Wrap up!

For a long long time I did not post here. In the last five weeks this was mostly due to the fact that I was walking the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, in northern Spain. Before that there were some few things that I would like to wrap up in this post. About the experiences of and on the Camino I will write in a separate post later on.

Now to start with: I handed in my thesis one day before deadline and during my walk I received the message that my thesis was accepted and that I am invited to do my colloquium. This basically means that I am graduated if no tremendous discrepancies between my thesis and my knowledge become apparent during my oral exam. Furthermore the Finnish University has prepared my maturity test, which means, they also accepted my thesis. (Short note for better understanding: I was doing a double-degree program, my thesis is accepted as Diploma thesis in Germany and Bachelor thesis in Finland. With this I am going to receive - yes, I am pretty sure, that I will pass the last two tests - a German Diploma and a Finnish Bachelor).

Anyways, in the time before the Camino my parents visited A. and me here in Hamburg. My dad had also some work related meeting here in the city and so they extended their stay over the weekend and we were spending time together, which was very nice.

Then later also my brother came to visit. We were doing some tourist stuff, were going around the city by tour-bus and were also visiting the Miniature Wonderland, the world's biggest model railway system. It was quite impressive and also funny to see what ideas the makers had and how many details the put in. In between we were sitting by the Alster enjoying our beer and the last days of summer in the city.

Soon after that A. had her birthday and we were celebrating it here at home. A. had taken the day off and so we were enjoying the day. In the evening we had some people over and later headed out to the city.

Shortly before leaving to southern France, my starting point of the Camino, our "pet" Garfield, a cat that is living here in the neighborhood paid a visit and for the first time since we are living here came into our flat to explore it. Now it already is a habit and he regularly checks out the whole apartment.

 

For now this is all that happened before my walk. I then went to Aachen to buy the rest of the gear needed and eventually left Germany by train via Paris to the South of France to a small village called Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. From there I started my walk to Santiago de Compostella. About the walk I will post later on, maybe today, maybe tomorrow or later this week, depending on how I feel!

~M~

24

Today is my birthday! Not that I care so much about it, since I just change the number when somebody asks me for my age, but somehow it is worth mentioning. I didn't had anything planned for the day and so A. and I slept long this morning and had lazy breakfast.

After that we decided to go to the Carolus Thermen, a thermal bath here in Aachen. The city of Aachen was basically founded because of the thermal springs and the hot sulfur-water rising from the ground. This water is easing all kinds of afflictions and Charlemagne (lat.: Carolus => hence the name of the bath) was suffering from some health problems; therefore he settled in this region!

Anyways, it was very nice and relaxing in the bath. Shortly after we got home my brother and his girlfriend stopped by to congratulate and we had some cake my mum had made earlier today. The rest of the afternoon A. and I were chilling at home and I got a pair of cuff links from her; now I need new shirts!!

Now we just had a very nice dinner with my parents and soon we will head out to the city. Just for some cocktails and later to the Guinness House.

~M~

Sorry...

... that I did not write here for some time! I had visitors, A. was here and also my brother and his girlfriend visited, and I was sick; well basically am sick still. But different from yesterday I have the energy to write something!

The weekend was super nice. It started with A. coming here on Thursday, as I wrote before. I picked her up from the train station and we were relaxing the evening and did not do anything because I had to work on Friday still.

On Friday A. came for lunch to the office and it was so nice to eat with her. I wish I could do that every day! In the afternoon T. came a last time before her holiday to the office to check my work and to do some stuff she had been piling up for a long time.

Later the same day we had a fika in the office. I had been baking and it was actually a really good occasion; One of our colleagues had had her birthday the week before, L., a new member of the Authentic Scandinavia team just had her first day, A. was there to visit me and two of our colleagues had their last day before their vacation.

The evening A. and I went out for a drink. It was nice to sit in a bar again talking to a beautiful girl! We first went to People's and then to Café Sør. I really enjoyed the evening, since I hadn't been out for a long time since. We did not stay long however, since we were both so tired from the working week again.

The Saturday we slept long had a lazy morning and went out of the house in the early afternoon. We went first to the center to recharge my travel card and then went with the bus up to Nydalen, where we started our walk along the Akerselva. 

We first went to the waterfall, where I lost the part of my tripod, but it wasn't there anymore. The water must have been higher and took it away. We then continued along the river and had a really nice walk back home. I love this river and I think it's so amazing, that there are pretty massive waterfalls in the middle of the city.

When we got home, we had a snack and a short nap and then fixed ourselves to meet my brother and his girlfriend and to go out later. We had planned to meet them at the bus station, but their flight was early and I didn't read the message F. sent me on time and so we didn't make it to pick them up.

Instead we went to the hotel to meet them. From there we went along Karl Johans gate towards the palace. On the way we found a nice restaurant where we had dinner. It was quite expensive, but the portions were quite big! We all enjoyed our meal.

After the dinner we went to the Dubliner and Irish Bar close to the Christiania Torv. Every Saturday there is a band playing in the bar and this normally means, that the mood and atmosphere are good! There we met my colleague L. and her friend A.. L. had been telling me all the time about the pub and we had decided to go there together that day. 

We had a good evening and a lot of fun; well I had at least. We were talking to each other and also to other people and simply had a good time. F. and S. did not stay that long; They were tired from the travel to Oslo, S. was still slightly sick and F. had injured his food a few days before and needed to elevate it. The rest of us however stayed longer. 

A. and I went home at some point and actually wanted to grab a beer in the crap-shack close to my place, called Taxi Take Away, but when we came there it was already closed. So we just went around the corner to the pizza parlor to get something to eat.

The next day we slept longer again, but not long enough. We met up at around noon with F. & S. at their hotel. When we got there it started raining quite heavily.

 

We went up to the Domkirke and went in to have a look. 

 

When we came out it was raining even heavier and so we decided to skip the sightseeing and to go to the Munch museum instead.

 

There we were strolling around the exhibition halls and I have to say, I start liking art museums. After visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg I really enjoy looking at paintings and other work of artists. I dont know if I am getting old, but I'm more and more interested in art. Not really interested, but I like looking at these things.

After some time we went back with the T-banen to the city center and when we came up from the underground the heavy rain had stopped. We decided to walk around the city.

We went to the palace and walked around the area. However it was pretty wet and not nice to walk and so I proposed to go to my place to have some cake and coffee/tea. 

 

At my place we were sitting in the kitchen, had first some cake and coffee/tea and were then just sitting around talking. We played some Backgammon and were listening to Jack Johnson. It had started to rain again and so we decided to stay in. It was somehow a slight Christmas feeling; sitting together, eating cake, playing, talking, listening to music. It was so nice, that we also decided to have dinner at my place.

In the evening we brought A. to the train station, since she had to catch her flight back to Stockholm. It was sad to see her go, since the weekend went so fast. After she left I went with F. & S. to the hotel and was sitting a bit with them in the hotel room. Then I took the rest of the stuff home they brought to me! It really felt as if I would be living in a third world country right now!

The next day was Monday and so I went to work. I did not get anything done, because I was sick. I didn't feel good and couldn't get structure into my work. I could not really get my head into the things. The problem also was, that besides managing the whole company I was supposed to help L. a little bit with her work. She had her first real working day and although she knew what she was supposed to do and although T. told me before I should not delegate any work to her, since I am just the trainee, she was asking a lot of questions.

I was showing her some things and was basically telling her what to do, which did not feel right at all. Anyways, then in the afternoon I had an emergency situation and since I didn't really know what to do and wasn't really in the position to manage it alone, due to the illness, my colleague M. jumped in and helped me solving it. I was really grateful for her help and learned so much from her in this short period of time. It was exactly like I experienced it before in my work and internships: You learn most from the difficult and emergency situations!

Anyways, today I felt so much better. I got up this morning and went to work. I still had the feeling the day would get as bad as yesterday, but this quickly changed. I had my work structured, I got things done and could even until the afternoon get away the pile of work, that I had been leaving yesterday.

I showed L. again some things when she asked me for help. She even said, that she had the feeling that I would be a fixed employee, since I really understand what I am talking about when explaining to her! It made me feel good about my work and I really needed that after having such a crappy day yesterday!

The day went by pretty eventless and my boss T. send me a message from her holiday telling me that for her everything is fine. I thought it was nice of her to say "Hi", since she basically made clear, that she will be totally out of reach during these two weeks. 

Now I am going to upload the pictures to the blog and then fix myself and go to bed! I am still feeling weak and realized how much sleep helps to get better. 

~M~

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~

Day off

This was refreshing. I just woke up from my afternoon siesta. After the nice lunch that A. and I cooked I really needed that. We ate pasta and meatball-tomato-sauce! Super nice!

I didn't had uni today, which was nice. I slept long and had lazy breakfast and a slow start into the day. It was anyways raining outside and so there was no need to hurry to get out. A. went give back some kind of scarf, which she got for her 2-day-work on the IT trade fair and met up at the same time with her colleague. After that she was talking all the time about her and I think she really like to talk to a girl again.

I went to the gym and was doing my training. It was a good detox after the Sea Battle and I really needed to get some exercise again. As I wrote before, I have to get in shape again for the summer and round in not the desired one.

After my workout I wanted to meet with A. to have lunch in the uni restaurant in Pasila, but of course they close at 2.30 p.m. on Fridays. Therefore we went home and made the lunch ourselves. Now I am going to drink coffee and eat a piece of cake, the leftovers of S's birthday yesterday.

Btw.
Happy Birthday, Felix! I hope this year brings a lot of new and a lot of good things to you and hopefully some changes in everyday life and routines! I will call later and maybe we can talk!

~M~

Awesome Weekend!!!

This weekend went fast! It's Monday today and I had a presentation in uni this morning. After that I went to work, to earn some more money! Now I am back here, booked my laundry time for tomorrow and thought, that I could write my blog again!

As I said, the weekend went pretty fast! I reckon it's because my brother was here and we were really active. He arrived on Thursday morning/noon. I went to the airport to pick him up and it was really good to see him again. The weather was wonderful, so we quickly went to Kannelmäki, where he left his stuff, then to the uni in Pasila to have lunch and then to Helsinki center, where I showed him around a bit. Sadly the weather then changed, it got windy, really cold and eventually it started snowing. So we went back to my place, where I him, since I had to go to my Swedish class. My Swedish btw. is doing good (I think/hope), today at work I was talking to one of the girls in Swedish. Anyways, when I returned from class A. had also arrived "home" and we spent the evening together, F. cooked and we had a good time talking.

The next day we got up early, as we had to catch the ferry to Tallinn. I wanted to show this city to F. because I liked it, I wanted to see it in winter and also, that he could put another flag into the map of cities he visited. We were walking around, had a coffee in a nice café and then went back to the boat. Tallinn is not so big and so five hours are more than enough to see the whole city... especially in winter! However, on the boat back to Helsinki we had dinner and suddenly there was an announcement, that if there was a doctor aboard he should come as quickly as possible to the bar. Something had happened there and when F. went outside to take some pictures of the sun down, he was told to leave the deck, since they expected an helicopter. We, as we are all in a way "tourists" were waiting outside to see the helicopter, but eventually, after what felt like three hours in the cold, we realized, that the helicopter was canceled. So no action on the boat, as expected. Anyways, A. and I then went to the Eckerö Market and bought booze for Pampas, a student festival in Vaasa, which is in the end of March.

On Saturday F. and I got up early again and went to Pasila, where we met up with a group of students, and from there to Kirkkonummi. Helga, the student's union of Haaga-Helia, had organized a winter sports day for the exchange students and so we went Snowboarding. It was again so much fun (for me) and I hope F. also enjoyed it after a slow start. The hill, however, was not so high and so you were down in like 30 sec., had to queue for 5 minutes, 2 minutes in the lift and then 30 sec. down again. I got a little bit bored and started to jump over a small hill on the slope. It went well and was thrilling for a novice like me. Then shortly before the end I wasn't concentrated anymore and somehow lost the board under my feet during the landing. I fell pretty hard onto my head, which was luckily protected by a helmet. Anyways, I was down and didn't know where was up and where was down for a minute or so. Later, since the headache didnt go away and I every now and then had problems to focus things with my eyes, I realized that I probably had a concussion, which is holding on ever since. It is getting better, but I still feel that I made an unpleasant acquaintance with the ground that day.

The Sunday was lazy. We went to the City center one more time, had a coffee and then went back. I had to work for uni and A. and F. were sitting around, doing stuff.

Today, early in the morning. F. left to the airport, A. left to the train station and I went to uni, as mentioned before. However it was a really nice weekend, apart from the accident, which was my own stupidity. Anyways, doesnt matter, I am still alive, the pain is vanishing and I wont stop being stupid... I will go on snowboarding, I will go on motorcycling, I will go on doing whatever I want to do and no one is going to stop me ... :-P ;-)

~M~

Beeing a little swamped

I am feeling good! I have shit loads to do in uni right now, as we have to finish a project until tomorrow and I am still waiting for the stuff of one of my group members to finally write the conclusion to the report. He is just not sending it, which will bring me into trouble in the end.

Anyways, the weather is nice and I know when I have this uni stuff finished, my brother is coming. I am so looking forward to that. He is going to stay here from Thursday noon until Monday morning. I haven't seen him since Christmas and we are not so much talking on skype/phone, as he is working so much. As I said in one of my earlier posts, you just see the value of your siblings, when you are not with them. I'm really happy and so looking forward to his visit.

Now I will go on working on this uni work, since I didn't had so much time on the weekend. As mentioned we had all the people here and now they left. I just had nice and relaxed breakfast, which gave me fresh energy for the day!

~M~

Back home... for 4 days!

Now, to not create a extremely long post, I decided to split up everything I did during the last weeks. It's easier for me, as I can update my blog in different stages and it's easier for you to read and follow through! Also it feels better for me, as I am filling my blog a bit and get some more posts per month ;-)

On the 30th of December A. and I went with a really early flight from Helsinki to Düsseldorf to spend New Years with my parents. They picked us up from Düsseldorf Airport and we drove directly to Siegen, were my grandma is living. She was brought a couple of months ago into a retirement home, as docters found her incapable of living alone anymore. It was the first time for ages that I saw her and it was really good. She is still energetic and was so happy to see us all. Her enthusiasm is really inspiring and it is incredible to see that a person in the age of 94 can still be like that. She was unwrapping the presents we brought and was obviously touched by our visit.

It was good to be home then later. Aachen is still my hometown and it is always nice to be again in the house you grew up in, to see the surroundings changing, to see how time changes everything. A. and I went to the city during these days a couple of times and every time i saw something new and something changed and this made me realize how long I've been away for.

New Years Eve we spent with my parents at home. I haven't done this since I was 14 and this made it even more special. I also made my brother stay home and celebrate with us, which made me really happy. It is amazing how the spatial distance between siblings can bring them closer together. I realized this the first time, when my brother went to the USA when I was 13 and now I feel it again, since I am away all the time. The separation makes you understand each other better and let you enjoy the few time you have together instead of fighting over nothing like when you were small.
After the amazing dinner (thanks to my mum) we went out to celebrate the new year on the street. After shooting some rockets and nearly getting killed ;-) by one mislead rocket we, my brother, A. and me, went to the city to go to a new years party. The line-up however was so long and not moving at all, so that we decided after 15 minutes queuing and not moving a bit, to grab some cocktails. We sat there until 3.30 a.m. until the bar closed and then decided, since the line up at the club was still not moving, to go home.

The next day was a hangover day and we visited my other grandma, who is suffering from dementia and therefore also living in a retirement home.

The 2nd of January 2010 (god, it's really weird ... I am all the time typing 20010 :-D) we started packing our stuff and preparing for Paris, where we went the next day. This also included going to the city again and grabbing one more time a coffee at Starbucks and more important printing my desired T-Shirt with a striped Mini in the front. I love it !!!

Anyways, the next morning meant getting up early and leaving to the train station to go to Paris. It snowed loads (for this region of Germany) during the night and so we were more sliding than driving to the station.

It was a great time in Germany. It was good to be back again, even tho I love to be "on the road". But it is always good to know that there is a place on earth where somebody is always welcoming you and where your roots are... Thanks mum, dad and F.

~M~