Summer day!

This was a super nice summer day here in Finland. Already in the morning when I got up it was warm and sunny. A. was off today and had a hairdresser appointment. When she was telling me that it would take 2-3 hours I decided to go on a cycling tour to a castle ruin about 20km from Ekenäs.So, I quickly looked up which roads to take, packed as a security a map - which stayed all the time packed - and of course some water, since it was so hot already. I left the house at 11 o'clock sharp and made my way through town, where I quickly filled up the tires of my bike and took the road southwards out of town.It was really nice, soon I was out of the town, the bike path ended and I was going over the narrow, but busy country road. When the traffic got less I was finally able to look around, before I so had to focus to go straight on the sideline, since the cars were passing so close.

I took the turn towards Snappertuna, where Raseborgs Slottsruiner, the castle ruin is. The road was even narrower, but not busy at all.However, after about 1km the paved road ended and I had to go over a gravel road. Normally this is no problem, but since I had the old bike of A's father, which could be called a "city bike", it was really hard and uncomfortable. The bike has super thin tires, which is nice on paved roads, but on gravel roads with huge stones and more potholes than road it's - literally - a pain in the a*s.Anyways, I made my way to the castle ruin without a stop. I was wandering around the ruin and was enjoying the sun. A. called me and told me that she was done at the hairdressers and was on her way to the beach.I, however, had no hurry going back. I was taking it slowly. Firstly because of the nice landscape and weather and secondly because I could already feel the 20km of the way there in my legs. For an untrained person, that I became during my studies, it is really a challenge to go with an old bike, which just has three hub gears, over a hilly country road.On the way back I also stopped to take some pictures, since I realized, that the pictures taken while biking were not the best.When I was back in Ekenäs I was so happy to finally drink something more. I had my water with me, but the 600ml were just not enough for a hot summer day like this one. I drank to hydrate myself and ate something.After this small lunch I went down to the beach to join A. The swim in the sea was so refreshing and totally needed, as I realized afterwards. I was thinking, how easy it actually is to go such a distance with the bike. I mean, I was wearing flip-flops, shorts and a normal T-shirt. Now special gear, had no high-tech bike and am untrained. 40km with the bike sounds somehow - for me at least - a lot. Today I realized, that it's not too hard. However, in the evening I was happy to get some more food. And it was extremely good food. We barbecued and A's mum made salad and other stuff and it was again just amazing.Now the summer is really here and I hope it will last. I will now go out again to enjoy the evening sun. The post is already way too long, so I will stop writing now.
~M~

A lot of too little sleep

It's incredible, I just got up after like 9 hours of good sleep and I am still super tired. I realized, that I was sleeping more and more during the last couple of weeks. However, I am still super tired every time I get up and this scares me.

When I am going to start my internship I will not have so much time to sleep at all. I will get up early and go to work. In the evening I might go out again and then wont go to sleep early neither. So I hope that I can get used again to little sleep, few months ago I was just sleeping 4-6 hours a night, now it's 9-12 hours. Something is wrong with me.

Anyways, I will now get the day started. A. is going to the hairdresser for two or three hours and I will see what I will do. So, let the day begin ...

~M~

Garden Work

Today was an exhausting, but productive day. Even tho we slept in the morning quite long, I then got up and directly after breakfast I somehow felt the need to be active. So, I started to mow the lawn. After that I was a bit sitting by the PC and the A. already had to go to work.

I went with her and was then staying 7 hours, which I didnt plan. The reason was, that I was asked by F. the husband of A's boss, if would like to earn a little money. Since I am "unemployed" right now and always need money I started cutting small trees and taking them to a disposal area.

It took me way longer than I expected, but I think I've done a good job. Now I am totally tired and have cuts and bruises everywhere. I am waiting for A. to come home to finally have dinner. Since I was working so long I didn't had lunch today and am super hungry.

It's good to be active again. I am happy now, I know that I have done something useful today and I even got answers to my e-mails for flats in Oslo. I hope I will find something suitable.

~M~

Football World Cup

Today I was watching the Germany vs. England game in the hotel. It was nice, it was ok, I had company, but somehow it wasn't the same like the last times.

Here in Finland people are of course interested in the world cup, but since the national team is not participating the euphoria is rather small. So I was watching basically all the games at home or in the hotel. I am happy about the German performance, but the party feeling after the games, like I had the last times, is not coming up.

Anyways, I will go on watching the games and hope for the German team to be successful.

Otherwise there is not much to say. I am here in Ekenäs, it's Sunday and rather quiet around. I will soon go to the hotel again to pick up A. from work. Maybe we will go for a beer after that again. We will see!

~M~

Nothing to do

Today was nothing really to do. Its midsummer right now, all the shops are closed, most people are out with their boats or in the summer cottages. A. had to work and I was sitting at home, surfing the internet and watching world cup. Right now the game Ghana vs. USA is on. The extra time is about to start.

The only thing we did was, that we went after A's shift to town to have a beer in the evening sun. It was really nice, but we drank the beer / cider quickly, since it got cold. Then we walked home and had dinner.

All in all a very lazy and eventless day!

~M~

Afrikan Tähti

Yesterday in the late afternoon, after A. had a nap, we decided to finally play Afrikan Tähti. We've been planning this for so long already. I've been asking over and over again, but we somehow never found the time.The game is a very traditional Finnish board game, so to say a cult-game, and I got to know it over the TV-series Madventures. When the guys of the show were traveling through Africa they all the time were talking about horseshoes and gem stones and were showing a weird map of Africa. Then one day, when I was working in the German School in Helsinki I saw exactly this weird map and was then doing some "research".

Ms Livingstone

So, we were playing then several rounds, but soon it got boring and we decided to change it into a drinking game. We made up rules and had a lot of fun.

The new rules

Since it sometimes takes a long time until the Afrikan Tähti is found (see description on Wikipedia), the first round of the drinking game took some time and we were already tipsy.

Me drinking the Elephant glass

Then we suddenly were hungry and decided to grill.However, we also agreed to play another round of the drinking-version of the game again after eating. That time again was a very long round and it took us very long to find the Afrikan Tähti.

The third robber

Anyways, we had a really nice evening and a lot of fun. Afrikan Tähti as a game already is fun, but the drinking-version was getting better with every round.~M~

Midsummer Getaway

A couple of hours ago I just came back to the house in Ekenäs. We have been away for 2 1/2 days with the boat of A's father. I really like this boat and especially to go out to the archipelago with it.The trip was to celebrate midsummer and also to just get away again. Especially since I don't have anything to do here in Ekenäs it was a good variation of my daily life. When we left the weather didn't look too promising. It was cool and cloudy, but the closer we got to the edge of the archipelago, the better the weather got.When we arrived at the island we wanted to stay on it was already late afternoon. The weather was so nice and warm, that we changed to summer clothes. We went around the island, were sitting a bit in the sun and then had dinner, grilled fish, on the boat. After the dinner we went to the island again to have a couple of beers on the rocks, while watching the sun go down and the moon come up.The next day we were sleeping long, had a nice breakfast in the sun and were sun bathing and relaxing basically the whole day. I was getting the first sun burn of the year and felt how much I needed to do nothing at all. I do not have anything to do here in Ekenäs neither, but this "doing nothing" is rather exhausting than relaxing.In the evening, while having dinner, the wind was getting stronger and since "Kennedy", the boat, was too heavy for the pier, we decided to relocate her and search for new anchor-spot.When we arrived to the spot it was already pretty late, but A. and I decided to take the rowing boat still to the island to take a short walk around. On the way back we still took some nice photos, since the scenery was so picturesque.The next morning we again slept long, had a nice breakfast in the sun, were sun bathing and then started going back to Ekenäs. Actually we left earlier than expected and so A. and I still had the opportunity to go to the shop and buy some food for the next weekend.Now A. is having a siesta and I am looking at the pictures. It was a really nice trip again and I really needed that. I am super happy, that the summer finally is here and I can work on my tan.One more thing happened, when I came back. I got my contracts from the company in Oslo, where I hope to do my internship and now I am just waiting for my university to approve the placement. I hope there will be no further complications and I can start searching for flats in Oslo soon.~M~

New Ways

Since March I am sending already applications for my internship. I actually planned to start it already in June in order to have the possibility to work in the winter, after finishing my internship. I sent since then over 50 applications to locations all over the world. Vancouver, Honolulu and Cape Town were the highlights.

During this process I realized, that it seems to be totally common to just not answer e-mails anymore. I mean for me it would be fine to get a single line telling me that I can't do my internship with the company. However, it seems, that students and potential employees are totally worthless in nowadays business society and that they are not even worth an impolite answer, not to mention a polite answer.

Anyways, I was sending application over application and got maybe a 5%-8% response rate, meaning, I got on more than 50 applications maybe five answers. This is in my opinion very disappointing and embarrassing for an industry (I was sending nearly all my applications to 5***** star hotels), whose core values are respect, valuing the customer and perfect service. Since I am not paying money, but require time and therefore costing money, I reckon these values don't count for me.

All the answers I got were "No's" or "Maybe's". The "Maybe's" generally gave a "Yes, but..."-answer and then didn't answer anymore on my positive responses. Even tho I sent several reminders to the companies I never got anymore answers.

After a while having this trouble with the applications you start doubting yourself. You start thinking, that you are not good enough, that your grades or your application is too bad, or whatever. You come up with a thousand things, what could be the reason for a negative or even no response at all. It's sucking all your energy out and you start feeling bad, when talking or even thinking about internship applications.

Now, lately, I had again a "Maybe" from a company from Stockholm. I even went there without having an appointment to just say "Hi". I was anyways in the city and so it was no big deal. The reaction of the responsible person was actually quite positive and it also sounded promising, that I would get the opportunity to work with this company. However, the responsible person couldn't give me a definite commitment and told me she would contact me as soon as she would know something about the internship.

Then after three weeks - I was maybe too eager, who knows - I just sent as a reminder an e-mail, to ask how the situation would look like. My job was dependent on the performance and position of the company in the particular time. As an answer I got then - maybe as act of defiance - a definite "No". Again a bitter setback.

As in the following days, I did not have the energy to brace up again, sit down and search for new companies to send applications to. Even when talking about it I felt how disgusted I was by the topic "internship". However, I then sent an application to another company in Stockholm and got a response. It was short, it was impolite, but it was a response; better then nothing. After sending my CV again, since the responsible person could not open it, I am now waiting for another - hopefully positive - response.

However, the same day I got another e-mail from a company, which first sent me a "Maybe"-answer and then didn't answer anymore after my positive response. They asked me if I would still be interested in an internship with them. Since I do not have anything yet, I answered positively again and asked for more information. Today, after the weekend, I got more information and now have to consider taking it.

The offer sounds good, the job would be nice. The only problem is, that the job would be in Oslo. Oslo is the most expensive city in Europe and even tho they would pay me quite good I have to consider this factor. Further I would like to stay with A., who has an internship placement in Stockholm. Although Oslo and Stockholm are "just" 550 km away from each other it would be quite hard to see each other on a regular basis.

It is a difficult decision, especially since I have such a disgust towards this topic lately and dont want to think too much about it. I know that I am still young and always say that you should go wherever life takes you, but this is a really tough decision.

I will have some days to think about it now, since we are going out with the boat for three days. I hope the sea will calm me down a bit and I will have enough time to think about my next step.

~M~

Photo Biking

Today in the afternoon A. and I got bored and since the weather was so nice we decided to go Photo Biking... well basically we decided to go biking, but it ended up in Photo Biking! No more words needed!Then we came to a really nice and quiet lake and decided to chill a bit in the sun. (FYI: The hoodies are misleading, it is actually super nice and warm here!!!)
And then we went back again!A really nice afternoon I have to say. Spontaneous and funny somehow! I really start to like biking again. Since I had in Germany all the time the possibility to take a car or my motorcycle I totally forgot how nice it is to bike. Also here it's easier, since the countryside is mostly flat!

~M~

Group Travel vs. Solo Tripping

As mentioned in my earlier posts, my trip to Russia was my first solo trip. This situation was mainly created by the fact that my fellow ERASMUS students in Finland all went home before I went to Russia and my girlfriend had to work and was not able to take one week off to come with me. Also all people, who were interested in joining me, were unable because of different circumstances.

I really enjoyed the trip, no question, but every now and then I was thinking about the differences between this trip alone and with somebody else. Thinking about this I realized, that there are many kinds of travel partners, which all have pros and cons. You will encounter different problems and situations regarding who you travel with. It totally matters if you travel as a couple, with one or more friends or an organized group.

If you travel with somebody else you always will have tension between the involved parties. Of course, traveling is exhausting, sometimes stressful and everybody wants it to be a nice experience. Often people have a certain perception and expectations towards the travel. However, usually these expectations are totally over the top and impossible to fulfill. People tend to get disappointed and this creates tension. Often this tension reveals the true personality of someone and shows how good (or bad) you get along with each other. If you want to get to know a person, go traveling together.

Organized groups are a good possibility to reduce this tension. The stress for each person is reduced, since the guide is mainly in charge of the accommodation, transport and other things, which can be difficult to organize in some countries, due to language barriers or other circumstances. This takes a lot of pressure away and the organized program of the trip leaves few opportunities about what to do or where to go. Another advantage of course is that if you do not get along with one of the members, you simply hang out with other people of the group, easy as.However you are pretty fixed to the schedule and the route of the tour. If you come to a place you would like spend more time with at is hard to break out and quickly change your plans. Since traveling is exactly about this freedom of going wherever and doing whatever the travel group restricts you in a way. It’s much easier then to just travel with a friend or your partner.

The partner thing is nice. You normally know (or should know) each other pretty good (if not, you will find out during the travel anyways) and can be sure, that you share certain interests and needs. Of course, there are a lot of people splitting up after traveling together, but then these couples were anyways not fitting together. Normally, as mentioned, it’s working pretty well, you understand each other and you are less willing to let an argument escalate. However, it is hard to meet new people during the trip, when traveling as a couple. Many people in hostels have a negative perception towards couples and often do not want to “interfere” with them. On the other hand, if you feel down or homesick you will always have somebody to hold you and build you up again.Especially this is different when traveling with a normal friend and you are not extremely close or a touchy and physical kind of person. Also you are more likely to make your point and be stubborn in arguments. Even though this is less likely to happen, the better friends you are, it can become a crucial issue and destroy the whole trip experience. On the other hand, of course, if you have nice memories you will for years be able to sit down together and recap the highlights of the trip.When traveling alone you normally don’t have anybody to share the experiences with. Of course, you are more likely to meet new people and maybe when you meet up after the trip you have mutual moments to remember, but who knows, if these acquaintances will last so long. Especially if you do not go out with the people you meet and walk alone through the sites you visit you will have nobody to share funny moments with. However, this solo tripping can also be an advantage. You are more likely to come in contact with the local people and try to communicate with them.
As mentioned before, traveling is, in a way, always about if perceptions and expectations are met or not. When being alone you have nothing but your own expectations, your own needs and wants that have to be fulfilled. You can make your own schedule and itinerary and change it whenever however you want. This gives a lot of freedom. You can walk instead of taking a bus; you can eat where and when you want, you can sleep as long as you want, take as much time as you want for everything, you don’t have to worry that your company might be bored or tired, there is nobody stressing you in any way.

There are a lot of pros and cons (and I did not mention all, which were in my head) for the different kinds of travel company you are going with. All have their positive and there less positive (I avoid the word “negative” here, since some people might appreciate things I see as a downside) aspects. After all everybody has to decide himself/herself what he or she wants of a trip. If it is a hassle free trip with a fixed and organized route, where it is easy to meet new people, or a trip with the maximum freedom, where one just has to care about one self’s needs.

I, myself, have to say, that I like to travel with somebody else. I am too communicative and social to sit alone in a train, where nobody speaks English, for hours and hours. I am too talkative and extrovert to be on the road alone.~M~