Monday, December 31, 2012

2006-2012

¡Hola!

I must say that blogging these past few weeks has been a bit boring. When I was in Barcelona I had so many things to write about, but now it's like blaaaah just blank. It is nice to live normal life again, but I don't find anything interesting to put on here. I think I will stop writing as frequently or maybe I will have to do another trip in Europe to have something to write about...uuuuhuuuu! Italy might sound nice and I am even concidering of trying out couch surfing even though the whole idea scares me a bit, but ít could be something different and fascinating!

To go back to Christmas again, I was looking through some old photos that I found and I thought it would be fun to put some pictures of each Christmas since 2006. Mostly I found pictures of gingerbreadhouses and not many family pictures...how sad!

We jumped a year and went straight to 2008 :D
My babyface 5 years ago :O
 To see how different we are with my sister...I made these gingerbread people but my sister found a more fascinating way to decorate them...
 ...you can't tell she is studying medicine, can you? ;)
Me and the HUGE chocolate cake I made for new year's eve...there were more people to celebrate, but here it's just me and the bottles :/
Last but not least we got a guitar as a Christmas gift! :D
 
Wish you all happy new year's eve!
 
Karoliina


Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Feliz Navidad

¡Hola!

Hyvää Joulua, Καλά Χριστούγεννα, Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad to all of you around the world! I must say that this has been one of the most "interesting" Christmases so far. For one week we have been alone with my father fighting over chocolate (that's right we take chocolate very  seriously in my family!hehe) and talking about the crisis. I must say that Christmas without people is a bit lame. Thank God my mom is coming tomorrow with my sister and her husband and we can celebrate a proper Christmas finally (even though a bit late).

Lately I have been spending a bit time on my own and thinking what is going to be my next move. Mostly I think I am going to spend the rest of my gap year in Greece, but I am going to make some small trips around Europe. Now I have been looking for some schools in Spain and Italy to start my studies next year (if I get accepted in any school). Anyway....if not I can always have another gap year ;)

 
Here is a short post for today!
 
¡Hasta luego!
 
Karoliina

 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hometown glory

Γειά σας!

Hello, hello! What's up ladies and dudes? Most of you are probably busy getting ready for Christmas and all! How excitiiiiing :D
I am just realizing that for me Christmas used to be more about the presents and nothing else (selfish little brat), but now it's more about celebrating the birthday of Jesus which is how it should be! These days it's not very fashionable to be a christian and to be honest I have been hiding that a bit from my blog but I don't see the point on doing that anymore. The truth is that I had a long break that I didn't go to the church because I was so disappointed on how christian people were acting sometimes and I didn't want to believe in God just because the rest of my family did. I think this year has taught me a lot and even my trip to Spain was truly a blessing and it made me realize many things.

Anyway...to change the subject now I am living with two men because my mom left to Finland for a few weeks so I am here alone with my dad and my friend who came from Finland to enjoy the sun and the "warm" weather hehe :)
Here is a look of what we have been doing here with Jasu! Walking and shopping quite a lot I would say :D
First we walked close to the sea...

...and then we continued our walk to the beautiful mountain of Pilio
 A local said that this tree is 1100 years old, not sure if I should believe it or not, but it could be!
fur hats are in fashion now hihi
I love my hometown because it has a little bit of everything. If you want to take a walk close to the sea it's right next to our house and if you want to take a walk in the mountains you can do that as well. Maybe that's why I liked Barcelona that much because it had the mountains and the sea...it felt like home :) 

 *not very Greek, but I like the song :P enjoy!

¡Hasta luego!

Karoliina

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Christmas is here

Hello!

I promised to put some pictures of our Christmas decoration at home. I tried to take some "nice" pictures, but because I hate using flash they turned out orange...argh! I guess I will have to learn to use the settings in my camera...

Since I came here I have been trying to drive the car to practice a little bit, but now my father won't let me use the car because I had a small accident yesterday so hooooorey! Instead of using the break I accidentally pressed the gas and fiuuuuuu on the wall....hups! That could happen to anybody...okay probably not, but it's not easy driving a car in Greece where people honk their horns every time you drive a bit slower. Now I am having a break from driving so I am not dangerous to the rest of the world. :D

oh Christmas tree
Our messy kitchen :D
Me and my mom hate doing the decoration, but once it's done it is nice to look a it! Now that it's getting colder a hot cup of glögi and christmas cookies are perfect for the cold nights of December...aaaah! Since I was little we always celebrated Christmas the Finnish way so the decorations as well look more Scandinavian than Greek hehe. The only thing that is missing now is the snow, but I don't mind :D It is cold enough already!

Karoliina

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Karoliina's Cheese Cake

¡Hola!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Greece yet, but I will post photos of our Christmas decoration soon. Me and my mom have been working really hard to decorate the place and make it look a bit more Christmasy!

I don't have many interesting things to say about my life here. I must say that I am trying to recover from being so busy all the time and now I am just relaxing and taking looong naps...no too bad, but I can't keep doing this for too long. At some point I will have to find a hobby or something hehe.

Now that I have more free time my mom asked me to make a cheesecake for the Finnish celebration we had a few days ago so here comes the recipe! This one is more simple than the Manhattan's cheesecake I promise!

For the base I used two kinds of biscuits. I usually use only digestives, but this time I wanted to try something different and I mixed them with cinnamon flavoured ones.
 
 
The base:
 
Mix the melted butter ( I usually do it in the microwave...fast and simple ) and the biscuit crumbs. Apply the mixture on a baking tin.
 
Filling:
 
Put the gelatin leaves in cold water to get soft. Wheep the cream and add the sugar in it. Strain the water from the gelatin leaves when they are ready. Boil some water ( I needed about 3-4 spoons ) to melt the gelatin leaves and add them to the cream cheese. Mix the whipped cream with the cream cheese and apply the mixture on top of the base. Leave the cake in the fridge for a few hours before making the last layer.
 
Top layer:
 
For the top layer I used different kinds of berries, but you can use the ones you prefer the most.
Put again the gelatin leaves in cold water to get soft. Take 1dl of the berries and heat it up in a sauce pan. Add the sugar and melt the gelatin leaves. Leave it to cool down a little bit before mixing it with the rest of the berries. Apply it on top of your cake and leave it in the fridge for a few hours again before serving.
 
 
Voilá! 
Hope you like it! :)
 
 
Karoliina

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Two and a half Finnish girls in Barcelona part 4

 
¡Buenos días a todos!
 
To be continued...this is my last post from Barcelona and hopefully the best one! This is going to be a loooong one full of pictures and a little bit of writing so be prepared! ;)
 
For this post to be honest I have put everything all together so I have no idea in which days we did all these things.
 
Close to my house in Placa Tetuan there was the Arc de Triomf which I had no idea it was close to where I lived. I guess I was too lazy to explore my neighbourhood, because I kept visiting the same places again and again :O you never know what you can find close to your home ;)
 When we walked straight from Arc de Triomf we found Parc de la Ciutadella which was amazing! One of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen :)
 So typical ;)
 It is always a pleasure to take pictures of Essi! I just love this photo :D
 thumbs up
 La Sagrada Familia is a must when you go to Barcelona! I don't think they will ever finish it though :/
Hanna eating churros for the first time :O
After drinking hot chocolate and eating churros we went to the chocolate museum which took us ages to find but we did it in the end, wohoo! :D
I wish they gave you a chocolate bar as an entrance ticket at every museum!
It is amazing what they can make out of chocolate :)
 somebody had imagination to do that!
It is good that the girls came to visit me because that way I got to see so many new places that I wouldn't have visited otherwise! Also I was happy to see them of course!
 
On our last night with the girls we went with Gary to a bar for some cocktails. We still keep laughing with Hanna because at some point she asks Gary "Are there any cocktails that don't have sugar in them?" we all started laughing and Hanna just had that confused look on her face. Actually that's not a bad question but personally I have never drunk a cocktail without sugar. So to repeat the question of Hanna...are there any cocktails without sugar? :D

Thank you for reading about my life in Barcelona and hopefully that wasn't my last trip! Let's see what life is going to bring next year ;)

Karoliina