Finally here!

New era, new job, new continent, new adventure; Check!

My passion to be able to be and live abroad keeps coming true time after time:) Somehow I always keep forgetting how hard it is for me to leave all my loved ones behind, because I desire for new experiences abroad. However that has to only be a sign  that always these experiences turn out to be totally worth leaving Finland behind again:)

This time I had only one week time to see my family and friends in Finland before heading abroad again. I managed, but honestly speaking I could have reserved a little more time to unpack my 6 months life in Belgium and pack again my life for the next 5 months:) Again lesson learned! Seems to be my style that I only learn the hard way;)Keeps you awake at least;D

This time I find myself in a totally new continent, in The Big America! 5 months internship for the Embassy of Finland is about to start on Monday in Washington DC and therefore I arrived yesterday to the International Student House here in DC. I had a long day yesterday because of the 7 hours time difference and the 10 hours flight, but luckily everything went well and I found my way here rather easily. And YES, the airplanes really are as big as in the movies:D

Living in a dorm, like in Belgium, fits me perfectly! In an apartment I think I would feel myself lonely. I just arrived yesterday and I've already met so many people! + This place is amazing! I feel like entering Hogwarts, the school of Harry Potter:DD Really! Only old wood, AMAZING rooms with huge doors, tree times your size. If you don't believe me, see for yourself, I really thought these kinds of places do not exist:

In addition to this we have breakfast and dinner included and today I went to the breakfast for the first time. Seriously? We have literally everything to choose from: fresh fruits, porridge, yogurt, bread, salad, muffins, waffle machine and even a guy preparing an omelet for you if you wish for a one:D I also visited the small gym already today;) So yes I see myself living here for 5 months:D

In the day I went for a walk and I have to say that my neighborhood looks awesome + it's only 25 minutes from the White House.Whaat!:D Also the Embassy of Finland is just by so I'm lucky here;) One thing though; the weather!:O It's SO humid, warm?more or less yes, but the humidity makes it feel like in the desert. Something else that also needs a little adaptation are the time difference, dollars and the fahrenheits :) In my head I need to turn everything into the "Finnish way" to understand for example how much does something really cost. That if something takes a lot of energy. You kind of start to appreciate the Euro zone, which makes traveling in Europe rather easy:D Also dealing with the time difference is weird since I can't contact home in the middle of the day, cause they are already sleeping. At the moment I have also no idea what's the temperature, but I'll leave it that way for the moment to avoid traffic in my brain:D

Today I also had time to go to do some shopping and I remembered how hard "the normal chores" are in a totally new place. Here it's even harder than in Belgium since most of the products are totally new for me and it takes so much time to figure out what to buy and also how to move in the city etc. One thing that I noticed while shopping was that everything is SO BIG here! Twice the size than in Finland. How am I supposed to carry anything home from the shop with out a car if the things are twice as heavy?? 

All in all I've already found many new things and I've been here only 24 hours so we'll see what is still ahead:D I'll keep you posted;)

Summertime in Europe

Here again and it's time to update my adventures;)

This summer went soo fast! Especially July, since I was interRailing in Europe, in Belgium, France, Spain and Italy axis. InterRailing, for those of you, who don't have a glue what it means, is a travel with an InterRail pass which allows you to travel by train mostly for free and therefore you are able to move fast and cheap between many countries during this travel time.

So me and my friend planned this trip already a long time ago to take place this specific summer 2013. This was the perfect timing since I was already abroad and after this summer we both kind of had to go to different directions;( We started our trip from Belgium, saw Brussels a little and enjoyed the countryside in Willebroek with the rest of my family. Belgian french fries had to -of course- be introduced to my friend. It's mandatory when visiting Belgium!

After Belgium we continued to Lille, a city in the north of France, where we stayed over night to catch the train to Paris in the early morning. We enjoyed Paris for a few days. Honestly speaking, for me Paris, in the touristic way, is quite seen already, since it was my fourth time there.  If I ever go there again I think I need more of a local experience. But only a few days were enough for us since I knew how to move and what to show to my companion;)

From Paris we took the night train to San Sebastian and I can say that it was an experience which I will never forget:)  Sitting 13 hours in the train with a freezing air-conditioning, numb body parts and the tremendous effort to sleep..best time ever:/ However good company and a glass of red wine made this adventure feel a little less painful.

In San Sebastian we were lucky to have a local guide with excellent plans for us. We saw the beautiful city and drew to Bilbao in the evening. There we also explored the city during our stay and tried all the national specialities that the Basque country offers, offered by the rally-father;)

By the end of the week we were traveling to my other local guide waiting for us in Barcelona:) Friends abroad are the best things in life;) With her we also explored the must things in the city, spend some quality time with the friends, explored the Catalan way of partying and of course ate the amazing things they call the Catalan specialities, this time made by her amazing mother;) Even we didn't always have the same language with the incredible families we met, we had the best experience ever and I think that these local things we got to see and taste will stay in our minds forever<3 Gotta love the people I have as my dear friends and I hope in the future I will be able to provide this kind of experience for them when visiting my country!

After this overwhelming week with the locals we landed to a camping where my parents were spending their holiday in the north of Spain, a place called Empuriabrava. There we stayed for a few days relaxing in the beach and trying desperately to tan ourselves;) For some reason my Finnish skin doesn't appreciate my efforts to get a nice brown color, so quickly I turned red as normal:D

 
At this moment Spain was done and it was time for Nice. We arrived to Nice in the late evening and tried desperately to find accommodation for the night, which we did eventually, in the crappiest hotel ever. During our trip we stayed mostly in hostels, which were amazing, and only once in a hotel which turned out to be our worst night. In conclusion it's better to stay in hostels against all thoughts, cause the cheap hotels you can afford aren't really that good. Lesson learned;) In Nice we got to know the city both during the day and the night. Nice time in Nice I would say, and unforgettable memories again as you see;)

Of course our trip in Nice included the mandatory day trip also to the city of formula 1, Monaco.

Ciao Italy! From Nice by train we traveled to Verona via Milan and from there by bus to the Lake Garda which was also on our list of places to visit. We spent the whole day traveling and figured out that people in Italy don't speak too much English, Google Map is a shit and Castelletto di Brenzone is in the middle of nowhere which of course means, that getting there from Verona, is a HUGE challenge:) But hey, with the help of the wonderful German girl from the hostel we managed to find our way eventually;) And after our stay in there I must say that maybe, just maybe, it might be all worth it, since we had the best time ever:) Beautiful views, cosy hostel with friendly people,  saltless lake and our favorite restaurant just a few meters from the harbor made the Lake Garda- experience unforgettable.

In full energy after our relaxing days spent in Garda we continued our journey towards Venice, the flouting city of romance. There we fell in love with the amazing scene of narrow rivers carrying couples in gondolas and the mystery of the people behind all these masks. Of course we had to have our owns.

The most memorable day was definitely the Murano-Burano trip day! The colorful houses of Burano where amazing. Felt like we walked to the middle of some fairytale!

Last weeks of our travel went by sightseeing in Florence and visiting the UNESCO heritage, tower of Pisa and naturally posing in front the tower trying to hold it from falling, like everyone else there;)Lame I know:D

We ended our trip in ROME! And my friends; that was the perfect end for our awesome trip. There are no words to describe all the things we saw and experienced in Rome and like they say: "A picture tells more than a thousand words" so I'll leave explaining to the following frames;)Enjoy!

All in all this InterRailing was much more than I expected.  I never though that I could see so many things and gain so many memories in one month. It's weird how moving all the time and really traveling for one month can still feel like the most relaxing holiday ever <3 This was the perfect holiday I needed before returning to the "real life" from my Erasmus in Belgium.

It's funny how it feels like I've already seen so many things, but then, when you start to think how many things there still are to see, I wonder how I'm supposed to have time to visit all of this places during this life?  Yeah, finishing to this lifelong questions:)Feels deep ha?