Birthday Getaway

I'm a summer kid. Not just by heart but also by birthday, which is in July.

For a few years in a row I had a good streak going on - I was always away for my birthday. Another city, a festival, abroad - just somewhere. The past couple of years however, I've spent my birthday at home with my friends, which was great - but this year I felt like it was time to go away again.

Travelling is something I really love, so it's the perfect thing to do for my birthday. This year the destination turned out to be - what I had been missing for a while now - Spain. Not mainland Spain though but Mallorca. I've only been there once as a kid so I was curious to see it again.

Totally. Worth. It.

We stayed in Palma, which is an absolutely beautiful city. I lost my heart to Spain just a little bit when I lived there and it was just amazing to be back.

Everything was just ridiculously perfect - the food - the beach - the wine. Just everything. I finally even found a dress for an upcoming wedding which I had been searching for in Berlin for the longest time!

And why ridiculously perfect? Well, the craziest thing happened...

On the eve of my birthday we had dinner in Palma to celebrate with some tapas and sangría - I mean what more can a girl ask for?  Anyway, we left the restaurant five minutes after midnight - and what happens?

Some random guy on the street started playing Feliz Cumpleaños on his guitar!! I mean. What are the odds?!

Pretty amazing. It's funny how these things happen sometimes - being at the right place at the right time. Seems a little like fate. Not sure if I believe in fate, but lately things have got me wondering...

Anyways, it was a perfect weekend getaway. Crazy how much energy the sun can give you! And as a plus, I got a nice tan for a wedding ! ;)

Hasta luego! 
xx

Homesickness.

Homesickness.

Something that normally doesn't affect me that much really got me a while back. I've been in Berlin for over six months now and until a few weeks ago I wasn't home sick at all, quite on the contrary.

It hit me a few weeks ago when I took a weekend trip back home to pack up my beautiful apartment and surprise my friend for her bachelorette party. The weekend was great, I saw old friends, old collegues (yes, I went to have lunch at my old office...) and my family - for once we were all in the same country at once which doesn't happen so often!

On a side note, I love Scandinavian, minimalist homes with black and white, just in case you can't tell... ;) 

And the theme of the party was 80's aerobics. Seems like stating the obvious again! We were quite a sight, 20+ girls straight out of an 80's home aerobics video wandering around Helsinki with a jukebox...

Getting back to the point - returning home to Berlin on early Monday morning turned out to be tougher than I thought. First of all, busses and u-bahn's were late and I was running to get to work early. Returning home there were a few set-backs and I was emotionally and physically exhausted, missing Finland and most of all my people there.

Although I haven't been in Berlin THAT long yet, I've met really great people and made some very close friends. But I also have awesome people who I really love back home and going back made me think of them more than ever. Also, since I was in Helsinki only for the weekend, which was fully booked, I didn't get to see any friends from different cities.

But back in Berlin, for the first time since I came, I felt lonely, just empty. Like all 'my people' were back home. Which was not true at all, since I have found people in Berlin who I really care about - but of course I wasn't able to concentrate on that.

After a week of making myself - and some others around me miserable, I decided that it had to stop. I'm usually a happy person and feeling down all the time was killing me. Realizing the difference between what I could control - what I concentrate my energy on - and what I couldn't - not having my family and my old friends in Berlin - brought me back to reality. I could concentrate on the present again and make the best out of my time and I did.

It's been about a month now since then - no more serious homesickness, although I do miss people back home. But it's more about remembering the good times and looking forward to more good times to come.

Now, with the summer - new challenges - new experiences - I'm just super happy. It took a case of homesickness to see that - but now it's cristal clear.

Great weekend everyone!
xx