The Filming Begins...

As I have now reached the 'halfway' mark of my trip, it is very apparent that I don't want to leave! I'm having such a great time here I want to stay for much much longer! On the otherhand, some things must be done (such as graduating!) and there are small things which I do miss back in England and Brunei, such as sunshine (from Brunei!) and familiar food and the choice as in England. And these things I only miss when I am lacking inspiration for a meal or just need some warmth! Having said that, I do feel that I have been completely lied to in regards to the weather here! I was promised that it would be -20 here..and so far the coldest has been -12! The average temperature now is +2 and the snow is rapidly melting! We pass a big lake everyday on the bus, and before it has always been partially frozen or comepletely frozen...well the other day we went past it and ther were ripples on the surface! What is this?!! It's practically summer! Haha well as long as I have seen snow here it's ok i guess, I'm satisfied!

The exciting part of my trip has finally arrived! We started filming our film on monday! So far we have been doing night shoots, yesterdays was particularly exhausting! We were filming our Office location for 14hours! We didn't wrap till gone 6.30am (and I think we only finished at that time because we were fighting against the sunrise)! Then we had to pack up, so I didn't actually get home into bed intil 8am! Not only that, I hadn't eaten anything proper since 3.30 that afternoon, we had all been snacking on biscuits and cups of tea all night! So by the time we had finished I felt sick from hunger, but the thought of eating made me feel even worse! A vicious cycle! As much as the entire shoot was physically and emotionally draining, we all had such a great time! We all love doing what we do therefore we don't mind staying till all hours of the morning working! That is the great thing, we all pitch in and get things done (sometimes extremely slowly!) but we don't mind doing it, we enjoy it together which by far is the best experience when you complete something that you've put so much effort into! I really can't wait to see the end result! But not only that, I had my small but crutial (ok a slight exaggeration!) acting role! My back and shoulders did a good job I feel and I had to bump into the main character, I feel my performance was convincing!! Oscars here we come! Luckily we now have a few days to recover from our long stint in the Office before our next long shoot which is monday. I think we're scheduled for a 15 hour day so that again will be fun and games! This time next week should be 'a wrap'!!

Apart from lots of Uni work, I have been trying to fill every moment here! Myself and my flatmate have been making regular trips to my buildings' sauna where we have a good chat and become more at home in Finland! I really enjoy it as it's so relaxing and a great way to de-stress, especially in the past week during pre-production! We also managed to get free tickets to the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra next month, that I am looking forward to a lot! While I was here I really wanted to do some travelling, especially see Tallin and Stockholm, but I really don't think we're going to have time! As unfortunate as it is we are so full on here we don't have any time to spare. On the otherhand, that's just another excuse to come back! We might get a chance to visit Lapland, but perhaps it will be better to go mid-winter when we are guaranteed to be snowed in! The Finnish summer is a must though I have been told, so rest assured, I will be back!