The day after!

Wow, this was amazing! I am back from the Sea Battle, a party cruise between Tallinn and Stockholm. And as I said, it was amazing! So much fun, so many people, so much alcohol!

We started off on Sunday afternoon, when we left Helsinki with a ferry, since we had to catch the Baltic Queen in Tallinn. Already on the first boat, the Super Star, we met a lot of students from all over Finland. Together we were plundering the Tax Free shop for cheap alcohol and were starting to play drinking games.Since the rules were not clear and the trip just took two hours we didn't get far with the game. We were changing the boat in Tallinn and were obtaining our cabins. I was supposed to stay with three French guys in a cabin, but then I was asked to change the cabin. Since one French guy had some kind of childish argument with a girl he wasn't so happy about staying in the same cabin with her and asked me to change. So instead of three French guys I had three French girls as cabin mates... not too bad, if you ask me ;-)

The afternoon and early evening went on with drinking games and cabin parties. Then we went to the all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet, which was included in the ticket price. It was a lot of fun and a lot of good food was served. And since the alcoholic beverages were also included we went on drinking, of course! And well, this is basically the last thing I remember. I don't really know what happened next, but it doesn’t matter, I think. I was told that I, that we all together had a lot of fun!!!

The next thing I remember, however, is that I was waking up in my bed, with no sense of time, whatsoever, and with all my clothes and even my shoes on. Since, I didn't know what time it was (my cell phone died the night before, since the battery was empty) and didn't wanted to wake up my cabin mates, I left the cabin and was wandering around the ship. I at some point found a clock, but it took me like three attempts to read it. Anyways, I went to the reception of the boat to charge my phone. I left my phone there and went to the Cafeteria to get some coffee and food.

Then we arrived in Stockholm and since I didn't know anything about the plan of the others, so, if they wanted to go to Stockholm or if they wanted to stay aboard, and especially, because I met our nice tutors in the corridor, I decided to go with them. We all three were so hungover, that we looked for a restaurant right away. We were so hungry, that we didn't realize that it was just 11 o'clock in the morning. Anyways, we found a nice place with a nice terrace. It was so lovely, that we were sitting there for nearly two hours, eating our salad and pizza and just enjoying the good weather. Then the one tutor, J. wanted to go shopping, but S., the other tutor, and I decided to stay outside. I called M., one Italian guy, I was hanging out with to meet him. He was around with J., an Austrian girl and I., a Hungarian girl, so we went to meet up. We were walking around the city, having fun, feeding birds and just doing stupid hangover stuff until we went back to the boat.

When we came back we all went to get some hours of sleep, since the program was anyways about to start rather late. So I went to bed for like three hours, had a shower and was then ready to party. It was my aim to not pass out (yes, I didn’t go to sleep, I passed out!) before 1 a.m. like I did the night before. I didn’t wanted to pass out at all, I wanted to remember the evening, so I started slowly with the drinking and refused all invitations (and they were numerous) to join drinking games, since this was the main problem the night before.We went from SpeedDating to Folke Westside and later to Highride, the two Bands that were playing on the Sea Battle and then to the clubs. In the beginning of the evening the security had to close Ibiza, one of the clubs because it was too full. So we went back to the Starlight Palace, which was bigger and therefore not so crowded.

The night went on, we were dancing and having fun and suddenly we realized that it got light already. So we went downstairs to get our jackets to see the sunrise from the deck. We went up onto the Helipad and onto the bridge of the boat (actually a restricted area, but who cares, we were "intoxicated" anyways). We took some pictures, but went in quickly, since it was so windy and chilly. The club closed at around 8 o’clock in the morning and we decided not to go to sleep for the last two hours on the boat. So we wandered around and got some food.

When we were arriving in Tallinn I went immediately to sleep on one of the benches in the Terminal. I nearly slept three hours straight, just interrupted by people asking me if they could leave their luggage with me or telling me where they were going. Actually I don’t know why they did that, since I was anyways not observing the suitcases and couldn’t tell anybody, where to look for the people, they were searching for. Anyways, after the boarding I found a nice place to sleep aboard. It was in the front of the ship under a skewed Window, where the sun was shining on. Since I was freezing it was the perfect place to sleep, nice and warm. The area was crowded and one of the passengers was playing some “evergreens” on the guitar and singing to it. Perfect setting to relax.

After a while I got up, searched for the others and went with J., I. and M. to the Tax Free Shop to get something to drink and to buy chocolate. When we arrived in Helsinki I was almost fresh again and was happy to hear that we had a private taxi back to Kannelmäki. A., one guy from.. uh, I actually don’t know where he is from.. anyways.. he came with the car to the Terminal and offered to bring us home. It was really nice of him, since walking after these three days would have been hell.

I really have to say, I had an awesome time on the boats and in Stockholm. I met so many new and fun people. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to all you people, who were there! Thanks for all the funny and crazy stuff we did!

~M~

See you in three days!

I am about to leave to the Sea Battle. I will be back on Tuesday afternoon. It will be so awesome! My things are packed, the train to the terminal leaves in 15 minutes so I just wanted to post this quickly!

Anyways, next post on Tuesday, hope to "see" you there!

~M~

Feeling weird!

This was somehow a weird day! It passed and I have the feeling I didn't do anything, even tho I was occupied all the time. I think this feeling comes from doing stuff, but not achieving anything! I was searching on the internet for a solution of one problem all morning and early afternoon. But I didnt find anything and could not make up a solution.

I mean, I was out this morning with A. for a walk in the beautiful sunshine and we were talking about a lot of things, but maybe this was subliminally occupying my mind all day, I dont know. Anyways, it was good to be out, but I didnt feel like walking, so I stayed in, when A. asked me again to go out. I did the laundry instead, since I need my clothes the next three days for the Sea Battle.

After I had "brunch" at 2 p.m. I started to sew again on my Halare. Now after a couple of hours my pointer is hurting again, but I have just two batches left. It was really a pain in the ass to sew the letters of my name on. Its just so difficult and tiring. Anyways, they are on, they look good, I am happy about it.

I just folded all the clean clothes and put them into the closet and finally feel a bit better. It now feels like I have done something. It was anyways a weird day, since I was more or less all the time "alone" and additionally we got the message, that one of A's friends was heavily injured in an accident yesterday evening. So really weird stuff happening today!

However, A is going to cook now and I hope the food will make me happy... well, I am pretty sure about it! I will pack my stuff for tomorrow and sew the last batches on. I am so looking forward to it and I guess it will be fun.

~M~

Good Friday!

The week is over. It's Friday late afternoon and I feel good. I didn't have uni today, so I slept long, had a nice breakfast with A. and was then just chillin around. Round 1 p.m. I went to Pasila to the gym to train. Last time I went I didnt had power at all and felt sick after the training, as I wrote in a previous post. This time however was better. The gym was nearly empty, just three people and me and I had a good day, so I was able to go through all sets of the training.

After being in the gym I had so much energy and was so happy. I went home and prepared lunch for A. and me. We first wanted to eat in Pasila, but somehow we reconsidered and decided to stay home, since it was already 3 p.m.

Round 4.30 p.m. I walked A. to the train, since she had to go to Pasila, where she got her hair cut. One exchange student from Taiwan offers there to cut hair for only 10€, which is, regarding the ridiculous prices for a hair cut here in Finland, extremely cheap. The normal price here is between 20€ and 30€, which is for a student, who lives on an anyways tight budget, a lot of money.

While she was away I was sewing again on my Halare. Since the last time I was doing it I got a lot of new stuff, which I want to put on before I leave to the Sea Battle. I dont know if I will need it there, since it's basically an ERASMUS event and I am one of the few exchange students who has a Halare. Anyways, I will finish it, then I dont have to do it before Vappu, the 30th of April/1st of May.
Now I just took a quick break to write this post, since my right pointer is anyways hurting, but will go on sewing later. It has been a quite active and happy day. Maybe it's because the sun came through the clouds every now and then. I really need some sun again!

~M~

Message from uni

I am sitting in uni right now and waiting for my Swedish class to start. After three weeks or so we finally have a lesson again. I just came here from the city center. A. and I were walking around, A. had to pick up something for her job and then we went through the shops, since I need two new sweaters and A. was searching for a new white shirt.

There is not much to tell, I had a group meeting this morning for one course and after that I went with A. to eat in the uni restaurant. Anyways... I have to go now!

~M~

Off topic!

Today it was snowing again, now the sun is shining. It's a real April day, the weather changes and does whatever. The uni today was pretty unnecessary. We had two guest lecturers, who were supposed to tell us something about sustainable tourism. However, as far as I listened, the one was just talking about what people and companies do, when destroying nature and how climate change is affecting the coral reefs and therefore diving resorts all over the world. The other one was talking about some kind of project, where the train trainers, who are supposed to train employees of oil producing and transporting companies in environmental issues. Pretty much off topic I would say and not really relevant for my studies.

Anyways, I am suffering right now from an upcoming flue. Again. I reckon it's because I went to the gym yesterday again, after a couple of weeks without doing any sports, whatsoever. This normally happens to me, that I feel sick the next days, even tho I was dressed warm enough directly after the training.

Now I have to go on writing on my part of an essay, which we have to hand in on Friday. After that I will go to the shop and buy some things for tonight's dinner. A. is here, so we are eating properly every day. No junk food anymore!

~M~

Busy life starts now!

The busy uni life has started again. I have several course assignments to do in the next weeks and also have some group meetings during the following days. Also I will try to get back into shape for the summer. I know, also round is a shape, but this is somehow not my aim ;-) It feels good to be occupied again. I get stuff done, suddenly. Even tho it is hard to get up in the morning, since I was so used to have lazy mornings.

I am glad that I will have a break next weekend, when I am going onto the Sea Battle, a booze-cruise, organized by the ESN organizations from Finland, Sweden and Estonia. We will go three days partying on the Baltic sea. I didn't do it last semester, but from what I heard it's going to be awesome.

Now I have to go, to get my laundry out of the washing machine and put it into the dryer and stuff. Then I will do something for my uni... well maybe!

~M~

BBQ-time

Today we had a barbecue here in Kannelmäki. Even tho there is still a lot of snow we met with about 30 people in the park between the houses and grilled some stuff. It was basically just a nice get-together with the other ERASMUS students and I really enjoyed talking to people.

Now I just got back from the city. I went with A. to grab a burger and buy some bread. Then we walked back from the central station to Pasila and took the train from there. It was a nice walk at a nice spring-like evening. The temperatures were still mild (for Helsinki) and the birds were singing.

This was a really good Easter Monday. I am actually now supposed to read some stuff for the group meeting tomorrow, but actually I dont feel like it. Will do it tomorrow shortly before the meeting! Like always, shortly before deadline!

~M~

Easter

I am back from Ekenäs. I spend there the first half of Easter with A's family. We were just staying so short, since A's parents went this morning to Canada, to visit their relatives.

It is amazing, one year ago I was the first time here in Finland and saw A. the first time after Tenerife. As I said in earlier posts, it is incredible, how time flies. I am already one year in the family and about 8 months here in Finland for studying. I have the same feeling like every New Years Eve, when you realize, that the year is over and you start all over again.

The Easter holidays we spent eating and seeing friends and family. It was good to be out of Helsinki for a while again. To just relax and not to think about anything. Now, since I am back, uni work starts again and I will do now some research for the next essay, which I have to hand in next week. Even tho tomorrow is a public holiday, we are going to meet up with the group to work on the project. Gladly this is in the afternoon. However, I will get up early and will call some more hotels to finally get an internship placement. The hotels I called so far didnt had anything available, as I wrote before.

But life goes on, I will not give up, tomorrow the sun will be shining again... for sure!

~M~

About to leave...

Quickly:
This week is so to say over... at least uni-wise. I am heading to Ekenäs for Easter and will take the train soon. I am really looking forward to the awesome food A's mum is going to prepare and to the relaxed weekend in the village of Österby (part of Ekenäs).

I am feeling better right now, the sun is shining, it's something round 10°C, the birds are singing and I am having coffee! The first week of the new and my last period here in Finland went well, the courses seem interesting, some of the teachers seem nice, some seem less nice ;) and some are just boring! Anyways, it will be my last 7 weeks in uni and this scares me!

However, I have to close my backpack now and leave for the station! I dont know if I find the time to write my blog every day, but at best you check, just in case!

~M~

Frustration

It's really frustrating! I am not getting anywhere with my internship. Today I was calling again to several hotels, but they didn't wanted me, in fact, they didn't wanted any interns this year or summer.

It is getting really tight now, since I wanted to start my internship at best in the beginning of June. Right now there is still some time left for visas, but the longer it takes, the more certain it becomes, that I have to stay in Europe, since I dont need visas and work permits here.

Anyways, I will not give up, I will find something, everything will be fine! It's always like that!

~M~

Uni is back!

Wow, it's still light and it's already 7 pm. Yes I know, there was the time change, but still it feels like spring just came up like a jack-in-the-box. It was nice weather and 6°C warm, for the weekend the forecast says about 10°C.

Anyways, I am back in uni now. I just had my second day of the last period here, which means, that I am going to be done here in 55 days, as one of my colleagues just told me. It's amazing how time goes by. So the two days in uni were fine, but I am totally exhausted already.. or.. well, I would say I am still exhausted from the weekend. The courses were ok, the teachers also, even tho I know that this last period will be a lot of work and not so relaxing like the other one. I already got so used to getting up round 9 a.m., having breakfast and at some point going to uni. Now I have to get up round 7 a.m. all the time and that's just cruel!!!

Tonight I will go to the sauna again to be fresh for tomorrow's morning lesson. Otherwise there is nothing to tell... well, I brought some order to my room, since it was necessary. Not so interesting, I reckon...

~M~

Pampasnationaldag 2010!

I am back from Vaasa and therefore basically also back to life! I was the last couple of days there with some guys to attend the Pampasnationaldag 2010. This students event takes place every year in spring and is a meeting of the Swedish speaking students in Finland.

S. and I left Helsinki already on Wednesday and went to Abo, since we wanted to take the much cheaper bus, which was organized by the local students union, up to Vaasa.So the party slightly started already on the train for us and went on in A's, flat, which we could use for the night. (Thanks for that, again!). Anyways, the next morning at 12 we went to the church of Abo, where we met up with K. & T., two friends of A., with whom we were sharing the room in Omena Hotelli. The bus ride, about five hours, we spent mainly drinking and S. was still putting batches onto his Halare, since he hadn't finished it, yet.

When we arrived A., who came from Helsinki, where she had had a job briefing earlier that morning, was already there and welcomed us warmly. J. another friend of A. from Ekenäs was staying down the corridor and so, since we were all united he just joined us for our first drink together in Vaasa.After ten minutes, when the second round started we realized that it would be better to write the number code for the hotel doors onto our arms, because we would, if we would keep the drinking tempo up like that, be totally wasted when coming back.

And actually this is also what happened. We went to Olliver's Inn. This music bar is one of the main places to be during these days. We met a lot of people we knew, also because there are not so many Swedish speaking Finns and the people going to the parties are basically always the same. Anyways, we met other friends of A., K. and T. and got to know new people.Again my opinion, that the Swedish speaking guys are so much more open than the "real" Finns, was proved. They were really appreciating, that S. and I were there to party with them, even tho we are "just" exchange students.The live music was good and the drinks surprisingly cheap, so we stayed quite long there.

The next morning started with morning shots, just to keep the alcohol level up and also to fight the upcoming hangover. We started slowly with the pre-party and wanted to round 1 o'clock to the olympic games, a fun competition for the students. The finals were said to be starting round 2 o'clock and we didn't wanted to miss them. However, at 12.30 one of our friends called to ask, if we would join them going to a middle party, since the games were already over. We were totally disappointed, that we missed them and were curing our tears with some more shots and other alcoholic beverages.

We were then just strolling around the city and the market place, like many other students. The sun came out and we were enjoying the good weather and the carefree living. We went to the shop and got some more supplies and also some food for before and after the party. We then went back to the room to have a small middle party with a couple of drinks, some food and writing onto each others Halares.Then suddenly K. had the idea to show us Salad Fingers a really really creepy animated video. Parts of the monologue from the movie then later became the running gags or punch lines, however you wanna call it, of the evening. The guys from the neighboring rooms, who came to join our middle party were so shocked and left totally scared off shortly after the film ended. You could tell, they were thinking we were weird.

Later that evening we went to Fontana, thii place to be on Pampasnationaldag in Vaasa. We were getting our batches for the Halare and then went dancing (and of course drinking). The club was pretty nice and super crowded. But now wonder, since The Capital Beat and Redrama were performing that evening. These two bands are pretty famous up here and I have to say, thats for a reason. They were really good and pumping up the mood. We were dancing and shouting and had a great time. When S. and I were dancing to The Capital Beat up on a platform the lead-singer was throwing us their latest album, S. caught it and now it's playing all the time in my PC and iPod.Also Redrama was awesome. I was walking around the club and realized suddenly that they were already on. I just ran to the crowd and through the crowd and was suddenly standing in the first row, rockin like hell...

Saturday we started the day again with morning shots and then fixed ourselves for the Sillis, a salty breakfast, which was held a couple of minutes with the bus outside of Vaasa. We got food and crisps as much as we could eat and a band was playing.We met they guys we got to know the evening before and were just enjoying beer and cider. That was basically it. Ah ja, when we went out, we met THIS nice guy and didn't feel that weird anymore for showing that very guy Salad Fingers the night before :-D

In the bus there was another guy standing in the aisle singing. We somehow started talking to him. When we got off the bus we walked a bit and had so much fun. Suddenly I stopped, since I saw one advertisement, which was so matching this moment.We just took this one picture with him and lost him then in front of Olli's. But this five-minute-random-meeting with a stranger was so funny and refreshing, I loved it! These are the real memories you take from trips like this I think.

As I said, after this Sillis, we wanted to go to Olli's, but when talking to people in the queue, we realized it wasn't worth waiting; They were standing there already for nearly three hours and had moved about two meters. So we reconsidered and decided to have again a middle party in the hotel room. Again some people from the other rooms joined and drank with us some alcoholic beverages. After about two hours in the room, round 5 O'clock, we all got hungry and went to Hesburger to get something to eat. (and now T., since you cant remember anything from this point, read carefully ;-) ) We were sitting there, having fun! Then we finally went to Olli's and actually got in. The night went on and we had shit loads of fun. Dancing, laughing, drinking. There is nothing more to say!

Then Sunday we packed our stuff and went back to Abo with the bus. We went on drinking in the bus... well some of us did and even found a juice, which tasted like sunshine dust ;-)

Anyways... it was a great time, the longer it lasted the better it got. However, now at least my liver is happy that it is over. I am back in uni and the new period starts. It was an awesome, if not to say one of the best weekends in my life and for sure the best in my exchange year here in Finland! Seriously guys, thank you for the company, it was awesome! I didn't had one minute or even a second, where I would have sighed and said "now we have a low point"! It was pure fun, the whole time! Even while sleeping, when some were talking and some got scared by the person lying next to her!

IT WAS JUST GREAT !!!

~M~

Preparing for Pampas

I am sitting right now with S. in Turku in A's flat. Tomorrow we are going to Vaasa, where a huge student happening of the Swedish speaking Finns, called Pampas Nationaldagen, will take place.

We have everything packed, mainly alcohol and tomorrow at 12h the bus will leave. We are going with K. and T., two friends of A., with the bus and A. is coming later with the train, since she still has something for a job in a town near Helsinki.

These are going to be four tough days of party. I am looking forward to it, since its going to be so much fun! Will tell later more about it!

~M~

Good company!

We just had some wine, ham and cheese, were sitting in the kitchen talking. Now S. is doing the dishes and E. in the sauna. When S. is finished I will start cooking.

Yesterday I was with S. and E. at F's place. She invited us and some others to a Finnish dinner. It as really funny and the food was good. Especially the soup we all liked. But also the pasta thingi, the cake and the mämmi, a Finnish specialty were rounding up the dinner.

Today was relaxed, I did my laundry and was watching some House online. I still dont know where to go for my internship. Anyways, S. is finished now, so I will start cooking!

~M~

Sunny day

It's crazy. Yesterday evening it started snowing and this morning when I got up there were 8cm more out there. Seriously it could finally stop snowing and get spring!!! Now the weather is really nice, its sunny and plus degrees, which means, all the snow is melting again and everywhere are huge puddles of dirty water and slush.

Anyways, I just came back from Pasila, where I had lunch with E. & S. After that I went to Lidl to buy some stuff for the next days, until I leave on Wednesday to Turku and from there on Thursday to Vaasa. I know I am writing again about it, but it's just because I am so looking forward to it. It's the first time to really wear my Halare. S. also just bought the last batches , he still was missing and hopefully is going on to sew.

Tonight we are going to Malmi, since F. one of our tutors invited us for dinner. Maybe this will give me some distraction from the stuff occupying my brain right now. I still don't have an internship placement and dont know where to apply. I mean, the problem right now is not, that there is too few, but too many possibilities. I just cant make a decision. But time runs out and I need to do something. But where should the motivation come from, when you have nothing to do ;)

~M~

Sunday!

This is a real Sunday somehow. I was sleeping long again, got up and had breakfast. I was watching an episode of a series online and was reading the news. Then I brought some order into my stuff in my room, was bringing out the bin and stumbled through the web.

I did some research for a blog entry I am writing right now and was starting it. I was amazed how much work it actually is to write about a specific topic. Especially in this case I have to filter out the most important information, since the post shouldn't be too long. After that I was talking nearly 2 hours with my father over Skype. We had some issues to solve and I hope we did well. It was a really refreshing talk and I really enjoyed it.

Now I just had some bread for lunch and started to write here. It's still disgusting outside and so I reckon I will stay in today again. S. just asked me if I could cut his hair later on. Let's see how this will end up... well worst case would be him with no hair at all or with a cut throat... could be worse...

Anyways, I will relax even more now and then maybe read and write a bit more. Let's see what comes up next...

~M~

Keeping Track

This is day 2 of being off! Now that it is weekend I cant do anything about my internships and so I was sleeping long this morning. Got up round 12.30 and since then I am more or less doing nothing.

I was reading the news paper online and was searching for stuff on the internet. Since the weather here is still disgusting, that's basically the only thing you can do. Also regarding my current money situation there is nothing I could do about it. I mean, of course I am well off, but since I know that next weekend is going to be pretty expensive I am right now saving a bit. Further there is always a difference between money you have and money you wanna spend.

I started now to track my expenses, since all the small expenses, like coffee and one beer more in the bar, add up and let you spend quite much per month. Yesterday, for example, I was invited by J. to her place to have dinner with some guys. After that the others wanted to go out, but I did not really feel like it. I finally agreed to join them, since they anyways just wanted to go to a bar where there is normally no entrance fee. I think you know where it is going now. Yes, you are right; When we arrived there was some kind of concert going on and the entrance fee would have been 9€. So we reconsidered and went somewhere else.

I actually planed for the evening to go to the bar and maybe drink one beer or even nothing. However, since it was Friday evening, every place had an entrance fee. The others then finally decided to go into one club, but I didn't go with them. So instead of paying 5€ for the entrance of a club, where I didn't wanted to go, I left home. Even tho I did not go with them the whole evening, I had a great time. I think it is the small amounts of money you don't spend, that make the big difference. Especially here in Finland, where the living costs are anyways over the top it is important to be aware of you money situation.

~M~

Boredom!

Seriously, I'm bored! I thought it would be nice to be off, but somehow it is boring. So many people left to Stockholm or home. The weather is not the best and so you cant even go out to enjoy the weather.

I have to say I got up this morning pretty early, since A. left to Tampere for her aunt's brithday, which they celebrate this weekend. So I was awake early, had breakfast and coffee and was sitting a bit at my PC. After that I learned some Swedish, since I have to... uuhh ... there I realize that I totally forgot to go to my Swedish class yesterday! Seriously, I really forgot it... damn!

Anyways, after that I went out for a walk, but it was really disgusting outside. Yesterday evening, when I was in the cinema, watching Alice in Wonderland, it started snowing. Basically it started before I left home. Then, when we came out of the cinema and went to AussieBar to have a beer there was already 10 cm of snow on the ground. This morning however the temperatures rose up to 5°C and the whole snow was melting again. Damn... now my shoes are wet and everywhere is slush.

Now I just had lunch with S. (thanks for cooking) and made coffee. Now I am bored outta my mind and dont know what to do. Internet is boring, outside is boring, city center is disgusting with the snow... I reckon I will read something. I really dont like these days of the winter... it should be spring... NOW !!!

~M~

March 19th

My grandpa is turning 95 today! Happy Birthday grandpa, even tho you will not read this! Anyways, I am amazed by this age!

~M~

Finally off

I am done with this period! I wrote today my last exam and now I am off until Monday the week after. It is weird, normally I have this relieved feeling, but not this time. I don't know what it is, but I guess it's because I don't know where I am going after my year abroad, yet, and the time is running out!

Anyways, today I will still enjoy my life, I will go to the cinema tonight to watch Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I am so looking forward to this, I have never seen in movie in 3D yet... excited!

I was stumbling through the web today and came across an article, I've been reading before. This article is from the travel section of the London Telegraph. It is about a man from Japan who has traveled since 2001 from Japan, through whole Asia and then to Europe. The amazing thing about this story is, that he did all this (except of the passage from Japan to Korea) by bike and a rowing boat. During this time until now he covered 38 countries and is currently in Italy.
The guy, Keiichi Iwasaki, writes about his adventures and his life on the road in his blog. During his trip, which he started with 160¥ (about 1.30€), he performs magic tricks on the street to earn money. The article of the Telegraph also states that he was the first Japanese person to climb the Mount Everest from sea level without any transportation.
I think that a story like this is so inspiring. A person just realizes suddenly that he has to change his life, leaves home with nothing and is just going wherever life takes him. I envy Keiichi a little bit for this freedom in his life. He says, that he loves this way of traveling, "because [he] want(s) to see and feel everything with [his] own skin, [...] the air and atmosphere of the place." He also is the perfect example that traveling is not about getting somewhere, but about the way you go there. It's not the speed that is important, but the experience you gain from your trip. He is, after his own words, "traveling far, little by little".

~M~

March 17th

Happy Birthday, Dad! Will call you later!

~M~

Get crackin!

Seriously, I have to get outta here! I dont wanna write the exam tomorrow! I just came back from my first exam, which was pretty easy and should have been good. Still I am annoyed somehow at this uni.

Yesterday, while learning I got so fed up and watched this video again:

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

It's from Vimeo and was created by a guy, who was walking over 4000 km in China for over one year. I feel really stuck right now and need to travel again. The winter here in Finland is taking way too long now and always after few days of warmer temperatures it's snowing again and it gets cold! I would really need summer or at least spring now. It's even worse to read then the blog entries or Facebook statuses of people, who are traveling right now all over South America and Asia. This really gets me sometimes. But I know, that soon I will be somewhere else and that makes me happy. It is anyways just one year more in uni and then I'm free to do whatever I like to do... so I just have to hang in there!

I also have to get crackin now with my internship. All my applications I've sent so far were rejected and it seems pretty hard right now to find something, because of the economical situation. I hope it will work out soon. The problem right now is also, that I was/am so occupied with my uni stuff that I do not really find the time to apply somewhere. Anyways, I already planned to work on that the first three days of the Intensive Week.

At least I have something to look forward to right now. Next week I will be going to Vaasa, to a huge students happening with loads of people and loads of party. And next months there will be the Sea Battle, a booze-cruise... and hopefully higher temperatures! I just keep that in mind and it will get me through my learning now!

~M~

I need a break!

I am learning already half the day, therefore I need a break now! Well, half the day, because it started off with me doing the laundry and putting the laundry into the dryer/drying room. Then I was learning a bit, was drinking coffee and talked to E.

Then I went with E. to Pasila to have lunch and while we were there also S. joined us. After lunch we went to Lidl to buy some stuff, went home and I was taking a break. I talked to A. and checked out Facebook a bit. Then I started learning and now I just needed a break from that stuff. I am glad that I just have two days of exams. But of course exactly on tomorrow, on the day before the more important exam, there is a huge student party in Circus and I can't go. It's always like that.

Anyways, from Friday on I am off uni for 10 days or something. I hope these days don't fly like the last three weeks did. I really need the world to slow down a bit. It's too hectic and fast and gets therefore annoying. As I said today to E.: I hate time! I mean I hate to be stuck in schedules. I hate me hurrying and sometimes even running to catch the train, even tho I know the next train is leaving 10 minutes later. I hate not doing sports, because the really tight opening hours of the gym are not fitting into my timetable. I hate eating because it's 2 o'clock (and lunch is just available until 2.30) instead of eating because I am hungry. I just want to get my watch of my wrist, switch off my cellphone (since it has a clock) and simply enjoy the day like it comes. Having this in the summer was so awesome!

~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~

Spring is in the Air

Today we had up to 8°C, the snow is melting, the spring is coming now... I hope !!!

~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~

Kannelmäki (Private) Hostel

----------------------Written on Friday----------------------

I thought I might write something here, since it's March and the weather is nice. I know this is not really a reason, but there was no other available.

Anyways, we have visitors right now in our flat. P. & C., from Italy are visiting us right now, M. from Spain is coming this afternoon. They were here last semester and were our neighbors here in Kannelmäki and most of all our dear friends and dinner guests every now and then. Also A. is here. She is out of uni and right now working on her dissertation.

On Thursday we all went together with the exchange students of Haaga-Helia to an ice hockey game. It was really nice and after I watched a lot of ice hockey during the Olympics I got really interested in this Finnish national sport. The game was fun, even tho it was slower and also the atmosphere inside of the arena wasn't comparable to a football stadium. Maybe it's just the Finnish culture, which was affecting the cheering and shouting.

----------------------Written on Saturday----------------------

On Wednesday I was actually supposed to go to a student party in the city center, but I didn't make it there. Before I was asked by S., a Finnish girl, to go out to Amarillo. She went to Germany on Friday and asked me if I wanted to join her "farewell-get-together" for a beer. It was so nice, that I stayed instead of going to the party.

Yesterday, on Friday, we broke the record of "number-of-people-having-dinner-in-our-flat" by far. The old record was 14, now we were 20 people, sitting in one room at one table. It was really funny, everybody brought food and we ate so much. We were so many people, because apart from C. & P., the two Italians also M., another ex-exchange student from Spain as well as three friends of E., my flatmate, also from Spain. Sounds difficult, but after all the maths, we are 10 people in the flat.

After the dinner we went to Circus to party. We were lucky, that we were entered into the VIP-List beforehand and so we didn't had to pay the entrance fee. The money was then invested into drinks instead. It was a fun night and we came home late/early ;-)

Today we had a hangover-day. Sleeping long, breakfast round 14h and lunch at 18.30! Damn good day, with half of the people. The other half, the friends of E. and E., got up after maybe 2 hours of sleep to catch the ferry to Tallin. Crazy Spaniards !!!

~M~

PS: I changed the Favicon, the icon next to the URL, of my blog. It is supposed to be the sign for the Departures on an Airport, a sign for traveling. I like it!!!

Wow!

It's March already, incredible! Now the spring should come!

~M~

Winter Holidays

It has been a long time again, since I wrote. The point now is not, that I am too occupied, the problem is that I am not occupied enough. Not enough happened to write about and somehow also there is a lack of motivation right now.

Anyways, some things happened since my last post.

I was on the Shrove Tuesday/Fastlaskiainen, which is a traditional student happening on the Tuesday before fasting period. Students come together in a park with a hill, which is pretty difficult here in Helsinki, because there are nearly no long or steep hills, and slide down the hill on self build sledges. It is great fun and there were the funniest sledges; the students were going down in a sauna, a pirate ship, on a sausage, a beer bottle, a dinner table and other things. This was all part of some kind of competition of the best sledge and the best sliding performance. Anyways, after that it was everybody's turn to go down the hill in and on whatever. There were students with plastic bobs, normal sledges and I even saw a pan and a wok going downhill pretty fast ;-)
Later that evening S. and I went to the ESN Quiz Night in Nolla, a bar here in Helsinki and nearly won a free cruise to Stockholm. The only thing, which was blocking our way to success was, that the others had more points than our team... but we nearly won ;-)

The rest of the week we spent having dinner at our place with other exchange students or at other exchange student places. On Thursday we went up five floors, where we were invited to a Greek dinner buffet party. One of the students, M., had prepared with the help of her visiting parents a humongous buffet with all specialties from "Hellas". We were eating feta cheese, drinking Ouzo and dancing Syrtaki. It was good to be around new people.

On Friday was my birthday and I got old!!!

Ok, well, I guess you wanna know what I did. Well, I was sleeping long, having pancake breakfast, made by A. and then went to the shops to buy stuff for the evening. Then A. and I were making Quarkbällchen and in the evening some people came over to my place and I was cooking dinner for them. It was a nice and quiet birthday, no fuzz about my person, exactly how I like it. I was with a few people, who really meant their good wishes and not with shit-loads people, who are just there, because there's an open bar! Here once again a big thank you to everybody who came.

Now I have winter holidays. I am off for one week and I am sitting around in A's flat in Turku. The weather is nice, even tho it was snowing a lot on the weekend. (These pictures show one hour of clouds, otherwise, there is just sun... nothing else!!!) I was using the time to finally put some of the batches onto my Halare, my Finnish student "uniform". Now I just have two left and actually it's great fun to sit down concentrate and sew.

Furthermore, my Swedish class is going on, I am learning a lot and can't wait until I really can talk in this language. I am pretty eager to finally participate in conversations of A's family and friends. I think it would be great to at least understand and speak some words in this, for me foreign, language, as this is my way to show respect before the people and the country I am in.

~M~

A Finnish Weekend

This weekend I was in Ekenäs again. After a long time A. and I had a reason to visit her parents and the rest of the family again. C., A's niece was going to be baptized and we were invited.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, when A. was talking to her sister in-law, who is managing a hotel in Ekenäs, about A's bachelor thesis, as she is writing it about something with marketing for the hotel. Anyways, during this time I was helping A's father renovating a room of the hotel. When we came home A's mother was already waiting with the dinner. The evening we had a sauna and were just relaxing at home, as I was anyways recovering from a cold.

The next morning became really Finnish. I went for the first time in my life skiing. As I learned skiing in Finland means cross-country skiing, different from Germany where you mean down-hill, when talking about skiing. We went to Grabbskog, a really nice area not far from A's home. It went really well and I just fell thrice. It was good to have exercise in fresh air again and I enjoyed this Finnish national sport.

In the afternoon we had the baptism. It was held at F's & I's house. We had the ceremony, sparkling wine, good food, more wine, coffee, cake and even more drinks. It was fun to see everybody again, since we haven't been really together since Christmas like this. The kids were playing around and we were sitting, drinking and talking.

Today we went to the center of Ekenäs, as there was some kind of public fair at and on the lake. People were making ice-sculptures, going with the snow-mobile on the frozen lake and doing all kind of "wintery" stuff. We went to a museum, which displays the history of the city. But we did not go for the exhibition, we went there because you could get there free fastlagsbullar, a typical pastry, which you eat traditionally on Fastlag, which is on Tuesday. After that we went home again and had another snack. To be even more Finnish we then went to the local school to go ice-skating, the second Finnish national sport. I used A's father's super old - like from last century ;-) - ice-skates, but hey, never mind, vintage is in. It was again so good to be outside and have some exercise and I really enjoyed it.

Now I am back in Hesa and spend the evening alone. Tomorrow I have to work again and have a group meeting. Student life will go on anyways, always on the road, always active... and mostly drunk! (Naaah... just kidding)

~M~

Student life is awesome!

Damn that was good! I am right now sitting in the train back to Helsinki. It’s 8.15 in the morning and I am basically sleeping. I just went yesterday evening to Turku to participate in a Sitz, one of these drinking parties I was writing earlier about. It was fun as always even tho I was not sitting with the most talkative people. They were not really active, barely singing and just sitting and staring.

Normally you can tell in advance with whom you want to sit, but this time they collected a personal item of each guest in the beginning and were spreading these things randomly over the seats. So this time I wasn’t sitting close to A, who apparently had an awesome time. But that’s always the same in life; you have to be with the right people!

Anyways, the after-party was relatively short, as A. just returned from the GooM – a student party-cruise – the same evening and I had to leave this morning so early. We were dancing a little, drinking a bit more, but then decided, as the music was also not the best, to go home.

It was a good night out and totally worth the “stress”. As I said before, I’m keeping myself busy and that’s awesome. I went yesterday from uni to work and then to Turku and the Sitz. Now I am going to Helsinki, straight to uni, then to work and will be home by 6 o’clock this afternoon. Full schedule as always.

~M~

Busy Times!

It has been a long time since my last post. Its already February and time is just flying. It is good to be back in Uni even tho I don't have so many lessons right now. I would just have three courses if not one of the teachers gave us a project to work on and canceled all further classes. This leaves me now with just two classes per week plus my free elected Swedish class. This means for me that I am in uni two days and then basically five days off. Ok, I have to work with my group on the assignments and we have regular meetings, but still I have loads of spare time.

Well... this spare time is not really spare anymore, as I am working now every day in the German school and as there are many parties. For this reason I also didn't write for so long.

Since I am back from Levi I was busy every day from morning till evening, I went to the few classes I had, to work, to the gym to parties and had a really full schedule. It was good to be busy again, but after three weeks I felt how my batteries got empty and I was slightly sick for three days. It wasn't surprising as I had before a five-day party marathon in Helsinki and Turku, which means that I've been out every evening and got up they next morning early.

Last Wednesday we had our Freshmen Party. Even tho I am here already for my second semester I decided to participate again, as the first time was so much fun. We had such a great afternoon and night out partying. We were walking around Helsinki, drinking and doing fun games, the tutors gave us. The theme was Helgapoly, which was inspired by the board game Monopoly. We all had stovepipe hats, red bow ties and big white mustaches. We had such a great time and were partying from 12 o'clock until late in the night in Onnela.

For the weekend A. came over to Helsinki and we were spending a really nice time together. We were eating and drinking with my flatmates and went out to another party yesterday. First we went to a house party in the student dorms in Pasila and then to Circus where we had a decent night-out with loads of exchange students. Right now we are having our hangover day and enjoying the last hours before she is leaving again to Turku.

But anyways we are going to be apart for just two days, as I am going on Tuesday evening for a sitz to Turku and will come back to Helsinki and straight to uni & work the next morning... business as usual - keeping myself busy ;-)

~M~

Blue, Red and nearly Black...

... that's basically the state of my body right now... and further it's, as everybody should know, the degree of difficulty of slopes in a ski-resort.

This morning S., E. and I came back from Levi, which is the most important winter sport resort of Finland. Recently there was also the downhill and slalom world cup taking place. We had rented a cottage a little bit outside of the center of Levi, but close enough to walk.

The whole trip started on the 12th of January, the day, when S. and E. came back from Spain. I picked them up from the Airport, we went home to Kannelmäki and re-packed our stuff and went to Prisma to buy some food. We decided to bring some non-perishable things like bread, pasta and especially beer from Helsinki, as we expected them to be extremely expensive so high up north. We had to hurry a bit, as we had to catch in Pasila the night train to Rovaniemi. It left at 22.30 in the evening and was going 12 hours. We were spending the time with eating, drinking, talking and a little bit of sleeping, which was actually pretty comfortable, even tho we were three people in the small compartment.

In Rovaniemi we had to change from the train to the bus, which was taking us the last 170km to Levi. There we had, as we didn't know where and when the free Ski-Bus was leaving, to walk to the cottage. This however, wasn't that bad, as we anyways had to pass a supermarket, where we received the key for our small house. The rest of the way was a little bit of a pain. It was cold, the bags were heavy and we didn't know how far the cottage was away. It is weird, how much longer the way feels, when you don't know where you are going. I realized this, when we walked back from the cottage to explore the village. The way seemed so much shorter, as we didn't had our backpacks with us anymore and as we knew the way.

Levi itself is pretty small. I reckon we also came exactly after the realy busy high season, after everybody was there already for the Christmas holidays. The village was totally deserted after the sun went down, which was around 15.30. The shops were open and so we walked into all the rental shops to get price lists, to choose the best offers for us. The evening we spent, cooking pasta and having a sauna. It was so relaxing and really good, as it was warming us up a little bit.

The next day started as early as 8 o'clock. We had breakfast, prepared sandwiches and packed our stuff, we thought we would need during the day. Then we went to InterSport to rent Skiing and Snowboarding equipment. E. went for Skis, as he had skiing experience already for a couple of years and S. and I rented snowboards, as it is so much cooler than skiing :-P

S. didn't had any experience of snowboarding whatsoever and I had been standing on a snowboard one time before for about 4 hours inside of a skiing-hall. So we decided to start off with a blue slope in order to get (again) a feeling for the board. It went well... the first 50 meters until we came to a pretty steep and tight part of the slope. We fell several times on a 20 meter long hill, but we didn't give up and somehow made it to the bottom. Then came the next surprise... an even steeper and longer hill. Also here we fell several times, but didn't lose our motivation. All the people passing us were able to go down the hill without falling, so we had to be able, too.

We then finally made it to Gondoli, one of the lifts and went to the hill-top, where we had, thanks to the good weather on the first day, an amazing view over the surrounding. From there we found a pretty easy blue slope, where we decided to get the hang of snowboarding. E. however went down some red and black slopes several times, while S. and I tried to go down the hill once. Soon it went better and better for me and I was really having a lot of fun. I went down the blue slope over and over again and wasn't "scared" anymore.

The evening we were cooking again and spent some time in the sauna and infront of the TV. We were all so tired of the trip and the whole day of wintersport, that we decided to not go out. We actually spent the whole three days on the slopes. E. on the most difficult ones of the resort and S. and I on the easier ones. However on the third day, when the blue slope got boring for me I went for the red slope.

When going up with the lift I got really scared. The slope looked so much steeper from the top than it did from the valley. Also the people were going so much faster than it looked from the bottom. My legs were shaking and I thought I would go down the hill more sliding on my butt, than standing on the board. Anyways, I took a deep breath, went for it and... of course fell after the first ten meters. However after some attempts I was going... slowly, but steady. I went several times up and every time I went down I became more confident and better. After the lunch break E. took me to other red slopes as he said, they would be better for me to practice.


I lost my inspiration already for a couple of days. I am sitting in front of this entry and don't know anymore what to write... therefore I am going to publish it now and will write about Levi maybe later or maybe not. Anyways... it was a really good time in Levi, I am back in Helsinki and feel good here, I've been out already two times here, I will go to my first Swedish class today and after that I will go out again. It is really nice to be back, but somehow it is different, as so many people left already. I really miss them and hope to get to know new people soon.

~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~

A real Finnish Christmas

Now, finally I’m writing again. It’s because I haven’t been writing for a long time and also because some people… well, basically my brother and my father were complaining that they wanted to read about my Christmas time in Finland as I have just been four days in Germany and hence not enough time to tell every detail.

Christmas was very nice and somehow different from home. A. and I went to her parents on the 21st of December, as my Uni was over and both my Spanish flat mates had already left. It was pretty weird to bring them to the airport and say “see you later” for one month. After this time, these five months, together in Helsinki we already got used to each other. Anyways, A. and I went so early to Ekenäs, as A. had to work on the 22nd in the morning. During this time I was wrapping the Christmas presents and was just relaxing, as I haven’t done it at all during the three weeks before. All the assignments and exams were putting a huge workload onto me and left me with few time for social activities.

On the 23rd I was invited by A’s brother to a pre-Christmas sauna. It is, as I realized, tradition to gather with friends and family round Christmas to have a sauna and a couple of beers in Finland. It was really relaxing again and for me it was the first time that I could roll in the snow after having a sauna. It had been snowing quite a lot before and the snow was about 30cm high. As during the day the snow had been melting a bit, the surface turned to a thin layer of ice when the temperatures dropped again in the evening. I realized this when I came home from the sauna, felt my back itching and checked it in the mirror. The icy snow had scratched my skin and my whole back was cut open.

Then, the 24th A. and I slept a little bit longer and then went to church at 2 o’clock. A. was wrapping the last presents and her mum was preparing the last bit of Christmas food. And, wow, it was really a lot of food and really good food. She created a buffet in the kitchen, where, when you took from everything just a little portion, your plate was overloaded. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G !!! One of A’s brothers came along and joined us. Then we went to another of A’s brother’s house, where more people from the family gathered to celebrate Christmas. First we were watching N., A’s small niece unwrapping presents and also eating and drinking again. Then we were giving and getting presents to and from each other. As the family is so big and it would be too difficult and expensive to buy a present for everybody it was decided before Christmas that everybody would just buy one universal gift. The gifts then were numbered and everybody drew a card from a card game, which referred to one of the presents. It was really great, because nobody knew who would get his present and nobody knew from whom the present came. Anyways, my present was a digital frame, which was, for me, the best present to get.

The 25th A. and I went to meet up with her friends, as it was tradition for the last years. We were in a tiny flat and were sitting around the table and eating and drinking. Of course, as it was Christmas also here we were giving and getting presents. This was even more fun, as everybody had to buy a funny gift which was not more expensive than 1€ or 2€. We were then so to say gambling for our presents and once somebody had a present we could also steal it from each other. Sounds complicated in theory, is easy in practice. If somebody wants to know the rules exactly, I’ll be there… it’s great fun. The dinner and present-giving-game was then followed by a decent night-out in Ettan or better in the Rock Club Number 1, the only Club of Ekenäs. What else ?! Ah ja… on the way back home A. was falling into the snow… :-D

The 26th was again with the family. Having “linner” and drinking coffee and cognac. Basically we were then the following days just hanging around and enjoying the time off. Were walking around the town of Ekenäs, wrapping the last presents for my family, having sauna, watching TV and then finally packing our stuff to go to Aachen and Paris, the two world cities ;-)

It was a really nice Christmas time and I wanna thank you all, who were so welcoming for your hospitality. I had a great time and was enjoying the good food, drinks and company!

~M~

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~