Packing and Cleaning!

This is so weird. I have nearly everything packed, my room is empty and it smells like detergent.

This morning S. came back from Åland and I picked him and J., his travel company, up from the harbor. It was good to see him again after such a long time and it scares me, that we wont be living together anymore now. We had so much fun together and he was an awesome flatmate. I hope and well, I know we will see each other soon again!

When we came back I started packing the rest of my stuff. Most of it was already taken by my parents home to Germany or is already in Ekenäs, where I am going to stay for the next couple of weeks. I dont know what I am doing now. I dont have an internship placement yet and no job in Germany. So instead of hanging around in Germany and not doing anything I rather stay here in Finland, where I have at least A.

After most of the packing was done S. and I went down to the city center. S. wanted to buy still some things for his father, as a birthday present and for another friend. So we went to Esplanadi to a souvenir shop. After S. found what he wanted we went to Stockman and S. bought an ice hockey jersey of the Finnish national team, as a souvenir for himself.

When were back in Kannelmäki I cooked lunch. We ate and sat there talking. There and also before in the city we both, S. and I, realized how much we will miss this life here in Finland. Ok, Helsinki is not the most beautiful, not the most lively and not the best located city in the world, but we were living here for almost one year now and had our life here with a lot of fun and memorable experiences. It is and will always be a part of our life and I can say it is a good one.

After the lunch we started cleaning right away. We were emptying the cupboards, decided what to throw away and what I will take to Ekenäs. We were cleaning the cupboards and the dishes. It was actually not as dirty as I expected it to be. Then S. called his mother in Spain and I emptied my room in order to clean the floor. Now I am sitting here writing. The smell of the detergent gives me a small headache. Maybe it's also all the thoughts running through my head, all the good memories. Even tho I was complaining about this city and this flat all the time it is hard to leave. But I know that live goes on and that changes mean progress. And progress is always good!

I just have one night left. Tomorrow I will leave here! It is a weird feeling!

~M~

Eventless day!

Today nothing really happened. I cleaned a bit in the kitchen and I was doing other stuff here in the flat and on the internet, which came short during the last couple of weeks. It's always good to have a phase like this, just to catch up!

~M~

A lot to do!

I am back in Helsinki. I came yesterday late evening. After these days in Stockholm and Ekenäs it was weird to come back. In the meantime nearly all exchange students left, Kannelmäki and especially the houses are quiet and dark in the evening. It is almost scary.

Anyways, the reason why I came back for some few days is, that I have to empty my flat, have to take all my stuff, which is left, out. But I also came back to pick up my visa from the Russian embassy. I went there this morning and thought everything was fine, I saw my passport, ready to pick up, through the window of the counter. But when it was my turn came the disenchantment; I didn't see that there was a note on the pick-up-paper I got from the embassy. It stated, that you just receive the visa, when bringing this paper plus the confirmation that I paid the fee. Since I did this online and didn't print it out I didn't get my passport back. Also all my pleading to check if the payment was registered as received were turned down. Now I am stuck here in Helsinki at least until Monday.

However, after this negative part of the day I went to the train station, where I met up with S., a German girl, who is doing her Au-pair here in Finland. I met her in the German school, while working. Since I hadnt been working for a long time I hadnt seen her. We went to grab a coffee and then, when the weather cleared up, we started strolling around the city. We went through Kamppi to the German school, where I just said "Hello and Good-bye" and thanked all the people for the good time and opportunity to work. Even tho I was there just every now and then I really enjoyed the work and the company there. Anyways, S. and I were walking on, through the city and through parts I have never been before. Actually this is such a shame. They are directly at the center and I've never been there in the last 9 1/2 months. We were talking, laughing and just having a good time. Then we went back to Kamppi and had ice cream while sitting in the sun. We split up round 2 o'clock, since she had to work.

I went then to Pasila. I still didn't had a print out of the payment confirmation. I had called A., since we used her bank account for the payment, and she agreed to send me a screen shot of the payment, when coming home after work. So I sat down at a PC, was checking my mails, reading news and doing stuff and then finally got the mail with the picture. I printed it out and now I hope, that the embassy will accept it on Monday. If not I will tell them to stamp my visa as invalid so I can get my passport back and then I wont go to Russia. Lets hope the best.

Anyways, I went home after that, put my laundry in. While it was washing I cooked lunch and ate. Then I put my stuff in the dryer and now I was watching streams online. I love these lazy days, even tho I wish there would be better weather and more company. It's pretty lonely here in the flat, since S., my flatmate is on Åland. But soon he will come back and then I go back to Ekenäs and A. I miss her already... after just half a day... incredible!

~M~

Long time since...

It has been a long time since my last blog post. A lot has happened since then and I will try not to forget anything. However, I am not so much in the mood to post something right now, I reckon and so the post might be pretty short.

I am in Ekenäs right now. A. and I came back yesterday from Stockholm where we visited H. and L. two friends of A. It was a really nice short trip and so needed. We went on Sunday morning with the day ferry to Stockholm. We had a cabin, since it was for some reason cheaper than just a deck passage. We spent the 10 hour aboard with sleeping, eating loads of junk food we brought along, watching MTV, walking around, checking out the shops and looking out of the window. Not so exciting.

Anyways, the time in Stockholm was really nice, even tho H. & L. had to work most of the time and could not accompany us in town. However, we did a lot of things and even went into a museum, but the main activity was obviously shopping. One important thing we did is, that we checked out the (potential) internship places. We popped by those companies, A. just to say "Hi" and I just to get an answer and also to say "Hi". My visit however was not that successful, since they could not give me a definite commitment for my internship placement, since they don't know if they will have enough work then. On the one hand it shows me, that they would really take care of me and make sure that I have something to do and that I learn something, but on the other hand I still dont have a safe internship placement.

Now I am back in Ekenäs, as mentioned and will leave to Helsinki later today. I will go on searching for internship opportunities and hope I find something.

Tomorrow I will pick up my visa for Russia.

~M~

Enjoying Life!

I am off uni now for the second day and it is awesome! After the exam on Thursday I am now off for the summer, even tho I still have to organize an internship. Right now I am sitting in Ekenäs in A's parent's house. A. is working and her parents are out with the boat. I am waiting for A. to finish and then we will go to Turku and tomorrow morning to Stockholm.

I dont have much to write, I rather go back outside to sit in the sun! This is awesome!

~M~

Nearly done!

I have one more exam tomorrow and then I am done. I just finished one more assignment and sent it to the teacher. Tomorrow is my last exam and then I my exchange time in Finland at the Haaga-Helia University is over.

I dont really know if I should laugh or cry, it's mixed and weird feelings.

I was before in the city center with E., one of the tutors, and S. for a beer. It was really nice, we went to a small local brewery, which makes the beer just for the own consumption. It was a really nice beer and so much better than the Finnish mass-production. We were sitting there for like two hours and then E. met up with two friends to go to a stand-up comedy show.

This morning I went to the Russian embassy and applied for my visa. Now I am waiting desperately until next Wednesday to pick it up. I hope it will work, since I had a missed call on my cellphone, without a number, when I came home. I hope they did not call because something was wrong with my application. They did not call a second time. I will wait until tomorrow or Friday before I pay the visa fee. Just to give them chance enough to call me again.

Anyways, I am tired and will watch some TV now!

So long...

~M~

And it always goes on and on and on...

After I received my visa invitation letter yesterday I booked my hostels today and will go tomorrow to the embassy to apply for my visa. It should be sufficient time to get it.

Anyways, I will later tell more about my trip to Russia and how it is going on!

Today I had two exams directly after another. The first one was pretty... well... it was ridiculous! It was basically filling in numbers. All the important things were given and the tasks were super easy. Additionally the teacher went out several times for about 5 minutes each, which gave enough opportunity to check your results. So I guess I will have the maximum grade in this exam.

The other exam wasn't so good. I didn't really like the lecturer and I dont have the feeling I learned anything from her. And also her exam wasn't so good. My goal was to pass the course, which I reckon I did. Now it's over and I dont have to think about it anymore.

Then I also finished right now another assignment and have just 2 more and 1 exam pending. Summer holidays are nearly here. I can't wait!

~M~

Going forward!

I am happy, the weather is nice, I had a presentation today, which went well, I finished with G., a French guy, one assignment and whats even more important, I got my Invitation Letter for my Russian visa. Now I can start booking my trip!

I actually right now just came back from a group meeting for another project, which we also have nearly finished now. The rest of the day I was, as I said in uni, and when I came back I started learning again. This is basically what I am going to do also after this post.

It's really nice and summery here and this has a positive effect on all people. I was in the students union office after the group meeting and wanted to buy the last batch for my Halare. I didn't had enough money in cash and wanted to pay with the card, but the women in the office just asked: 'How much do you have?' - '1,50€', I replied, 'Well, just give it to me, it's ok!'
Also when I went to the supermarket today there were people dancing on the place in front of it. Somehow there was a small yet loud stereo and the people were dancing. Something I would have never expected to see here in Finland, since the people are normally quite reserved.

Anyways, it's always nice to get positively surprised!

~M~

Not so much!

This day was pretty lazy. I got up early, since I had to learn for university. Today also E. left Finland and went back to Spain. He was actually supposed to leave about one hour after I got up, but when my alarm rang and I came out of my door he had everything packed and was about to leave. It was a short "see-you-later" and I didn't really found words to say. First of all because I was still so sleepy and secondly because there is not much to say in a moment like this.

Now it's really weird, his room is empty, we are just the two of us. Somehow I didn't actually realize, that he left now forever. I reckon this is coming in two or three days.

Anyways, I was studying a lot today and the next week is going to be extremely busy and I will not have time for anything. Basically every minute from now until Thursday 2 p.m. is planned through. It's the first time here in Finland, that I actually have to work for the exams and that the time is running out and I have the feeling I wont make it. I had this all the time in Germany, but here in Finland everything was so chilled until now. But it's just 5 days, I will survive it!

Now there is nothing left to say, M. one of my group members is coming later still to go through our presentation for tomorrow and then I might read some more for HR and this is it!

~M~

Reunion & Farewell

This was again a wonderful day. I got up early again, was working on my uni stuff and actually managed to finish one more assignment, which I planned to finish tomorrow.

Since I was now ahead of schedule I decided to enjoy this summery weather and went to the park again, was sitting there on a bench and was reading my book. Now I need a new one since I somehow got back my desire to read. I somehow never thought of reading travelogues, but after this one I actually acquired the taste for it. I also know already, which is going to be the next one. However, since it is in German and it is coming to the shops in the end of May I still dont know how to get it here, the shipping is so expensive.

Anyways, I just came back with E. & S. from the city center. We met up with F. one Italian guy who was here last semester. It was good to see him again, even tho we actually didn't had so much to do with each other. We went around the city in the quest of a sunny place on the terrace of a restaurant or bar. We finally found a nice place and were sitting, chatting and laughing. It was a good time and we also got into a conversation with the woman sitting next to us, who actually suspected S. and Me to be Finnish. We were talking about this and that, but when the sun went, it got chilly and so we left. Anyways it was really refreshing to just talk to a random person and therefore I am so looking forward to my trip to Russia, to meet new people again!

But it wasn't just a reunion with F., but also a small farewell for E.. He is going to leave tomorrow morning. He is going back to Spain, his time in Helsinki is already over. The signs, that also my time here is over soon are getting more and more. It will be weird, since S. and I are going to stay at least two weeks more here. It will be strange to be just two people in the flat. Also E. is all the time saying, that he doesn't want to leave. I can feel for him, it's always strange to come home after such a long time apart.

~M~

Eventful Day!

Today I have to triple-thank S.. First he made us lunch, then he cut my hair and then he was running with me.

But first things first:
My day started today quite early and with a nice surprise. When I got up at 8 o'clock it was already 20°C outside and so I put on shorts and a t-shirt, my summer hat and sunglasses and went out. My destination was the Russian embassy in Helsinki, not far from the park A.and S. were a couple of days ago. I wanted to get clear information, what I needed for my Visa application, since, as mentioned before, the websites are contradictory and advice how to get an invitation letter, which is needed for the application.

Anyways, I took the train to Helsinki center and was listening to my Ipod. The music was nice and was lifting up my mood. Exactly in the moment I stepped out of the train station and into the sun the song I'm Yours by Jason Mraz started, really the perfect summer song! I made my way through the sunny Helsinki and was soon at the Embassy. I used the waiting time, which I had to stand in line, by reading something for uni. It was so weird to wait in a line again, here in Finland you normally take a waiting-number... anywhere... for anything...

In the embassy I got the information that I needed and furthermore the contact details of a tour operator who could help me. I contacted them already and it looks promising, so maybe I can soon go on planning my trip.

I went back home and had a second breakfast with S. It was again nice to talk to him and just sit together. He then went to town, I did my laundry and went back to study. We then met up at 2 o'clock in Pasila to have lunch. But since it was today a bridge day the restaurant was closing earlier than normal.

We went home and S. was preparing a really nice and fresh mixed salad. The best thing to have on a warm day like this. Ah ja, by the way, when we left the Pasila campus the display of Haaga-Helia was showing 27°C. Awesome. (click on the picture to see it!) S. went then after the lunch, with which we had a nice cold German beer, back to town, since he didnt had had enough money the first time he went.

When he came back, he cut my hair

and then we went out running. It was really refreshing, but exhausting. I haven't been running for a long time and all the beer made me fat & lazy. I hope I will stick with it a bit, because I really missed the running.

Anyways, I am going to read something more and maybe go for an evening walk, who knows. I just love this summery weather and want it to last the whole summer!

~M~

Nice!

There is nothing more to say!

Well, maybe a little bit! It's a wonderful day, the weather is awesome, I can wear shorts and sunglasses and the best thing about it, it is not making me look ridiculous. The Finns are still shy and nobody is really wearing summer clothes, even tho it is 25°C.

However, everybody is outside, everybody is smiling. The people are taking walks, riding their bikes, taking care of their gardens, playing football, running and doing all kinds of stuff. The sad and quite time is over and I really don't recognize this country anymore. It totally changed within a couple of days. This is the Finland I like!

Anyways, I just had half the day to enjoy this wonderful weather, since I was working this morning and doing stuff for uni. I was therefore sitting the first half of the day inside, but now I just went out for a walk, went to a park nearby and was sitting there on a bench in the sun, reading my book.

I actually wanted to write this post outside in the sun as well, but the small park here between the houses is super dirty, since someone left his waste from a grill party there and the birds ripped the plastic bags open and scattered the stuff all over the place. Not so nice to sit there now.

Anyways, I planned also my trip to Russia further, but now I am stuck a bit. I wanted to organize the trip myself and not with a tour operator. The problem is, that the information given on the internet is not clear. Some websites of the government say, that a normal accommodation booking and the train/airline tickets are enough to issue a visa, some say that they are not and that I need some paper from the tour operator. It's a bit confusing and now I am waiting for an answer from the Russian Embassy here in Helsinki. The problem is, that today is a public holiday and they are not working, so I will pass by the consular section tomorrow to get information.

Otherwise everything is fine, I am going to go on doing stuff for uni now and then I will see, what the rest of the evening brings!

~M~

First Day of Real Spring!

This day was awesome! It was 22°C (finally) and I was a lot outside. It started with a long walk this morning with A. here in Kannelmäki. We walked pretty far and were enjoying the warm morning sun. For lunch we went to Pasila and met S., who went to the city center before to take pictures.

After lunch I had a group meeting and A. and S. went to a park overlooking the harbor of Helsinki. As far as I know were they sitting there in a café and were enjoying the good weather. My meeting took about two hours and afterwards I called A. to ask where they were. We agreed to meet up on Esplanadi, the one and only Boulevard of Helsinki. In the middle of the street is a nice and wide park, where you can sit on the benches and just observe people walking past.

This is also what I did, while waiting for A. and S., but instead of looking at people I was reading a book. It was so nice and warm, that I didn't had to wear a jacket nor a pullover. However, after a while there came a cold wind and since I anyways feel a tini-tiny bit sick, I put my hoodie on - just in case. On the way back it got even better, since we got free Nescafé® in front of the train station.

Now I came back from Pasila. A. took the train back to Ekenäs and I am alone again. It is now really weird. She took all her stuff from here, emptied out here space in the closet and the cupboard. My parents left Finland today and took also a lot of stuff with them, as I mentioned before and now I really feel, that the time here in Helsinki is soon over.

However, I am going with A. to Stockholm for two days, soon and right now I am planning already the next trip. This time I wanna go to St. Petersburg and Moscow. I actually planned to go by train, but when I - more as a joke - checked the flights I realized, that they are way cheaper. There is one airline, which is flying within Russia for super low prices. The trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg costs just 14€. I will inform myself a bit about this airline and see if I really wanna fly with them.

Anyways, I will go on planning and then to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow. Even tho it is a public holiday I will do a lot for uni!

~M~

Totally Exhausted

I just came from a group meeting and I am totally done. I got up this morning early and was then first talking to A., my flatmate's sister, who is visiting him right now. Since he was in uni at that time we were sitting in the kitchen and talking about stuff.

After the breakfast I started working, reading and writing, and did that basically 6 hours straight. I totally underestimated the work, but I had to finish the writing before the group meeting at 4 pm.

That was what I was doing today, now I am sitting shortly here and later S. and I will go to the Austrian dinner, about one minute from our house.

~M~

Mother's day

Today was mother's day. I therefore spent some time with my parents today, since they are anyways in Finland, as mentioned before.

Today we went to Porvoo, about 40km from Helsinki. The small town has a very nice old town, which is basically like an open-air museum and has beautiful old wooden houses with small cafes and tiny shops. Even tho the weather wasn't that nice, it was mostly cloudy but dry, we had a good time.

We walked around the small streets and along the river over to the old train station, since my dad love trains and everything that is related to it. He found a man, working on one steam train and talked to him a long time. My mum and me were walking around instead.

Then we went up a hill facing the old town and had a beautiful view onto the colorful houses and the river. After a while we went back to the town and had a coffee and some cake in a cute cafe, which was more like a living room than a cafe. It was really cozy and we sat a long time talking.

It is really nice sometimes to talk to your parents again. I really missed them somehow. It is weird, often you just annoyed and just want to get out, but when you haven't been talking to them for a long time it's nice to be together again.... at least for a little while ;-)

~M~

Packing

It's really weird, I am packing!

I am not going to leave Finland soon, but still I am packing. My parents are here visiting me and since I brought so much stuff in the first place it would be too expensive to take it home by plane. They are with the car here and so they can take a lot. I packed my backpack already once, just to get all the stuff in there, which I really wanna keep here and to see how much I get into it. I have figured out the rest, which is going to the suitcase and several boxes and then home to Germany.

It is an awkward feeling now. My wardrobe is so empty, my cupboard is nearly empty and stuff, which I didnt use in the whole year, but were filling this room are gone. Even tho it shows me with how few you can live a normal life it will be weird to wear all the time the same clothes and to live the next three weeks in a basically empty room.

On the other hand it's nice, I know what I have, I know that it will fit into the backpack and I dont have to plan what to pack where and worry about not getting everything in. I really feel now that I am getting closer to a change, and as I wrote before, I love changes. Really... I am moving forward!

~M~

Productive Morning

Nice, this was a really productive morning. I got up early, did my laundry, dried and folded the clothes. I was working for uni, cleaning my room, bringing down the bin and made my bed.

Now I am taking a break, listening to music and being shortly on the internet to write this post. My parents are coming today to Helsinki and I hope they bring better weather. After the couple of days in Ekenäs they are now coming to visit ME! Even tho they are not staying at my place I hope to see them and guess I will spend a lot of time with them.

Therefore I will go on later with the cleaning of the kitchen, corridor and bathroom. I will also bring some more order to my room. We anyways have had to clean and now we finally have a real reason ;-) Also, since we all are moving out soon it is good to start, otherwise it would be too much in the end.

I will also start later on, since I now have all my clothes here and clean to start packing. I have to pack all stuff I need in my backpack and hope I will not exceed 20kg. The rest will be packed into my suitcase and into several other bags, boxes and my laundry basket. I have to have that done until the 11th or 12th, since my parents are then leaving and going to take the stuff back home to Germany with the car.

It's a weird feeling, that I have to think about what I need for the rest of the time here already. It seems like yesterday since I came here, now it is soon over and I have to move on. But somehow it feels nice and especially exciting, since I dont have a clue (yet) where I will go and end up with my internship.

Anyways, I love changes, I love to move on, I love to experience something new!

~M~

Last Weeks

I have not a lot of time to write her. I am working for uni and have to really do stuff this evening, even tho we have a dinner here, since E. is leaving Helsinki soon and earlier, than everybody else.

This morning I just came back from Ekenäs. As I wrote before, my parents are right now up here in Finland to visit me. They are at A's parents' place and since A's mother wanted us all to have dinner together once I went there yesterday after uni.

Now I am just sitting here, I was writing my Swedish exam earlier and hope and think that I passed it. I really want to use Swedish now. I just sent out two more applications to Stockholm and hope they finally will bring a result! I still dont have anything and get really frustrated by all the rejections.

Anyways, I will now quickly go over to the laundry to book a time. Then I guess the people are coming soon!

~M~

Vappu - Vol. II

So, now I am back from uni and thought I could quickly finish my blog entry and put more pictures into my first post today!

So, the next day, first of May, my parents arrived with the ferry in Naantali, a small town about 20km from Turku. They went, while we all were sleeping to the hotel, got their room right away and went to sleep again. We, in A's flat, slept longer and got up round 10, had breakfast and fixed ourselves for the picnic. I called my parents and we agreed that we would pick them up on the way to the park.

In the park we found a really nice spot, with a lot of sun and nearly now wind. Since it was sunny, but still fresh/cold this was pretty important. We were walking around the park later on and realized how lucky we were with our spot.

Anyways, soon after we arrived A's friends and a lot of other people were joining us on the lawn, we opened the sparkling wine bottles and got the food out. We were enjoying the sun, eating, drinking, talking and laughing. After like two hours my parents left and then it was just us young people ;-) We intended to stay until like 3 o'clock, but since the weather and the company was so nice we totally forgot the time.


When it got cloudy and cold around 6 o'clock we decided to pack our stuff and go home. However, on the way we got thirsty and needed a break, so we went to one of the boats to have one more drink before really going home. We sat there for nearly one hour, but also this got cold after a while, so we went on.

The group split up. A., S., E. and I went to A's flat, since the guys had to go home to Helsinki the same night. The rest of the group went to another flat. When we arrived at the flat the guys quickly packed their stuff and ate something. Then A. and I brought them to the train station and went back to the flat to have something to eat.

We actually had planned to go out that evening, but since we were so tired and since we were sitting after the dinner so long talking about everything and anything we decided to stay in, especially because the next day we had to be fresh, since it was my mums birthday!

It was really a nice time in Turku, Vappu was great. Thanks to all the people, who were partying with us and letting us into their flats without knowing us!

~M~

Vappu!

I am back in Helsinki! I came back yesterday from Turku, where I spent the Vappu Weekend with A. and her friends. Also my flatmates, S. & E. were there, which was super nice!

I came now just quickly in the one hour break home from uni, since it is better to be half an hour at home, eat a second breakfast and have some tea or coffee than sitting for that one hour in uni not knowing what to do.

Vappu was, as I said, really nice. I went already on Thursday evening to Turku, the guys came on Friday noon. We picked them up from the train station and were happy to finally be able to take off our jackets, since it was so warm. We then went back to A's place, were sitting there, drinking Mjöd/Sima and eating some pastry, of which I knew the name just two seconds ago, but forgot it now... wait... wait for it... ah ja... no... yes wait, they are called Munkar.Anyways, we were sitting with K. and E., two of A's friends, who joined us, on the balcony and the guys were still sewing batches onto their Halare. Then in the afternoon we went to a park, where the Finnish people were holding a ritual, where all people who did their A-levels are putting on their white hats at the same time. Then there is a choir singing and people holding speeches. During these speeches all the other people are drinking sparkling wine and so did we.

From the park we went top a middle party a N's place, we ordered and ate pizza. From there we went to another middle party and from there to a club.

Now I have to stop writing since I have to go back to uni. But I will continue and put pictures later on, when I am back!

~M~