Throwback to Home

In July I went back to Finland again for the weekend. I know, this is a real throwback... But anyways the reason for returning home this time was a wedding. One of my oldest and best friends got married and there was no way I was going to miss that.

The wedding was incredibly beautiful, I might have gotten tears in my eyes (or cried like a baby) a couple of times. The bride was just so incredibly beautiful, the groom super handsome and everything was just perfect.

I was of course late for buying my dress but luckily found just the perfect one from my birthday trip to Mallorca a few weeks earlier.

And the funniest thing happened to me, which I think other expats might relate to...

I was at a shopping mall and I heard people talking Finnish. My first reaction - wow! Finnish people! I wonder what they're doing here, are they tourists or do they actually live here...?

Oh wait... I'm not in Berlin anymore but actually in Helsinki. Yeah. Nice one. And it was not the first time... Now I'm safely back in Berlin, only hearing German and Spanish! ;) And the occasional English of course.

I have to confess though that I might have gone to a Finnish café a while ago to show it to a friend, which was pretty much just an excuse to talk Finnish)! ;)

Till next time!
xx

Looking Back...

Do you ever feel like time runs too fast? Like you just keep running from one place to another and don't even have time to think? I sure do. For the past few months. Hence my looong blogging silence...

Getting to the point I wanted to talk about today; evaluation of your goals.

For me it's important to stop from time to time, consider my goals and evaluate whether I'm going in the direction I want or not. So, looking back, I've been in Germany for 9 months now. So far I've done an internship and gotten a job in the field I wanted, which was my goal and biggest reason for moving to Berlin. I'm doing things I've never done before and learning a lot - which is amazing. I live by the belief that you should never stop learning new things, whatever they may be, sports, languages, etc., which leads me to my next target: fluent German.

Back in Finland I studied German in school for 8 years but going to university I decided to give it up for Spanish instead. A few months after coming here I decided to really work towards this goal and registered for night classes in German. Somehow with a lot of luck (and a good head for languages I guess), I made it into a B2.2 course - which kind of changed my life here. Besides learning German, I met amazing amazing people and had so much fun...

After the course finished,  I was weighing my options whether or not to do the next one. After all, 3 hours of intense German classes twice a week after work is quite a lot. However, after some consideration and talking with a few classmates I decided to go ahead and do it - after all, stopping at this point would have been a waste.

So, now I'm working my way through a C1.1 course, which is a whole lot more challenging and I actually have to put quite a lot more effort into it. As I mentioned earlier, I happen to learn languages quite fast but it only helps you until a certain point, then you really have to work for it and that's where I am now... But I am very slowly but surely working towards my goal!

Also, not to make it too easy on myself I'm casually trying to retrieve my rusty Spanish on the side... You gotta have some challenges in life to make it interesting, am I right?! ;)

Have a great weekend everyone! 
xx

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

Puzzle Pieces

Feeling like you belong is a good feeling.

As I mentioned before, for a while now I've had the feeling that I am exactly where I belong, where I need to be right now. Geographically and otherwise. But now it's really hit me that the puzzle pieces that are my life are finally coming together and I know exactly what I want to do (in the near future at least).

Maybe it's the summer, the warmth, the sun, but right now I just feel very, very happy.

EVEN though we lost to Canada in the Hockey World Championship last Sunday... Let me tell you, there was a bar full of very, very disappointed Finnish people in Kreuzberg when whistle blew (and Canada scored their last goal).

But as they say 'Hopee ei oo häpee' meaning 'Silver is not to be ashamed of' and at least we won the U20 (Juniors, under 20) Cup, so there is still hope for our little country! That's probably thanks to the Finnish 'sisu' (guts, resiliance, pretty much just that 'never going to give up'- attitude), which is something I'm incredibly proud of as a Finn and also see in myself. The tougher times get, the more I find myself fighting for what I want and doing whatever it takes to reach my destination.

But now, even though I think you are never quite at your destination (I mean, then you would just stop working for your goals), I can already see it in the horizon. And it's looking pretty damn good. ;)

As for incredible photos that follow, all thanks goes to my amazing and talented photographer friend Sonja. You can check out more of her works here.

I wish you all an awesome, sunny weekend!