G like Granada

Hola chicos!

Here I am in rainy Granada :) Despite that I love the atmosphere here! First of all the hostel is really nice and I have met lots of nice people!

Yesterday I went to four bars with a guy from Germany and one from Arabia. Dont ask why we went to all these bars...for fun I guess? Haha it was quite nice and we got to talk for the differencies between our cultures and all that! Besides I am always up to meeting new people and learning new things! They as well thought I was Japanese when they first saw me...is this some kind of joke??? Maybe my parents have been hiding something from me all these years!! Oh well...

After all those bars we went to dance salsa and it was actually just me and another guy dancing in the end. Not so many people go to dance on thursdays I guess! I must have looked quite stupid as the guy was dancing salsa the cuban style and I have been used to the LA style, but we managed it somehow!

Today I walked around the city with a guy and a girl from Germany, but I didnt get to see the Alhambra yet! Fortunately I got a ticket for Sunday so lets hope its not raining then! Fingers crossed!

These are my latest news from my adventures here! Stay tuned for the next exciting episode :P

Besosss!! xx

Karoliina 

Ali ali alicante

Hola!!

Today I arrived safely to Alicante and so far I have done quite many things! They were organizing a paella class with the people from the hostel so how could I say no to paella? Plus I met some finish people and got to chat with them a bit :)

We got to see how they made the paella from scratch and even got to participate a bit in the whole process! Probably the best paella I have ever had....so yummy!! We also got to see how they make the tortilla as well mmmmm! When I go home I have to try to do it myself....we will see how that is going to turn out! Probably a disaster in the kitchen....oh well! You always have to try new things even if they dont turn out the way you imagined, right?

Also I walked at the beach surprise surprise, but it wasnt as nice as in bcn. Okay, I guess I shouldnt be comparing all the cities I see with Barcelona but I cant help it! As I was sitting there enjoying my peace and quite a Spanish guy started talking to me...I dont know wether he was trying to hit on me, but I am not used to this kind of behaviour that a total stranger starts chatting with me on the street! Strange men in Spain...stay away from them :P

Tomorrow I am heading to Granada! Yey! More news to come soon :)


ps. why everybody thinks I am japanese when they see  me?

Karoliina

Next stop => Alicante

Hola chicos!!

Finally I got to see another city in Spain! On monday I left for Valencia and actually the night before I decided not to sleep at all and hung out till my bus left early in the morning. Fortunately I wasnt alone as a guy from the hostel was up the whole night with me! He was such great company and bcn by night is better because there arent so many people everywhere. It was a fun night even though we looked like zombies in the morning hehe

When I arrived to Valencia I was super exhausted, but what can you expect when you stay up all night? So the secret is lots of coffee and fresh air! I walked around Valencia and saw many nice things...:) thats pretty much what I did. I wish I had met people at the hostel, but hopefully I will meet more people in Alicante which is my next stop from here! I wasnt supposed to go there but it was my last minute decision :) I am becoming more spontanious wohoooo!

Also today I got good news as my greek friend that I met in Florence is coming to Seville for one week and we are going to spend some time traveling together! Couldnt be more excited :D

Now I am going to put some cream on my burned nose and get some sleep tonight!

Hasta luego!!

xoxo

Karoliina

Just relaxing

Hola!

Here I am once again! Yesterday was absolutely amazing! It seems like I havent forgotten everything as I danced the whole night till 4o clock in the morning...wooooo I was on fire haha! I just love this city soooo much, I hope the rest of Spain is as amazing as BCN! I will find out soon as I am heading to Valencia tomorrow :)

Today I got to relax a bit and I went to Barceloneta for a few hours! Mmmmm listening to Norah Jones's smooth voice on my mp3, sitting on the beach and having the greatest view, what else could I possibly ask for? Yes, life is more than good :) me happy!

I took some pictures today with my tablet and I was hoping that I could post some of them on here, but we are having some technical issues ehm. Hoping it will work tomorrow at least!

I will need to figure out what I will do tonight...maybe get some tapas and go for salsa again? Sounds like a plan :D

I even kinda got an offer for a job here. One of the guys who works at the hostel told me to send my cv for a job. I must admit that it sounds tempting but my cv would be quite empty. Oh well maybe I should give it a try :)

Besos xoxo

Karoliina

Safe in Barcelona

Hola!!

Actually now that I have the tablet I thought I would give a try and write a short post about my adventures here!

So far everything has been good! The weather was lovely today ( no rain so far...yey!) and I got to meet up with my dear friend Manuela. Its a pity that most of the people I met here have already left but thats life! I am so excited to go for salsa again in a proper salsa club and get these hips moving! I have probably forgotten everything so far but we will test it tonight and see what happens.

Last night I had an interesting adventure with finding my hostel. Plus I had to wait a long time to get my bag at the airport and by the time I arrived I was dead. Fortunately I met this nice couple from Uruguay and I chatted with them for a while at the bus as I was going to the city center. In the end I found my hostel( had to take a taxi) and chatted with two guys who are staying at the same room with me.

So far so good!! More to come soon :)

ps. I really need to get used to this stupid touch screen! 

karoliina

Next stop: España

Hello loves!

Wohooo! One day left for Spain! I am in a try-not-to-freak-out kind of state. This time I am not so worried even though it still scares me, but no matter how much I have traveled alone I still have this strange twist in my stomach before leaving.

If somebody had told me a year ago that I would be doing these trips on my own I wouldn't have believed them. Since then many things have changed...or actually maybe it's just me who has changed!

Many people say that I am brave for doing this, but I don't really see it that way. For me it's more like pushing my limits. Trying to force myself to try something different and get some space from everything to clear my mind. Maybe it's a process of becoming independent who knows!

No matter how it is I am well prepared this time for my trip! I decided to make a small gift to myself...a tablet! I used to say that I would never ever ever get a gadget that has a touch screen but here I am...I tried to use it today and I'm a disaster! I wanted it for traveling and it is the cheapest I could find. I admit that I am addicted to my computer and when I am traveling it's not the easiest thing to carry around but hopefully this will do :)

 Having a thumbs up situation here! Wish me luck for my trip :) I have packing to do and as I heard it's going to rain in Barcelona the next days...just my luck! :D

 

No matter how bad the weather is I can't wait to eat tapas and dance salsa again!

More posts in the end of April  :)

Until then...Hasta luego!

 

xoxo

 

Karoliina

Banoffee cake

Hello there!

 

Cake is the theme of today's post! One of my best friends had her birthday a few days ago so I didn't miss the chance to bake a cake for her :)

 

I put my imagination work and decided to make a banoffee cake. The combination of banana and toffee is just soo goood! Yummy!

 

 

For the base I used the same recipe as here!

 

For the filling you are going to need:

• 2-3 bananas
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3-4 dl milk
•  2 dl whipped cream

For the decoration:

•  2dl whipped cream
• milk chocolate
• nonpareil pearls
• chocolate wafer sticks

 

Basically there are different ways to make the toffee or dulce de leche. Here is a link if you have never made it before : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dulce-De-Leche

What I do is to put the can in a pot and leave it there for three hours in medium-high heat. Usually I make two at the same time because you can save the other can for another desert.

1.  Cut the cake in three slices and wet the first slice with milk
2. Spread half of the toffee on one of the cakes
3. Put on top the sliced banana
4. Apply a thin layer of whipped cream

Then you do the same process by putting another layer of cake (don't forget to wet it with milk!), toffee, banana and cream. To be honest I would leave the cream out because it became too heavy for my taste...but you do as you like ;)
Leave the cake in the fridge for an hour before decorating.

• Whip the cream and apply it on top of the cake
• With a knife make the number on the cream and add the nonpareil pearls in a row
• Spread the grated chocolate around the number
• Apply the wafer sticks around the cake

Voila! :)

Happy birthday honey!! :)

 

Karoliina