Nothing New!

I am sorry for not writing again the whole week! I had the morning shift, which meant that I had to start work at 5 o'clock and that again meant to get up at 4 o'clock in the night! It was really tiring and I didn't like it at all! Although you are done by 2 p.m. and have the rest of the afternoon you are normally not doing anything since you are so knackered from getting up so early!

So I spent the last week working the early mornings and just hanging around in the afternoon. I normally went to bed round 9 or 10 at the latest to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep! The job itself is not very challenging; as I wrote, the company is producing airline food and my task is to supply the women at the conveyor belt with food, meaning the food they put into the bowls which you get in the airplane. I hope you know what I mean!

Anyways, the whole week I was tired and I am still. The weather is not really nice, wet & cold! A. is not here, but luckily she is coming back tomorrow; I miss her so much. She has been away for 10 days, which was way too long!!!

Now I am sitting here, doing basically nothing and will soon go to clean up my room a bit and I will shave! I used the time that I was alone to grow a beard... well to be honest, it just happened since I was too unmotivated to cut it!

~M~

The Weekend!

This was a short weekend! Friday I worked until 10 in the evening and tomorrow morning I have to get up at 4 since I am starting at 5 o'clock! This will be the whole week like this and I am really annoyed at this, but what can I say, I knew it before! It's also quite boring, but as I told A. several times and what I tell my self all the time: I am going to be happy about the work when seeing the money on my bank account!

Anyways, the weekend was pretty eventless! I was home alone without A. and I really missed her a lot! It's again weird to be alone after such a long time together. At least I have something to occupy my mind, although I am not using my brain too much while working.

Anyways, I was bringing away some old papers and was buying a new wiper for the car of my mum. That was basically my weekend occupation. The rest of the time I was doing this and that. I actually was talking a lot with my parents and we were sitting always long after finishing the meals. It felt good somehow and was refreshing!

Now I am going to finish here and will fix myself and go to bed! I doubt however, that I will be able to sleep so early, but I should try at least; I dont want to be too tired at work tomorrow! 

I will also try to post more often again. I have the problem, that I ran out of space here on blogger. I think it's quite ridiculous to have just 1024MB of storage! With today's pictures this space is quite fast full. I am looking for a new hoster, but didn't come far with it yet, due to several reasons!

Anyways, I will go on posting here so long! There is not so much I am taking pictures of right now so I am fine! I will go on looking and will move the blog asap; I will keep you updated about it!

~M~

Fast-Forward!

Fast-Forward!

Unfortunately I don't really have time right now to write my blog and to post all the things that happened in the last couple of weeks. This is for three reasons: First of all I don't really have the motivation to write right now, secondly so much happened that I cant really recall everything straight away and it takes me quite long to write a post and lastly - and that's the real reason - I have a job now!

This actually is quite nice to be honest; using the time between the end of the internship and the start of my last semester to earn some money! I am working right now in a company that produces ready-made meals mostly for airlines; so if you are flying AirBerlin next time there is a high probability that I touched your food! (With gloves, of course!) The job, though, is not the most interesting or challenging, but at least I will have my bank account filled up at the end!

Anyways, since so much happened over the last weeks and I really do not have the time to write about everything and also because there were so many days in between where nothing happened I will give you a fast-forward of the last weeks!

Leaving Norway!

After being at the North Cape I continued with the Hurtigruten to Kirkenes from where I took the plane back to Oslo! I arrived in the afternoon, went home, started packing my things and went out in the evening with L., A. & J. to celebrate my last evening in Oslo. We went to eat a very good pizza at Villa Paradiso a, seemingly, quite famous restaurant in the heart of Grünerløkka. The girls got me a very nice see-you-later-present, which I unfortunately can not use right now, since it is way too warm here in Germany!

The next day got up early and packed all my things and was amazed, that I really got everything in and didn't had to throw away anything. I packed the rest of my food, the fan-heater that I had bought for the winter and also the blanket and pillow and walked down to the office. I gave all the things to L. to keep them for the next trainee, since I think it is stupid, that each trainee is buying new things and then throws them away!

I said good-bye to everybody in the office and made my way back to the flat, where I just grabbed my backpack, said bye to my flatmate and made my way to the airport! It was a weird feeling to leave, but I am getting more and more used to it. I had this feeling of leaving a place about 6 times in the last 3 years; I am becoming a pro in leaving! The good thing is, that I always leave with the good feeling of starting something new!

Christmas in Aachen!

Both A. and I arrived in Düsseldorf on the 21st; A. came from Helsinki and I came from Oslo - obviously! We were picked up by my mum and then headed home. The next days we spent Christmas shopping and well I spent it by trying to reconnect with my childhood home and hometown! 

We were walking a lot through the city and were walking in shops and over the Christmas market. A. bought some new shoes and we were looking for some presents. At home A. was arranging her stuff in her new home and I was trying to find my place again. I was amazed how much stuff I actually own and it made me sick! I have a room full of mostly useless stuff from which I still can not really separate, I hate it! I started to throw things away and luckily I continued in the new year with it! I am doing quite good right now and will go to a flee market when I finished working in the company!

Christmas itself was quite nice! We all came together and were celebrating Christmas at home. This year a bit different though; My brother got sick on the 24th and could barely eat and was going to sleep quite early. Also the normal Christmas procedures were changed this year. It had been snowing a lot in the two days before Christmas and the traffic in the city was collapsed. There were no buses going and the plows could not clear the streets anymore. Many cars got stuck in the deep snow and even walking was difficult. Therefore we decided not to go to church this year for Christmas!

It was anyways nice, we got very nice and totally unexpected gifts and it was just good to be with the family again. The Christmas days we spent at home with the family and good food. We were going out for walks and were relaxing at home! I had found my place at home again, was a bit more organized and was then looking forward to the upcoming trip over New Years!

New Years in Spain!

A. and I had decided to spend New Years in Spain together with our friend S., who I had been living with for the year in Helsinki. We hadn't seen each other ever since we had left Finland. He actually had wanted to visit me in Oslo, but he had been to busy traveling around Europe to visit other people; I guess I wasn't that high on his priority list :-P

Anyways, we went to Spain on the 28th and flew to Madrid. We had to change in Amsterdam and although the transfer was supposed to be something like 45 minutes and effectively was about 1 1/2 hours, our luggage didn't make it to Spain with us. We waited and waited at the belt, but nothing came. We went to the counter and told them the address we would stay at and also said we would leave Madrid the next day. This was a white lie, but we thought that this would speed up the process of getting our luggage and so it was; the next day, early in the morning our luggage was brought to S's place!

We were spending the days together with S. in Madrid and also met our other flatmate from Helsinki E. and his girlfriend in the city center. We went to a very nice place and were eating tapas and drinking sangria. The next day we were sightseeing in Madrid and had bocatas (sandwiches) at El Brillante, a bocateria that claims to have the best bocatas and the best calamaris in town! We had a lot of fun and were laughing a lot

On the 30th we went by train to S's hometown, Palencia. He had tried to get tickets for the fast train, but since everybody was traveling these days all tickets had been sold and so we had to go with slow train, which took double the time. We spent the three hours with sleeping, talking and other things you can do on a train. 

We arrived in Palencia, left our luggage in the hotel that S's father had organized for us and then went to S's family to have dinner! We were so warmly welcomed and treated so nicely during our whole stay. Firstly we stayed in the hotel for free, since S's father is basically the manager. Secondly we were all the time invited to have lunch or dinner or both somewhere. And lastly they were just so caring and were showing us around all the time. Family in Spain is just more important than it is in Germany for example!

The days in Palencia were really nice and we saw a lot! We had really good weather and we had two-digit temperatures ABOVE zero! It was good to finally have some more daylight and to have sun at all! We were walking around town and were visiting the cathedral with it's crypt and some of the cribs around town. 

We were eating churros and got invited by the friends of S's parents to have lunch. We ate traditional Spanish food and had to dance to Spanish rhythms. We celebrated New Years in a nice hotel with a five course dinner and an open bar at the end of the evening! In the new year we were taken around the region of Palencia, were visiting the remain of a Roman villa and took some steps on the Camino Santiago, when we visited Fromista.

After a couple of days in Palencia we returned to Madrid, where we stayed still a bit. We were again walking around town and went to places we hadn't had time to visit before. We still didn't see everything, the city is too big for such a short time and we were also not stressing. Instead we were enjoying the time together, eating bocatas and tapas and drinking beer and sangria. The time went way too fast and soon we had to leave back to Germany, this time our luggage came with us!

After all these 8 days in Spain were marvelous. We had such a great time together with S. and his family and were welcomed so warmly. This, for sure, wasn't the last time for me to visit S., no matter where he is. Maybe next time in South Korea, who knows!

Back in Germany

After the time in Spain it was again hard to be back in Germany. It was cold it was rainy... and still is! Luckily all the snow is gone and you are able to walk and drive again. However, the weather sucks and it is raining heavily. The first days after coming back I was doing some things for my internship follow-up and A. was looking for jobs and preparing for her thesis presentation.

It quickly got boring and we didn't really know what to do anymore, since there was no point of going outside due to the bad weather. We started playing board games and realized again how much fun they actually are. The problem was that we both didn't have a life, didn't have a rhythm, which can make the days quite dull. In summer this might be ok, because you go out and so things, but with weather like this it can get kinda boring sometimes!

Luckily I got a phone call from the HR department of the company I am now working for and they offered me a job! I had planned to go working in the time between the end of the internship and the re-start of uni, but I didn't follow through with this plan. Now I am happy to have something to do again and to earn some money. My contract is until the end of January, with the possibility that the company extends it until the end of February - fingers crossed!

A. is right now in Finland; she left Wednesday morning and has her thesis presentation at the moment! She will stay until next Sunday at home, will then come to Germany for 7 days and will then leave to visit her parents on the Canary Islands! I didn't book flights yet, since I don't know what's up with work, but maybe I will get a last minute thing and go with her, we'll see!

For now that's all! I know it is a long post, but is is a post that is covering nearly four weeks. I don't know when I will post next time, I don't know if I am up for posting every day. Right now there is not too much happening in my life, since I am mostly working and this is rather unexciting (but at least I get good money for it)!

Anyways, I will now upload the pictures, have lunch and then go to work again! That's my life right now (Thank God, it's Friday)! However, I promise to post more often again!

~M~