¡Hola!

Once again here I AM! Surprise, surprise :D I decided to get myself a life which is why I haven't been very active with my blog, but trust me people this is a good thing!
Everytime I come to Greece I turn into this outgoing person. The main reason is because there are so many things to do by day and by night and yes, Greek coffee! Oh my...Greek coffee keeps me going and going, not to mention the fooooood. While travelling I have tried different types of food, but still the little Greek Goddess in me prefers her food the Greek way...it is what it is!

looks terrible in the picture but I <3 giros!

But tapas are calling me again as I will be heading to Spain in two weeks. That's right Spain! HOLA, HOLA! I said that I am not going to the University, but I am going to do a work exchange in Sevilla which basically means that I will be working in a hostel for a couple of months until I decide what is going to be my next move (ufff that was a long sentence). Since I have traveled a lot and stayed in hostels I am really excited to start this job!

People keep asking me how I found the job so here is the story. I stayed at the same hostel last spring while I was travelling in Sevilla and they had this add that they were looking for people to work there in exchange for free accommodation and breakfast, so I sent them an e-mail and after that I had a skype interview. It turned out that my positive energy went through and they liked me so yeah...me got the job! Me goes to Sevilla yey! Simple as that :) end of story.

It is going to be something new, different and exciting! Can't wait to go there and practise my Spanish again :)

 

¡Hasta luego!

 

Karoliina



Frankfurt

Finally I am settled down here in Greece and my holidays have officially started! It's good to be back, but it sucks as my friends are not here, sigh! I have been trying to kill my time by just sleeping and relaxing under the hot sun reading my book. Okay, I guess I can't complain...things could be worse right? ;)

Also my little trip to Frankfurt went alright. The weather was a lot hotter than I expected but it was nice just taking it easy, doing random things and seeing my friend. Probably the most exciting thing we did was going to the zoo and it was definitely worth it! The last time I went to a zoo was 10 years ago so yeah it was pretty exciting :D

 I also visited my cousin who lives close to Darmstadt and we went to this small festival where they had all these small shops and cool little things :)

But now I am back home and enjoying the sun! Got a small tan ( =sunburn) as well :P 

Greetings from Greece!

Karoliina

Cakes-socks-errands-city center...omg

Hi there!

These last few days have been busy, busy, busy but for some strange reason I don't even bother to be all stressed out like I normally am before a big trip. I haven't even planned out what I am going to pack with me...instead I have been baking cakes and knitting socks (again! This time for my mom). I am sure you all think that "gosh...doesn't this chick do anything else in her life other than knitting and baking?" sigh! Wish I could lie to you but it seems like a soul of an old woman is trapped into a young girls body...I can't give you any better explanation than that :D

Either way I am really excited as tomorrow is going to be my last day at work and on Monday Frankfurt is calling! I am also happy to go back to Greece and relax...mmmm

But as these are my last days here in Finland (for now) I decided to take some pictures before I leave again!
These were taken in the city center of Kotka with my phone while I had to run errands at the same time...the quality is not the best but you can get a general idea of the city :)

 Finally the weather has been good these past few days! Yey :D

On they way home...

 

Can't believe that these three months here are over once again! It's been good seeing my friends and just taking it easy for a change, but now it's time to travel again and experience new things! :)

 

Have a lovely weekend :)

 

Karoliina

 

 



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