Sunday, September 30, 2012

Living the dream

¡Hola!

I have been using that word all day long! My trip went really well by the way and I still can't believe that Hanna and Essi took me all the way to the airport in the middle of the night...I couldn't ask for better friends! Once again thank you so much!
The only thing that I didn't like that much was that I had to wait at the airport for so long...especially the last five hours at the airport in Barcelona went by so slowly. Finaly at two o'clock I arrived at the school and had a really nice talk with the taxi driver...hopefully he understood something from my Spanish hehe. Also I met my roommates who are really nice, but the girl with whom I share the room  has disappeared...let´s hope she is ok :)
Now I feel a bit lost to be honest...I went for a small walk and then to the market, but I couldn´t find cereal! Don´t spanish people eat them or have they run out?? I guess bananas will be just fine...but still not as good as cereal -_-
Tomorrow I have the oral test in the morning and then four hours of Spanish lessons...sooooo that´s going to be my schedule for the next month. Let´s hope I learn something :D

 Bored and very tired...at the airport
 
Me likes big wardrobes! :D

 I think I am falling in love with the architecture here...the buildings are just so beautiful!! That was it for today! More news to come soon ;) Stay tuned hehe
 
Karoliina

Saturday, September 29, 2012

The last goodbye

Hey there!

In a few hours I am heading to Helsinki and then I will be staying at the airport until my flight leaves at 6 o'clock in the morning...yey!
Finally my room looks better than a few days ago and everything is packed up! I must say that I am going to miss Finland and all the people I have met here. I was happy that my friends came to see me yesterday! It's going to be strange not to see them for a year, but thank God skype exists ;)

 In case I get hungry! I am so thankful that Hanna brought me Fazerin sinistä which is the best chocolate ever! One of the many things that I am going to miss from here...I guess I will have to survive with tapas and churros for the next few months.

This was my last quick post before I leave!
Have a nice weekend and pray for me so that nothing really bad happens tomorrow :P
 
¡Hasta luego!
 
Karoliina

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Driving license...check!

Hello there!

For so long I have wanted to say this...I am officially a driver! You can't imagine how relieved I am! In my opinion I made so many mistakes that in the end I was sure that I was not going to get it, but the guy who was the examiner pitied me and decided to pass me. Hallelujah!

I am sure that even my driving teacher was surprised of how I did, but he was definitely pleased...he even gave me an awkward hug in the end hehehe.

Basically now I have acomplished almost all my goals that I had for this year! My goals were to graduate high school, get a job, save money, get my driving license and go to Spain. Even though I don't like to plan my life too much I am glad that I have acomplished all these things and let's not forget that I have my trip to Spain left...we will see how that goes! Until then...

¡Adiós amigos!
 
 
Karoliina

Monday, September 24, 2012

Packing...

Hello there!
 
These past few weeks have been so  busy! The weekend I got to relax a bit, meet my friends and eat really good food, nam! My relaxing time didn't last for too long though because today I started packing my things into boxes and emptying all my closets...blaaaah! You can't imagine how boring that is...I just wish somebody could do it for me :P
 
It just feels weird that for the first time in my life my final destination isn't Greece nor Finland, but a place that I have never visited before. If I wasn't this tired of all the working and packing I would be  losing my mind right now, but instead I am pretty calm.
 
So to give you a small taste of what I have been doing today!
This is before I started packing...


And this is after I finished packing most of my things. For some strange reason my room got a lot messier than it was at first, is that even possible? I guess it is... -_-


I am trying to get organized, but I am not doing very well. I must say that I am not this messy usually! I need someone like Monica Geller to organize this place a bit...
 
I guess I will have to face this tomorrow, my battery is running low now!

Goodnight dudes!
 
Karoliina

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Toffee cup cakes

Hey there!

Yesterday I promised to put the recipe of the cup cakes so here it goes!
I made the icing the previous day because it needed to be in the fridge overnight.

12 small cup cakes
For the icing:
  • 2dl brown sugar
  • 2dl cream
Measure the ingredients in a saucepan and heat the mixture until it starts to boil. Leave it to cool down and put it in the fridge overnight.

For the dough:
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 3 dl flour
  • 50 gr melted butter
  • 1 dl sugar
  • 1 dl milk
Foam the eggs and the sugar. Combine the dry ingredients ( flour and baking powder ) and melt the butter. Add the milk and the melted butter in the egg-sugar foam. In the end sieve the flour into the mixture. 
Put the cup cakes in the oven for about 15 minutes on 200 degrees. Leave them to cool down.


Take the icing from the fridge and whip it till it has this creamy texture.

When the cup cakes have cooled down apply the icing on top and voilà! For the decoration you can use nonpareils :)
 
 
I would have added some peanuts to the dough to balance the taste a bit...oh well, next time! :)
 
Karoliina

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

I have a bad feeling about this

Hey there!

This week has been very hectic! I have been very nervous for so many things but mostly I am nervous ( angry) that my driving teacher booked my driving test for next week's Thursday and I am leaving on Sunday to Barcelona. So in case I don't pass the test I am pretty much screwed up! At this point my only concern should be my trip not my driving license...as you might have guessed I am not too happy about this :( I wish my teacher would have listened to me more. I guess the best thing to do now is try to pass the test and just do what I gotta do!

Despite all this my day was quite nice. I had the day off so I put on my favourite boots and my polkadot dress and went to the center to meet Eva ( my cousin's grandma ) who has been helping me finish the socks I have been trying to knit the past six months. After four hours of hard work and some help I finally managed to finish them and this is the result...

 
Before you say anything this is my first pair of socks I have ever knitted! On the right sock you can see some improvement. Even though they are not the prettiest socks ever, the important thing is that now my feet wont get cold this winter (plus they are pink)! :)
 
 
Also I made cupcakes, but I will post the recipe tomorrow :)
 
 
Karoliina

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Believe in me

Hey dudes!

It is obvious that I have been spending way too much time with myself...I even laugh at my own jokes, not cool man! But mostly I have been freaking out about my trip which is in only 14 days. I must say that I am scared shitless right now. I don't like to swear or use the word shit whatsoever, but this is how I really feel and I need to be honest about my feelings. I know I have been driving you all crazy about it (my trip), but I can't help it (or maybe I can)!

The thing is that I have been realising some things about myself and suddenly everything feels so clear to me. All this time I have been telling to myself that I should never let anybody in my life tell me what I can and what I can't do. Don't take me wrong I still believe in that, but that's not what has been my issue. I have been realising that I am the one who is telling me that I can't do things. Not my family or my friends, but clearly me! How easy it is to blame others! Most of the time it is us ( or in my case me) who won't let us do the things we ( I ) want. I always think that there is always somebody better than me out there which is true! There is always somebody better than you out there, but instead of wasting your energy on thinking about that wouldn't it be just a lot better to say to yourself  "I can do this!" ? I have been comparing my life too much with other people's lives and being jealous of what other people do and I haven't been proud of what I have achieved all this time. I need to make myself believe in me more.

Clearly I have been thinking too much again. I don't even know where all that came from...as I said, I have been spending wayyyy too much time with myself. The unfortunate thing about it is that I can't take a break from me...how ironic!

Hopefully you got something out of this!
Love this...
 
 
Karoliina
 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Chicken pie

Hey there!

I have never liked eating salty pies (if we don't count feta pies), but I once ate this chicken pie that was really good so I had to try and  make my own version of it.
I recommend you buy a ready-made base for it, but if you can't find one I basically used the same base I used for the apple pie I made a while ago but with less sugar.

Here is what you are going to need:
for the base
  • 2 dl flour
  • 80 gr margarine
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ½ dl cold water
for the filling
  • 300 gr chicken
  • 150 gr grated cheese
  • 3 peppers ( I used one green, one red and one yellow)
  • 200 gr cream cheese
  • salt and pepper
 Click here to see how to make the base
For the filling fry the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cut the peppers in small pieces. Mix all the rest of the ingredients together and apply the mixture on the base. Leave it in the oven for 30 minutes on 200 degrees. Voilà!
 
Karoliina
 

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Just another busy day

Hey there!

Today was the big day! I had my theory test and I passed it, that's right! I PASSED! You can't imagine how relieved I was to see on the screen "your test has been admitted". Next week I have the driving test, but I am not too nervous about it.

Then I spent most of my day at the center and ran some errands. My usual boringliferoutine....blaaaah. I had to go to the library again and get something "new" to cheer me up. I never have any intentions of getting anything from there but as always I couldn't resist. This is what I ended up taking with me. No wonder why my bag got so heavy at the end of the day...


I always have this thing that I watch a movie and a great song comes along and the next day I never remember the name of the song. That's why I like to borrow music from the library! Also now that my theory test is over I am free to read whatever I like (yey!). I have no idea why I got the recipe book...I might make muffins next week, but that's a big maybe! The more I bake the bigger I get, hups! Then you wake up in ten years and you wonder where did all this weight come from -_-

But the day is not over yet, I have lot's of cleaning to do wohoo! How I love these days...not! Complaining about it won't help so I really have to do this like now or maybe it could wait five minutes...okay I'm going!

Karoliina

Monday, September 10, 2012

Helsinki!

Hei!

The weekend was so much fun and I must say that I was a bit sad to come back. Helsinki is a lot different than Kotka. There are so many places to go and different things to do. Even the people  there seem to be different! I wish I could move to Helsinki for one year and see how it's like living in a larger city in Finland. Who knows...maybe that will happen some day :)

I am glad I saw my brother and my sister after a long time. At times I wish I could have my family in one city. Now that my parents live in Greece, my sister in Helsinki and my brother in Tampere we are all over the place. It is important to cherish those few times that we are all together I guess.

So to start with the pictures....

   We went to this shopping center a bit furhter from the center that had all sorts of fun things. Those cakes looked so yummy!

 Beautiful garden
Random pictures from Helsinki
Then I met my friend Jura and for the first time in my life I had frozen yogurt with pineapple, strawberries and white chocolate...me likes!
 After sitting and talking Jura noticed this cloud. It lookes like a mouth where steams comes out of it :P
Then we went for some shopping with Nadia! I had no intentions of buying anything but then I got so excited that they had shoes my size! It is so hard to find shoes number 35!
 
  This weekend definitely cheered me up, it couldn't have been any better! :) Now I am back to work but I have only a few weeks left so that's not too bad!
Have a nice week! Life is good :)
 
Karoliina

Friday, September 7, 2012

Helsinki here I come!

Hey there!

I have been extremely tired for the past few days which is why I haven't been very creative with my posts. I have my theory test for my driving license next week and I am so nervouuuus. I just want to get it done and focus on the next step which is the driving test. I have been doing these practise tests and so far I have passed only one test...this is not good! D:

The good news are that I am going to Helsinki for the weekend to visit my sister and some friends. It is my first weekend in a long time that I have the days off from work and I am in desperate need of some vacation. I have been working so much that having two days off in a row feels like vacation to me!

I will tell you more about my little trip when I am back! Have a great weekend! :D


Karoliina

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Apple jam

Hello!

It is apple season and my friend brought me a week ago about two or three kilos of apples! So for the first time in my life I decided to make apple jam! I must say that it turned out pretty good and I couldn't be more satisfied with the result :)
So here is how I made it:
  • 1 kg apples
  • 500 gr jam sugar
  • 1 lemon (juice and grated lemon peel)
  • 2 spoons cinnamon
  • 1½ dl water
Peel the apples and cut them in small pieces. Add  ½ dl of water and the apple pieces in a pot and boil them for about 5 minutes. Add the jam sugar, the lemon juice, the grated lemon peel, the cinnamon and the rest of the water and boil them for another 10 minutes. Heat the jars and pour the jam. Secure them very well with a cap.
This is the result! Not bad :)

You don't need to add the cinnamon if you don't want to. You can use normal sugar, but you might have to add more than just 500 gr. Because it was my first time to make this I didn't make a huge amount (in case it would be a total disaster). With this recipe I got three full jars. You can double the ingredients if you want more.
Have you ever made jam? 
 
Karoliina

Hislop mania


Hey there!

I haven't written a post about books for a while now. Mainly because I haven't read many books this summer! Lately I have been crazy about Victoria Hislop's novels. I have read three so far and all of them were really good in my opinion. Here are two of them The Return and The Thread (click here for The Island).


The Return                                                                                         It starts with the story of Sonia Cameron who goes to Granada with her friend for dance lessons. Through her short visit there one day she starts a conversation with the owner of a small cafe. When she returns to England after her trip she decides to go back to visit the owner of the cafe and learn a bit more about the history of Granada. The owner takes her back 70 years ago when the Civil War of Spain started and Franco with his army shattered the country's peace. As it turns out there are many things that Sonia didn't know and she is close on finding the truth about her mother's past.
 
The  Thread                                                                  The story takes place in Thessaloniki, Greece where Dimitris Komninos was born in 1917. Five years later the author takes us to the story of young Katerina who is forced to escape from Smyrna in Asia Minor with her mom after the Turkish army destroys the place they used to call home. After losing her mother in the chaos Katerina is sent to Thessaloniki with Eugenia who decides to take care of her and treat her like her own daughter. After her arrival in Thessaloniki Katerina and Dimitris get to experience many ups and downs but nothing can make them leave from Thessaloniki, a place they both love very much. I finished reading this a few days ago and I must say that the first 50 pages were quite boring but the rest 550 pages are full of action so don't give up reading! :)
 
I have no idea why Victoria Hislop decided to give these short titles to her books but who cares! I totally recommend you read her novels :)
 
(hups...somebody forgot to iron the sheet hehe )


Karoliina

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Are you serious? Yes I'm serious!

Hey there!

These past few days have been a bit crazy! I was so excited that at work there was this Greek couple that came to my cash desk today. It is always fun to see people's expressions when I talk to them in Greek, because I don't look Greek. They were like..."are you serious?" and I was like... "Yes I am serious!". I couldn't talk with them for too long but after a short chat we found out that we were from the same city! Like we say in Greece, τυχαίο; δε νομίζω! (= coincidence? I don't think so! )

I am so glad that these days have been busy! Tomorrow I am going to paint some walls and I was thinking to make some apple jam as well. I have never made jam in my life so why not give it a try? Also I have to study for my driving license...pffff! I really hope I get it! By the end of this month I want this to be over! :) I have been studying really hard in my opinion hihi :)

Last thing before I end this post! I have to share this video of the Guinnes record that happened in my hometown in Volos. When the crisis hits in Greece we DANCE! :D


Karoliina