Hi!

Long time no see! Mamma mia! I feel like this month has gone by so so fast and most of the time I have spent it on my precious bed sleeping and knitting. This granny syndrome has really hit me! Don't take me wrong I have been working extremely hard as well, but this month didn't start very well as I was sick for quite a long time ( and I still am a bit! -_- ), but I'm trying not to complain about it too much meh!

Most of my friends have already started classes so it's been tough saying goodbye to them, but that's life! I must say though that I am really excited for the upcoming year! I still feel like this second gap year is the best option for me and I don't have regrets for not going to Barcelona. My life is on track once again and I have a good plan for this year which I'm going to reveal on my upcoming posts. Also I have only one and a half weeks left here in Finland and then I will be going back to Greece through Frankfurt where I am going to stay for a couple of days.

So proud to show off my new wolly hat that I finished knitting a few days ago! It didn't turn out as bad as I thought it was gonna be :D score!

 One thing on my list for this summer was to make a chocolate cake which I finally did! It was very yummy and as always the secret was lots of butter and chocolate...you can't go wrong with that ;)

( the recipe was found here ) next time though I will use less chocolate as it turned out to be too heavy...I have my limits as well when it comes to chocolate, believe it or not!

Also my friend from Helsinki came for a visit but she was too shy to show herslef heh

        When it comes to the weather here, autumn is definitely getting closer and closer! The leaves have been falling and it has been raining non stop but let's hope that I will be able to enjoy the sun in Greece...fingers crossed!

I wish you all a lovely weekend!

xx

 

Karoliina

Hi there!

I can't believe it's been a week and I am still sick! I probably shouldn't complain about it but seriously! Is this ever going to get better!?!? I have run out of ideas of what to do anymore. I have become this old granny who sits all day long knitting and reading. Sigh...I'm depressed.

Besides the being sick part I have been trying to figure out what I am going to do this year. The time is just ticking so I better come up with a good plan. I am not going to allow myself be lazy this year! I must admit that I have been having some difficulties with my change of plans but everything is under control...I think.

Either way now my priority is to get better which doesn't seem to be happening any day soon! Feeling homesick isn't helping either but things could be a lot worse than this so I will have to be patient.

Now that I have had all this free time I found these pictures that I took ages ago in Greece. It's always nice to find old pictures that you don't remember you even had.

Also as I said I have been reading a lot lately so here are a few books that I liked and recommend.

 

 "Αννέ σημαίνει μάνα" was my favourite so far. It was one of those books that had been sitting there on my mom's bookshelves for ages and I never really noticed it. I must say that I am the kind of person who judges books from their cover ( hate to admit it but it's true ) and this just didn't really appeal to me by the looks of it, but I'm glad I was wrong. I couldn't stop reading it and that's a fact that I love about a book! It has a lot to do with Greek history and Cyprus so if you are not interested in that kind of thing then it might not be for you. Besides I think that it hasn't been translated to English so you Greek readers out there give it a try ;)

 

 

"One Hundred Names" was also nice but it's one of those girly novels if you know what I mean. It has a happy ending which I appreciate as I can't stand books with bad endings and be like " Noooo...that was not supposed to go like that!". Either way...you won't be dissapointed. If you are looking for a girly novel this will be good for you ;)

 

I found "El árbol de la Diana" on the library mostly just to practise my Spanish. I didn't think I was going to like it but it wasn't too bad. I am probably more excited of the fact that I understood 90% of what was going on in the book, but it surely had some mysterious things going on which made it interesting.

It is one of those books that is all about drama, mystery and romance...some people might find that overwhelming but I quite liked it.

 

I wish you all a good weekend!

 

Karoliina

Oopsy...

Hi there!

I have been avoiding to write anything personal on here for a while but I guess it is the right time to spit it out. I have decided to postpone my studies and not go to Barcelona this year.

Of course the first question that everybody asks is this big scary word "WHY?" and then comes the next part "are you out of your mind?". Ummmm....mmmm...mmmm. Maybe I am out of my mind after all! On the other hand I can still go  there next year if I am ready for it or I can choose something totally different. At this point I need more time for self discovery to be honest. My whole life I have been forcing myself to do things as planned, but this time this plan just didn't feel so right for me.

I must say that I was really excited in the beginning but by the end of it I started feeling more and more overwhelmed. Psychologically I am just not ready for this yet. So I guess plan B is on again...which means more traveling for me!

Maybe I have been wanting to please everybody else more than myself and left aside what I wanted to do. I am not going to apologize for making my choices. If this turns out to be a big mistake then at least it's going to be my mistake.

 



Karoliina

Brie focaccia

Hello, hello!

I have been extremely lazy when it comes to cooking these past few months, but I have been wanting to try this focaccia recepy for a really long time! Today that I had they day off I finally got to make it and after a lot of research online I found a good recepy that wasn't too complicated! ( click here )
When I was in Barcelona I tried this brie focaccia once and I must say that I fell in love right away!

Here is the recepy in English:

• 3½ dl water
• 25 gr fresh yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ dl olive oil
• about 7 dl flour

• basil
• coarse sea salt
• 200 gr brie cheese
• rucola
• olive oil

 

1. Melt the yeast in the heated water ( 37 ° C  temperature or better said body temperature heh)

2. Add the honey, oil and salt

3. Gradually add the flour and stir

4. Keep adding flour till the dough isn't too sticky anymore 

5. Cover it with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm spot to rise for 30-45 minutes



Dump your risen dough into the pan punching it down to deflate it. Let it rise under a kitchen towel for another 30 minutes.

Leave it in the oven for 10-15 minutes on 250 degrees

Bake until it's golden brown and oil it again ( yeah, you are going to need lot's of olive oil)

 Cut the brie in slices and put the focaccia again in the oven for about three minutes so that the brie melts a bit.

Add some fresh rucola on top and you are done!!

 

It actually turned out better than I thought! It was nice and soft and the basil worked well with the brie. I am definitely going to make this again but next time add some feta and tomatoes!

Yum!

 

Karoliina

Knit, knit, knit

Hello there!

Lately I have been into knitting and since last year I must say that my knitting skills have improved quiet a lot! ( Click here to see the pair of socks I made last year )
One of the socks I made last year got a huge hole so I couldn't fix it anymore which is why I decided to knit the same color! I usually never wear pink but in the winter I need bright colors to cheer me up...so pink it is!

 serioulsy focusing on that sock...

 tadaaa!

 I am really happy with the result and I am glad my friends helped me out!

I think from now on it's going to be a tradition to knit a pair of socks each summer haha

 

Karoliina

University girl

Hello there!

I am going to start with some good news! Those of you who have facebook have already seen it but for those who don't know yet I got accepted to the University of Barcelona to study English Philology! Meow!

This is going to be an exciting beginning for me with lots of surprises, new people, studying and of course of course lots of salsa! I would have never imagined a year ago that I would be going back to Barcelona to actually study for a longer period of time, but I guess this is what I am going to do now! I am super nervious to be honest but I think I am ready for the challenge and to whatever life brings. I always thought that I would study something that has to do with arts but maybe English isn't a bad choice for me after all...we will see, we will see!

In a way it sounds a bit silly to go to Spain to study English but hey...why not?? At least I will learn  Spanish and improve my English and if I get lucky maybe learn some Catalan on the way! I'm exciteeeeed!

Now I won't need my plan B... plan A is on!!

 

Karoliina

Decisions, decisions

Hi there!

July has arrived and I couldn't be more happy! In a week and a half I will finally know my results from the University so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I am so nervious already and I know that my life will change quite a lot if I get in.

I know that people usually are afraid to show their real emotions but if I am honest I am so scared of what is going to happen! I remember when I moved to Finland almost five years ago of how difficult it was to fit in and get used to the way of life here. The question is am I ready to go through that again?

A good quote to remember that a good friend of mine told me was "You should always do the things you are afraid of". Now I realize that many things that I have done so far like moving to Finland or traveling on my own felt so scary in the beginning, but if I hadn't done those things nothing would have changed. I am more confident now and I realized that pushing yourself to do something that might not feel as the "safe" choice might turn out to be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

I know that the safe choice for me would be to stay in Finland and get a free education here, but that would be something that my family would want me to do. Being selfish at times is ok! We can't please everybody no matter what we do. I am glad though that my parents have supported me to do the things I want without trying to change my mind too much ;)

 I wish you all a good week!

 

xoxo

 

Karoliina