Snowy Times.

It's been a long since I wrote here, but I was pretty occupied the last weeks. I was writing about 20 assignments and reports and had three exams. Also I had to do some Christmas shopping and there were a lot of parties and dinners. So no time to write here.

Anyways, now it is over, the presents are bought and I am right now in Ekenäs at A's parent's house, where we are going to spend Christmas. I am alone right now, A. went working and her parents somehow to town and so I found some time to wrap some Christmas presents.

Yesterday I packed all the stuff I need for Christmas, brought S., one of my flatmates, to the airport and said "see you later" to M. one of my neighbors. It is weird to know that we all are going home for Christmas, but next year just few familiar faces are returning to Helsinki. We had such a good time during the last five months together. It makes me really sad, that they are not coming back.

In the last weeks it was pretty cold up here. Minus 20°C and loads of snow. Especially in the last three days we got a lot and more is coming on Wednesday. A. and I went out yesterday with a mixture between sledge and ice-skates. It's a thing made to go over ice or really packed snow. We went around through the village and were sliding along the icy roads. When we came home we had a sauna and were chillaxing the evening.

I am right now really getting a Christmas feeling here. It is wonderful. The whole house is full of Christmas stuff and it is snowing all the time. The radio plays Christmas songs, just AWESOME! I hope the snow is staying and we will have a white Christmas. This would be so nice.

~M~

Just quickly!

There is a lot to tell, but no time for it... Anyways, now I have to go back until last weekend, so not this last weekend, but the one before... the one just right before December!

We were in a cottage between Hämeenlinna and Tampere, about 130 km from Helsinki. To get there we rented a tiny car and went there for the weekend with three people. We started on Friday afternoon and drove there in the middle of the rush hour. In the evening we wanted to have sauna and grill. However we encountered the problem, that all the wood was pretty wet and it was hard to get the sauna and all the other ovens started. It took us over one hour to make fire. In the end everything worked out fine and we could enjoy the relaxing hot air. Afterwards we grilled infront of our cottage and even ate outside... at 4°C !!The Saturday we went to Tampere, just to see the city. We walked around and visited some sights. It is a nice city, especially because it is located between two huge lakes. This give the city a certain character, as you are can not walk far without coming to a lake shore. We had lunch in the Kaupatori, the market hall of Tampere, we had köttbullar (Meatballs) with salad. The guys also bought there some bread and mausta makkara, a blood sausage, typical for Tampere. We wanted to grill again in the evening and also have sauna again. This time the sauna was already on when we wanted to warm it up. The other cottages in the area were also occupied and the Finns seemed to be better in making fire than we were. We enjoyed the 80°C sauna and grilled afterwards, however, this time we ate inside.

The Sunday, we cleaned the cottage and headed home to Helsinki. But before we stopped in Hämeenlinna as we read that it would be a nice small town with an awesome castle. When we came there, we were a little disappointed. Yes, it was a small town, but it was not so nice and also the castle was just... disappointing. We were walking around for maybe half an hour, were consulting our LonelyPlanet travel guide and decided then to finally go back to Helsinki, as there wasn't anything to see on the way.


Last weekend I was once again, after a long time, in Turku. A. had bought tickets to a Christmas Dinner. What I didn't know was, that she meant with Christmas Dinner/Party a Christmas Sitz. A sitz is something from the swedish speaking population, the students in particular. So to say its a ritual to get drunk. You sit with a bunch of other lads in a room, drink and eat. However, every time before you drink a snaps you have to sing a snaps song. As it would be too embarrassing to sing alone, the whole group is always singing... and of course drinking. I experienced it already once before, but this time was way better. It was chic, the food was really good and the variety amazing. After the eating and ritual drinking a band was playing and everybody was dancing. I didnt had so much fun in a long time....

~M~

Nothing!

Nothing special happened since the last time I wrote!

Just some Uni work, some partying, some drinking... nothing else!

~M~

The Nordic Capital!

I am back from Sweden. We came yesterday after 4 days, which we spent partly on the ferry between Finland and Sweden and about 30 hours in Stockholm, back to Helsinki. It was great great fun even tho we had not so much time to see Stockholm.We started already on Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock. We met at the train station of Helsinki and were then heading with the group of 84 people towards the harbor to catch the ferry. These ferries are taking about 14 hours for the passage. So we had enough time to party and have fun. On the way to Sweden the sea was really quiet and nothing special happened. We were dancing in the club, singing karaoke and had cabin parties. The next morning after some few hours sleep we arrived in Stockholm.We had to walk from the harbor to the nearest Metro station, where we had to wait for a long time. The tutors didn't get the 24-hour ticket for the public transport before and the lady at the counter had to print 84 tickets one-by-one. It was so cold. However, I made the best out of it and bought from a man, selling bread on the street, some kanelbullar, a Swedish pastry. After we received the tickets we took the metro to the hotel. It was few stops away and we were soon there. However, as we arrived in Stockholm early in the morning we couldn't enter our rooms and so we left the luggage in the lobby and went to the city center.On the metro to the old city some elderly woman approached us and asked if we needed help, as we were talking in English about where to go and where to get off. She was so friendly and really wanted to help. She gave us recommendations what to see and where to go. Even more astonishing was, that she got off the metro with us and showed us around for five minutes or so. This seriously would never happen here in Finland. Incredible how a small gesture of one person can make you whole day!We went then through the shopping street of Stockholm towards the old city, Gamla stan. We were really lucky, as suddenly the sun came out and it got a little bit warmer. We walked around in Gamla stan and were enjoying the old buldings with the small shops and boutiques, which create a certain and somehow magical atmosphere. I've been to Stockholmn some six years ago and already loved the city back then. Now I fell even more in love with the place. It is so beautiful, even in winter.After walking around for sometime we got hungry, as we didn't have had a real breakfast this morning and so we went to eat something. Afterwards we took the tram to the Vasa-museum, which is some ten minutes away from the city center on another island. The Vasa is the world's only surviving 17th-century ship. She sank on her maiden-voyage after just 20 minutes in the middle of the harbor of Stockholm. 333 years later she was brought back to the surface and is now, after nearly 30 years of restoration, available to the public. It was really impressive to see the size of a ship from these days. A really unique and somehow powerful experience.In the evening we went out to a club with the whole group. The beer was cheap and from good quality. The music was pretty nice as well, so we stayed until the club closed, which was just until 3 o'clock in the night. Then we experienced another advantage to most of the cities in Europe. The metro is running all-night-long. We went back to the hotel and got some sleep, as we knew that the next day would be long again and the next night therefore even shorter.

The second and last day in Stockholm we spent on a boat tour. It was raining and so we decided, that this outdoor-indoor activity was the best choice. However, as we were a little early at the terminal of the sightseeing boats, we took a walk around in the neighborhood. And man, what can I say. This was even more beautiful. It was a little away from the center and here were the people actually living. It was so nice, again, all the small shops and offices. I fell even more in love. After the boat tour we went back to the hotel as we were meeting up at 14.30 to go back to the ferry.On the ferry we had again an awesome time. We were drinking, dancing, singing. And this time different from the first passage the sea was rough, the wind was strong and the boat was shaking. It was so funny to see how all the people on the dancefloor were going from one side to the other. I guess for some shy people it was a good opportunity to get closer to each other ;-) Anyways, we then found a new activity. We realized that the highest deck was really slippery from the rain and that you could slide on it. As the wind was so strong we used our own body as a "sail" and "surfed" over the deck. It was so much fun and you could easily cover 15-20 meters sliding on your feet. Really great outdoor activity on a boat. My recommendation, just don't do it when you are drunk. You will have a lot of bruises all over you body afterwards...After just three hours sleep we then arrived back in Helsinki and got up too late. When we came up to check where we were, the ship was just docking. By this time one of our cabin mates was still in the shower. So we went down, packed our stuff quickly and left the boat. Everybody was still drunk and so tired. However, it was an awesome trip... honestly!

~M~

First real snow!

Yesterday in the evening it started snowing and didn't stop until now. It is the first real snow here in Helsinki for this year. We had some snow before, but this was slushy and crappy! We just went out yesterday for a nightly walk through the snow.
My Spanish flatmates were really astonished and thought that it was snowing a lot. They told me that with this 1cm of snow in Spain the total chaos would breakout.
Anyways, it feels really like winter now and my feet are freezing... but I love it!
~M~

Always check your passport!

Wow, again, so much time passed since my last post. As every week it is incredible, how time goes by. Now it is already November and everything started off all over again. I am back in Helsinki, after a long Weekend in Ekenäs.

On Friday directly after Uni I went with the train from Helsinki to Ekenäs. A's sister in law owns a hotel there and asked if we could work there for this one evening. They had a group of over 160 people there celebrating some occasion and as the hotel is not very small and the staff not used to so many guest they needed backup. We had to be there round five to get a briefing and to prepare everything, the party began round seven. I was a bit nervous, not because of the work, this was a piece of cake for me, but because of the language barrier. I still do not really speak Finnish or Swedish, so it was really difficult for me. As the going got tougher, decided to stay in the back and clean all the used dishes and glasses. This was anyways necessary, as the guests were drinking so much, that we had to use every glass at least twice this evening. We worked until half one and then went home and fell asleep right away.

The next day we slept long, had a relaxed breakfast and went out for a walk. We passed A's brother's house and before we could say anything we had Sandy, their dog, with us walking through the town and woods. It was so nice to walk through the autum air and smell the fallen leaves. Awesome this Finland during this time. In the afternoon we went to the same brother to have a really small get-together with some chosen family members to celebrate his birthday, which had been two days before. We had loads of cake and sweet buns and of course the obligatory coffee and cognac. In the evening we went to J's place to meet some friends A, didn't see for ages. We were there round six o'clock and started to eat right away, which meant, that the party was dying already round eleven and so we went home. We just watched a movie in the TV and called it a night quite early again.

Sunday was again chilled and relaxed, with some autum air and good food. We went to A's other brother who had, obviously as they are twins, had his birthday also some days ago. We again celebrated with cake, coffee and cognac. Typical finnish birthday. It was different however, as the house was full of small children who were all looking quite sceptical to me, because of the funny noises which came out of my mouth, making no sense at all to them. A tried to translate and explain, but still the missing communication between us meant more insecure sights in my direction. Anyways, I was happy that I was welcomed so warm and especially, that I met some people A was always talking about. It's really interesting to suddenly see these people face to face and realize, why she likes them so much.

The beginning of the week right now is always starting off really quite for me, as I am off on Mondays. I went with A to Turku and spent the day with her there, we had students lunch together, she was working for uni, I was stumbling the internet and in the evening we got food from an Indian Restaurant. We ordered two portions and took them home, already, when we received the bag with the food we were speechless, how much it was. But when we came home and upacked, it was over. Sooo much food for just two persons. We were eating as much as we could, but in the end half the food was still there. Incredible good food, incredible value for money. This was definitly not the last time that we got food from this place. The next time however, we already decided, we will take one portion for two people. If we are still hungry, we just eat some ice cream or something ;-) After the delicious dinner I drove back to Ekenäs over deserted country roads in the middle of the night. Really an experience.

Today was a long day. A's parents asked me if I could drive them to the airport and then take the car with me. We had to start at 4.30 in Ekenäs to drive to Helsinki Airport. After dropping them off I drove to Kannelmäki where I arrived round 6.00. I directly went to bed, as the night before was pretty short. At 6.30 my phone rang and A's parents called me. The passport of A's father, N., was expired and before he could get a new one the gate was already closed and they had to change the booking of their flight. I went to pick them up and the drove me home again. They wanted to go back to Ekenäs to get N a new passport. I shortly went back to bed, decided then however to get up and have breakfast with my flatmates. In the afternoon I went to uni and left the class a bit earlier, as A's parents, N & H, were picking me up directly from school, as they wanted me to drive them finally to the airport. Everything went (hopefully) smoothly then and I could finally relax. I went to the sauna, which was feeling so good after a day like that. Anyways, it was not over, I just came back from... guess where... yes, the airport! We had to pick up my flatmate's sister. She is visiting him for a couple of days here in Helsinki.

It's really nice to get to know new people every day. That's why I am here and that's what I am doing everyday. I will stop writing now and join them in the kitchen.

So far...
~M~

Intensive Week!

Wow, I just saw that it is only one week ago, that I posted the last time here. It felt so much longer! A. just went to the gym and so I've got some to write here.

Last week I had intensive week, which means, that we had the topic "Hospitality & Travel Trends" and heard many different presentations to this topic. It was quite interesting, as we had professors from the university, people from the tourism industry and also people from the hospitality industry. So we got a good outlook to the future, from many different points of view. However, the uni was pretty empty, as I was just one of the few people who had a course. All the other people were off.

I was nearly the whole week alone in my flat. My flat mates and many of the others living in the house took the opportunity to take some trips. S. and E. went first to Stockholm, came back for maybe 12 hours and then left to St. Petersburg. I was here and was spending some time with J. another Spanish guy, who had the same course as I had. We went to the sauna and were cooking together.

On Thursday we met up with some teachers and executives from Bad Honnef. This week the annual EuroCHRIE conference was held in Helsinki. As my home university is member of the EuroCHRIE they sent eight people over to participate. It was fun to talk to them, to give them some information and especially feedback about the Haaga-Helia University. The best part of the meeting, however, were the free drinks... Therefore here a big thank you to the very generous Mr. Thuy ;-)

On Friday A. came here to Hesa and we rented some movies, were cooking and had a lazy friday evening. On Saturday we went to Seurasaari, which is also known as Squirrel-Island. The island is full of small birds and especially squirrels. They are kinda tame and eat nuts or whatever you give them out of your hand. Really amazing as it can also happen that they are climing up your legs and crawl all over your body. It was really nice. The weather was not the best and it was cold. However the island was beatifully colored and it was a good and in a way relaxing autum day in Finland.
In the evening when we were home A. and I had totally a Christmas feeling. We were drinking tea and roasted the remaining peanuts, which were actually intended to feed the squirrels., with sugar. They tasted really good and were totally addictive, it was not the last time I made them.

Anyways, tomorrow I am still off, but on Tuesday the second period will start and uni will go on. Even tho it means work I am looking forward to the new subjects, as I hope to finally learn something new. Until now I did not really felt challenged here. Let's keep the fingers crossed!

~M~

Some spare time!

Finally I found some time to update my blog. My Exams are over, the theme assignment and also all the other assignments are done, now I have three days without anything. It is amazing how the time flies. The first period and this means one quarter of my stay is over already. Next week we have intensive week, which means we have just one course. I am one of the few students who had to take a course, the others will be off to Stockholm and St. Petersburg, I will stay in Helsinki and go to uni.

Last week we were six people living in our flat. E. and S. were asked some weeks ago by a teacher if they could host two German girls for one week. They were in Helsinki for a kind of cultural exchange, which mainly means sightseeing and visits to government agencies. What exactly they are doing I don't know. Also E's girlfriend was here and so we were a little cramped.
However, the day the Germans arrived, S. and I, we went to the airport to pick them up. When we came there, about half an hour before the scheduled arrival we were a little bit shocked. The flight was delayed by one hour. So we had to wait for nearly two hours at the airport, as it took quite a long time until they came out of the terminal. But it didn't matter to us, we took a walk around the airport and had a good time talking about everything and anything

Anyways, when we were finally home we ordered some pizza in to speed up the whole dinner. We had to do that, as we had asked a couple of people over for a small house party with the Germans. I didn't know how many people would come, because S. had organized everything. When the door bell rang and I went to open the door I was astonished how many people were outside wanting to come in. We were playing drinking games, talking and laughing a lot. A typical house party.

The next week was pretty full. We were going out with the Germans a lot, finishing all our assignments and learning for all the exams. Even tho the requirements here in Finland are really low it was a lot of work. But it's always the same, when you start learning like on the day before the exam. I hope everything worked out fine and I will receive good grades.

Now I am again in Turku at A's place. We didn't see each other for two weeks, which was pretty hard and made me really grumpy to everybody around me. I hope they are not mad at me now... Anyways A. and I, we went out to party with some of her friends on Friday, slept long on Saturday and were walking through town. I bought two beanies, a scarf and a pair of gloves. I forgot to bring all my winter stuff from Germany and it's getting colder each and every day here, so I really need these things now. It was snowing slightly the last days already and all the trees are losing their colorful leaves. For some reason I've got sometimes already winter and christmas feeling, which is pretty weird.

Anyways, I will go on doing nothing at all and make it a really lazy sunday... did not have this for ages!

~M~

Getting around

Exchange life is awesome! I have some stuff to do, but the requirements here are, as mentioned before, pretty low. I just got one assignment back which was a 4, the second highest grade in Finland. Now I can re-write the conclusion to receive a 5. Right now I am having a break, I just came from T's flat, where we were working on a presentation for Monday.

Since the last time a lot happened, like always!I finally received my bank-card and my Finnish social security number, which enables me to work now. I've been partying a lot, took two day trips and booked already new trips.

Last week I went out three days in a row and actually had so much energy. Wednesday Amarillo, Thursday Jenny Woo and Friday Onnela and later Opera. Amarillo was the usual Wednesday-night, which means free entrance and beer for 1,50€ for 0,4l, which is pretty cheap for Helsinki. We went out with Everest, one of our tutors. He is a really nice guy, but when we wanted to enter Amarillo the bouncer didn't let him in. He said, that he knows Everest and that he made trouble last time. The thing was, Everest had never been before to Amarillo and therefore it was obvious, that he couldn't enter because of the color of his skin. It was the first time that something like this happened to "me" and I was really speechless and didn't know what to do. Finally Everest was so annoyed, that he went home and told us to go in anyways. Although we went in the mood of the group was bad and so we called it a night after just one hour.

Jenny Woo on Thursday was also nice. There was a student party and so we went. Before that we were in Pasila in one of the dorms to get going. It was the first time for me in this club and I liked it. Around the dancefloor they have instead of seats and tables beds and heavy trays. You can lie there and relax. Although it was really good, we just spend few time there, because we left Pasila pretty late and as always during the week the last bus is leaving at 1.35. On the other hand it is good, because you come home early and get at least some sleep before uni.

On Friday I went with the guys from Kannelmäki first to Onnela and then just with M. to Opera. The thing was that we payed a hell of money just for the entrance to Onnela and for the cloak room. Then came the next two shocks, it was empty, there was nobody dancing and the drinks were incredible expensive. So after one hour we decided to leave and go somewhere else. P. and C. two italian guys decided to go to the KY Club, but M. and me, we didn't wanted to spend again 6€ for the entrance. We just split up and dicided to spend the money on beer instead. So we went to Opera, where the entrance was free and bought each six beers for six euros... what else do I have to say?! ... It was awesome :-D

The next morning, even tho we all were hangovered, we got up and went with the bus to Porvoo, about 50km north-east of Helsinki. We were lucky, because the sun came out in exactly the moment when we arrived. We were walking around the small summer city and took (for real) a thousand photos. Ok, we were 5 people, but still it was pretty paparazzi style. Porvoo does not offer many attractions, it is the city itself which is the attraction. It has beautiful small houses situated at a nice river. I cant really write a lot about it because we did not do so much, we were basically just enjoying ourselves. Therefore here some pictures.

Yesterday A. and I went to Tallinn (Photos), because I was off. We got the tickets for free from A's parents. Ekerö-Line always has offers, that you get tickets when you buy for a certain amount in their shop on one of the ships and so did A's parents. We got up early in the morning and took the boat at 8 a.m. to Estonia. It took us about 3 hours and so we were there around noon. We walked first around the old city and bought roasted almonds. I knew them already from Germany, but these were made with a lot of spices and herbs. Really tasty and totally addictive! Tallinn is beautiful, but after 5 hours you have seen everything. Also the weather was not the best, we were tired and so we sat down in a small cozy café and had coffee and pie. On the way back we slept a little bit and used the opportunity to buy some cheap alcohol. I brought a 24 pack of beer and 1l of Jägermeister, the best German product brought to the world!!!

It was really essential that we brought alcohol, because we needed it for the evening. There was, guess what, a student party in Onnela. It was the first student party, where we officially were asked to wear our haalari, the student's coveralls. Even tho it was quite empty we had loads of fun and were dancing a lot. But as always we had to leave the club at 1.15 at the latest to catch the bus. However, because everybody who is taking the bus just came from a party or club and it is still early and everybody still got energy the atmosphere in the bus is always good. We are always singing and talking and have a lot of fun.

Anyways, I wrote a lot, just briefly in the end. I booked two more trips. I will go to Stockholm with ESN Helga, the international part of the students union and for new years I will be at home in Germany. From there A. and me will go to Paris for 3 days and will come back from there to Helsinki. Also I am planning right now trips to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Lapland. I have a lot to do, so I will finish now! Kiitos mielenkiinnostanne!

~M~

Helsinki life!

Wow, I can't believe it's already nine days ago since the last time I wrote! Time is passing so fast here and I am occupied all the time. There is nothing really special happening, it's just everyday-life.

Last week A. had her birthday, she turned 22 and so I've been at her place for like 2 days. I left here directly after uni on Tuesday and went straight to Turku, because I am off on Wednessdays anyways. I was packed like a donkey, because I had so much stuff and especially the gifts for A. with me. The morning of her birthday we got up early, because she had to go to uni. She was pretty surprised as she saw my presents. As I do not have the paper and the ribbon to wrap a gift I just made it from old newspaper and other stuff. It actually looked good because it was colorful and twinkly as well.

Her brithday-day we spent preparing the get-together in the evening. A. was making a pie with bacon, peppers, broccoli and egg and I was baking a chocolate-rasberry cake. Awesome! We had so much fun doing it even tho it took sooo long as I was whipping the cream for hours until we realized that we bought normal cream.... no whipping-cream! Anyways, in the end everything worked out perfectly.
When the crowd arrived we just quickly fixed the punch with wine, cider, vodka and frozen strawberries... and what else do I have to say?! Ah ja.... it was a great evening.
We played a drinking game, ate pie and cake, spilled some red wine over the carpet and went out to the club. Because it was Wednessday it was not that full, but we had an awesome time. Dancing, drinking and laughing ...

The next morning after two hours sleep I got up and missed the train... therefore I missed a group meeting for uni, which was pretty bad, my group, well some of them were really mad at me afterwards... understandably!

A. just came then the same day to Helsinki and we spent the weekend here. Cooking with my guys and having a lazy weekend!

This week I finally started to work. I am working in the German school, where I have to supervise children from 1st to 4th grade in the afternoon. It's awesome to just play with them, to be a kid myself again and get paid for it as well. I really enjoy the time there and it's relaxing... sounds stupid, but it is. Today I will go to "work" again, which helps me a lot as living here is super-expensive... even without partying!

Anyways, I enjoy the time here and try not to worry too much about money and health. As long as this works out I am fine and have an awesome time !!!

~M~

Kräftskiva och snaps!

Finally I find the time to write something again. I was either busy or ... ja ... I was sick last week. Nothing serious, just a light flue. Still enough to make me dull and lazy. Hence I didn't had the power to write here.

Anyways, now I am fine, now I am writing! Even tho I was sick a lot of things happened. Anne and I have been to the baptism of A's neighbor's daughter. Her neighbor was taking care of A. when she was small and so they are still kinda close. It was nice to come out of the city again, to go to Ekenäs and see something else.

During the weeks it's just normal program with uni, assignments and stuff. I am not really motivated right now. I reckon it's because the requirements here are pretty low and I don't feel a real pressure. As a result I am not working for uni..... yet ;-)

Last weekend, which basically just ended, A. and I went to a Kräftskiva. M., a friend of A. and nowadays I would say also of me, invited us to her home. Her home is, very Finnish, located on an island, so we had to take A's mum's car and then a ferry to get there. The Kräftskiva (crawfish party) was a lot of fun, we drank and laughed a lot. On the next day we got up pretty early... well, for us it was early and went back to Ekenäs and then to Turku with the train.

The Saturday evening we spent in the fair center of Turku, where the TurkuSex, a yearly sex fair, was held. It was pretty funny, as the Finnish people have certain klischees, including leather, latex and whips, about Germans. Of course, just this stuff was sold there and you could even try it out in the SM-studio ... However I wasn't turned on... no seriously, I was NOT !!!

The next day, we had an awesome day. Sleeping long, having breakfast at 1 pm and then going out for a walk. It was really nice weather, 25°C, and so we went to eat ice cream. After that we just stoped by J's place, simply because we were in the area. It was good to see J. again, it's always funny with her. We didn't stay long, because I still had to leave this evening. However, I couldn't leave without dinner and so we ordered Dennis' Pizza in. It was, like always, amazing food and after I woke up from my food coma I took the last train back to "Hesa" (Helsinki).

It was nice being again in Turku. I really like this town, it's so different from Helsinki. It's anyways always the same, that you like other places more than the place you are at at the moment... well at least for me it's like this. Maybe it's because I always strive for something else, something new to see, to experience.

~M~

Hauska tavata!

I am in Helsinki. Its already my 3rd week here, but I didn't find the time to write here. The first two weeks were full of new experiences and parties. I came here on the 17th & so did my collegue T. We are living in the same building, but different apartments. The next day we had to do a Hospital tour through Helsinki, because T. had problems with her teeth and we were sent from one hospital to another. She finally decided then to fly home the next day and to skip the orientation.

On Wednesday the 19th the 3 day orientation started. The orientation was pretty boring as it consisted of every Official of the University saying "Hello" and "Welcome to Finland & the University". But also we did the necessary things like register with the local authorities, getting bank accounts if needed & buying the Helsinki Travel Card for the public transport. One of our tutors, Y., was then so excited that he organized on the first evening an inofficial first night out in the Amarillo. Wednesdays the beer 0,4l is just 1,50€, which is pretty cheap for Finland and especially Helsinki. The next two days were boring again, we were all just waiting for the official "first" night out on Friday, where we went to the KY Club.

My apartment is in Kannelmäki, about 15 minutes by train from the city center. I am living in a shared apartment with two spanish guys, S. and E., who are really cool. We do not just come along quite good, we often go out together, cook together or just sit and talk. The whole group I use to hang out with are spanish or italian guys. It's really nice not to be with germans all the time. We are starting a lot of things and have regularly 8-9 people in our small kitchen. We cook and eat together. We also go each Tuesday and Thursday to the sauna together, the best way to relax here. Right now we are planning a trip to Tallin together.

The first week of Uni was nice. Sometimes boring, because we had to introduce ourselves in each and every course again and after 3 courses you knew 90% of the people and their professional life. The subjects are really interesting and different from Germany. Here we learn how to set up your own business, instead of learning how to manage an existing one. Anyways, time went really fast and on Friday I went to Ekenäs, where A.'s brother F. and his wife I. were having a house warming party, with food, beer and, of course, sauna.

This week is already halfway through and yesterday we had our freshmen party. We were walking in small groups through the city solving fun tasks and drinking a lot. We had loads of fun and I had the first time the opportunity to wear my Haalari, the finnish student's "uniform", a coverall in a certain color. Every university has another color and student's wear them for certain events. For official events, organized by the students union you receive patches, which you can sew onto your Haalari. Every student can decorate his/her Haalari individually and you can see how active one is.

Now the guys and I are heading off to a park near the harbor of Helsinki to watch the Fireworks Championship, which is held on a small island off shore Helsinki. It's going to be awesome to see not only one set of fireworks, but several after each other.

Anyways I love Helsinki! There is always something to do and it's never getting boring with all the different cultures and nationalities. Internationalization is what makes life interesting. There is nothing more fascinating than meet and get to know new people!

~M~

Six Days of Joy

I am already some time back from Croatia. It was an ultra-short vacation with A. just to get out before my year abroad starts. From Helsinki we went with Blue1 to Dubrovnik, which is the main tourist-city in Croatia. We took the airport bus directly to the Pile Gate, the main entrance to the Old City of Dubrovnik. We were staying in the only hostel in the old city, fresh*sheets. It’s a small (only 22 beds) and cozy hostel, which is also a good place to meet people. The rooms are nicely decorated and have a warm atmosphere. The common area is very small and so getting contact to the other guests is easy.

The City of Dubrovnik is totally focused on the needs of tourists. Shops and Restaurants are expensive and everywhere are people offering excursions and boat trips. We left Stradun, the main street, and turned to the small streets and the city wall. From there you have a very nice view on the old city and the harbor.

One main attraction is the view down to the bar “Buza”, which is located in front of the city wall on the cliffs. On our second day we went there to swim and jump from the rocks.
The next day we had our travel day, as we went from Dubrovnik to Brac, the third largest island, just off shore of Split. The travel was kinda complicated, as we had to take two busses, the ferry and then a bus again. We had a tight schedule, as the bus on the island was just running three times a day. The trip took us from Dubrovnik to Makarska, then with the ferry to Sumartin and then with the bus to Supetar. It was a good day we saw a lot and were enjoying the time on the road/water.

On Brac we were staying in Supetar in the Shangri La Backpackers Hostel, which is a fairly new hostel, just opened two months before. Also this was a very nice hostel and we met a lot of interesting people. We enjoyed the sun and the sea and in the evening we had BBQ with the guys from the hostel, who were organizing loads of activities for the guests. We always went out as a group. The second evening we went first down to the harbor, where a local fisherman was selling grilled, fresh fish directly from the boat, an amazing dinner and a perfect base for a night out. So we went to a silent party. Everybody is wearing headphones and can choose between three channels with different music. A funny thing, especially when you get your earphones down. Everybody is singing and dancing to the music, which you can’t hear.

The last station was Split, which is the second largest city in Croatia. We went directly from Supetar with the ferry. We were lucky, because our first day was the last day of the Split Summer festival and so there were a lot of concerts and events in the whole city. We had a very nice dinner in a local restaurant and enjoyed the warm temperatures during a walk through the nightly city. The last day of our travel, we spent at the beach just to get some tan.

It is amazing how fast one week goes and how much and how fast you can miss being “on the road”. It was a short time, but a good time and now I am looking forward to start my studies in Helsinki.

~M~

Lippu Turkuun, kiitos!

I'm in Finland now. I came yesterday with the plane to Helsinki and took from there the bus to Turku, where A. lives. There are quite good Express Bus connections by the company Matkahuolto. Anyways public transport in Finland is good and really cheap. The 160km just cost me 27.50€, for students who have the finish students ID it's less than 15€. This is the same with the trains of VR, the finish railways. Even the InterCity trains, which are really luxurious, compared to German standards, are cheap and really fast.

Now I am going to stay for a couple of days here in Turku or Abo, which is the swedish name for the City. Many people do not know that Finland is bilingual. Well actually it's tri-lingual, as there are the Sami up north in Lappland. But there are two official languages, Finish and Swedish, as mentioned. 6% of the population are swedish-speaking Fins, who are living in the south-west of Finland at the coast. So in the future I might write especially about cities and places with both names, as "Turku/Abo" for example.

Afterwards we are going to meet some friends of A. in her home town Ekenäs from where we are going to Croatia on holidays. I am so relaxed right now and will now go out to get some tan already, that I don't burn myself when travelling.

~M~

Goodbye Germany

Here we go again! Nearly everything is packed, the last thing to put in is the Laptop I am using right now. This is the last post from Germany. Tomorrow I am going to leave for one year to Helsinki, Finland. I am going to study abroad and will receive my bachelor. Today I was just re-packing all my stuff. My mum, who's a genious in packing helped me to get everything in.

I will be going first to Turku to stay with A. for some days. Then we will go on holiday to Croatia and on the 17th I will move to Helsinki. I am sooo excited already, can't wait for the year to start. I reckon it will be quite a challenge for me, because I am not speaking a word Finish. Also this is a very difficult language as it is not related to any other language in Europe. But I love things that seem impossible and I will do my very best. Furthermore I am a bit scared of the dark and long winter where many people get bad depressions.

However, I am looking forward to the time there. I've been to Helsinki already and it's a nice city. Even I will live outside of the center it will be awesome. I will post pictures here soon and will report about the opportunities of the city and the best locations. It's always good to experience new things, because new things bring new joy...

~M~

Update

Two news: I bought a new backpack and, even if nobody really realizes, I changed the name of the blog. As you can see it is now "the wrong way home". This is also the title of the book I am reading right now. It was so inspiring that I found this name would be more matching.

The new backpack is a Deuter Quantum 55+10, which is sufficient for my needs, I think. I was really lucky, because the vendor gave me 20% off, even tho it was just announced for hiking packs and not for trekking packs. Good karma, i would say!

~M~

Being active, feeling good.

The last couple of days were really good. I went home to Aachen on Friday, went to the city to buy some things and just be there again. I bought some thing to eat and was sitting on a central place in the city and snacked it. It must have looked sooo relaxed. A. came on Sunday and we had awesome active 6 days. I really feel how good it is to spend time with her and how much I missed being active and doing stuff.

I picked her up from the airport and we went to Bad Honnef. When arrived I realized that I left my Notebook in Aachen and as I needed it for couple of things we went for a surprise visit to my parents.

On Monday we slept long and then went to Cologne to go to the Cat Empire Concert. Before that we wanted to meet up with Carolin, a mutual friend, from our internships on Tenerife, but she couldn't make it. So we went to the "früh-Haus" instead. We had couple of beers and "Halven Hahn", a local specialty. Then we went to the concert and had a really good time. We were standing in the 2nd and 3rd row directly in the middle of the stage. Perfect! It was an awesome concert, with good atmosphere and great songs to dance to.On Tuesday we slept long, had a nice breakfast with waffles and then went to Aachen to my parents place. In the evening we went to a club called B9 where there is a free-beer-party every Tuesday. There we met some of my friends from school and were dacing all night.The hangover on Wednesday didn't prevented us from going to the worlds’ largest indoor winter sports resort in Landgraaf, which is just 15 minutes from Aachen. It was really fun to try to snowboard and I definitely know that this was not the last time for me to stand on a board. Even if we were totally done we went to the Guinness-Haus in the evening to spend some quality time with my brother.Thursday and Friday we just went from Aachen back to Bad Honnef, were cooking and had a good time. When A. left I was a little bit sad, but I know that we are going to see each other in 12 days again, when I am moving to Finland.

Now I just started to pack my things. I am leaving Bad Honnef presumably tomorrow with all my stuff. It's a weird feeling to leave for 1 1/2 years, but I know, that I will enjoy my time somewhere else. It's always hard to leave, but you should go for it, because everywhere anything is waiting to be experienced by you!

~M~

Explanation!

In the last post I was talking about my "life framing". Just to explain: Normally people tend to talk about their plans for life. I don't! I am too spontaneous and unsteady to really plan ahead. And also I don't like to plan ahead. I rather see what life brings and cope with it... or normally enjoy it. So I don't have a plan for my life, because a plan is fixed. I have a frame for my life. A certain direction with no fixed paths, no fixed schedule and especially no fixed destination. Everything can happen and you should make the best out of it... So, don't plan, "frame" your life!

Carefree living

Since last Wednesday I am done with Uni for this semester. I wrote my three exams on the first three days of this exam period. They went well and now I am looking forward to my year abroad.

The next day was a very sad, heartbreaking day for me. I sold my beloved motorcycle. It was the best thing to do. Because of my studies, internships and whole life "framing", I wont be more than half a year in Germany for the next three years. Now I have the money, which I will save for my travels. As mentioned it was hard for me, because this motorcycle was the first really expensive thing I bought some three years ago from my own savings.

On Friday there was a party I wanted to go to, but somehow I never made it there... god only knows why I couldn't make it ;-)

Now I am off uni, but still have busy days. I will use the free time to earn some money. I am currently working in the Hilton in Bonn. Even though it's just four more days I will get the money for my holidays with A. in Croatia (and all the things I wanted to buy before I go to Helsinki).

On Friday I will go home to Aachen. My mum is coming back from "holidays". She went as chef with a youth group to Denmark. Reckon its not very relaxing, though. She has done it now for a couple of years and really likes it. I will be in Aachen until Sunday, the great day....

On Sunday I will pick up A. from the Airport in DUS. Finally we see each other again after almost 4 weeks. Cant wait and so looking forward to it...

~M~

This is it!

Hey guys and readers,

This is my first Blog entry. Please bear with me for spelling, grammar and other mistakes. I am writing in English, which is not my mother tongue, to make it international.

This blog should be about my passion, traveling. Until now I am not that experienced, but I realized that I want to see the world. Not as a tourist, but as a traveler. This may sound weird and a little bit naive, as we all are tourist in some way. But I think its a difference, if you fly 10.000 miles to be in an all-inclusive hotel, which you are just leaving for guided tourist tours and to visit all over crowded religious sites, which totally lost their former purpose or if you go to the countries of the world to live with the people and learn about their cultures.

I am influenced by the TV Show Madventures from Finland, which shows that the world holds more than tourist centers in Thailand, the Ballermann in Mallorca or Cancun in Mexico. Right now I am still in Germany, where I was born, but which is, and I realized this more and more during the last two years, is not really my country. I am more and more annoyed about the way people act and react and also I think nobody really understands me here, my humor and my way of thinking. As I didn't see so much of the world yet, until now I did not leave Europe, I can not say where I'm going to end up.

Next stop will be Finland. As part of my studies I am going to spend the next year in the capital, Helsinki. From there I already planned an ultra-short travel to Croatia.

This blog, as mentioned will be about traveling, but also about my life. Especially when I am away I want to report about what I am doing. I hope at least some people will read this ... otherwise it will be a good diary, which is held to the public!

So far....
~M~