Thursday, October 31, 2013

Carolina trátame bien

Did you miss me people? Ugh...silly question, of course you did! This week has been hard after the news I received last week, but I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by the most amazing friends I could ever wish for! Even though I was away from home and my family, I had my friends here who supported me at difficult times like this. Not to mention all the messages I got from my friends abroad, I really thank you all for your support!

As people might wonder what my plan is, I'm going to write it on here so I won't need to explain the situation to each one of you. Next week I will be heading to London where I will be staying for a week, then I will be going to Finland for four days to be at the funeral and after that I will be coming back to Sevilla through Barcelona where I will stay for a day. So that is the plan mas o menos! Lot's of travelling, but it is really important for me to attend the funeral. My grandmom meant a lot to me and I could not possibly stay here without saying a last goodbye.

I was thinking if it would be appropriate to write about my trip here after such a short time of what happened, but on the other hand I know that my grandmom wouldn't like it if I stopped my life and cried in my room the whole day. She wouldn't want me to be sad all day and do nothing. She is in  good hands now and even though it is sad that she isn't here anymore she will always be in our memories.

Soooo to continue with my life here. After all the things that happened it was also a very sad week because two of my favourite chicas left Sevilla and decided to go to rainy England because they had some visa issues...oopsy! Stupid visas, I hate u -_-
Glamorous! I know they are going to hate me for posting this picture on here, but I love it! Please don't hate me Pia and Tess :) Looking forward to see you in London!
 
I don't know if it is just me, but when a crisis hits or I have too many things going on in my head I become obsessed with cleaning. It is some kind of therapy to just focus on doing one specific thing and not thinking too much about other sad stuff. Raise your hand if that happens to you as well...okay, it's probably just me raising my hand right now, awkwaaaard!
As you can imagine living with six people in one room can bee really messy sometimes and the floor was just so gross that it needed to be rescued. There was so much trash that we ended up throwing away three big bags of rubbish. Thankfully the mission is accomplished now and we can see the floor now, score! So happy to live in a clean environment again...estoy muy contenta!
Good job to me and my roommates for cleaning all that dust!
 This week has been extremely sleepy. As you can tell I am not a morning person...trying to look as fresh as possible but it's pretty hopeless! One day I woke up thinking that it was one o'clock and when I asked Lulu what was the time she told me it was five o'clock in the evening...that was not a happy moment for me -_- I must say though that I had a really rough night shift the night before, so that might have affected my beauty sleep. It is a fact that I love to sleep, but that was too much even for me!
I am sure you are wondering why I am showing this. Well, I have been passing by this street every day and it has these shops one next to another that sell wedding dresses. You can't just walk without admiring the dresses they have. Definitely would never pay 3000 euros for a dress though, way too much! Not getting married any day soon...that's for sure!
This was taken a couple of days ago while I was working at the reception (I really do work hard...I promise). The whole street was just packed with people and I didn't really understand why all that was happening. I asked my friend from Sevilla and he told me that they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the coronation of something, something. Mmmmm interesting! (having a bad memory is really annoying -_-)
Lulu and Riley :) These girls make me so happy! <3
 Two days ago we went for shopping (ended up buying a dress for 10 euros...me happy) and we found this cool/weird shop where they had all this crazy stuff for halloween. I am not a fan of halloween but those glasses were definitely funny!
 Yes, this is a very blurry picture but for some strange reason I really like it
Going back to the hostel after a night out with the girls. Had the best falafel ever and then went to bed feeling really satisfied that I had that falafel. The little joys of life! Probably not the best decision to eat it that fast as I felt a bit sick afterwards, but I enjoyed every bite of it. Once again food rescued my day...my little hero <3
 
I also had a really good laugh whith Riley yesterday when she tried to say in Spanish "I am afraid"( ="tengo miedo"). She really did try hard but what came out didn't really mean the same thing as she said "Tengo mierda!"= "I have shit!". I am sorry Riley, but I am going to remember this for many years to come :)
Halloween decorations at the hostel...buhuhuuuuuu! I really like that ghost Alicia made out of her old sheet hehe
 
Today I worked on the morning shift and as I had only five beds to make they put me clean the fridge for the rest of the time. Oh boy...that was hard work! I was really pleased with the result though and made everybody to check out the fridge when they went to the kitchen. I am one of those annoying people who brag about how well they do their job and I expect to get positive feedback...still a child deep down!
 
Also another thing that I really have to share with the world is that there is one really evil person in the hostel who has been eating (or actually stealing) my food! How many times do I have to say that Karolina doesn't share food!?!? That person ate my bread, pasta, bananas, ham and cheese. They had my name on them! When I saw that the cheese was missing I almost had a heart attack! I was already quite annoyed when I saw that things were missing but why....why the cheese?!! Gladly it was gouda and not my expensive 99 cent brie...phew! That person won't get away that easy...I will track you down sneaky little food thief. I will find you! -_-
 
Other than that life has been pretty calm around here. Cold weather has finally arrived in Sevilla and I must say that I don't miss it that much after all...bring the sun back!
Awkward smile...
 
Trying to stay awake as I am having a night shift again and I am in desperate need of a kebab....ahhhhhh!
 
Before ending this post I have to share this song as Lulu has been singing this to me all day! Terrible lyrics, but the melody isn't that bad.
 
 
¡Buenas noches!
 
Karoliina

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Super mummi

I know that this blog has been mostly about happy times and travelling, but unfortunately I have nothing happy to tell you today as I received the worst news ever. My grandmom passed away yesterday morning which was a huge shock for the whole family. It has been extremely hard being away from home at times like this. I still haven't realised what has happened and my emotions right now are all over the place.

She was an extremely important person for me as for the rest of my family. Every time I went to Finland for summer holidays with my siblings, she always took good care of us and showed how much she loved us. Even those three years that I stayed with my grandparents in Finland she would always put up with my crazy teenage attitude and be patient with me. She was a super mummi (=grandmom) who always had time for everybody and everything. Even though she had difficult times she never complained about anything which is something that we all tend to do way too often.

I wish I had expressed how much she meant to me more often, but most of the times people take so many things for granted. There is a lot more I could say about her but I can't seem to get the right words.

It is really hard losing such an important person, but I am so grateful for having the chance to have her in my life all these years!



Thursday, October 24, 2013

I need to stop!

After having three weeks of sunny weather it finally rained in Sevilla. It was probably one of the strangest things to happen here. I couldn't even remember what rain felt like!

The best thing to do on a rainy day like that was to pack a good group of crazy girls and go out for some really good food! Yes, we did actually go again to the best tapas restaurant in Sevilla and life felt good. I feel like I should better start writing a food blog because I am definitely talking too much about food...argh, I need to stop doing this...I need to stop!
 Pia having some fun of her own hehe
That's where all the magic happens! 
 Shneaky, shneaky! Pia trying to hide from me. Riley sending me a passionate kiss, aww!
 This is my new roommate Kandiss from California :) 
 Riley: "I just LOVE beer so much!". You can definitely tell that she is having a special moment with that beer.
That is a hamburger and it is mine. You can't have any of it. Karoliina doesn't share food!
From the hamburger we remembered this video...it's hilarious!
 Oh Tess! I still don't know how she fitted all that in her mouth...talented girl!
 Because the hamburger wasn't enough I got myself a little something special. It was this smooth, full of chocolate, milky piece of tarta de cafe con chocolate and ohhhhhh it was just so good that I was about to cry tears of joy. Okay, I might be exaggerating here but I'm just trying to make it sound as fancy as it looks on that plate.
Looooove <3
 Later that day me and Pia went out for a long walk and crossed that bridge to Triana. We ended up passing by dia (the cheapest market you can ever find in Spain!) and we bought brie cheese for 0,99 cents! The biggest mistake ever for me that day was to buy that cheese...I seriously ended up eating 200gr of brie all by myself. Viva el brie! I seriously should stop going out for walks because we always end up buying something good on the way to please our uncontrolable hunger! ugh -_-
 
I am regretting that I showed that video about the Italian man to my roommies because everybody kept asking each other last night "Do you wanna fock on the table?". I guess it has become a new thing here haha. We also went to this really small bar last night that we believe is illegal but shhhhh nobody needs to know that! I ended up talking to random people and had a good night out. Then I just crashed on my bed and had a very good sleep till 13:00 pm...hupsy!
After my long beauty sleep me and the girlies went to have some good italian coffee in Alfa Alfa. That is the famous Jamón Ibérico people go so crazy about here!
 Coffeee!
 I am in love with this chica! She is just too cute...oh bubbi!
 Important philosophy of life: "At times we feel that what we do is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less if it missed a drop."
Sorry guys, I am terrible at translating things!
Riley and Kristen enjoying a good cup of coffee! Riley feeling guilty for putting too much sugar in that coffee...hard to be a woman!
 
Today I just spent my day sleeping and preparing myself for the night shift again so there isn't much to tell. My four awesome girlies Tess, Pia, Riley and Lulu saved my night by bringing me a kebab while I was having the night shift! I am going to miss so much my two amazing Australian girls Pia and Tess as they are leaving for Morocco tomorrow, but I am so happy they have decided to come to Greece for Christmas! So exciteeeed! :D
 
This song has been playing all night...I feel like dancing like a robot when I listen to this! mehhhh
 
 
Stay tuned!
 
Karoliina

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Lesson learned

Another week has gone by so fast and I seriously don't even want to think about leaving this place in November. I am definitely in love with Sevilla! Just to make things clear as I know that people are going to ask me once I go back home for Christmas, there is no Spanish man who is making want to stay here for longer. No Carlos or Fernando or Raul or Francisco or any other Spanish man with a long Spanish name! muahaha...

I must say though that men here are very nice and kind. Even today as I was walking at the street this middle aged man told me good morning with a big smile on his face and that was the cutest thing that happened to me today. People are just generally very nice here...at least most of them.

I had some drama the other day when the other cleaning lady got mad at me and started saying things really fast and loud in Spanish. Eventually we figured things out and we became good friends again so things are cool now...phew! Lesson learned: Do not make the cleaning lady mad.

After that hard day at work me and Riley got ourselves a big ice cream and just talked about how awesome that ice cream was. Oh bloody hell! It was good :D Gladly I burned most of the calories later on when I went to dance salsa. Sweat flying all over the place at the salsa club...that was intense dancing! Unfortunately nobody asked me to dance so I started asking random people to dance with me and I got to show my spicy moves. Then people actually started asking me to dance but then it was too late and it was time for my beauty sleep!

Me and my roomies just being our normal selves
 
Also after having two night shifts last week I feel like my beauty sleep has been ruined once and for all! I have been having too many siestas that I haven't done anything that exciting during the day. On the other hand there isn't much to do here at day time anyways so maybe it's not that bad to sleep during the day and live la vida loca by night! Lesson learned number two: Siestas are important!
 
Oh yeah...I destroyed that sandwich! yummy yummy
 
What could I say more about that sandwich? Little piece of heaven! I could write a whole poem about that sandwich...so delicious!
 
Also according to the old work schedule my new name is Kristina. When I saw it I thought "oh nice, we have a new worker!" but it turned out to be me. I am looking forward to see what name they are going to come up with for the next work schedule!
 
With this video I am going to finish this post!
Have a beautiful day everybody!
 
 
xoxo
 
Karoliina

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Sneaky croissant

I am having a night shift once again so I have lots and lots of time to share my exciting stories with you guys! Sometimes I just feel that all the things I have on my mind to write just suddenly disappear once I actually am about to start typing things on here....mah!

The more time I spend here the more I realize how lucky I am to be here! Also the more time I spend here the more people see the real me. Apparently my roomies call me a sneaky little monkey now. I'm such a mysterious woman grrrrr! I am definitely going to miss my awesome roomies once they leave but I don't want to think about that yet! At least I will have more places to check out for the future which means more travelling para mi, mamma mia!

Even one of the cleaning ladies here has been extremely nice to me and acting like my Spanish mama! I find it so adorable when she calls me "mi hija" ( = my daughter). I was also so proud when a Spanish girl thought I was Spanish (score!)! I am glad my Spanish has improved a lot which is what I was aming for!

We have also been cooking a lot with my little hostel family as I would like to call it! On Monday Bodhi from Australia made swordfish with artichokes, on Tuesday we had Mexican food made by our gorgeous Mexican lady Reina and today I made Greek food! We just really appreciate good food here :D We could probably have long conversations only about food...I'm not joking!

 Monday's menu: Swordfish with artichokes and porcini mushrooms ( and it was delicious!)
 Going for a night walk
 So true!
 On Tuesday me and Pia got really desperate for ice cream so we walked around the little streets of Sevilla in search of a good gelateria, grauh!
I just love these small bars here
Still looking for a good ice cream place...
 Eventually we found gelato...wohooo! Having a very passionate kiss with my mascarpone-chocolate ice cream...true love! My english teacher used to have a magnet that said "I have never met a calorie that I haven't liked" (or something like that) which is absolutely true!
Unfortunately today we had to say goodbye to Bodhi as he went to work at another hostel in Malaga. People keep leaving us which is sad but it is what it is! We will miss not having him here snif, snif!
 
I should probably try not to fall asleep aaaaaaaaa! This is so hard...mucho sueño...mucho sleep! Next time I will try to bring myself some snacks. Maybe I will get myself some sneaky croissants uhuhuhuuuu sounds like a plan!
 
¡Buenas noches muchachos!
 
 
Karoliina