Sunday, May 25, 2014

Finlandia

The travelling never ends in my case. Yesterday night after 17 hours of travelling I landed to the country of Angry Birds, Sauna and Santa Claus (for those who didn't get the hint I meant Finland).

I am sure I have confused most people of where I have been going and what I have been doing. Don't worry though, I am more confused of my life right now than anybody else. Despite all the crazyness I feel more determined for my future. This year is going to be different as I have decided to settle down in one place for a while. Surprising, huh? I didn't think I would say this, but it's about time to stop the moving around.

I must admit that the biggest change though has been my mysterious man! He was a bit offended as I didn't write anything about him on my blog, but the truth is I hate people who post stuff about their relationships on facebook all the time. I don't like showing off and I guess that's the reason why I tried to avoid writing things about him on here. To be honest though, he is the best thing that has happened to me and I am so happy to have him in my life.

The only bad thing about him is that he looks way too young for his age which makes me look old :P
 On my last days in Greece my father took us one day to the mountain. Here they are laughing about something funny I suppose.
 I even got to go the the beach at least once before leaving!
 I was trying to take a picture of the sea, but couldn't see anything as the sun was too bright. Sexy knees it is then!
 mysterious man
Leaving Greece without having Greek food would have been a crime. On my last night we went out with my English teacher Denise.
 Gladly Akis and Marianna travelled with me to Finland as they got a job offer from there so I didn't need to travel alone. We got a super cheap flight with ryanair for 20 euros to Oslo and from there we changed the airport and got our flight to Finland. I have a love/hate relationship with ryanair as everything is so cheap but paying 30 euros for the bag was a shame. Gladly I didn't have any issues with my bag as it was exactly 20 kilos. I have become an expert after all these years ;)
 Akis and Marianna
 Finland!
 This is what it feels like being in Finland. Either I am too short or other people here are just too tall.
 On my first day back in Finland we went to see the Tove Jansson exhibition which would have been nice if I hadn't had the need to pee all the time. It kind of ruined the experience, meh!
 After the exhibition we came back and my sister taught me how to make filo pastry
 Spinach pies for dinner! Wohooo
Let's see how I will get any sleep tonight with this light!
It's strange to be back, but I will get used to it sooner or later!
 
Karoliina
 
 


Sunday, May 11, 2014

Life back home

 
 
Well, hello there!
I haven't forgotten you my dear friends. Even though, I know that mainly my family and friends read this so to keep this blog updated I will give you a short review of my past three weeks of being back home!
 
Seing familiar faces again was such a comfort after all the moving around! I love travelling, but I would never be able to do it for a year or six months like I have seen other people do it. Maybe I am too weak or something,  what can I say!
 
Going to Athens to see my friend Foteinh was also great as I had missed that crazy chica so much. I keep saying that if we lived in the same city everybody around us would go crazy. Even though we are both petit we can be quite loud, trust me!
 
Arriving to Volos or the place I have been calling home for the last twenty years, wasn't too bad either. My brother was there as well with his two kids and his wife so there was lot's of noise and things going on to keep you busy. We also had Amir (my brother's friend) visiting us for ten days and I tried to show him around. I can't say I did a good job, but I did my best.
 
I was lucky to be here for Easter as well. As every year there was lot's of food, red eggs, Christos Anesti and Alithos Anesti going on! How I see it, Greeks tend to be more alive during Easter holidays. You see it's a BIG thing here and we take it very seriously. Mageiritsa, kokoretsi and arni (=lam) are three words you will hear a lot during Easter here! It took us about a week to eat the whole lam. No need to guess what food we were going to have the next day...the answer was lam!
 
 After all that food it was time for me to be more active so I started dance lessons again to keep myself busy. It was raining a lot as well the last two weeks, but it's good to have some rain. Now that the weather is getting better I am thinking of going swimming! Fingers crossed that I wont get any sunburns this year!
 
When it comes to my life in general the final conclusion is that I am happy! Love happened and it changed my life in a positive way ;)
 
That's all for now!
 
Karoliina
 
 

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Pictures from Athens

Actually my trip didn't quite end straight away when I flew back home! I visited my friend Foteinh in Athens that I met in a hostel in Florence more than a year ago. We have been good friends since then and after a year of not seeing each other we finally reunited in Athens to spend some girly time with her sister Eleni and her friend Marilena :)
 
Kostas playing some guitar for us
 Sintagma
break dance wohoooo!
Eleni, Foteinh and Marilena
 Bad hair day 
My Greek Goddess
 Parthenon
Now I have been back home for three weeks which is good for a while as I had the need to stay in one place.
As about my future plans please don't ask me as I have no clue! I am getting somewhere I think...but I don't want to say anything yet as my plans constantly change from time to time.
 
 
Karoliina

Friday, May 2, 2014

Pictures from Madrid

Here comes the end of my trip!
I still can't believe that I made it all the way to Madrid from Berlin. I don't want to brag or anything, but I feel pretty proud of myself! I met some really awesome people on my travels which made everything extra special!
 
My last week in Madrid was the top of the top! I decided to relax so I didn't visit any museums (besides the picasso exhibition), I just ate good food, enjoyed the company of good people and most important I met Enni from Finland who loved to dance salsa as well and she took me to a very good place to dance!! Here, here and here are the posts about my stay in Madrid :)
 Doing the walking tour with the people from the hostel
 Jonathan from Australia
 explaining some stuff about that statue that I don't remember anymore...
 Parque del retiro
 After the walking tour, me and Jonathan were walking around the Parque del Retiro and when we saw this we had to get a boat for ourselves. If you go to Madrid you need to do this! It was so relaxing :)
 This is how you treat a lady...I mean if you play well the guitar of course :P
 Tadaaaaa
Straight from the bottle
 For the fifth time we went to have montaditos! I don't think I want to eat montaditos anymore for the rest of my life
 Notice anything strange on this building?
Me and Ivan from Mexico
 With my Italian mate Ferdinando! I did hang out a lot with guys...it's because I am a tomboy :P
Puerta de Alcala
 Plaza Mayor
 Last but not least fat spiderman! :)
 Vegeterians look away! This was one of the nights my Mexican host Carlos took me and Michael to have tapas! The best meat I have ever had!
 Carlos on the left and Michael on the right
 Black risotto
 Goat cheese salad! Damn we ate a lot, but it was so so so gooooood! One of the good things about couch surfing is that locals know the best places to eat!
 
Hope you enjoyed following my adventures! It was a fun trip and hopefully there will be many more to come...who knows!
 
Karoliina