta whaat ja ne kaikki vaan nauroi ja oli ihania. Ma sain lahjankin, kaksi pakettia Malteserseja, sellasia suklaakarkkeja, omnom. Joo, kertakaikkiaan  upea yllatys. Sen jalkeen edes pakkaaminen ei tuntunu niin  kamalalta.
Olin just saanu pakkaukset tehtya ja laukut punnittua (ruotsalaisen matkalaukkuvaa'alla) kun host-aiti tuli ja kysyi, etta haluatko sa ottaa nuo Potter-lakanat ja -verhot mukaan? Arvatkaa kahesti mita vastasin. En oo viela tehny uudelleenpunnitusta mutta mun isossa laukussa oli kolme kiloa tyhjaa joten ei pitas olla ongelmaa.
Tunteet on ristiritaisia. Toisaalta ma haluisin jaada viela viikoksi tai pariksi, toisaalta on ihana paasta kotiin. Mutta kuten puheessankin tanaan sanoin: One thing's for sure: Oxford doesen't get rid of me this easily. I will come back.

IN ENGLISH/ENGLANNIKSI
Saturday was a fine day in London, it didn't even rain at all^^ We started by heading to King's Cross Station and took lots of photos but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to test if you really can get through to the platform 9 3/4 between platforms 9 and 10. Why? Because there were gates in front of the platforms and you couldn't get through without a ticket. Unnecessary wariness, I'm telling you.
Our next destination was Oxford Street or actually its cross street, where was a giant toy shop called the Hamley's. It had probably five or six floors, and in the fourth floor there was the "Potter shop" we had been looking for, well it was really a departement, but there were lots of amazing things in there!! Plus the Potter stuff there was Lord of the Rings stuff and things realting to different science fiction movies. I bought, after lots of thinking ("Oh no, which one I take, I want these all!"), Ron's wand.
After the Hamely's we headed back to Trafalgar Square where our bus would pick us later, went to a souvenir shop and I bought some souvenirs to my friends and family. London Pride festival was the same day and it was at Trafalgar Square just at the same time as us, and it made me laugh: who cares that I missed Helsinki Pride, I was in London Pride! Much cooler...
Sunday morning we had free time in Oxford, so I went shopping thing to take home and bought actually quite much. Apart form the souvenirs for others I bought Oxford University t-shirt, I<3Oxford pin and an Oxford Calendar for next year, all these to me. Oops.
Alice in Wonderland is written in Oxford and Saturday was official Alice's Day, but it continued still on Sunday, and our activity of the afternoon was that we went to Christ Church College's Park and there was this event called Caucus Race, relating somehow to Alice. There were lots of things you could've done but we just made a picnic on the grass with my friends and sat there the hour and a half that we had to. But it was nice too and maybe the event would've been nice if we had been eight years younger.
In the evening we were supposed to have the Crazy Games, as you may recall. It was raining hard and our host big brother came to ask if we were sure that we were going or would we prefer to watch a movie. We thought about it and finally my Swedish roommate called her leader if she had to go.Well you don't have to if you don't want to. Because of the bad weather my phone didn't have any signal so I couldn't do that and had to go (though host parents kindly said that I could borrow theirs). In the bus stop I met two Swedish girls who had also received a text message from their leader: you can stay home if you want to. In the bus Katri and Ninni said that they had got it too and when I finally got the signal, I received the text as well. But by that time we were almost in Abingdon.
We waited for our leader a looong time and everybody was quite angry and frustrated - we had come all that way just to tell her that we didn't want to be there and to leave. Eventually we called her from the other leader's phone and got a permission to go. When I got home I felt pretty annoyed but forgot it soon, for Tangled was on and the Swede and host little brother watching it with me.
Monday began with the lessons and in the afternoon we had a lecture about "Being English". Partly it was interesting and entertainig, partly pretty dull. But it was the last! And we had something else last as well on Monday evening, a disco! Yippyy! (SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY IN FINISHING THIS POST.) Well, it was nice really, we kept downstairs and played, not so bad at all. But it's still good to know that I don't have to go there anymore.
Tuesday was the day of the Olympic Torch. We had an official permission to be late for school though it was the test day. I didn't go to see the torch, but slept 'til 8.40 (luxury). When everybody finally made it to school, we had our final test and after it we finished and presented our yesterday's work. The task was to design a country in pairs or in the groups of three. In our group there were me, another Finn and one Swedish girl. Our country became slightly interesting - a planet in outer space which is inhabited by Swedes and Finns who left the Earth because of global warming. It was fun.
On Tuesday evening we had the Farewell Evening which seemed to be just like the first Saturday's Club Evening, except for the fact that we didn't have to buy our McDonald's food ourselves but our leader bought them for us as long as it was under three pounds. One of us had her birthday and we sang to her there in McDonald's and she got a card and was just: "I didn't expect this at all!" More fun the evening became when everyone got a paper where you wrote your own name and then you wrote nice things to other's papers about them:) We continued it for a long time after we had been driven away from McDonald's - of course right there in front of the entrance.
This morning our task was to write three to five minutes long presentation on our own experiences and thougts about Oxford and this trip. Writing it wasn't a problem and presentating wasn't very bad either, but I did tremble a bit there in front of the classroom. Maybe anyone didn't notice anything except for I think I repeated some things quite a lot.
In the last lesson we had the Graduation Ceremony where we got our certifications and Oxpress papers (the one we made in the project lessons). The grades were from C1 to A2 but no one got better than B2. I got B1, I'm happy with it. And this doesn't really matter, it has no influence to my future or life.
For this afternoon we were ment to have punting but it was cancelled because there was too much current (?) in the river. We had peddling boats instead but I didn't go. I went shopping, bought the last souvenirs, one book and a new suitcase so that I can take everything home within the weight limits. I also went to Botanic Garden with one of my friends, it's one of the must-see things in Oxford. I think it would've been more enjoyable if I had understood more of the plants than "They are pretty." So not worth of three pounds, I think, but maybe one.
I came home, took a shower, ate dinner and started packing. My host dad came to ask if we wanted some pudding. I was bit like maybe not, but went then because my roommates went as well. We sat down, got plates and then they started singing "Happy birthday to you" and there wasn't any pudding but chocolate cake and it was lovely! I was just like whaaat is this and they all laughed and were so nice. I got a present as well, two packs of Malteseres, they're this chocolate candy, so yummy. Yeah, it was a wonderful surprise - after that even packing wasn't so bad.
I had just finished my packings and tested that I didn't have too much weight with the Swedish girl's balance when my host mum came in and asked if I wanted to take the Harry Potter bedding and curtains with me. Guess twice what I said. I haven't yet tested the weight but there was three kilos of underweight in my big suitcase so there shouldn't be a problem.
I feel conflicted. In one hand it would be lovely to stay for a week or two more but in the other hand it's wonderful to get home. However, as I said in my presentation today: One thing's for sure: Oxford doesn't get rid of me this easily. I will come back.