Change of Scenery for Easter

So I am finally feeling alive after the exhausting day yesterday. Somehow travelling really did a number on me; I was feeling dizzy all night... But anyways, I am now home in Switzerland and spending Easter here with family.

Well, this morning, to balance out all the Easter eggs I (already ate and) will be eating, I decided to go for a run and I have to say I definitely prefer running in Berlin. I mean here you have more nature and fresher air BUT in Berlin you can go for miles before finding the tiniest hill. Bern is a liiiitle different. And by a little I mean you're lucky if you have straight ground. So needless to say, it was a little bit of a struggle but I'm happy I made it through. Alive. Mostly.

Funny thing I've noticed here, passing total strangers on the street, they wish you good morning?! Yup, I'm definitely not in Berlin anymore... Bern has a really cute, cozy, small town feeling to it, which is nice to have once in a while.

But let's talk a little about prices here in Switzerland. After arriving here yesterday, we grabbed lunch to take away from my favorite veggie place here; Tibits. If it was Berlin, two normal sized lunch portions from the buffet could have maybe cost 15-20€ in total. But here, they amounted to 40€. Fourty. FOURTY Euros. Take away lunch from not even a fancy but a quite normal restaurant.

Yeah. Welcome to Switzerland!

I mean don't get me wrong I'm not complaining at all, Switzerland is an incredibly beautiful country and I love it here! I'm just trying to remember to hold on to my seat when I get the restaurant bill...

And talking about expensive, today we took a trip to Gstaad, which is a popular resort where the, let's say the more well-off, and the jet set like to spend their vacations. Apparently Elizabeth Taylor went there. And sponsored an artsy fountain.

This tiny, tiny town was really one of a kind, with only a couple of streets but despite the size, still had all the luxury brand shops like Louis Vuitton and Hermes. Have you ever even seen anybody in a Louis Vuitton shop, except for the security and the sales personnel? I haven't. But in Gstaad the shop was full. Like so full you couldn't fit in there. And it was a big shop. So I take it this is not going to be my Top 1 ski destination on a budget...

And yeah, umbrella weather. Here's to hoping tomorrow's forecast will hold and it won't rain!

Happy Easter!

What Is This Thing Called Home?

Sitting at the place where this blog first started, the airport (not the one in Helsinki, sadly) heading to visit family in the south, got me thinking about the meaning of home.

Home is a concept that can have a very different meaning for all of us.

Home can be the house you grew up in, the city you were raised in or the country that you come from. Some of us have such a strong feeling of home in the city they grew up in that they could not imagine living anywhere else. As for me, I've never felt such a strong connection to one specific place due to moving around in Finland and Europe. I have to admit that I do sometimes envy those people who have such a strong connection to their home town that it has become a part of their identity. But in the end I know that that's who I am and that's okay.

Home has become quite a flexible concept for me; I define home by where I live and where I feel I belong to. And right now Berlin is home. I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now and after a time of feeling lost in life, I can tell you that it's a pretty great feeling!

The biggest reason why it has been so easy for me to feel at home in a new city is probably the fact that I adapt to new situations quite quickly. Also, having good people around you that you can share not only your happiness but all the difficult times with makes all the difference.

Skating is also something that helped me find my place here as I could connect with other people who share the same passion and help me feel like I belong. Although I was a little worried joining the training at first since I only everything in Finnish and wasn't sure if the trainers would talk English at all since my German is not nearly perfect yet... But as it turned out I was worried for no reason! Although I had some minor challenges in the beginning (who doesn't in a new country?!), I'm now learning the German terms AND have striven to speak only in German during the sessions.

Being able to feel like home in a new city doesn't mean that I don't miss my friends and family in Finland and I do still consider Helsinki home as well. I love the city and I feel at home there, being surrounded by my fellow Finns and a lot of my best friends. However, I don't think the strength of friendships is defined by your geographic location; I know that when I go back home and I'm reunited with my friends, it will be just like old times. I know that they're there for me when I need them and they know I'm here for them, whatever the case.

And this feeling is what makes it so easy to feel like home here. It's a good feeling.

How do you define home?

I got IT from my Mama!

...and I mean my love for travelling and the courage to go after my dreams! ;)

This woman is a little bit of an inspiration to me. At my age she also decided to move abroad, to Switzerland for work. So, what does she do? She takes her fresh off-the-shelf, week old driver's license and her brand new car and heads off alone for the famous German Autobahn (for those who don't know, there are no speed limits...) to drive through Germany to Switzerland. Sounds like a pretty crazy idea to begin with but if you've had your license for barely a week that doesn't sound like a very good plan at all... But needless to say she made it to her destination and had some pretty great years there.

I've learned that travelling and especially living abroad broadens your perspective on the world. It's always interesting to explore new places and learn about other cultures. Personally, some of the most interesting people I've met and greatest experiences I've had have been while travelling or living abroad. The best tip and greatest advantage to getting to know a new culture is learning the language; hence my motivation to learn German!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have always been encouraged to do what I want (as long as I have a realistic plan). This helped make the decision of moving to Berlin pretty easy after considering all the aspects. At this point of my life I've lived in a couple of different countries and cities, including Latvia, Spain, and now Germany and travelled quite a lot, although mostly in Europe. It's funny how travelling only makes you want to explore more and more of the world!

Looking at all these old photos hasn't helped at all with the travel bug I recently caught. I might be dreaming of a weekend getaway...

Any great tips for great Spring destinations?

Stereotypes about Finns

Since I had fun sharing the culture shocks I've encountered here in Berlin, I thought I would also share some stereotypes of Finnish people that I've encountered here in Berlin. Crazy to think that I've been here over two months already! Time flies when you're having fun, right? ;) Well, here it goes!

1. Does the snow ever melt?! 

Well, the number one thing people wonder about is if it's ever warm in Finland. I usually tell them no, if we're lucky the snow will melt for July. I guess this is what we get for being known for snow and cold winters.

But on a serious note, yes, the snow does melt. Usually. The summers, especially in Helsinki, are pretty great and it can get really hot, around 30 degrees if you're lucky.

It's funny how people expect that coming from such a cold country I won't mind the cold in Germany. Quite the opposite though; although it can get much, much colder in Finland, we have excellent insulation when it comes to housing and it's actually warm inside. Kind of necessary for survival when the temperatures can dip to -30 (or more in the north)... Here though, with so many old and sometimes not so recently renovated houses, the heating and insulation is not always on point. Case in point, the window in my room only has a single glass, so when it's cold outside, it's cold inside. Also, as I mentioned in January when I got here, the cold is different as it's more humid here, it just goes all the way to your bones...

2. Finnish people are quiet

The thing you should know about us Finns, we might be considered quiet, sometimes even socially awkward but this has all to do with our culture. We simply don't have the concept of small talk. Like, we don't talk pleasantries. We just don't. This cartoon pretty much sums up our ability of small talk. So if we have nothing 'real' to say, we don't say anything at all. So, if you ever manage to get a Finn to talk, you better be ready for a real conversation!

This one is partly true, I mean our culture is what it is but with more international influences and opportunities the younger generation is already shaking off this stereotype pretty well.

3. Finnish (and other Scandinavians) are good in English

This stereotype might actually be true, Finnish people do seem to talk pretty good English. Although they will deny it when confronted due to their (too) humble personality. One big reason for this is probably that we don't dub anything on TV, we watch everything in the original language which usually is English.

4. Finnish people are into home decór

Yes. Big time. And now I'm talking also for myself. This probably goes for all Scandinavians as we are pretty famous for our minimalist home decór and do have some pretty great brands, including some of my favorites, the Finnish Balmuir and the Danish bynord. Also, I used to work in home decór purchasing for a big retailer, which kind of fed my love for design.

5. Polar bears as pets

When I met my German friend (who might have helped lure me to this amazing city I now call home) she asked me whether I had a polar bear as a pet. Since, you know, the north, snow, polar bears. All these things go together, right? She's still joking about this on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. I still don't know whether she was kidding the first time and at this point I'm not sure I want to know the truth... But to clear this up, no, no polar bears in Finland. Although they would make cute pets. A little hard to maintain though but cute nonetheless.

To fundamentally understand the exotic nature of us Finns, be sure to check out Finnish Nightmares! I guarantee that every single one of these is true!

So that's it for today, I will be back with more if (when) I encounter more beliefs of Finns!

Roommate Hunting

As I already mentioned in the Culture Shocks post a while ago, WG living (living with roommates) is a BIG thing here in Berlin. I myself share a flat with four other people, although the headcount is usually closer to 7, even 8 at times... :D But as life happens, people move on and move out and this is unfortunately the situation right now as one (+1) flat mate is moving out.

So, what do you do when someone moves out? Apparently, you host castings for a new roommate. Castings... Like casting actors for a movie, right...? Not being so familiar with this system yet, I decided to stick around and see what goes down at these events. But first I should give a little background into the whole search process itself though.

As you find yourself in a situation of having to find another roommate for the flat, the first thing you do is choose where you want to advertise your free room. There are a couple of different forums where this can be done, WG-Gesucht probably being the most popular. Then, you write up an ad, telling a little bit about the room and the WG as well as all the roommates to give possible applicants an idea of what kind of person the roommates are looking for. Photos are good to be included as well (at least I would like to get a glimpse first to see what I'm applying for). Applicants then respond to the ads via e-mail or phone and if they are lucky they get invited to castings.

For our castings the roommates had invited several people over at different times to talk to them 1 on 1 (more like 1 on 5) for a better chance of getting to know the person rather than having 10 applicants just browsing around trying to make small talk. All the applicants were of course given a tour of the apartment after which we sat down for coffee (I was forced to change to water after a few cups or I would have been up for 2 days straight...) and a little chat.

It was interesting to hear complete strangers tell their life stories over a cup of Joe in the hopes that this will be their new home. Never having had the chance to choose your roommates before, it was interesting to notice what kind of reactions the thought of living with different people brought up in me and what factors affected my opinion of whether I wanted to share an apartment with this person. As it turns out it can be really tough finding a good fit for the apartment and it might even take several castings to find the right one...

I've noticed that it's a tough market out there for people looking for rooms due to the sheer amount of other applicants, so when applying your application really has to stand out of the crowd somehow. A friend did a social experiment for fun while looking for a room; she made more 'official' applications and the same number of funny applications, just winging it. Can you guess which one got more invites to castings? ;)

However, I recently discovered a cool app that just might revolutionize the flat hunt by making it easier and more personal from the get-go. With flatts, WG search is done via video; people looking for a roommate post a video on the app and applicants apply for the room via video as well. Is there any better way to let your awesome personality shine through?! Just imagine how much time you can save when looking for a roommate by not having to go through all the e-mail applications and sometimes several castings to get an idea of the applicant? You can just browse through video applications in the comfort of your home, in your jammies (!!) and see which one could fit the best!

Pretty neat, huh?