True Friends

It's unbelievable how easy it is to be with some people. The other day, hours went by flying when I was talking to a good friend of mine that I hadn't seen for ages. I can't remember if it was me or my best friend who said that those people, who you haven't seen for a long time but it still feels as if you had met them yesterday, are true friends. Luckily I have noticed that I have a bunch of those incredible and personal people, and I have understood not to feel sorry for those who have slipped away over the years - during this trip I haven't even had time to see all of my friends in Helsinki, and some of them I might not meet again. I try to remember to be happy for what I have, and not to be sad for what I don't have in my life. Hold on to those true friends!

Here I have some more pictures for you, though they are still from November in Rovaniemi (:

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Christmas Time

I have been spending my winter holidays in Helsinki. There is surprisingly lot to see and do in your old home town when you only have three weeks time. And unfortunately I spent a few days of that time just lying in my bed because of a flu, when in an alternative reality I could have been visiting friends, family and places I want to see. I wouldn't have thought I'd miss Helsinki this much when I first got here, but now I'm already ready to get back to the north. There's still something so nostalgic in this visit, and I actually love this city even though I wouldn't like to live here.

I am very contempt with the Christmas with my family and the few wonderful presents we got. Still, much more beautiful was to see other people being amazed and happy with the gifts I gave them. When you hear the words "this is everything I could ever hope for" coming from the mouth of your eight year old nephew, you know your night won't be ruined even if it would be for the end of the world. I gave my siblings and my parents calendars made from pictures taken by me, and I was so pleased to see that they seemed truly impressed and happy with them (:

I also installed the 30-day trial of photoshop lightroom to the computer of my parents, and luckily, for being sick I had enough time to choose pics out of the hundreds I had in my camera and edit them, so finally here we have some photos! Though they are from November, but I'll be moving on to some more recent pics in the next posts. I hope everyone had an amazingly wonderful Christmas!

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Just Travel

Now you may have noticed my radio silence for a while, but it is purely for reasons that have nothing do with my actual desire to take pictures and post them here. So it happened that my Photoshop Lightroom's free trial has ended, and I can't afford to buy the real thing before December. At least I'll have LOT of material when I'll be able to edit them, because this hasn't stopped me from taking pictures! And the winter here is so beautiful.

Now that I have no pictures, I could write about what has been going on with my life for this while. I am so relieved that I got a part-time job where they pay me well, and so there should be no such stress about money anymore. It's not like we would have been living like kings and queens without being able to afford it, but it's nice to actually do something every now and then, and not eat porridge or pasta every day...

I'm also very excited about the starting application period for an exchange abroad in my university. I have been looking for information about these couple of places I'd like to go, and I was positively surprised that they all have something to offer that interests me really much. My dream since forever is to live in Australia for a while, but I know it is one of the hardest places to get to go as an exchange student because of their strict exchange policy. There I'd like to enter a university called "University of the Sunshine Coast" (which doesn't sound attractive at all), not Sydney or Melbourne or Canberra where most of the people seem to go. So my goal is to get to study something I find interesting in someplace warm. In this university it would be sustainability. More about sustainability later, because I have a lot to write about it due to my current sustainable tourism -course.

My second option is Brazil, because it's another place I've wanted to visit and know better for a couple of years now. I fell in love with its culture while we were in our school trip there while my stay in Chile, and in Brazil I'd study Portuguese and Brazilian culture. I just want to learn Portuguese so bad, and it's not possible in my current home town :<

Of both of my study interests abroad there's a good chance I'd get study credits in Finland also, as it's not obvious that the studies abroad count in your current career.

Then the third, but more of a plan B -like, option is Portugal or Spain, I haven't fully decided yet. There I'd study tourism, but I'm much more interested in going to Australia or Brazil to study something that isn't available in my university.

I think everyone should live in a different culture surrounded by different language, because that's a way of seeing your own life and problems from another point of view. It is good to anyone to open their mind even just a little bit, and learn new things about themselves. There has been lot of talk about racism in Finland recently, and I'll get to that later also because it wouldn't fit in this post anymore. Just... travel.

(I'll add a picture here later to make the post look more interesting :D)

First Snow

Oh my, how time flies when doing school work and packing backpacks, I just now got my last taken pictures ready for posting, but I don't have any time to write something more enlightening. That is, because we are heading to Helsinki tomorrow and I want to get some sleep before the 5 am wake up. An exciting thing is (if everything goes as planned) also going to occur on the way to the south, because we are after long considering going to buy a used car. I just hope everything goes well, and that by this time tomorrow we'll be in Helsinki and happy car owners.

Here are the pictures from the day before yesterday, the first time it snowed this autumn/winter. This morning the temperatures were 10 celsius below zero!

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Huskies

Yesterday I got to know one of the biggest husky farms there are in Finland, as it happens that a relative of mine owns it. The place was an animal lover's paradise! The dogs were being trained for winter's tourist season, and you could see how they love running. After having seen the old and young running together (it was one of the first times for some of the younger ones, that's why elder dogs are put with them as they are patient and show the younger ones what to do) we took a walk around the farm. I petted probably about 20 dogs, and I think I was close to a dog overdose.

I liked that most of the dogs were not kept in cages, so they could freely walk or run and see the other dogs as long as the leash would let them. Also there was an area prohibited from visitors for the dogs to be in peace and rest after running.

I love seeing dogs so happy (all the dogs generally seem just happy, right?) and being able to do what they love.

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Colors of the Autumn

For having been busy studying I just got the pictures from weekend edited today.

O has a minor fracture in his foor, so our night time walks together are cancelled for at least a few weeks, which is a pity as I immensely loved those moments. But that's life, and at least I will know to appreciate our walks more when the foot is ok again ;)

I also baked these delicious chili bread rolls on Saturday, and I recommend it - so good! The colors of the autumn were not the only things I saw during my little walk: I also met a woodpecker and four squirrels, of which only one let me close enough to be able to take a picture with the basic equipment I had with me.

Beautiful autumn days to everyone!

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