Grapes in the Subway

I spent New Year's in Barcelona with a friend that flew here from the North of Spain. This was hands down the funniest New Year in my entire life! And I couldn't have asked for a better start to 2016 than strolling down the sunny streets of Barcelona with this girl, three years after my first time in Barcelona also with her. Barcelona seems to be our thing. Funny story, I met her in a shopping mall a little after I had moved to Spain and two weeks from first meeting we got on a plane headed for Barcelona. I guess it was friendship at first sight!

Getting back to New Year's Eve, the Spanish have a tradition of eating 12 grapes 12 seconds before midnight, one grape per second. This is done for good luck and each grape represents a month of the year. So at the turn of the year we were gulping down grapes as fast as we could before the year turned. In the subway tunnel. I just can't make this up!

I flew in pretty late on Thursday and we were running really late as we had agreed to hit the club before 12 o'clock before all of Barcelona went out since we hadn't bought tickets before hand. If you're planning to go out in Barcelona on New Year's, make sure you buy tickets! This will make your life a whole lot easier. So running late we only made it to the subway at when the clock struck midnight. We had of course taken the grapes with us and well, I'm sure that this is a New Year's I will never forget!

Eating the grapes in the subway must have been our good luck charm since we were planning to go to one of Barcelona's biggest clubs; Razzmatazz. We had heard that the queue can be craaazy long and it may take hours to get in. We must have stood in line for only 15 minutes when we were already let in and so we danced the night away until the dawn! And beyond.

After walking around the beautiful city the whole day, I think it's off to a little nap!

Life Changes, Reunions, Travelling... My 2015

I'm about to leave for the airport soon, destined to spend New Year’s in a land far, far away. Okay, maybe not as far as I wanted as last New Year’s I swore I would spend the next one in New York. Well, I didn't get quite that far but I'll tell you, this option is not bad at all. 

Reflecting back on the past year, I realized that for me 2015 was a year of changes and reunions. My life situation changed and for the first time in my entire life I was the master of my own household. Also, I started in a new, more demanding position at work. And this was only January. Oh, and we also did a little renovating and changed the floors of my apartment to the white ones I had been dreaming of for the longest time!

In April, a friend came to live with me for a couple of months due to completing an internship in Helsinki. I would be lying if I didn't admit it was nice to have somebody to gossip over a glass of wine with and somebody who was always ready to go out. In April I also took a trip to Sweden to visit friends who I hadn't seen in roughly seven years.Crazy, huh? We went to school together as kids back when I lived abroad and it was really great seeing them again!

As the summer was approaching, I knew I wanted to travel but I didn't know whom with (I'm not a fan of travelling alone for a long time). So I decided to ask around from friends I met in Spain during my university exchange and sure enough I found myself flying to Berlin to see a friend I hadn't seen since the exchange. Which ended three years ago! After spending a few days in Berlin (which I kind of fell in love with) we took off on a little trip visiting Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. In September, a good friend from Spain came to visit me in Helsinki and we had the greatest time! With the exception of a little mishap at the end of her stay. 

The year has also been about growth; personal as well as professional. Being alone, you really learn a lot about yourself, at least that's what happened to me. Professionally, being at a fast paced position where you have to be on top of your game all the time has challenged me and taught me so much and I am so grateful for the opportunity and the responsibility I was given.

Despite the great times, the year has not been all roses and rainbows and I would like to thank all my friends who have helped me through tough times and listened to my endless wondering of what to do with my life. I can't say I have reached the absolute answer to this question yet but now I have an idea of what I want to do for the near future and a sense of direction where I want to go. And I will work my a** off to get there!

All in all, I've met and worked with some amazing people this year and I would like to thank everybody for making my year as incredible as it was! Now I'm off to spend New Year's in one of Europe’s coolest cities with some great company!

Happy New Year everybody and bring it on 2016! 

The Big WHY?

Since the turn of the year is always a time for reflection and looking back on the past year, I thought I would let you in the on the big WHY. Why in the world someone would come to a decision to leave everything and head for the unknown with no guarantees? Well, there are many reasons but I guess it all goes back to my past.

I’ve grown up being a bit of an international kid as we moved abroad for a few years when I was 11. At that age, having your parent drag you out of the country where all your friends are into one where you don’t speak the language is probably the worst thing that can happen. It was. I left kicking and screaming and I was not happy (to put it nicely) with my parents’ decision to move. However it didn’t take me long to make new friends and learn English that was spoken in school. I can proudly say that I have been fluent in Finglish (crazy mix between Finnish-English) ever since!

Looking back on it now I can honestly, without a doubt, say that it was (one of) the best gifts that my parents could ever give me and I am SO grateful for it. Learning to adapt to a completely new environment and new situations as well as learning new languages have been such big advantages. I wouldn’t be here right now writing this and having the guts to go for what I want if it wasn’t for them.

So if you are wondering whether to move abroad alone or with your children, I would say do it! You will gain amazing experiences yourself and from the experience of being that kid that got dragged to another country against her will I can tell you; they will thank you later for it. Besides having lived abroad then, I've also lived in Spain for some time later on in life but more on that another time.

Getting back to the present, now I had the opportunity of a lifetime. For over a year now I’ve been dreaming about going abroad again but the dreams were put on hold for a year when I managed to score a really great job at the company I was working at. So when the contract came to an end, I had the perfect chance. I had also been feeling a little stuck, in a rut. Like I was going nowhere and definitely not towards what I wanted in life. I know is mostly my own doing but I felt like I was not being challenged enough. I guess I like to thrown myself out of my comfort zone from time to time to keep things interesting.

I’ve also come to realize that I need projects in my life. When I don’t have one I become extremely frustrated. Whether it’s renovating my apartment or planning a trip, I need something. I'll tell you this much; it took me a whole hour between leaving work on my last day and getting to the airport that I already started writing this blog. And why so long? The drive took a while and I was forced to spent some time hassling with my luggage!

So all in all, the opportunity was just too good to waste so I went for it. Some might call that crazy but I call that the opportunity of a lifetime!

To be completely honest with you, sometimes I do wonder if I’m making a huge mistake. But then I remind myself that I really have nothing to lose giving this a shot. Chances are that this will lead to something amazing and I do believe that whatever happens will be worth the it.

The higher the risk, the higher the reward, right? ;)